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Rick's List
Students Protest College Tuition Hikes; Cruise Turns Nightmarish; Air Traffic Controller Child Directs Pilots; President Calls for Congressional Health Care Vote
Aired March 04, 2010 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Making the list on your national conversation --
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: At stake right now is not just our ability to solve this problem, but our ability to solve any problem.
LEMON: Now those words are put to the test. Can Congressional leaders stare down the president in person and block health care? Signs of compromise and conflict, Majority Whip James Clyburn joins me live.
Skyrocketing costs, deep budget cuts prompting a national day of action on education.
This shocked you yesterday.
JFK TOWER (CHILD): MX403, contact departure, adios.
LEMON: But wait, there is more.
JFK TOWER (CHILD): JetBlue 7 contact New York departure.
LEMON: Their dad makes our list, big trouble for having little kids directing busy air traffic in New York.
Fans, pellet guns, horses, and police. Those just never mix, do they?
The lists you need to know about. Who is "Today's Most Intriguing"? Who is making news on Twitter? Your national conversation starts right now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: And here we go. Hello, everyone. Don't adjust your television sets. I'm Don Lemon, in today for Rick Sanchez. He will be back tomorrow.
I want to tell you what is making THE LIST today.
More fallout surrounding New York's Governor David Paterson we want to tell you about. It's a story that is developing right now. His top spokesman is resigning. Communications director Peter Kauffmann is the third key person to flee the administration in two weeks, in just two weeks.
Now, Kauffmann says he can't continue to serve the governor in good conscience. That's a quote, in good conscience. We have been following Governor Paterson's alleged ethics violations and possible involvement in an aide's domestic abuse case.
And CNN's Mary Snow working the story for us right now, so make sure you stay with us as THE LIST scrolls on for more developments on this story. We will bring you them to you.
Also making the list today all over the country, students and professors taking to the streets and they are protesting. It is being called the Day of Action. They are upset with budget cuts they say will destroy the education system.
Austin, Texas, first. U.T. students are upset about a $29 billion -- million, I should say -- $29 million education budget cut after their tuition jumped. And that is Denver, Colorado, there, where hundreds take over the state capital. We should have been hearing some of that protesting there. We will try to let you hear it.
Their argument, the state already ranks near the bottom in higher education funding, and more cuts are expected.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: No budget cuts! No budget cuts!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: And there you go. That is Atlanta. Students dressed in black, they were protesting outside the state capitol -- $300 million could be cut there, but much of the focus is on California.
You are looking at live pictures now. This is from Los Angeles, protesters there. They say state funding for higher education has been reduced by nearly $1 billion. And fees for students have increased -- get this -- 182 percent. That is since 2002.
And another large protest about to get under way right now in San Francisco. And that's where we find our Dan Simon. He is live at San Francisco State University.
Hey, Dan, set the scene for us.
DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, hey, Don, gearing up for a huge protest here in San Francisco State University, making signs, making T-shirts. Over there, you will see a mock cemetery, a cemetery for education.
Don, as you mentioned, these protests taking place all over California. Let me explain specifically why we are here at San Francisco State University, because the students here, they really represent working-class families.
And these tuition hikes really affecting these students hard. I'm going to introduce you to one of them.
This is Akasha Perez (ph) over here. Akasha is a junior here at San Francisco State.
When we spoke yesterday, you told me this 32 percent increase, $1,000, was hitting you really hard. You are working one job. What did you do?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I went ahead and I got another job. My other job is to organize against the budget cuts. So, that really helped. But the extra income definitely, definitely was needed.
SIMON: Tell me what are you hoping to accomplish with this rally today.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: With this rally today, I really want to bring the students of California, the faculty, the staff and the parents together to realize that we're taking part in a movement that is bigger than this.
This is an issue of social justice and education is a right, and we have to make sure that we're supporting it in all sectors.
SIMON: All right. Akasha is one of the organizers here. Thanks very much. We will be talking to you later.
So, Don, this is really one of the instances where you see not only students, but you see professors and other employees on campus rallying for the same cause, rallying for more money towards education. We are going to be out here all day long and we will chat with you next hour -- back to you.
LEMON: Hey, Dan, remember, I know we had been covering this back in November and there were a bunch of sit-ins and people were sitting in their cafeterias and in school buildings and there was some concern about security then.
Earlier, students were arrested, so take us through the security there. What are you seeing?
SIMON: Well, let me tell you something. Last December, when they had another partisan here, a bunch of students took over the business building. They held it overnight. And police had to come and get those folks out.
At this point, it seems pretty peaceful, but I can tell you there is some buzz that some students might attempt to overtake another building, occupy another building. Hopefully, that doesn't happen, but again, that is the buzz here on campus. If it does occur, you can bet that the police will respond right away and hopefully, hopefully, Don, it does not get ugly.
LEMON: So, Dan, the cuts there really some of the most dramatic in the nation. What has been the impact on the state education system? Some people say it has really been drastic.
SIMON: Well, look, any time you hike fees by 32 percent, you are going to hit people hard.
And here at San Francisco State University, let me break it down for you. If you make, if your family makes more than $70,000 a year, you do not qualify for any financial assistance.
And, you know, $70,000 here in the San Francisco Bay area only goes so far. And, again, the students here really come from working- class families. They might more than $70,000, but they are not going to get any assistance from the state, and that is why it is hurting them so hard.
And $1,000 in the case of Akasha Perez, where she is paying for her education herself, that hurts. So, she had to go get a second job in order to make ends meet. And, of course, she wants to stay in college, and she tells me that she wants to be a lawyer some day, so she is determined to stay in school, but would obviously like to see tuition go down.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: And, Dan, stand by. I have got a couple other questions for you, and again, this is happening all over the nation, but California we saw it really take place last year, November, December. We covered it.
But as I hear you talking about the students and about the cost of it, the students say it is not really -- it is about the cost, but it's also about quality as well.
SIMON: Well, it is about quality and it is about being able to take the classes you want.
And when the education got slashed, well, they had to cut about 200 professors here at San Francisco State. Statewide in the CSU system -- there are about 20 or so schools -- they had to cut 2,000 positions, so you can imagine the ripple effect in terms of all the colleges here in California.
So, when you cut that many professors, you are going to have fewer classes and that hurts. They want to be able to take the courses they want. They want to be able to major in the things they want, and they feel that with these cuts, that is really impacting their education.
LEMON: Dan, it may have been a long time for me and you and a number of the viewers, but remember -- I remember being poor back in college and eating noodles and cookies and scraping whatever you can and the cost of books.
So, they're protesting today around the country. And Dan Simon is going to be the, as well as the rest of -- many of our correspondents and producers checking this out for us. Education, very important, very important issue that's coming to the floor right here.
Thank you very much, Dan. We will check back with you.
Want to tell you about something else that is happening in the news today. It is this, a secret document reportedly found in a hotel room. Is the Republican Party waging a campaign of fear against President Obama? That story is straight ahead.
And a Mediterranean pleasure cruise turns into a nightmare when waves almost three stories high, imagine that, three stories high, hit the ship. We are finally seeing pictures of those crashing waves.
And how does that happen, Chad Myers? He will explain to us next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: You know, you ever have something that really just ruins your vacation?
Well, take a look at this. Here is one of those stories and in a really big way. It is really way more serious than that. A luxury cruise liner, 12 days at sea in the Mediterranean and from out of nowhere, huge waves almost 30 feet high, they smashed right into the ship, smashing and shattering the ship and the windows on that ship. Two people were on board were killed when they were -- during the wave.
Passengers say the water was pretty rough beforehand, but nobody was prepared for exactly what happened.
So, I want to talk -- and this is video. I believe this video came from one of the passengers aboard of the ship.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes.
LEMON: So, listen, what happened here? The Mediterranean is -- it is not usually this rocky, this wavy, right?
MYERS: Not usually this rocky, but it was not out of nowhere.
LEMON: Really?
MYERS: Those waves were completely out of a thunderstorm complex with a big low pressure center that in my opinion, the expression, the opinion in Chad's, not necessarily those of CNN.
LEMON: Those of CNN.
MYERS: In my opinion, it was the captain's error for getting that boat into that situation.
LEMON: He should have avoided this area?
MYERS: He was right here between Monaco and Spain. Let me show you what we had in this area. That buoy -- didn't we talk about buoys this weekend about the tsunamis?
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: Yes, you got it.
MYERS: This buoy was reporting 20-foot waves. We already knew the waves were there, yet the captain continued, and when it smashed into this wave, then had to turn around and go back.
These cruise ships are on a timetable. They have to be from one port to the next, and this captain drove this ship into a significant storm in the middle of the Mediterranean.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: Well, here is the question. So, there was a storm going on and they knew about it.
MYERS: Seventy-mile-per-hour winds in this low.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: And, by the way, it had nothing to do with the tsunami. This is a completely separate storm that was going on there. All right.
(CROSSTALK)
MYERS: No.
And -- well, in also my --
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: Humble opinion.
(CROSSTALK)
MYERS: -- is that what happened was if the captain took the boat, the ship, a little bit farther inland, he may have been very close to this shelf.
And if you ever notice if you are going boating on Lake Erie compared to boating in the ocean, the ocean waves do this, nice and slow. They're rollers.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: Right.
MYERS: But when you get into shallower water, these rollers all of a sudden become sharp.
LEMON: Spiky, yes.
MYERS: Not the close. And when the -- and the hit -- the boat hit a sharper, much steeper wave. And when that happened, the windows were blown out.
LEMON: Here is the thing. And I want to ask you this.
MYERS: Go ahead.
LEMON: You are saying he could have steered the ship away from this, right?
MYERS: No, should not have steered the ship into it, should have stayed in Barcelona, and not gone into the storm.
LEMON: Into it.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: You said there was a storm. But is this unusual for something like this to happen, even for an experienced seaman to maybe not know what is going on?
MYERS: According to the forecast that I got from CNN International, the forecasts coming out of the Mediterranean for this storm were not that severe. So, the captain, in his own, in his defense, didn't know this storm was that severe, because it wasn't forecast to be that severe.
So, maybe now everything rolls back down to the forecaster that didn't predict this storm that the captain was going into, didn't predict it enough that the captain was going into. But we have -- we had 60 people dead on the west coast of France --
LEMON: Right. Right.
MYERS: -- as storms slammed into France. This was a big storm system.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: Let's look at that video again. It was huge. And you said it is not connected to any other storm. Could we have that video again that we can show, the one from the person on board the ship? I believe this was taken from one of the cabins.
MYERS: Sure.
LEMON: There it is. Can you imagine, though? People going on a cruise ship, you're going on a vacation, you don't expect to have something like this.
And you know they do the drill before, what you do. You wear your life vests or what have --
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: That is a huge wave.
MYERS: It was a big wave, but anybody that has been at sea long enough knows that stuff happens, OK? And never take boating lightly. When people go boating with me, they call me Mr. What If, because I have everything in my boat what if. And they go, dude, it's not going to happen.
And I go, you know what, I am in charge of this vessel and yes, what if? I am going to make sure that you get home OK.
LEMON: That is why you are the meteorologist, because you're always prepared. Thank you, Mr. What If. We really appreciate it. Better known as Chad Myers, our meteorologist, here at CNN.
MYERS: All right.
LEMON: All right, let's move on now. We're going to talk about a Facebook status update. It got an important military raid canceled. So, why did the soldier give away the game plan? That is straight ahead.
Also, a secret document reportedly found, and now questions for the Republicans. Are they running a campaign of fear? Will it plague the next election? Jessica Yellin and I drill down on that -- there she is -- next.
Don't say anything, Jessica. Got a lot of questions for you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: OK.
We are going to take you inside now. Pay attention to some party strategy, all right? So, wouldn't you love to be a fly in the room when political leaders talk strategy? Well, here is the next best thing.
Republicans recently met in Boca Raton -- Boca Grande, Florida, I should say, to talk about raising money for the upcoming election and beyond. Party finance officials offered a slide presentation which found its way to the Web site Politico.com.
So, here we go. We are going to take a look at some of the PowerPoint presentation slides that were found from this GOP briefing.
The tools for success, that was the Republican logo right there. It's called tools for success. And what they said in this PowerPoint presentation was putting the fun back in fund-raising. The motivation you can see here, it was to give -- and -- to others -- appeals to potential donors here.
And you can see it is shaped like a heart, so they are appealing to the hearts of the donors here. Appeal to people's fears, they say. Get them to give money. It's here, appeal to the fears. Extreme -- people who have extreme feelings toward the administration and on and on and on.
Again, this is from a Republican fund-raising event. And this is according to Politico.com. Appeal to peer pressure. These are the normal small donors here which they get most of their donations for. These are the small donors. So, this is average folks, you and me, people who make normal salaries.
These are the big guys, where they get probably 80 percent of their donations from. Appeal to the ego, it says. So, let's go to the next slide. When you sell, they said, how do you sell? What can you tell when you don't have the White House, the House, or the Senate?
And, if you know, this is sort of the symbol from "Atlas Shrugged," right, that they're appealing to here. So, you save, the country, it says, from trending towards socialism. And, again, Republican talking points for raising money, we are told here.
The final thing they said in this same slide show, the evil empire, to portray the president as a socialist. And, then, here, you see the portrait here of Harry Reid and then Nancy Pelosi. Nancy Pelosi in this thing is portrayed as Cruella Deville, and Harry Reid, Scooby-Doo.
So, there you go. What do you make of this?
Let's go to Jessica Yellin in Washington.
Now, Jessica, this just happens to be Republicans, right? The same thing I would be doing here if it was Democrats, if it was independents. Does it appear that they are appealing to the lowest common denominator,? Instead of saying, hey, let's do it on information, this seems to be appealing to fear and what people have been criticizing the Republican Party for.
JESSICA YELLIN, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes.
The problem with this, Don, obviously, is that it is just so bush-league. It's so juvenile and goofy that it is embarrassing. It's another embarrassment for the Republican Party. So, are they appealing to fear? Well, yes. They say yes explicitly, yes, let's appeal to fears that Obama is pushing us towards socialism.
But it is hardly a secret that that is a major underpinning of the themes in some of the Republican base's message this year. Again, they are appealing to the most activist members of their own party. And they are saying, let's do it on this fear of socialism.
And, yes, it is embarrassing for the Republican Party. And I will point out, Democrats are going to use this and go to town on it to campaign against the Republicans and raise their own money.
LEMON: The cynicism that we're seeing here, when you see things like this -- and I don't know. And I am sure Democrats have their own talking points, their own strategies for raising money.
YELLIN: Right.
LEMON: But, as you said, this one seemed to be pretty elemental. And to the cynicism that you see here, let's make sure that we appeal to people who and tell people who have the most radical views about the administration. Let's call the president a socialist.
What do you make of that? I'm not a political strategist, but I am not sure if the other side is doing that, are they?
YELLIN: Well, let's separate what -- the message of the Republican fund-raising team from the message of the Republican Party.
And what you have here are a group of very active Republican fund-raisers and somebody from their own campaign saying, this is how you are going to get more money. And, look, both sides do things to gin up the base and get people excited.
What is awful about this is just how goofy it is, basically. I mean, compare Harry Reid to Scooby-Doo? They don't have a more sophisticated message than that?
LEMON: Yes, or Cruella De Vil.
Hey, listen, so, listen, I want to tell you, Michael Steele distancing himself from this, saying he didn't know anything about it, he didn't attend it.
YELLIN: Yes.
LEMON: And then I want to tell you what a Democratic spokesperson says here. It says -- and this is from Brad Woodhouse.
YELLIN: Woodhouse.
LEMON: He says: "If you had any doubt, any doubt whatsoever that the Republican Party has been taken over by the fear-mongering, lunatic fringe, those doubts were erased today" -- again, Brad Woodhouse.
And, then, Michael Steele, the chairman of the RNC, is distancing himself, saying -- I saw an interview with him. He said, I didn't like it when I was compared to memes or really sort of degradating (ph) figures. So, I don't like it when the president is as well.
YELLIN: Right. Right.
And he is saying that this is a matter for an internal investigation and that -- he didn't use the word investigation, but he said they're looking into it internally and they will decided what will be done.
Really, the big problem here, Don, is that this is just another embarrassment under Michael Steele's leadership, and the RNC has been rocked by them time and again. So, it's a problem for Michael Steele.
I don't suspect this will because a problem for fund-raising for the Republican Party. The challenge they are having really right now is the RNC is having a problem raising money with their biggest donors. Most of their donations, a growing number, are coming from their small donors. And so they have to be worried. LEMON: Do you think the small donors are aware of this stuff, like these sort of talking points, that that is how they may be appealing to them?
(CROSSTALK)
YELLIN: And I doubt most people think that this is -- that there is a strategy behind everything, that it is planned out like this, but this is how the parties work.
(CROSSTALK)
LEMON: Jessica, we have got to run.
YELLIN: Yes.
LEMON: I do want to say, we reached out to Michael Steele. I even called myself. We called a number of times. He would not come on the show. He said scheduling problems. He did appear on FOX News. I saw the interview there. And he said that he was surprised by this.
But we shall see. Maybe he will come on and talk.
If you're watching, Mr. Steele, Chairman Steele, come on. Love to talk to you.
Thank you, Jessica.
YELLIN: Good to see you, Don.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
JFK TOWER (CHILD): JetBlue 171, cleared for takeoff.
PILOT: Cleared for takeoff, JetBlue 171.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
LEMON: OK. So, yesterday, you heard that. We let you hear that, a boy directing air traffic at one of the nation's busiest airports. Well, guess what his dad did the next day? You're not going to believe it. It is hard to believe. That is ahead. And next, you know, a sheik issued a fatwa against suicide bombing. Who is this guy putting his own people on notice? We are going to tell you next.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
CALLER: The air controller in New York City needs to be in jail. The man is a crazy man. To bring his children? What is this world coming down to? What a jerk. What a jerk, playing with everybody else's lives. This man needs to be put in jail. He is a sick man.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) LEMON: Don Lemon in today for Rick Sanchez looking over some papers here, and I want to tell you we are looking over some tweets as well.
We told you at the top of our show about the students protesting all over the country talking about budget cuts, budget cuts and the raising of tuitions, saying they can't afford it. We are following some of the students who are in that protest. And they are tweeting us now.
It says: "So we can provoke the change that we have only witnessed through our history books. U.C.'s backs are against the wall."
And I think we have one more. Here we go. "Whose university? Our university."
And they're sending their tweets in. We have another? Two or three? You want to do another one? Is that it? All right. I believe that is it. So, we will move on. We will look at our tweets and our viewer response throughout the day here on CNN. We are here for two hours, one-and-a-half more hours we have of RICK'S LIST coming your way.
So, it is time now for our list of the most intriguing, the most intriguing. It is when we highlight fascinating people in the news.
Well, today, an Islamic leader who issued a fatwa against his own people. He was born in Pakistan and raised since childhood to be a religious leader. This renowned scholar of the Islamic faith this week released a 600-page fatwa against suicide bombers, saying they are destined for hell. In other words, they are not destined for paradise if they kill in the name of Allah.
The fatwa is arguably the most comprehensive argument against Islamic terrorists.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHEIKH TAHIR UL-QADRI, RELIGIOUS LEADER: Terrorism is terrorism. Violence is violence. It has no place in Islamic teachings.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: He is Sheikh Tahir ul-Qadri. His fatwa is available for anyone to read in English and online. That is unusual. And it's part of the reason why he is one of our most intriguing today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: At stake right now is not just our ability to solve this problem, but our ability to solve any problem.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Will congressional leaders block the president's game plan? Majority Whip James Clyburn joins me this hour to discuss health care reform.
And look at that. That is coming up next, one angry transit hearing.
You can join us on our national conversation whenever you visit Atlanta. And just call this number, 1-877-4CNN-TOUR, 877-4CNN-TOUR.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: A college sports night celebration turns ugly, really ugly. It made our "Fotos del Dia." Let's do it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stand back immediately! Move, move, move.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Oh, no, you can see that this is not good. Basketball fans spilled out of the U of Maryland game last night and got a little bit rowdy. Riot police on horseback shut it down, but not before 27 people were arrested.
Police say that students started to throw snowballs and ice at the police officers. If you are on a horseback, that can be really dangerous.
Come on, y'all, it just a game. Let's play nice.
Next, more mayhem. Roll it, Roger.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You are denying people the right to --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: That is Brooklyn, New York, last night. A hearing held by the city's transit system got tense when protesters refused to stop shouting. Four people were taken away in handcuffs, and they were voicing their anger at a plan to cut bus routes and end a student metro card program.
OK. Get your "ah" ready to go, because you are going to need it here. Look at that little fellow. This is the L.A. River, that was yesterday, a little dog in trouble. He got caught up in the rushing water there. Here comes help from above, rescuers swooping right in, and scooped her up.
Did you hear everybody in the newsroom go "ah." She is awfully tired from the ordeal, but she is dry and safe, she has no collar and no ID, no chip there, but she is well groomed and healthy and hopefully soon to be reunited with her family.
Meantime, the rescuers are calling this little cutie Splash. I am sure that the family does not come forward, someone will get this little doggie. That is "Fotos."
LEMON: Remember this story? It's everywhere. We told you about the boy heard directing air traffic at JFK. What? Now we are learning that the man's daughter was heard doing the same thing the very next day. We will tell you about that next.
And also ahead, we are hearing the 911 tapes from Sea World the day that the killer whale went after the trainer, and the tapes are telling about what may have really gone wrong.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CALLER: Hey, Rick, this is John from Orlando. You need to tell the news people to lighten up about the kids in the air traffic control tower. It is not like the dad left the room and doing it all by themselves.
It was cute, the pilots didn't mind, there was no real safety risk. People need to chill out, relax, and remember what we are here on earth for. We are here for our kids.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Well, there you go, we are here for our kids. But I am not sure that everyone on the planes might agree, but we will see.
Yesterday, we told you about the air traffic controller who brought his son to work and let him direct planes from the JFK control tower, really and one of the busiest airports in the country.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The sixth busiest.
LEMON: Well, it turns out, it was not the only take your kid to work day that he has participated in. I am not sure it was take your kid to work day, he just brought his kids. So two kids for this controller, what are you hearing?
BALDWIN: Well, so many --
LEMON: I thought it was not a big deal at first, and then I started thinking about it, and I went, hmm.
BALDWIN: Well, a lot of people have a lot to say on both sides, which is fascinating about this story. Thank you for tweeting by the way. We will read some of them.
But you're right, you mentioned this happened in February 16th. In the evening and according to the FAA this guy brought his son up to control tower, and then we just found out that upon learning that he also brought his daughter the very next day to the same control tower.
We are also hearing though, that this is, this air traffic controller is a veteran. You have to be good working at JFK, but a lot of people say it doesn't matter. First, let's listen to the daughter as she is helping clear planes for takeoff.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PILOT: JetBlue 57 contact New York for departure.
JFK TOWER (CHILD): Jet blue 57, thank you, good day.
JFK TOWER: That is the next generation of air traffic controlling here.
PILOT: I copy that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Now, again, we're hearing this according to an FAA official who is being asked not to be identified pending this investigation, but you can hear his son as well speaking to the pilots from this air traffic control tower. Let's listen to his son now. Roll it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JFK TOWER (CHILD): JetBlue 171 cleared for takeoff.
PILOT: Cleared for takeoff, JetBlue 171.
JFK TOWER: This is what you get, guys when the kids are out of school.
(LAUGHTER)
PILOT: I wish I could bring my kid to work.
JFK TOWER (CHILD): JetBlue 171, contact departure.
PILOT: Over to departure, JetBlue 171, awesome job.
PILOT: 403 cleared for takeoff.
JFK TOWER: 403 cleared for takeoff. Thank you very much. You are cleared for takeoff.
JFK TOWER (CHILD): MX 403 contact departure. Adios.
PILOT: Contact departure.
JFK TOWER (CHILD): Adios amigo.
PILOT: Adios amigo.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: So to paint the picture, there was a second control up there serving as supervisor. Both of them have been placed on administrative leave, and the FAA is investigating. I want to read you this states. Once again, FAA says "This lapse in judgment not only violated FAA's policies, but commonsense standards for professional conduct. These kinds of distractions are totally unacceptable."
Also, new today as a result of this, the FAA is suspending all unofficial visits to the control tower, so they will review the policies, procedures done when it comes to visitations.
Yesterday, I was talking to a former pilot, and it is allowed to have a visitor up there. It is a high security area but it has to go through the FAA. We don't know if it went flu the FAA, but man.
LEMON: It's a tough one. I love kids. I don't have any, great nieces and nephews, and they're all fine, but there is a place for kids and there is place that you shouldn't have kids.
BALDWIN: Absolutely.
LEMON: And I saw this story and took off yesterday in South Carolina and I heard it before I left, and then when I arrived I got to Hartsfield here, one of the busiest airports in the country, and you see the planes crossing as they're landing.
BALDWIN: It's highly complicated, but what I found so interesting is that a lot of people in the aviation industry said this is blown way out of proportion. If we can, let's go to the tweet board, because I got a bunch of tweets today, including this one from Brian Devereaux who said there is nothing wrong with what he did as long as this kid was not a distraction, and people need to relax. It is not like he tried to land the plane. All right, Brian.
Let's move on to the next one from Emory Board (ph). "I think the FAA is acting appropriately. Certain jobs, this goes to your point, Don, some jobs are too critical to play. This is what dad does. ATC is one of them."
One more tweet I want to read for you from Brian Jones says blown out of proportion. The kid is directing planes on the ground and not in the air. The dad is aware of everything going on."
LEMON: The danger is not over when you are on the ground. Well, I don't know if the guy should lose his job, but it should be a lesson to the people in the air traffic control towers.
BALDWIN: They are evaluating.
LEMON: A now you know thing. I don't think that the guy should lose his job, nothing happened, but -- thank you.
BALDWIN: But worth talking about.
(LAUGHTER)
LEMON: More tweets, and I am sure there will be more on the message board.
BALDWIN: Yes. LEMON: Good to see you.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: At stake right now is not just our ability to solve this problem, but our ability to solve any problem.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: OK. So is compromise or more conflict in our future? Majority Whip James Clyburn joins me ahead to discuss all of that.
What is it like to be an elevator in Taiwan when an earthquake hits? We are talking about 6.4 followed by dozens of aftershocks. That story is straight ahead.
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LEMON: This is only like a modern theme. Do you have ever post a message on the Facebook and wish you had not done it? Well, I think that hitting reply all on e-mail is probably worse than that for those of us working.
So, anyway, here is the proof that you, you know, you might know that feeling and it is not so good. It could have been worse, because check out this guy, what Kevin Flower has to say about this story from Tel Aviv.
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KEVIN FLOWER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: In Israel Facebook is the most popular of the social networking sites. Company officials say that the Israelis spend over 1 billion minutes each month on the Web site making it by far the most popular Web site in all of Israel.
So it comes as no surprise that posting Facebook status updates is a popular activity among the tens of thousands of soldiers who make up Israel's conscript military.
But things got too social when a combat soldier posted an update saying that he and his unit would be staging a raid in a West Bank town he identified by name. The soldier's post read, "On Wednesday, we are cleaning up. Today, arrests. On Thursday, god willing, we will be home."
His update was reported by a fellow soldier, and the operation was canceled. The offending soldier was sentenced to ten days in prison and he was removed from all future combat duty. The Israeli military said that the posting imperiled operational security and reminded its soldiers not the reveal sensitive information on the social networking site.
This is not the first time issues of national security and social media have arisen here. Less than a year ago, Israel's internal security service warned all citizens to be careful on social networking sites, saying that enemies of the state were using the Internet to recruit Israelis as spies.
Regardless of the various warning, the use of social media in Israel is only likely to increase, and with that, the government's policing of what is a threat to national security.
Kevin Flower, CNN, Tel Aviv.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: All right, Kevin.
Questions about whether the Sea World trainer should have been in the water when the killer whale pulled her in. Some answers in just released 911 calls.
And take a look at this gentleman, Representative James Clyburn. Don't answer this, but I saw you on "The Daily Show," nice job. We will talk about health care, the president's health care reform. And it is down to the wire, and he is trying to win over more Democrats and more support.
And what about the Republican fundraising strategy talking points? We will talk to Mr. Clyburn moments away.
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LEMON: All right, so, let's get right to it now. Joining me now from Washington is the number three Democrat in the House of Representatives, House Majority Whip James Clyburn of South Carolina.
I was just in your state yesterday, and I had a good time. It snowed there.
REP. JAMES CLYBURN (D-SC), HOUSE MAJORITY WHIP: I heard. Thank you so much for visiting our beautiful state.
LEMON: Thank you for having me. Everybody was really nice.
Health care reform -- Speaker Pelosi's plan for the House to pass the bill the Senate has already passed, and the president has to sign off on the bill to sign it into law then, have both houses pass some modifications.
So, explain to us exactly what is going on here, because to the -- I'm not sure that the average viewer knows the process in all of this. One it does happen, will this go before the president, and do you think that this will happen?
CLYBURN: Well, let me remind the viewers way back last year the House passed a comprehensive bill with 220 votes, a bill that had gun through three committees, and we sent that over to the Senate.
The Senate debated this issue and wrapped up to Christmas Eve, and with 60 votes they sent a bill to conference.
Now, when the president looked at the Senate bill, there were things in the Senate bill he liked and things in the House bill he liked. So the president started working with House and Senate members, started working out some what we call fixers, trying to fix this thing so that it would be to his liking.
LEMON: That's how we got to the forum that happened last Thursday. The president listened to Republicans and Democrats, and now you come up with this.
So here's the thing. People who are opposed to it saying they are ramming it down our throats, we don't want it, because they think the administration they will use reconciliation in order to pass this legislation.
CLYBURN: I don't understand if you could say that if you have 60 votes, a supermajority. And now you bring in this bill to the Senate and have you these two bills the president put his viewpoints on, and then he sat down in that summit and brought in ideas from the Republicans, the pool coming from John McCain, and doing the fixes that the Senate didn't like, getting rid of Nebraska amendment.
Senator Coburn talked about undercover testers ought to be in this. The president is putting all that in the bill.
And now we are looking to reconcile the Republicans' ideas, the president's wishes with the House and Senate bill, and that's what we are trying to get a simple majority vote on those fixes.
LEMON: But critics are saying using this particular tool, which is called reconciliation, right, maybe people don't know what that is. but using thing particular tool, people are saying this -- health care legislation is too big an issue and reconciliation was not men to be use order an issue like this.
CLYBURN: I don't know why they would say that. The fact of the matter, reconciliation was used 22 times in the last -- since 1980, 16 times by Republican controlled Senate, only six times by Democrats.
What all you have you used reconciliation for? This thing is no bigger than reforming the welfare deal, welfare reform was done under reconciliation. And the Children's Health Insurance Program that S- Chip, reconciliation. And so this is no bigger than those things.
LEMON: With all due respect -- I don't want to cut you off. There are other things I want to get to. The simple way of putting is instead of a supermajority it is a simple majority when you are talking about reconciliation.
So here's the thing. Do you think that this bill is going to pass, this bill going to become law? And is reconciliation going to be used, indeed?
CLYBURN: Yes, sir. I think that's what we are going to do and I think it is going to become law.
But let me say this, if you will p. The fact of the matter is there are a lot of things that I would like to see in this bill that are not here. I would like to see a public option. It is not in this bill. There are other things that I would like to see come into the bill.
LEMON: But the house will fight for that later, right? You are going the try to add that into the bill.
CLYBURN: That's what we did with Social Security, that's when we did with Medicare, that's what we did with all the big civil rights laws back in the 1960s.
In 1964 when the Civil Acts right was passed, it didn't have voting in it. Voting didn't come along until 1965. Housing didn't come along until 1968. We didn't make them apply -- the voting rights didn't apply to the state and local governments until 1972. So what we need to do is build a good solid program upon which we can build going forward.
LEMON: Mr. Clyburn, I have literally ten second.
CLYBURN: Sure.
LEMON: I want to talk about -- we showed the RNC from Politico.com saying it was their fundraising points, fundraising strategies. What did you make of that?
CLYBURN: That was shameful. I really believe that the RNC needs to apologize to the American people for subjecting them to that kind of a tactic. That is not what this great country ought to be about, and I think that the American people are now beginning to see that this is not about policy. This is about something pretty bad practices.
LEMON: This isn't politics as usual. You don't think Democrats do the same thing?
CLYBURN: Absolutely not. If I were ever in a room and Democrats did that to anybody, not only would I walk out of the room, but I would go to that -- whatever that may be and physically remove it from the building.
LEMON: Mr. Clyburn, before you go, do you have a count on the vote for health care? Do you have a hard whip count?
CLYBURN: No, sir, I don't. We don't know exactly what to whip. And that's why we are waiting on these fixers to take place, and the moment we get the fixers done, post them for the American people, I will look in on it and the same way the American people will, and then I will know what to go to my caucus with.
LEMON: James Clyburn, much appreciated, always good to see you.
CLYBURN: Thank you so much for having me, Mr. Lemon.
LEMON: Thank you.
Let's talk now about students protesting across the country today. They are fed up with the price of education going up and up and up -- 182 percent. That's just in California over the last few years.
And scary moments -- stuck in an elevator during an earthquake in Taiwan yesterday. We will take you inside the elevator, straight ahead.
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