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American Morning

Interview with Senator Mary Landrieu; Tsunami Refugee Life

Aired January 11, 2005 - 08:30   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.


SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back, everybody. Just about half past the hour on this morning. Coming up this morning, we're going to take a look at life inside one of the many tsunami refugee camps, a very difficult job keeping people safe and comfortable. Many of the problems, though, boil down to too much of one thing and not enough of another.
John King's got a report.

Also, we're going to talk to Senator Mary Landrieu who's just returned from the region. That's just ahead.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Also on a much different topic, in this country, the weather continues in California. Check in with Rob Marciano in a moment. He's up in the Sierras still. Hard to believe that snow is still coming down. Some say we could get three more feet out there. We'll talk about the dangers as well, and Rob is making many references to Jack Nicholson's film "The Shining" -- redrum, redrum. Because they're all snowed in up there. So we'll get to it.

O'BRIEN: All right, first, though, the headlines with Kelly Wallace.

Good morning again.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello again to you. Good morning again, everyone.

Now in the news, rescuers resuming their search this hour for possible survivors of a massive mudslide in Southern California. Unbelievable pictures we have been showing you throughout the morning, as the wave of mud and debris hits the town of La Conchita. At least three people were killed in the slide. Another dozen are still unaccounted for. Emergency crews are said to be using listening devices searching for signs of breathing beneath the 30-foot-deep pile.

Fire crews are working to tame a fire burning out of control across a southern Australian peninsula west of Adelaide. According to wire reports, the blaze has killed eight people, including two children. Soaring temperatures and strong winds are fanning those flames. There are reports of boats plucking people out of the sea who have jumped to get away.

Back here in the United States, the search is ongoing for a possible second survivor in an overnight helicopter crash in the Potomac River, in the Washington D.C. area. Officials say a medevac chopper carrying three people went down last night, killing at least one aboard. Police have been able to locate a second person, said to be in critical condition. It's not clear what caused the crash.

And some major hitters officially heading to be the Bag Apple. The New York Mets say center fielder Carlos Beltran has passed his physical. Get this, his $119 million, seven-year contract will be announced just about two and a half hours from now. And this afternoon, pitcher Randy Johnson will be formally introduced to the New York Yankees. He is known as "The Big Unit." Well, he had a small run-in with a photographer yesterday, but he has since apologized. "The New York Post" calling him not The Big Unit, but "the big jerk."

O'BRIEN: You can't -- he hasn't been here long enough to be fighting with photographers. You got to have like six months.

WALLACE: Yes, you got to have thick skin.

HEMMER: He's catching flack already. One of the headlines said, "On Hit, One Error, One Walk So Far," and that was the walk yesterday from his hotel.

O'BRIEN: And he hasn't even started.

WALLACE: Tough town it is, right?

O'BRIEN: Oh, definitely.

HEMMER: It's going to be a fun season I think.

Thank you, Kelly.

I want to get back to Asia right now, and across Asia's tsunami- devastated regions, survivors by the hundreds of thousands finding shelter in relief camps now set up. This morning, we visit one such camp in the hard-hit province of Aceh in Indonesia.

John King with a glimpse today of what life is like for the homeless survivors there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: At Camp TVRI, clothes are first come, first served. Supply is plentiful, distribution perhaps less than ideal. Few complaints, though, because these people consider themselves lucky. Escaping death makes the far- from-perfect conditions as bit easier to deal with. There are 4,000 refugees here, 400,000 in the camps scattered across the province. The scope of the relief effort is unprecedented.

But for all the successes, there are clear signs of strain. At TVRI, coordinator Mussid says he needs more big tents to ease crowding. And while there is enough basic food on hand for a week or two, the menu is limited because deliveries are irregular.

MUSSID, CAMP COORDINATOR: We don't give the aid (INAUDIBLE), because the stock is not enough.

KING: There shipments virtually around the clock. What comes down the supply line is not necessarily what each camp needs.

MARTEZ DE LA CRUZ, CAMP WORKER (through translator): Some of them don't have medical services and not enough food, and the assistance that were provided, particularly for food, has been sporadic. So it's been quite difficult for them.

KING: So far, no major outbreaks of disease. But sanitation conditions are marginal. And at many camps, garbage fills open spaces. The United Nations is in the process of establishing 24 now camps, with the capacity of 250,000, and says such a consolidation will make conditions better and supply lines more efficient.

In the meantime, splashing around is one way to beat the stifling heat, coconuts another. But for every smile, there is a face of sadness. Fifteen-year-old Agus (ph) lost his family. He lives in this tent with 20 others, a tsunami orphan who worries what comes next.

"I still want to stay in Aceh," he says, "because I come from Aceh. I don't want to live elsewhere."

At a camp wall looking for a missing loved one, here some 2,000 names of children in camps and government facilities and family members who haven't given up hope.

(on camera): Not all of the help comes from the international aid groups and the international aid money flowing into Banda Aceh. This is a Muslim orphanage for teenage boys, and now the temporary home for about 130 tsunami refugees.

(voice-over): A wall of the missing here too. As the orphans wash up before afternoon prayer, young girls wander a place that was not long ago off limits, one more example of the change brought about by the tsunami.

John King, CNN, Banda Aceh, Indonesia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HEMMER: Another reminder for you, for more information on how you can contribute to the relief effort, log on to our Web site at CNN.com/tsunami, there for you 24 hours a day -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Sri Lanka has lost about 30,000 people, half of those children.

Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu is just back from Sri Lanka and Iraq, as well. She joins us live from Capitol Hill this morning.

Nice to see you, Senator. Thanks for being with us. Appreciate it.

LANDRIEU: Thank you, Soledad. O'BRIEN: Give me a sense of what made the biggest impression on you as you toured around Sri Lanka.

LANDRIEU: Well, I guess as you can see, and from what John reports, the breadth of this devastation is just hard to comprehend. I've tried to explain to people in Louisiana who are very familiar with the vulnerability of our coastline.

It's like someone took an eraser and just started at Galveston, Texas, and erased the beach, Galveston, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, around Florida, up the Atlantic to Maine.

It is between 3,000 and 4,000 miles of coastline where a monster just came out of the sea and grabbed everything it could.

A couple of things that are clear to me. One, an early warning system could have potentially saved so much life. It's just a crime we didn't have it in place. And I hope that Congress will act quickly.

I understand Senator Lieberman has introduced a bill. I will be working closely with him and others to make sure we have a warning system in place that could help.

Number two, we have to do a better job of coordinating this aid.

And number three, we've got to be open to the efforts to place children back with their families, to find new families, if necessary, in their countries, and then if not, to find these children families somewhere in the world is their best long-term protection.

O'BRIEN: Let's talk a little bit about coordination of all that aid -- and John had a little bit about that in his piece, as well, out of Indonesia.

In Sri Lanka, are people getting the aid that they need? Are they getting what they need efficiently?

LANDRIEU: Well, I'm not the expert on this, because, of course, we were there for only one day, toured by helicopter, met with officials.

But I can tell you that I was impressed with the president and her grasp of the devastation of her country, the minister of education, who is leading the effort, the coordination of the groups and organizations, NGOs and government officials that I saw on the ground.

Let's hope that what we saw will result in good coordination.

But again, one thing that's so important is that we need to, of course, have people safe, rebuild roads and infrastructure. But rebuilding families is essential and giving not just food and medicine, but psychological counseling, particularly to these parents who have lost children and to relatives considering whether they can take these orphans in. O'BRIEN: The president said that he wanted to remind everybody to not forget other needy areas. And many people said he really had Africa on his mind there.

Do you share in his concern that in all the outpouring of support for the areas affected by the tsunami, some other areas will, in fact, be short-changed?

LANDRIEU: Well, I hope that doesn't happen.

But the president is absolutely right, to keep our focus broad, to know, first, there were some areas of Africa that were hit by the tsunami, and in addition, to hopefully raise our awareness that the needs of orphans and children around the world is just compelling and to step up our aid, both government aid and nonprofit and corporate aid to help these families that have so little when we have so much.

So that is a good point. And we want to stay focused on the broad areas, but, of course, meet the immediate needs of these victims, which is really in some ways unprecedented in the world.

O'BRIEN: Turning quickly to Iraq, I know you had a chance to meet with some of the members of the 256th battalion of the Louisiana Army National Guard. They, of course, lost half a dozen members in a roadside bombing a little bit earlier.

What do you tell them? I mean, what kind of conversation do you have with a group that's suffering such a tremendous loss?

LANDRIEU: Well, these conversations are the hardest to have, and anyone will tell you that.

But we just thanked the families for their contribution, mourn with them in their loss.

The soldiers were extraordinary that I met with in Iraq. Their general was there, General Landrineu (ph) just fortuitously happened to be there at this time to give them comfort and support.

They want to soldier on. And their sacrifice makes us in Washington, particularly me, mindful that we've got to do our best by them, make good decisions from Washington, give them the resources and the equipment they need so that they won't have died in vain.

And most importantly, Soledad, to support the Guard and Reserve.

I disagree with Secretary Rumsfeld. He thinks we can put the burden on the Guard and Reserve to win this war. We need extra troop strength, particularly in the Army, and that is apparent to many of us that have been on the front lines.

O'BRIEN: Senator Mary Landrieu joining us this morning.

Nice to see you, Senator. Thanks for being with us.

LANDRIEU: Thank you. (WEATHER REPORT)

O'BRIEN: Thousands of cancer patients stand to benefit from a new treatment, but it's actually a drug that's been around for years. We're "Paging Dr. Gupta" to talk about that this morning.

HEMMER: Also, Andy's back, "Minding Your Business." Will Google help keep a business executive out of prison? And the Ken Lay story in a moment, on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: We are paging dr. Gupta this morning about a new form of breast cancer treatment. Sanjay joins us from the CNN Center with details.

Good morning, Sanjay.

A new form that's kind of an old form, right?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly right, Soledad. Good morning. The drug is called Abraxane. A lot of excitement around this, being used to treat aggressive breast cancer. Just to prove yesterday that it is actually an old drug in a new distribution form. A lot of people familiar with breast cancer have heard of the drug called Paxol. This is what the drug is, but it's distributed through the body in a very different way.

Let me give you an example of that. Typically, what is difficult about Paxol, is it has to be mixed with solvents in order to get through the bloodstream. In this case, look at that little tiny dot on the left. That is the size of the chemotherapeutic drug. On the right is a red blood cell there. You can see as it travels through the bloodstream, it actually can target the tumor much more effectively and with a much lower side-effect profile. They've actually studies this drug. They found the protein itself is attracted by the tumor, making it much more specific chemotherapeutic drug as well. There are lots of advantages to this drug with regards to aggressive breast cancer.

First of all, you can use a 50 percent higher dosage and have a lower side-effect profile. Given the chemotherapy itself only takes 30 minutes, versus three hours with the Taxol, and you don't need steroids, which is a big deal for patients who take chemotherapy; avoiding those steroids makes the chemotherapeutic regimen much more easy for them -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: So then, overall, you're saying this version of Taxol is better than the old version of Taxol, outside of the fact you don't need the steroids and things like that?

GUPTA: Well, you I mean the question that a lot of people want to answer, is it going to make people live longer. You know, in terms of outcomes, it's unclear right now whether or not that's actually going to be the case. But in terms of the quality of life, while taking chemotherapy, this is going to be much better for them. You know, chemo has lots of side effects, as we know. With Taxol, it was a good medication that required a specific distribution, required a mixing it with toxic solvents, which made people very sick. They had to get steroids on the side.

If you can avoid all those things, this may end up being a much better drug because of that as far as outcomes. That's still going to have to wait and see, Soledad.

O'BRIEN: All right, Sanjay, thanks for that.

I want to talk about "The New You." We did it last year and now it's back. Tell me a little more about this year's version.

GUPTA: Yes, we're very excited. It's next Monday. We're going to launch "The New You Revolution," we're calling it. We're going to introduce you to our to five participants. They've joined the revolution to break bad habits and start some new healthier ones. And every Tuesday for the next eight weeks, we're going to bring you updates on the progress.

Of course we want you to follow along, because we think everybody can learn something. That's all here on AMERICAN MORNING. You can also go online to cnn.com/am for more information, as well.

O'BRIEN: All right, Sanjay, thanks a lot. We look forward to that. Thank you -- Bill.

HEMMER: We're going to break here in a moment. Former Enron chief Ken Lay, rather innovative strategy to prove his innocence. Some are calling it the Google defense. Andy explains in a moment here. Right after this on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HEMMER: All righty. Welcome back, everybody.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Ken Lay is paying money to bring his side of the Enron story to the general public ahead of his trial, for which we sincerely hope he's convicted and sent away to prison for a very long time. And it's a wash for Listerine. Andy Serwer is here "Minding Your Business." Good morning.

ANDY SERWER, COLUMNIST, "FORTUNE": Is that just one man's opinion there?

CAFFERTY: No, there's a lot of people who feel like that...

SERWER: There's a lot of people's opinions.

CAFFERTY: ... especially the ones that lost their pension money and their jobs and everything else in that Enron mess.

SERWER: All right, I got it. That's my bad.

CAFFERTY: No, there's a whole lot of people feel just like that. SERWER: My bad, my bad. OK. Let's -- thank you. Let's talk the markets yesterday, Jack. We had an up day. Dow up 17 points. In late trading, particularly managed to eke out a gain. This morning, though, futures are weaker.

Yes, Ken Lay is doing, Jack, what's called a sponsored link. Basically, first of all, he has a Web site. There he is. And of course, he faces 11 federal charges of fraud and other felonies. He's pleaded not guilty. He has a Web site, much like Martha Stewart, where he defends himself, but he's taken it one step further.

A sponsored link is where you pay a portal like a Yahoo or a Google so that your Web site comes up with on a put in a search, say, for Ken Lay. You pay money for this. So in other words, when you click on that link, then Ken Lay has to pay Yahoo or Google five to ten cents. So if you want to have a little fun with Ken, you might want -- I'm not even going to say it, Jack, because I know what you're thinking.

CAFFERTY: I understand how that works. As soon as we get through here, I'm going to down see if that thing works.

SERWER: Yes, OK, well it does work if you put it into Google. Anyway, five to 12 cents a click.

Let's change gears here a little bit and talk about Pfizer, the company in the headlines again. This time, over its Listerine product. A federal judge ruled that these stickers here on these Listerine bottles that say as effective as flossing, it's just not true. That's what a federal judge said. That's a problem. It's not true. So the company is going to have to go around spending $2 million and thousands of people all across the country to put little stickers on top of that. Guess who filed the suit? Johnson & Johnson. And guess what they make?

CAFFERTY: Floss.

SERWER: Floss, yes.

CAFFERTY: Absolutely.

SERWER: Yes.

(CROSSTALK)

CAFFERTY: ... cover up the whole sticker, they can just take a pencil and write on there not as effective as floss.

SERWER: Well, we can do that right now.

CAFFERTY: Not as effective as floss.

(CROSSTALK)

SERWER: I thought I'd be nice to bring it up here.

O'BRIEN: Thank you.

SERWER: You're welcome.

HEMMER: Yes, are you sensing something over there, by the way?

SERWER: Well, no. No, I'm not going to say anything. Everyone's breath is fine.

CAFFERTY: It's time for "The Cafferty File" and we begin with this. Rosie O'Donnell is furious. That's not news. She's mad about something most of the time. But this time, she's hot about the Supreme Court in Florida or the Supreme Court refusing to hear an appeal that would overturn a Florida law that bans gay adoption. Florida's the only state that doesn't allow gays and lesbians to permanently adopt children.

O'Donnell is a lesbian who has adopted three kids. She says quote, "this should cause dismay in the heart of every parent in America. There are hundreds of children who will grow up in America without any family because of this discriminatory law." Florida governor Jeb Bush thinks kids should have both a mother and a father.

Times tough in Omaha, Nebraska, for this 20-year-old. Andrew Fisher (ph) is selling body parts on eBay. No, not that. We're talking about his forehead. He wants to sell advertising space on his forehead, promising to wear a temporary tattoo on his face for 30 days that shows whatever logo the bidder chooses, as long as it's not naughty. He hopes the walking billboard will raise money for a college course. So far, he says he's gotten 113 bids and an offer of $21,500.

(CROSSTALK)

CAFFERTY: With a forehead the size of mine, think how much money I could make.

SERWER: Twice as much.

CAFFERTY: I mean, I got more space than he does.

Passengers at New Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport treated to some accidental porn when the airport's television screens played a hardcore movie right around midnight, when the airport was at its busiest. Moans and groans echoing across the terminal for 20 minutes. Unclear how it happened. Some sources claim employees were watching the film and accidentally sent it out to the TVs. But I like the explanation that went like this. That a TV channel was broadcasting the film as part of an AIDS awareness project.

HEMMER: Yes, sure. CYA.

SERWER: Film adaptation of the Kama Sutra.

HEMMER: It was an AIDS awareness project, you know.

SERWER: Yes, well, I don't know about that. CAFFERTY: That's all I got. I'm done.

O'BRIEN: That might be just enough. Thank you, Jack.

CAFFERTY: Well, thank you, Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Well, the world looked like it was caving in on itself out West. How many people are still trapped in the rubble? The search for survivors goes on on this AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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Aired January 11, 2005 - 08:30   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back, everybody. Just about half past the hour on this morning. Coming up this morning, we're going to take a look at life inside one of the many tsunami refugee camps, a very difficult job keeping people safe and comfortable. Many of the problems, though, boil down to too much of one thing and not enough of another.
John King's got a report.

Also, we're going to talk to Senator Mary Landrieu who's just returned from the region. That's just ahead.

BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Also on a much different topic, in this country, the weather continues in California. Check in with Rob Marciano in a moment. He's up in the Sierras still. Hard to believe that snow is still coming down. Some say we could get three more feet out there. We'll talk about the dangers as well, and Rob is making many references to Jack Nicholson's film "The Shining" -- redrum, redrum. Because they're all snowed in up there. So we'll get to it.

O'BRIEN: All right, first, though, the headlines with Kelly Wallace.

Good morning again.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello again to you. Good morning again, everyone.

Now in the news, rescuers resuming their search this hour for possible survivors of a massive mudslide in Southern California. Unbelievable pictures we have been showing you throughout the morning, as the wave of mud and debris hits the town of La Conchita. At least three people were killed in the slide. Another dozen are still unaccounted for. Emergency crews are said to be using listening devices searching for signs of breathing beneath the 30-foot-deep pile.

Fire crews are working to tame a fire burning out of control across a southern Australian peninsula west of Adelaide. According to wire reports, the blaze has killed eight people, including two children. Soaring temperatures and strong winds are fanning those flames. There are reports of boats plucking people out of the sea who have jumped to get away.

Back here in the United States, the search is ongoing for a possible second survivor in an overnight helicopter crash in the Potomac River, in the Washington D.C. area. Officials say a medevac chopper carrying three people went down last night, killing at least one aboard. Police have been able to locate a second person, said to be in critical condition. It's not clear what caused the crash.

And some major hitters officially heading to be the Bag Apple. The New York Mets say center fielder Carlos Beltran has passed his physical. Get this, his $119 million, seven-year contract will be announced just about two and a half hours from now. And this afternoon, pitcher Randy Johnson will be formally introduced to the New York Yankees. He is known as "The Big Unit." Well, he had a small run-in with a photographer yesterday, but he has since apologized. "The New York Post" calling him not The Big Unit, but "the big jerk."

O'BRIEN: You can't -- he hasn't been here long enough to be fighting with photographers. You got to have like six months.

WALLACE: Yes, you got to have thick skin.

HEMMER: He's catching flack already. One of the headlines said, "On Hit, One Error, One Walk So Far," and that was the walk yesterday from his hotel.

O'BRIEN: And he hasn't even started.

WALLACE: Tough town it is, right?

O'BRIEN: Oh, definitely.

HEMMER: It's going to be a fun season I think.

Thank you, Kelly.

I want to get back to Asia right now, and across Asia's tsunami- devastated regions, survivors by the hundreds of thousands finding shelter in relief camps now set up. This morning, we visit one such camp in the hard-hit province of Aceh in Indonesia.

John King with a glimpse today of what life is like for the homeless survivors there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: At Camp TVRI, clothes are first come, first served. Supply is plentiful, distribution perhaps less than ideal. Few complaints, though, because these people consider themselves lucky. Escaping death makes the far- from-perfect conditions as bit easier to deal with. There are 4,000 refugees here, 400,000 in the camps scattered across the province. The scope of the relief effort is unprecedented.

But for all the successes, there are clear signs of strain. At TVRI, coordinator Mussid says he needs more big tents to ease crowding. And while there is enough basic food on hand for a week or two, the menu is limited because deliveries are irregular.

MUSSID, CAMP COORDINATOR: We don't give the aid (INAUDIBLE), because the stock is not enough.

KING: There shipments virtually around the clock. What comes down the supply line is not necessarily what each camp needs.

MARTEZ DE LA CRUZ, CAMP WORKER (through translator): Some of them don't have medical services and not enough food, and the assistance that were provided, particularly for food, has been sporadic. So it's been quite difficult for them.

KING: So far, no major outbreaks of disease. But sanitation conditions are marginal. And at many camps, garbage fills open spaces. The United Nations is in the process of establishing 24 now camps, with the capacity of 250,000, and says such a consolidation will make conditions better and supply lines more efficient.

In the meantime, splashing around is one way to beat the stifling heat, coconuts another. But for every smile, there is a face of sadness. Fifteen-year-old Agus (ph) lost his family. He lives in this tent with 20 others, a tsunami orphan who worries what comes next.

"I still want to stay in Aceh," he says, "because I come from Aceh. I don't want to live elsewhere."

At a camp wall looking for a missing loved one, here some 2,000 names of children in camps and government facilities and family members who haven't given up hope.

(on camera): Not all of the help comes from the international aid groups and the international aid money flowing into Banda Aceh. This is a Muslim orphanage for teenage boys, and now the temporary home for about 130 tsunami refugees.

(voice-over): A wall of the missing here too. As the orphans wash up before afternoon prayer, young girls wander a place that was not long ago off limits, one more example of the change brought about by the tsunami.

John King, CNN, Banda Aceh, Indonesia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HEMMER: Another reminder for you, for more information on how you can contribute to the relief effort, log on to our Web site at CNN.com/tsunami, there for you 24 hours a day -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Sri Lanka has lost about 30,000 people, half of those children.

Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu is just back from Sri Lanka and Iraq, as well. She joins us live from Capitol Hill this morning.

Nice to see you, Senator. Thanks for being with us. Appreciate it.

LANDRIEU: Thank you, Soledad. O'BRIEN: Give me a sense of what made the biggest impression on you as you toured around Sri Lanka.

LANDRIEU: Well, I guess as you can see, and from what John reports, the breadth of this devastation is just hard to comprehend. I've tried to explain to people in Louisiana who are very familiar with the vulnerability of our coastline.

It's like someone took an eraser and just started at Galveston, Texas, and erased the beach, Galveston, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, around Florida, up the Atlantic to Maine.

It is between 3,000 and 4,000 miles of coastline where a monster just came out of the sea and grabbed everything it could.

A couple of things that are clear to me. One, an early warning system could have potentially saved so much life. It's just a crime we didn't have it in place. And I hope that Congress will act quickly.

I understand Senator Lieberman has introduced a bill. I will be working closely with him and others to make sure we have a warning system in place that could help.

Number two, we have to do a better job of coordinating this aid.

And number three, we've got to be open to the efforts to place children back with their families, to find new families, if necessary, in their countries, and then if not, to find these children families somewhere in the world is their best long-term protection.

O'BRIEN: Let's talk a little bit about coordination of all that aid -- and John had a little bit about that in his piece, as well, out of Indonesia.

In Sri Lanka, are people getting the aid that they need? Are they getting what they need efficiently?

LANDRIEU: Well, I'm not the expert on this, because, of course, we were there for only one day, toured by helicopter, met with officials.

But I can tell you that I was impressed with the president and her grasp of the devastation of her country, the minister of education, who is leading the effort, the coordination of the groups and organizations, NGOs and government officials that I saw on the ground.

Let's hope that what we saw will result in good coordination.

But again, one thing that's so important is that we need to, of course, have people safe, rebuild roads and infrastructure. But rebuilding families is essential and giving not just food and medicine, but psychological counseling, particularly to these parents who have lost children and to relatives considering whether they can take these orphans in. O'BRIEN: The president said that he wanted to remind everybody to not forget other needy areas. And many people said he really had Africa on his mind there.

Do you share in his concern that in all the outpouring of support for the areas affected by the tsunami, some other areas will, in fact, be short-changed?

LANDRIEU: Well, I hope that doesn't happen.

But the president is absolutely right, to keep our focus broad, to know, first, there were some areas of Africa that were hit by the tsunami, and in addition, to hopefully raise our awareness that the needs of orphans and children around the world is just compelling and to step up our aid, both government aid and nonprofit and corporate aid to help these families that have so little when we have so much.

So that is a good point. And we want to stay focused on the broad areas, but, of course, meet the immediate needs of these victims, which is really in some ways unprecedented in the world.

O'BRIEN: Turning quickly to Iraq, I know you had a chance to meet with some of the members of the 256th battalion of the Louisiana Army National Guard. They, of course, lost half a dozen members in a roadside bombing a little bit earlier.

What do you tell them? I mean, what kind of conversation do you have with a group that's suffering such a tremendous loss?

LANDRIEU: Well, these conversations are the hardest to have, and anyone will tell you that.

But we just thanked the families for their contribution, mourn with them in their loss.

The soldiers were extraordinary that I met with in Iraq. Their general was there, General Landrineu (ph) just fortuitously happened to be there at this time to give them comfort and support.

They want to soldier on. And their sacrifice makes us in Washington, particularly me, mindful that we've got to do our best by them, make good decisions from Washington, give them the resources and the equipment they need so that they won't have died in vain.

And most importantly, Soledad, to support the Guard and Reserve.

I disagree with Secretary Rumsfeld. He thinks we can put the burden on the Guard and Reserve to win this war. We need extra troop strength, particularly in the Army, and that is apparent to many of us that have been on the front lines.

O'BRIEN: Senator Mary Landrieu joining us this morning.

Nice to see you, Senator. Thanks for being with us.

LANDRIEU: Thank you. (WEATHER REPORT)

O'BRIEN: Thousands of cancer patients stand to benefit from a new treatment, but it's actually a drug that's been around for years. We're "Paging Dr. Gupta" to talk about that this morning.

HEMMER: Also, Andy's back, "Minding Your Business." Will Google help keep a business executive out of prison? And the Ken Lay story in a moment, on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: We are paging dr. Gupta this morning about a new form of breast cancer treatment. Sanjay joins us from the CNN Center with details.

Good morning, Sanjay.

A new form that's kind of an old form, right?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly right, Soledad. Good morning. The drug is called Abraxane. A lot of excitement around this, being used to treat aggressive breast cancer. Just to prove yesterday that it is actually an old drug in a new distribution form. A lot of people familiar with breast cancer have heard of the drug called Paxol. This is what the drug is, but it's distributed through the body in a very different way.

Let me give you an example of that. Typically, what is difficult about Paxol, is it has to be mixed with solvents in order to get through the bloodstream. In this case, look at that little tiny dot on the left. That is the size of the chemotherapeutic drug. On the right is a red blood cell there. You can see as it travels through the bloodstream, it actually can target the tumor much more effectively and with a much lower side-effect profile. They've actually studies this drug. They found the protein itself is attracted by the tumor, making it much more specific chemotherapeutic drug as well. There are lots of advantages to this drug with regards to aggressive breast cancer.

First of all, you can use a 50 percent higher dosage and have a lower side-effect profile. Given the chemotherapy itself only takes 30 minutes, versus three hours with the Taxol, and you don't need steroids, which is a big deal for patients who take chemotherapy; avoiding those steroids makes the chemotherapeutic regimen much more easy for them -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: So then, overall, you're saying this version of Taxol is better than the old version of Taxol, outside of the fact you don't need the steroids and things like that?

GUPTA: Well, you I mean the question that a lot of people want to answer, is it going to make people live longer. You know, in terms of outcomes, it's unclear right now whether or not that's actually going to be the case. But in terms of the quality of life, while taking chemotherapy, this is going to be much better for them. You know, chemo has lots of side effects, as we know. With Taxol, it was a good medication that required a specific distribution, required a mixing it with toxic solvents, which made people very sick. They had to get steroids on the side.

If you can avoid all those things, this may end up being a much better drug because of that as far as outcomes. That's still going to have to wait and see, Soledad.

O'BRIEN: All right, Sanjay, thanks for that.

I want to talk about "The New You." We did it last year and now it's back. Tell me a little more about this year's version.

GUPTA: Yes, we're very excited. It's next Monday. We're going to launch "The New You Revolution," we're calling it. We're going to introduce you to our to five participants. They've joined the revolution to break bad habits and start some new healthier ones. And every Tuesday for the next eight weeks, we're going to bring you updates on the progress.

Of course we want you to follow along, because we think everybody can learn something. That's all here on AMERICAN MORNING. You can also go online to cnn.com/am for more information, as well.

O'BRIEN: All right, Sanjay, thanks a lot. We look forward to that. Thank you -- Bill.

HEMMER: We're going to break here in a moment. Former Enron chief Ken Lay, rather innovative strategy to prove his innocence. Some are calling it the Google defense. Andy explains in a moment here. Right after this on AMERICAN MORNING.

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HEMMER: All righty. Welcome back, everybody.

JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Ken Lay is paying money to bring his side of the Enron story to the general public ahead of his trial, for which we sincerely hope he's convicted and sent away to prison for a very long time. And it's a wash for Listerine. Andy Serwer is here "Minding Your Business." Good morning.

ANDY SERWER, COLUMNIST, "FORTUNE": Is that just one man's opinion there?

CAFFERTY: No, there's a lot of people who feel like that...

SERWER: There's a lot of people's opinions.

CAFFERTY: ... especially the ones that lost their pension money and their jobs and everything else in that Enron mess.

SERWER: All right, I got it. That's my bad.

CAFFERTY: No, there's a whole lot of people feel just like that. SERWER: My bad, my bad. OK. Let's -- thank you. Let's talk the markets yesterday, Jack. We had an up day. Dow up 17 points. In late trading, particularly managed to eke out a gain. This morning, though, futures are weaker.

Yes, Ken Lay is doing, Jack, what's called a sponsored link. Basically, first of all, he has a Web site. There he is. And of course, he faces 11 federal charges of fraud and other felonies. He's pleaded not guilty. He has a Web site, much like Martha Stewart, where he defends himself, but he's taken it one step further.

A sponsored link is where you pay a portal like a Yahoo or a Google so that your Web site comes up with on a put in a search, say, for Ken Lay. You pay money for this. So in other words, when you click on that link, then Ken Lay has to pay Yahoo or Google five to ten cents. So if you want to have a little fun with Ken, you might want -- I'm not even going to say it, Jack, because I know what you're thinking.

CAFFERTY: I understand how that works. As soon as we get through here, I'm going to down see if that thing works.

SERWER: Yes, OK, well it does work if you put it into Google. Anyway, five to 12 cents a click.

Let's change gears here a little bit and talk about Pfizer, the company in the headlines again. This time, over its Listerine product. A federal judge ruled that these stickers here on these Listerine bottles that say as effective as flossing, it's just not true. That's what a federal judge said. That's a problem. It's not true. So the company is going to have to go around spending $2 million and thousands of people all across the country to put little stickers on top of that. Guess who filed the suit? Johnson & Johnson. And guess what they make?

CAFFERTY: Floss.

SERWER: Floss, yes.

CAFFERTY: Absolutely.

SERWER: Yes.

(CROSSTALK)

CAFFERTY: ... cover up the whole sticker, they can just take a pencil and write on there not as effective as floss.

SERWER: Well, we can do that right now.

CAFFERTY: Not as effective as floss.

(CROSSTALK)

SERWER: I thought I'd be nice to bring it up here.

O'BRIEN: Thank you.

SERWER: You're welcome.

HEMMER: Yes, are you sensing something over there, by the way?

SERWER: Well, no. No, I'm not going to say anything. Everyone's breath is fine.

CAFFERTY: It's time for "The Cafferty File" and we begin with this. Rosie O'Donnell is furious. That's not news. She's mad about something most of the time. But this time, she's hot about the Supreme Court in Florida or the Supreme Court refusing to hear an appeal that would overturn a Florida law that bans gay adoption. Florida's the only state that doesn't allow gays and lesbians to permanently adopt children.

O'Donnell is a lesbian who has adopted three kids. She says quote, "this should cause dismay in the heart of every parent in America. There are hundreds of children who will grow up in America without any family because of this discriminatory law." Florida governor Jeb Bush thinks kids should have both a mother and a father.

Times tough in Omaha, Nebraska, for this 20-year-old. Andrew Fisher (ph) is selling body parts on eBay. No, not that. We're talking about his forehead. He wants to sell advertising space on his forehead, promising to wear a temporary tattoo on his face for 30 days that shows whatever logo the bidder chooses, as long as it's not naughty. He hopes the walking billboard will raise money for a college course. So far, he says he's gotten 113 bids and an offer of $21,500.

(CROSSTALK)

CAFFERTY: With a forehead the size of mine, think how much money I could make.

SERWER: Twice as much.

CAFFERTY: I mean, I got more space than he does.

Passengers at New Delhi's Indira Gandhi International Airport treated to some accidental porn when the airport's television screens played a hardcore movie right around midnight, when the airport was at its busiest. Moans and groans echoing across the terminal for 20 minutes. Unclear how it happened. Some sources claim employees were watching the film and accidentally sent it out to the TVs. But I like the explanation that went like this. That a TV channel was broadcasting the film as part of an AIDS awareness project.

HEMMER: Yes, sure. CYA.

SERWER: Film adaptation of the Kama Sutra.

HEMMER: It was an AIDS awareness project, you know.

SERWER: Yes, well, I don't know about that. CAFFERTY: That's all I got. I'm done.

O'BRIEN: That might be just enough. Thank you, Jack.

CAFFERTY: Well, thank you, Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Well, the world looked like it was caving in on itself out West. How many people are still trapped in the rubble? The search for survivors goes on on this AMERICAN MORNING.

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