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American Morning
'Gimme a Minute'; New Brand of Instant Storm Shelter Popping Up
Aired April 09, 2004 - 08:31 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome back, everybody. It's just about half past the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING. Anderson Cooper is sitting in for bill hemmer who has a day off.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: He's earned it. He deserves it.
O'BRIEN: He deserves it. No he doesn't. Yes, he does.
Nice to have you. Thank you very much.
COOPER: It is nice to be here.
Thanks for being with us, everyone.
The latest on Iraq and the 9/11 hearings in just a moment.
Also this half hour, nothing strikes fear in the Midwest like a twister understandably.
Look at these pictures.
Necessity being the mother of invention, a new brand of instant storm shelter is popping up. We're going to take a look at that.
O'BRIEN: Interesting. Also, how do you judge your age? This morning, we talk with a doctor who says throw out your calendar and actually just take a look at your habits. He's going to show us his way of coming up with the age that fits your life. Exercise, seeing some of those shots, is just part of it. Flossing your teeth is important. Whether or not you have a pet is important. How much chocolate you eat is also important. And if you eat nuts. It's really intriguing.
COOPER: I love nuts. This is great.
O'BRIEN: You're going to live forever.
COOPER: I'm set. I'm set. If only I would exercise.
All right, there's word of at least one large explosion right now in Baghdad. Still not clear whether it was a controlled blast or more fighting. But smoke has been seen. You are seeing it here rising from the scene here for the past half hour. They're a little bit difficult to see in some of these pictures. Also the U.S. Army in the Iraqi capital seen taking pictures down of the wanted Muslim cleric Muqtada Al Sadr. These pictures taken just about half an hour ago. That is in the exact same place where that statue of Saddam Hussein was toppled one year ago today.
U.S. military has halted its offensive against insurgents in the hotbed city of Fallujah. The spokesman for the U.S. military, Mark Kimmitt, says Marines and insurgents clashed in one incident today, but the offensive has been temporarily halted by the U.S. During the downtime, coalition troops are meeting with Iraqi leaders and humanitarian aid is distributed to Fallujah residents -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Well, the White House is now working to declassify a daily intelligence briefing, which is known as the "PDB," from August 6, 2001. The document was brought up yesterday during national security adviser Condoleezza Rice's testimony before the 9/11 commission. The panel wanted to know if the document is proof that the White House was warn that al Qaeda might try to hijack American airplanes.
And it will soon be the world's largest airplane, big enough to seat, get this, 800 people. Airbus is rolling out it's brand new 380 model. It's said to be the largest passenger plane ever made. The jet has two decks. So just imagine trying to book a hotel room for all those passengers. If the flight is canceled, it's not leaving, and you've got to put them somewhere. Though, you know, I don't think airlines do that anymore. They are like, you are on your own, buddy. Good luck. Service for that plane is expected actually to begin in 2006, just around the corner.
COOPER: It's going to be a little pricey, I think. My guess.
O'BRIEN: You think? Those beautiful chairs and tables were a pretty good indication.
(WEATHER REPORT)
O'BRIEN: Turning now to our top story, Iraq is just one those stories for our fast-talking panel, ready to tackle everything in fact this morning on "Gimme a Minute." Here they are, from Washington D.C., Jonah Goldberg of the National Review Online.
Hello, Jonah. Nice to see you.
JONAH GOLDBERG, NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE: Hey, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: CNN political contributor Donna Brazile is with us again.
Hey, Donna, good morning.
DONNA BRAZILE, CNN POL. CONTRIBUTOR: Good morning.
O'BRIEN: And here in New York, Andy Borowitz of "The New Yorker."
Welcome, Andy, nice to see you as well.
ANDY BOROWITZ, "THE NEW YORKER": Nice to see you.
O'BRIEN: Let's get going.
Jonah, we're going to begin with you this morning. The big story of course has been Dr. Rice's testimony in front of the 9/11 Commission. How do you think she did?
GOLDBERG: I think she did fine, although I think it's pretty clear the chum is in the water. The media is going to want to go after this memo. The commissioner wants to grandstand more, and the White House has brought a lot of these problems on themselves by refusing to concede that they may have made some understandable mistakes prior to 9/11.
Donna, Jonah says she did fine. Is fine good enough, do you think?
BRAZILE: No, it's not in her case. Condoleezza should have hit a home run yesterday. Instead, at best, she got a double, if not a base hit.
O'BRIEN: Donna, you know how sports metaphors go with me, right over my head, but I think I understand what you are saying.
BRAZILE: Dr. Rice understands.
O'BRIEN: That's right. She absolutely does understand. Plus, she wants that as her job eventually one day, didn't she say that.
Andy, what do you think? How would you rate how Dr. Rice did before the 9/11 Commission?
BOROWITZ: Gosh, I thought she did an awesome job. It's hard to answer so many questions without ever using the words yes or no. I mean, give her some credit.
O'BRIEN: All right, let's turn now to our next question, and staying on the topic of Iraq. Senator Ted Kennedy has been calling Iraq "George Bush's Vietnam." Secretary Powell said that Iraq is not a swamp that's going to devour us, and in addition he said the Democrats saying things like calling Iraq Vietnam is not exactly very helpful.
Donna, let's start with you on that. He does have a point there, doesn't he, Secretary Powell?
BRAZILE: Well, look, I think they're both right. We're in a very tenuous situation with the Shias and the uprising, a certain portion of them as well as the Sunnis still fighting us. So I think this is a very crucial period for us. We have 84 days to get it right.
O'BRIEN: Jonah, do you think that this is George Bush's Vietnam, or way overstating, too much hyperbole from the senator? GOLDBERG: Yes, I think factually it's absurd. I think, politically, it was outrageous. And I think, morally, it was offensive. You have a situation where jungle warfare for a decade versus one year and 600 people killed versus 58,000 just factually, militarily, it makes no sense, and it is precisely the line that Muqtada Al Sadr and Osama bin Laden keep using.
O'BRIEN: Well, on three fronts, Jonah hated that line, factually, politically, morally. Andy, what do you think?
BOROWITZ: You know, everybody is weighing in on this. Yesterday Jessica Simpson said that Iraq was the star of "Walking Tall."
O'BRIEN: No, that's The Rock.
Glad I could help you with that.
All right, let's turn and talk a little bit about Howard Stern. Clear Channel Communications has permanently fired Howard Stern off six of those stations after that hugantic $495,000 fine. What do you think, Donna? Do you think that, of all people, Howard Stern is being made an example of when there are many other examples that should be gone after?
BRAZILE: I think they should have sent him a box of soap. He could have washed his mouth out, made a contribution like other Clear Channel employees to the Bush-Cheney re-election, got off easy.
O'BRIEN: Jonah, what do you think?
GOLDBERG: I think Howard Stern, I used to be a big fan of his, back when I was in high school. I think he's exploiting this. He's calling this McCarthyism. I doubt Howard Stern could talk for five minutes intelligently about what McCarthyism is. I think it's way blown out of proportion, and he's getting a lot of free publicity.
O'BRIEN: Andy, what do you think?
BOROWITZ: Call me old-fashioned. I think filth and obscenity should be taken off the radio and put back on our home computers where it belongs.
O'BRIEN: I'm sure there are lots of people who agree with you, Andy.
All right, let's talk about the undercovered story of the week.
Donna we're going to begin with you on this. What did we miss?
BRAZILE: "USA Today" this week reported that according to the Congressional Budget Office, a nonpartisan agency, by the way, the budget deficit will grow to over $1.1 trillion over the next five years unless we do something. John Kerry has a plan. We haven't heard anything from the White House.
O'BRIEN: Interesting. And, Jonah, what do you think the undercovered story was?
GOLDBERG: In all this talk about the horrifying kidnapping of these three Japanese people in Iraq, no one has pointed out how complicit al Qaeda -- al Jazeera was -- same difference in some ways -- by cooperating with the release of this video, and they deserve a lot of the blame. No respectful news organization would have done that.
O'BRIEN: Interesting point.
Andy, you're going to get the final word this morning. What do you think was the undercovered story of the day?
BOROWITZ: Well, this was a shocker, Soledad. In a new poll taken this week, both President Bush and John Kerry were defeated by the University of Connecticut.
O'BRIEN: The men or the women?
BOROWITZ: Both.
O'BRIEN: That's funny.
All right, you guys. As always, nice to chat with you. Have a great weekend and thanks for being with us -- Anderson.
COOPER: I'm still laughing about the Iraq thing. The Rock.
Anyway, tornado season is almost here, and for those living in Oklahoma's Tornado Alley it's always a scary time. The death toll has been devastating in recent years, as CNN's Keith Oppenheim reports, some folks feel they need a better, stronger hideout at home.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED BROWN, STORMESCAPE: When it really gets busy, I quit carrying it. I just can't.
KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ed Brown says he can barely keep pace with all the calls.
BROWN: I had one lady tell me she'd pay me an extra $500 if I'd put her shelter in the next day.
OPPENHEIM: Brown's crew is putting in storm shelters nearly every day. That means cutting into the garage floor.
BROWN: How is that space over there?
OPPENHEIM: Then inserting a large tub in the hole.
(on camera): It's not a huge amount of space. About 7 feet long, five feet deep, but a shelter like this is big enough for up to eight people to climb down, huddle and wait unharmed as a raging tornado passes by. In Moore, Oklahoma, violent tornadoes hit twice in the past five years. In 1999, 44 people were killed.
DONI STEWART, HOMEOWNER: Saved lives of seven families.
OPPENHEIM: Doni Stewart was lucky to have a basement during that storm. Today she has a new house, but no cellar. So she's getting a shelter.
STEWART: One saved my life once before, and it's just peace of mind, comfort.
OPPENHEIM: The state of Oklahoma is offering some financial assistance to homeowners who install shelters.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have to be ready for it. It can happen at any time, during any time of the year. That's what most people don't realize.
OPPENHEIM: As for Ed Brown, he believes by protecting people from impact, he's making an impact.
BROWN: One young man called me, just almost in tears. He said, I want you to know your shelter saved my wife and I and our two babies lives last night. It's not just a job, it's saving people's lives.
OPPENHEIM: Keith Oppenheim, CNN, Oklahoma City.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: That's some good advances in technology, a really low technology.
COOPER: Yes, it's got to feel nice to be able to install those.
O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning on AMERICAN MORNING: biology isn't necessarily destiny, a new book says. We're going to hear from a doctor who says you don't have to look or even act our age.
COOPER: And the hottest couple in music gets a shot at a TV variety show, oy.
O'BRIEN: I was going to say that, oy.
COOPER: Stay with us on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody. Dr. Sanjay Gupta is on assignment today.
And these days, doctors are coming up with all kinds of ways to keep you looking younger than your actual age. In a new book, "The Real Age Makeover." Dr. Michael Roizen shares some quick fixings and also some long-term strategies to hold to that youthful look a little bit longer. Dr. Roizen joins us. Nice to see you again.
The last time we talked, you had written your first book, back in '99, talking about real age, and explaining that your actual chronological age isn't your real age. So you could be 25, but really, your body is saying no, I'm 50, because you don't take care of yourself. So you've got this new book now which gives practical advice on how to get your real age lower than your actual numerical age.
DR. MICHAEL ROIZEN, AUTHOR, "THE REAL AGE MAKEOVER": How to make yourself younger. That's exactly right.
O'BRIEN: How does that work? I mean, what it is about -- how come we're able to lower or raise our age?
ROIZEN: Well, what we've learned is that our genes are important, but the things we do really do control our genes. And they're easy things. So, for example, having a glass of wine or a glass of beer, alcohol, actually changes the way your genes function.
O'BRIEN: Why?
ROIZEN: We don't know why. But it causes us to produce less inflammatory proteins, so less things that make your arteries older. So we...
O'BRIEN: Red wine, white wine, any kind of wine, any kind of beer, once a day?
ROIZEN: Any kind of wine. Yes. In other words, you don't want to do it when you're pregnant.
O'BRIEN: Darn. Again, something else I can't do.
ROIZEN: And you don't want to do it if you're subject to alcohol or drug abuse, and there are many things you can do. So on the Web site, which is a free Web site, or in the book, there are 78 choices any of us can make.
And what we've learned, and the real reason I wrote this book, was is I've learned you should start simple with just 30 minutes of walking a day and then gradually add on. So the people who have written me have said, look, if we try and do everything that once, we fail.
O'BRIEN: Tackle all 78, you just can't do it.
ROIZEN: Right, so start simple, and then you can change the way your genes function.
O'BRIEN: Some of these numbers are really remarkable. For example, you say the right amount of chocolate every day could make you 1.3 years younger. What's the right amount of chocolate?
ROIZEN: Well, any chocolate that is real cocoa is good. That's real cocoa. So you've got to read the label. You don't want milk chocolate and you don't want transfat, the white chocolate. What you want is this is real cocoa chocolate, and it does make you younger, because it's a healthy fat, and it has good flavonoids in it. Flavonoids are crazy things. You don't have to know what they are. They are like vitamins, except they're not essential for life.
O'BRIEN: How much? A pound?
ROIZEN: No, you want an ounce of that.
And the same thing with nuts. An ounce of walnuts and each of them, about 8 or 10 minutes before dinnertime is a perfect way of decreasing your appetite. So I brought a plate in. It's a nine-inch plate. So one of the keys, in fact, in buying, if you will, plates, is to measure it so the center is nine inches. Even if you can go back as many times as you want, you tend to eat about 40 percent less than if you have 11-inch or 13-inch plates. It's just that the size makes you think of that.
O'BRIEN: You are chronologically, literally, actually 58. You say how old you are?
ROIZEN: And I'm 40 real age.
O'BRIEN: Good for you.
ROIZEN: And it's not that hard to do.
O'BRIEN: I'm 38, and I've got to be 75.
ROIZEN: Well, as we said, pregnancy initially makes you older, and when you have kids you get older, and especially as you are a professional woman, you do things for your profession and for your kids and you neglect yourself, and that really isn't showing love for your kids, because doing things for your kids means that you don't have time for yourself, so they'll have to take care of you, whereas if you do things for yourself, you'll be able to take care of their kids rather than them having to take care of you.
O'BRIEN: You've convinced me. I'm going to take the rest of the day off and go to a spa. Forget the kids.
Dr. Roizen, always nice to have you.
ROIZEN: A privilege.
O'BRIEN: And chat with you. Thanks.
Still to come this morning, Can newlyweds Nick and Jessica breathe life into the old-style variety hour? We're going to talk a look at that, just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Well, Newlyweds Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson, America's favorite young couple, are now hoping to take their success even higher. I'm not sure Jack Cafferty agrees that they're America's favorite couple.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Oh yes, they're my favorite.
COOPER: They're going to go back to an old-school format.
Here's Sibila Vargas.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SIBILA VARGAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Think you're experiencing a little deja vu. ABC sure hopes so. The network is looking to rekindle the success of the classic "Sonny and Cher Show" with the "Nick and Jessica Variety Hour."
VARGAS (on camera): You guys are blowing up.
NICK LACHEY, NEWLYWED: It's been a whirlwind year and a half. You know, we're just overwhelmed and blessed.
VARGAS (voice-over): Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson have come a long way since MTV put them on the map with "Newlyweds," and since then, fans have been captivated by those, shall way say, Jessica moments.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JESSICA SIMPSON, NEWLYWED: What are you doing exactly?
LACHEY: I'm cleaning our driveway.
SIMPSON: Why don't you just wait until it rains.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VARGAS: Before MTV's "Newlyweds," Jessica seemed to live in the shadow of pop princess Britney Spears and Nick's music career seemed to be headed 98 degrees south. Not anymore. The couple of is getting plenty of face time in dozens of magazines.
So why is this couple so irresistible?
KRISTEN BALDWIN, SR. EDITOR, "ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY": They've got more of a sense and humor about themselves. Nick and Jessica are kind of the fun-loving goofy celebrity couple, and I think that's why people like them.
VARGAS (on camera): Will Nick and Jessica be ABC's next Sonny and Cher? ABC is already talking about making it a permanent fixture. And with individual pilot deals for each of them, ABC is banking big on America's favorite newlyweds.
Sibila Vargas, CNN, Burbank, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, the "Nick and Jessica Variety Hour" airs Sunday night on ABC.
CAFFERTY: Gee, only two days to wait.
O'BRIEN: Hello, Jack. Got the File for us?
SERWER: Hi there, mom. How's it going? Everything all right?
O'BRIEN: It's been better.
CAFFERTY: Cafferty File: New York Yankees had a lot of high- profile fans at their home opener in the Bronx last night. Among them was Martha Stewart, whose lawyers are seeking a new trial. She must still have, though, some pull here in the Big Apple. She had a front row seat, right near home plate, in a special section reserve for convicted criminals.
COOPER: Hey now. Hey now.
CAFFERTY: "The Passion of the Christ" has nothing on an Easter show in Pennsylvania. Actors at the Glassport Church whipped...
COOPER: I love this story.
CAFFERTY: You would. Whipped the Easter Bunny and broke eggs meant for the Easter egg hunt, in an effort to teach about the crucifixion of Jesus.
O'BRIEN: Were there little children.
COOPER: It was packed with little kids.
CAFFERTY: Yes, the performers told the audience there's no Easter Bunny. Parents had brought their children to this Easter show, and the moron youth minister said afterwards, oh, we didn't mean to offend anyone.
O'BRIEN: They beat the Easter Bunny?
COOPER: One little kid asked his mother, "Why are they whipping the Easter Bunny?"
O'BRIEN: Oh, my God.
CAFFERTY: You, sir, Mr. Youth Minister, are an idiot.
O'BRIEN: And fired.
CAFFERTY: Yes well, let's hope.
And finally, this is my favorite. A Croatian woman went to extreme measures. This is a terrible story, but it's funny. She was scheduled to go on vacation with her boyfriend, and she didn't want to go on vacation with her boyfriend, but she was afraid to call him and tell him that, and she was afraid to stay home and tell her parents that she wasn't going to go meet this guy, because apparently the parents had visions of matrimony in the future. So to get out of it, she called in a bomb threat to the airport in Germany. That forced a postponement of her flight, and she got off the hook without having to explain to either her parents or her boyfriend that she didn't want to make this trip. She was convicted of disturbing the peace yesterday.
O'BRIEN: Didn't she say it was al Qaeda. She made it clear it was like an al Qaeda -- I think so.
CAFFERTY: One bomb threat is sort of like another.
O'BRIEN: Sixty-thousand people were delayed because of her idiotic move.
CAFFERTY: So we've got people calling in bomb threats to the airport, beating up the Easter Bunny and Martha Stewart.
COOPER: Now that's a Cafferty File.
CAFFERTY: That's not bad for a Friday.
O'BRIEN: High five to Jack there.
CAFFERTY: Are you over your cold now?
O'BRIEN: Yes. Now I'm just big and fat and pregnant.
CAFFERTY: I can't touch that.
O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice's 9/11 testimony has the White House ready to take an unprecedented step. We'll explain just ahead, on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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Aired April 9, 2004 - 08:31 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Welcome back, everybody. It's just about half past the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING. Anderson Cooper is sitting in for bill hemmer who has a day off.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: He's earned it. He deserves it.
O'BRIEN: He deserves it. No he doesn't. Yes, he does.
Nice to have you. Thank you very much.
COOPER: It is nice to be here.
Thanks for being with us, everyone.
The latest on Iraq and the 9/11 hearings in just a moment.
Also this half hour, nothing strikes fear in the Midwest like a twister understandably.
Look at these pictures.
Necessity being the mother of invention, a new brand of instant storm shelter is popping up. We're going to take a look at that.
O'BRIEN: Interesting. Also, how do you judge your age? This morning, we talk with a doctor who says throw out your calendar and actually just take a look at your habits. He's going to show us his way of coming up with the age that fits your life. Exercise, seeing some of those shots, is just part of it. Flossing your teeth is important. Whether or not you have a pet is important. How much chocolate you eat is also important. And if you eat nuts. It's really intriguing.
COOPER: I love nuts. This is great.
O'BRIEN: You're going to live forever.
COOPER: I'm set. I'm set. If only I would exercise.
All right, there's word of at least one large explosion right now in Baghdad. Still not clear whether it was a controlled blast or more fighting. But smoke has been seen. You are seeing it here rising from the scene here for the past half hour. They're a little bit difficult to see in some of these pictures. Also the U.S. Army in the Iraqi capital seen taking pictures down of the wanted Muslim cleric Muqtada Al Sadr. These pictures taken just about half an hour ago. That is in the exact same place where that statue of Saddam Hussein was toppled one year ago today.
U.S. military has halted its offensive against insurgents in the hotbed city of Fallujah. The spokesman for the U.S. military, Mark Kimmitt, says Marines and insurgents clashed in one incident today, but the offensive has been temporarily halted by the U.S. During the downtime, coalition troops are meeting with Iraqi leaders and humanitarian aid is distributed to Fallujah residents -- Soledad.
O'BRIEN: Well, the White House is now working to declassify a daily intelligence briefing, which is known as the "PDB," from August 6, 2001. The document was brought up yesterday during national security adviser Condoleezza Rice's testimony before the 9/11 commission. The panel wanted to know if the document is proof that the White House was warn that al Qaeda might try to hijack American airplanes.
And it will soon be the world's largest airplane, big enough to seat, get this, 800 people. Airbus is rolling out it's brand new 380 model. It's said to be the largest passenger plane ever made. The jet has two decks. So just imagine trying to book a hotel room for all those passengers. If the flight is canceled, it's not leaving, and you've got to put them somewhere. Though, you know, I don't think airlines do that anymore. They are like, you are on your own, buddy. Good luck. Service for that plane is expected actually to begin in 2006, just around the corner.
COOPER: It's going to be a little pricey, I think. My guess.
O'BRIEN: You think? Those beautiful chairs and tables were a pretty good indication.
(WEATHER REPORT)
O'BRIEN: Turning now to our top story, Iraq is just one those stories for our fast-talking panel, ready to tackle everything in fact this morning on "Gimme a Minute." Here they are, from Washington D.C., Jonah Goldberg of the National Review Online.
Hello, Jonah. Nice to see you.
JONAH GOLDBERG, NATIONAL REVIEW ONLINE: Hey, Soledad.
O'BRIEN: CNN political contributor Donna Brazile is with us again.
Hey, Donna, good morning.
DONNA BRAZILE, CNN POL. CONTRIBUTOR: Good morning.
O'BRIEN: And here in New York, Andy Borowitz of "The New Yorker."
Welcome, Andy, nice to see you as well.
ANDY BOROWITZ, "THE NEW YORKER": Nice to see you.
O'BRIEN: Let's get going.
Jonah, we're going to begin with you this morning. The big story of course has been Dr. Rice's testimony in front of the 9/11 Commission. How do you think she did?
GOLDBERG: I think she did fine, although I think it's pretty clear the chum is in the water. The media is going to want to go after this memo. The commissioner wants to grandstand more, and the White House has brought a lot of these problems on themselves by refusing to concede that they may have made some understandable mistakes prior to 9/11.
Donna, Jonah says she did fine. Is fine good enough, do you think?
BRAZILE: No, it's not in her case. Condoleezza should have hit a home run yesterday. Instead, at best, she got a double, if not a base hit.
O'BRIEN: Donna, you know how sports metaphors go with me, right over my head, but I think I understand what you are saying.
BRAZILE: Dr. Rice understands.
O'BRIEN: That's right. She absolutely does understand. Plus, she wants that as her job eventually one day, didn't she say that.
Andy, what do you think? How would you rate how Dr. Rice did before the 9/11 Commission?
BOROWITZ: Gosh, I thought she did an awesome job. It's hard to answer so many questions without ever using the words yes or no. I mean, give her some credit.
O'BRIEN: All right, let's turn now to our next question, and staying on the topic of Iraq. Senator Ted Kennedy has been calling Iraq "George Bush's Vietnam." Secretary Powell said that Iraq is not a swamp that's going to devour us, and in addition he said the Democrats saying things like calling Iraq Vietnam is not exactly very helpful.
Donna, let's start with you on that. He does have a point there, doesn't he, Secretary Powell?
BRAZILE: Well, look, I think they're both right. We're in a very tenuous situation with the Shias and the uprising, a certain portion of them as well as the Sunnis still fighting us. So I think this is a very crucial period for us. We have 84 days to get it right.
O'BRIEN: Jonah, do you think that this is George Bush's Vietnam, or way overstating, too much hyperbole from the senator? GOLDBERG: Yes, I think factually it's absurd. I think, politically, it was outrageous. And I think, morally, it was offensive. You have a situation where jungle warfare for a decade versus one year and 600 people killed versus 58,000 just factually, militarily, it makes no sense, and it is precisely the line that Muqtada Al Sadr and Osama bin Laden keep using.
O'BRIEN: Well, on three fronts, Jonah hated that line, factually, politically, morally. Andy, what do you think?
BOROWITZ: You know, everybody is weighing in on this. Yesterday Jessica Simpson said that Iraq was the star of "Walking Tall."
O'BRIEN: No, that's The Rock.
Glad I could help you with that.
All right, let's turn and talk a little bit about Howard Stern. Clear Channel Communications has permanently fired Howard Stern off six of those stations after that hugantic $495,000 fine. What do you think, Donna? Do you think that, of all people, Howard Stern is being made an example of when there are many other examples that should be gone after?
BRAZILE: I think they should have sent him a box of soap. He could have washed his mouth out, made a contribution like other Clear Channel employees to the Bush-Cheney re-election, got off easy.
O'BRIEN: Jonah, what do you think?
GOLDBERG: I think Howard Stern, I used to be a big fan of his, back when I was in high school. I think he's exploiting this. He's calling this McCarthyism. I doubt Howard Stern could talk for five minutes intelligently about what McCarthyism is. I think it's way blown out of proportion, and he's getting a lot of free publicity.
O'BRIEN: Andy, what do you think?
BOROWITZ: Call me old-fashioned. I think filth and obscenity should be taken off the radio and put back on our home computers where it belongs.
O'BRIEN: I'm sure there are lots of people who agree with you, Andy.
All right, let's talk about the undercovered story of the week.
Donna we're going to begin with you on this. What did we miss?
BRAZILE: "USA Today" this week reported that according to the Congressional Budget Office, a nonpartisan agency, by the way, the budget deficit will grow to over $1.1 trillion over the next five years unless we do something. John Kerry has a plan. We haven't heard anything from the White House.
O'BRIEN: Interesting. And, Jonah, what do you think the undercovered story was?
GOLDBERG: In all this talk about the horrifying kidnapping of these three Japanese people in Iraq, no one has pointed out how complicit al Qaeda -- al Jazeera was -- same difference in some ways -- by cooperating with the release of this video, and they deserve a lot of the blame. No respectful news organization would have done that.
O'BRIEN: Interesting point.
Andy, you're going to get the final word this morning. What do you think was the undercovered story of the day?
BOROWITZ: Well, this was a shocker, Soledad. In a new poll taken this week, both President Bush and John Kerry were defeated by the University of Connecticut.
O'BRIEN: The men or the women?
BOROWITZ: Both.
O'BRIEN: That's funny.
All right, you guys. As always, nice to chat with you. Have a great weekend and thanks for being with us -- Anderson.
COOPER: I'm still laughing about the Iraq thing. The Rock.
Anyway, tornado season is almost here, and for those living in Oklahoma's Tornado Alley it's always a scary time. The death toll has been devastating in recent years, as CNN's Keith Oppenheim reports, some folks feel they need a better, stronger hideout at home.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED BROWN, STORMESCAPE: When it really gets busy, I quit carrying it. I just can't.
KEITH OPPENHEIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ed Brown says he can barely keep pace with all the calls.
BROWN: I had one lady tell me she'd pay me an extra $500 if I'd put her shelter in the next day.
OPPENHEIM: Brown's crew is putting in storm shelters nearly every day. That means cutting into the garage floor.
BROWN: How is that space over there?
OPPENHEIM: Then inserting a large tub in the hole.
(on camera): It's not a huge amount of space. About 7 feet long, five feet deep, but a shelter like this is big enough for up to eight people to climb down, huddle and wait unharmed as a raging tornado passes by. In Moore, Oklahoma, violent tornadoes hit twice in the past five years. In 1999, 44 people were killed.
DONI STEWART, HOMEOWNER: Saved lives of seven families.
OPPENHEIM: Doni Stewart was lucky to have a basement during that storm. Today she has a new house, but no cellar. So she's getting a shelter.
STEWART: One saved my life once before, and it's just peace of mind, comfort.
OPPENHEIM: The state of Oklahoma is offering some financial assistance to homeowners who install shelters.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You have to be ready for it. It can happen at any time, during any time of the year. That's what most people don't realize.
OPPENHEIM: As for Ed Brown, he believes by protecting people from impact, he's making an impact.
BROWN: One young man called me, just almost in tears. He said, I want you to know your shelter saved my wife and I and our two babies lives last night. It's not just a job, it's saving people's lives.
OPPENHEIM: Keith Oppenheim, CNN, Oklahoma City.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: That's some good advances in technology, a really low technology.
COOPER: Yes, it's got to feel nice to be able to install those.
O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning on AMERICAN MORNING: biology isn't necessarily destiny, a new book says. We're going to hear from a doctor who says you don't have to look or even act our age.
COOPER: And the hottest couple in music gets a shot at a TV variety show, oy.
O'BRIEN: I was going to say that, oy.
COOPER: Stay with us on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody. Dr. Sanjay Gupta is on assignment today.
And these days, doctors are coming up with all kinds of ways to keep you looking younger than your actual age. In a new book, "The Real Age Makeover." Dr. Michael Roizen shares some quick fixings and also some long-term strategies to hold to that youthful look a little bit longer. Dr. Roizen joins us. Nice to see you again.
The last time we talked, you had written your first book, back in '99, talking about real age, and explaining that your actual chronological age isn't your real age. So you could be 25, but really, your body is saying no, I'm 50, because you don't take care of yourself. So you've got this new book now which gives practical advice on how to get your real age lower than your actual numerical age.
DR. MICHAEL ROIZEN, AUTHOR, "THE REAL AGE MAKEOVER": How to make yourself younger. That's exactly right.
O'BRIEN: How does that work? I mean, what it is about -- how come we're able to lower or raise our age?
ROIZEN: Well, what we've learned is that our genes are important, but the things we do really do control our genes. And they're easy things. So, for example, having a glass of wine or a glass of beer, alcohol, actually changes the way your genes function.
O'BRIEN: Why?
ROIZEN: We don't know why. But it causes us to produce less inflammatory proteins, so less things that make your arteries older. So we...
O'BRIEN: Red wine, white wine, any kind of wine, any kind of beer, once a day?
ROIZEN: Any kind of wine. Yes. In other words, you don't want to do it when you're pregnant.
O'BRIEN: Darn. Again, something else I can't do.
ROIZEN: And you don't want to do it if you're subject to alcohol or drug abuse, and there are many things you can do. So on the Web site, which is a free Web site, or in the book, there are 78 choices any of us can make.
And what we've learned, and the real reason I wrote this book, was is I've learned you should start simple with just 30 minutes of walking a day and then gradually add on. So the people who have written me have said, look, if we try and do everything that once, we fail.
O'BRIEN: Tackle all 78, you just can't do it.
ROIZEN: Right, so start simple, and then you can change the way your genes function.
O'BRIEN: Some of these numbers are really remarkable. For example, you say the right amount of chocolate every day could make you 1.3 years younger. What's the right amount of chocolate?
ROIZEN: Well, any chocolate that is real cocoa is good. That's real cocoa. So you've got to read the label. You don't want milk chocolate and you don't want transfat, the white chocolate. What you want is this is real cocoa chocolate, and it does make you younger, because it's a healthy fat, and it has good flavonoids in it. Flavonoids are crazy things. You don't have to know what they are. They are like vitamins, except they're not essential for life.
O'BRIEN: How much? A pound?
ROIZEN: No, you want an ounce of that.
And the same thing with nuts. An ounce of walnuts and each of them, about 8 or 10 minutes before dinnertime is a perfect way of decreasing your appetite. So I brought a plate in. It's a nine-inch plate. So one of the keys, in fact, in buying, if you will, plates, is to measure it so the center is nine inches. Even if you can go back as many times as you want, you tend to eat about 40 percent less than if you have 11-inch or 13-inch plates. It's just that the size makes you think of that.
O'BRIEN: You are chronologically, literally, actually 58. You say how old you are?
ROIZEN: And I'm 40 real age.
O'BRIEN: Good for you.
ROIZEN: And it's not that hard to do.
O'BRIEN: I'm 38, and I've got to be 75.
ROIZEN: Well, as we said, pregnancy initially makes you older, and when you have kids you get older, and especially as you are a professional woman, you do things for your profession and for your kids and you neglect yourself, and that really isn't showing love for your kids, because doing things for your kids means that you don't have time for yourself, so they'll have to take care of you, whereas if you do things for yourself, you'll be able to take care of their kids rather than them having to take care of you.
O'BRIEN: You've convinced me. I'm going to take the rest of the day off and go to a spa. Forget the kids.
Dr. Roizen, always nice to have you.
ROIZEN: A privilege.
O'BRIEN: And chat with you. Thanks.
Still to come this morning, Can newlyweds Nick and Jessica breathe life into the old-style variety hour? We're going to talk a look at that, just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: Well, Newlyweds Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson, America's favorite young couple, are now hoping to take their success even higher. I'm not sure Jack Cafferty agrees that they're America's favorite couple.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Oh yes, they're my favorite.
COOPER: They're going to go back to an old-school format.
Here's Sibila Vargas.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SIBILA VARGAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Think you're experiencing a little deja vu. ABC sure hopes so. The network is looking to rekindle the success of the classic "Sonny and Cher Show" with the "Nick and Jessica Variety Hour."
VARGAS (on camera): You guys are blowing up.
NICK LACHEY, NEWLYWED: It's been a whirlwind year and a half. You know, we're just overwhelmed and blessed.
VARGAS (voice-over): Nick Lachey and Jessica Simpson have come a long way since MTV put them on the map with "Newlyweds," and since then, fans have been captivated by those, shall way say, Jessica moments.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JESSICA SIMPSON, NEWLYWED: What are you doing exactly?
LACHEY: I'm cleaning our driveway.
SIMPSON: Why don't you just wait until it rains.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VARGAS: Before MTV's "Newlyweds," Jessica seemed to live in the shadow of pop princess Britney Spears and Nick's music career seemed to be headed 98 degrees south. Not anymore. The couple of is getting plenty of face time in dozens of magazines.
So why is this couple so irresistible?
KRISTEN BALDWIN, SR. EDITOR, "ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY": They've got more of a sense and humor about themselves. Nick and Jessica are kind of the fun-loving goofy celebrity couple, and I think that's why people like them.
VARGAS (on camera): Will Nick and Jessica be ABC's next Sonny and Cher? ABC is already talking about making it a permanent fixture. And with individual pilot deals for each of them, ABC is banking big on America's favorite newlyweds.
Sibila Vargas, CNN, Burbank, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, the "Nick and Jessica Variety Hour" airs Sunday night on ABC.
CAFFERTY: Gee, only two days to wait.
O'BRIEN: Hello, Jack. Got the File for us?
SERWER: Hi there, mom. How's it going? Everything all right?
O'BRIEN: It's been better.
CAFFERTY: Cafferty File: New York Yankees had a lot of high- profile fans at their home opener in the Bronx last night. Among them was Martha Stewart, whose lawyers are seeking a new trial. She must still have, though, some pull here in the Big Apple. She had a front row seat, right near home plate, in a special section reserve for convicted criminals.
COOPER: Hey now. Hey now.
CAFFERTY: "The Passion of the Christ" has nothing on an Easter show in Pennsylvania. Actors at the Glassport Church whipped...
COOPER: I love this story.
CAFFERTY: You would. Whipped the Easter Bunny and broke eggs meant for the Easter egg hunt, in an effort to teach about the crucifixion of Jesus.
O'BRIEN: Were there little children.
COOPER: It was packed with little kids.
CAFFERTY: Yes, the performers told the audience there's no Easter Bunny. Parents had brought their children to this Easter show, and the moron youth minister said afterwards, oh, we didn't mean to offend anyone.
O'BRIEN: They beat the Easter Bunny?
COOPER: One little kid asked his mother, "Why are they whipping the Easter Bunny?"
O'BRIEN: Oh, my God.
CAFFERTY: You, sir, Mr. Youth Minister, are an idiot.
O'BRIEN: And fired.
CAFFERTY: Yes well, let's hope.
And finally, this is my favorite. A Croatian woman went to extreme measures. This is a terrible story, but it's funny. She was scheduled to go on vacation with her boyfriend, and she didn't want to go on vacation with her boyfriend, but she was afraid to call him and tell him that, and she was afraid to stay home and tell her parents that she wasn't going to go meet this guy, because apparently the parents had visions of matrimony in the future. So to get out of it, she called in a bomb threat to the airport in Germany. That forced a postponement of her flight, and she got off the hook without having to explain to either her parents or her boyfriend that she didn't want to make this trip. She was convicted of disturbing the peace yesterday.
O'BRIEN: Didn't she say it was al Qaeda. She made it clear it was like an al Qaeda -- I think so.
CAFFERTY: One bomb threat is sort of like another.
O'BRIEN: Sixty-thousand people were delayed because of her idiotic move.
CAFFERTY: So we've got people calling in bomb threats to the airport, beating up the Easter Bunny and Martha Stewart.
COOPER: Now that's a Cafferty File.
CAFFERTY: That's not bad for a Friday.
O'BRIEN: High five to Jack there.
CAFFERTY: Are you over your cold now?
O'BRIEN: Yes. Now I'm just big and fat and pregnant.
CAFFERTY: I can't touch that.
O'BRIEN: Still to come this morning, national security adviser Condoleezza Rice's 9/11 testimony has the White House ready to take an unprecedented step. We'll explain just ahead, on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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