Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Live Today
Bush Sticking With Environmental Theme on 21st Official Trip to Florida
Aired April 23, 2004 - 11:30 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.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush is sticking with an environmental theme this morning on his 21st official trip to Florida. Our White House correspondent Dana Bash on the road with Mr. Bush today. She finds herself in south Florida in Naples. Good morning.
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn. And the White House is calling this event in Florida, day two of the president's Earth Day push to talk up the environment. He is here specifically to talk about the wetlands plan he officially announced yesterday while in Maine.
Now at this hour he is, we are told, touring where we are here which is the Rookery Bay Research Reserve with his brother, the governor, Jeb Bush. And we are told that he will perhaps help pull some non-native plants that have been hurting the habitat here.
Now the environment is barely in the top ten issues that pollsters say that voters care about this election year. But it is or perhaps will be a key issue for some swing voters, especially young voters. That is why the president is talking about it today and of course yesterday. It's also why his Democratic opponent, John Kerry, is talking about it all week long and each did so here in Florida earlier this week.
Now no one, of course, will forget that Florida was the sight of the recount, the five-week recount that left the president winning by 537 votes. And polls show that he is still neck and neck with his Democratic opponent. This time, of course, John Kerry.
Take a look at these numbers by the American Research Group that came out this week. Has President Bush at 46 percent. Senator Kerry at 45 percent. And Ralph Nader at 3 percent. That is, of course, a statistical dead heat. It is why, as you mentioned, Daryn, the president is here for the 21st time since he's been in office -- Daryn.
KAGAN: A lot of work to do between now and November. Dana Bash in south Florida. Thank you for that.
You heard Dana mention Democrat John Kerry. It hooks like she's shifting the environment to women's rights. He attends a rally in Washington next with several leaders of women's groups. Kerry is expected to compare his support of abortion rights to President Bush's position. He says the president holds extreme anti-abortion views. We're at 31 minutes past the hour. We want to go back now to the breaking story. More on the death of former NFL safety Pat Tillman. Just a few days ago, Senator John McCain who served in Vietnam had this to say about Tillman.
He was asked what makes a courageous individual. And the senator said, quote, "One of my favorite examples, although he's not in the book, is Pat Tillman. He gave up over a million dollars a year as a safety for the Arizona Cardinals to enlist in the Army as a Ranger after 9/11 and fought in Iraq.
"And it wasn't a moment of crisis and strife that motivated Pat Tillman, it was the recognition that the U.S. was under attack and he volunteered to defend it."
We're going to talk more about Pat Tillman's career with CNN sports correspondent Ray D'Alessio. Ray, thanks for being here with us.
RAY D'ALESSIO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes and everything you read about Pat Tillman to, Daryn, the one word you consistently hear is loyalty. And we heard John Kerry talk about that. I mean everything, loyal as far as to his country, to his teammates.
I mean here's a guy who in 2000 set a team record of total tackles, yet gets a more lucrative offer to join the Rams but says no. I want to stay with the Cardinals. Turns down like a $9 million contract just to make -- I think his contract was worth $3.6 million over three years.
So very loyal and friends and family said the 9/11 attacks really affected him deeply. And he felt the need to give back to his country and he did so both, him and his brother Kevin...
(CROSSTALK)
KAGAN: When you talk about a family sacrifice, they both went and joined at the same time.
D'ALESSIO: His brother Kevin was in the Cleveland Indians organization. Both went into basic training at the same time.
And I mean this tells you what kind of conditioning, what kind of athlete this guy was in. Basically, he started basic training in July. He graduated a little while after that. And immediately got into the Rangers program. And then was reportedly shipped off to duty last year.
So very, very physical player, too. You're watching the video of him. And again just a loyal guy and thought he really felt the need to do something for his country.
And, you know, I guess you might say he paid the ultimate sacrifice as -- we should mention -- as have other kids over there as well. KAGAN: Many have. And we've been trying to be sensitive to that all morning long as this news have broken. And of course many families have sacrificed. He just happens to be a very different story. Walking away from what would have been over a $3 million contract with the Arizona Cardinals.
And interestingly enough, doing in an environment that so values and focuses stars, he did it privately without granting any interviews and pretty much told the people around him I don't really want you talking about it either.
D'ALESSIO: And that's was how Pat Tillman was. Pat Tillman did not play football because of the money. You know, he wasn't in it for the whole spotlight. He loved to play football. Again, we mentioned he was a very physical guy. He was a throwback player, some would say. He was a throwback type of player.
Dave McGinnis, his former coach, we did attempt to contact him to get a reaction from him. He's now an assistant coach with the Tennessee Titans. And he declined our interview, as of right now, because he's just too shook up to discuss the whole situation.
KAGAN: Understand. Well, stay here with us because on the phone with us right now we have Paula Boivin. She's the sportswriter with "The Arizona Republic" which of course would be the paper that covers not just the Arizona Cardinals, but Arizona State, ASU, where Pat Tillman played his collegiate career.
Paula, What's the reaction in the Arizona and the Phoenix community?
PAULA BOIVIN, SPORTSWRITER, "ARIZONA REPUBLIC": Daryn, this town was in mourning. I was just out at a couple of different stores and it's all everyone's talking about from, you know, 10-year-old boys to 80-year-old grandmothers. This city had embraced Pat like no other athlete I've seen here. And everyone's just in mourning.
KAGAN: And again, this is a player -- and this is rare to see somebody who is able to play his collegiate career and then also stay in town for his NFL career. So this would be somebody even if on the bigger NFL scheme of things not that recognizable until he made this move to join the Army. But in Arizona, in Phoenix, would be a recognizable name.
BOIVIN: Absolutely. A larger than life figure. You know, when you talk about him staying here. He had turned down, I think, it was $9 million to play in St. Louis so he could stay with the Cardinals for less money. He was a loyal guy.
You know, I think the thing he did more than anything for the sports community, not just here, but in general, was made us appreciate and love the athlete again. There's so much cynicism about athletes now. We hear about steroids and we hear about domestic abuse cases.
And Pat was just about being honest and fair and following his heart. And he really, I think, brought an entire sports community to appreciate the pro athlete again.
KAGAN: As an athlete, and, Ray, maybe you want to chime in on this, too. Only 5'11" and yet playing a position that sizewise, might have been beyond his means.
D'ALESSIO: But he was mean. He could hit. I mean the guy could hit, he was a very physical player.
And, Paula, I mean my question is the players, really his teammates, for instance, when he they found out that he was talk away from all of the money and he was going to join the Army for I think a reported $18,000 a year, really did not surprise his teammates because he had this kind of character, this desire to give back to his country and to go out there and to do something for the nation.
BOIVIN: You're absolutely right. It doesn't surprise anyone. And I think if it had been anybody else, it would have. But he's always done what he wants to do.
I mean this is a guy, he used to sort of meditate atop a 200-foot light tower at ASU Stadium. You know what I mean? And when he first came to ASU, he told the coach at the time, Bruce Snyder, who said I need you to register. He said no, I'm sorry, I'm not going to register. I've just got too many things I need to do.
I mean he's always done what he thought was the right thing. So that's why it didn't surprise his team.
KAGAN: Always went to the beat of a different drummer.
Paula Boivin with "The Arizona Republic," thank you for you're info. A lot of reporting still to do there in the Valley of the Sun so we'll let you go.
And, Ray, thank you for your input on Pat Tillman.
Once again, getting word today that he was killed in action while with the U.S. Army in Afghanistan. More on Pat Tillman ahead.
Also other news, 23 minutes to the top of the hour. We will take a break and be back after this. '
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: You have heard of Superman, Spiderman and The Hulk, now you're about to meet Blak. That's Blak -- B-L-A-K. He is the superhero of the new gritty hip-hop comic book called Blokhedz. The creators of the strip, or some of them, joins us from L.A. this morning. Brandon Schultz serves the writer for Blokhedz, and Mike Davis draws the pictures, along with your twin brother, Mar, is that right?
MIKE DAVIS, CO-CREATOR, "BLOKHEDZ": That's correct.
KAGAN: Got to give some credit there. Good morning. Thank you.
DAVIS: No doubt.
KAGAN: Absolutely, because you'd hear about it, wouldn't you.
BRANDON SCHULTZ, CO-CREATOR, "BLOKHEDZ": One-third of the crew is missing.
KAGAN: Tell us about Blak.
DAVIS: Well, Blak is basically your average, young kid in the inner city who has to deal with a lot of, you know, issues that come with, you know, a hard life. So the thing with Blak, is he has a supernatural gift to rhyme. His gift is rhyming, and he can basically control minds with his power of rhyme. But he doesn't use this to promote evil. He's a little confused right now, because he's young, so he's going through, you know, puberty and things like that. So coming into this power is really the mission. Like he's coming into being a man, and he has to make the right choices.
KAGAN: So, Brandon, let's bring you in, and that sounds like then, that's the theme and the message you're trying to your readers. Be entertaining, No. 1; people aren't going to buy it if it's not good stuff, but you also want to get a positive message out there.
SCHULTZ: Absolutely, absolutely. I think the message of Blokhedz is that you have -- the power of your destiny is within you, and you have the choice to bring it out in a positive or negative fashion, and it really celebrates the duality of life, and that's what hip-hop is, it shows both sides, we show both sides to give an even- handed view, but ultimately, it's a heroic tale that we can all relate to.
KAGAN: And you guys are a great story. So there's Brandon, and then there's Mike and Mark. You guys are hanging out here in Atlanta going to college, back in the day as we like to say here in the South. Now you are a bunch of friends, and I think there's also a young woman involved Nicole, Nicole Johnson Smith. How do you get together and make it in the comic book success story? This a tough business to make it in.
SCHULTZ: Absolutely. We started off as a boutique animation studio, and we did advertising work for Adidas, for "The Source," Sound Lab for Jive Records, animated music videos, and we really wanted to focus on original content and putting our own vision out there and making our own Spiderman, our own version of that, and Mike and Mark came in with Blokhedz, threw it on the desk, and myself and Mr. Schultz, my father, took a look at it, and it was something you definitely want to get behind.
KAGAN: What are you holding there, Mike?
DAVIS: This is one of the characters from Blokhedz. This is the nemesis. This is Vulture. He's a real wicked guy right here, and he's the first in a line of four toys that we're coming out with this year. And so we have Vulture, who's in stores now, and you can also get your Vulture at streetlegendsink.com and, we have my home girl Essence once we get back on you know... KAGAN: Oh, hello. Yes, yes.
SCHULTZ: She got the J-Lo thing going on there.
KAGAN: She certainly does.
DAVIS: She'll be ready next month.
SCHULTZ: Right.
KAGAN: So you guys are also an interesting business story in how you're choosing to market this and where you're getting your comic book and how you're doing that.
SCHULTZ: Right.
DAVIS: Yes, we basically -- we've taken a guerrilla campaign, and we're just bringing it to places that we know our audience is, like barber shops, schools, teen centers, anything that has our audience in these areas is where we want to, you know, promote the comic book in, so that they can understand and see that there's a different way to think outside the box, to market a product, do you know what I mean?
KAGAN: Which is just so interesting, because I think if you just went and made a traditional pitch for this comic book, you might just here, you know what, the black thing really doesn't work in the comic book world, because you don't see a lot of it there and you don't see a lot of it on the comic book pages. It sounds like you guys took that as a little bit of information, said thank you very much and just moved on past that.
SCHULTZ: Absolutely. We're off to the majors, and they turned us down, which was actually a blessing in disguise. Now working independently with our partners. The entire Street Legends crew has really reached out in a grassroots way, as well as working in the system and outside of the system to kind of bring this to, you know, our fans, and we actually do have fans.
KAGAN: I believe it. Well, you're some exciting young people. Good luck with this. It's called "Blokhedz," and the main character is Blak. I'm sure it's not the last we've seen of Blak, and "Blockhedz," and certainly not of you, Brandon Schultz and Mike Davis.
SCHULTZ: Streetlegendsink.com.
KAGAN: Yes, give us the Web site one more time, if people want to check it out.
SCHULTZ: It is streetlegends, with an 's,' ink -- I-N-K -- .com.
KAGAN: Go ahead.
DAVIS: They can check out blokhedz.tv. That is B-L-O-K-H-E-D- Z.TV, and they can get all the information from there.
KAGAN: You think they figured out the business side of this as well? I think they have.
Gentlemen, thanks for being with thus morning. Good luck.
DAVIS: Thank you.
SCHULTZ: Thank you, Daryn.
KAGAN: We'll see you soon.
DAVIS: All right.
SCHULTZ: All right.
KAGAN: The question is, was Jennifer robbed? "American Idol" fans speak out online. We have your buzz on the Web, when CNN LIVE TODAY returns.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(STOCK MARKET REPORT)
KAGAN: Working in Iraq has proved to be very dangerous duty, but that hasn't stopped Americans from checking out job want ads. In Iraq, I had a chance to talk with AOL's Regina Lewis about that earlier this morning, and some other topics hot on the Web.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KAGAN: All right, Regina, we're going to start by talking jobs, probably not in the most attractive place. Over and over again, reminders of how dangerous it is to be in Iraq, and yet there are still advertisements for jobs out there?
REGINA LEWIS, AOL: Yes. Lots of them. It is the draw. And the pictures being released today are a reminder of that, it's also lucrative, up to quadruple your salary. Some people, depending on your skill level, making $1,000 bucks a day. A lot of it tax-free. So that's the draw. I think online is a good resource. They have a lot of photos. They talk about the hours, expect 70 hours. You're not exactly staying at the Four Seasons, either, but it is interesting to see, the number of people this week typing in jobs in Iraq and searching for them.
KAGAN: On the opposite ends of the spectrum, let's go to the entertainment world, and that is "American Idol." A lot of jaws dropped this week when Jennifer Hudson was voted off.
LEWIS: It is a scandal. Apparently Americans forget their civic duty to call or text message in. You've got to place your vote. Forget showing up at the election polls. How could you not do this? It's remiss. But this is an interesting show, in that it kind of helps to be an underdog. Keep in mind, Ruben Studdard, we all know him now, he was once in the bottom three. So you really do have to call in and vote. Online, the results were very different, because you can only vote once, and that really changes the paradigm. For the show you need people to call in dramatically and multiple times. Online, on AOL, they said John Stephens has to go, so we'll see what happens next.
The theories on why Jennifer Hudson was voted off were all over the map, but the one that was most interesting to me was, blame it on the weather. She's from Chicago, and apparently there were tornadoes touching down, the weather was really severe, people were in their basements all holed up and weren't making the phone calls. So who knows? But maybe that played a role.
KAGAN: Here's my theory, I think some people out there tried to grab back reality television and tried to make the weakest people win on "American Idol."
LEWIS: It could be that, although there's always speculation about, oh, my God, is this a popularity contest? Of course it is. Always was.
KAGAN: They get so holier than thou -- how dare you vote that way? Let's talk about pets, one of my favorite topics, but this is not the furry kind.
LEWIS: No, this is really interesting actually. It turns out there are more than 60 million virtual pet owners around the world, and this is really interesting, neopets, and you create your own characters, you feed them, you play with them, you name them. They have the certain characteristics, it's a really game geared toward young people, but the numbers are staggering, so that's 60 million virtual pet owners to the tune of 110 million pets, and they're kind of like dinosaur, pet combination. So let's just say when you go to pick your pet's name, they tell you right up front, a lot of them are taken. You're not going to get Fluffy. You have an outside shot at Fluffy 659-302.
KAGAN: And Good luck to get your virtual pet to come in when you call that.
LEWIS: Yes, true.
KAGAN: Very good. Thanks for stopping by, Regina Lewis, from AOL.
(WEATHER REPORT)
KAGAN: And I plan on wrapping things up here. I'm Daryn Kagan. I'll be right back here on Monday morning. Wolf Blitzer takes over from Washington D.C.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired April 23, 2004 - 11:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush is sticking with an environmental theme this morning on his 21st official trip to Florida. Our White House correspondent Dana Bash on the road with Mr. Bush today. She finds herself in south Florida in Naples. Good morning.
DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Daryn. And the White House is calling this event in Florida, day two of the president's Earth Day push to talk up the environment. He is here specifically to talk about the wetlands plan he officially announced yesterday while in Maine.
Now at this hour he is, we are told, touring where we are here which is the Rookery Bay Research Reserve with his brother, the governor, Jeb Bush. And we are told that he will perhaps help pull some non-native plants that have been hurting the habitat here.
Now the environment is barely in the top ten issues that pollsters say that voters care about this election year. But it is or perhaps will be a key issue for some swing voters, especially young voters. That is why the president is talking about it today and of course yesterday. It's also why his Democratic opponent, John Kerry, is talking about it all week long and each did so here in Florida earlier this week.
Now no one, of course, will forget that Florida was the sight of the recount, the five-week recount that left the president winning by 537 votes. And polls show that he is still neck and neck with his Democratic opponent. This time, of course, John Kerry.
Take a look at these numbers by the American Research Group that came out this week. Has President Bush at 46 percent. Senator Kerry at 45 percent. And Ralph Nader at 3 percent. That is, of course, a statistical dead heat. It is why, as you mentioned, Daryn, the president is here for the 21st time since he's been in office -- Daryn.
KAGAN: A lot of work to do between now and November. Dana Bash in south Florida. Thank you for that.
You heard Dana mention Democrat John Kerry. It hooks like she's shifting the environment to women's rights. He attends a rally in Washington next with several leaders of women's groups. Kerry is expected to compare his support of abortion rights to President Bush's position. He says the president holds extreme anti-abortion views. We're at 31 minutes past the hour. We want to go back now to the breaking story. More on the death of former NFL safety Pat Tillman. Just a few days ago, Senator John McCain who served in Vietnam had this to say about Tillman.
He was asked what makes a courageous individual. And the senator said, quote, "One of my favorite examples, although he's not in the book, is Pat Tillman. He gave up over a million dollars a year as a safety for the Arizona Cardinals to enlist in the Army as a Ranger after 9/11 and fought in Iraq.
"And it wasn't a moment of crisis and strife that motivated Pat Tillman, it was the recognition that the U.S. was under attack and he volunteered to defend it."
We're going to talk more about Pat Tillman's career with CNN sports correspondent Ray D'Alessio. Ray, thanks for being here with us.
RAY D'ALESSIO, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yes and everything you read about Pat Tillman to, Daryn, the one word you consistently hear is loyalty. And we heard John Kerry talk about that. I mean everything, loyal as far as to his country, to his teammates.
I mean here's a guy who in 2000 set a team record of total tackles, yet gets a more lucrative offer to join the Rams but says no. I want to stay with the Cardinals. Turns down like a $9 million contract just to make -- I think his contract was worth $3.6 million over three years.
So very loyal and friends and family said the 9/11 attacks really affected him deeply. And he felt the need to give back to his country and he did so both, him and his brother Kevin...
(CROSSTALK)
KAGAN: When you talk about a family sacrifice, they both went and joined at the same time.
D'ALESSIO: His brother Kevin was in the Cleveland Indians organization. Both went into basic training at the same time.
And I mean this tells you what kind of conditioning, what kind of athlete this guy was in. Basically, he started basic training in July. He graduated a little while after that. And immediately got into the Rangers program. And then was reportedly shipped off to duty last year.
So very, very physical player, too. You're watching the video of him. And again just a loyal guy and thought he really felt the need to do something for his country.
And, you know, I guess you might say he paid the ultimate sacrifice as -- we should mention -- as have other kids over there as well. KAGAN: Many have. And we've been trying to be sensitive to that all morning long as this news have broken. And of course many families have sacrificed. He just happens to be a very different story. Walking away from what would have been over a $3 million contract with the Arizona Cardinals.
And interestingly enough, doing in an environment that so values and focuses stars, he did it privately without granting any interviews and pretty much told the people around him I don't really want you talking about it either.
D'ALESSIO: And that's was how Pat Tillman was. Pat Tillman did not play football because of the money. You know, he wasn't in it for the whole spotlight. He loved to play football. Again, we mentioned he was a very physical guy. He was a throwback player, some would say. He was a throwback type of player.
Dave McGinnis, his former coach, we did attempt to contact him to get a reaction from him. He's now an assistant coach with the Tennessee Titans. And he declined our interview, as of right now, because he's just too shook up to discuss the whole situation.
KAGAN: Understand. Well, stay here with us because on the phone with us right now we have Paula Boivin. She's the sportswriter with "The Arizona Republic" which of course would be the paper that covers not just the Arizona Cardinals, but Arizona State, ASU, where Pat Tillman played his collegiate career.
Paula, What's the reaction in the Arizona and the Phoenix community?
PAULA BOIVIN, SPORTSWRITER, "ARIZONA REPUBLIC": Daryn, this town was in mourning. I was just out at a couple of different stores and it's all everyone's talking about from, you know, 10-year-old boys to 80-year-old grandmothers. This city had embraced Pat like no other athlete I've seen here. And everyone's just in mourning.
KAGAN: And again, this is a player -- and this is rare to see somebody who is able to play his collegiate career and then also stay in town for his NFL career. So this would be somebody even if on the bigger NFL scheme of things not that recognizable until he made this move to join the Army. But in Arizona, in Phoenix, would be a recognizable name.
BOIVIN: Absolutely. A larger than life figure. You know, when you talk about him staying here. He had turned down, I think, it was $9 million to play in St. Louis so he could stay with the Cardinals for less money. He was a loyal guy.
You know, I think the thing he did more than anything for the sports community, not just here, but in general, was made us appreciate and love the athlete again. There's so much cynicism about athletes now. We hear about steroids and we hear about domestic abuse cases.
And Pat was just about being honest and fair and following his heart. And he really, I think, brought an entire sports community to appreciate the pro athlete again.
KAGAN: As an athlete, and, Ray, maybe you want to chime in on this, too. Only 5'11" and yet playing a position that sizewise, might have been beyond his means.
D'ALESSIO: But he was mean. He could hit. I mean the guy could hit, he was a very physical player.
And, Paula, I mean my question is the players, really his teammates, for instance, when he they found out that he was talk away from all of the money and he was going to join the Army for I think a reported $18,000 a year, really did not surprise his teammates because he had this kind of character, this desire to give back to his country and to go out there and to do something for the nation.
BOIVIN: You're absolutely right. It doesn't surprise anyone. And I think if it had been anybody else, it would have. But he's always done what he wants to do.
I mean this is a guy, he used to sort of meditate atop a 200-foot light tower at ASU Stadium. You know what I mean? And when he first came to ASU, he told the coach at the time, Bruce Snyder, who said I need you to register. He said no, I'm sorry, I'm not going to register. I've just got too many things I need to do.
I mean he's always done what he thought was the right thing. So that's why it didn't surprise his team.
KAGAN: Always went to the beat of a different drummer.
Paula Boivin with "The Arizona Republic," thank you for you're info. A lot of reporting still to do there in the Valley of the Sun so we'll let you go.
And, Ray, thank you for your input on Pat Tillman.
Once again, getting word today that he was killed in action while with the U.S. Army in Afghanistan. More on Pat Tillman ahead.
Also other news, 23 minutes to the top of the hour. We will take a break and be back after this. '
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAGAN: You have heard of Superman, Spiderman and The Hulk, now you're about to meet Blak. That's Blak -- B-L-A-K. He is the superhero of the new gritty hip-hop comic book called Blokhedz. The creators of the strip, or some of them, joins us from L.A. this morning. Brandon Schultz serves the writer for Blokhedz, and Mike Davis draws the pictures, along with your twin brother, Mar, is that right?
MIKE DAVIS, CO-CREATOR, "BLOKHEDZ": That's correct.
KAGAN: Got to give some credit there. Good morning. Thank you.
DAVIS: No doubt.
KAGAN: Absolutely, because you'd hear about it, wouldn't you.
BRANDON SCHULTZ, CO-CREATOR, "BLOKHEDZ": One-third of the crew is missing.
KAGAN: Tell us about Blak.
DAVIS: Well, Blak is basically your average, young kid in the inner city who has to deal with a lot of, you know, issues that come with, you know, a hard life. So the thing with Blak, is he has a supernatural gift to rhyme. His gift is rhyming, and he can basically control minds with his power of rhyme. But he doesn't use this to promote evil. He's a little confused right now, because he's young, so he's going through, you know, puberty and things like that. So coming into this power is really the mission. Like he's coming into being a man, and he has to make the right choices.
KAGAN: So, Brandon, let's bring you in, and that sounds like then, that's the theme and the message you're trying to your readers. Be entertaining, No. 1; people aren't going to buy it if it's not good stuff, but you also want to get a positive message out there.
SCHULTZ: Absolutely, absolutely. I think the message of Blokhedz is that you have -- the power of your destiny is within you, and you have the choice to bring it out in a positive or negative fashion, and it really celebrates the duality of life, and that's what hip-hop is, it shows both sides, we show both sides to give an even- handed view, but ultimately, it's a heroic tale that we can all relate to.
KAGAN: And you guys are a great story. So there's Brandon, and then there's Mike and Mark. You guys are hanging out here in Atlanta going to college, back in the day as we like to say here in the South. Now you are a bunch of friends, and I think there's also a young woman involved Nicole, Nicole Johnson Smith. How do you get together and make it in the comic book success story? This a tough business to make it in.
SCHULTZ: Absolutely. We started off as a boutique animation studio, and we did advertising work for Adidas, for "The Source," Sound Lab for Jive Records, animated music videos, and we really wanted to focus on original content and putting our own vision out there and making our own Spiderman, our own version of that, and Mike and Mark came in with Blokhedz, threw it on the desk, and myself and Mr. Schultz, my father, took a look at it, and it was something you definitely want to get behind.
KAGAN: What are you holding there, Mike?
DAVIS: This is one of the characters from Blokhedz. This is the nemesis. This is Vulture. He's a real wicked guy right here, and he's the first in a line of four toys that we're coming out with this year. And so we have Vulture, who's in stores now, and you can also get your Vulture at streetlegendsink.com and, we have my home girl Essence once we get back on you know... KAGAN: Oh, hello. Yes, yes.
SCHULTZ: She got the J-Lo thing going on there.
KAGAN: She certainly does.
DAVIS: She'll be ready next month.
SCHULTZ: Right.
KAGAN: So you guys are also an interesting business story in how you're choosing to market this and where you're getting your comic book and how you're doing that.
SCHULTZ: Right.
DAVIS: Yes, we basically -- we've taken a guerrilla campaign, and we're just bringing it to places that we know our audience is, like barber shops, schools, teen centers, anything that has our audience in these areas is where we want to, you know, promote the comic book in, so that they can understand and see that there's a different way to think outside the box, to market a product, do you know what I mean?
KAGAN: Which is just so interesting, because I think if you just went and made a traditional pitch for this comic book, you might just here, you know what, the black thing really doesn't work in the comic book world, because you don't see a lot of it there and you don't see a lot of it on the comic book pages. It sounds like you guys took that as a little bit of information, said thank you very much and just moved on past that.
SCHULTZ: Absolutely. We're off to the majors, and they turned us down, which was actually a blessing in disguise. Now working independently with our partners. The entire Street Legends crew has really reached out in a grassroots way, as well as working in the system and outside of the system to kind of bring this to, you know, our fans, and we actually do have fans.
KAGAN: I believe it. Well, you're some exciting young people. Good luck with this. It's called "Blokhedz," and the main character is Blak. I'm sure it's not the last we've seen of Blak, and "Blockhedz," and certainly not of you, Brandon Schultz and Mike Davis.
SCHULTZ: Streetlegendsink.com.
KAGAN: Yes, give us the Web site one more time, if people want to check it out.
SCHULTZ: It is streetlegends, with an 's,' ink -- I-N-K -- .com.
KAGAN: Go ahead.
DAVIS: They can check out blokhedz.tv. That is B-L-O-K-H-E-D- Z.TV, and they can get all the information from there.
KAGAN: You think they figured out the business side of this as well? I think they have.
Gentlemen, thanks for being with thus morning. Good luck.
DAVIS: Thank you.
SCHULTZ: Thank you, Daryn.
KAGAN: We'll see you soon.
DAVIS: All right.
SCHULTZ: All right.
KAGAN: The question is, was Jennifer robbed? "American Idol" fans speak out online. We have your buzz on the Web, when CNN LIVE TODAY returns.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(STOCK MARKET REPORT)
KAGAN: Working in Iraq has proved to be very dangerous duty, but that hasn't stopped Americans from checking out job want ads. In Iraq, I had a chance to talk with AOL's Regina Lewis about that earlier this morning, and some other topics hot on the Web.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KAGAN: All right, Regina, we're going to start by talking jobs, probably not in the most attractive place. Over and over again, reminders of how dangerous it is to be in Iraq, and yet there are still advertisements for jobs out there?
REGINA LEWIS, AOL: Yes. Lots of them. It is the draw. And the pictures being released today are a reminder of that, it's also lucrative, up to quadruple your salary. Some people, depending on your skill level, making $1,000 bucks a day. A lot of it tax-free. So that's the draw. I think online is a good resource. They have a lot of photos. They talk about the hours, expect 70 hours. You're not exactly staying at the Four Seasons, either, but it is interesting to see, the number of people this week typing in jobs in Iraq and searching for them.
KAGAN: On the opposite ends of the spectrum, let's go to the entertainment world, and that is "American Idol." A lot of jaws dropped this week when Jennifer Hudson was voted off.
LEWIS: It is a scandal. Apparently Americans forget their civic duty to call or text message in. You've got to place your vote. Forget showing up at the election polls. How could you not do this? It's remiss. But this is an interesting show, in that it kind of helps to be an underdog. Keep in mind, Ruben Studdard, we all know him now, he was once in the bottom three. So you really do have to call in and vote. Online, the results were very different, because you can only vote once, and that really changes the paradigm. For the show you need people to call in dramatically and multiple times. Online, on AOL, they said John Stephens has to go, so we'll see what happens next.
The theories on why Jennifer Hudson was voted off were all over the map, but the one that was most interesting to me was, blame it on the weather. She's from Chicago, and apparently there were tornadoes touching down, the weather was really severe, people were in their basements all holed up and weren't making the phone calls. So who knows? But maybe that played a role.
KAGAN: Here's my theory, I think some people out there tried to grab back reality television and tried to make the weakest people win on "American Idol."
LEWIS: It could be that, although there's always speculation about, oh, my God, is this a popularity contest? Of course it is. Always was.
KAGAN: They get so holier than thou -- how dare you vote that way? Let's talk about pets, one of my favorite topics, but this is not the furry kind.
LEWIS: No, this is really interesting actually. It turns out there are more than 60 million virtual pet owners around the world, and this is really interesting, neopets, and you create your own characters, you feed them, you play with them, you name them. They have the certain characteristics, it's a really game geared toward young people, but the numbers are staggering, so that's 60 million virtual pet owners to the tune of 110 million pets, and they're kind of like dinosaur, pet combination. So let's just say when you go to pick your pet's name, they tell you right up front, a lot of them are taken. You're not going to get Fluffy. You have an outside shot at Fluffy 659-302.
KAGAN: And Good luck to get your virtual pet to come in when you call that.
LEWIS: Yes, true.
KAGAN: Very good. Thanks for stopping by, Regina Lewis, from AOL.
(WEATHER REPORT)
KAGAN: And I plan on wrapping things up here. I'm Daryn Kagan. I'll be right back here on Monday morning. Wolf Blitzer takes over from Washington D.C.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
