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Movie Massacre Suspect Due In Court; Obama Reaches Out To Latina Voters; Mitt Romney Questioned On Immigration; Fighting For Florida's Latino Vote; Shuttle Endeavour On Final Flight
Aired September 20, 2012 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello again, everyone, I'm Fredricka Whitfield. This hour in the CNN NEWSROOM, President Obama is about to step to the mic in Miami to woo Latino voters a day after Mitt Romney spoke about immigration to the same crowd. And space shuttle Endeavour is making its final flight before retirement. We'll take a look back at its amazing history of exploration. Let's get right to it.
The suspect in the Colorado movie theater massacre returns to court today, and he could face more charges. James Holmes already faces murder and attempted murder charges. Prosecutors want to add 10 more charges bringing the count to 152. Lawyers are also expected to argue whether a notebook Holmes allegedly sent to his psychiatrist before the shootings can be used at trial. Holmes is accused of opening fire in a crowded movie theater during a midnight showing of the latest batman movie. Twelve people died and 58 were wounded.
It is President Obama's turn to make his case before a Latino audience today. The president arrives in Miami just a short time from now for a "Meet the Candidates" forum on Univision next hour. It's the same forum Mitt Romney took part in yesterday.
So, how did Romney do? Senior Latin Affairs Editor Rafael Romo joining me now. Right off the bat, the moderators did make reference to him talking about the 47 percent and also talking about, if I were Latino, then things would fair better for me as a candidate for president.
RAFAEL ROMO, CNN SENIOR LATIN AMERICA AFFAIRS EDITOR: Well, the reality is that it was very difficult for Romney to face that kind of audience because after the comments he made during the primary season regarding self-deportation, they were not very well received by many people in the Hispanic community, but under the circumstances, I think he addressed it very well. Let's hear what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: We're not going round up peopling around the country and deport them. That's not -- I said during my campaign, time and again, we're not going to round up 12 million people, that includes the kids and the parents, and have everyone deported. Our system isn't to deport people. We need to provide a long-term solution, and I have described the fact that I would be in support of a program that said that people who served in our military could be permanent residents of the United States.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMO: Now, he did say what he wouldn't do, but he didn't specify what he would do to solve the immigration problem in the country. So, still a lot of questions for his ban (ph) of voters there.
WHITFIELD: He tried to make light or at least show that he, you know, has some humor, that he knows how to make light of kind of an awkward movement -- moment. Did that translate? Did it work?
ROMO: Well, it's funny when you think about it. His father was born in Mexico in the state of Chau Wau Wau, south of Texas, and, in theory, he could have gotten a Mexican passport and so would Mitt Romney by virtue of his father's place of birth. But the reality is that he has distanced himself from that part of his heritage, and that can be a two-way street because, on the one hand, it could have helped with Latino voters, but, on the other hand, it would have been compromising when it comes to the conservative base of the Republican Party. But let's listen to what he had to say and how he handled it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you sure you're not Hispanic?
ROMNEY: I think for political purposes, that might have helped me here at the University of Miami today. But truth is, as you know, my dad was born of American parents living in Mexico, but he came back to this country at age five or six and was helped to get on his feet. He recognized this was the land of opportunity.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMO: And some political observers would say, oops, he did it again.
WHITFIELD: Well, why does he keep doing that?
ROMO: He basically repeated what he -- the video that surfaced over the weekend.
WHITFIELD: So, he stands by those comments then, period.
ROMO: It is true. And I was taking a look at the most recent Gallup poll which puts him at 26 percent compared to 66 percent when it comes to comparing him to President Obama, so not very good in that respect.
WHITFIELD: How about on the issue of immigration? It certainly was a topic of discussion. How did his words kind of permeate the room? What was the reception?
ROMO: Well, when it comes to immigration, it's not necessarily the number one issue for Hispanic voters. It is the number two after the economy. However, immigration is very personal to a lot of Latinos. Chances are every Latino you talk to has a family, a relative, a family member, or friend who has been personally touched by immigration, and so the problem is that some of the comments that Romney made during the primary season regarding the concept of self- deportation, essentially making the lives of immigrants so miserable in this country that they would have no other choice but to leave the country. Those comments alienated a large segment of the Hispanic electorate that it's going to be very hard for Romney to recover that terrain that he lost.
WHITFIELD: All right, thanks so much, Rafael Romo. So, again, President Obama, it's going to be his turn momentarily. All right, thanks so much.
ROMO: Yes.
WHITFIELD: All right, Florida has one of the largest Latino populations in the country, and it's one of the battleground states that could decide a presidential election, so both candidates have been battling for Florida's Hispanic vote.
Ed Lavandera is at a Spanish bakery in Orlando with reaction to Mitt Romney's appearance with the Univision forum and what the expectations are for the president when he arrives there as well. So, Ed, first up, what are people saying about Romney's performance at that discussion?
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Fredricka, we've had a good chance to speak with a wide variety of voters, with a lot of different perspectives here at Pauncho's Bakery on the east side of Orlando. And this is a place where the Romney supporters that we've talked to this morning, you know, and they support and they like his ideas for the economy and social issues and foreign policies as well. But what -- the one common denominator that they all had, which I thought was interesting, is that they thought that Mitt Romney needs to do a better job of introducing himself to Latino voters here in the state of Florida.
They feel, in the words of one person we spoke to, kind of absent and perhaps this appearance in -- on the Univision network last night will begin that process. They feel that he is running out of time. And Florida is an interesting place whereas on the national level Obama has a great deal of support among Latino voters. It's closer here in the state of Florida because of the way the state is made up so it's interesting. We'll give you some perspective from some of the voters we've talked to. Some who have supported President Obama, and some who are supporting president Romney. You can listen to him here.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PEDRO SOTOLONGO: That you can't get the kind of job in everything, the Medicaid program, education program, any immigration programs that he told at the beginning when 2008, he took the job for the president, and slowly you see, too, there is hope regarding the economy in the United States. Definitely Barack Obama is my hero.
HECTOR CASTANEDA: What I like about Mitt Romney is I think his ideas, you know, I don't like a big government. You know, I was born and raised in Cuba, and I don't like big government. You know, it depends more the government, they take more control over you.
SOTOLONGO: And Fredricka, one of the things I thought was interesting here when we got to Orlando last night, I saw, when I turned on the television, an ad from the Obama campaign highlighting the president's decision to pick Sonia Sotomayor, the first Hispanic Supreme Court Justice, a Puerto Rican. Here in Orlando, you have a large Puerto Rican population, and they pointed out that President Obama appointed Sonia Sotomayor, and it was Mitt Romney who said that he would not have supported that pick for the Supreme Court. An interesting and tough politics here at play in the city of Orlando -- Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: And so, I wonder, Ed, are you finding stark differences between, you know, the consensus that you're getting there in Central Florida where the Latino populous may think and vote differently than south Florida, which is where the president is going to be momentarily in Miami, are people articulating, the Latinos, that there is -- there are different sets of priorities and concerns and political persuasions depending on what part of Florida --
SOTOLONGO: Yes, I think that's what --
WHITFIELD: -- in which you're in?
SOTOLONGO: Right on, absolutely. I think, you know, that's what makes Florida. When it comes to the Latino vote, I that's what makes Florida a little bit different from the rest of the country and a lot -- and very interesting in a lot of the ways. Here we are in Orlando, in the center part of the state, and, you know, you have a great deal -- many different Hispanic groups that are here, but predominantly Orlando has been a place where many Puerto Ricans have emigrated to, have set up. Those have tended to vote Democratic.
Now, near Miami in Dade county, you have a large Cuban population, historically. That population -- obviously, this is changing at times, and it's not monolithic. But down in Miami, you have a lot of Cuban voters who tended to vote Republican. So, that's why you see the gap between President Obama and Mitt Romney here in the state of Florida. Not as wide as what you see nationwide, and that's what makes this a battleground and will make this very interesting over the next few weeks. So, these voters here in this state will get a great deal of President Obama and Mitt Romney over the coming weeks.
WHITFIELD: Right. Once again, it may boil down to Florida, Florida, Florida. Ed Lavandera, thanks so much, in Orlando.
All right, here's what we're working on for you for this hour.
A CNN source says ambassador Chris Stevens was worried -- was worried that he was on an Al Qaeda hit just months before he was attacked and that Benghazi U.S. consulate installation.
And after 25 flights and nearly 123 million miles, space shuttle Endeavour is going into retirement today. It's giving an aerial show for thousands of Americans as it heads to its final resting place.
And a man is awarded $7 million for so-called popcorn lung. It's serious condition that all you popcorn lovers need to know about.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: All right, call it the ultimate aerial show. The space shuttle Endeavour and its jumbo jet carrier are flying over the southwest now. It started out in Florida beginning this kind of final lap of the country after 25 space flights, covering almost 123 million miles. Well, several stops later from Florida and then it went on to Houston and Big's Army Airfield in Texas. The retired shuttle is now heading towards Edwards Air Force Base in California. Its ultimate destination, Los Angeles, where it will be showcased for visitors at the California Science Center.
Chad Myers among the many admirers of this final journey.
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes.
WHITFIELD: It's kind of cool.
MYERS: It has been an amazing ship, honestly. Misspelled, for most Americans, with the U in the Endeavour. That's because it was actually named after Captain Cook's -- Captain Cook's ship, which was a British ship, so they put the U in it to make it Endeavour instead of endeavor.
WHITFIELD: Sounds much more exotic.
MYERS: It does. Twenty-five missions though, 299 days in space, like you said, almost 123 million miles.
WHITFIELD: That's incredible.
MYERS: You can't even put your mind --
WHITFIELD: I know.
MYERS: -- around that kind of number, right? I mean, and now it's final going to be over to Edwards Air Force Base tonight. It takes off tomorrow morning, flies around over Sacramento, over San Francisco, and then down to L.A. tomorrow afternoon. And then, finally to LAX and then its journey to --
WHITFIELD: And it will be flying at low altitudes so people can see it.
MYERS: About 1,600 feet over the capitol in Sacramento tomorrow, should be nice.
WHITFIELD: That's good stuff.
MYERS: Should be good, good stuff. This has been an amazing journey for this guy. I mean, obviously, this is going to be the one they put down here in L.A., so visitors to the west coast will be able to see this. I know it has so much controversy about cutting down a few trees along -- almost 300 trees. Some of them very big and very old but when this thing gets to its final location and the people of southern California, and really all of the west, --
WHITFIELD: Do you think people aren't going to forget about that?
MYERS: -- and all of the visitors to the west, they are going to appreciate this when they see it because I have seen a couple of shuttles. They are -- you don't have any idea what are you in for until you look at it. You just go wow.
WHITFIELD: That's incredible. Well, that's incredible. Well, they're in for a real treat.
There was a similar kind of flyover making its way outside of Dulles where a shuttle was put into the Air and Space Museum, installation there outside, so people in the Washington area really kind of talked and marveled about what it was like to see this giant mammoth of a thing fly so low. Traffic was stopped and I imagine the same thing is going to happen in California too.
MYERS: Yeah, sure, absolutely. And New York City had their turn, because now (INAUDIBLE) was on the Intrepid. You're going to leave one down at Kennedy Space Center. They're all over the country. There are four that are going to be displayed. It's really good stuff.
WHITFIELD: It is good stuff. All right. Thanks so much,. We'll be looking forward to what we can see maybe tomorrow.
MYERS: Yes.
WHITFIELD: There will be live cameras.
MYERS: We're going to fly over Tucson today. Go on to NASA and go on to Twitter and follow NASA. It will tell you exactly where this thing is. You'll be able to look up and see it almost minute by minute.
WHITFIELD: Neat. All right, thanks so much, Chad. Appreciate that.
MYERS: Sure.
WHITFIELD: Solving the mystery of the expanding universe now and possibly rewriting Einstein's theory of gravity in the process. That could be the result of a major project involving a supersized high- powered camera that's snapping detailed photos of the universe. For the next five years, the camera will capture images from 300 million galaxies, billions of light years from earth.
Well, here to help us wrap our heads around the huge significance of all of this, Michio Kaku is the author of the New York Times bestseller, "Physics of the Future", and a physicist from the City University of New York. Good to see you.
MICHIO KAKU, PROF. OF PHYSICS, CITY UNIV. OF NEW YORK: Glad to be on.
WHITFIELD: All right, so, Michio, the scientists are looking at a part of this universe called "dark energy". They think it may be the reason why the universe is expanding. So first off, break it down for me. What is this dark energy?
KAKU: Well, everybody knows that things fall down. Things don't fall up. We don't have anti-gravity. However, in outer space we have an enormous amount of anti-gravity that's actually pushing the galaxies apart. That's the reason why we have the big bang. People say, "Well, why did we have the bang? What's causing the expansion?" It is dark energy, which was actually predicted by Einstein himself back in 1916.
WHITFIELD: Wow. Okay. So now we've got this super powerful camera, the largest digital camera ever built in Chile taking hundreds of pictures every night. Let's take a look at one of the first photos and help me understand what am I going to be looking at, and what's the significance of it all?
KAKU: Well, this is the first of a series of spectacular photographs that we expect from the telescope. This is a barred spiral galaxy about 60 million light years from the planet Earth, and it's a near twin of the Milky Way galaxy. We are two-thirds the way out from the center of the Milky Way, so look that the diagram. Go two-thirds the way out, and that's where you are now. That's where you live.
WHITFIELD: Oh, my gosh. Okay, so now let's go to the next image. Help me understand what we're about to see. Voila.
KAKU: This is now a globular cluster which actually orbits around our own Milky Way galaxy, and we analyze these globular clusters because they are the oldest stars in our galaxy. So we can date those stars. We can date the age of the Milky Way galaxy, and that's how we determine that our galaxy is about 10 billion years old, by looking at these very old stars in this globular cluster which orbits around the Milky Way galaxy.
WHITFIELD: Oh, my goodness. So now what -- you know, how do we make sense of these images and what does this tell us about this kind of new theory of gravity? You know, you talk about things going up must come down, et cetera, but then what about the stuff that's staying up there?
KAKU: Well, you see, we think that Einstein didn't go far enough. Einstein wanted a theory of everything, an equation one-inch long that would allow him to, quote, "read the mind of God" -- an equation that would summarize all physical laws into one equation. Just like E = MC squared. Unlock the secret of the stars. He wanted a similar one-inch equation that would unlock the secret of the universe itself. He failed. However, today we have candidates for this fabulous theory. The leading candidate is something called string theory, which is actually what I do for a living. That's my day job.
WHITFIELD: Well, thank goodness for that. You're making us feel all smarter by imparting your knowledge on us. We appreciate it. Michio Kaku, good to see you.
KAKU: Okay.
WHITFIELD: All right, he spends his life peering into the mind of a mass murder. This week on "THE NEXT LIST", we take a look at a best-selling author who examines the human brain.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID EAGLEMAN, NEUROSCIENTIST: I'm interested in neural law because it's where the rubber hits the road in neuroscience. It's where we connect all the things we're learning about human behavior and how humans are different and translate that into social policy, how we are running the system here.
I'm David Eagleman and I'm a neuroscientist.
At some point there will be a crime committed, like the Virginia Tech shooting, or the Columbine shooting or the Aurora movie theater shooting, and we will find that the perpetrator had a brain tumor. I'm not suggesting that any of those events were explained by brain tumors, but at some point that will happen, and then society is going to have to deal with this very difficult question about this relationship between brain and behavior and this question of culpability.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: "THE NEXT LIST" - Sundays, 2:00.
The killing of Ambassador Stevens and the recent Arab unrest are being discussed on Capitol Hill today, and we're live from Capitol Hill where U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the intelligence director will brief members of Congress.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: The U.S. ambassador killed in Libya was worried about his security months before last week's attack on the U.S. consulate in Benghazi. A source tells CNN Chris Stevens believed his name was on an al Qaeda list. Officials believe extremist Islamists possibly linked to al Qaeda are responsible for that attack. Today in Tripoli a memorial service is underway for Stevens and the three other Americans killed at the consulate, former Navy SEALS Glen Doherty and Tyrone Woods and information officer Sean Smith.
The attack on the consulate and the recent unrest in the Middle East takes front and center on Capitol Hill today. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will brief members of both the House and Senate later this afternoon. Some members are accusing the administration of failing to keep them informed on events that is led up to the unrest triggered by an anti-Muslim movie made in the United States, specifically, the attack on the U.S. consulate in Libya and the U.S. embassy in Egypt. Secretary Clinton meets behind closed doors just hours after Republicans criticize the Obama administration's foreign policy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM, (R) SOUTH CAROLINA: In case you haven't heard, bin Laden is dead. That's good. That's a great accomplishment. The President should take pride in that. We should all celebrate the death of that evil man. But that's not a foreign policy. Is anybody deterred from attacking America's interest in the Middle East because bin Laden is dead? Has anybody said I better not go over the wall of the embassy in Egypt, you know, we killed bin Laden. There is no coherent foreign policy at a time when we need one.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Our senior congressional correspondent Dana Bash is standing by on the Hill. So Dana, what is Secretary Clinton likely to say in response to some of that criticism coming from lawmakers?
DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, what she will say is going to be a big open question because, Fredericka, you know how these briefings go when a member of the administration is giving a classified briefing to the entire House of Representatives and the entire Senate. -- they tend to be a bit more cautious because they know that the reality is that some of those lawmakers come out and tell people like you and me what happened in there.
I think, though, that the expectation, the hope from Democrats and Republicans, is they get more answers than they have been getting on what exactly went on and what the administration really thinks was behind the attacks, specifically the attacks on September 11 of this year in Libya, but also more broadly, what is the genesis of a lot of these protests. And John McCain, the senator from Arizona, has been one of the most outspoken in his frustration about not only not getting information, but from his perspective, getting information that is wrong from the administration.
Listen to what he told Anderson Cooper.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R) ARIZONA: The White House spokesman, Secretary of State, and ambassador to the U.N. stating categorically that it was not a terrorist attack when obviously it had all the earmarks of a terrorist attack, and so why they would want to tell the American people that in face of the facts, I don't know.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Now I should say that the White House spokesman apparently just told reporters on Air Force One that the administration does believe that it was a terrorist attack in Libya similar to what we heard from testimony on Capitol Hill yesterday. But big picture, you do hear from people like John McCain and others that they are getting a lot more information from CNN, from our great reporting from Arwa Damon, from their own independent sources in Libya than from the administration. Fred.
WHITFIELD: So Dana, what all is at stake here? Are we talking about the billions of dollars in aid that the U.S. gives to any number of these countries, Egypt and Libya included?
BASH: The truth is, the answer is no in the short term. There is always a lot of talk, particularly when things get explosive like they are now, and particularly when there's frustration in Congress, which holds the purse strings, that the host countries did not do enough to secure U.S. personnel, which clearly is a frustration when it comes to Libya. But most members of Congress, Democrats and Republicans, still say they see the importance of giving billions of dollars in aid globally, but specifically to these countries.
Having said that, we are seeing things gummed up on the Senate floor right now because Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky is saying that he wants to take away that money. It doesn't look like that's going to happen, though.
WHITFIELD: All right. Dana Bash on Capitol Hill. Thanks so much.
BASH: Thank you.
WHITFIELD: Onto presidential politics. Mitt Romney tells Latino voters in Miami he cares about the, quote, "100 percent," a reference to his earlier controversial comments.
And don't forget, can you watch CNN live on your computer while you're at work. Head to CNN.com/tv.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
Mitt Romney tries to reassure Latino voters that he is concerned about all Americans. In a forum on the Spanish-language network Univision, Romney made reference to his hidden camera moment about the 47 percent.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROMNEY: This is a campaign about the 100 percent, and over the last several years you've seen greater and greater divisiveness in this country. We had hoped to come back together, but instead you have seen us pull apart and politics has driven us apart in some respects. My campaign is about the 100 percent in America, and I'm concerned about them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Political editor Paul Steinhauzer joining us now from Washington. Paul, Romney is still trying to turn the page from the secretly recorded comments about the 47 percent who depend on government. Was he able to do that in a persuasive way? PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: He has been trying to do that since Monday because really since Monday when those clips came -- became public, they have dominated the talk and coverage of the campaign trail. What was he doing last night, Fred at the Univision forum? He was talking about being a president for all Americans. That's kind of the message he is trying to convey now. The other message he conveyed last night he has been doing all week is that he says he thinks the president's policies are pushing people to be dependent on the government. He says he would try to reverse that if he were elected. Fred, he also in front of that large Latino Hispanic crowd in Florida last night, he also was defending his past comments on legal immigration and what he would do and the idea of self- deportation. He says he's not in favor of any kind of mass deportation. Fred,
WHITFIELD: Paul Romney is trying to, you know, shore up Latino vote, but some of the polls indicate that he has a long way to go how far?
STEINHAUSER: Well, let's go back four years. Take a look at this: these are the national exit polls from CNN from the 2008 election. You can see then Senator Obama won 67 percent of the Hispanic vote in the '08 election. John McCain winning only 31 percent. Where does it stand now? take a look at this. This is from Gallop. Their most recent breakdown of the Hispanic vote, and the numbers look pretty similar. There's president Obama with 66 of percent. Mitt Romney at 26 percent. So it does look like he has his work cut out for him. That's why he has really been trying to reach out this week to Latino and Hispanic voters both in Florida and California. Fred.
WHITFIELD: Oh, my goodness. And it's clear the Latino vote will be very influential in November. At last that's what both camps are counting on, aren't they?
STEINHAUSER: Yeah, the vote is growing with every cycle, and, you know, of course, the race for the White House is a battle for the states and electoral votes. And in those battleground states the Latino vote could be very important. Take a look at this. Florida obviously, if it's a close contest, the Latino vote could be very important there. some other battleground states as well, Colorado and Nevada in the Rocky Mountains. Again, it could be important. As in Virginia and North Carolina, two states where the Hispanic population is growing, and those, of course, are both swing states as well, Fred.
WHITFIELD: All right. Paul Steinhauser, appreciate it. Thank you so much.
With fiery protests erupting across the Middle East, many are starting to ask where are the moderates of the Muslim world? Fareed Zakaria joining us next with answers.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: An imam in Iran has raised the bounty on Salman Rushdie. The price to deliver the British author for an Islamic death sentence now stands at $3.3 million. It becomes as Rushdie releases a memoir about having to go into hiding following his controversial novel "The Satanic Verses." The novel also sparked protests across the Muslim world when the book came out back in 1989. Fareed Zakaria had just wrapped up an interview with Rushdie, and it is set to air Sunday right here on CNN. So, Fareed, joining us now from New York, did rushdie talk about this incredible timing of his book coming out about his memoir all at a time when there was this kind of unrest taking place which started in the Middle East, which really is kind of wrapping the globe right now?
FAREED JAKARIA, HOST, FAREED ZAKARIA GPS: He did. I mean, in a sense, the book was the beginning, and the fatwa against him by Ayatollah Ruhollah was one of the early moments in this two decade long experience we've had. He describes it as the birth of the outrage industry. He points out that most of these protests, people haven't seen the movies, seen the cartoons, read the book. Certainly in his case no one had read the book. It is a manipulated outrage where a certain group of radicals, for political reasons, use these events to kind of wind up their troupes and send them out into public places for entirely political reasons.
WHITFIELD: You know, Fareed, I spoke with Rushdie, not too many months ago while he was finalizing his memoir and he talked about not feeling like he was living in fear right now. But given what's taking place and given that he is going to give all these details about that fatwa in this memoir, does he at all speak about fear now and then knowing that there is this new $3 million bounty on his head?
ZAKARIA: He seems very calm. He felt this one was really not a big deal, because remember, the big issue with the fatwa that was originally proclaimed is it was the leader of Iran. It was the head of state of a very powerful country, the head of a religious movement as it were issuing a fatwa. Again, an almost religious edict and commanding people to go out as a duty as good Muslims to go and kill him.
That was very different from some random guy in this case doing something and he doesn't seem very worried about it. I think he has seen many of these -- I hate to put it, more and more minor fatwas and things like that. You know, I have to tell you, I myself had experiences when you write things that people don't like, some guy in some mosque issues a fatwa against you. They usually don't amount to much. I think we can keep our fingers crossed that this is a very different -- this is a very different order of magnitude than what he had to live with for a decade
WHITFIELD: All right, and we look forward to that interview with Salman Rushdie this weekend on "GPS". Meantime, you write about in the latest issue of time magazine about the growing influences of moderates in the Muslim world. You know, can moderate voices kind of overcome the volume and the sentiment we're seeing right now in the Muslim community where many are feeling as though their faith, if not their culture, is being insulted?
ZAKARIA: It's a very good question. Because what we're watching is frankly the usual stuff, which is the Middle East rampaging mobs, anger violence, and that part of it is pretty familiar. What's new is that for the first time you do have moderates who are denouncing it, denouncing the violence. You have the president of tunisia, the president of libya. You have activists, politicians, clerics in Saudi Arabia and egypt who are beginning to say, come out and say look, the movie is offensive. The video is offensive. The cartoons are offensive, but the answer to it is not violence. We must have peaceful protests, and we've got to show that we are a religion of peace. We have got to show that we are a religion of tolerance. That piece is new.
Now, you asked the most powerful question, Frederika, which is can their voices be heard? look, the problem is the moderates tend to be quieter. They tend to be less obtrusive, and the radicals go out rampaging. That's true everywhere, unfortunately. You know, the moderates post comments in facebook and the radicals go out and burn embassies. At least for the first time you have identifiable authentic moderates, and they are speaking out.
WHITFIELD: All right, Fareed Zakaria, thanks so much, of "GPS." you can catch it every Sunday, and you don't want to miss Fareed's special, called "global lessons, putting America to work." That airs Sunday night 8:00 and 11:00 eastern time, and Pacific. It's all about how to solve this nation's unemployment problem. Sunday night, 8:00.
(COMMERICAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Each year CNN heroes feature the stories of extraordinary individuals that work every day to find solutions to global problems. Today we reveal our top ten CNN heroes of 2012. Here's Anderson Cooper to show you how you can cast your vote.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Anderson Cooper. All year we've been introducing you to everyday people who are changing the world. We call them CNN Heroes. Well, now we announce the top ten CNN Heroes for 2012. The honorees are, in random order:
Connie Siskowski, helping children who are caring for ill or aging loved ones to stay in school and hold on to their childhood.
Pushpa Basnet saves innocent children from growing up behind bars with their incarcerated parents.
Thulani Madondo organizes his community to educate hundreds of their next generation.
Mary Cortani enlists man's best friend to give fellow veterans a way to move beyond PTSD and into life again.
Malya Villard-Appolon has turned personal trauma into a fight for justice for thousands of rape survivors in Haiti.
After using sports to fight his own addiction, Scott Strode now helps former addicts to stay fit and sober.
Wanda Butts brings water safety and swimming lessons to those most vulnerable, black and Latino children.
Catalina Escobar insures healthy deliveries and solid futures for Colombian teens already facing motherhood.
Leo McCarthy's tragic loss of his daughter sparked his mission to end the culture of underaged drinking.
And where terrorists stop at nothing to keep girls from being educated, Razia Jan fearlessly opens her school each and every day.
Congratulations to the top ten CNN Heroes of 2012. Tell us who inspires you the most. Go to CNNheroes.com on-line or on your mobile device to vote for the CNN Hero of the Year.
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WHITFIELD: All right. Who will it be? You decide. Go to CNNheroes.com to vote for the most inspirational hero.
All right. He developed a rare disease from microwave popcorn. Now a court has weighed in on this case. The verdict ahead.
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WHITFIELD: All right. We have told you in the past about a condition of popcorn lung. It's linked to a chemical used in flavoring microwave popcorn. Well, a federal jury just awarded $7.2 million to a Colorado man. Wayne Watson diagnosed with the disease after inhaling artificial butter on popcorn he ate every day. Elizabeth Cohen is here to discuss this case. So, first off, what is popcorn lung?
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Popcorn lung was seen in workers who worked in factories with this chemical, the butter flavoring that used to -- not now, but used to go on the microwave popcorn and finding that the workers were sometimes short of breath, coughing.
WHITFIELD: Really?
COHEN: What they found is a lung disease that's irreversible and the little, little airways in the lungs they were becoming scarred and so air couldn't get through. The popcorn industry says they haven't used, purchased this chemical since around 2007, 2008. Theoretically isn't in popcorn anymore but Wayne Watson eating two bags a day for ten years.
WHITFIELD: That's a lot.
COHEN: That's a lot of popcorn, yes.
WHITFIELD: But then why is he the only one out there? Only one that pursued it?
COHEN: It's unknown. It's possible other people have the disease and doctors said, gee, I don't know why because the doctor never asked them about the popcorn habits. His doctor knew about the disease and she asked. So they made the connection with the popcorn and possible other people there and never made the popcorn connection yet.
WHITFIELD: The message, do we need to stay away from microwave popcorn?
COHEN: They have the chemical and substituted it with another one and I want to get in here what the industry has to say. They say even with the old chemicals, millions of consumers safely used and enjoyed microwave popcorn since it was introduced. This new chemical they say is safe but some advocates say we're concerned. This new chemical might be --
WHITFIELD: The butter, the artificial butter flavor?
COHEN: Exactly.
WHITFIELD: If you got plain, not an issue. It's not like in the oil or in --
COHEN: In the butter flavoring and on the stovetop the old- fashioned way this is not a concern but there are some folk who is say, gee, we are worried that the new chemical may be as bad as the old one. The industry says, no, it's not.
WHITFIELD: They're saying it's safe, eat it.
COHEN: Kroger which is one of the defendants in this lawsuit, they say that they're going to appeal this, so --
WHITFIELD: How interesting. Thanks so much. Appreciate that.
COHEN: Thanks.
WHITFIELD: All right. When we look at the names on this year's Emmy nominations, you may notice a surprising trend.
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WHITFIELD: It was an unwritten Hollywood rule. Big screen actors never appeared on the small screen. But as Nischelle Turner writes, it's thing of the past.
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NISCHELLE TURNER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Academy award nominees Julianne Moore and Don Cheadle, Nicole Kidman. They rose to fame in major Hollywood movies. Now they have made the move to television and may be adding Emmy awards to their trophy shelves. Whether starring in cable TV movies like Moore or Kidman or sitcoms like Cheadle, stars are jumping to the small screen.
MAGGIE FURLONG, HUFFINGTON POST WRITER: Everyone wants to be on TV. I think that's the thing.
TURNER: Maggie Furlong writes about TV for the Huffington Post, saying that the stigma faded.
FURLONG: So many people would say I'm a movie star and realize TV stars have more recognition with the public. They're in your homes every single week. People get attached to these characters.
JEFF DANIELS: Isn't that what you wanted me to do?
TURNER: Character is what attracted Jeff Daniels to the role in "The Newsroom."
DANIELS: I remember back in the '70s where you never, never mixed film with TV. That's changed and the writing is so good now on television that that's all actors want is good writing.
TURNER: Top Hollywood talent is not only starring on the flat screen, they're creating the shows behind the screens. Aaron Sorkin won four Emmys before Oscar gold with "The Social Network." Now back to television on "The Newsroom" and says for writers these days, TV is a different kind of appeal than film.
AARON SORKIN, WRITER, "THE NEWSROOM": I don't count among myself them, but the best writers in the country are flocking to television. You can tell a different kind of story. The best theater in America is on TV right now.
TURNER: The American audience seems to agree. A reason for decline in movie theater ticket sales this summer? More to watch at home.
FURLONG: You can't turn the channel without seeing something you want to watch. Whether you love Broadway, comic books or zombies, you like a period piece, there truly is something for everyone on TV right now.
TURNER: Super stories with super stars. CNN, Hollywood.
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WHITFIELD: All right. Everybody's going to be tuning in to the Emmys and of course watch the pre-Emmy coverage here on CNN on Sunday. Brooke Baldwin is straight ahead. I think you have noticed it. Everyone has, right? seeing more premier and big names on the television screens. They're not afraid anymore.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: I guess so. You would think I watched more TV but I totally don't.
WHITFIELD: Really?
BALDWIN: I should know more. I should know more, Fred Whitfield. You can make me TV hip.
WHITFIELD: There's familiar faces.
BALDWIN: Yes. Fred, thank you so much.
WHITFIELD: All right.