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Websites Go Dark In Protest; Search of Capsized Cruise Ship Suspended; Gingrich: Perry, Santorum Should Quit; Romney's 15 Percent Tax Rate; Occupy Protests In D.C.; Man Pulls Woman From Burning Car; Tornado Cleanup Begins; Second Winter Storm In Week For Pacific Northwest; California Gas Price Hike; Iowa Caucuses Final Count
Aired January 18, 2012 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: And we begin this hour with a major protest under way right now and it's as close as your computer. Several Web sites including Wikipedia are blacking out their web pages for the entire day. They're protesting an anti-piracy bill in Congress that they say could put them out of business.
Dan Simon looks at the battle that some describe as Silicon Valley versus Hollywood.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thousands of people this very minute are downloading pirated videos from overseas Web sites. Movies still in the theaters like "War Horse" can be watched on a computer screen for free.
The thriving film industry of millions of dollars. With Web sites like ThePirateBay.org operating in Europe, the U.S. has no authority to shut them down. That has prompted Capitol Hill legislation known as SOPA, Stop Online Piracy Act in the House and PIPA, Protect Intellectual Property Act in the Senate.
The bills as now written would require that internet providers in the U.S. block the offending sites. Media companies like CNN's parent firm, Time Warner are among those supporting the bill.
CHRIS DODD, CHAIRMAN, MPAA: Illegal conduct is not free speech. Illegal conduct is what it is. It's stealing and that's at the heart of this legislative effort.
SIMON: Former Senator Chris Dodd heads up the Motion Picture Association and is a huge backer of the legislation.
DODD: This bill is exclusively focused on the foreign criminal elements that are stealing.
SIMON: The bills would give Washington unprecedented authority in regulating content.
DECLAN MCCULLAUGH, CNET REPORTER: Think of it as a black list and this is something we haven't seen before in the history of the internet. It's kind of black list bill. What would happen is that copyright holders in the U.S. Department of Justice would come up with this list and then with a court order serve this on internet service providers.
SIMON: Search engines such as Google also would be banned from displaying the sites. And advertisers as well as payment processors like Paypal could do no business with them either. Collectively, Silicon Valley has said no go.
Not because they want piracy, but don't feel they should be the internet police and are hurling words like censorship at the legislation.
David Ulevitch runs a successful internet security company, which gives its customers the tools to block web sites in their own homes or businesses.
DAVID ULEVITCH, CEO, OPENDNS: We've never wanted to be in the position to try to be the editorial directors. We certainly don't think the government is the right people to be in that position either.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Dan Simon joining us live. Now, Dan, for the sake of full of disclosure, CNN's parent company, Time Warner supports this bill.
So let's talk about the technology companies protesting the pending legislation. You know, they've agreed piracy is a problem. So what's their solution?
SIMON: You know, Kyra, I'm not sure they have it. This is a difficult question for both sides. But one thing you hear repeatedly when you talk to these technology executives is they look at Hollywood and they say go innovate.
They look at what happened with Napster back in 1999, 2000, when pretty much everybody you knew was downloading music for free and then what happened? Well, then Apple came up with iTunes and then suddenly people starting paying for music.
So they look at Hollywood and they say figure out a way for people to pay for your content, that will help solve at least part of the piracy problem and of course, a lot of smart people are trying to figure this out, Kyra.
We know right now that the bills apparently are on hold, at least the bill in the House is on hold. Right now, the Senate is set to vote, but there are a lot of people in the Senate now questioning whether they should go forward with the vote, which was slated for January 24th -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: We're following it that's for sure. Dan Simon, thanks so much.
And in just about 15 minutes, Jessica Lawrence is going to join me. She's the managing director of New York Tech Meet Up. It's a trade organization with about 20,000 members and they are protesting in Manhattan today. She'll join me live.
Not surprisingly, the internet is the buzz with talk of the web site protest and the concerns that are involved. Zain Verjee has been looking online and joining us from London with some of the reaction. What did you find, Zain?
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kyra. The internet has been on fire. This is a hot topic online. Let me just give you a flavor of what some people are saying.
I found a tweet by Rupert Murdoch, the chairman of News Corp. and he says that he supports it. This was his tweet, "Nonsense argument about danger to internet. How about Google, others blocking porn, hate speech, et cetera? Internet hurt?"
The U.S. Democratic Congressman Keith Ellison also weighing in backing the protests against the piracy laws. He tweeted, SOPA would harm internet innovation and jobs. Better ways to fight privacy."
Loads of CNN viewers have plenty of opinions, Kyra. One had this to say, "There are merits to both sides of this argument. A rewrite of this bill in consultation with both sides is needed."
Finally, check out this tweet from Charlie Beckett, he is the director of this big media think tank here in the U.K. And he says this, "Remind me, who am I angry with? The Hollywood millionaires or the Silicon Valley billionaires?"
So very opinionated thoughts online, the majority of people, Kyra, weighing in and speaking actually against the proposed legislation.
PHILLIPS: Zain Verjee out of London for us. Zain, thanks so much.
Now to that doomed cruise ship off Italy and fading hope of finding any survivors. About two dozen people are still missing in those frigid waters including two Americans. At least 11 people were killed.
And rescue operations are on hold. It's too risky for divers as the cruise ship moves in the water right now. Meanwhile, the ship's captain under house arrest. He could be looking at manslaughter and abandoning ship charges after the "Costa Concordia" hit a rock Friday night.
Barbie Nadeau joining us live by phone from Rome. So Barbie, let's go ahead and start with the captain. Is the move to house arrest a surprise?
All right, she was joining us actually on the phone via Rome and that call dropped. So we'll try to get reconnected with her to get the latest on that search there around the cruise liner.
Let's talk politics. Three days to go until South Carolina votes in the Republican presidential primary and Newt Gingrich is working hard to sell himself as the anti-Romney candidate. So, of course, he wants Perry and Santorum to drop out of the race.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NEWT GINGRICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We look at the polling and the only conservative who realistically has a chance to be the nominee. So any vote for Santorum or Perry in effect is a vote to allow Romney to become the nominee because we've got to bring conservatives together in order to stop him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Now Sarah Palin is coming out telling South Carolina to vote for Newt.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SARAH PALIN, (R), FORMER ALASKA GOVERNOR: If I had to vote in South Carolina in order to keep this thing going, I'd vote for Newt and I would want this to continue, more debates, more vetting of candidates.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: CNN political editor, Paul Steinhauser, live in Charleston. So, Paul, Gingrich says that he knows South Carolina is a do or die state for his campaign. What do you think? Can he mount an upset?
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: He could do, Kyra. Listen, this is almost home field advantage for Newt Gingrich. Remember, he's from Georgia, the state next door. And this is a very different state, South Carolina, than New Hampshire.
So, yes, he could get some mojo here and do pretty well. As for those Palin comments from last night, his campaign calls them pretty darn clear call to arms. Not an official endorsement from Palin, but they're pretty excited about that.
As for Gingrich's calls for Santorum and Perry to step aside, Santorum campaign is pretty much thanks, but no thanks Newt Gingrich -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right, well, the ad wars as we've talked a lot about have been pretty brutal in South Carolina. Let's take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (voice-over): Newt was fined $300,000 for ethics violations. Took $1.6 million from Freddie Mac and co-sponsored a bill with Nancy Pelosi.
Santorum voted to raise the debt limit five times, increasing spending and debt by $3 trillion. And he even voted to let convicted felons vote.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Romney's economic plan, timid. Parts of it virtually identical to Obama's failed policy. Timid won't create jobs and timid certainly won't defeat Barack Obama. (END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Just how much money are the candidates shelling out, Paul?
STEINHAUSER: We're talking about a lot, Kyra. I've been down here for a couple of days. You turn on your TV, it's a flood, an avalanche, huge tidal wave, you name it, of campaign commercials. Many of negative.
Look at this, here's -- this is CMAG. These are the latest numbers over the last week here in South Carolina. This is just in the campaigns. You can see right there who is spending the most, Mitt Romney. He's at $375,000, put ads up here in South Carolina.
Go to the next screen, Kyra, this is the story of this campaign, it's the "Super PACs" that are spending more money and look who is at the top, the pro-Romney "Super PACs" spending nearly a million dollars just in the last week here in South Carolina.
Kyra, we're talking a lot of money, a lot more to come between now and Saturday's primary.
PHILLIPS: Yes, all right, speaking about a lot of money, Mitt Romney facing some political backlash over a reality that stairs back at us from every paycheck.
Rich people like Romney, the multimillion, paying a lower tax rate than working stiffs like you or me.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What's effective rate I've been paying? It's probably closer to the 15 percent rate than anything.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Christine Romans, part of the CNN Money team, joins us from New York, 15% percent. Christine, how does he manage to pay less in taxes than the middle class?
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, here are couple of funny things. There's nothing simple about taxes. I'll say it again because we're going to be hearing about taxes until this election, right?
There's nothing simple about taxes. People with a lot of money, and he has a lot of money, I mean, net worth something like $200 million. Those kind of people have a lot of their investments in dividends and capital gains. That's taxed at 15 percent. It's not taxed like labor, your work when you go work.
If you were being taxed on work, it would be 35 percent would be his marginal tax rate. But if a lot of his money is coming from investments, it's a 15 percent tax rate. Now here's something interesting, as well.
He made a comment that I think really fuels this whole idea that there's this big gap and he doesn't kind of get it. He pointed out that he makes money from speaking fees, as well, $374,000 he made from speaking fees.
Not very much, he said. He was pointing out that most of his income is from dividends and capital gains. But I've been on the phone crunching IRS numbers with several different tax sort of policy centers or tax groups, right?
You know, I don't know that you can say point blank that on federal income tax alone he pays more than the middle class. Look at these IRS statistics.
People who make $30,000 to $40,000 a year after you figure in all of their credits and deductions, their effective income tax rate federal only.
This doesn't count payroll taxes, other stuff, 4 percent, 5 percent for 40 to 50, 7 percent for $50,000 to $75,000, 8 percent for $75,000 to $100,000. You look at the top 1 percent, they're paying I think 24 percent is their effective tax rate.
And here's why, because we have such a complicated tax code that is full of goodies for all kinds of different -- so rich people get all these breaks for capital gains and also for charitable deductions.
But mortgage interest, there's a big deduction for that. You get a deduction also for having kids. You get a deduction tax credits and the like for your state income taxes, your property taxes, your local property taxes and your charitable donations, as well.
So you go down the line, there are deductions and tax credits for everyone. And finally, this is something that conservatives bring up a lot when they say, look, 40 percent of people who earn money have no federal tax burden at all.
So we have a complicated tax code that is tilted in a lot of different ways and definitely the rich, their share of taxes has been going down, but I'll tell you, there's nothing simple about it. There's nothing simple about and on the campaign trail, we're going to be hearing an awful lot more about it -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: And we'll be talking about it trying to make it less complex so everybody can understand. Christine, thanks.
And tomorrow just days before the South Carolina primary election, the GOP contenders debate the issues, the Southern Republican Presidential debate on CNN tomorrow night 8:00 Eastern.
Now back to that doomed cruise ship off Italy and fading hope of finding survivors. Barbie Nadeau joining us live on the phone from Rome. Barbie, let's go ahead and start with the captain now under house arrest. BARBIE NADEAU, JOURNALIST (via telephone): That's right. The captain has spent his first day as a semi-freeman. He's under house arrest in his hometown south of Naples. And he's not supposed it to leave his house. He's not supposed to talk to anyone.
He's supposed to just sit there and I'm sure work with his lawyer who is trying to defend him against potential charges for manslaughter, for abandonment of ship and for causing ship wreck.
In (inaudible) yesterday, which the town in the jurisdiction of where this accident took place, a judge decided that she would wait and make a decision about what is going to happen with him during the interim of the investigation.
That means there's a period of investigation going on right now, which they can't really even start until they finish rescue and recovery phase of the accident.
They're still looking for survivors they say, but also looking for the remains of the victims. They have spent very little time in the water today because of rough seas and it's supposed to be even worse tomorrow.
PHILLIPS: And what happens to the ship as these strong winds are supposed to move in, as you mentioned, the weather conditions not helping these divers at this point.
NADEAU: Well, the ship -- the big concern they have with the ship is that it will slide forward in these rough seas and drop further. The seabed in that area is a (inaudible) seabed. Where it is right now is fairly shallow water, but it is very possible that it will go down deeper if the seas are going to push it forward.
That could cause all sorts of problems. Not only would it hamper the recovery phase, but it also could cause an environmental problem because that ship still has about 550,000 gallons of fuel on it.
So there is a salvage company in place right now. They're going to start looking at ways to extract the fuel from that ship, but it's all compromise right now by the weather, typical winter weather on the seas, very unpredictable.
And they're awaiting a winter storm. So we'll see what will happen the next 24 hours if that storm amounts to anything, if they can get back on that boat. But right now, it's just too dangerous for the divers to go back.
PHILLIPS: OK. We'll follow it, Barbie. Thanks so much.
And the "Occupy" movement targets several well-known sites in the nation's capital including the White House. We'll you take there.
And the Pacific Northwest is getting hammered by a second major winter storm. A live report from snowy Seattle next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: News cross country now. Hundreds of "Occupy" protesters taking their cause to Washington, appearing outside the White House, Capitol Hill even the Supreme Court. Capitol police say at least two protesters were detained including one charged with allegedly assaulting an officer.
Bridgewater, Massachusetts, a man pulls an 87-year-old woman out of her burning car with just seconds to spare. The pictures are incredible. The man said he saw the car careen into this neighbor's yard so he broke a window, opened her door and pulled her out. She's expected to be OK.
And in parts of Indiana and Kentucky, clean up begins after a tornado struck there. Violent storms damaged roof, flips several cars and trucks. Luckily, no deaths reported.
Well, we've been talking about the Pacific Northwest is bracing for a second winter storm this week. This one could actually leave the region under record amounts of snow.
As I mentioned last hour, our Southern California girl, Thelma Gutierrez, is live there in Seattle to give us a true perspective of what conditions are like right now. Hi, Thelma.
THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, there, Kyra. Well, I can tell you we've been here for about five hours and the snow is starting to come down. It's very steady.
And as you can see, the snow is now starting to stick. What's really interesting, Kyra, is that this is actually happening in the heart of rush hour and as you look on Pike and 7th where we're standing right now, it is very traffic light.
There are very few cars out right now. Possibly because the officials and also the mayor have been telling people stay home, don't come into the city.
But as I can show you right now, all the main thoroughfares in this downtown area have been kept fairly clean. And that's because snowplows have been out. They want to make sure that people are able to get in and out when they need to.
Kyra, officials say they are prepared this time around for the storm. The 2008 was a different matter. They're expecting about five inches here in downtown Seattle, 10 inches in the outlying area.
So that makes this a really huge storm, not huge numbers when you talk about inches, but on the other hand, this is very treacherous terrain. It's like San Francisco snow, very steep terrain. So that makes it very slow going, very dangerous for people out here -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: OK. We'll follow the conditions there in Seattle. Thelma, thanks so much.
And right now we're seeing just how much political clout the web has. Popular web sites are dark. Web site employees are protesting. All of it because of anti-piracy bills they believe go too far. We're actually talking to one protester next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Wikipedia and other web sites have gone dark to protest anti-piracy bills in Congress. Web site employees say the bills could put them out of business.
Jessica Lawrence is one of those employees. She's managing director of a tech trade association with 20,000 members, but today she's a protester.
Just outside the Manhattan offices of our two senators. So for the sake of full disclosure, CNN's parent company, Time Warner supports this bill, Jessica. So let's begin with you. And what's your biggest issue here with the SOPA bill?
JESSICA LAWRENCE, NEW YORK TECH MEETUP: Our biggest issue is that although we really do believe that copyrighted material should be protected from piracy, these two pieces of legislation are far too overreaching.
And they really serve to stifle innovation, freedom of speech, and economic growth. It's like trying to put out a small barbeque fire with a giant fire hose.
PHILLIPS: OK, so you're not totally against the idea. So how would you rework this legislation? Where would you find a compromise here that you would feel is fair?
LAWRENCE: I think a legislative compromise might be an option. The other option is to work with the internet start ups themselves and find a technology-based solution.
If you look at a company like (inaudible), they're taking issues with music piracy and building a business model that protects some of that music from the piracy that we're seeing rampant in the music industry.
PHILLIPS: You did say I believe it was the "New York Times", you say this is definitely a wake-up call. What exactly do you mean by that?
LAWRENCE. It is a wakeup call to the tech industry. Politics is not necessarily something that the start up industry and the tech industry has been heavily involved in. A lot of times people are building companies with a very small team.
They have their heads down focused on their work. And I think this is the first time that the start up industry has really seen that there is legislation out there.
That would have a direct negative impact on their ability to do their work and serve the community with the products that they're creating.
PHILLIPS: Now there are some lawmakers that are scrambling to rewrite this. Have you been in touch with any lawmakers?
LAWRENCE: We have. We were in touch with Senator Gillibrand's office and Senator Schumer's office before we actually even decided to go ahead and have this event today.
And we really suggested to both of them that they come out against this legislation that instead of trying to kill the internet, they should be trying to save the internet.
And these are both senators who are talked in the past about how much they support the tech community and yet this legislation is directly against the tech community and will have a significant negative impact on it.
PHILLIPS: Do you think that we're going to see more web sites go dark in protest?
LAWRENCE: I think we're already seeing, you know, some of the huge web sites go dark, Wikipedia and Mozilla. Even Google has something up on their homepage today. I think you're going to see a lot of other sites going dark throughout the day.
PHILLIPS: Jessica Lawrence, thanks for your side of the story. Appreciate it.
LAWRENCE: Thank you.
PHILLIPS: You bet. Newt Gingrich telling a South Carolina crowd take he's ready to brawl for the White House. In fact, he says he wants to knock Obama out. Wonder what the Vegas odds are on that fight. Our "Political Buzz" panel sounds off.
And the head of the Hobby Lobby chain will be here to share his own hobby. Rare, biblical antiquities. He's actually brought some of the priceless items that he's now putting on a worldwide tour including his latest find, the earliest known text from the book of Romans.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Checking top stories now. Rescue operations on hold at the site of that capsized cruise ship off the coast of Italy. The searches were suspended after the ship began to move.
Crews plan to blast more holes in the boat today to give divers better access. At least 11 people have died. Two dozen others are missing and the captain now under house arrest.
Wikipedia and several other major web sites going dark to protest an anti-piracy bill before Congress. The site say the legislation could lead to censorship and make operating nearly impossible for many sites. Supporters say the measure protects copyright holders.
Congress expected to vote on a resolution denying President Obama the authority to raise the debt ceiling. The measure is expected to pass the Republican-led House, but die in the Senate.
Time for "Political Buzz," your rapid fire look at the best political topics of the day. Three questions, 30 seconds on the clock. Playing today, CNN contributor, Maria Cardona, Chris Moody, political reporter for Yahoo News and Georgetown University Professor Chris Metzler.
First question, guys, a South Carolina voter asked Gingrich about taking on President Obama. Here is how Newt answered.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GINGRICH: I don't want to bloody his nose, I want to knock him out.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Imagine it's Newt versus Obama come November. Who wins the title bout, guys -- Maria?
MARIA CARDONA, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, if I were a betting gal, Kyra, which I'm not, I would put all my money squarely on President Obama. Look, first of all, you have Gingrich who how many times has he imploded?
And in every single match-up that you have in polls, President Obama basically trumped him, trounces him. And in an election where the difference is going to be between a president who has created 3 million jobs.
And wakes up every day trying to protect middle class and working class families versus anybody in the GOP field who wants to put policies in place that put us in this recession to begin with, President Obama will win.
PHILLIPS: Chris Metzler.
CHRIS METZLER, PROFESSOR, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY: Is this a trick question? Newt wins. I mean, look, if you look at Newt's ability to be an exceptional debater, if you look at his political skills, if you look at his vision, put all of those kinds of things together. He easily -- it's a TKO. Newt is the winner, end of discussion.
PHILLIPS: Chris Moody.
CHRIS MOODY, POLITICAL REPORTER, YAHOO! NEWS: I think this all depends on whether or not Barack Obama agrees to Gingrich's challenge of holding seven three-hour Lincoln-Douglas style debates. And whether Gingrich is allowed to wear a top hat. Gingrich has been practicing and thinking about this fantasy for at least two decades now. That's as long as he's been talking about it. And I think he would do very strongly.
But I do know one thing if it's Gingrich/Obama, that's going to be a lot more fun than Romney-Obama.
PHILLIPS: All right, let's get to question number two. Sarah Palin telling South Carolina voters vote for Gingrich.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SARAH PALIN (R), FORMER GOVERNOR OF ALASKA: If it I had to vote in South Carolina, in order to keep this thing going, I'd vote for Newt and I would want this to continue more debates, more vetting of candidates.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Ok more vetting of candidates. So if you could ask the GOP field one question and get a straight answer, what would it be, Chris Metzler?
METZLER: Well, first of all, Governor Palin is correct here in that Newt's going to win South Carolina. But besides that, the question really is going to be a two part. First part of the question, if the Treasury Department dipped into the pension funds to avoid the debt ceiling, what would you do about that and secondly and more importantly I think is on day one, what specifically are you going to do to create a business environment in which companies in- source rather than outsource jobs.
PHILLIPS: Maria.
CARDONA: I would ask this. As a middle class Latina mother who is a voter, what policies are Republicans going to put in place to try to convince me that they are not in it just to protect millionaires and billionaires and the biggest corporations with tax cuts for them at the expense of -- of programs and policies that help the middle class and which I am in.
And secondly, as a Latina, why do they have such extreme positions that are anti-immigrant, anti-Hispanic and what are they going to do to fix that?
PHILLIPS: Chris Moody.
MOODY: Well, first of all we need to point out that this is probably a watershed moment for Sarah Palin. It's perhaps the first time that something she says the entire Washington, D.C. Press Corps agrees with her. I think the secret is we all want this thing to go along because I said earlier it's -- the minute it's Romney-Obama is the minute we all take a nap.
But the question I would ask all of these guys is did you really want to be President?
PHILLIPS: Ok. "Buzzer Beater"; 20 seconds each on this one. Conan O'Brien talking about Wikipedia going dark in protest of anti- piracy bills. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONAN O'BRIEN, TALK SHOW HOST: Because of a protest, starting at midnight you all know about this? Wikipedia is going to shut down for 24 hours. Yes. In fact it's 11:05 right now. So you'll have less than one hour to get most of your facts wrong.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: All right, if you were rewriting this anti-piracy legislation, guys, how would it read? Maria?
CARDONA: Well, I think that there are certainly merits on both sides of the issue. But there has got to be protections in there. So for example if this -- if this great segment goes on -- goes on YouTube and my mother wants to download it on Facebook, Facebook should not get in trouble and my mother should not get in trouble. And the way the legislation reads now, they both would.
PHILLIPS: This great segment. I love it. Chris Metzler.
METZLER: Well, two things. One, first I think what I would do is make sure that Reid does not rush the legislation to the floor. But barring that there are two things first of all nothing in this legislation shall be inconsistent with the First Amendment to the United States -- to the United States Constitution.
And secondly nothing in this legislation intended or otherwise should engage in censorship.
PHILLIPS: All right, Chris Moody how would it read for you?
MOODY: Well, look if this legislation is going to shut down the Internet as we know it, I think it needs provisions to teach us how to act without the Internet. I don't know what I'm going to do if I don't have the Internet. So I think it needs to require mandatory etiquette lessons at the dinner table. How to eat food with other people when you have your -- without an iPhone. I think all of these things should be required so we learn how to talk to each other. Do we go outside and play. What do we do? These are questions that demand answers.
PHILLIPS: Maria, Chris squared, thanks, guys.
CARDONA: Thanks Kyra.
MOODY: Thank you.
PHILLIPS: Well celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain isn't a fan of Paula Deen's. Wait until you see what he tweeted about her diabetes announcement.
Also ahead, if take you your iPod out on the street, you might take your life into your hands. A new study revealing the dangers of listening while walking.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Well, we talk a lot about sports stars in our big play but this guy, I'll tell you what; he's in a class by himself. Grant Korgan has become the first adaptive athlete ever to reach the South Pole. He crossed 75 miles on a custom sit ski pushing about a quarter million times while braving a 45 below zero wind chill. Korgan was paralyzed from the waist down after a snowmobiling accident in 2012 (SIC).
All right, let's go to the Australian Open, shall we? Let's watch Juan Martin del Potro rushes the net, races back for the oh yes, you know this, between the leg shot. Pretty sweet finally across court for the winner and then Del Potro won the match moving on to the third round. No surprise.
All right but this could be the play of the day for Melbourne; a ball girl getting rid of a cricket. Take a look at her face. The match went on and the ball girl is probably happy to get back to her real job.
Chef Anthony Bourdain slamming Paula Deen on Twitter. "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT's" A.J. Hammer here to talk about the fact that Deen came forward and made this announcement that she's diabetic, but Bourdain not showing much sympathy, A.J.
A.J. HAMMER, HLN HOST, "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT": No, no sympathy at all here Kyra. Bourdain has publicly called Deen's food bad for you in the past and he now seems incredulous that she is now working as a paid spokesperson for diabetes medication. Let me read to you what he tweeted. He said, "Thinking of getting into the leg breaking business so I can profitably sell crutches later".
Now, we did reach out to Bourdain for further comment on that and he gave us no comment. But he and Deen do have a history. Last year he called her the most dangerous person to America saying that she is proud that her food is as he put it bleeping bad for you. Last year Deen told Bourdain, "Hey, Bourdain get a life".
But we haven't heard back from her yet about this latest attack, but in a general sense she's publicly defending her cooking by saying her recipes were always meant to be enjoyed it mod race, not as an everyday kind of thing.
But Kyra as you've been hearing as well, a lot of people really upset that she kept her diagnosis a secret for so long. Three years while continuing to push her fatty foods.
I get taken some time it's a big thing to come out publicly with but three years some people are saying maybe it should have been sooner.
PHILLIPS: Yes and now taking on a big sponsorship or being paid, rather, by a drug for diabetes. There you go it's a twist.
"Modern Family" our favorite show.
HAMMER: Yes.
PHILLIPS: Following up its Golden Globe win. Well, an f-bomb in an upcoming episode. They're already saucy enough. Do they have to do this? HAMMER: I actually think this is perfect because truly this is something that a lot of parents can relate to. Kyra, you'll be relating to it yourself in a couple of years.
In the next episode of the great "Modern Family", the youngest character on the show, which is 2 1/2-year-old Lilly, drops one of those words you can't say on television. Now the profanity is of course, bleeped, but the humor comes as Lilly's parents try to deal with how she learned the word and how to keep her from saying it in public again.
I think most parents will tell, you know, kids pick up all sorts of things that they probably shouldn't hear and say. And dealing with this kind of a problem is a pretty common thing. I have a report that the actress who plays Lilly actually said the word fudge during the taping so she wasn't actually taught the offending word.
But you know, you have groups like the Parents Television Council and the No Cussing Club, if you believe there was such a club. They've been quoted as asking ABC Kyra, to not even air the episode. I don't think there's a bleeping chance that will happen. And I look forward to watching it myself on ABC tonight.
And I met Jesse Tyler Ferguson at the globes and the instant I did, he knew that we were big fans, Kyra. He's watching.
PHILLIPS: That's great.
HAMMER: So, Jesse, it's nice to meet you. Jesse of course plays Mitch on the show, one of Lilly's parents.
PHILLIPS: Jesse, thanks for watching. I'm thrilled. Ok. We have to make sure we mention "Modern Family" every single hit from now on -- A.J.
HAMMER: Yes.
Well, A.J. has all the breaking news in the entertainment world. And of course we have all the updates on "Modern Family", our favorite show. So watch "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT" 11:00 eastern on HLN.
You have to figure that the president of Hobby Lobby has one heck of a hobby. He's going to show us some of his collectibles next, priceless stuff you're sharing with the world. like text written in Jesus' native Palestinian language. And the earliest known text from the book of Romans.
Don't go away.
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PHILLIPS: Let's check some stories happening across country. People in the Pacific Northwest bracing for their second winter storm of the week, up to ten inches of snow could hit the Seattle area today. Students in Garfield Heights, Ohio, going to school for just 5 1/2 hours. The district shortened the day due a budget shortfall. Music, gym and art classes have all been dropped.
And a New York homeless teen has received an invitation to attend the "State of the Union" address. We've been following Samantha Garvey's story and she learned last week that she is a semi- finalist now for that $100,000 science scholarship. And you know she has said, even if she didn't get it, she's still going to go to a great university.
Ok. Hobby Lobby. That's the place that's all about finding cool stuff to do with your free time like arts, crafts, scrap booking. So it makes sense that its president would have a unique hobby himself like collecting rare biblical text and artifacts that would pretty much make Indiana Jones salivate.
Steve Green has collected more than 40,000 biblical antiquities and he's putting a bunch of them out on the road in a worldwide traveling exhibit called "Passages". He's here to share some of those treasures with us. We promise not to spill any coffee or anything else on them. It makes me a little nervous Steve. All right. We want, of course, to be able to talk a little bit about each one here.
Let's go ahead and start with the earliest known text from the book of Romans. Well, I guess, it's a portion of it.
STEVE GREEN, HOBBY LOBBY: It's a portion of the book of Romans. On one side is a portion of Chapter 9 and the other side is a portion of the Chapter 10 of the Book of Romans.
And what's interesting is this has just been discovered within the last 48 hours. Dr. Scott Carroll who is the bible expert that we've been working with was at Baylor discovered this and --
PHILLIPS: How? How did you get this?
GREEN: Well, this is -- in part of the acquisitions that we have, we have uncovering layers, papyrus and we're pulling layers away, all different kinds of Text show up. And this happened to be -- is as Dr. Scott Carroll has identified it the oldest portion of the book of Romans known dating to middle second century.
PHILLIPS: Incredible.
GREEN: So this really adds another brick to the wall of evidence supporting what the Bible tells us. It's an incredible find.
PHILLIPS: And for those of faith, I mean this is pretty incredible to hear about -- ok, let's look at -- this is actually an illegal printing of Psalms in the gospel of John? What makes it illegal.
It's illegal because during the colonial days of America, England did not allow the bible to be printed the in the Americas. So we had to import Bibles from England. This happens to be a printing prior to that and it is a diglot meaning that there are two different languages. There's the English version and next to it is an Algonquian Indian language.
So it tells us the story of the interest of those back in this day that printed this of sharing the gospel with the American Indians.
PHILLIPS: What about all the little notes that are written on there? Have you been able to figure out what that is?
GREEN: No, but that would be part of what our Green Scholars initiatives will be able to do. There's a lot of text like this that we have that we'll have ridings, leading notes that we will want to have leading experts decipher that and tell us what it says and learn a little bit more about the people that printed the book.
PHILLIPS: Item number three.
GREEN: This is two leaves of the codex, "Clinici Rescliptos", which is a --
PHILLIPS: Say that five times really fast.
GREEN: Yes. That's right. It is referred to as rescriptus because it has been written on. The underlying text is scripture in Palestinian Aramaic which is Jesus's household language. This would be the largest portion of scripture that we have in Jesus' household language. We're currently having it scanned at oxford and they are through the different light technologies able to pull out that underlying text so that we can better study what is being said.
We're going to have Cambridge analyzing those scans so that we can be able to tell and analyze how close is this text to what we have today? And it would be the closest thing to sitting around the table with Jesus and hearing what he had to say.
PHILLIPS: Incredible. And, you know, whether you're a believer or not, it's fascinating -- this contributes to the discussion obviously about the faith and what exists and what you've discovered. And you can see the exhibit, you can go to the website, explorepassages.com.
GREEN: Correct. We have about 400 artifacts on display in Atlanta. And we're going to about 100 items on display at the Vatican from Lent through Easter. And we're excited to be able to share some of the finds and to encourage people to consider what this book has to say.
GREEN: My pleasure.
PHILLIPS: Thanks, Steve.
$5 a gallon gas. It could be just around the corner. And we're not happy about it either. So we're going to look at how drivers in one city are trying to deal with those sky high gas prices.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- he spends $4,000 a week on gas and that's why that price right there, $3.55; again, California $3.70. This is quite a bargain. You can imagine how much you can save.
So what's driving all this? As you know, Iran has threatened to close down the Strait of Hormuz, a key shipping lane. Also at play, you've got emerging markets around the world: China, Brazil, South East Asia; they are now driving up demand. So here in California, like we said, you have the high price.
Are we indeed headed for $5 a gallon? Well, we talked to an expert from USC, a professor, about that.
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PROFESSOR CHARLES CICCHETTI, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA: I think idea of $5 prices is certainly within the realm of possibility. But the good news would be the economy would have to recover first. And therefore we'd be able to afford $5 gasoline. The bad news is the economy's not recovering so much because we've got these high but not quite $5 gasoline prices out there.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And the good news is we have some other analysts who say no way are we ever going to get to $5 a gallon. In fact, one says he thinks that the high prices are front loaded to the beginning of this year and later on in the year, we might spike in spring, but later on in the year, the prices could drop. There is not tremendous demand in the United States right now for gas. But try telling that to people here in California.
Kyra, you used to live here in California. You know what it's like. You have to drive everywhere. And you're hit by sort of a double-edged sword here. You have a very high tax on gas at 35 cents a gallon. And you also have to produce gas at a higher rate because of the tough pollution control standards -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Oh, yes. And boy, that traffic, too. Nothing like it in Los Angeles. Paul, thanks.
Well, if you walk or go jogging and you listen to your iPod, listen up. In today's "Daily Dose", a new study finds that people who wear head phones on the street actually have a higher risk of getting hit by a car than people who don't. The study looked at 116 people hit while wearing head phones. Most of the victims were males under the age of 30. Seven out of ten people hit died from their injuries.
Coming up in the newsroom with Suzanne Malveaux, more than two dozen people who were aboard the doomed Italian cruise ship are still missing including this American couple. Hear from their friends and family in Minnesota as they pray for a miracle.
Plus we're going to ask a lawyer what legal action the victims can take and who will ultimately be held accountable for this disaster.
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PHILLIPS: We may know by the end of the week if Mitt Romney's eight-vote margin of victory in Iowa holds up. Paul Steinhauser joining us live from Charleston, South Carolina with that story -- hey, Paul.
STEINHAUSER: You know, (INAUDIBLE) it isn't over until it's over, right? So hopefully by the end of the week it will be over. Yes. You're absolutely right, it was eight votes Romney over Santorum back on January 3rd, 15 days ago.
So here's the deal. Those 99 counties in Iowa have until 5:00 local this afternoon to get the certified votes back to Des Moines, the state capital. So the Iowa GOP, the chairman out there, Matt Strawn, says by Friday, he'll have an announcement on those final certified votes.
Stay tuned. If Santorum does edge him out, I think that's going to be bragging rights for Rick Santorum. Maybe that will help him in Saturday's primary right here in South Carolina -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. Paul, you've got 45 seconds to plug the big debate tomorrow here on CNN.
STEINHAUSER: Ok, right behind me, that way, that way -- that's North Charleston Coliseum. Take a look at this, I went inside this morning. I took a photo. This is what it looks like, the debate hall inside there. We're getting ready for the big debate. Tomorrow night, five candidates. John King is the moderator. It's going to be pretty interesting. I think we should all tune in -- Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Right. I think we will. Thanks, Paul.
And we're going to have more on the South Carolina primary all day long. And a reminder for all the latest political news, just to our Web site, cnnpolitics.com.
That does it for us. Suzanne Malveaux, with the new CNN mug.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: They just gave it to me.
PHILLIPS: Look at that. Congratulations.
MALVEAUX: I guess I earned it. Almost a year --
PHILLIPS: Is that your five-year anniversary gift.
MALVEAUX: Almost a year anchoring, I guess I get a mug.
PHILLIPS: There you go. Power on.
MALVEAUX: Nice to see you.
PHILLIPS: Good to see you.
