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CNN Saturday Morning News
Andy Rooney Has Died; Cain Sexual Harassment Scandal; Dr. Murray's Trial on Hold until Monday; Interview with Reverend Jesse Jackson; Remembering Andy Rooney; Thousands Still without Power in Connecticut; Tape Shows Judge Hitting Daughter; Controversy Over Photo ID Laws
Aired November 05, 2011 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: But as we -- all right, at the top of the hour let's reset this thing now and get you started and caught up on this CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
It is the 5th of November. I'm T.J. Holmes coming to you from our world headquarters in Atlanta, Georgia. I'm so glad you could be here with us.
A sad news we're getting this morning, just a short time ago legendary broadcaster Andy Rooney has died at the age of 92. His death comes just weeks after he signed off for the last time on "60 Minutes". We, of course, looking back at his life and career at this hour.
Also across America, a growing anger over voter ID laws. More a dozen states now requires you to have a photo ID to vote. More states are following suit. We'll hear what critics and supporters are saying.
And he's never one to hold back over what he thinks. We'll hear what Jesse Jackson has to say about the Occupy Wall Street Movement that he is now supporting, even advising.
But this morning, we are remembering Andy Rooney. Average guy they'll you, who became a household name by telling it like you saw it every Sunday as he closed CBS's "60 Minutes". He died last night at the age of 92 just a month after signing off with these words.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDY ROONEY, CBS NEWS: I may have given the impression that I don't care what anyone else thinks, but I do care. I care a lot. I have always hoped that people will like what I've written. Being liked is nice. But it is not my intent. I spent my first 50 years trying to become well known as a writer. And the next 30 trying to avoid being famous.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Well Jeff Fager, Chairman of CBS News and Executive Producer of "60 Minutes" said, quote, "It's hard to imagine not having Andy around. He loved his life and he lived it on his own terms. We will miss him very much."
All right, Gary Tuchman now with a look back at Rooney's extraordinary career.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROONEY: The funny thing is, over the years, our opinion of how our hair looks best changes. I used to think I looked best with long side burns. Why in the world would I have ever thought that? I didn't realize I looked so funny back then or I probably never would have gone on television at all.
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Andy Rooney did not have a look that was especially TV friendly. But it was his talent as a writer that set him apart and eventually made him a star.
Andy Rooney was a "60 Minutes" original, starting with the show as a producer. He became a regular on-air contributor in 1978. Rooney's diatribes documenting the struggles of modern life were an instant hit.
ROONEY: Part of my success is how average I am. I'm a very normal guy. And it does not occur to me, walking down the street, that anyone recognizes me or it bugs me when they do, too.
TUCHMAN: Rooney started his writing career in the U.S. military. He was assigned as a correspondent to the military newspaper, "Stars and Stripes" after being drafted into the Army in 1941. Rooney often wrote about the men in those bombing machines, eventually having a book about their experiences in 1944.
After the war, Rooney became a freelance magazine writer. He later moved to television, running for some of the biggest names in the business.
ROONEY: I started in this business. I wrote for a lot of people. I wrote for Arthur Godfrey for five years, I wrote for Sam Levinson, wrote for Gary Moore and I wrote for Harry Reisner. And I'm basically a writer and I lost Harry Reisner, so I started doing my own stuff on television, but it was just an emergency. I like it perfectly well when I was a writer.
TUCHMAN: Andy Rooney's writing talents earned him six Writer's Guild of America Awards. He was also honored for his other work in television winning a total of four Emmy Awards. Two of those Emmys came from "A Few Minutes with Andy Rooney" in "60 Minutes."
ROONEY: If it's any good, I can write it in a couple of hours. And if it isn't any good, it takes me a couple of days.
TUCHMAN: Andy Rooney appeared numerous times on "Larry King Live", also running a syndicated column that appeared in more than 200 newspapers daily. And more than a dozen books published.
His wife of 62 years died of heart failure in 2004. On October 2nd, 2011, after 33 years on the show, he gave his final regular commentary for "60 Minutes." A style and dry wit as unique as the man.
ROONEY: I recently bought this new laptop to use when I travel. Look at that, though. It fits right into the briefcase here, weighs less than three pounds. I lose that much getting mad waiting to get on the plane through security at the airport.
TUCHMAN: The common man with the common touch about problems that hit close to home.
Gary Tuchman, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: And this morning, we have been talking with those who knew and worked with Andy Rooney. Later this hour, you'll hear Morley Safer from "60 Minutes" and Bob Arnaud (ph) a former CBS correspondent had to say about their colleague and friend.
At five minutes past the hour now, let's turn to some politics now. Presidential politics, the race for the White House, it's been a tough week for Republican Herman Cain. He faced a barrage of questions over sexual harassment claims. Now, one of the women accusing him says she suffered specific unwanted advances from Cain. Her lawyer, listen to what he had to say to our Wolf Blitzer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST "SITUATION ROOM": Several instances, I believe that was the phrase you used of sexual harassment. What can you tell us about -- about the nature of this sexual harassment?
JOEL BENNETT, CAIN ACCUSER'S LAWYER: I'm sorry, I would like to be able to reveal all the details, but my client prefers not to do that. And all I can say is there was more than one incident. They qualified as sexual harassment under the law in my opinion as a lawyer and my client chooses not to get into the details again. The details were filed internally with the National Restaurant Association in 1999 and I assume they were brought to Mr. Cain's attention.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Our Paul Steinhauser joins me from Washington now. Paul, what does this change?
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Well, you know, T.J., the campaign is trying to get past this. In fact, the communications director for the Cain campaign said last night, all right, we're done talking about this. We want to move on. We want to talk about the real issues.
But listen, there's still unanswered questions and more people could come out. And look at us the media -- the media is still talking about it. We're proof today. I mean, my guess is this story will still be in the media next week. And if there are other people coming forward this story will continue on.
So for Herman Cain, it -- whether he wants it to be over or not it is probably not over. As for Cain, tonight he is in Houston, Texas. He's going to face off with Newt Gingrich, one of his rivals for the GOP nomination at a debate being hosted by a Tea Party group.
Now, Gingrich spoke about the Cain incident, the Cain controversy yesterday with our John King out in Iowa. Take a listen to what he said out in "JK USA".
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NEWT GINGRICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He is a good friend, we've known each a long time. I think he has to slow down, take a deep breath. If you've never before been hit by the entire National Press Corp, it's a very disorienting experience. And I think that he probably wasn't prepared for it and I think now he's got to sit down and sort it out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEINHAUSER: Some of the other candidates for the GOP nominations saying the same thing, supporting Cain, but at the same time, maybe a slight dig saying he wasn't prepared for this, wasn't ready to handle this situation -- T.J.
HOLMES: Ok has this scandal been going on long enough, a number of days for us to get an understanding or any kind of a handle on how this might affect him in the polls which he's been at the top of for a little while now?
STEINHAUSER: Yes. Well, there is one brand new poll came out yesterday. Check this out ABC News and the Washington Post. This was conducted Monday through Thursday after the controversy hit which I remember was last Sunday. And look, there's Herman Cain pretty much where he's been the last couple of weeks basically tied with former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney right there at the top of the polls.
This is among Republicans and Independents who lean Republican, the kind of people who are going to be voting in those GOP primaries and caucuses which are just over -- just under two months away. Go to the next figure, as well, from this poll. And you can see right here nearly seven out of ten people say, at least Republicans say that it doesn't make any difference, this controversy as of now doesn't make any difference.
But almost one in four say that they're less likely to support Herman Cain. That could be the problem in the very close contest.
Cain was right here yesterday in Washington, T.J. He was at a conference, a Tea Party and Grass Root conservative conference. And he got a pretty good -- a pretty good reception there. He was well received there.
In fact, new -- Romney also spoke there, but it was Cain who got the biggest applause at this event yesterday. And we'll keep watching. We'll see tonight's debate. We have our Shannon Travis out there and we'll be staying on this story, T.J. No doubt about it.
HOLMES: All right, Paul Steinhauser, thanks as always good to see you.
And a programming note here for our viewers you can join Fredericka Whitfield every Sunday afternoon, 4:00 Eastern, she'll have a special hour dedicated to the presidential contenders in the 2012 election. Again every Sunday 4:00 Eastern Time, Fredericka, of course, will be joining me here in about 30 minutes as she gets geared up and ready to go for her show top of the hour.
And we're about 10 minutes past of the now and across the country, growing anger at big banks, and their rising fees, some of those banks could be losing customers and their deposits today.
Moveon.org is sponsoring a Move Your Money day, another group is backing what they call a Bank Transfer Day. It's all today. Organizers calling on customers who pull their money out of the so- called big banks and shift them to the smaller community banks or credit unions.
The bank transfer idea started with a California woman and her anger at the big banks.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KRISTEN CHRISTIAN, FOUNDER TRANSFER DAY: I started the idea myself. It began as a Facebook event that I sent to 500 of my closest friends. Educating them to the powerful impact credit unions can have on our local community. And from there, they invited 500 and they invited 500. So now we are a team with nearly 42,000 supporters in less than two weeks.
Big banks for far too long have mismanaged funds and utilized unethical business practices. So it's time that we vote with our dollar and help restore our local communities.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Let's turn to overseas now. Look at that it's up to 100,000 protesters are expected in the streets of Rome, voicing their opposition to the government of Italian Prime Minister Sylvia Berlusconi amid a growing economic crisis. Italians are angry over strong austerity measures there. Berlusconi could face a vote of confidence next week.
Let's turn to Greece now. That's a nation on the brink of bankruptcy. Its prime minister trying to form a new coalition government hours after barely surviving a confidence vote.
CNN's Jim Bolden is watching events unfold for us in Athens and I ask you earlier, and you put it so well to help people here in the U.S. understand, all right, some guy in Greece, the prime minister, he got a confidence vote. What does that mean to me?
JIM BOLDEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Well, he survived the confidence vote. Then he tried to put a government together to try to pass this austerity package that was agreed last week with the IMF and the European Union. If that doesn't happen, if Greece defaults, then you could have a Lehman style disaster with the banks and with the economy here. That's the worst case scenario.
So Greece has to get its house in order. This parliament has got to vote through the austerity package and then we should be able to see Europe not go into recession. If Europe goes into recession, then that would mean the U.S. very likely could go into recession, too. That's the bottom line.
HOLMES: Ok. Well, Jim, are they on the right track now? He gets past this confidence vote and now they're going to take up this package deal that will essentially let them get rid of 50 percent of a lot of the Greek debt. So are we on the right road that maybe there's some light at the end of this tunnel?
BOLDEN: Exactly, yes. Every time we say that we're on the right road, something else happens. We said last Wednesday we were on the right road because that's when the big plan was agreed in Brussels and then it fell apart because of this prime minister.
He now has to put the government together. Whether he stays at prime minister, frankly, I don't think matters. Whatever government comes out of Greece, out of Athens, the next couple of days. He then has to convince the people here who have gone through so much pain. They were in recession this year, they were in recession last year. They will probably be in recession next year.
They have to tell people, you need to lose some more of your pension fund. You need to lose some of your salary. We need to cut even more jobs. It's very painful here. But it has to happen, for the better good of the Euro.
That's a hard thing to sell but that's what the new government is going to have to do.
HOLMES: All right. Jim Bolden for us in Athens, Greece. Thank you this morning.
Meanwhile world leaders, pled support for the Greek deal while they were at the G-20 meeting in France. The wrapped up the meetings by unveiling a two-page action plan. The plan is pretty short on specifics, like I said, just two pages. And leaders admit it will be hard for some countries to follow through as they try to get their own financial houses in order.
Let's turn to turn to Pakistan now where a court has indicted two police officers for covering up the crime scene in the 2007 assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto. The two pleaded not guilty to charges of conspiracy to commit murder. The defense attorney says five others with suspected links to the Pakistani Taliban also face terror and attempted murder charges.
Well, Dr. Conrad Murray should know his fate soon. Not this weekend, though. Jurors have the weekend off but we'll get the very latest on the deliberations in the Michael Jackson death case.
We are 14 minutes past the hour on this CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, 16 minutes past the hour now.
It will be Monday at the earliest before we get a verdict in the Michael Jackson death trial. The jury has the weekend of after not being able to reach a verdict in the manslaughter trial of Jackson's doctor, Conrad Murray.
More now from our guy in L.A., Ted Rowlands.
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: T.J., seven-and-a-half hours of deliberation and no verdict. We do know that this jury of seven men and five women asked to see some evidence. Clearly, they are going through the case on some level. But, of course, what we don't know is -- are they agreeing with it? Are they taking a vote? Are they just sort of going through some of the testimony and some of the high points by subject in the trial? We don't know.
They've been together for 20 plus days in court, so they know each other well. And watching them in court, you do get the feeling that they get along well. So clearly, that will help them in the jury room. We don't know what they plan on doing in terms of speaking afterwards. We do understand that they will be given that option if they want to.
Clearly, a lot of people who have been following this trial would love to know what they were thinking not only during the trial but they are thinking during this deliberation process.
Outside the court, we had a lot of people out here on Friday and I suspect they will all be back on Monday along with the jurors -- T.J.
HOLMES: All right. Thanks to our Ted Rowlands there.
We turn next to the Occupy movement, adding some pretty big names. Names you know like Reverend Jesse Jackson. He's talking about how this new movement can use lessons learned from the civil rights movement. That is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right. 20 minutes past the hour now.
Reverend Jesse Jackson, Ambassador Andrew Young, Reverent Joseph Lowery -- some heavyweight names from the civil rights movement are now offering support and advice to the Occupy Movement. I talked to Reverend Jackson just a short time ago. Told me of the parallels he sees between the Occupy Movement and the last campaign of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REV. JESSE JACKSON, CIVIL RIGHTS ADVOCATE: In many ways this is a newer version of -- Dr. King's last effort was the poor people's campaign -- his mission was to occupy the Mall in Washington, D.C., we called it Resurrection City. Dr. Abernathy appointed me to be mayor of that city.
We sat there for more than a month, challenging America to choose the war on poverty at home, to revive that war rather than the war in Vietnam. He felt the bombs dropped in Vietnam were influencing our cities.
Further, we argue that if we kept giving more and more privileges to the wealthy and more and more war and no money left for social uplift, Dr. King called that moral and spiritual bankruptcy. Today, we fight those same challenges, T.J. more and more, few and few have more and more, very expensive wars and poverty is on the expansion.
HOLMES: Are they getting results yet, the Occupy Movement?
JACKSON: The first -- first is they have got the attention.
HOLMES: Yes.
JACKSON: We're discussing poverty for a change.
HOLMES: Ok.
JACKSON: Secondly, last week, we saw the banks back down off of a fee, because banks have been making money off of originating -- origination of loans. They make money off of private mortgage insurance. They make money off of the excessive fees, off of foreclosures, they got bailed out about linked (ph) to the lending, and not the reinvestment.
They have just made money over money over money and so because it has become so oppressive. I might add, student loan debt has gotten greater than credit card debt because of depressive schemes of, in fact, obstructing education.
HOLMES: But to talk about it and get the attention, at some point, is the occupy movement going to have to get more organized to get results? Because you have them popping up in so many cities, and frankly, we're seeing some ugly scenes, including in Oakland that is getting a lot of attention and taking away from the message?
JACKSON: Well, the common theme is economic disparity, the wealth gap, the health access gap, the education gap, the income gap, that is the theme. Now, that incident in Oakland did not really describe the movement in Oakland for economic justice. And when it did happen, those who were the occupiers stood between them and that activity.
Now, unlike Memphis, Dr. King leading a march for a collective bargaining for sanitation workers, the back of the line was some provocateurs who threw some bricks in some windows. You see, the media would rather cover the bricks than the banks.
This issue is about bank behavior, it's about removing the Glass- Steagall where they have the option to lend and invest, they choose investment over lending.
It's obvious we have huge (INAUDIBLE) of foreclosed homes, churches and some communities.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: All right. 23 minutes past the hour now. Coming up next, mankind traveling to mars. The mission just wrapped up. They are back from their mission, kind of sort of make believe mission. We'll explain, though. It was still a major feat.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: We're getting close to the bottom of the hour now. We've got some amazing news here. Mankind has finally made the trip to Mars. The Russian space shuttle has landed, not too long ago -- you didn't hear about this -- maybe hard to believe. Well, I'm fibbing a little bit.
Not quite. In truth, what happened here? They didn't really fly through the solar system. They actually didn't even get off the ground. This was an experiment, an earth bound experiment. I talked about this mission earlier with our editorial producer, Nadia Bilchik, in our "Morning Passport". She'll explain.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NADIA BILCHIK, CNN EDITORIAL PRODUCER: All they were in was in a parking lot outside of Moscow. But it was a simulated mission to Mars and they took it very seriously. It was a full year and a half, 52 days that these six Cosmonauts stayed together. Three were Russians, one was French, one was Italian, one was Chinese.
Amongst these Cosmonauts, some was - one was a surgeon, they were engineers, highly qualified. In fact, the Chinese Cosmonaut is somebody who trains astronauts. So they were highly intelligent individuals and took this experiment very, very seriously.
HOLMES: OK. What was the point? You said experiment.
BILCHIK: Exactly.
HOLMES: What were they hoping to get out of it?
BILCHIK: What would it be like to travel for 35 million miles away to Mars? And it would take a year and a half. So they took the exact amount of time and simulated the experience living in close quarters. They lived in a capsule about the size of a bus. You're seeing individual capsules there, so they had a living area, each one had a bedroom. And they lived like that without going anywhere for the entire time.
HOLMES: So was this more of a mental challenge than a physical one? I mean did they simulate - I don't know - any kind of issues of gravity or anything in space?
BILCHIK: That's the one thing that they couldn't simulate.
HOLMES: Yes. BILCHIK: They couldn't simulate the gravity. But everything else, being in a confined space, halfway through the experiment they actually landed on a simulated Mars sandpit and went through the experiment. And they got them to do various experiments during the time. One of the gentlemen who was on the trip actually got married two weeks before he went on the mission.
HOLMES: I assume she knew that this was going to be coming --
BILCHIK: She must have known. And yesterday they were released, so to speak, but not yet publicly because they still have to undergo a lot of tests. What does being in a confined space for a year and a half actually do?
But it's basically the physical and psychological test of being together. When they tried this in about 2000, it ended in a drunken brawl. And because they had a female astronaut, they (INAUDIBLE), you know, trying to kiss her. So this time there were only men. They didn't want it to be the --
HOLMES: Good idea.
BILCHIK: -- Big Brother scientific experiments. But certainly interesting.
And when will we go to Mars is the question, we say about 30 or 40 years or so. I wonder where you'll be when the first person lands on Mars, I wonder where I'll be.
HOLMES: We'll be sitting right here, Nadia, talking about the mission -- the fake mission from 30 years ago that --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: All right. We're at the bottom of the hour here on this CNN SATURDAY MORNING now. And more than a quarter million people in Connecticut are without power. I should say still without power. More than a week they've been without. And it's cold right now, folks. What is the utility company saying and what are they promising the customers? That's ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Just past the bottom of the hour now.
And they called him witty, engaging, an every man. That's how people are remembering now Andy Rooney. The legendary CBS news commentator has died just weeks after making his last regular appearance on "60 Minutes."
He was 92 years old. He considered himself an average guy, who wrote about life as he saw it. His colleague Leslie Stahl, called him "Our Poet Laureate."
Here now, some other reflections.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BOB ARNOT, FMR. CBS CORRESPONDENT, SHARED OFFICE WITH ROONEY (voice- over): The interesting thing about Andy is, you know, he - he pretended to be this curmudgeon, but he really wasn't. I mean, as I said, I was right next - right - kitty cornered to him on - it was the seventh floor at CBS, and, you know, I mean, he had this kind of plus to him. He was just the nicest, sweetest guy you could ever even begin to possibly imagine.
MORLEY SAFER, CBS NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The person you saw on television was the real person. Nothing that Andy ever did was an act. He absolutely - he, as you know, never - never tempered his thoughts. He said what he believed.
And the other thing I think that people should remember is that he was really a - a great writer, and he was extremely proud of that talent. Never boastful. Never boastful to admit it (ph) about anything, but very proud of his talent. And - and I think that pride really came through.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: We're talking about 300,000 people now without power, still without power. More than a week now. Connecticut Light & Power promises 99 percent of their customers will have electricity by tomorrow night. That's a big promise.
You'll recall, the power was knocked out after that freak pre- Halloween snowstorm. Well, our Susan Candiotti has an update.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Connecticut, with the National Guard, is trying to help the utility company here to try to clear the roads and clear a path so that utility crews can do their job easier and try to restore power in - throughout the state.
Now, take a look at some of the destruction here. This is an example. You see the power line? You've got a tree leaning on that. Utility crews are here, trying to cut it free so that they can try to make repairs.
Now, the utility company here in Connecticut is promising to get 99 percent of the customers back online by Sunday night. Some people, including the mayor of West Hartford, Connecticut are skeptical.
SCOTT SLIFKA, WEST HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT: I hope to God I'm wrong. I hope it's 99 percent by Sunday night. We want to get people back out of the shelters. We want to get people's homes heated up. We want to get kids back in school. We want to get life back to normal.
And this has been perhaps a case study in absolutely how not to manage in a crisis. We don't need more - you know, more press messages and - and spin. We need boots on the ground. CANDIOTTI (voice-over): The power company says the storm was far more devastating than expected and they're moving as quickly as they can.
(on camera): Do you have enough people to get the job done as quickly as you'd like?
BILL QUINLAN, CONNECTICUT LIGHT & POWER: At this level, we think we've got the resources we need to meet our goal, which is to have 99 percent of the state energized by Sunday at midnight.
CANDIOTTI: How realistic is that?
QUINLAN: We believe it's a challenging goal, and we - but we're going for it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CANDIOTTI: With the help of about 2,000 crews from 22 states, even Vancouver, Canada, can Connecticut Light & Power make that goal, restoring power to 99 percent of its customers by Sunday night? We'll see.
T.J., back to you.
HOLMES: Well, is that by tomorrow night, Reynolds? That's a big promise, 99 percent of the customers?
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. That's -
HOLMES: I'm sure they'd love to hear that, but are they going to be able to deliver?
WOLF: Tall order.
HOLMES: Very tall order.
WOLF: But you need to keep people happy. I mean, to - to be honest, they've had two big things that happened. They had Hurricane Irene, they has this very unusual snowstorm. It's not as though they're - they're slacking. They've had a lot, really, up against them.
HOLMES: Yes.
WOLF: It's been tough.
HOLMES: All right. Other thing, important, what are you going to do with your extra hour this evening? People need to remember this, you've got an extra hour, daylight saving time.
WOLF: I'm going to save it and use it next weekend and the weekend after. That's what I'm going to do.
HOLMES: 2:00 A.M., folks, so before you go to bed tonight, you need to fall back.
WOLF: Fall back. HOLMES: You spring forward (ph), fall back. Set it back. You get that extra hour. Use it however you want, extra hour of sleep, that extra hour to stay out, extra hour to stay up and watch some football this evening.
WOLF: What game would you be referring to? Is there like one specific game that captures your interest?
HOLMES: It's kind of a slow weekend this weekend.
WOLF: Not a lot happening -
(CROSSTALK)
HOLMES: Not a lot of good match ups this weekend.
Yes, everybody knows. LSU/Alabama, big game today. Arkansas and South Carolina, I didn't forget about you folks.
But, yes, we're talking about everybody's talking about LSU and Alabama, number one versus number two. First time - this is amazing to me - in the SEC, the mighty SEC, the first time we've seen a regular season match up of a number one and number two. Didn't know that.
Ticket prices, right now, online, it will cost you anywhere from $700 to $6,000, and they are worth every penny, folks. Tomorrow, Reynolds, I'm telling you, this game will live up to the billing.
WOLF: Who are you pulling for?
HOLMES: I'm not pulling - you know what? Frankly, there's a little scenario where if Alabama -
WOLF: Yes.
HOLMES: -- loses this game and loses another game, we beat LSU, Arkansas beats LSU, we're on the path to the national championship. That's the kind of hopes I have.
WOLF: You - that big thinking.
HOLMES: That's huge thinking.
WOLF: That's huge thinking.
You know, if you were to ask me who I'm going to pull for -
HOLMES: Yes?
WOLF: -- the - I'm an Auburn Tiger, so for me to make a choice, it's almost like choosing between scabies or exposure dermatitis. I mean, you don't want to pull for either one of these. You know, honestly, I've got friends on both sides (INAUDIBLE).
HOLMES: Of course. WOLF: I like these - a lot of Alabama to like, so - there's a lot of LSU to like, too.
But it's going to be - you're right, though. It's going to be a big match up.
HOLMES: Weather is not going to be a problem, hopefully?
WOLF: Let's talk about that. Let's stop over here.
For Alabama and LSU, it should be OK. Kickoff is going to be at 8:00 P.M. Temperature, 63 degrees. Wind is east, at five miles per hour. Both these team are so incredibly talented, weather, you know, you want perfect weather. It looks like it's going to hold up just fine for this game, so it should be a lot of fun.
However, there are a lot of other interesting match ups where the conditions might not be so great. When you go to Arkansas, on the face of it, it's going to be Arkansas, number seven, against South Carolina. T.J. obviously is a Razorback, is very interested in this game. Looks pretty good, 56 degrees, with the kickoff at 7:15 Eastern Time, but that wind is going to really play a huge factor.
If you look at both these teams, they both liked to pass the ball. It could be kind of interesting, to say the very least.
Now, let's make our way a little bit more to the west. Stanford and Oregon State. Stanford, undefeated so far, playing tonight in the rain in Corvallis. That could be really interesting also.
And then we're going to go to Norman, Oklahoma. Also, the wind. Check it out. T.J., at the south, at 20 to 30 miles per hour, temperatures 65 degrees. Imagine this game going late into the fourth quarter. A field goal kicker having to make a long field goal with gusts going to possibly to 35, maybe even 40, that'd be kind of tough.
So very interesting snapshot, your forecast. I'm going to walk right back over to you, T.J.
But, again. if you're a football fan, certainly a lot of games to watch. Early games, Michigan, we didn't get a chance to mention Michigan. Michigan and Iowa are playing today. That's also a big match up. That one looks pretty good.
(CROSSTALK)
WOLF: Kind of (INAUDIBLE), but not bad.
HOLMES: All right. It's that time now, man. We're going into fall. The fall weather.
WOLF: The fall is the most wonderful time of the year.
HOLMES: Well, we get an extra hour tonight.
Reynolds, thank you. WOLF: You bet.
HOLMES: Well, we're going to get Fredericka in on this in just a moment. Too much football talk, too much guy talk.
Fredericka Whitfield will join me live next as she gets ready for her show at the top of the hour. Stay here.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: A quarter off the top of the hour now.
And the debate over corporal punishment re-ignited in a major way this week after that video - you've probably seen it by now. It's been out there on YouTube, went viral, showing a father striking his 16-year- old daughter repeatedly with a belt. People were even more outraged when they found out that the man in the video is actually a family court judge who oversees abuse cases.
Here's a bit of the video as a reminder of what we're talking about here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JUDGE WILLIAM ADAMS, ARANSAS COUNTY, TEXAS: Bend over that bed.
HILLARY ADAMS, VIDEOTAPED BEATING BY HER FATHER: Dad.
W. ADAMS: Bend over that bed. Bend over the bed.
H. ADAMS: Well -
W. ADAMS: Bend over the bed.
H. ADAMS: No. Stop it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Yes. That's a Texas court judge there, William Adams.
Now, since this video was released, thousands of people have campaigned through social media sites to have him removed from the bench. They say the father crossed the line from discipline to child abuse.
The judge, though, says he was punishing his daughter who stole music and games through an illegal downloading site. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
W. ADAMS: In my mind, I haven't done anything wrong other than discipline my child after she was caught stealing. And I did lose my temper, but I've since apologized.
(END VIDEO CLIP) HOLMES: Now his daughter, Hillary, the one who taped that video and she's the one that put it out there online - I only showed you a few seconds of it a moment ago. The whole thing goes seven minutes, and it pretty much shows more of the same the whole time.
Now, the daughter, Hillary, spoke to our Anderson Cooper.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
H. ADAMS: I think he's in serious denial because I told him it hurt to walk the next day, and his response was one word. He said, good.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Despite the outrage, Judge Adams is not going to face prosecution, even though a lot of people agree, those legal experts, that, yes, this is clearly abuse. But wouldn't be prosecuted. Why? Because the video is from 2004. Texas has a five-year statute of limitations relating to a charge of injuring a child.
The county D.A. says there will be no indictment from the video. Not going to happen.
Anderson asked Hillary why she waited seven years to release the video.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
H. ADAMS: It wasn't any carefully planned orchestration or anything like that, and I didn't really mean for anything huge to come of it. I just wanted to put it out there for my dad to see it, and maybe a few other people, to maybe help us reconcile and see that this was wrong.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Now, the judge, her father, released a statement through his attorney, and in it he says his daughter released this tape. Why? Revenge. He says he was going to stop giving her money because she was about to drop out of college.
The statement reads in part, quote, "Hillary warned her father if he reduced her financial support and took way her Mercedes automobile, which her father had provided, he would live to regret it." The post was then uploaded.
Now, we have been asking you about this this morning. When does this type of punishment cross the line from discipline to abuse? We've been taking in a lot of your comments this morning. We do appreciate it.
We continue to read those. Keep that conversation going, and I'll continue my conversation now with our Fredericka Whitfield. Always good to see you.
We're coming in on - FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Good to see you (INAUDIBLE) -
HOLMES: -- this note.
WHITFIELD: Right.
HOLMES: Will your legal guys take this one up? Because -
WHITFIELD: They will, because while you talked about the statute of limitations has run out and there's not going to be any kind of pursued prosecution, there are some potential ramifications simply because of his job as a family court judge.
Our legal guys, Avery and Richard, are going to be along to talk about that. Might it involve the bar association, which might re-evaluate his position? Might there be a recusal in the future of any cases that he may be involved in because the issue of corporal punishment will come about?
HOLMES: Wow, can you ask?
WHITFIELD: Isn't that interesting?
HOLMES: Yes. Can he sit in judgment of me if he has this behavior?
WHITFIELD: Right. Absolutely. And then there might be potential review of cases that he was overseeing before because of this now videotape. Might there have been some bias?
So our legal guys are going to delve into all that. Isn't that fascinating?
HOLMES: Anything else with the legal guys this morning? You all do a few cases, usually.
WHITFIELD: Of course. Yes, we're going to talk about the Conrad Murray case, of course, the deliberations.
HOLMES: OK. Any relationship stuff?
WHITFIELD: And we're going to talk about Justin Bieber.
HOLMES: Oh.
WHITFIELD: We're going to talk about why it's not just an issue of paternity. It's not just that, but apparently there's statutory rape investigation that might be looked at very closely as well.
HOLMES: Is that - is that - I mean, is there any chance?
WHITFIELD: Well -
HOLMES: He's denying it, isn't he? Kind of sort of.
WHITFIELD: Kind of sort of, and it depends on in which - I mean, of course he's tweeted and said I'm going to concentrate on the music right now. And he's been asked about it point blank in various television interviews, and some read a little bit into some facial expressions he made at the same time while his verbal expression was no.
HOLMES: And we're speaking as if everybody understands what we're talking.
WHITFIELD: Well, yes. Well, there - right. There's a case of a young lady -
HOLMES: Yes.
WHITFIELD: -- who is alleging that he fathered her three-month-old child, and so his camp is disputing it. He was 19 at the time, she was - I'm sorry -
HOLMES: He was 16, she was 19.
WHITFIELD: He was 16 at the time, she was 19 at the time of this encounter, and that's where the statutory rape allegation comes in as well.
So we're going to delve into all of that. And we've got - we've got a lot to keep our legal guys going.
HOLMES: OK. All right. Interesting.
WHITFIELD: And then you talked earlier how many people are being encouraged to switch banks.
HOLMES: Yes. Today.
WHITFIELD: Go to the smaller banks, and we're going to talk about bank fees, because that's an impetus for why a lot of people are upset with their banks. Our "Financial Fix" segment will be dealing with that.
And then, of course everyone is mourning the loss of Andy Rooney, but what an incredible career. Ninety-two-years-old. We're going to - I know you've talked to a lot of people this morning, including Morely Safer. I'm going to be talking to Bob Simon, a correspondent with "60 Minutes" about Andy Rooney.
And something very interesting about Andy Rooney, while he enjoyed this kind of public - the success as a public figure and talking about all those things that frustrate so many people, he didn't like being famous. He didn't like being recognized on the street. We're going to talk about that.
HOLMES: He was shy about that.
WHITFIELD: Yes.
HOLMES: But, you know what? All of them have told me this morning, what a way to go. He worked. They said he wasn't going to retire. He worked right up to the - WHITFIELD: Nearly until his dying day.
HOLMES: Until his dying day. Ninety-two-years-old.
WHITFIELD: So it seems as though he did it his way.
HOLMES: In his way.
All right, Fredricka, always good to see you.
WHITFIELD: Good to see you, too.
HOLMES: And if anybody has any comments for Fredricka, you know where to find her on Twitter, @FWhitfield.
WHITFIELD: Oh, my gosh. He's trying so hard.
HOLMES: And she just tweets away.
WHITFIELD: Because I'm terrible at it, and I admit it. But, you know -
HOLMES: No. She's great. It's hard to even get her to anchor the show, she tweets so much.
We'll see you in a bit, Fredricka. Thanks so much.
Getting close to the top of the hour, and critics out there, are they correct in saying that the new photo ID requirements are simply a way for Republicans to suppress the minority vote? We're discussing that after the break. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: We made it to the top of the hour now.
Look at this. This Louisiana guy has a reason to be excited. He needs to thank a local cashier for screwing up. She made a mistake on his lottery ticket, but that mistake got him an extra $800,000.
You see, the guy thinks he won $200,000 with this Powerball ticket. The cashier, though, accidentally put him in for the Power Play, which means more money, so he ends up getting $1 million instead of the $200,000.
Thank you for doing your job wrong.
Let's turn to Oklahoma now, where a man has taken his love for - have you seen this, Fredricka? Route 66? He loves it now. He loves it so much -
WHITFIELD: Oh my gosh.
HOLMES: That he's got iconic signs from the road tattooed all over his body.
WHITFIELD: Wow. No, I hadn't seen that.
HOLMES: Ron Jones is his name. How many tattoos do you have, Fredricka?
WHITFIELD: Wow. Look at that great artwork.
HOLMES: How many do you - you tell it was four or five, wasn't it? You OK?
WHITFIELD: Sorry, I'm all choked up.
HOLMES: Yes. He's got 103 so far, and still counting.
WHITFIELD: Oh my goodness.
HOLMES: He might get 104 if he can find any more skin on his body.
WHITFIELD: Oh, my. I like the Mater - the Mater tattoo on there. Oh, sorry. Go ahead. Yes.
HOLMES: Oh no, please. By all means.
WHITFIELD: OK, you've got other things. I got a little too involved there.
HOLMES: We're circling back to Louisiana.
WHITFIELD: Let me find my place again.
HOLMES: Those are LSU fans. You see they're dancing -
(CROSSTALK)
HOLMES: They have a reason to dance. They have the number one team in the country, right? But these folks, six costumed fans were picked out of the crowd at a basketball game. They had a dance-off to try to win tickets to the big game tonight, number one versus number two, you know, LSU/Alabama, if you haven't heard yet.
The winner, "Lego Les" - he's in there somewhere. It took three weeks, he said, to build his costume, but it paid off. He got the tickets.
Let's turn now to voter ID laws. We've been talking a lot about this. It's been controversial because a number of states have now passed laws required voters to show a photo ID in order to vote.
Now, many of the laws has been passed by Republican-led state legislatures, which have caused critics to simply say that this is an effort to suppress the minority vote.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSEPH LOWERY, CO-FOUNDER, SCLC: I'm reminded of where we were back in the '40s and '50s, trying to get the right to vote, when - when boards of registrar would tell lies about when they're going to register us to vote. They're doing the same thing, only on a more sophisticated level.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Now, I'll give you a look at a map here, give you an idea. These voter - these voter photo ID laws, on the books in 14 states, some of these go into effect in 2012, and some of these states - at least seven - have really strict voter ID laws. Thirty-three other states have been considering similar legislation. This could affect millions upon millions of voters.
Earlier this morning, I talked to a civil rights attorney. She told me that voter fraud is not a big concern across the country.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JUDITH BROWNE-DIANIS, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: This is actually the most wide scale rollback of voting rights that we have seen in over a century in this country. They're requiring one type of ID, and, in fact, there's an estimated 21million Americans that don't have state- issued photo ID.
And they say that this is about voter fraud, but, in fact, you are more likely to be struck by lightning than find a prosecutable case of voter fraud.
And voting is a right. This isn't like getting on a plane or buying Sudafed, which is a privilege that you have if you have money. We're talking about undermining democracy, cutting off participation.
Voting should be something that is simple, because it is the most fundamental part of our democracy. And, in fact, by federal law, you can go in to - you can go in to vote by using multiple forms of ID. What's wrong with the utility bill? What's wrong with your work ID? There are many other kinds of ID, and it shouldn't be boiled down to this one restrictive ID.
HOLMES: But, let me -
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Well, I also talked to a representative of the Heritage Foundation, talking about this same topic. They certainly believe that these voter ID laws are important to put in place, and I asked him, though, where did he see voting fraud taking place across the country that justifies states changing laws.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HANS VON SPAKOVSKY, THE HERITAGE FOUNDATION: I can't give you an inventory here today. I've written about a lot of case studies on various kinds of voter fraud. I would refer you, just two weeks ago, Arthur Davis, former black congressman from Alabama, member of the Congressional Black Caucus, wrote an editorial in an Alabama paper talking about the voter fraud that he saw when he was running for office and saying that he had been wrong in his opposition to - to voter ID, and he said it was - it was required. I would point out to you - look, CNN is headquartered in Atlanta. Georgia has had a photo ID law, one of the strictest in the country, in place now for five years. They have had two federal elections and local elections. There has been no downturn in the turnout of African-American voters in any of those elections. In fact, they have gone up significantly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
