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Big Storms In The Deep South; Loughner Returns To Tucson; Understanding "Radicals"; Congressional Muslim radicalization Hearings Will Begin; David S. Broder Has Died; Intense Fighting In Eastern Libya; Who Is Rep. Peter King?; Second Year of the Bull Market; Webb Will Not Seek Reelection; India's Modern Day Slavery; Bionic Leg System

Aired March 09, 2011 - 13:00   ET

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

ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Suzanne, have a fantastic afternoon. Thanks very much.

Take a look at these pictures I've got for you. On the left is the shuttle -- the space shuttle Discovery coming in for a landing about an hour ago. It was picture perfect. On the right is the Discovery right now. It takes a long time to unload that after it has landed, longer than the typical flight.

And those are two things that we're looking at today. That is, of course, the last landing for the space shuttle Discovery. There are two other shuttle missions to come, but that's it, that baby's being retired.

Now, the weather didn't affect the Discovery landing, but it is affecting many people today. We're watching an outbreak of violent storms in the deep south.

I want to get straight to CNN Meteorologist Jacqui Jeras, she's got the latest.

Jacqui, we have confirmation of some tornadoes on the ground in the south?

JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, we had one tornado that touched down confirmed and that was overnight in Tillman's Corner in Alabama. But we've had about eight reports, lots of spotty damage in parts of Alabama and Florida, most of that has been kind of in the panhandle area here. There you can see some of the damage, that was in Theodore, Alabama, to a shopping center there. We had a meteorologist with one of our affiliates, Jim Lusnica, who found those pictures and reported that for us. He was thinking it was more straight line wind damage, especially with that one.

Right now we've have warnings for Escambia county as well as and Okaloosa county, these are radar confirmed tornadoes right now, so nobody has and I haven't seen any reports of damage with them, but they're also dumping down two to three inches of rain per hour.

VELSHI: Yes, wow. JERAS: So, flash flood warnings are an event. And it's going to be just terrible conditions, really, all along the Gulf Coast here over the next couple hours. There are the watches that you can see, and it's very likely that we'll start to see these expanding eastward and maybe even a little northward today. So, tornadoes, damaging winds, that's the big threat we're dealing with.

VELSHI: And this system is moving out, that means we'll see it on the coast pretty soon?

JERAS: Yes, I think eventually they're going to make its way to the to the coast and then it's going to make its way up towards the mid-Atlantic, tomorrow. So, we'll be watching the Carolinas and Virginia, too.

VELSHI: OK, good. Thanks, Jacqui. We'll stay on top of this weather with Jacqui. Of course, if we get news of more tornadoes touching down, we'll get right to Jacqui with that.

Now, to Arizona where the man accused of shooting Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords and many others is headed back to court, but this time is different for him. This time, Jared Lee Loughner faces many more charges. This time, the court is in Tucson, the scene of his alleged massacre two months ago.

Loughner expected to plead not guilty to 49 federal counts in a new indictment handed up last week. They include the attempted assassination of a member of Congress, that's Giffords, who is undergoing rehab in Houston right now, and the murder of two federal employees. One was a Giffords' aide, the other the chief federal judge in Arizona, John Roll.

Now, Loughner's also charged with murdering nonfederal employees, and CNN's Ted Rowlands joins me now from Tucson to tell us what to expect about two and a half hours from now.

Ted, first off, this is the very federal courthouse where Judge Roll spent much of his life. What's the feeling around there today?

TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, as you can imagine, nerves are very raw here, and this is an emotional day. I just went by Judge Roll's courtroom at 5-D and his name is still on the placard outside the courtroom. A visiting judge is now using that. Judge Roll's portrait is still here, and obviously, he touched a lot of lives in this building.

So, when Loughner, the man accused of killing him, appears in court, people will be very emotional -- the staff here at the federal courthouse. Today, we're expecting Loughner to enter pleas on the 49 counts, like you said. The other theme that we're going to see play out today is the idea of mental illness. The U.S. government wants Loughner to be compelled to undergo a psychiatric evaluation. The judge is expected to address that today.

If the defense tries to go down that road, the not guilty by reason of insanity, legal experts say it is a very tough road and here is why. He would have to, basically, prove that he didn't understand that what he did was wrong at the time. But you talk to legal experts, they say, sure, there could be mental illness involved, but really getting to that point in the federal system is a difficult thing. Here's an example of a legal expert commenting about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE STEELE, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Initially, you have to make an assessment of the client in first place. You've got to see exactly what you've got. He may have a disorder, several disorders, but it may not be one that's sufficient to get you over the hump to get to a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity. That evaluation is going to take at least one, and probably several, mental health professionals and many different evaluations from different angles.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROWLANDS: And other things, Ali, discussed today is judge is going to rule on a motion from the media to unseal all of those search warrants and all of the other documents that, until this point, they have been sealed. We are also expecting victim families to be in court here for the first time to see Loughner face to face.

VELSHI: All right, Ted, thanks very much. We'll stay on top of this with you. Ted Rowlands in Tucson, Arizona in front of the federal court there.

All right. Congressional hearings, they go on all the time. Most of them interest nobody outside the meeting rooms, sometimes not even the people inside the meeting rooms are all that interested.

But every so often, a hearing generates buzz, controversy before it even starts, and that's our "Sound Effect" for today. The new Republican chairman of the house homeland security committee defending his plan to investigate the radicalization of American Muslims. Critics of New York Congressman Peter King fear a McCarthy-style witch hunt, but King insists his only target is Al Qaeda, his only goal is a united front against terror. Right now, he claims that is lacking.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. PETER KING (R-NY), HOMELAND SECURITY CHAIRMAN: I believe people who are on the ground -- people reflect what's happening. And I tell you, in my -- in my conversations, I've been dealing with this issue now for nine and a half years, law enforcement people invariably tell me they do not receive the cooperation that they need. I've seen it on Long Island in my own district. I know what is happening in some of these mosques.

And you will hear these are people on the ground, these people living in the -- living there. They're the ones who endure this day in and day out, and to me, it's going to set a very good picture for the American people. If the Democrats want to bring on their witness, that's fine. I'm having -- I'm also inviting Congressman Keith Ellison who disagrees with me completely on this issue. I've invited him to testify. (END VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: He's referring to Congressman Keith Ellison. Keith Ellison is the first Muslim American elected to Congress.

All right, in less than 24 hours, congressional Muslim radicalization hearings begin. We're learning more about the man behind the hearings, the man you just heard from, New York Congressman Peter King. Does his past make tomorrow's hearings even more controversial? We're taking a closer look at Representative King in five minutes from now.

And this just in to CNN, David S. Broder, a publisher (ph) winning columnist for "The Washington Post" and one of the most respected writers on national politics has died. Broder was nicknamed the dean of the Washington press corps and covered politics for four decades. In 1973, he won a Pulitzer for the coverage of the Watergate scandal that led to Richard M. Nixon's resignation. He died today in Arlington, Virginia from diabetes complications.

First, several other major stories unfolding this hour, starting with the attacks in Libya's civil war.

Gadhafi's forces appear to be advancing on the eastern oil city of Ras Lanuf. They've been firing a steady barrage of rockets and artillery from the western edge of the city near Ben Jawad. They are trying to retake Ras Lanuf from opposition fighters. But even though they're out-gunned, the opposition armed with anti-aircraft guns and Soviet rifles are not relenting. Many are still in the city willing to battle it out to keep Gadhafi from crushing any part of the uprising against him.

The fighting started four weeks ago with no end in sight. Some estimates put the death toll as high as 2,000.

Violence reignites in Egypt with pro-democracy activists coming under attack in Cairo's Tahrir Square.

(VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: State TV reports people armed with knives and machetes attacked hundreds of demonstrators. Opposition activists say at least 44 people were injured. Thousands of protesters remain camped out in Tahrir Square even though former president Hosni Mubarak is long gone. They are pressing the country's new rulers to implement promised reforms.

Also out of Egypt, 13 people reported killed and 90 wounded in clashes between Coptic Christians and Muslims. The Christians took to the street to protest a church burning last week.

And a shake-up in the media world. Vivian Schiller is out as the CEO of national public radio, but an NPR spokesman said she couldn't confirm reports that Schiller was forced out because of the fallout from an undercover video involving a former fund-raising executive. Ron Schiller, who is not related to her, apologized and resigned after he was videotaped calling the Tea Party racist and saying NPR would be better off without federal funding. He had accepted a position with The Aspen Institute, but that's not going to happen now because of the controversy.

An Oregon man convicted of killing his wife and three kids wants to donate his organs after he's executed, but state law is standing in the way. According to Oregon law, death row inmates have to be killed by lethal injection. Those drugs used in executions make organs unusable for transplant.

Also, executions have to be done in prison, not in a hospital where the organs can be harvested. A corrections department spokesperson told KPTV in Oregon that Longo, the man we're talking about, has exhausted his appeals and can only be executed according to current state law.

So, we want to know what you think about this. Should death row inmates be allowed to donate their organs after they're executed? Join the discussion on my blog, CNN.com/Ali. Go to my Twitter page @AliVelshi or Facebook AlivelshiCNN. Because when you're giving, lending and investing in more communities.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Is it right on time or off the mark? The controversy over representative Peter King's hearing on Muslim radicalization continues to build. The hearings are set to begin tomorrow morning, and now we are learning more about Peter King's background and his support of the Irish Republican army.

CNN's Dana Bash spoke to representative King about his background and why he is standing by tomorrow's hearings.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is the chairman's seat. This is chairman's gavel.

REP. PETER KING, New YORK: Yep, it's all this, right here. This is where it's going to be.

BASH (voice-over): Homeland Security Chairman Peter King preparing for his hearing on what he calls radicalization of Muslims in America. To some, akin to Joseph McCarthy's 1950s communist witch hunt.

That Peter king is the modern-day Joseph McCarthy.

KING: I would say, first of all, there's no basis for it. And secondly, I'd tell people wait and watch and listen to the hearing.

BASH: King has not always been at odds with Muslim Americans. In the 1990s, he backed U.S. action in the Balkans to defend Muslims there. KING: I was not popular in my district, but I did it because it was the right thing to do. I thought the Muslim community in those countries is being victimized.

BASH: He had a close bond with leaders of this mosque and others in his New York district, then came 9/11.

KING: It switched when I saw the Muslim American community not responding the way they should have. When they were trying to cover up for Al Qaeda, when they were trying to blame it on Jews and the FBI, the CIA, I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

BASH: Like comments from now former friends like Ghazi Khankan.

GHAZI KHANKAN, FORMER MEMBER, ISLAMIC CENTER LONG ISLAND: And I said we should also investigate the possibility of Israel being involved, and that changed his opinion 100 percent.

BASH (on camera): You've been called a man obsessed, obsessed with a Muslim radicalization. Are you obsessed?

KING: No, I am very focused. I lost so many people in my district on September 11th and within a 30-mile radius of my home, probably a thousand people -- over a thousand people were murdered on September 11th.

BASH (voice-over): His office is filled with reminders of the attack.

KING: Funeral after funeral after funeral. And that one, sort of, I don't know, to me, it captured it all.

If you ask me what I think about going to work every day, it's 9/11 and preventing another 9/11.

BASH: King says that requires cooperation from U.S. Muslim leaders, which he insists law enforcement is not getting, but some call King's efforts against American Muslim terrorism now hypocritical. King is Irish American. In the 1980s, he was an active supporter of Gerry Adams and an Irish group the state department then deemed terrorists, the Irish Republican Army.

(on camera): The IRA was responsible for hundreds of civilian deaths and effectively were a terrorist attacks.

KING: I knew what Gerry Adams and Martin McGuiness were attempting to do within the IRA, and I was saying that continually that there is a real opening here if the United States would take advantage of it to be an honest broker (ph). Bill Clinton did that.

BASH (voice-over): He insists the IRA was a legitimate force that had to be dealt with to achieve peace.

Back in his committee room, King says he knows his hearing on radicalization of U.S. Muslims is stirring anger against him, accusations of bigotry, but has no apologies. KING: Hey, listen, I would love to be -- I would love to be loved. I'm -- you know, I'm not a masochist. But on the other hand, I have a job to do. And I would not want to wake up the day after an attack and say, I should have done something differently.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VELSHI: And Dana Bash joins us now from Capitol Hill.

Dana, you know, we've all dealt with Peter King in the past. He's particularly helpful on issues of terrorism when we're talking about it, but he increasingly sounds vindictive and vengeful. And there are a lot of people who think that his association of Islam and terrorism is blurring his vision. Not allowing him to see this clearly. He doesn't seem -- I know he told you he doesn't seem -- he doesn't want to be loved. But this really is -- it's certainly on the line, if it hasn't gone over it.

BASH: You know he -- if he has any kind of regrets, he's certainly not showing it. He says he is just doing what top law enforcement and administration officials have said is the biggest threat, which is radicalization of Muslims in America. But I also asked him about the worry in the Muslim community, we heard that at a press conference this morning and elsewhere, that this could stir radicalization. And his answer was that he just doesn't believe loyal Americans, Muslim-Americans would carry out a jihad because of the hearing. He also said that no one in law enforcement or the administration has told him to back off. Just the opposite.

VELSHI: Right, which is one of the good things about this country, you can hold hearings, you can do this kind of stuff. It does seem a little targeted. He doesn't see any conflict with this IRA thing. That even if he felt the IRA was a worthwhile organization, it was, at the time that he was supporting them, deemed a terrorist organization by the United States. He doesn't see any issues with that?

BASH: He actually said -- I talked to him extensively about this. Spent about an hour and a half with him. And he said that he actually understands why people thing that he is hypocritical about this. But he also insists that, for a number of reasons, that they are different issues. Number one, he says that the IRA never conducted any terrorist attacks or any attacks on the United States. So I said, OK, let's just play that out. Let's say hypothetically they did. Would you be holding a hearing on the radicalization of Irish-Americans, you know, which you are? And he said, absolutely.

But I got to tell you, Ali, that not all of his friends think that he's doing the right thing. He is -- a good friend of his who was an Irish-American writer, he wrote on his blog, irishcentral.com, that he does not think King is doing the right thing. He said, I no longer recognize the politician I have known for 25 years.

Ali.

VELSHI: Wow. Yes, it's definitely -- for those of us who have followed his career a lot, it definitely seems to be taking even a departure for him.

Dana, thanks very much for this. We'll continue to follow this.

BASH: Thanks, Ali.

VELSHI: The Muslim radicalization hearings are set for tomorrow. You'll see top to bottom coverage right here on CNN.

I also want to remind you about a CNN "In America" special. "Unwelcome: The Muslims Next Door." Soledad O'Brien chronicles the fight over the building of a mosque in the heart of the Bible belt. Her special report airs Sunday, March 27th, 8:00 p.m. Eastern only on CNN.

The bull market celebrates its second birthday. But will the party keep going? "Your Money" is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: OK, it's the second anniversary -- the second birthday of the bull market. Two years ago yesterday the market closed at its lowest point. This was after the worst of the credit crisis of the recession. And the market started going up two years ago today. The price of a barrel of oil, however, continues to be way up there.

Alison Kosik is at the New York Stock Exchange.

Tell -- break us all -- break it all down for us. I guess the question here isn't about the birthday celebration, Alison, it's about people who are either invested or would like to invest, wondering where this market is likely to go.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know what, we talked with one analyst who actually wrote the Stock Trader's Almanac and he says, you know, this bull run is sort of, obviously, two years in the making. And actually longer than that. And he say, you know, he sees that the bulls still have room to run, Ali, but it is setting up for a correction down the road. But we will wind up going sort of back to sort of a middle line and keep moving higher.

You know, we talk about the S&P 500 a lot, Ali, because our 401(k)s really mirror the S&P 500. And if you see where the S&P 500 was two years ago, it hit rock bottom in 2009. It's up 95 percent since then. And this guy who I was talking to, who tracks the stock market, Jeff Hirsch, he says that the anniversary really reminds us of how far we've come in two years. Listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFF HIRSCH, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, STOCK TRADER'S ALMANAC: We were really down and almost down for the count back in March '09 and in '08. And the country was on the brink of something much more sinister than the, you know, year and a half recession that we had, which was longer than average. So I think coming off of that real nasty, painful period economically and the financial markets makes this seem a lot better than it is. (END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: And you know what's helped the recovery, Ali, and you know this, the easy money policies of the Federal Reserve. You know, the White House signing the stimulus package. Hirsch is saying that without these things, the recession actually could have been much worse.

Ali.

VELSHI: All right, Alison, good to see you. Thanks so much. Alison Kosik on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

All right, be sure to tune in to "Your Bottom Line" every Saturday morning at 9:30 a.m. Eastern. "Your Money" airs Saturdays at 1:00 p.m. Eastern and Sundays at 3:00.

Senator Jim Webb decided not to run for reelection. And that decision may set off a domino effect that could lead to changes atop the Democratic National Committee. Ed Henry is going to read the tea leaves for us when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Senator Jim Webb is stepping down, leaving Democrats with a big seat to fill in a swing state. Ed Henry joins me from the White House with an exclusive behind the scenes.

Ed, you're getting some new information about the future plans of the current head of the DNC, Tim Kaine.

ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right, Ali.

Senior Democratic official are telling us that they think it's very likely that Tim Kaine, the DNC chairman, former popular governor of Virginia, is going to get in to that Senate race in Virginia. A big deal because, as you know, Democrats have had a lot of retirements in the Senate, especially from some swing states like New Mexico, like Virginia, and they've got to defend that seat that Jim Webb is not going to be running for reelection on. And Tim Kaine is popular former governor from Virginia. One top official told me it's 85 percent of the way that he's going to say yes and run for that seat and that a decision is likely announced by the end of the week. In fact, another official told me Tim Kaine just got back from a vacation in Mexico with his family and that this official was told that the governor's wife is on board with him running for the Senate and that all signs, essentially, are a go.

Now, why does that matter for this White House? As you know, Tim Kaine has been a very loyal soldier for the president over at the Democratic National Committee. A job maybe that's been overshadowed a little bit in the last couple of years. But now, heading into 2012, it's going to be a big deal for the president to have another advocate, a surrogate, if you will, over there at the DNC pushing back on some of the Republicans candidates. Going to be out there pushing back on some of the Republican leader on The Hill that are pushing him on the budget and whatnot.

And one new piece of information we got is that Robert Gibbs, the former White House spokesman, is telling CNN that he is pulling out of that race for DNC. He's not interested. His name has been bandied about. He's saying he's looking at other opportunities now that he's left the press secretary job and he is not interested in the DNC job. So there will be a lot of other big Democrats who are going to be taking a look at that though.

VELSHI: All right, Ed, what's going on with Libya in the White House?

HENRY: Well, you know, it's kind of a -- I just came out of the briefing with Jay Carney and kind of an interesting story that is developing, which is that, I asked him about yesterday's interview that Secretary of State Clinton had with Sky News in which she wouldn't quite be pinned down on a position about a no-fly zone. But finally ended up, after being pressed about the fact that some of our international partners, folks like the Arab league, are saying they're in favor of a no-fly zone, she finally said, quote, "well, we are going to support the efforts that are being made."

I asked Jay Carney, does that mean we support a no-fly zone. He again hedged. And my colleague Chip Reid at CBS followed up with something that Secretary Clinton said on "The Early Show" today, where she specifically said that there need to be a U.N. decision on a no- fly zone. That's the first time we've had a senior administration official say this has to be essentially decided by the U.N. Most interesting is when asked about that, Jay Carney would not agree with Secretary Clinton on that. He also was careful to say he was not walking back what she said this morning, but he would not directly say this has to get support of the U.N. Security Council before they move forward.

Why is that significant? Well, all indications are that China, Russia, on the U.N. Security Council, would be likely to veto any no- fly zone, which would mean we're going to be stuck in the status quo for a while. But when you've got the secretary of state going out there and suggesting this has to be decided by the U.N., the White House press secretary won't say the same, it suggests that there's still some confusion behind the scenes. There's still a little bit of division here within the administration about exactly how to move forward while the international community waits here. It continues to put pressure on the president to make a decision.

VELSHI: You think it's confusion or disagreement?

HENRY: I think it probably -- you know, if I had a sense based on talking to senior officials -- a disagreement. I'm not saying like some major knockdown, drag-out fight.

VELSHI: Right.

HENRY: But there's a little bit -- you can see only -- you know, the public comments of Secretary Clinton about a week ago, she seemed more forceful for a no-fly zone. And then Secretary Gates, over at the Pentagon, came out, you'll remember, and said, hold on, what's all this, as he called it, loose talk about a no-fly zone. This would be very difficult to implement. Everybody here took great pains to say there's no fight going on, but it seemed to be a diversion of opinion -- in the public comments. And yet again, after everybody's saying we're on the same page, they're now saying slightly different things, I stress slightly different things. But it shows you, they're just not quite on the same page yet.

VELSHI: All right. Ed, thanks for that. And, by the way, for those of you out there, you can see on the bottom of the screen, if you want to follow Ed on twitter @edhenryCNN. And, at the same time, follow me @alivelshi. Although, if you follow Ed, you get breaking news out of the White House as soon as it happens.

Ed, good to see you, as always. Ed Henry with the Stakeout.

HENRY: Good to see you, buddy.

VELSHI: All right. It happens all the time. The BlackBerry buzzing away at the worst times. It turns out men and women react differently to the interruption. That and some stories that you might have missed, coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: It is half past the hour. Here's a look at some big stories that you may have missed. Veteran "Washington Post" columnist David Broder died today. Broder won a Pulitzer Prize for his writing and was often referred to as the dean of the Washington press corps. He and the "Post" each won a Pulitzer in 1973, for coverage of the Watergate scandal that led to President Richard Nixon's resignation. The "Post" said that Broder died in Arlington, Virginia, of complications from diabetes. He was 81-years-old.

Severe storms have been barreling across the southeast. Some bad flooding reported in Louisiana, and a confirmed tornado touchdown in Mississippi. Folks in southern Alabama think they saw a twister, too. One man called the experience 30 seconds of pure hell. Minor injuries reported there.

Opposition fighter in Libya are struggling to keep control of a key oil city as pro-government forces batter Ras Lanuf with artillery and air strikes. Our senior international correspondent Ben Wedeman reports at least one oil storage tank has gone up in flames just outside the city.

The state of Georgia is appealing a decision in a decades-long water war with Florida and Alabama. At issue, a 2009 ruling that Atlanta has no right to take so much water from a lake north of the city. As it stands right now, unless these states come to an agreement, metro Atlanta's water supply from Lake Lanier will be cut to 1970s levels. That's a problem since its population has doubled since then.

When that office BlackBerry keeps buzzing you at home, it can be annoying and intrusive. Or maybe to you, it's no big deal. According to the study, your response may depend on your gender. Researchers talked to a thousand men and women with families in similar career pressures and they found women feel much guiltier and distressed when work threatens to interrupt things at home.

The space shuttle Discovery made its final landing today. Find out what's next for the shuttle and for NASA in 90 seconds.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: After 39 flights into space, 365 total days in space and 148 million miles under its belt, the space shuttle Discovery made its final landing about 90 minutes ago at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Discovery landed after completing a 13-day mission to help outfit the International Space Station. This spacecraft took five men, one woman and one robot astronaut into space. We can't see this video enough -- the touchdown. This is from the Discovery's final launch just two weeks ago.

Here to tell us all about it is John Zarrella, live from Kennedy Space Center.

John, how did the landing go? It looked picture perfect from here.

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely spectacular, Ali. A little bit windier than we had anticipated here. And I know at one point the NASA folks here sent a message up to Commander Steve Lindsey, a voice message that said, hey, Steve, the wind gusts are a little bit stronger than we had anticipated. So, it'll be interesting to hear what he says about how the ride was down the last, you know, several thousand feet. But they brought it in beautifully.

And it's interesting because where it's sitting right now out there on the runway, they're going to mark that spot, Ali, and then later they're going to go out and put a permanent marker down at that spot where Discovery made its final wheeled stop.

So, the end of a great journey. As you said, 148 miles flown, 39 missions. Both returned to flight missions after the two accidents, flew Senator John Glenn on his historic mission. The Discovery certainly has had a tremendously storied history.

VELSHI: John, what happens to Discovery next?

ZARRELLA: Well, right now for the next nine months, they're going to be going in, they've got get all the gases purged out of it, all the ammonia and all of the different hazardous chemicals. They're going to take the engines off. And they're going to make it ready to literally become a museum piece.

Discovery is going to go to the Smithsonian. That seems to be a done deal. About a year from now, hopefully, visitors will be able to start seeing Discovery up there in Washington, D.C. Atlantis and Endeavour will also go to museums. It's not clear which ones. NASA wants nearly $30 million for each of the orbiters. So right now looks like Kennedy Space Center might get Endeavour, the Air and Space Museum in Dayton, Ohio, out at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base could get Atlantis because Atlantis flew a lot of those military missions back in the late '80s and early '90s.

VELSHI: John we've got two more shuttle launches or one more?

ZARRELLA: Yes, two more. You have one in April, April 19th is the next scheduled launch. And, of course, the command are is Mark Kelly, and Gabby Giffords is his wife. Kelly says, she will, he hopes be there for the launch. And then June/July. End of June would be the Atlantis mission. Right now scheduled for June 28th, and that would be the final mission in the space shuttle program.

Only four astronauts going up on that flight. There were six on this one. There will be six on the April mission. Only four on that mission. And the reason being, Ali, because if there were any kind of a problem on ascent and something happened to the vehicle but they could get to the Space Station, that there would be enough life support equipment, enough, you know, food and things that they could live on the Space Station with the six space station crew members for enough time until they could have Soyuz vehicles bring them back to earth.

They've sent six astronauts up on the last mission, it becomes a little more complicated.

VELSHI: All right, John, thanks very ,much for joining us. We will, of course, be with you for that final mission.

Always great having you follow it for us. John Zarrella, joining us live from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

All right. What if I told you that the country with the world's largest democracy is also home to a serious slavery problem? We'll go there next and show you what entire families are being forced to do.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: In India slavery is an illegal but widespread practice. Another name for it is bonded labor. Entire families are forced to work to pay off loans amounting to less than $100 in some cases. As part of CNN's year-long freedom project which focuses on slavery around the world, CNN's Sara Sidner joins us now from western India, for more on slavery in the world's largest democracy -- Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, India is said to have the most modern-day slaves in the world. And we saw what some of them went through.

You could easily see it as you drove down the streets, visible to anyone who would look left or right. And this includes men, women and children.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) SIDNER (voice-over): An army of brick makers, heaving, stacking, balancing, bricks and more bricks, from sun up to sun down. But these laborers take home no wage. They are working off a debt. They are bonded laborers. Bound to those who gave them an advance or a loan. Human rights advocates say the practice is illegal and called them India's modern slaves.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I cannot leave here unless I pay my debt.

SIDNER: Durba Wati (ph) tells me she has no idea when that will be.

(on camera): The workers here tell us generally here's how it works. A contractor shows up promising them work and giving them a little advance money. Then they're tractored in from their far-off villages to a place they've never been to and they're told when they get here they have to work of their loan and they will not be paid any wages. They're also told they have to live here so that supervisors can keep an eye on them.

(voice-over): It isn't just the adults who are expected to work. Durba Wati is the mother of three. Her eldest daughter should not be this skilled at brick making. She is only five-years-old.

Her mother says she took an advance of 1,000 rupees, the equivalent of about $22. She, her husband and her daughter have been working six days a week for two months now. She says no one has told her when the loan will be paid off.

Their small allowance is barely enough to feed the family. Still, they don't dare leave.

They will beat me if I try to leave, Durba Wati says.

We want to ask the supervisor about what seems to be a violation of Indian labor law.

(on camera): A supervisor? Supervisor?

(voice-over): So when a supervisor shows up asking us to leave, we take our opportunity and he agrees to speak to us.

(on camera): Are they having to pay this loan off now?

"Yes, they have to work and repay the loan. They keep working," he says.

Is this legal? How is it legal?

"Yes, yes," he says. "We have an agreement."

Why are children working here?

"Kids are working here for food. They need food. If they can't fill their stomachs, they need to work," he says as he's pulled away. Perhaps, he has said too much.

I'm not going to pay you money.

ARUN SINGH, SUPERVISOR: Money, money.

SIDNER: Why? Why would I pay you money?

SINGH: Money, money.

SIDNER: Though he won't pay the workers a wage, he has no problem asking us to pay him for the interview. We, of course, refuse, and everyone goes back to making bricks, some will stay trapped in debt.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIDNER: Ali, one of the situations here is not only are there people who have been doing this, say, for a few months, but there are people who have been stuck in this life literally for generations. There are entire villages that have been enslaved. It is a very difficult issue here. One that India is trying to tackle -- Ai.

VELSHI: Sara, you -- I don't know if you had a chance to get a response from the government to your report or what you were reporting. You started off by saying slavery is illegal in India. Is this a loophole by virtue of the fact that there's some kind of exchange of money or expectation?

SIDNER: No, actually, it's not a loophole. It's just flat out illegal.

Basically, the idea of bonded labor where someone, for example, gives an advance or a loan is very well spelled out in a law against bonded labor that's been around, by the way, for more than 30 years, Ali.

One of the difficulties in this country is having the enforcement in place to enforce the laws because this is going on in plain daylight. You can see it without having to go searching too far. People know that it's happening. But it's happening in a lot of pockets, and very difficult for the government seemingly to go in and stop this practice.

VELSHI: And obviously, very difficult in a place where there's so much poverty that people will allow themselves to get into a situation like that.

How many people do you think we're talking about, Sara?

SIDNER: It's so hard to estimate that. Not very many people have an estimate of who exactly is in bonded labor.

We have to also remember that there are cases of children. Of course, those don't actually get reported often.

But we're talking probably about thousands of people, Ali. And like you said, poverty really is the key. If you ask human rights advocates or the government, they will say that poverty is the thing that has created this, that has kept it in practice and that will keep it in practice until people have a better way to make a life.

VELSHI: Sara Sidner in western India, thanks very much for this report. We'll be continuing with this series of reports all through the year as part of CNN's Freedom Project.

OK, our top stories this hour. Kicking off with breaking news, Illinois has just outlawed the death penalty. Governor Pat Quinn signed a ban on capital punishment. At the same time, he commuted the sentences of 15 death row inmates to life in prison without parole. That makes official a moratorium declared by one of Quinn's predecessors more than a decade ago. Illinois carried out its last execution in 1999.

Veteran "Washington Post" columnist David Broder died today. Broder won a Pulitzer Prize for his writing and was often referred to as "the dean of the Washington press corps." He and "The Post" each won a Pulitzer in 1973 for coverage of the Watergate scandal that led to President Richard Nixon's resignation. "The Post" said Broder died in Arlington, Virginia of complications of diabetes. He was 81 years old.

Arizona shooting suspect Jared Lee Loughner is due in a Tucson courtroom a little more than 90 minutes from now. He faces 49 federal counts arising from the January massacre where six people were killed and thirteen others wounded. Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who was shot in the head, is undergoing rehabilitation in Houston.

Most of us probably take walking for granted. In today's "Big I," we're checking out some new biologic leg technology to help amputees get around a lot more easily.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Every day on the show we do a segment called the "Big I," it's about new ideas and innovations. Today, we're talking about prosthetic limbs.

Check out this animation of a bionic lower leg system for amputees. According to the company that makes the iWalk power foot system, it replaces muscle functions and allows you to walk without stress to the rest of your body. It simulates the action of an ankle, Achilles tendon and calf muscles.

The folks over at CNNMoney.com spoke to a teacher who was the first person to test the bionic limb. Here's his story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WILL BORDEN, BIOM USER: So that's the basic tutorial that we're going to do. Go ahead and open up your computers.

My name is Will Borden. I work with teachers and students to find different ways that technology can enhance their learning. Looks good, Cali (ph).

I was in a car accident in 1993. My leg ended up being broken so badly that they couldn't restore the proper blood flow, so we needed to amputate.

I would make it a little bit smaller.

It was difficult in the beginning. You have to kind of learn to walk all over again.

TEXT: In 2008, Will became one of the first to test a new bionic limb called the BiOM.

BORDEN: It's a total game-changer as far as I'm concerned. You know, if I just go like this and you see how the foot will go down and find the floor? That ability for the ankle to articulate I haven't had, I've been an amputee for 17 years.

If you're going up hills or down hills or upstairs, to get that range of motion back in your ankle is a huge breakthrough.

DR. HIGH HERR, FOUNDER, IWALK: I lost my biological legs in 1982 from a mountain climbing accident, and I've been on a lifelong mission to advance novel (ph) technologies to enable both myself and other amputees to walk more freely, more naturally.

My name is Hugh Herr. I founded a company called iWalk, and iWalk advances robotic, very high-tech artificial limbs to allow people to move again.

TEXT: iWalk is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts and currently employs more than 20 people. They anticipate manufacturing several hundred BiOM units in 2011.

HERR: I'm getting a tremendous amount of energy, power from the ankles, which enables me to walk uphill with a perfectly erect posture. With conventional technology, when I walk up a hill, it's laborious.

This system is motorized, and the power supply is a battery. The systems have five computers and 12 sensors, so as I walk they're continually sensing the ground surface.

TEXT: Total cost for the BiOM and attachments is expected to be up to $50,000. iWalk is hoping to get the BiOM approved by Medicare this year.

BORDEN: And when you finish, go ahead and log out. This class is over in one minute.

You're taking something that people perceive as a handicap, that you're, you know, disabled, and in a way now you're turning that on its head. It's like you are enabled.

(END VIDEOTAPE) VELSHI: Man, that stuff is really cool.

To check it out yourself, to check out this thing called iWalk, go to my blog, CNN.com/Ali, I'll link you to everything you need to know about that. Fascinating.

A major player in the midterm elections has a new target. Mark Preston is going to break it down for us right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: An independent Republican group that was a major player in the midterm elections is now going after unions. CNN senior political editor Mark Preston joins me now from Washington.

But first, Mark, a Pulitzer prize-winning columnist has died. Tell us about David Broder.

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL EDITOR: Yes, you know, Ali, really a sad day here in Washington. David Broder was the type of journalist that not only us in the news business but also politicians really looked up to. He was somebody who was very tough on people but he was very fair.

In fact, photojournalist Jay McMichael, who is on the other side of this camera right now, we were just talking about David Broder. And he worked with him when Broder would be down at the White House. And, you know, Jay described him as someone from the old school, somebody who was very much a gentleman.

So David Broder, as you said, 81 years old, long-time "Washington Post" reporter and columnist, has died today.

Talking about politics, Ali, putting the train back on the track here, up in Wisconsin, you know, that standoff continues to go on regarding the governor, Governor Walker, and the unions up there over collective bargaining and budget cuts.

Well, as you said, a very important player in the midterm elections, an independent conservative group, is weighing in on the matter. In fact, Crossroads GPS is running a national television ad over the next week, spending $750,000 trying to tie public sector unions and saying that they are too cozy with President Obama.

Crossroads GPS is this organization that was founded or was helped founded by Karl Rove as well as Ed Gillespie.

And speaking of President Obama and more some more politicking, he was in Boston last night. He helped raise $1 million for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Right now, the D-Triple- C, as we call it here in Washington, is $18 million in debt heading into the 2012 elections. The only saving grace right now, Ali, for the Democrats is that their counterpart, the National Republican Congressional Committee, is $10.5 million in debt. So, they need to get over this debt, Ali, before they head -- head into 2012 and look forward to those races. VELSHI: All right, Mark, good to see you, as always -- Mark Preston.

Your next update from "The Best Political Team on Television" is just an hour away.