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Paula Zahn Now
Living With Saddam; Blessings of Sex
Aired June 20, 2005 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, everyone. Thank you so much for being with us. Appreciate your dropping by.
Tonight, one of the most bizarre war stories to come out of Iraq from soldiers who unexpectedly found themselves living with the world's most infamous prisoner.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ZAHN (voice-over): Americans on a top-secret assignment, guarding one of the world's most hated men, the dictator who mourned the death of his sons.
CPL. JONATHAN REESE, PRISON GUARD OF SADDAM HUSSEIN: He was proud that they died for his country.
ZAHN: The accused war criminal with fatherly advice.
SPC. SEAN O'SHEA, PRISON GUARD OF SADDAM HUSSEIN: You have to find a woman, he said, not too smart,, not too dumb. He said in the middle. He said, one that can cook and clean for you.
Living with Saddam.
And, for adults only, the growing market for marital aids in the Christian home.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's made our marriage very exciting and I think that just honors God.
ZAHN: Tonight, the blessings of sex.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZAHN: And it was only in March that Americans were evenly split over the war in Iraq, but now a new CNN/"USA Today"/Gallup poll shows close to 60 percent of Americans say they oppose the war. Those numbers might be intriguing to the ex-Iraqi dictator, if he knew about them.
Saddam Hussein, of course, is cut off from news from the outside world. And, for the most part, the world has been cut off from news about him, until now. We're finally get a glimpse of Saddam's life in prison through the eyes of his American guards, young men who have a truly incredible story to tell about the man who is the focus of tonight's "PEOPLE IN THE NEWS."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ZAHN (voice-over): It was December 2003 when the world heard the words it had been waiting for.
PAUL BREMER, U.S. ADMINISTRATOR IN IRAQ: We got him.
ZAHN: Found in a cramped spider hole, the once powerful president of Iraq was reduced to an unkempt figure, lonely, weak and defeated. Soon after, a group of National Guardsmen from Pennsylvania got their deployment orders, among them, five young soldiers charged with watching Saddam Hussein's every movement in prison for the next 10 months. During that time, an awkward familiarity developed between captive and captors.
O'SHEA: At first, it was weird. You know. He was getting used to us as we were getting used to him. We didn't know what to expect from him, what he was going to be like.
Then, after spending every day with him for a few months, he started calling us by our last names. And it just -- we called him a certain name. And just -- when you're with somebody every day for a year, you start talking a little bit. And we tried not to initiate conversation with him. But when he would initiate it with us, we wouldn't just ignore him and it just kind of happened.
ZAHN (on camera): He said you called him by a certain name.
O'SHEA: Yes.
REESE: Yes. We can't say that.
(CROSSTALK)
ZAHN: You're not allowed to tell us?
(CROSSTALK)
REESE: No.
ZAHN: But you didn't call him President Hussein?
REESE: No.
ZAHN: Who he still thinks he is, correct?
(CROSSTALK)
REESE: Yes.
ZAHN: You didn't call him Mr. Hussein, none of the above?
(CROSSTALK)
ZAHN: So, it was a code name the military came up with?
REESE: Yes. ZAHN: Was it an insulting term?
REESE: No.
ZAHN: No.
REESE: No, not at all.
ZAHN: Was it a term that would have shown respect for a human being?
O'SHEA: It was just a regular...
(CROSSTALK)
REESE: Yes, just a name, like almost like picked out of a hat, more or less.
ZAHN (voice-over): Lisa DePaulo interviewed the Guardsmen who are July's "G.Q."
LISA DEPAULO, POLITICAL REPORTER: These are the guys who are fighting this war. And it's just amazing to me that you take kids from these really small towns in Pennsylvania, which I understand, having come from one, and they never thought they would really leave the state, right?
I don't think you thought you would leave Minooka.
O'SHEA: No, I didn't think I did...
DEPAULO: And they end up guarding Saddam Hussein.
ZAHN: Despite their uneasy relationship with the man known as the butcher of Baghdad, the assignment had its surreal moments.
(on camera): What struck you about what you witnessed and how he acted and how he dealt with his new surroundings? He wasn't living in a palace anymore.
REESE: Oh, yes, yes, of course. He was really, really nice about it. It was man hard to believe that here's this man who gassed his own people, as you said.
And here he is, shaking your hand, saying it's nice to meet you, hand over his heart. And he would do that also when you were leaving. He showed a lot of respect. And it was just kind of hard to believe. Just, here we have this image in our minds before we met him, that he's this evil man. You're thinking, OK, this guy is just going to like be totally arrogant, but he really wasn't.
ZAHN: Describe to us how he spent a day and what the conditions were like in the cell where he lived.
O'SHEA: I can't really describe the conditions of the cell. But we can say, that, in a day, he would wake up and get breakfast. ZAHN: And he had distinct preferences? He liked Raisin Bran?
O'SHEA: Right. He likes Raisin Bran.
(CROSSTALK)
O'SHEA: He did not like Fruit Loops. He would give those back all the time. And he would have eggs and fruit and...
REESE: Loved his fruit.
O'SHEA: Yes.
REESE: Always asked for fruit. If we -- a lot of times, we would be like, I'm sorry. We don't have any. But he would show a little disappointment. But he was never anything else, rude about it.
ZAHN: But I understand he got very picky about his junk food.
REESE: Yes.
(CROSSTALK)
ZAHN: So, at the top of the list was what?
O'SHEA: Doritos was at the top of the list.
ZAHN: And that surpassed Cheetos at one point.
O'SHEA: Right.
REESE: Yes. It was Cheetos at one point. Then we ran out of Cheetos and...
ZAHN: And I understand he was pretty upset when you ran out of Cheetos?
REESE: Yes. Yes.
O'SHEA: We got him the Doritos and everything was OK...
(CROSSTALK)
ZAHN: What did he eat for lunch? What did he eat for dinner?
REESE: Lunch and dinner, it was the same thing that we had also. So, if we had chicken, he had chicken. He liked -- what was it, beef?
O'SHEA: He liked chicken and fish.
REESE: Fish. Fish.
O'SHEA: Actually, he got double portions of what we got.
REESE: Yes.
O'SHEA: So, he was fed more than...
ZAHN: Well, that's not so fair, is it?
(LAUGHTER)
REESE: No, no, he can have all the food he wants. It wasn't that good.
ZAHN (voice-over): According to the guards, Saddam spends his day in prison writing poetry, reading the Koran, even exercising.
O'SHEA: He would just walk back and forth in his...
REESE: In his rec yard, yes.
O'SHEA: In his rec yard.
REESE: We -- we -- they tried to -- higher-ups tried to give him a treadmill to use. And Sean actually was the who introduced him to the treadmill. So...
(CROSSTALK)
ZAHN (on camera): Had he ever seen one before?
O'SHEA: I don't know. I'm just like, I have to show Saddam Hussein a treadmill.
(LAUGHTER)
O'SHEA: Like, so, I bring him out. And I'm like, here is -- they got you a treadmill. I turned it on. I was like, this is how you do it. And I was like, so, for more exercise.
And he's like -- he's just looking at it like -- looking me like I'm crazy. So, then I give him these sneakers and these socks. And he goes, those are like putting new tires on a used car, he said. He's like -- he's like -- and then he got on it for about a second. And it was -- that was it.
(CROSSTALK)
ZAHN: Did he get it? Did he master the art of walking on it?
(CROSSTALK)
O'SHEA: He did it for like a couple of seconds and then he just got off and he just laughed.
ZAHN (voice-over): The guards were instructed not to initiate conversation, but were surprised by how much Saddam Hussein revealed.
O'SHEA: He asked me if I was Catholic one time. And I said yes. And he said, you know, Jesus Christ? I said yes. And Judas? I said yes. And he said, well, I was like Jesus and my -- the guy who knew where he was in the hole was like Judas. And we never would have found him if Judas never told on him.
And I just found it like -- you know, like, I'm looking at him like, you just compare -- you compare yourself to Jesus Christ. You can't do that.
ZAHN (on camera): How much of what Saddam Hussein said did you actually believe?
REESE: When he told us, you know, he's going to be president, I didn't believe that at all.
But he's dead-set that he's going to be president. Also, him inviting us back to his house, I didn't believe that at all. He seemed genuine at the time, but, you know, like, being manipulative, just being nice to us, so...
ZAHN: But he gave you the impression that he still believed he was the president of Iraq?
REESE: Oh, yes, yes. I'm 100 sure that he's -- probably to this day still thinks that he is the president and will be back in power after all this is over.
ZAHN: He did talk about some former presidents, though?
REESE: Yes. Yes. He did.
(CROSSTALK)
REESE: He said he liked Reagan for the fact that we gave him some helicopters in the Iran War and helped fund it. He didn't like the Bushes. And Clinton -- he said, Clinton was all right. But he did say...
O'SHEA: He was -- he was willing to forgive President -- the Bushes and he actually wanted to meet President Bush and try to work something out.
ZAHN: Didn't he show an interest in your dating life?
(LAUGHTER)
O'SHEA: Yes.
ZAHN: How did that come about?
O'SHEA: He asked me if I was married. And I said no. And he said, well, here's what you have to do. He said, you have to find a woman, he said, not too smart,, not too dumb. He said in the middle. He said, one that can cook and clean for you. And, like -- and that's -- that's about it.
But it was, like -- it was so funny, just like, here, like a 67- year-old evil dictator is giving me advice on women.
ZAHN: So, are you going to take his advice? O'SHEA: I don't think so. I think I'll be all right on my own.
(LAUGHTER)
ZAHN (voice-over): It was an assignment of a lifetime and one these young Americans will not soon forget.
REESE: It's hard to weave everything together, because here you have this guy. He is being nice to you, manipulative.
And when you're talking to him in person and you're watching him, it just doesn't seem like he did all that bad stuff. And you have just got to keep reminding yourself that that's what he did.
O'SHEA: Right.
REESE: And he's not a good person at all.
And like now, today, it's kind of still hard to believe that, you know, we were actually there a few months ago, watching him.
O'SHEA: I think he deserves whatever he gets for what he has done to all those people.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZAHN: But, so far, no date has even been set for Saddam's trial for crimes against his own people and for invading neighboring Kuwait.
Coming up, Roman Catholic bishops are still dealing with the aftershocks of the priest abuse scandal. And the allegations just keep on coming.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Father O'Grady, in terms of the scope of his abuse and the nature of his abuse, is certainly one of the worst perpetrators in the history of the church.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZAHN: Coming up next, in his own chilling words, a former priest describes how he would single out his victims.
And a little bit later on, another case that serves as a warning. Sometimes going to the hospital can be hazardous to your health. It might even kill you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ZAHN: In a moment, we're going to show you something stunning and chilling, the words of a former priest describing how he abused children. You may not want the kids to hear this.
But just a couple of days ago, the nation's Catholic bishops voted to extend for five years their zero tolerance policy on abuse. That means that, after one proven incident of abuse, a priest is removed from the public ministry. Now, that rule came too late for the victims of former priest Oliver O'Grady.
This spring, he sat down in front of a courtroom camera and, under oath, described his sexual desire for children and how he won them over before molesting them.
Drew Griffin has our report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
OLIVER O'GRADY, FORMER PRIEST: I swear by almighty God...
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: (voice-over): This past March, this man swore to tell the truth, a truth that many people would rather not hear.
Today, living in Ireland, he is Mr. Oliver O'Grady. But for years, living in California's San Joaquin Valley, preaching at St. Anne's Catholic Church in Lodi, he was Father Oliver O'Grady. And, according to those who say they were this his victims, Father O'Grady was a monster.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's worse than Jack the Ripper or Manson. These people, at least they went out and they murdered people. He would have been kinder to me to kill me when he finished with me. That would have been a kindness.
GRIFFIN: This man says he is one of Oliver O'Grady's victims. O'Grady denies the allegation. But, last month, the diocese of Stockton, California, agreed to pay $3 million for the abuse this man says he suffered in sixth grade, the settlement coming almost immediately after Oliver O'Grady gave this chilling deposition, telling an attorney exactly how he would snare little boys and girls.
O'GRADY: If I saw the boy was, say, an altar boy coming in that I hadn't seen, let's say, for the week, and I would say, hi. And he would say, hi, Father. How are you? I would say, fine. How are you doing? And those words, you know, I might go over and just give him a hug. And if he responded by allowing me to hug him and might offer to hug me in return, that sort of give me a kind of a permission to continue at that point.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.
O'GRADY: And that's what I kind of looked for.
GRIFFIN: No resistance, O'Grady told the court, meant an invitation.
O'GRADY: We began just the hugging. Hugging starts off. And then I might just drop my hands and start fondling the genital area and, all the time, sort of looking for an OK or a permission. And if I wasn't getting a resistance, that was allowing me to go further and further.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.
GRIFFIN: To attorney John Manly, who has represented dozens of abuse victims of the Catholic Church, that deposition he took this spring in Ireland was stunning.
JOHN MANLY, ATTORNEY: I think Father O'Grady, in terms of the scope of his abuse and the nature of his abuse is certainly one of the worst perpetrators in the history of the church. You know, he is the Hannibal Lecter of Catholic priests in the United States.
GRIFFIN: And, according to Manly, the church knew that almost from the beginning.
MANLY: And they put that man, who consumed children, who emotionally murdered them, who violated them in the most vile way you can violate a child into this community, knowing he was a perpetrator, and they kept him here.
GRIFFIN: Even O'Grady claims the church knew he was victimizing children and yet kept him as a priest and kept him within reach of his next victim. Disclosures from the Diocese of Stockton reveal letters, reports, complaints made to the church dating back to 1976 claiming that O'Grady had a problem.
O'GRADY: As I look back on my life, I realize that I had or have a very serious problem. That problem seemed to have been there for a very long time. I often question myself of recent times, especially since my last therapy, if I even should have been ordained a priest to begin with.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, have you reached a verdict?
GRIFFIN: But the church could not ignore O'Grady's problem in 1993, when he was arrested, convicted and sent to prison for molesting two brothers. O'Grady served seven years in California before he was deported back to Ireland. The two brothers sued the church for not dealing with O'Grady before he molested them.
And, in 1998, a jury awarded $30 million in damages. O'Grady has already cost the Catholic Church a fortune. But worse, say his victims, he has cost many their faith.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He took my hopes and my dreams and my future.
GRIFFIN: And he took it with a knowing smile, his priestly charm and his victims' innocence. Those are not an attorney's words. Those are Oliver O'Grady's.
O'GRADY: Hi, sally. How you doing? Come here. I want to give you a hug. You're a sweetheart. You know that? You're very special to me. I like you a lot. She might respond, I like you, too. And that would allow me to give a better hug to you. I know I always got quiet at that time.
(END VIDEOTAPE) ZAHN: It makes you sick to listen to that, Drew Griffin reporting for us tonight.
The Diocese of Stockton didn't want to comment on his report, but did say it hopes the $3 million settlement against Oliver O'Grady will bring some kind of closure in this case.
Still to come, a vibrant, healthy woman goes to the hospital and it's the beginning of the end.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARGARET BARANOWSKI, DAUGHTER: We were in a state of shock. We couldn't believe that this was happening to my mom.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZAHN: One family's hospital horror story and how to lessen the odds of it happening to you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ZAHN: Still to come, a company that's creating a lot of controversy, not just because of the products it sells, but because deeply religious couples are buying them so eagerly.
First, though, just about 23 minutes past the hour. Time for Erica Hill at Headline News to check out the other top stories tonight.
Hi, Erica.
ERICA HILL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Paula.
Another setback for President Bush tonight, as Democrats, aided by some Republicans, once again blocked a Senate vote on John Bolton to be U.N. ambassador. Now, the president may appoint Bolton when the Senate leaves for Fourth of July recess.
Meantime, in Philadelphia, Mississippi, a jury of nine whites and three blacks is currently split 6-6 over whether to convict Edgar Ray Killen. He is the 80-year-old former Klansman accused of murdering three civil rights workers 41 years ago. Jurors will resume their deliberations tomorrow.
A credit card processing firm admits it did not comply with rules meant to safeguard consumer information. Card Systems Solutions says the breach in fact may have exposed as many as 40 million Visa, MasterCard and other credit card users to fraud. Comforting thought there.
And a dramatic Coast Guard rescue off the island of Maui and a safe ending for a 21-year-old man who spent 15 hours adrift after a large wave swept him off his jet ski. He was a bit dehydrated, but, other than that, doing all right.
Pretty amazing end to that story, Paula.
ZAHN: He was a lucky man.
HILL: Absolutely.
ZAHN: Thanks, Erica. See you in a about half-hour or so.
And time for all of you to do a little work here, voting for our person of the day. Your choices, golfer Michael Campbell for escaping a decade of relative obscurity by winning the U.S. Open, surprising Tiger Woods in the process, CIA Director Porter Goss for saying he has an excellent idea of where Osama bin Laden is, or the 3,000 volunteers in Utah who spent the weekend searching for an 11-year-old missing boy.
Please cast your vote at CNN.com/Paula. I am going to let you know who wins a little bit later on in the hour.
Coming up next, though, one family's hospital horror.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARANOWSKI: I fully expected that, when I kissed her good night and said goodbye, I would be seeing her the next morning.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZAHN: Stay with us for the alarming details about a drug- resistant infection that is a lot more common than you might think. Plus, we'll have some advice that could save your life.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ZAHN: Most of us, when we check into a hospital, can be confident that we will get the care we need. But we have had quite a response to our story last week about mistakes in hospitals that kill as many as 98,000 patients a year.
A nurse in Maine e-mailed us to say patients should trust that she and other nurses are washing their hands. She wrote: "I don't want what you have and I don't want to spread it around either."
And a patient in Oregon said hospital errors stem from the long shifts young doctors are made to work in this country, writing: "The stress they put them through is hurting us by the mistakes they make."
We also heard from many angry and sad relatives of patients who, they said, died unnecessarily because of things like dehydration, from I.V.s that had fallen out and deadly infections caught while in the hospital.
And that problem is the subject of tonight's report from Randi Kaye.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Marilyn Thomas (ph) was in great physical shape for her age, an avid golfer and grandmother of five.
BARANOWSKI: Mom was a healthy, active 72-year-old woman who had a joy for living, full of energy, very -- always on the go.
KAYE: Last September, Mrs. Thomas chose elective surgery to reposition her bladder, and a hysterectomy. Her husband, John (ph), says she expected to be out within a couple of days. And when time for the surgery came, she was impatient.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She said, get that doctor out here and let's get this show on the road.
KAYE: The Thursday afternoon surgery at St. Vincent Hospital in Indianapolis went fine. But, by the weekend, Marilyn Thomas, still in the hospital, felt terrible.
BARANOWSKI: By Sunday, she told my dad she had never felt so sick. And what could be wrong?
KAYE: Short of breath, she needed oxygen.
BARANOWSKI: I knew that, you know, mom's a strong woman. She's healthy. She came in here healthy. What's going on?
KAYE: Her condition quickly deteriorated. She needed a blood transfusion. Fluid repeatedly had to be drained around her lungs. She had trouble with her vision.
BARANOWSKI: We were in a state of shock. We couldn't believe that this was happening to my mom.
KAYE: Doctors soon found the source of it all, a staph infection, but not just any staph infection, one resistant to antibiotics.
(on camera): And what was your reaction?
BARANOWSKI: What is it? You know, what does that mean?
KAYE (voice-over): What it meant was a nightmare. During the next seven weeks, as the infection ravaged her body, Marilyn Thomas would need a procedure to remove infected fluid from her eyes, open- heart surgery, even a pacemaker.
(on-screen): St. Vincent's declined to be interview by CNN about the case of Marilyn Thomas. But infections like hers happen at hospitals around the country. Experts say about 2 million people every year become infected at hospitals; 90,000 of them die. That's more than homicides and car accidents combined.
JOHN THOMAS, HUSBAND: I never gave any thought to something like that happening to my wife, Marilyn. She truly was a very, very healthy, very strong country girl. She had never been sick. She came from a long line of people in her family that lived for a long, long time.
KAYE (voice-over): John Thomas' wife was put in isolation. All visitors had to wear gloves, gowns and masks.
(on-screen): What was it like for you to see your mom go through this?
BARANOWSKI: It was terrible. She got very sad when she was in the hospital. She was so frustrated. She couldn't believe this ordeal was going on. She wanted her life back to how it was. She was very scared.
KAYE (voice-over): For two months, Margaret's mother fought the infection.
BARANOWSKI: Then the big accomplishment was, like, the middle of November when we were told, "You're done with your I.V. therapy. You are free and clear of staph. Have a great life." And unfortunately, that wasn't the case.
KAYE: Marilyn Thomas was sent home, but instead of getting stronger, her family says she remained weak. Then right before Christmas, Margaret Baranowski took her mom to the emergency room.
BARANOWSKI: I fully expected that when I kissed her good night and said goodbye, I would be seeing her the next morning. And she would be doing much better, and she'd come home.
KAYE: But the next day, December 22nd, Marilyn Thomas died. An autopsy showed her body was riddled with infection. According to her long-time doctor, Marilyn Thomas continued to have deep-seated collections of staph nestled in her organs. Today, the family believes she, like millions of Americans each year, acquired her deadly staph infection while in the hospital.
(on-screen): Are you convinced she didn't have a staph infection before she went in the hospital?
BARANOWSKI: Definitely convinced. My mom was playing golf right up, like a day or two before she went into the hospital. She was so healthy. She was clipping flowers from my dad's rose garden to give them to other people, other friends who were sick.
And I remember her saying, "Oh, I'll be back in no time." You know, she had plans. My parents were going to be celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary this summer. I know that she got it there. I don't know how and at what point, but it was fairly early on and, unfortunately, they didn't catch it.
KAYE (voice-over): While St. Vincent's Hospital declined to be interviewed for this story, citing patient privacy, the hospital said it has a comprehensive patient safety program that places a "high priority on safety of all of our patients."
Today, hospital-acquired infections, especially those resistant to antibiotics, are widely recognized by experts as a serious problem. Dr. Benjamin Chu, a board member of the American Hospital Association, says hospitals are working on the problem, following recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control.
DR. BENJAMIN CHU, AMERICAN HOSPITAL ASSOCIATION: I have absolute confidence that we can cut it down. And I think that the hospital world is actually understanding that there's a lot that we can do and, certainly, I see a lot of progress being made.
DR. BARRY FARR, EPIDEMIOLOGIST, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: Most hospitals in this country do the minimum that they're required to do for infection control, because there's all these pressures. Health care is expensive. And there are all these pressures to hold down the cost.
KAYE: Dr. Barry Farr is an epidemiologist at the University of Virginia and an expert on antibiotic-resistant infections. He says such infections have increased 25-fold in the last 25 years.
FARR: Antibiotic resistance is fostered in the hospital setting, especially because people go -- health care workers go from bed, to bed, to bed and they can move microbes and infections from patient to patient.
KAYE: Dr. Farr says patients should be routinely tested when admitted to the hospital and immediate isolation required for anyone with antibiotic-resistant infection, as is already done in Northern Europe. Margaret Baranowski says she would now think twice before having surgery like her mother.
BARANOWSKI: Well, there is just days I can't believe that she's not here. I expect the phone to ring or if I have a question or want some advice, I can just pick up the phone or ride my bike over to the house and ask her what she would do, what does she think about a situation? And then I realize that I can't do that.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZAHN: Very sad. Randi Kaye reporting for us tonight. Unfortunately, doctors say it's often very difficult to know exactly how or when patients like Marilyn Thomas got their infection.
Our medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, gives us these tips for surviving hospital stay. First, bring along an advocate, a family member or a friend, who can keep track of what's going on around you.
Also, look, listen. Do not be afraid to ask questions. Get a list in writing of medications you'll be taking and check them. And if you're having surgery, mark the area of your body that's supposed to be operated on.
To avoid infections, make sure to ask the hospital staff to wash their hands. And this tip from a nurse who e-mailed us: Never accept medication from a nurse unless he or she looks at your hospital I.D. first.
We want to give you a heads-up about our next story which involves deeply religious married couples and what one very creative and so far very successful company is calling "relationship enhancers."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Christian women want to have fun.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZAHN: Yes, the fun she's talking about is exactly what you think it is. Please stay tuned.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ZAHN: Yes, indeed, a romantic sunset to look at tonight. Gorgeous view, looking out at New Jersey this evening. You might want to shoo the kids, though, out of the room right now, because we're going to talk about sex and religion. Volatile subjects, even more so when they're combined.
And that's what a company is doing. It's called Pure Romance, and it has done it by marketing sex toys to Christians. The company says it's made a lot of money that way. Of course, we can't vouch for that claim, but we can introduce you to some very happy customers.
Here's Maria Hinojosa.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARIA HINOJOSA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Born-again evangelical Christians, Dan and Cybil Brawley (ph), solve simple puzzles for their two small kids.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think this one goes over here.
HINOJOSA: But they look to Jesus to solve life's larger puzzles, like how to build a solid Christian family in a not-so Christian world.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is very important to expose kids to the love of Christ and raise them in that knowledge that God loves them, you know, and who Jesus was at a very early age.
HINOJOSA: And how to fill their local Sunday school with baby after baby. They're on baby number three.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Baby's heart rate is about 153.
HINOJOSA: But like millions of couples, they ran into some sexual stumbling blocks. And, like a growing number of devout Christians, they took the surprising step of turning to Pure Romance, a multi-million dollar sex toy company based in Cincinnati.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Every married couple needs one of those.
HINOJOSA: Pure romance markets sex aids and lotions at Tupperware-like parties like this one outside of Charlotte, North Carolina. And they're making big profits, selling the sorts of items usually associated with "Sex in the City" to country folks in the Bible belt.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Christian women want to have fun. The success of pure romance has been that we have been able to make the Bible belt women feel very comfortable about their own sexuality.
HINOJOSA: Pure Romance says its profits grew from $1.5 million to more than $50 million, largely from sales in the South. Cybil (ph) invited us and a few friends over for what she calls a toy party.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How many of you guys have been to a Pure Romance party before?
HINOJOSA: It was hosted by Jodie Ziverink, a top salesperson at Pure Romance, who specializes in religious clients.
JODIE ZIVERINK, SALESPERSON, PURE ROMANCE: It seems to be kind of a myth that if you are a very religious person that you also cannot be sexual.
HINOJOSA: Jodie likes to start with mood creators. I tasted a little bit of "dust-me pink." Then, the toys came out or, as they call them in the business, "relationship enhancers."
ZIVERINK: It has seven different vibrating speeds. So in addition to, like, low, medium, high, it also has that pulsating feature.
HINOJOSA: There is uncomfortable laughter.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Woo. That's good.
HINOJOSA: But just as much straightforward talk.
ZIVERINK: You can also teach yourself to have multiple orgasms. If you've never done it before, it's not any fault of yourself. It's just really hard to do without a toy.
HINOJOSA: Much of what Jodie discusses is educational.
ZIVERINK: Anti-depressants certainly kind of numb all of everything and that makes all the stress of your life more tolerable. But they also decrease your sensitivity and impact your ability to reach orgasm.
HINOJOSA: Cybil and her husband believe these products, this is their new swing, have enriched their Christian marriage.
(on-screen): So some people might say, a swing, oh, my God. And you say?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Well, you know, some people may have back problems. Some partners may be too heavy to hold.
HINOJOSA: Some people might be pregnant?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Some people might be pregnant.
HINOJOSA (voice-over): The toys, they say, have brought them closer together and closer to God.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's made our marriage more exciting, and I think that just honors God.
HINOJOSA: And, most importantly, encouraged them to remain monogamous.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The consultant that we had, she was very specific with, you know, it was between a husband and his wife. That was one of the things that, you know, she stressed is that, you know, these toys we offer are not for your self pleasure necessarily. They're for you and your husband to use to become closer.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It was just, oh, yes, baby. You know, I can't wait. This is going to be awesome.
HINOJOSA: This is the first sex toy party for Dawn (ph), who is a single mother. And she's a little uncomfortable with the idea.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're not supposed to sleep with people when you're not married. You know, that's a sin.
HINOJOSA: But after hearing Jodie's sales pitch...
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you have a toy to use instead of using a man, I don't think -- in God's eyes, I don't think it's wrong. I mean, that's just my -- there's nothing in the Bible that says, "Don't, you know, pleasure yourself with a toy."
JACK HOMESLY, PASTOR: It's the thoughts, like, that accompany...
HINOJOSA: But that notion raises red flags for Pastor Jack Homesly who preaches at a Southern Baptist Church that Dan and Cybil attend sometimes.
HOMESLY: When I just looked at their Web site, I don't see one mention of Christ. I don't see one mention of anything Christian.
HINOJOSA: Pure Romance's sex aids and toys for partners sound a lot like masturbation and adultery to him.
HOMESLY: The Bible says that sex is great when it is done within God's confines, and that is one man, one woman, married for life. And God created sex, you know, for procreation.
HINOJOSA: Dan Brawley (ph) reads the Bible a different way.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your stature is that like a palm, and your breast like clusters of fruit. I said, "I will climb the palm tree. I will take hold of its fruit."
HINOJOSA (on-screen): So the Bible is saying, you can adore each other as physical...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely. It brings -- you know, this shows that God's intention was for us to enjoy each other, the touch, the experience of coming together as husband and wife.
HINOJOSA: And Cybil believes the sex aids are part of God's plan to help her family grow. And for that, she thanks God and Pure Romance.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZAHN: Maria Hinojosa reporting for us tonight.
Pure Romance has no official backing from any organized church. But as its founder told us, he feels his success with Christian customers speaks for itself.
Over the weekend, Tom Cruise had a few choice words for a reporter whose microphone turned out to be a squirt gun.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOM CRUISE, ACTOR: You're a jerk. You're a jerk.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ZAHN: He joins the list of other celebrities who have been targets of everything from squirt guns to pie throwers. If you can't name all of them, Jeanne Moos will in just a few minutes.
And there's still time to vote for our person of the day. Your choices, golfer Michael Campbell, who beat Tiger Woods to win the U.S. Open, CIA Director Porter Goss for saying he has an excellent idea where Osama bin Laden now is, or the volunteers searching for a missing 11-year-old Boy Scout in the mountains of Utah. Vote at CNN.com/Paula.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ZAHN: Still ahead, so does Tom Cruise have the right to get ticked off over a little bit of water or are pranksters who target celebrities way out of line? Jeanne Moos will consider who's all wet.
But first, time for another of the updates at 10 minutes before the hour. Here is Erica Hill.
HILL: Thanks, Paula.
Millions of Filipinos are mourning the death of their influential Roman Catholic cardinal, Jaime Sin. The former archbishop of Manila was credited with helping lead a revolt that ousted former Philippine dictator Ferdinand Marcos. Cardinal Sin was 76.
The founder and former CEO of Adelphia Cable now facing 15 years in prison. Eighty-year-old John Rigas was sentenced today. Both he and his son were convicted of fraud that led to the bankruptcy of the fifth-largest cable TV company. His son was sentenced to 20 years. Both are appealing.
On the CNN "Security Watch" tonight, illegal immigrant construction workers managed to sneak into one of the nation's nuclear weapons sites. The Department of Energy's inspector general report says 16 workers got past security at the Y-12 complex in Knoxville, Tennessee, by using fake green cards. The report adds official documents were found unguarded in a construction trailer.
And a private spacecraft is set for launch tomorrow. If all goes well, Cosmos 1 will unfold like a pinwheel and be pushed through space by the force of particles from the solar wind, one we'll be following tomorrow.
And that's the latest from Headline News tonight. Paula, back over to you.
ZAHN: Thanks so much, Erica. Appreciate it.
Time to reveal the person of the day. Did you pick U.S. Open champ Michael Campbell, CIA Director Porter Goss, or the volunteers searching for a missing Boy Scout in Utah? The winner tonight with 77 percent of the vote, the Utah volunteers.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ZAHN (voice-over): This isn't an ordinary traffic jam of visitors in the Utah mountains.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good morning. Volunteering?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
ZAHN: These are just some of the volunteers who have driven into the high country to search for Brennan Hawkins. Eleven-year-old Brennan disappeared Friday during a Boy Scout expedition. There were about 400 volunteers today. Some 3,000 were in the mountains over the weekend.
Churches in the boy's hometown of Bountiful canceled services so members could help. The searchers are using all-terrain vehicles and helicopters, but most of the volunteers go on foot.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Got to be here. I mean, if it was our kid, we would want the help.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was a Scout once myself. And I have been lost in these mountains myself, actually. I found my own way out, but it's easy to get lost up here.
ZAHN: Incredibly, one of the volunteers is Kevin Bardsley, the father of another boy who disappeared in the same area last year. His son was never found.
KEVIN BARDSLEY, VOLUNTEER: We came up in the mountain in the winter. My friends and I, we decided right then that if anybody came missing, we would be there immediately. And within -- when I got the call at 6:30 in the morning, we were on the road within a half hour. We were gone. We were moving.
ZAHN: Brennan's parents can barely express their gratitude.
TOBY HAWKINS, MISSING BOY'S FATHER: How in the world can you ever relive this? Why would Kevin relive this?
JODY HAWKINS, MOTHER OF MISSING BOY SCOUT: It's not just Kevin. It's his whole family.
T. HAWKINS: It is his whole family.
J. HAWKINS: His wife says to me, "I know how you're feeling." She's the only person that knows how I'm feeling.
ZAHN: So far, the volunteers haven't found Brennan Hawkins, but they're still trying. And for that, you've made them the people of the day.
We'll be right back.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ZAHN: Being sprayed in the face with a bottle of seltzer water is an old -- really old -- comic tradition. So why isn't Tom Cruise laughing? Jeanne Moos explains.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Tom Cruise has some watery scenes in "War of the Worlds," but it was a little squirt that made a splash at the London premiere. If pranksters were cruisin' for a bruisin' by using a fake microphone to squirt the actor, what they got was "Cruise control."
CRUISE: Come here. Come here. Why would you do that?
MOOS: Cruise grabbed the guy, indignant but dignified.
CRUISE: Hey, hey. No, no, don't run away. You're a jerk.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank God it wasn't Russell Crowe. God only knows what he might have done.
MOOS: Sharon Osbourne knows how Cruise felt. Three weeks ago, she says a crew from the same British comedy show squirted her.
SHARON OSBOURNE, WIFE OF OZZY OSBOURNE: Mortified that a grown- up would do that to another grown-up.
MOOS: At first squirt, she worried it could be some sort of acid rather than water. It sort of reminds you of the old pie in the face. But there tends to be a political point when biggies like Microsoft's Bill Gates and the head of Proctor and Gamble get pied.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Proctor and gamble, poison to animals. Shame on you!
MOOS: Arch-conservative Ann Coulter lucked out with a near miss. When Ralph Nader got pied, he didn't just take it. He tried to dish it out.
At least the then-secretary of agriculture had a witty comeback.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It wasn't a very balanced meal she threw at me.
MOOS: Just as the press tortures starts, occasionally it's the press that's tormented. Radio shock jocks, Opie and Anthony, sent their fans out to harass reporters. WCBS's Arthur Chi'en got fired when he was provoked into using the f-word on the air.
ARTHUR CHI'EN, FORMERLY OF WCBS: What the (BLEEP) your problem, man?
MOOS: A comedy crew from Britain's Channel 4 had Sharon Osbourne spitting mad.
OSBOURNE: Every celebrity should just absolutely never go on Channel 4 again. I hope Channel 4 end up in the toilet because that's where they belong.
MOOS: The four crew members who squirted Cruise has been released on bail and not yet charged. The orange squirt gun we taped onto our mike wasn't nearly as incognito as the British crew's.
(on-screen): Can you take a joke?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can, but you know, when you get shocked and surprised, and particularly with, you know, somebody like them.
MOOS: Are you a guy who can take a joke?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Absolutely.
MOOS: You can?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, yes.
MOOS (voice-over): But no one should have to take what students did to this former school superintendent.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One time we had a basketball game. They put analgesic balm in the jock strap.
MOOS: You know, the balm that heats up, leaving him hot, and not just under the collar.
(on-screen): So, you can take a joke?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I took that.
(END VIDEOTAPE) ZAHN: I think the water was a little more benign there, Jeanne Moos. Thanks so much.
And thank you all for being with us tonight. That wraps it up for all of us here. We'll be back, same time, same place, tomorrow night. "LARRY KING LIVE" starts at the top of the hour. His guest, televangelist Joel Osteen.
Again, thanks for joining us tonight. Hope you'll be back with us again tomorrow night. Good night.
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