Interview with Warren Ballentine and Martha Zoller; Wild Fire in La Palm
LEMON: OK. The White House beer summit may have done some good. May have. Professor -- Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates extended an olive branch to Cambridge, Massachusetts police officer -- police sergeant, I should say, James Crowley without the president even being there. I want you to listen to what Professor Gates said earlier at his book signing in Cape Cod.</s>HENRY LOUIS GATES, JR., PROFESSOR, HARVARD UNIVERSITY: You know what, I like Crowley. I thought that we would like each other, and, yes, I don't know what we'll talk about. I asked him if he would have lunch with me one-on-one. I asked him maybe we could go to a Red Sox game together, maybe go to a Celtics game together. Maybe we could have dinner with our families, you know. Why not? You know, I offered to get his kids into Harvard.</s>LEMON: All right. So no word on when that game or the dinner summit might happen, and they probably won't tell us because they don't want all the cameras. Martha Zoller, Warren Ballentine, our radio hosts are here tonight. Well, guys, you know, the beer summit, we've been hearing a lot about it. And you know, I know from Sergeant Crowley, speaking to his friends and his family, and then him, as well. He can't speak to the media anymore. He says, you know, I can't talk to me anymore. He wants to move beyond this, he said. And he really wants to figure out a way to work with Professor Gates to try to get the country and people to listen and have a different understanding about race and racial profiling, and they seem, both men, seem very sincere about this. And by the way, I contacted Professor Gates, and he said, I'm all talked out, man so...</s>MARTHA ZOLLER, HOST, "THE MARTHA ZOLLER SHOW": Well, I think that really...</s>LEMON: And then we'll move on.</s>ZOLLER: We saw that Sergeant Crowley had a great record. He seems like a guy that's together. But I think in this case the president and Henry Louis Gates jumped to conclusions about policemen -- before they knew all the facts.</s>LEMON: Warren? Warren?</s>WARREN BALLENTINE, HOST, "THE WARREN BALLENTINE SHOW": Well, you know, I'm going to say this. I'm glad that they were able to come together and come together as human beings and see who they are as humans, but the bigger issue isn't even about race here for me. The big issue is that the cop misquoted things or falsified things on the police report. That could have been anybody. They could have ended up in jail because of something that he put down on that police report. That's the big concern here.</s>ZOLLER: Well...</s>BALLENTINE: As Americans we all should be concerned about that.</s>ZOLLER: But the bigger issue is how will this affect President Obama's working class, public safety type folks? I mean you saw in the interview, Don, that you did this week.</s>LEMON: Yes.</s>ZOLLER: You got a surprise answer.</s>LEMON: So here you go. This is what -- you know, Warren, people are saying about the falsifying of the police report, that is an accusation. We're not sure, you know, if that is a falsification or if that is what he remembered. So, you know.</s>BALLENTINE: He wrote it down, Don. That's factual. That's factual.</s>LEMON: Still to be determined. Still to be determined. But let's move on and say this. I think Martha brings up a very good point when she talks about the president because a lot of people are saying they're hoping that this is not just a photo-op, and it appears that the two men involved in this don't want it to be a photo-op and are working towards that end. But where does the White House go from here? They sort of put themselves in the middle of this mess.</s>ZOLLER: Yes, they want to end it here, I think.</s>LEMON: OK.</s>ZOLLER: And I think the president will not comment on local police matters anymore.</s>LEMON: OK. We want to end it right here, too. That is the end of it. OK, moving on, an issue that everyone that cares about really is the economy. So, Martha, a top adviser to President Obama is drawing some extra attention for refusing to rule out, you know, a middle class tax hike, you know, to help with the deficit, and your listeners all along were concerned about this.</s>ZOLLER: Absolutely. And I think Geithner is kind of seeing what the response is going to be, Secretary Geithner, but I think that President Obama is smart enough to know that that is not going to work, and it's not going to work unless there is spending retraction that goes along with that. I'll use a pretty word about it since we called the economy retracting or contracting. The spending has to get smaller, too. And that's what's got to happen. It's not just on taxes alone.</s>LEMON: OK. You know what's really helping out, though, a lot of people in the middle class, Warren, is the Cash for Clunkers program? But there's a lot of confusion. And you know, it may be over before -- almost before it got started.</s>BALLENTINE: Yes, but we got to be truthful about this, too. I support the administration, but let's call a spade a spade. They put this in place because they're tied in GM. Of course, they want people to buy cars. They want to get economy moving through the car dealership because they have a principle ownership in it. And honestly, Don, so many other things they could have been doing with this money. They could have been putting it into education. They could have been putting it into jobs. I mean if they're going to really use this money, forget clunkers. Give me some books in these schools so these kids can get educated and keep up with the rest of the world.</s>LEMON: Martha?</s>ZOLLER: Well, and I think when you look at what the dealers get out of this, they are going to sell cars and get service, but that cost them to -- what do they have to do to these clunkers before they actually get the money, they net about 50 bucks. That's all. And so it's a real problem, but I got to tell you, I want to see the money given back to the people, not saying you just have to buy certain cars. You know there was one family-sized car that was in that group of cars you could buy. And I'm sure a lot of families need a new car.</s>LEMON: Let's talk about trying to get money into coffers or what have you . When you start talking about the possibility of legalizing marijuana, that is really catching fire in California, and it's a real possibility in California. And where does that take us? What if it happens? Where does that take the rest of the country?</s>BALLENTINE: Well, Don, I have to say this. I'm syndicated across the country. Over 3 million listeners in 25 states and on satellite. I did a show nothing but, do we want to legalize marijuana? Overwhelmingly yes. Legalize it, tax it, let's clean up the debt that we owe so we can go back to being America. I know a lot of moms and a lot of people who'll say well, we don't want to legalize it. Guess what? The kids are getting it anyway. Why not put a tax on it?</s>LEMON: Here's what surprised me the last time we talked about this -- we had this conversation. It wasn't quite about California. But...</s>ZOLLER: Right.</s>LEMON: Martha said hey, you know, I'm reconsidering it. A conservative Martha Republican -- I mean, come on.</s>ZOLLER: Yes, I mean -- I get torn because if we say, oh, they're just going to do it anyway, then what are we going to do, tax condoms? We're going to tax this and that and the other thing, but I have been thinking about it, haven't made my mind up because it's a tough issue. It's a touch issue to say legalize marijuana when we know where that leads.</s>LEMON: Do you know there are a number of conservatives who may feel the same way that you do, Martha.</s>ZOLLER: I think a lot of people are looking about it, thinking about it. I mean heck we can't keep taxing cigarettes and liquors.</s>LEMON: The governor of California hasn't come out and said he completely supports it but you know I think that he's on board somewhere there.</s>ZOLLER: Well, California is like a small country that's about to go off...</s>BALLENTINE: And so all the conservatives out there, I would tell you just look at the data between marijuana and alcohol as far as what it does to your body. That's what turned me because I have never been a weed smoker, I don't advocate it but when I looked at what was happening to people who are alcoholics and so what they were doing to their bodies compared to weed smokers, it was alarming. The difference, how much alcohol is killing us and it's legal.</s>LEMON: OK. But I've got to say this, Dr. Ballentine, which you're not, we know you're an attorney.</s>BALLENTINE: That is true. That is true.</s>LEMON: Liver and some cirrhosis and psoriasis there. OK, so thank you guys.</s>ZOLLER: Thanks, guys.</s>LEMON: This conversation went somewhere I didn't expected to go but I enjoyed it. I hope you did.</s>ZOLLER: We did. Thank you.</s>LEMON: A concert stage collapses as a major movie star was about to go on. Who was it? Plus homes wrecked and planes flipped as storm whipped across the northeast. Our Jacqui Jeras will show us more on this.