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| ‘Countdown with Keith Olbermann’ for Nov. 25
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| Read the complete transcript to Tuesday’s show
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Guests: Harvey Levin, Kenneth Lanning, Chad Ramsey, Paul Casey
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KEITH OLBERMANN, HOST (voice-over): Which of these stories will you be talking about tomorrow?
The new Michael Jackson tapes: Who secretly recorded him as he
flew back to California to surrender, and why? And, how did the Jackson
case suddenly get tied to O.J. Simpson, and Kobe Bryant?
The latest internal terror memo: Al-Qaeda has designed a crude
delivery system for chemical weapons and may be itching to try it out,
most likely overseas. Exclusive details ahead from Lisa Myers.
What did the president say, and when did he say it?
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It would take one vial, one canister, one crate.
The president’s men fix his verbal slip in the editing room and the democrats howl in protest.
And your tax dollars not in action: Our cherished dream is dead.
There will be no federally funded Hooters in Louisiana. Not yet, anyway.
All that and more, now on COUNTDOWN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
OLBERMANN: Good evening. 40 years ago this week it was the home
movies of the Kennedy assassination filmed by Abraham Zapruder and the
lightning round of bidding that saw them sold to “Live” magazine while
Dan Rather was supposedly on the phone to New York waiting for
authorization to bid on it from CBS. This is exactly how much society
has changed in the interim. In the November of 2003 it is not the
Zapruder film, but rather hidden-camera video of Michael Jackson’s trip
from Nevada to Santa Barbara to turn himself in on child molestation
charges.
Our fifth story in the COUNTDOWN, tonight: The private jet
company that carried Jackson to Santa Barbara last week has a videotape
of him in their plane, in the air. It contacted at least two networks
about it and it was today sued over it. Attorney Mark Geragos say he
and Jackson were taped without their knowledge, as they flew inside the
plane owned by the Extra Jet Company. The tape is described as showing
Jackson calm and often smiling and laughing, knocking down a British
report that Jackson was so panicky that he was insisting he wanted to
be flown to South America and that he had to be sedated. And, Extra
Jet’s president says two videotapes were found aboard their
aircraft-they can’t imagine how they were recorded or by whom, but that
executive Mark Batay told the “Los Angeles Times” that he had contacted
“Fox News,” quote, “to determine what our legal position and options
were with regard to having the tape potentially released,” unquote.
Another airline executive say the company also contacted CBS and
unidentified other news organizations and that each wanted to buy the
tape. He says the tape isn’t for sale. Late this afternoon, Attorney
Geragos said the tape isn’t for anybody. He got a temporary restraining
order to ensure the airline does not sell nor distribute it, and barely
stopping to catch his breath Geragos threatened even more seriously
legal action.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARK GERAGOS, MICHAEL JACKSON’S ATTORNEY: We’ll land on you like
a ton of bricks. We will land on you like a hammer. If you do anything
to besmirch this man’s reputation, anything to intrude on his privacy
in any way that’s actionable, we will unleash a legal torrent like
you’ve never seen. We-I believe will put Extra Jet out of business for
this outrageous act. Anybody who’s connected with it, we will put and
seek to do everything else to put them out of business.
Michael Jackson is not going to be abused. Michael Jackson is
not going to be slammed, is not going to be a pinata for every person
who has financial motives.
If anybody doesn’t think, based upon what’s happened so far,
that the true motivation of these charges and these allegations is
anything but money and the seeking of money, then they’re living in
their own Neverland.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
OLBERMANN: Continuing on our Jackson round-up with the caveat
that this is a summary of the products of several news organizations
some of them beyond reproach, some of them beyond belief, the case is
now tied into both the O.J. Simpson trial and to Kobe Bryant. It’s the
harmonic convergence of tabloid. Again, MSNBC.com, the source. Los
Angeles police detective Mark Fuhrman, whose discrediting was such a
key part in Simpson’s acquittal, the private investigator who dug up
the dirt on Fuhrman for Simpson’s defense team was another ex-LAPD
officer named-detective rather, named Bill Pavelic. He-Jackson’s
attorneys have now hired a private investigator named Bill Pavelic.
And then there’s the Bryant hook. A little more tenuous, but
it’s there nonetheless on the accuser’s side of the case the “New York
Daily News” reports that after the alleged victim’s father threatened
to kill his wife and all three of his children, the wife filed assault
charges and ensured police that three people, quote, “would assist her
with this incident.” The three people were Kobe Bryant, Michael
Jackson, and Los Angeles TV personality Fritz Coleman. Who by way of
disclosure is the lead weather man on the NBC station there, KNBC.
We have now got everybody involved in this case except Baghdad
Bob. The “Daily News” also reported that the alleged victim in the case
was stopped at a J.C. Penney store outside Los Angeles five years ago
while attempting to shoplift clothing on orders from his own father-the
paper says security guards grabbed the boy, whereupon his mother began
to hit the security guards. Mother and son were arrested, they then
sued the store, and settled the case out of court. Secret in-flight
movies links to the Simpson and Kobe Bryant cases. Appropriately
enough, we can quote Lewis Carroll, to observe that “this keeps getting
curiouser and curiouser.”
How curious? Let’s ask Harvey Levin, creator and executive producer of the syndicated series, “Celerity Justice.”
Good to see you, old friend.
HARVEY LEVIN, “CELEBRITY JUSTICE”: Hey Keith, where’s Kevin Bacon in all of this?
OLBERMANN: I’m sure not far. About the tape of Jackson
mid-flight, basically nobody has seen this, so what do we know about
it?
LEVIN: Well, here is the-here’s the mystery, right now. The jet
company is saying there was no audio. We know this. They’re saying that
there was no audio on this tape. Mark Geragos is suing claiming that
there was audio. I think that raises it to a whole other level, if
there was, because the attorney-client privilege is sacrosanct in this
country and it means communications between a lawyer and a client are
privileged. So, if there was audio, then I think that there is some
serious trouble for anybody who caused this to be shot. If it’s just
video, it may still be wrong, but certainly more benign.
OLBERMANN: So, as an attorney yourself, you would not be
surprised to hear that the FBI is already out at that aircraft place
looking things over. Let me ask you this. I don’t want to sound like
more of a cynic than my reputation precedes me on, but does it strike
you that the tape story only works to Michael Jackson’s benefit, that
it makes him look invaded and violated and look, in Mark Geragos’s
word, like a pinata, and the airline was so quick to admit that it had
shopped the tape around? Is there a chance this could be a set-up,
could be a master publicity stroke made by somebody on Jackson’s
behalf?
LEVIN: I don’t think so, Keith, but I think-you know, I don’t
think it’s cynical, but I think you-I think you’re totally right. I
think this gives Jackson a P.R. advantage that he is now a victim
and-you know, in this whole drama, and Mark Geragos-it was not an
accident that Mark Geragos went from point A to point B-you know, zero
to 60 in two seconds, he went from attacking Extra Jet to attacking the
media and basically threatening everybody in saying, “you better not
besmirch this guy or else.” You know, you’ve got to realize, Michael
Jackson has been arrested by authorities, criminal charges will almost
certainly be filed. That does not mean he’s guilty, but it certainly
makes this a legitimate story to cover. So, Geragos really used this-I
think he pushed this a little bit too far, and really threatening
everybody who’s covering this story.
OLBERMANN: Another topic Harvey, the report from the “New York
Post” today, that the D.A.’s office in Santa Barbara has now hundreds
of legitimate leads about possible other victims. Is that valid, or is
that just another part from another quarter of the media war?
LEVIN: Yeah, I mean, I don’t honestly, Keith, again, I’ll giving
you my sense based on the people I’ve been speaking with. I don’t
believe that, I mean, 100 people are not suddenly surfacing, it’s not
as if nobody every though-”gee, maybe we should report Michael
Jackson.” For 10 years there has been the specter of suspicion. He was
investigated by two law enforcement agencies 10 years ago, he settled a
civil suit, so it’s not like all of a sudden people are saying-”oh, my
god, my child too.” I mean, there was 10 years that people had to go to
authorities and I don’t believe the floodgates suddenly opened in the
last week.
OLBERMANN: Lastly this private investigator, Pavelic or Pavelic...
LEVIN: Pavelic.
OLBERMANN: Pavelic. Other than throwing O.J. Simpson and Mark
Fuhrman and that crowd into this mad media mix, what is his relevance
to the Jackson case?
LEVIN: Well, we’re told that he may be doing some of the
investigation but Keith, if I may there’s another private investigator
who may figure in even more prominently. His name is Bradley Miller. We
did a story yesterday. He is a private investigator in Beverly Hills
and his office was raided at the same time as Neverland. He was brought
in with Mark Geragos, much earlier than any of the law enforcement
officials got involved in this case, and I think that’s really
interesting, because what I’m told is that the mother initially became
really upset with Michael Jackson when she had heard from her son that
Michael Jackson gave him wine. He’s a really seriously ill kid. She was
upset about that, and that’s what launched all of this with Michael
Jackson, hiring Geragos, hiring this private investigator, and the D.A.
really wants to know why the private investigator was digging around so
early.
OLBERMANN: Extraordinary. Harvey Levin, executive producer of
“Celebrity Justice” and we’ve already gotten to the Fritz Coleman stage
of this case. This is going to be something. Thanks for your time, my
old friend.
LEVIN: Great talking to you, Keith.
OLBERMANN: Be well, sir.
Continuing the roundup, so with the ancillary stuff in the case
appearing to run in favor of the defendant, at least today, what is a
district attorney to do? Steal a page from the accused. Open your own
Web site. A day after Jackson did exactly that, Santa Barbara County
D.A. Tom Sneddon is opening up his own home on the Internet in order to
have a place to post court papers to, as it was described to the “New
York Post,” today, “avoid a media stampede,” Thus, the actual formal
charging in the case says the D.A.’s office will be delayed until
December 15, until they can get the Web site up and running. “Hello, is
this the help desk?”
And, as there was once a Michael Jackson song about Tom Sneddon,
there may also have been one featuring the alleged victim, so reports
one of the most reliable of the beat reporters on this story,
MSNBC.com’s JeanetteWalls. She notes that the credits for the song,
“The Lost Children” on Jackson’s 2001 album, “Invincible” reads,
“narrative by Baby Rubba and Prince Jackson” Prince Jackson is one of
Jackson’s sons, Rubba was the nickname Jackson gave the accuser in the
case. The album notes also, thanks, quote, “Baby Rubba” to whom Jackson
refers to as “being in my other family.”
The last two times we’ve covered this story, I’ve questioned
guests about the seeming mismatch between what the average guy on the
street thinks he knows about child molesters and the track record at
the Neverland Ranch. Pedophiles are supposed to be serial criminals, so
our of more than 1,000 overnight visits to Jackson’s bed in the last
decade plus-how come there’ve only been two accusations of untoward
conduct? For a clearer view of that, we turn to Kenneth Lanning, who
spent 30 years at the FBI where he specialized in studying the behavior
of child molesters.
Mr. Lanning, good evening.
KENNETH LANNING, FMR. FBI SPECIAL AGENT: Good evening.
OLBERMANN: I guess most knowledge of this subject, comes from
recent church scandals. One thing in those that we saw again and again
is that men who commit this crime commit it again and again, and when
the dam breaks the accusations and the evidence tends to flood in, but
the dam broke for Michael Jackson in 1993. There’s only one other
accusation on the record, anyway, and it’s 10 years later. Can you
reconcile those two things for me? Does the math add up for you?
LANNING: Well, I think it’s important to recognize that one
reason that victims may not have come forward is simply there aren’t
any victims to come forward. So, we have to consider that possibility.
But, if we assume that there are other victims, it is not uncommon, in
my experience, depending on the type of offender you’re dealing with
and how they are victimized, for victims to, not only to not come
forward, but to sometimes vehemently deny they are victims and even in
some cases to come to the defense of the individual who victimized
them. It’s also important to understand that a lot of what I am now
saying is not necessarily applicable to all or even most child
molesters, it’s primarily applicable to those molesters who are-have a
true sexual preference for children and who genuinely victimize them by
befriending them, seducing them, and grooming them with attention and
affection and gifts and lower their inhibitions. So, with that kind of
an offender it is not uncommon for victims not to come forward.
OLBERMANN: So, instead of being serial, in a sense that kind of
pedophile or child molester would be sequential? Would that be a good
term to use?
LANNING: Well, I-it’s a matter of choice. I think that in many
ways they are serial; it’s just that the victims frequently don’t come
forward as you might expect. You would think that once this got a
certain amount of publicity, or if you were sexually victimized, you
would just come forward and tell somebody, but if you understand the
dynamics under which they were victimized, we understand that many of
the victims feel shame, guilt, and embarrassment. Some of them don’t
even realize they were victims. Some of them like the offender, and so
on. And so, for a variety of reasons it is not uncommon for them not to
come forward. I’ve been involved in cases where offenders have molested
kids for 10, 20, 30 years without anyone coming forward and even
in-recently, in the case you mentioned involving some of the priests,
some of those victims waited many, many years to come forward and other
victims have never come forward.
OLBERMANN: Mr. Lanning, one other thing struck the skeptic in
me, that perhaps you can clear up. Have you ever encountered a child
molester who would, in the way similar to what Michael Jackson did
earlier this year, publicly advertise the fact that he has teenage boys
sleep, allegedly platonically in his own bed?
LANNING: Yes. With child molesters, it is not uncommon for them
to engage in what is commonly referred to as “admit the act, deny the
intent.” So, in other words, you admit that you did certain things, but
you deny that your intention was for sexual gratification. So with many
offenders, what they may describe is that they did this and this was a
sign of their love and affection and kindness for children and it’s
been misunderstood and so on.
OLBERMANN: Admit the act and deny the intent. That is and
extraordinary phrase and we’ll see how applicable it is in this case.
Former FBI special agent, Kenneth Lanning. Many thanks. You cleared a lot of the questions, tonight. We appreciate it.
LANNING: Thank you.
OLBERMANN: To round out the Jackson roundup, the public may have
been running into traffic to wish him well in Las Vegas, but it has not
been quite as supportive at Gardner Street Elementary School. This was
the Michael Jackson auditorium at the school, which Jackson was
attending on the 6th of December 1969 when the song “I Want You Back”
by the Jackson Five, Michael Jackson singing the lead, became the
group’s, and his, first No. 1 hit. The foot-high letters identifying
the auditorium have now been covered up, not removed but covered up
because, as the principal, Cille Ripke (ph) says, “People who felt they
knew Mr. Jackson was guilty were appalled because we work with
children. Somehow they thought we were condoning what he had allegedly
done.” The L.A. Unified School District says the covering could be
removed if Jackson is exonerated.
The Jackson roundup complete, COUNTDOWN underway, your preview
of our upcoming No. 4 story: The town where gun control means you have
to have a gun.
Also ahead, al-Qaeda may be planning a gruesome attack to cap the Muslim holiday of Ramadan, which ends this week.
If you’re a citizen of this remote Southern Kansas town, the law that has just changed your life.
And the energy bill fizzles, so the publicly financed Hooters will not sizzle.
Those stories ahead, first here’s COUNTDOWN “Top 3 Newsmakers”
of this day: No. 3, unidentified TV reporter in Bangladesh goes to do
an interview with his nation’s home secretary about the crime rate
there. After the interview the reporter discovers he’s had his pocket
picked. Lost his wallet and $96.
No. 2, New York City mayor, Michael Bloomberg, told U.S. troops
in Kosovo that he had thought about bringing the New York Giants
cheerleaders with him, to visit them. First problem, New York Giants
play in New Jersey, where Mr. Bloomberg’s mayoralty means nothing.
Second problem, the New York Giants don’t even have cheerleaders.
No. 1, “Popcorn” the dog: To quote the Associated Press story,
“a five-legged dog has undergone successful surgery to remove two of
her legs.” Successful? She’s now down to three legs. Veterinarians
hoping a second operation will give her five more legs, then they can
go in and remove two of those. Then they can go back in and put on six
more. And then they can remove eight of them, and then...
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
OLBERMANN: Coming up: Plan on at least one bath per year if you
live in the Blue Grass state. And, the world’s fastest jetliner takes a
final lap via barge.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
OLBERMANN: It is not exactly a metropolis, the nearest big city
is Ponca City, Oklahoma, and Ponca City is not exactly a metropolis
either, but the Southern Kansas town of Geuda Springs is in the news
tonight, because of its strict new gun-control legislation. If you live
there, you have to have a gun. Our fourth story on the COUNTDOWN
tonight: Gunfight at the Geuda Springs Corral. This month the City
Council, representing all 210 residents, narrowly approved a new
ordinance mandating that the head of every household in the town, own a
firearm and ammunition. The penalty for disobedience, a fine of $10.
One of the consenting council members explained the thinking behind the
new law.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN BREWER, GEUDA SPRINGS COUNCIL MEMBER: There is a growing
trend for big-city criminals to move out into the rural areas and try
and take on some easy pickings, and in that light we’ve decided to put
this law forth, simply because we have no police, we have no marshal,
we have no money.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
OLBERMANN: Some people are exempt from this ruling, including
those with mental or physical disabilities, the destitute, and those
who conscientiously object to owning a gun. Regardless, the city
attorney is challenging the ruling, asking the council to reverse its
decision, next week.
And, the county sheriff says the law, quote, “Throws up red flags and threatens the safety of his officers.”
But, supporters of the bill say it will actually make residents more neighborly.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BREWER: I say that more firearms in the hands of more people
causes people to speak kindly and respectfully to each other.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
OLBERMANN: Joining me now, a man who probably disagrees with
council member John Brewer, Chad Ramsey, the East Regional director of
the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.
Mr. Ramsey, good evening to you.
CHAD RAMSEY, BRADY CAMPAIGN TO PREVENT GUN VIOLENCE: Good evening, Keith.
OLBERMANN: If an isolated town passes a law like that, and oh,
by the way, there’s an exemption for people who object to guns, is it a
really still a big deal?
RAMSEY: It’s not a big deal, but it’s patently ridiculous, I
mean, this is an incredibly silly law. Talking about forcing guns into
homes, the families that don’t ask for them in an area with very little
crime, I mean, Keith, the county of Sumner, where this town is,
averages about zero murders a year and three robberies. The idea that
you want to bring a home into every house for that is utterly
ridiculous.
OLBERMANN: What happens-or what would happen legally, do you
know, if somebody were to buy a gun and put it in a home and it goes
off or a child gets hold of it, or somebody gets killed? Would the town
then be legally liable?
RAMSEY: Yeah, I wouldn’t see why there would be any reason to
stop a family from holding the town liable. This is not something that
they’re asking for. I mean, Keith, if I didn’t know better, I would
think this is an episode of “The Simpson’s,” this plot is so
ridiculous.
OLBERMANN: Is your organization going to try to do anything about it?
Are you going to fight this law in Geuda Springs?
RAMSEY: No. Our organization has always supported a town’s ideas
to put forward their own ordinances, their own laws. The other side of
the aisle, the NRA and the gun lobby wants to stop towns from passing
their own laws, but we’re certainly not in favor of this particular
ordinance, but we’re-you know, we respect their right to pass laws.
OLBERMANN: Whatever it means now, back when it was passed, the
second amendment certainly pertained, in large part, to towns like this
one. No local police, possibility the state militia might need a
homeowner’s weapon to defend against-somebody. Is there a certain irony
to this? This might be the place today, where the second amendment
truly applies best, but the local fathers are deeming it insufficient.
RAMSEY: Well sure, we have no problem with people owning
firearms. But, when you bring a firearm into a home and you give it to
people who aren’t trained and who aren’t asking for guns, when you have
kids in those homes, there is going to be accidents, people are going
to die. And the second amendment is not going to bring those kids back.
OLBERMANN: Chad Ramsey, the regional director of the Brady
Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. Many thanks for your help tonight,
sir.
RAMSEY: Thanks.
OLBERMANN: Through two-fifths of the COUNTDOWN, your long-range
preview of tonight’s No. 1 story: The case of the 12 Casey’s.
First, let’s pause the COUNTDOWN for the unlikely reason that
there is another story tonight, about bizarre local laws in the
Heartland, specifically Kentucky. For example the state has a law
mandating that residents bathe once a year. No jokes, please.
And, a warning for women in bathing suits who take a fancy to
wandering on Kentucky roads. The law reads, quote, “No female shall
appear in a bathing suit on any highway within the state unless she be
escorted by at least two officers or unless she be armed with a club.”
A later amendment helps clear that up just a bit, quote, “The
provisions of this statute shall not apply to females weighing less
than 90 pounds nor exceeding 200 pounds nor shall it apply to female
horses.” Your tax dollars in action.
Ahead on COUNTDOWN: Being president means your flubs can get fixed in campaign ads by magic.
Being one of a dozen Paul Caseys means and identify thief has your number, if fact, all of your numbers.
Stand by.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
OLBERMANN: This is COUNTDOWN the premise. the top five stories
we think you’ll be talking about tomorrow. Your preview of our upcoming
No. 3: A chemical attack overseas, imminently.
And, as we usually do right now, we want the COUNTDOWN briefly,
to update you on some of the stories which did receive numbers on
previous edition of the news hour.
Sadly, we must report that our favorite dominatrix/librarian is
out of a job. The Upper Skagit library board of Washington state has
unanimously voted to let the contract of Valerie Shahan has expire,
exactly like one of the library cards she used to process. Miss Shahan
had, as recently as August, also operated a sadomasochistic Web site
under the pseudonym Lady Jane Grey. Miss Shahan had never mentioned
anything to her employers about the sideline. She immediately shut down
the site after it became public. Neither side is commenting on the
board’s decision and the district has begun to search for an assistant
librarian, possibly a submissive, maybe just somebody into latex.
I made that up.
Probable transportation and legal first: In San Francisco, a hit and
run involving a Segway scooter. A 3-year-old girl has been knocked to the
street outside her father’s store after she was struck by a Segwayist doing
about 10 miles an hour. She has bruises and a bump. Her father says he
confronted the driver who then sped off at 10 miles an hour. Nice jobs by
you passers-by. The vehicles are banned on the sidewalks of San Francisco
” a Quinn Martin production.
Remember Aron Ralston, the hiker who cut off part of his own arm
in order to save his own life? Two brothers were rapelling down an
80-foot Utah cliff over the weekend. One fell and broke his leg. As
Justin Harris lay there, Jeremy Harris began his 22-hour trek for help.
The walk, which in daylight would have taken about five hours, was
complicated by the darkness, by the subzero temperatures, and by the
fact that Jeremy Harris has an artificial hip.
Help arrived late Sunday night. A very grateful Justin Harris was airlifted to safety Monday morning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JUSTIN HARRIS, HIKER: Hi. Can you hear me? I’m alive. Yes. Yes.
It’s me. I love you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
OLBERMANN: And a follow-up to the last flight of the Concord. It
didn’t make it as a plane. How about as a boat? One of the British
Airways supersonic transports was clocked doing exactly six miles an
hour this morning. It came up New York’s Hudson River on the back of a
barge, destination, the Intrepid Sea-Air-Space Museum on Manhattan’s
West Side. The fate of the other Concords, 88-ton paperweights?
And the nightly update from Mr. Science, who has now
investigated the theorem that a person’s largest erogenous zone is his
or her brain. Now our good friends in the scientific community have
proven it. And we bring it to you in two parts-the proof, that is.
First, attraction and lust really is like a drug. It leaves you
wanting more, so says England’s National Addiction Centre director, Dr.
John Marsden. According to his research, which will be broadcast by the
BBC next month, the brain, during the first blush of love, releases the
chemical dopamine, which has similar effects on the body that cocaine
and speed do. Dr. Marsden also cautioned-quote-”The withdrawal sucks.”
That would be a medical term.
From the Netherlands comes this research. Unlike a man, in this
case Billy Crystal’s character, a brain scan can tell if a woman is
faking. The study shows that large sections of the cerebellum
which-quote-”light up” during the real shebang do not during
performance art. The findings were reported at a meeting at the Society
of Neuroscience, which then adjourned with anxious male scientists
scrambling for portable brain scanners monitors to take home.
Coming up on the midway mark of the COUNTDOWN, when we come
back: Al Qaeda may have gained just enough technical expertise to
launch a new and terrifying kind of attack. Some devastating news for
Shreveport. The new Hooters there would have to be built without
federal funds. And a London tabloid reporting that Jack Nicholson has
begun dating his latest co-star. But why did they quote jack in
colloquial British slang?
First, we must revisit that sexual brain scan story and give you
COUNTDOWN’s top three additional important facts. No. 3, this may have
been the first time in recorded history that a couple made love in an
MRI machine. No. 2, this may have been the first time in recorded
history that a lot of scientists actually saw a naked lady. And, No. 1,
if they ever go on “The Newlywed Game,” the volunteers in the study are
guaranteed to have the all-time best answer to the question that Bob
Eubanks asks: Name the strangest place you have ever made whoopee.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
OLBERMANN: In the Muslim calender of holy days, nothing is more
important than Ramadan. And nothing within that holy month is supposed
to be more important than its conclusion in the festival Eid al-Fitr,
the time at which feuding is supposed to give way to forgiveness. Not
everybody sees it that way.
Our third story on the COUNTDOWN tonight, terror does not take a
holiday. In Saudi Arabia, officials say they have killed two terrorists
preparing a car bomb attack.
And, as MSNBC senior investigative reporter Lisa Myers tells us
now, a confidential law enforcement memo warns that al Qaeda might be
on the verge of a major attack and a major advance in the machinery of
terror.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LISA MYERS, NBC CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over):
Five days after truck bomb attacks in Istanbul, Turkey, there is great
concern tonight that al Qaeda may be ready to strike again somewhere
around the world, perhaps even again in Turkey, where officials report
threats against U.S. and European interests. After an unprecedented
five attacks in the last month, counterterrorism officials are tense.
BEN VENZKE, TERRORISM ANALYST: There are a great number of
indicators we’re seeing that lead us to believe there is a high
likelihood of a major attack by al Qaeda in the coming days or in the
next week or so.
MYERS: One indicator, intelligence. A senior U.S. official tells
NBC News, there is current and credible intelligence of planning for
another attack. The target, U.S. officials say most likely overseas,
but possibly the U.S.
Officials say they are most worried about an attack with
chemical and biological weapons. This recent confidential advisory for
law enforcement officials obtained by NBC News reveals, terrorists have
designed a crude chemical dispersal device that produces gases designed
to asphyxiate its victims. The advisory also warns of possible attacks
on nuclear or chemical facilities with airplanes and of increasingly
sophisticated drive-by bombings using innocuous-looking vehicles.
Another indicator raising concerns, the end of Ramadan.
Terrorists believe suicide missions at that time bring even greater
heavenly rewards.
WALID PHARES, MIDDLE EAST EXPERT: On theological ground, they
believe that they would receive greetings from the divine, i.e., from
Allah, and they would be basically greeted more so than any fighter at
any time.
MYERS (on camera): But amid all this anxiety, there is good news
tonight in Yemen. U.S. officials confirm the arrest of a major al Qaeda
leader long wanted by the U.S., a key player in the attack on the USS
Cole which killed 17 sailors.
Lisa Myers, NBC News, Washington
(END VIDEOTAPE)
OLBERMANN: With that grim news, we’re past the halfway mark of
the COUNTDOWN. Your preview of our cheerier No. 2 story, State of the
Union take two.
First, to pause the COUNTDOWN and clean up the international
news, from the shooting war in Iraq to some of the political wars in
D.C. In Baghdad tonight, insurgents lobbed at least two rockets in the
general direction of the Green Zone, the U.S. administrative compound
in the center city. One rocket connected with an empty apartment
building. The other hit a road. No casualties.
Also today, the appearance of a crude videotape that purports to
show Saturday’s ground-to-air missile attack on that DHL cargo plane
flying into Baghdad. The tape was dropped off at a hotel desk,
addressed to a French journalist. According to Defense Secretary
Rumsfeld, it is part of the insurgents’ psychological warfare
operation.
And the 82nd Airborne, meanwhile, has apparently failed in an
operation to safeguard capsules of radioactive cobalt at an Iraqi test
site. The capsules were kept on 75-foot-long test poles at a site that
had drawn interest from both U.S. weapons investigators and local
Iraqis, who wanted to sell those poles for scrap. So despite U.S.
surveillance, the villagers were able to enter that restricted area in
trucks, dismantle three of the poles, and then drive off.
While the cobalt has been recovered, at least one Iraqi villager
is now suffering from radiation poisoning. Inspectors want to know how
the 82nd let the poles get away.
Ahead of us here, the first RNC ad supporting the president has
been out for less than a week and already controversy surrounds the
making of it. ‘Tis the season for identity theft. Coming up, a case of
stolen identity times 12. And country legend Glen Campbell gets in
trouble with the law, to say nothing of getting in trouble with that
photographer.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
OLBERMANN: Ahead here on COUNTDOWN: What happens when the
commander in chief flubs a presidential moment? And will the real Paul
Casey please stand up?
Stand by.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
OLBERMANN: Back with the COUNTDOWN and the No. 2 story on it.
Being president means never having to say you’re sorry, or, if
you do, they can always fix it in post. Critics are howling about a
clip from this year’s State of the Union address that has been included
in the Republicans’ new TV ad celebrating Mr. Bush’s staunch stance
against terrorism. The complaint, his original quote has been improved
upon.
First, the advertisement. Notice how smoothly the president says the phrase “one vial.”
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE AD)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It would take
one vile, one canister, one crate slipped into this country to bring a
day of horror like none we have ever known.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
OLBERMANN: Unfortunately, that’s not how it went when the
president originally read that line during his speech to Congress last
January. Notice again one vial.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUSH: Take one vial, one canister, one crate slipped into this
country to bring a day of horror like none we have ever known.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
OLBERMANN: A Republican spokeswoman told “The New York Times”
that the ad-makers did not have the president reread that line. But
Republican officials did admit that Mr. Bush had been digitally
enhanced to increase his clarity.
We’re one story shy of a completed COUNTDOWN. Your preview of
tonight’s grand finale, talk about clarity, a case of identity theft,
in fact, 12 cases of identical identity theft.
First, today’s other political news and a split decision for the
president, a huge victory on what is the biggest change to the Medicare
program since it began nearly four decades ago. Legislation to reform
Medicare passed on a bipartisan vote of 54-49 (sic). Starting in 2006,
the $400 billion bill will provide a prescription drug benefit to
seniors, depending on their income and how much they need to spend.
It also allows private insurance companies to compete for
Medicare patients with a series of experiments that get under way in
2010. Supporters say the bill reforms the Medicare system before the
baby boomers’ retirements kick in. Critics say the bill will cripple or
kill the program.
Either way, Senator John Kerry, who skipped yesterday’s
Democratic debate in Iowa to stay in Washington to fight the bill, then
decided the cause was lost and skipped the vote to go campaign in Iowa.
Meantime, some day, to quote Winston Churchill, another
generation will have to pick up a fallen flag where it finds it on a
stricken field. There will be no federally funded Hooters, the
president’s $33 billion energy and everything else bill withdrawn after
Republicans were unable to find the last two Senate votes they needed
to get it passed. Thus, out goes all that pork, including the Hooters
restaurant planned as part of a federal project in Shreveport.
Let’s now cross the railroad tracks into the seedy neighborhood of news we like to call “Keeping Tabs.”
And as singer Glen Campbell was arrested for DWI in Arizona, the
only possible line is, by the time he got to Phoenix, his blood alcohol
content level was rising. The veteran-ho, that’s a mug shot! Mr.
Campbell was accused not only of suspicion of extreme drunk driving,
meaning a blood count of over 0.15, but also hit and run after a
two-car collision that injured no one and a charge of aggravated
assault against a police officer, specifically that, as he was being
processed at the local police station, he suddenly kneed a sergeant in
the upper thigh.
And by the time the officer got to Phoenix, his voice was ris-never mind.
Now a little ditty about Jack and Dianne, Jack Nicholson and
Diane Keaton, that is, and a reported romance between the two, but one
we need to take with a grain of salt. London’s “Daily Mirror” is
reporting that the co-stars of the new film “Something’s Got To Give”
are dating. It even quotes Nicholson in New York City as saying of
Keaton-quote-”She is a one-off.”
Now, one-off is almost exclusively a British expression, meaning
unique or one of a kind. It is highly unlikely Jack Nicholson ever used
that phrase in his life. But the London “Daily Mirror” writers wouldn’t
know that, would they?
And if you think the U.S. makes too much of pro wrestling stars
like the Rock or Stone Cold Steve Austin or Bruno Sammartino-or what
was the other guy, the one who became the governor somewhere-try the
African nation of Niger. Its government has declared today that,
henceforth, the days on which championship matches are scheduled will
be national holidays. Yes, this is the same Niger as in the aluminum
tubes for Iraq and Joe Wilson and stuff.
COUNTDOWN rounding the final bend. Indeed, it is. At the end,
the story No. 1 on the night. Your hint, holiday secret? No. The big
crook surprise? Yes.
First, here are COUNTDOWN’s top three sound bites of this day.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARK SUMMERS, WEST PALM BEACH: This time, we decided that we
wanted everybody to at least have a chance to have some fun. So we put
a little twist on it this year. We’re dropping birds from a 300-foot
crane.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It doesn’t matter if she’s blonde or-how do
you say-brunette. It doesn’t matter, because, you know, she has to be a
little bit clever, a little bit, not too much.
AL “SLAW DOG” SLAWSON, THE RAPPING TEACHER: When multiplying
exponents that have like bases, they shortcut the process, adding in
the right places.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He’s not really a good rapper.
QUESTION: But it’s the thought that counts?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
SLAWSON: Do you want some Slaw? Do you want some Slaw?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Slaw Doggy-Dog.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Slaw Doggy-Dog.
(LAUGHTER)
SLAWSON: Do you want some Slaw? Do you want some Slaw? Do you want some Slaw? Do you want some Slaw?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
OLBERMANN: Massachusetts State Representative Paul Casey simply
thought his wife was getting him Christmas presents and not doing it a
very efficient job of keeping it a secret. But the presumed presents
became far too numerous. As it proved, so did the number of Paul Caseys
who were getting unexpected additions to their credit cards.
The No. 1 story on tonight’s COUNTDOWN, a 39-year-old man named
David Faulcon has been arrested in Boston and charged with stealing the
identity of Paul Casey and Paul Casey and Paul Casey and, to cut to the
chase, of stealing the identities of a dozen different men in
Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York, all of them named Paul Casey.
I’m joined by one of them, the state representative from Winchester, Mass., Paul C. Casey.
And good evening to you, sir.
PAUL CASEY (D), MASSACHUSETTS STATE REPRESENTATIVE: Good evening, Keith. How are you?
OLBERMANN: Much did you lose in this process and how quickly did it happen?
CASEY: Over the course of two days, $18,000. And I might want to
add that this, the gentleman who perpetrated my credentials, looked a
lot like that Glen Campbell picture that you just had.
OLBERMANN: Well, he certainly does now at least.
CASEY: Yes.
OLBERMANN: You hear so much about identity theft. The statistic
was that there were nearly 10 million victims last year alone. That
beat the record by nearly twice, the previous record. But it truly is
really just a statistic until it happens directly to you, right?
CASEY: You bet. And it is America’s No. 1 crime.
This was a little different than most, Keith, though. You
literally had a couple dozen Paul Caseys and one person going out and
perpetrating Paul Casey. And it is a heck of a name. And all the other
Paul Caseys are pretty good guys, too.
OLBERMANN: It is not a unique name, but, obviously, it is not
John Smith either. Did you assume there was some safety in being who
you were, that the name was-that it was just your name?
CASEY: I don’t know if it was the assumption of my name.
I just always thought that, if I did not put a Social Security
number on my license, if I shredded, if I cut up every type of personal
information exiting my house, if I only carried one or two credit
cards, those are the things that I was pretty secure, and thinking that
I don’t do Internet transactions. I thought I had some element of
security there.
OLBERMANN: Obviously, you didn’t. What would your advice be, having been through this living nightmare, or living hell?
CASEY: Well, my advice is always the standard advice. Just make
sure you don’t expose your Social Security number to anyone at any time
and, literally, have as few credit cards as possible.
But our instance is really much stranger, because so many Paul
Caseys were ripped off, so to speak, that there seems be an
investigation as to how a mass of Paul Caseys could be acquired in such
an easy and facile way over the span of just a brief month.
OLBERMANN: I’m sure-and not to make light of it-but I’m sure
this has also struck you. Was there motive here? Did the guy have
something against a Paul Casey somewhere?
CASEY: Well, I got to be honest. I felt that at first, but I was
relieved by the Boston Police Department when I found out that there
were six Paul Caseys who got hit before me and about six or 12 after
me. So I was right smack in the middle of it. The only difference is
that they tagged me for the most over the shortest period of time.
OLBERMANN: So, he had a list of names that he was going to get.
And they were Paul Casey, Paul Casey, then Paul Casey, and then-is
there some silver lining here? Did you get to meet any of the other
Paul Caseys?
CASEY: No, we have been in contact. And I think we are going to
have a reunion and we’re going to probably set up a collection
somewhere. So, if you want to contribute, we would be happy to send you
the address for that.
But, in all seriousness, Keith, what did kind of secure us or
help us along the way was that the police department jumped on it. And
because it was so unusual to have everybody, as Keith Olbermann or as
Paul Casey, sort of speaking, and by having that, that gave them an
approach. And the jerk who pretended to be Paul Casey didn’t go far. He
resided in Boston, lived in a condo apartment. And I’m told that the
inside of his apartment looked like a department store.
OLBERMANN: After all of this, I would suspect that would be the case.
Well, fortunately, there is only one person named Keith Olbermann.
And I mean that fortunately for society.
(LAUGHTER)
OLBERMANN: Massachusetts State Representative Paul Casey, our
congratulations to you and all the other Paul Caseys who have their
identity back and have learned this lesson, I guess, relatively
inexpensively. Thank you, sir.
CASEY: Thank you, Keith.
OLBERMANN: Let’s recap tonight’s COUNTDOWN before we go.
No. 5, the Michael Jackson tape, secret footage inside the plane
that carried him to his surrender. Now he looks like the victim.
Jackson’s lawyers has come out fighting mad, winning an injunction
against that tape and its possible promulgation, warning anyone who
tries to profit off the case or to treat Jackson like, as he put it, a
pinata. No. 4, gunfight at the Gouda Springs (ph) coral, a small Kansas
town now requiring every, or nearly every, homeowner to have a gun and
ammo, 210 residents in the place.
Three, al Qaeda’s latest terror threat, a confidential law
enforcement memo saying the blast in Turkey might just be the beginning
of a wave, attacks that could include chemical or biological weapons,
probably abroad. Two, the presidential edit, a new Bush ad drawing fire
for the message and its making. It used a technically altered moment
from the State of the Union address. No. 1, identity theft times 12. A
suspect steals the identity of Paul Casey and 11 other Paul Caseys.
That’s COUNTDOWN. Thanks for being part of it. “THE ABRAMS REPORT” is up next here on MSNBC.
I’m Keith Olbermann. Good night and good luck.
END
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