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CNN Sunday Morning

Paid Protestors; Topless Kate Frenzy

Aired September 16, 2012 - 08:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): From CNN world headquarters in Atlanta, this is CNN SUNDAY MORNING.

More details unfolding about the violent protesters in Cairo. Why some of them may have been paid for their attacks.

The topless Kate photos spreading around the world. Now, a second magazine has published the pictures.

"Forward" and "Believe in America". Those are today's campaign slogans, but they weren't always so elegant. Wait until you hear some of the slogans from the old days.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: Good morning, everyone. I'm Randi Kaye. It is 8:00 on the East Coast, 5:00 a.m. out West. Thanks for starting your morning with us.

We start in Afghanistan, and the deaths of four coalition troops. They were gunned down by a member of the Afghan police force. It is just the latest in a string of so-called green-on-blue attacks.

Joining me now is CNN's Anna Coren. She's in Kabul, Afghanistan, this morning.

Anna, what do we know about this attack exactly, and do we know the nationality of the coalition troops?

ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We don't know the nationalities just yet. We do believe, however, that U.S. forces were in this particular area where this Afghan police officer opened fire on those coalition troops. As you mentioned, four coalition soldiers killed early this morning. There were two killed yesterday. Also in southern Afghanistan they were both British.

So, this is, as we say, two attacks in two days, and it takes the death toll of coalition troops to 51, which is quite staggering. Last year, it was a total of 35. Back in 2007, 2008, it was a total of just four. So, we really are seeing an uptick.

Now, Randi, of course, the Taliban do claim responsibility for each of these attacks. However, U.S. forces say that is not true that they are, in fact, responsible for 25 percent of these attacks. Insurgency is responsible for 25 percent of these attacks. The rest are personal grievances and cultural differences, or just fatigue, the psychological fatigue of an 11-year war that is about to enter its 12th year, Randi.

KAYE: And, Anna, you mentioned number of these attacks and those that were lost. Why the uptick? Why so many?

COREN: Well, we have the Taliban, obviously, claiming responsibility. You know, they want to undermine any security, any stability that has been established over the last few years. Obviously, the international forces have announced they are out of here come 2014, so this transfer of power is underway from the coalition forces to the Afghan armed forces. Some 350,000 Afghan soldiers and army will make up this force.

But what has been quite frightening, Randi, is we saw the attack down in Camp Bastion on Friday night, down in the Helmand Province. This is heavily fortified base with some 20,000 coalition troops. Now, if the Taliban can infiltrate the perimeter there, get through, kill two marines, cause damage on the airstrip, what hope do Afghan forces have to hold up the fort on their own?

KAYE: Absolutely. There's also some news coming in about an air strike in Afghanistan. Do you have any information on that?

COREN: Yes, we're just getting news, Randi. This is -- complicates the situation even more in this country. We believe that there was an ISAF air strike overnight in which seven women were killed. I beg your pardon. It was eight women that were killed. Seven women were injured.

This took place in Laghman province, which is in eastern Afghanistan, along the Pakistani border. From what we've heard from the district governor, these women go out at night. They collect firewood and perhaps it is a case where ISAF saw movement and decided strike the area thinking it was Taliban. In fact, it was eight women who are killed, seven women who are injured -- Randi.

KAYE: That's just terrible news. Anna Coren, reporting from Kabul -- Anna, thank you.

Now, let's move to Cairo where life is getting back to normal after days of anti-American protests, but now it turns out not all of those protesters were there because of their anger with the U.S. and that anti-Muslim video. Many, turns out, were being paid to protest. That news comes from Egypt's prime minister. Paying people to protest is fairly common in Egypt.

To California now where the filmmaker whose YouTube video sparked some of the protests in the Middle East is in hiding. Nakoula Basseley Nakoula talked with investigators yesterday. Part of the questioning is believed to have centered on his probation from a previous bank fraud conviction. It's unknown where Nakoula went after that interview. He told police he would not return to his home many California. You can see it here. The FBI has been investigating threats against Nakoula.

In Syria, the new international envoy says he has no plan for peace, but says both the opposition and the government must work together.

Meanwhile, government troops pounded the opposition in Aleppo. Opposition leaders say that more than 160 people died across the country yesterday.

While his forces launch more attacks, Syrian President Assad says he is committed to peace and is blaming outside forces for arming the anti-government fighters.

Back here at home, the nation's third largest school district could be up and running again soon. Teachers in Chicago set to vote today on whether to end a week-long strike. The union has reached a tentative agreement with the school board, but it's not a done deal yet. Reverend Jesse Jackson stepped in to show his support for Chicago teachers during a rally yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REV. JESSE JACKSON, CIVIL RIGHT ACTIVIST: The struggle that you launched in Chicago, this is not just a Chicago struggle. This is a struggle for working people everywhere.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: If all goes well today, students could return to classes tomorrow and start filling up those empty seats in some 700 public schools.

An American is now free after two years of what he calls a Nicaraguan hell hole. Jason Puracal's 22-year sentence for drug trafficking charges and money laundering charges have been thrown out after months of pressure from human rights activists and attorneys.

Here's the 35-year-old's sister speaking out on his behalf last month.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Jason is absolutely innocent. I have no doubt in my mind. There is no evidence here of my drugs. There is no evidence of any illegal money. Jason didn't even know the other 10 people with whom he was arrested.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: A family spokesperson said Puracal should be reunited with his family soon, but he wouldn't say where, citing safety concerns.

And be sure to tune in to CNN tomorrow night at 8:00 Eastern. Anderson Cooper will have an exclusive interview with Jason Puracal. That's at 8:00 Eastern, right here on CNN.

And now to politics. The GOP has a new campaign talking point to try to win over voters. This time, they're targeting the Federal Reserve.

The stock market bounced higher this past week after the Central Bank announced its latest move to stimulate the economy. It's buying up billions of dollars in additional mortgage-backed securities. The program is aimed at pushing mortgage rates even lower, but critics, including Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan, say it is a bad idea.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. PAUL RYAN (R-WI), VICE PRESIDENTIAL NOMINEE: When they undermine the value of our dollar, it wipes out our standard of living. One of the most insidious things a government can do to its people is to debase its currency.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: The Obama campaign is responding to the latest attack by saying, quote, "Congressman Ryan has no credibility when it comes to helping the middle class."

President Obama is leading the polls in some very important swing states, but don't count Governor Romney out just yet. We'll show you just how close some of these races are.

But, first, here's our political junkie question of the day. In the 2008 presidential election, which state had the smallest margin of victory? You can see it there. Tweet me the right answer at RandiKayeCNN. If you are first, I'll let you know.

You're watching CNN SUNDAY MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Welcome back.

Before the break I asked which state had the smallest margin of victory in the 2008 presidential election. A lot of you tweeted me the answer that you thought it was. Well, the right answer is Missouri. John McCain won by 3,903 votes.

The closest win for President Obama was North Carolina. A lot of folks guessed that. He won by about 14,000 votes or so. And congrats to Hazel @ancestors9 (ph). That's the handle for tweeting me the right answer first. Thanks for playing, everybody.

The 2012 campaign season is giving the cast of "Saturday Night Live" plenty to talk about or make fun of. The show returned for its 38th season last night, and people are talking about the new actor playing President Obama. It is Jay Pharoah instead of Fred Armisen.

Check out his impression. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAY PHAROAH: Now I know I'm not perfect. I'm distant. I'm aloof. I'm overconfident, but wouldn't you be overconfident if your only competition was this?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's be honest, OK? Nobody here wants gay marriage, all right? Nobody. Isn't that right, sir?

Oh, you are gay. Well, so that's why you are wearing the beret. I see. OK.

Oh, you're in the Army. Well, thank you for your service. I'm sorry. Your gay service.

PHAROAH: He makes me laugh. And it's nice to have something to laugh about right now because people are out of work. They're living with their parents, more or less in junk.

It's like we got a "Sanford and Son" economy. Da da da da da. Da da da da da da da.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KAYE: Just 51 days left until the election, and it's been a political poll-paloozza. Polls show President Obama has a few battleground state advantages, but Mitt Romney has plenty of time to catch up. Both men know this election could come down to one or two state decision.

CNN's chief national correspondent John King breaks down the numbers for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Several new national polls and a half dozen state polls from key battleground states tell us this. Heading into the final seven weeks, still a very close race for president, but you would have to say a slight advantage for the incumbent, President Obama, heading into that critical stretch.

Let's look at this battleground state polls and let's start out in the state of Colorado. Still, a tight race here. American Research Group poll has the president on top, but that's within the polls margin of error. So, you'd have to say a dead heat in Colorado, perhaps the slight advantage for the president.

Now let's come over to the Midwest and start with Michigan. Michigan is the state Mitt Romney was born there, and his dad was governor. The Republicans really thought they could put this battleground state in play.

But look at this poll from Epic/MRA this past week, a 10-point advantage for the president. That probably explains just why Republican super PACs that have been spending in Michigan decided to pull out. But the Romney campaign says it hasn't given up. But this tells you at the moment a decided advantage for the president in the state of Michigan.

Which makes Ohio all the more important -- no Republican in modern times has won the White House without winning the state of Ohio. A mixed verdict if you look at the polls out of Ohio.

An American Research Group poll shows a dead heat, the president with a slight advantage. But that's within the smallest margin of error. The Romney campaign says this is how they see the state of Ohio.

But an NBC/"Wall Street Journal"/Marist poll at the close of the week had a seven-point advantage for the president. The Romney campaign says these numbers are off, and the Obama campaign encourage, though, they say they insist Ohio is starting to trend their way. That's a key voice of the Midwest.

Now, let's come over to one of the smaller battleground states. Smaller, up here to the state of New Hampshire. Again, Romney has a vacation home here. A five-point advantage for the president, and the state he carried back in 2008, a state that Governor Romney doesn't necessarily have to win, but it figures prominently in his path to 270.

Again, you notice, a slight advantage. Yes, close, but another slight advantage for the president.

And this is going to start to sound a bit redundant. Now come to the state of Virginia, what do you see again? Five-point advantage for the president. This is the NBC/Marist/"Wall Street Journal" poll.

Again, that's very close. It's competitive. But you have another battleground state, yet another battleground state where the same thing is happening, a slight advantage for the president.

And not just like a broken record, but let's bring up the state of Florida -- and what do you get? Yet again, a five-point advantage for the president in a very, very, very key battleground state there.

So, you add that up and you come from Colorado across from the east down to Florida in each of these states, yes, they're very competitive, but the president has an advantage.

So, what does that do to the race that matters most? And that is the race to 270 electoral votes. Well, we start with the president at 237. Dark blue, strong Obama states. Light blue, leaning Obama. One hundred ninety-one for Governor Romney. Same thing, dark red strong for Romney, light red leaning his way.

Here's why the state polls tell us so much. It matters so much going into the final stretch. We have the president leading in Ohio. Governor Romney has to win the state. If we turn this state blue, it puts the president on the doorstep of winning re-election.

If the president carried Ohio and that Florida poll also held up, and the president carried Florida, if nothing else change, game over. That would put the president over the top.

So, those two states, the biggest prizes of the battlegrounds are key going into the stretch.

Let's stretch it just a little bit more hypothetically. Let's say Governor Romney carries the state of Florida. Even then, look, if the president keeps Ohio, he's at 255. So he could get there pretty easily.

Let's say if he's winning Ohio, he also wins hen Iowa. That puts him at the doorstep of 261. All he would need is to take the state of Wisconsin. And again, game over for the president.

That is why, as we put this back where they are, it's toss-up states. That is why Ohio is so important for Governor Romney. If he loses this state, the math is almost impossible.

So, as you head into the final stretch and you se all these battle grounds, you see slight advantage for the president, still competitive. What does it tell? Governor Romney can fight them state by state or he can change the race with some national changes in the dynamic. His best opportunity for that -- next month's three debates.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KAYE: John King, keeping an eye on the numbers for us.

The Occupy protesters are back in New York. Tomorrow is the anniversary of the movement, and already police are putting protesters in handcuffs.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Good morning, New York City. Look at that gorgeous shot there of the -- looks like the Hudson from what I can tell.

Thanks for watching CNN SUNDAY MORNING. Glad you're with us.

Tomorrow marks the one-year anniversary of the Occupy Wall Street movement, and protesters plan on being back out in full force. Large crowds already assembled over the weekend, and already, New York police say that they have had to arrest several people.

David Ariosto is in Zuccotti Park in New York City, the birthplace of the Occupy movement.

David, good morning.

So the anniversary is tomorrow. What's happening today?

DAVID ARIOSTO: Yes. We are actually just one day away from the anniversary, and behind me here, like you said, is the birthplace of the Occupy movement, which, as you know, spreads dozens of cities all across the country and even around the world in areas like Asia and Europe. But this really was the beginning. This was the epicenter. If you look behind me here, it's pretty much empty. That wasn't the scene last night many which several protesters where police say were arrested, one even on felony assault.

Most, however, were on disorderly conduct. You can see protesters now starting to gear up. One of the things to pay attention to in this park is the line of metal fences around. This is a private park really in the heart of Manhattan's financial district, but police have been basically set up at all four corners of the park in heavy presence, and there really is no one in here.

One of the things to keep in mind about this park is really how small it is. Remember, being here last year how many people were really jammed into this area. The general assembly was right here, and it lasted for several months, spawning protests in several cities and really bringing attention to social inequality and some of the other issues.

But it was also criticized for lacking a message. And we spoke to a Fordham University professor about the significance of this particular physical location.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PROF. HEATHER GAUTNEY, FORDHAM UNIVERSITY: The camps are really the central point, you know, for the first couple of months, and that's just not a sustainable form of protest. So I think that there was a transition into more kind of localized acts of protest, but they never really had the momentum that the camps had. So I think there was a problem of transitioning into a new strategy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ARIOSTO: So, you know, what a lot of people said was the Occupy 2.0, so to speak, using courts, using the lobby groups, the very institutions with which many of these groups said were corrupted within the American political system, was really sort of prevented this group from taking it a step forward in becoming a viable political movement here in this country.

KAYE: David Ariosto at Zuccotti Park for us this morning -- David, thank you.

They are the topless photos being seen around the world, but should Kate Middleton, the duchess of Cambridge, have been a little more careful about where she decided to sunbathe half naked, or was this a criminal invasion of privacy?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Good morning, L.A. Folks just waking up there. So glad you're with us. Beautiful shot of downtown. Wow. Take a look at that.

Thanks for starting the morning with us here on CNN SUNDAY MORNING.

The British royal family is headed to court. They are hoping to stop more topless photos of Kate Middleton from being published. Two tabloids have already shown pictures of the duchess sunbathing topless at a private chateau while vacationing in France.

St. James Palace released a statement saying, "Their Royal Highnesses had every expectation of privacy in the remote. It's unthinkable that anyone should take such photographs, let alone publish them."

Here to talk about the naked truth about the topless royal photo is Nadia Bilchik.

Good morning.

NADIA BILCHIK, CNN EDITORIAL PRODUCER: Good morning.

KAYE: All right. So before we get to the photos, we mentioned that the royals are going to be in court in Paris.

BILCHIK: Yes, royal lawyers are taking this very seriously. In fact, the palace says it's grotesque. They will be going to court tomorrow, a Paris court. They will be seeking damages and an injunction so stop the publication of any more photos.

But how is it going to impact the 21-page spread or 20-plus page spread that's supposed to appear in an Italian magazine owned, by the way, by Silvio Berlusconi, tomorrow? So, will that impact that? We don't know. But they're taking it seriously.

KAYE: We are not showing the photos on our air here at CNN. But I haven't seen them. You have seen them.

BILCHIK: I have seen pictures. They are very revealing. In fact, there are a couple with Kate taking her bikini top. You're not sure whether she's taking it on or off, but you can certainly see everything.

KAYE: It's not in place. We know that.

BILCHIK: It's not in place. There's another one where she's leaning forward and Prince William is rubbing lotion on her derriere, should we say, to put it very politely.

So, that's very revealing. It's exposing. You can imagine she's terribly upset.

KAYE: Oh, I'm sure. But now, these were taken at the chateau, which is owned by the queen's nephew. I would imagine it's pretty private place. So this must have been a pretty powerful lens to try and get these photos.

BILCHIK: This telephoto lens managed to literally go across about a half a mile, which is 10 New York blocks, and if you had to put it in football fields, it's about seven and one-third football fields. That's how powerful it was.

Now, the fact that photographer was not close to the house might also change the legality.

KAYE: So the question is, though, I mean, where was security, and why would they take this risk, right?

BILCHIK: And should she have been more prudent? Yes, you're in a private chateau in the south of France, but surely there's servants around and security anyway. So I'm curious did she say to the security guards, high pressure you don't mind I'm going to have a topless rump? I mean, you know, it's very interesting to know, you know, people must have been around. I believe she should be more prudent.

KAYE: It is very common in France. I mean, they were in France and this is what they do.

BILCHIK: But for the future queen of England, she must know at this point that she is the most photographed person probably m world right now. Wouldn't you be more careful?

KAYE: Yes. We were just -- we just went through something similar to this with Prince Harry in Las Vegas, photo snapped of him and trying to cover up in a Vegas hotel room. But this seems to be getting a lot more attention.

BILCHIK: I suppose there's a double standard, but I think because this is reminiscent of Princess Diana and something that the palace said was "The incident is reminiscent of the worst excesses of the press and paparazzi during the life of Diana, princess of Wales, and all the more upsetting to the duke and duchess for being so."

So, hard for William, right, couldn't protect his mother, and hopefully he will be able to protect his wife.

KAYE: Yes. Certainly. Well, we'll see how what happens in court as they try to seek this injunction. Nadia, thank you.

BILCHIK: Thank you.

KAYE: Appreciate that.

Some of the protest defending Islam's Prophet Muhammad have turned violent -- which to many which seems to contradict the religion. So what does the Koran actually say about this sort of thing?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Welcome back to CNN SUNDAY MORNING. I'm Randi Kaye. Bottom of the hour now; glad you're with us.

Here are five important stories that we're watching this morning.

Four coalition troops were killed this morning in southern Afghanistan. The attack was carried out by a member of the Afghan police force who is on patrol with the troops. It is the second such attack in the past 24 hours.

Number two: those thousands of Egyptians protesting that anti- Muslim film on YouTube. Well, Egypt's Prime Minister now saying that some of them were paid to protest, which is common in the country. He did not say if the government knew who was offering payment.

In Chicago take a look. This is the home of a Chicago teen, federal investigators say, wanted to kill Americans in a terrorist attack. 18-year-old Adel Daoud is behind bars this morning after unsuccessfully trying to detonate a car bomb in front of a downtown Chicago bar Friday night. His arrest followed an undercover investigation spanning several months. A preliminary hearing is set for tomorrow.

And also in Chicago, today could bring an end to the week-long teacher strike. The vote would decide whether to end the walkout that's crippled the nation's third largest school district. According to the union's Web site, teachers are asking for three-year contracts, pay raises and job security. Both sides are optimistic. Students will return to school tomorrow, but a final deal is not yet done.

And number five, American Jason Puracal has been released after two years in a Nicaraguan prison he called a hell hole. His 22-year sentence for drug trafficking and money laundering charges has been thrown out after months of pressure from human rights activists and international attorneys. Tomorrow night our Anderson Cooper has an exclusive with Jason Puracal. He'll reunite with his mother and sisters right here on CNN.

For nearly a week thousands of Muslims around the world have hit the streets protesting a film produced in the U.S. called "Innocence of Muslims" that mocked the prophet Mohammed. U.S. flags burned embassies breached and lives lost.

Arsalan Iftikhar joins me now. You can check out his work at the MuslimGuy.com. He is also the author of "Islamic Pacificism" and a contributing editor at "Islamica" magazine. Arsalan, good morning.

ARSALAN IFTIKHAR, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR, ISLAMICA MAGAZINE: Good morning.

KAYE: So help -- help us understand this. Although it's such a small percent of the 1.5 billion Muslims in the world, why exactly are thousands protesting?

IFTIKHAR: Well, I think Randi, what we're seeing here is kind of a parallel to the 2007 Danish cartoon controversy when a right-wing newspaper in Denmark decided to publish 12 incendiary cartoons depicting the prophet Mohammed as a terrorist with bombs in his turban and things like that.

You know, I think what Americans need to understand is for many of these countries, particularly Libya, Tunisia, Egypt, you know, they just ended over 100 years of dictatorial rule where there was no concept of free speech. And you know for many of these countries, religion is something that they just don't laugh about. You know, they don't make fun of Jesus or Moses or Mohammed or any religious figures.

And so I think that, you know, when they see this amateur sophomoric movie come on YouTube, sadly, they're conflating that with being the actions of the American people.

KAYE: We have seen men and women threatened and even killed for blasphemy. Does the Koran call for a specific punishment?

IFTIKHAR: Actually, it doesn't at all. Actually, unlike Judaism in Leviticus and in the Bible in the Book of Mark there's actually no direct prescription on you know, taking the Lord's name in vein and we can neither find any sort of prescription within the sayings of the Prophet Muhammad which are known as the Hadith (ph). What we see here is the blasphemy laws that we see in approximately 10 out of the 57 Muslim majority nations on earth.

Our recent political constructs and you know thankfully you know for example in Pakistan 640 people have been charged under blasphemy laws between 1986 and 2007, but none of them have been executed. And so you know sadly, it's a mechanism that governments use to stifle free speech, to persecute religious minorities, but it's not something that we ever find in the Koran or the teachings of the Prophet.

KAYE: And when we speak about the Prophet Muhammad, I mean, even Egypt's president, Mohammed Morsi has been quoted as saying Mohammed is a red line for all Muslims. Why would he say all Muslims? I mean, is it wrong of him to say that?

IFTIKHAR: Well you know it's one of the things in Islam, you know, we obviously believe in the same one Abrahamic God of Judaism, Christianity and all Abrahamic faith. You know, the Prophet Muhammad is the central figure in Islam and like I said, you know, because there is no concept of free speech in any of these countries, you know, religion is probably the last place where anyone would find any, you know, sort of satire or comedy.

Here in the United States, of course, we know that there are no -- there is nothing sacred. You know we make fun of all religions and all people and things like that. And so I think, you know, there is a little bit of conflation and I also think, Randi, that you know they might be confusing us with the European Union because in many European countries there are laws which criminalize speech. For example, Holocaust denial and so maybe people think that, you know, there's a double standard in place here where Islam and Muslims can be attacked with impunity, but other minority groups are protected. Of course, there's a great deal of ignorance there.

KAYE: Right. And just briefly, what do you say though those who say that Islam is not peaceful, I mean, but in fact violent in nature and Muhammad is a warrior prophet. I mean, Christian Broadcaster Pat Robertson had this to say, for example. He said Islam is not a religion, but a violent political system. IFTIKHAR: Well, you know, Pat Robertson has also gone on record saying that he wouldn't allow American Hindus or Muslims to be federal judges in America. I could spend an entire segment talking about the ridiculous comments coming out of Pat Robertson.

You know, what I always remind people is that, you know, the religion of Islam has been around for 1,400 years. Four out of the last 10 Nobel Peace Prize winners have been Muslims. You know, the greatest athlete in the world Muhammad Ali and the funniest dude in America Dave Chappelle are Muslims.

You know, they are one in five people in the world are Muslims, and to extrapolate on an entire religion of 1,400 years over a billion people by the acts of a crazy few, it's sophomoric, to say the least.

KAYE: Arsalan great to have you on the program this morning. Your work at the MuslimGuy.com is also just really great. So thank you.

IFTIKHAR: Thank you Randi. I appreciate it.

KAYE: So we kind of look at Muslim, but what do you think the Bible teaches about violence? I'll talk to an expert on the Old Testament next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Welcome back. 42 minutes past the hour now.

Before the break we were looking at Islam and what the Koran teaches with blasphemy, but what about Christianity and Judaism? Brent Strawn joins me now here for more. He is Associate Professor of the Old Testament at Emory University.

So let's start with one of the Ten Commandments, ok shall we? I'm going to read you one. "Thou shall not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain for the Lord will not hold him guilt less that takes his name in vain." All right, so please will you explain what that means and what the punishment, if any, there is for blasphemy.

BRENT STRAWN, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF OLD TESTAMENT AT EMORY UNIVERSITY: Right, right. Well it's a -- it's an interesting text, the most important text about blasphemy in the Bible -- this one in the Ten Commandments. But it's not entirely clear what that phrase means, "To take the Lord's name in vain", or as some translations put it, "use the name falsely" or some sense.

It's an -- kind of an open-ended formulation and it may in the final analysis be about hypocrisy as much as it is using God's name in spoken context in the wrong way.

And as far as the punishment goes, it's left unspecified in the Ten Commandments how that would be punished. Only that God will not hold guiltless or innocent someone who does this.

There are some instances later, as Arsalan said in the previous segment Leviticus 24 where instances of blasphemy are punished by death, but -- but it's not always clear that that would invariably be the case.

KAYE: So it is true that some scholars believe the punishment for blasphemy is capital punishment?

STRAWN: In some cases, but in some cases not. I mean if you jump forward to the New Testament Jesus talks about blasphemy, and he assumes that people will blaspheme him and that they will be forgiven for that and that his followers will also be reviled and insulted and persecuted and they should rejoice about it and not retaliate or seek sort of recrimination from it.

KAYE: In the Bible, God is at the center of a lot of violence. I mean could others get the message from that that violence is ok? I mean what kind of message does that send?

STRAWN: There is a lot of violence in the Bible both the Old Testament and New Testament and it's religious violence in so far as it's couched in this kind of religious context.

KAYE: Right.

STRAWN: But it's important to point out that the Bible also has, what I would call, strategies of containment where it sort of holds the violence back. One of these would be about the most violent text in the Bible really which is the book of Joshua and the taking of the land of Canaan but the Bible never repeatedly enjoins that as a paradigm or a metaphor for the virtuous life. It's really a historically bound, historically contingent, one-time event. And that's one way the Bible contains that violence. It's still there in Joshua but it's not a metaphor for the religious life. Not a model for people to emulate later.

KAYE: So what then would you say that Christianity teaches about peace and violence?

STRAWN: Yes. I think that the majority would be, I would say, in light of these strategies of containment, the majority would be on peace and on violence. I mean, the famous text in Matthew 5 where someone strikes you on the cheek, turn the other cheek, was inspirational for not only for early Christians, but even for Gandhi.

KAYE: If only it were that easy.

STRAWN: Yes. If only it were.

KAYE: Differences in teachings about peace and violence in Christianity, certainly -- what about Judaism?

STRAWN: Yes. Well, I mean, insofar as Judaism draws from the Old Testament, Hebrew Bible text it too has these strategies of containment. I mean there's the violence, but also these wonderful peace texts. I mean the Bible begins in Genesis 1 with the creation of a universe that's at full peace and concord with each other. And that imagery is replicated in the temple, in the way of temple is decorated and what not; so to capture that kind of primal peace, again, in the everyday worship of the community.

KAYE: It's a fascinating conversation. Certainly an important one to be having in light of what's happening in the Middle East this week. Brent Strawn, thank you so much.

STRAWN: Thank you.

KAYE: Appreciate that.

STRAWN: Thank you. My pleasure.

KAYE: For more stories on faith, be sure to check out CNN's belief blog at CNN.com/belief.

Israel's prime minister is putting the pressure on the Obama administration to step up its warning against Iran's nuclear program. Hear what Benjamin Netanyahu had to say to our Candy Crowley.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KAYE: Israel's prime minister continues to press the U.S. to step up its threats against Iran's development of nuclear weapons. Critics say he is playing politics. Let's bring in "STATE OF THE UNION" host Candy Crowley joining us this morning from Washington. Candy, good morning.

So you interviewed Benjamin Netanyahu. Is he trying to throw himself into the election, do you think, between Obama and Romney?

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN HOST: Well, certainly his critics think that's what he is doing, and he has critics both at home and here in the U.S.

What we do know is that the Prime Minister has been out pressing for this red line, as he calls it, which is to say he wants the U.S. president to say publicly here is the line, Iran, which you may not cross, after which if you do, you face U.S. military action, Israeli military action, or some combination thereof.

Now, what we also know is that the relationship between the Prime Minister and President Obama has been prickly, so a lot of people think that at this point what the Prime Minister wants to do is kind of corner President Obama at a time that he is obviously in an election fight with Mitt Romney whom Netanyahu knows quite well and considers a friend.

When I asked about politics, here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, PRIME MINISTER OF ISRAEL: This is not an electoral issue. It is not based on any electoral consideration. I think that there's a common interest of all Americans, of all political persuasions to stop Iran.

This is a regime that is giving vent to the worst impulses that you see right now in the Middle East. They deny the rights of women, deny democracy, brutalize their own people, don't give freedom of religion -- all the things that you see now many in these mobs storming the American embassy is what you see with a regime that would have atomic bombs. You can't have such people have atomic bombs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CROWLEY: There is, you know, a great urgency to the Prime Minister when he talks. He clearly believes adamantly that, in fact, Iran is on its way toward building a nuclear weapon. The U.S. not as much urgency, but clearly he is -- as we know, he had that one-hour phone call with President Obama to kind of press his case.

KAYE: And Candy, how is the President responding to all this?

CROWLEY: Well, the -- Hillary Clinton said earlier this week when the idea of the red line sort of took the headlines briefly with Netanyahu sort of implying that, you know, if you don't set a red line, then you can't give a red light to Israel, that you cannot press Israel not to take action if you're not willing to tell Iran where it must not go.

So at that point Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said we're not going to be setting any deadlines for Iran because what the U.S. wants and has said repeatedly over time is we want to see if sanctions, which they have increasingly sort of ratcheted up are going to work. We want to try to diplomacy. The U.S. does not have this kind of urgency that the Prime Minister seems to have.

KAYE: Candy, thank you very much. I'm sure it's going to be a fascinating interview. We'll certainly check it out.

CROWLEY: Thanks.

KAYE: So keep it here for "STATE OF THE UNION". It starts in about seven minutes from now at 9:00 a.m. Eastern time right here on CNN.

Well, if you've caught a presidential campaign ad on television, you might have noticed they have something in common -- a campaign slogan. Mitt Romney says "Believe in America", while Obama is just trying to move "Forward".

Well, Dean Obeidallah says they are all boring. He is going to explain and tell us why he thinks Lincoln and Eisenhower's were far better.

We'll be right back.

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KAYE: Welcome back. Close to the top of the hour now.

If you have been watching the presidential campaign closely or have seen any ads on TV, you might know President Obama's campaign slogan is "Forward", and Mitt Romney's is "Believe in America" -- pretty straight forward and to the point, right?

Well, my next guest says they're boring, just flat-out boring. Comedian Dean Obeidallah joins me now. All right Dean, good morning to you.

DEAN OBEIDALLAH, POLITICAL COMEDIAN: Good morning Randi.

KAYE: What is the problem you have with these slogans?

OBEIDALLAH: Nothing. They're just not -- they're boring, yes. They're also not informative on any level. What does "Forward" mean? The slogan should have been maybe like "It could be worse". That would have been a little bit more accurate.

Or Mitt Romney's believe in America. I believe in America. So do all of us. We don't -- the question is do we believe in Mitt Romney, and that slogan hem help him either way.

I like slogans when you look in the past. They're actually informative. Some are actually funny and cutting. Some are really specific about one issue at the time.

So I don't think any of our candidates deal with that now. It's all cliches or little platitudes.

KAYE: All right. Well, let's talk about some of the slogans from the past.

OBEIDALLAH: Sure.

KAYE: President Abraham Lincoln 1864. His was "Don't swap horses in the middle of the stream." What's that about?

OBEIDALLAH: Well, that was actually in the middle of the Civil War. He is running for re-election, and no president had been re- elected for 30 years up until then. So President Lincoln and we think, wow, iconic president -- one of the greatest in our history easily could have sailed. He had a tough campaign fight.

The middle of the Civil War, he used a slogan saying, hey, let's not change presidents while we're fighting a war, and it actually worked. I mean, he did win. He won handily.

I don't know if today may be -- an updated one would be like don't change cell providers during mid-contract or something. It's such a folksy simple expression, but it did make the point. We don't want to change our president during a war.

KAYE: Right. All right. Next one that we have we want to get our take on is Senator James Blaine, 1884.

OBEIDALLAH: Yes.

KAYE: Way back. His was "Mama where is my pa? Gone to the White House, ha, ha, ha?" You like that one? OBEIDALLAH: That's great. This says so much. I have to put it in context. He was running against Grover Cleveland. There's allegations Grover Cleveland had a child out of wedlock. So he was mocking him with a campaign slogan that was funny and is memorable because it rhymed and it raised the issues of character.

We talk about our campaigns being rough, these guys were -- he was mocking the other presidential candidate for possibly having a child out of wedlock.

KAYE: All right. You know, President Grover Cleveland, he fought back in 1884. His slogan was "Blaine, Blaine, James G. Blaine, the continental liar from the state of Maine." You like that? That's better than "Forward"?

OBEIDALLAH: I think that is more expressive. As a comedian, I love it. It's got bite. It's a remark I would use for a heckler or something during a show. I think it's great.

Look at what they were doing. These guys were really going at each other. We don't have the mass media we have today, and slogans actually meant something. Sometimes the only information many voters had across the nation at the time.

Those are the two issues. One you're a liar and then the other I can't trust you because you have a child out of wedlock. Those were defining issues for voters to hear about and discuss.

KAYE: And from what I understand, Dean, you have a slogan of your own. Is that true? Are you running for something we should know about?

OBEIDALLAH: I do have a slogan.

I guess my political campaign, Dean Obeidallah for vice president campaign -- vision, integrity, great hair. Randi, I have a slogan for you better. I think based on like "I like Ike". Remember that one?

KAYE: Yes?

OBEIDALLAH: How about "Randi is dandy" would be really nice, or they had "Go all the way with LBJ," how about "All the way with Randi Kaye" which is great for presidents. If you were in college or high school, that's not a nickname you want.

KAYE: That's probably not a good one.

OBEIDALLAH: It's a good one thought if you are running for office, not in real life.

KAYE: All right, Dean. That was fun. Thank you.

OBEIDALLAH: Thanks, Randi.

KAYE: Thanks for watching today, and happy new year to all of our viewers celebrating Rosh Hashanah. If you'd like, you can continue the conversation with me on-line @RandiKayeCNN.

"STATE OF THE UNION" with Candy Crowley starts right now. Have a great Sunday.