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American Morning
Texas Politician Accused of Impersonating Twin; People See Virgin Mary in Chicago Highway Underpass; '90-Second Pop'
Aired April 22, 2005 - 07:29 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 AMERICAN MORNING. If you think you have seen it all in American politics, try this one. A man's running for mayor. He's now accused of sending his twin brother off to events to impersonate him. We're going to talk this morning to the candidate and to his spitting image, which is which. Can you tell? We'll find out how this controversy got started in the first place.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: I love this story.
O'BRIEN: He has said that he doesn't think his brother looks that much like him.
HEMMER: We'll see.
O'BRIEN: They kind of do.
HEMMER: Also from Chicago, this image of the Virgin Mary in a Chicago underpass. It sound kind of strange at first, wait till you hear, though, what the people are saying after they visit there. We'll get you to Chicago this as well in a couple minutes here. I figure Mary's worth an exit ramp or an on-ramp or something. Much more than an underpass.
O'BRIEN: I've got to tell you, people see the Virgin Mary in a potato chip, I didn't buy it.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: A cheese sandwich. A cheese sandwich.
O'BRIEN: But did you see this videotape?
COSTELLO: Yes.
O'BRIEN: Looks kind of like the Virgin Mary to me.
COSTELLO: It does. Remember the Virgin Mary cheese sandwich?
O'BRIEN: It went for like $30,000 on eBay or something.
COSTELLO: Go figure. All right. Moving on, "Now in the News," good morning, everyone. A fiery crash to tell you about on the New Jersey Turnpike right now, state police on the scene, they tell us at least one person is dead. The crash apparently involving a tractor trailer and a car. Take a look at that. A two-mile backup of cars and trucks may be stuck for up to two hours before officials can figure out what happened and clear all of this debris off the roadway.
Pope Benedict XVI thanking the cardinals and saying he's ready to undertake a new mission for the unity of the church. The new pope is meeting with the College of Cardinals right now. The pontiff will lead his inaugural Mass on Sunday. Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to flock to Rome for the occasion.
Former Secretary of State Colin Powell is reportedly calling John Bolton smart but problematic. Bolton's bid to the United Nations has been delayed amid concerns he threatened a subordinate and has disregard for the United Nations. According to The New York Times and The Washington Post, Powell spoke in private with two wavering Republicans on the panel considering his nomination. Sources stressed that Powell did not advise the senators on how to vote though.
A showdown brewing on Capitol Hill over energy. The House approved a far-reaching version of its energy bill on Thursday. It includes more than $8 billion in tax breaks and allows drilling in the Alaska Wildlife Refuge. The bill heads next to the Senate. Lawmakers there killed a similar version of the bill two years ago.
And President Bush is celebrating Earth Day by visiting the most popular and most polluted park in the country. The president said to leave this morning for Tennessee's Smoky Mountains. He is scheduled to help out a service project there. Then he'll push for his own clean air policies at an address in Cade's Cove. And of course, we'll be following that throughout the day.
O'BRIEN: Carol, thank you very much.
COSTELLO: You're both just staring at me.
O'BRIEN: No.
COSTELLO: You're thinking about the Virgin Mary, aren't you?
O'BRIEN: No -- I mean, yes, but I was thinking about the beautiful Tennessee state...
HEMMER: And I was kind of waiting on Soledad.
O'BRIEN: We're moving on. Thanks, Carol.
Well, of course, we all say that wish we could be in two places at once. Well, a mayoral hopeful in San Antonio, Texas, kind of found a way to do just that. He sent his twin brother to sort of take his place at a parade this week. Now take a look at the videotape. That's the barge right there. And you can see that's the twin who is waving to the crowd. Pink shirt right there. The mayoral candidate says he wasn't trying to deceive anybody. His opponents though disagree. Joining this morning is San Antonio mayoral candidate Julian Castro, and his twin brother, who is a state representative, Joaquin Castro.
Gentlemen, good morning to you. OK, let's figure out who is who right here. Julian, we'll begin with you. JOAQUIN CASTRO (D), TEXAS STATE HOUSE: He's Julian.
O'BRIEN: OK. Thanks for setting us straight. Parade's taking place on the Riverwalk. A quarter of a million people have turned out. City council's got a little truck going by, flatbed, you're going to wave from it. When did you know you weren't going to be able to make it? And did you tell anybody you actually had a competing event, weren't going to show up?
JULIAN CASTRO (D), SAN ANTONIO MAYORAL CANDIDATE: Well, I didn't decide until that day, actually, because on the schedule they just told me something came up that I thought we had moved, which was a meeting with neighborhood leaders. So I went off to do my council duties and my brother had been invited, because on the barge family members can go. He showed up, but nobody told the parade announcer from the boat that I wasn't there and he was. He's gone with me before.
And Fiesta is a wonderful time. We're having it right now in San Antonio. We have got three different parades. He's gone with me before on the barge. This time, he told everybody on the barge that it was him. But nobody told the announcer to announce him instead of me. And for that reason, everybody got confused.
O'BRIEN: So Joaquin...
JO. CASTRO: Well, he stood me up and that's what happened, because I was expecting him to come. And so I'm all alone on the barge, saying hi to people, waving to folks. And probably 90 percent of San Antonians know that there's two of us. But that night it was kind of hard to explain to 200,000 people watching that it was me and not him.
O'BRIEN: So when people would come up to you, Joaquin, the brother, for all of us who are trying to sort through this, and say, hey, Julian, how are you? Did you say, no, no, it's Joaquin? Or is that something you normally do or was is just like, hey, I won't really spell it out?
JO. CASTRO: No. Every day, I go out of my way, that's the strange thing, to tell people that it's me and that it's not him. But that night, we were floating along the river on the barge, and folks are lined along the walls in the stands. And it's just impossible for them to hear you or you to hear them. So I couldn't exactly yell out to them, oh, it's Joaquin, it's not Julian. So that's how the controversy got started.
O'BRIEN: You know, of course, when you mention controversy, there is some seriousness to this controversy. Your opponents have used the words "deceptive, dishonest." Were you trying to fool people in any way?
JU. CASTRO: Not at all. You know, we've been focusing during the campaign on the issues that matter to San Antonio of growing our local economy, creating better neighborhoods, and creating a city government that we can be proud of. And because of that, right now, I'm well ahead in the polls, and we're in the early voting period so they're using anything that they can take to try and change that. But it was unintentional. As twins, we're -- literally every waking hour that we're out and about, we're used to getting confused and we campaign for each other, but we never campaign as each other. We take our public policy-making roles very seriously.
O'BRIEN: Do you think the controversy has helped your campaign in a way, or hurt your campaign?
JU. CASTRO: Oh, I don't think it's done either. I think people realize that, you know, we're twins and God made us that way, and our mother likes us that way and there's nothing that we can do about it. And our family members were invited to the barge and Joaquin still showed up even though I couldn't make it. So I think in the end, that people are going to pay attention to the issues that matter for San Antonio. And it's a great city. We invite you to come down.
O'BRIEN: I've been there many, many times.
JO. CASTRO: And Soledad, just for the record, there is a very easy way to tell Julian and I apart. I don't know if you've noticed it. He's one minute uglier than I am.
(LAUGHTER)
O'BRIEN: You're going to have to beat him up.
JU. CASTRO: I disagree with that assessment.
O'BRIEN: Listen, any way to keep this from happening again?
JO. CASTRO: Absolutely. In fact, I bought my brother a T-shirt a few days ago that has -- will keep everything straight for both of us. And we're going to wear it during Fiesta Week in San Antonio.
JO. CASTRO: We invite you and the crew to come down to San Antonio for Fiesta Week. It's a wonderful, charming time. And you might find us with our T-shirts on there.
O'BRIEN: Oh, and make it all clear for everybody. Julian and Joaquin Castro, you guys, thanks for chatting with us this morning. We certainly appreciate it.
JO. CASTRO: Good talking to you.
JU. CASTRO: We appreciate it.
O'BRIEN: oh, my goodness. That's in my future.
HEMMER: You buy their story?
O'BRIEN: Yes. You know what. I've got to say -- his brother has been with him before campaigning. And the truth is, in San Antonio, people do know they're twins, so you only see one.
HEMMER: So why was he on the boat waving? O'BRIEN: Because family members get on the barge and they wave. I don't know. You know, it sounds like politicians...
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: It's spin, for sure.
HEMMER: And that's too. To Chicago now, one person's stain can be another's religious experience. In recent day there, people have been flocking to a highway underpass in Chicago to see what they believe is a sign from God. Chris Lawrence is live there this morning. Hey, Chris.
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Bill. Well, since someone noticed it just a few days ago, people have been building onto this shrine. And although it's hard to see much from right here, when you look on camera, you can see that picture of the Virgin Mary embracing Pope John Paul II there in the lower left corner of your screen and how some people have been comparing it to the image that's appeared on this wall.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAWRENCE (voice-over): Some people will look at this and say, it's just a salt stain. A lot of others see something else, something more.
Maria Rivera is about to undergo a biopsy after a small spot appeared on a recent X-ray.
MARIA RIVERA, PRAYS FOR HEALING: At 1:45 today I have an appointment with a doctor to see if I have breast cancer. And I just came here in hope that God and the Virgin Mary will cure me.
LAWRENCE: The image attracts women and men, people right down the street and way past the suburbs.
ELVIRA CARRIZALES, CAME FROM WISCONSIN TO SEE IMAGE: I brought my mother. She just got diagnosed with something, and she feels that it will help her.
LAWRENCE: Engineers tell us the stain probably formed from a combination of water and road salt leaking from the highway above it. What you see with the naked eye is definitely different than what's captured by a camera.
MARION IDZIK, PHOTOGRAPHED IMAGE ON UNDERPASS: When I took a picture of it, I looked at the image, you could see like the eyes and the head and the veil. And when you look at it without the camera, it looks like a spot. So it was like almost amazing.
LAWRENCE: As for Maria Rivera she finally pushed her way to the wall to touch what she sees as holy.
RIVERA: It was scary, but I have faith that I'm cured and they don't find no cancer in me. LAWRENCE: And where some can't even see an image, Maria sees inspiration.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAWRENCE: And just this morning, Maria told me that her biopsy got pushed back a week. But the doctors did take another look at her film and feel she's got about a 20 percent chance of having cancer.
Now this is one of those situations where it really doesn't matter what anyone else believes. You can look at this and say, these people are ridiculous, that's a stain on the wall, or you can truly see the image of the Virgin Mary. You're probably not going to convince someone to change their mine and, hey, what's wrong with that? Bill.
HEMMER: Chris, clearly, there's a lot of emotion over this. The people who come to visit, though, is it more for the religious or is it for the tourist?
LAWRENCE: I think it's more for a religious reason. We saw a lot of people here bringing relatives, family members that were in wheelchairs, bringing sick children, truly believing that they are seeing something holy here. And there are a few people who just -- you know, they pass by, they see the huge crowds forming out here and they stop out of curiosity, so they can say, I don't see what the big deal is. But the majority of the people that we're seeing here seem to believe what they're seeing is an actual image of the Virgin Mary.
HEMMER: Chris Lawrence there in Chicago. Thanks, Chris. The memorial is growing, too.
O'BRIEN: Pope John Paul II had a very special devotion to the Virgin Mary. It was on his casket, you could see. Some people could say the timing is sort of interesting. Pope dies, Virgin Mary, highway underpass. I'm not saying I see it, I'm not saying I don't.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HEMMER: The Hummer's getting a makeover of sorts. We'll see if the feminine touch helps with sales. Andy explains in a moment here.
O'BRIEN: And the rumors are flying, Ben and Jen may have a big announcement to make about their relationship. Oh, we can hardly wait. It's all in "90 Second Pop" just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: OK. Welcome back. We're talking food with Jack today.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, Bill. The government's released another vague, color-coded warning system, this one is aimed at our waistlines, though. It has vertical triangles instead of horizontal boxes. Six brands represent the food groups. The government wants us to go to the Web site, mypyramid.gov, and you get detailed nutritional advice. If you plug in your age, sex and amount of daily physical activity, you'll get back your own custom diet plan. Here's the question, how will the government's new food pyramid change the way you eat?
Brenda in Oregon writes: "It won't change a thing. We're not overweight because we don't know how to eat healthy, we just prefer Oreos to a chef's salad.
A.J. in Florida: "It won't, being southern, we know how to eat down here, and it doesn't need to be fried either unless of course it's a tomato maybe."
Mark in Georgia writes: "Most people will not appreciate the three decades of nutritional research that's gone into planning this new food guide. I pat the government on the back for this project and only hope that the American public will follow these guidelines, signed, the Department of Agriculture."
(LAUGHTER)
CAFFERTY: Steve in New York writes: "Jack, I don't plan to change anything. I graduated high school 20 years ago, I am still the same weight and size, 168 pounds, still wear a 32-inch waste pants." That's pretty impressive.
ANDY SERWER, EDITOR-AT-LARGE, FORTUNE: Show off.
HEMMER: Great genes.
O'BRIEN: Bragger.
CAFFERTY: And Doug in New Jersey: "This new pyramid is no good. They left out all the good things: cheese steaks, Big Macs, chili dogs, buffalo wings, pizza and beer. I cannot believe they forgot the beer."
O'BRIEN: Yes, there's no category for beer. I have to say, I think it's unclear. But that's me. What's coming up tomorrow on "IN THE MONEY."
CAFFERTY: Funny you should ask.
(LAUGHTER)
CAFFERTY: See, if I don't have one of these little pieces of paper in my hand...
O'BRIEN: I know, I know. Come on!
HEMMER: She's helping you.
CAFFERTY: Tomorrow on "IN THE MONEY," New York Times columnist Tom Friedman will join us, talk about his new book "The World Is Flat." It's about terrorism, globalism and a whole lot more. He's a pretty bright, actually, I like talking with Tom Friedman. We're not exactly on the same side of the ideological scale all the time but he's an interesting guest on the program. Saturday at 1:00, Sunday at 3:00, hopefully you'll join us for that. Thank you, Soledad, for once again saving my...
HEMMER: I think this is intentional. Happens every week this way.
CAFFERTY: What?
HEMMER: He forgot to do his little plug and then we have to prompt him. And then he does it.
CAFFERTY: When you get to be my age, you'll be forgetting a lot of stuff too.
SERWER: I'm not sure it is intentional.
O'BRIEN: Well, let's talk about gals. The Gap appealing to women, trying to, at least. But the people who make Hummers too? They're trying to boost sales. Andy's got that, he's "Minding Your Business."
Good morning.
SERWER: Good morning, Soledad. Marketing to women, some of these programs you're suggesting make sense. Sometimes they are a little different, shall we say. So let's start with The Gap. They've been very successful with The Gap, Banana Republic, and Old Navy. Now they have their latest concept, it's called Forth & Towne, a new line of stores opening up. I guess you could say they're appealing to the "Desperate Housewives" crowd. Is that safe to say? Women over 35 years old. I'll probably get in trouble for saying that.
O'BRIEN: OK, ouch! When you went there...
SERWER: I just got in trouble for saying that. Yes. All right. It's kind of funny. Forth is spelled F-O-R-T-H. But then the execs are saying it's the fourth concept, but fourth is F-O-U. And then Towne, it's a place, but it's spelled with an E on the end. I don't quite get it. And Forth & Towne kind of sounds like football, fourth and 10. What do you do? Do you punt? You call a time out? I'm not really sure. We'll have to see. It opens this fall in New York and Chicago.
The Hummer has to be the not macho vehicle on the planet. GM is going to be marketing it to women. Go figure. This is the new H3 which is just coming off the line. Sales were down last year 17 percent, Jack. Hummers were down 17 percent last year.
CAFFERTY: Makes perfect sense to me.
SERWER: Yes. Well, and here's some of the ad copy for the new H3 will say: available in the petite section. Gets more gas mileage, 29,000 versus 50,000. I don't know, would you buy one? Let's ask you.
O'BRIEN: I don't even know what "available in the petite section" would mean. But no, probably not.
SERWER: Well, that's the ad copy. It just wouldn't do it for you?
O'BRIEN: I have a lot of kids. I need a bigger car. Let's put it that way.
SERWER: Wow.
O'BRIEN: And women who are over 35 are not "Desperate Housewives." I'm going to talk about that later.
SERWER: The "Desperate Housewives" crowd. You see how I said that, the crowd. It's all a big tent there.
O'BRIEN: Thank you, Andy.
SERWER: You're welcome.
HEMMER: Here's a shovel.
SERWER: I'm in such trouble.
O'BRIEN: Paula Abdul comes clean about what's behind her recent strange behavior. She says drugs are not to blame. We have got details in "90 Second Pop" up next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: If you're still in bed, wake up! It's time for "90 Second Pop" for a Friday. Here to play this morning: Amy Barnett, she's the managing editor of Teen People; Devin Gordon, senior writer for Newsweek; and Jessi Klein, comedian and panelist on VH-1's "Best Week Ever."
Good morning. That's a little bit of Paula Abdul to get us going in the morning.
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: It's the only exercise I get. Let's get right to it. We're not talking about Paula yet, we're talking about Bennifer in the good way.
JESSI KLEIN, COMEDIAN: Part two.
O'BRIEN: Good news. Version 2.0 is what I like to call them. The one that seems to be working out.
KLEIN: Maybe, sort of.
O'BRIEN: No? Aren't they engaged?
KLEIN: They are engaged. Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner seem to have decided to continue on with their relationship, perhaps forever. O'BRIEN: Isn't that a good thing?
KLEIN: I feel like if their first collaboration, which was the movie "Daredevil," is any indication, the worst movie of all time, I'm worried about the marriage.
DEVIN GORDON, NEWSWEEK: Well, did you see "Elektra"? So let's not jump to conclusions. I actually think that this divorce -- I think they made have an under the table deal with Jennifer Garner and said, OK, if "Elektra" is a hit, you can walk away scot-free from this relationship. But if "Elektra" bombs you've got to stay in the relationship.
O'BRIEN: You guys are such negative people. Thank you.
AMY BARNETT, TEEN PEOPLE: I think it's perfect. They're like the perfect Patagonia couple. And Ben looks so much more comfortable now that he's not living J-Lo's blingy lifestyle. He is obviously more Patagonia...
O'BRIEN: "La Vida Loca"?
BARNETT: Well, he went from "Jenny from the Block" to Jenny from the cul-de-sac.
KLEIN: Supposedly this engagement ring was much cheaper than the one from Lopez, this was only $500,000.
O'BRIEN: And it's only 4.5 carats.
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: It's tiny.
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: Embarrassing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's like he got it out of one of those machines.
O'BRIEN: Well, you know what? Good luck to them.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good luck to them.
GORDON: Good luck to them.
O'BRIEN: I hope it works out well.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Two-point-five kids I predict.
O'BRIEN: Who knows? Let's get to Paula Abdul. She's had a tough time and she has been acting a little bizarrely. Give me a sense of what she's been doing.
BARNETT: Well, really, she's just acting a little loopy on the show. And apparently, she was so upset after reading some negative stuff about her on the "American Idol" Web site, including allegations that she was on drugs, that she decided...
O'BRIEN: These were people who were posting, not the official Web site.
BARNETT: No, no, no, no, no, no, of course not, of course not. They were like fans who were just saying that she was acting crazy and dancing with the contestants.
GORDON: "American Idol" would never drum up controversy, never.
BARNETT: Exactly, to air more and more episodes. So what she did is she decided to come clean in this week's People magazine and she reveals that she's had some injuries and was is in some car accidents and has been in chronic pain for years. And so she was diagnosed with reflex sympathetic dystrophy. It's a rare disorder. And so she's finally being treated, she's pain-free, but along the way, she has tried everything, tons of things that haven't worked, including medications and...
O'BRIEN: Yes, something Enbrel, which she is saying kind of made her loopy, but the company says it doesn't have any sort of psychological effects to it.
GORDON: Yes, that strikes me as a classic case of publicity trying to shift the story. She admits to some disorder that she's got and then we forget about that fact that wait a minute, you've been acting loopy and we still don't have an explanation for it. What's going on here?
KLEIN: I think if you had to sit next to Simon for three years and pretend to laugh at all his jokes, you'd be a little bit loopy too.
O'BRIEN: Well, then she also said that she's been loopy because she's so happy because she's finally pain-free. And I think anybody who's had bad back pain -- she said it was like a cheerleading injury, that's really depressing and horrible.
BARNETT: What's she's saying is that she was loopy from the previous drugs, and now that she's on Enbrel, she's actually fine and calm and pain-free and doesn't have to eat monkey gall bladders which is apparently one treatment that she was subjected to from Chinese medicine doctor.
O'BRIEN: Wow. That will make you loopy.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Poor Simon.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Simon, works with monkey gall bladders.
O'BRIEN: Let's talk about the fall schedule. I'm confused. A lot of fighting going on, I think it's fair to say, over the producers of "Will & Grace" who then sell that show to NBC. What exactly is the fight over? Is it just over the ratings? And what's going to happen do you think?
GORDON: It's over money.
O'BRIEN: Like, duh! Are you stupid? Sorry.
GORDON: The producers want more money before the ratings completely go in the toilet and then they have no leverage. But "Will & Grace" is going to be back for another season. NBC doesn't have enough hit shows to go around canceling the ones that they do have. But it does look like the cast may be forced to take some pay cuts if they want to come back. And this is just all fallout...
O'BRIEN: But doesn't NBC need them? Want to come back, what if they say, OK, we won't come back?
GORDON: Well, if you've noticed their movie careers, I think they need NBC.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, exactly.
GORDON: So you know, neither side really has too much leverage here. And I think it will end up working out being the status quo for both sides, with maybe a little less money for everybody involved.
BARNETT: I mean, no way Debra Messing's not going to come back. She has got a new baby. But what I want to know is if she's taking a pay cut, is her character going to have to take a pay cut too? You know, all the characters.
O'BRIEN: What is a pay cut when you're making millions of dollars?
KLEIN: Exactly. Does it register?
O'BRIEN: They won't even notice the difference.
KLEIN: I don't think so.
GORDON: You'd have to drop a nanny.
O'BRIEN: Only six nannies now. You guys, as always, I thank you very much. Nice to have you.
Let's get right to Bill.
HEMMER: All right, Soledad, thanks.
Three minutes before the hour. Now one of the biggest heists in corporate history hits the big screen. The rise and fall of Enron, chock full of heroes and villains and comedy skits. Have a look at that in a moment here when we continue after this.
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Aired April 22, 2005 - 07:29 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 AMERICAN MORNING. If you think you have seen it all in American politics, try this one. A man's running for mayor. He's now accused of sending his twin brother off to events to impersonate him. We're going to talk this morning to the candidate and to his spitting image, which is which. Can you tell? We'll find out how this controversy got started in the first place.
BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: I love this story.
O'BRIEN: He has said that he doesn't think his brother looks that much like him.
HEMMER: We'll see.
O'BRIEN: They kind of do.
HEMMER: Also from Chicago, this image of the Virgin Mary in a Chicago underpass. It sound kind of strange at first, wait till you hear, though, what the people are saying after they visit there. We'll get you to Chicago this as well in a couple minutes here. I figure Mary's worth an exit ramp or an on-ramp or something. Much more than an underpass.
O'BRIEN: I've got to tell you, people see the Virgin Mary in a potato chip, I didn't buy it.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: A cheese sandwich. A cheese sandwich.
O'BRIEN: But did you see this videotape?
COSTELLO: Yes.
O'BRIEN: Looks kind of like the Virgin Mary to me.
COSTELLO: It does. Remember the Virgin Mary cheese sandwich?
O'BRIEN: It went for like $30,000 on eBay or something.
COSTELLO: Go figure. All right. Moving on, "Now in the News," good morning, everyone. A fiery crash to tell you about on the New Jersey Turnpike right now, state police on the scene, they tell us at least one person is dead. The crash apparently involving a tractor trailer and a car. Take a look at that. A two-mile backup of cars and trucks may be stuck for up to two hours before officials can figure out what happened and clear all of this debris off the roadway.
Pope Benedict XVI thanking the cardinals and saying he's ready to undertake a new mission for the unity of the church. The new pope is meeting with the College of Cardinals right now. The pontiff will lead his inaugural Mass on Sunday. Hundreds of thousands of people are expected to flock to Rome for the occasion.
Former Secretary of State Colin Powell is reportedly calling John Bolton smart but problematic. Bolton's bid to the United Nations has been delayed amid concerns he threatened a subordinate and has disregard for the United Nations. According to The New York Times and The Washington Post, Powell spoke in private with two wavering Republicans on the panel considering his nomination. Sources stressed that Powell did not advise the senators on how to vote though.
A showdown brewing on Capitol Hill over energy. The House approved a far-reaching version of its energy bill on Thursday. It includes more than $8 billion in tax breaks and allows drilling in the Alaska Wildlife Refuge. The bill heads next to the Senate. Lawmakers there killed a similar version of the bill two years ago.
And President Bush is celebrating Earth Day by visiting the most popular and most polluted park in the country. The president said to leave this morning for Tennessee's Smoky Mountains. He is scheduled to help out a service project there. Then he'll push for his own clean air policies at an address in Cade's Cove. And of course, we'll be following that throughout the day.
O'BRIEN: Carol, thank you very much.
COSTELLO: You're both just staring at me.
O'BRIEN: No.
COSTELLO: You're thinking about the Virgin Mary, aren't you?
O'BRIEN: No -- I mean, yes, but I was thinking about the beautiful Tennessee state...
HEMMER: And I was kind of waiting on Soledad.
O'BRIEN: We're moving on. Thanks, Carol.
Well, of course, we all say that wish we could be in two places at once. Well, a mayoral hopeful in San Antonio, Texas, kind of found a way to do just that. He sent his twin brother to sort of take his place at a parade this week. Now take a look at the videotape. That's the barge right there. And you can see that's the twin who is waving to the crowd. Pink shirt right there. The mayoral candidate says he wasn't trying to deceive anybody. His opponents though disagree. Joining this morning is San Antonio mayoral candidate Julian Castro, and his twin brother, who is a state representative, Joaquin Castro.
Gentlemen, good morning to you. OK, let's figure out who is who right here. Julian, we'll begin with you. JOAQUIN CASTRO (D), TEXAS STATE HOUSE: He's Julian.
O'BRIEN: OK. Thanks for setting us straight. Parade's taking place on the Riverwalk. A quarter of a million people have turned out. City council's got a little truck going by, flatbed, you're going to wave from it. When did you know you weren't going to be able to make it? And did you tell anybody you actually had a competing event, weren't going to show up?
JULIAN CASTRO (D), SAN ANTONIO MAYORAL CANDIDATE: Well, I didn't decide until that day, actually, because on the schedule they just told me something came up that I thought we had moved, which was a meeting with neighborhood leaders. So I went off to do my council duties and my brother had been invited, because on the barge family members can go. He showed up, but nobody told the parade announcer from the boat that I wasn't there and he was. He's gone with me before.
And Fiesta is a wonderful time. We're having it right now in San Antonio. We have got three different parades. He's gone with me before on the barge. This time, he told everybody on the barge that it was him. But nobody told the announcer to announce him instead of me. And for that reason, everybody got confused.
O'BRIEN: So Joaquin...
JO. CASTRO: Well, he stood me up and that's what happened, because I was expecting him to come. And so I'm all alone on the barge, saying hi to people, waving to folks. And probably 90 percent of San Antonians know that there's two of us. But that night it was kind of hard to explain to 200,000 people watching that it was me and not him.
O'BRIEN: So when people would come up to you, Joaquin, the brother, for all of us who are trying to sort through this, and say, hey, Julian, how are you? Did you say, no, no, it's Joaquin? Or is that something you normally do or was is just like, hey, I won't really spell it out?
JO. CASTRO: No. Every day, I go out of my way, that's the strange thing, to tell people that it's me and that it's not him. But that night, we were floating along the river on the barge, and folks are lined along the walls in the stands. And it's just impossible for them to hear you or you to hear them. So I couldn't exactly yell out to them, oh, it's Joaquin, it's not Julian. So that's how the controversy got started.
O'BRIEN: You know, of course, when you mention controversy, there is some seriousness to this controversy. Your opponents have used the words "deceptive, dishonest." Were you trying to fool people in any way?
JU. CASTRO: Not at all. You know, we've been focusing during the campaign on the issues that matter to San Antonio of growing our local economy, creating better neighborhoods, and creating a city government that we can be proud of. And because of that, right now, I'm well ahead in the polls, and we're in the early voting period so they're using anything that they can take to try and change that. But it was unintentional. As twins, we're -- literally every waking hour that we're out and about, we're used to getting confused and we campaign for each other, but we never campaign as each other. We take our public policy-making roles very seriously.
O'BRIEN: Do you think the controversy has helped your campaign in a way, or hurt your campaign?
JU. CASTRO: Oh, I don't think it's done either. I think people realize that, you know, we're twins and God made us that way, and our mother likes us that way and there's nothing that we can do about it. And our family members were invited to the barge and Joaquin still showed up even though I couldn't make it. So I think in the end, that people are going to pay attention to the issues that matter for San Antonio. And it's a great city. We invite you to come down.
O'BRIEN: I've been there many, many times.
JO. CASTRO: And Soledad, just for the record, there is a very easy way to tell Julian and I apart. I don't know if you've noticed it. He's one minute uglier than I am.
(LAUGHTER)
O'BRIEN: You're going to have to beat him up.
JU. CASTRO: I disagree with that assessment.
O'BRIEN: Listen, any way to keep this from happening again?
JO. CASTRO: Absolutely. In fact, I bought my brother a T-shirt a few days ago that has -- will keep everything straight for both of us. And we're going to wear it during Fiesta Week in San Antonio.
JO. CASTRO: We invite you and the crew to come down to San Antonio for Fiesta Week. It's a wonderful, charming time. And you might find us with our T-shirts on there.
O'BRIEN: Oh, and make it all clear for everybody. Julian and Joaquin Castro, you guys, thanks for chatting with us this morning. We certainly appreciate it.
JO. CASTRO: Good talking to you.
JU. CASTRO: We appreciate it.
O'BRIEN: oh, my goodness. That's in my future.
HEMMER: You buy their story?
O'BRIEN: Yes. You know what. I've got to say -- his brother has been with him before campaigning. And the truth is, in San Antonio, people do know they're twins, so you only see one.
HEMMER: So why was he on the boat waving? O'BRIEN: Because family members get on the barge and they wave. I don't know. You know, it sounds like politicians...
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: It's spin, for sure.
HEMMER: And that's too. To Chicago now, one person's stain can be another's religious experience. In recent day there, people have been flocking to a highway underpass in Chicago to see what they believe is a sign from God. Chris Lawrence is live there this morning. Hey, Chris.
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Bill. Well, since someone noticed it just a few days ago, people have been building onto this shrine. And although it's hard to see much from right here, when you look on camera, you can see that picture of the Virgin Mary embracing Pope John Paul II there in the lower left corner of your screen and how some people have been comparing it to the image that's appeared on this wall.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAWRENCE (voice-over): Some people will look at this and say, it's just a salt stain. A lot of others see something else, something more.
Maria Rivera is about to undergo a biopsy after a small spot appeared on a recent X-ray.
MARIA RIVERA, PRAYS FOR HEALING: At 1:45 today I have an appointment with a doctor to see if I have breast cancer. And I just came here in hope that God and the Virgin Mary will cure me.
LAWRENCE: The image attracts women and men, people right down the street and way past the suburbs.
ELVIRA CARRIZALES, CAME FROM WISCONSIN TO SEE IMAGE: I brought my mother. She just got diagnosed with something, and she feels that it will help her.
LAWRENCE: Engineers tell us the stain probably formed from a combination of water and road salt leaking from the highway above it. What you see with the naked eye is definitely different than what's captured by a camera.
MARION IDZIK, PHOTOGRAPHED IMAGE ON UNDERPASS: When I took a picture of it, I looked at the image, you could see like the eyes and the head and the veil. And when you look at it without the camera, it looks like a spot. So it was like almost amazing.
LAWRENCE: As for Maria Rivera she finally pushed her way to the wall to touch what she sees as holy.
RIVERA: It was scary, but I have faith that I'm cured and they don't find no cancer in me. LAWRENCE: And where some can't even see an image, Maria sees inspiration.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAWRENCE: And just this morning, Maria told me that her biopsy got pushed back a week. But the doctors did take another look at her film and feel she's got about a 20 percent chance of having cancer.
Now this is one of those situations where it really doesn't matter what anyone else believes. You can look at this and say, these people are ridiculous, that's a stain on the wall, or you can truly see the image of the Virgin Mary. You're probably not going to convince someone to change their mine and, hey, what's wrong with that? Bill.
HEMMER: Chris, clearly, there's a lot of emotion over this. The people who come to visit, though, is it more for the religious or is it for the tourist?
LAWRENCE: I think it's more for a religious reason. We saw a lot of people here bringing relatives, family members that were in wheelchairs, bringing sick children, truly believing that they are seeing something holy here. And there are a few people who just -- you know, they pass by, they see the huge crowds forming out here and they stop out of curiosity, so they can say, I don't see what the big deal is. But the majority of the people that we're seeing here seem to believe what they're seeing is an actual image of the Virgin Mary.
HEMMER: Chris Lawrence there in Chicago. Thanks, Chris. The memorial is growing, too.
O'BRIEN: Pope John Paul II had a very special devotion to the Virgin Mary. It was on his casket, you could see. Some people could say the timing is sort of interesting. Pope dies, Virgin Mary, highway underpass. I'm not saying I see it, I'm not saying I don't.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HEMMER: The Hummer's getting a makeover of sorts. We'll see if the feminine touch helps with sales. Andy explains in a moment here.
O'BRIEN: And the rumors are flying, Ben and Jen may have a big announcement to make about their relationship. Oh, we can hardly wait. It's all in "90 Second Pop" just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HEMMER: OK. Welcome back. We're talking food with Jack today.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks, Bill. The government's released another vague, color-coded warning system, this one is aimed at our waistlines, though. It has vertical triangles instead of horizontal boxes. Six brands represent the food groups. The government wants us to go to the Web site, mypyramid.gov, and you get detailed nutritional advice. If you plug in your age, sex and amount of daily physical activity, you'll get back your own custom diet plan. Here's the question, how will the government's new food pyramid change the way you eat?
Brenda in Oregon writes: "It won't change a thing. We're not overweight because we don't know how to eat healthy, we just prefer Oreos to a chef's salad.
A.J. in Florida: "It won't, being southern, we know how to eat down here, and it doesn't need to be fried either unless of course it's a tomato maybe."
Mark in Georgia writes: "Most people will not appreciate the three decades of nutritional research that's gone into planning this new food guide. I pat the government on the back for this project and only hope that the American public will follow these guidelines, signed, the Department of Agriculture."
(LAUGHTER)
CAFFERTY: Steve in New York writes: "Jack, I don't plan to change anything. I graduated high school 20 years ago, I am still the same weight and size, 168 pounds, still wear a 32-inch waste pants." That's pretty impressive.
ANDY SERWER, EDITOR-AT-LARGE, FORTUNE: Show off.
HEMMER: Great genes.
O'BRIEN: Bragger.
CAFFERTY: And Doug in New Jersey: "This new pyramid is no good. They left out all the good things: cheese steaks, Big Macs, chili dogs, buffalo wings, pizza and beer. I cannot believe they forgot the beer."
O'BRIEN: Yes, there's no category for beer. I have to say, I think it's unclear. But that's me. What's coming up tomorrow on "IN THE MONEY."
CAFFERTY: Funny you should ask.
(LAUGHTER)
CAFFERTY: See, if I don't have one of these little pieces of paper in my hand...
O'BRIEN: I know, I know. Come on!
HEMMER: She's helping you.
CAFFERTY: Tomorrow on "IN THE MONEY," New York Times columnist Tom Friedman will join us, talk about his new book "The World Is Flat." It's about terrorism, globalism and a whole lot more. He's a pretty bright, actually, I like talking with Tom Friedman. We're not exactly on the same side of the ideological scale all the time but he's an interesting guest on the program. Saturday at 1:00, Sunday at 3:00, hopefully you'll join us for that. Thank you, Soledad, for once again saving my...
HEMMER: I think this is intentional. Happens every week this way.
CAFFERTY: What?
HEMMER: He forgot to do his little plug and then we have to prompt him. And then he does it.
CAFFERTY: When you get to be my age, you'll be forgetting a lot of stuff too.
SERWER: I'm not sure it is intentional.
O'BRIEN: Well, let's talk about gals. The Gap appealing to women, trying to, at least. But the people who make Hummers too? They're trying to boost sales. Andy's got that, he's "Minding Your Business."
Good morning.
SERWER: Good morning, Soledad. Marketing to women, some of these programs you're suggesting make sense. Sometimes they are a little different, shall we say. So let's start with The Gap. They've been very successful with The Gap, Banana Republic, and Old Navy. Now they have their latest concept, it's called Forth & Towne, a new line of stores opening up. I guess you could say they're appealing to the "Desperate Housewives" crowd. Is that safe to say? Women over 35 years old. I'll probably get in trouble for saying that.
O'BRIEN: OK, ouch! When you went there...
SERWER: I just got in trouble for saying that. Yes. All right. It's kind of funny. Forth is spelled F-O-R-T-H. But then the execs are saying it's the fourth concept, but fourth is F-O-U. And then Towne, it's a place, but it's spelled with an E on the end. I don't quite get it. And Forth & Towne kind of sounds like football, fourth and 10. What do you do? Do you punt? You call a time out? I'm not really sure. We'll have to see. It opens this fall in New York and Chicago.
The Hummer has to be the not macho vehicle on the planet. GM is going to be marketing it to women. Go figure. This is the new H3 which is just coming off the line. Sales were down last year 17 percent, Jack. Hummers were down 17 percent last year.
CAFFERTY: Makes perfect sense to me.
SERWER: Yes. Well, and here's some of the ad copy for the new H3 will say: available in the petite section. Gets more gas mileage, 29,000 versus 50,000. I don't know, would you buy one? Let's ask you.
O'BRIEN: I don't even know what "available in the petite section" would mean. But no, probably not.
SERWER: Well, that's the ad copy. It just wouldn't do it for you?
O'BRIEN: I have a lot of kids. I need a bigger car. Let's put it that way.
SERWER: Wow.
O'BRIEN: And women who are over 35 are not "Desperate Housewives." I'm going to talk about that later.
SERWER: The "Desperate Housewives" crowd. You see how I said that, the crowd. It's all a big tent there.
O'BRIEN: Thank you, Andy.
SERWER: You're welcome.
HEMMER: Here's a shovel.
SERWER: I'm in such trouble.
O'BRIEN: Paula Abdul comes clean about what's behind her recent strange behavior. She says drugs are not to blame. We have got details in "90 Second Pop" up next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
O'BRIEN: If you're still in bed, wake up! It's time for "90 Second Pop" for a Friday. Here to play this morning: Amy Barnett, she's the managing editor of Teen People; Devin Gordon, senior writer for Newsweek; and Jessi Klein, comedian and panelist on VH-1's "Best Week Ever."
Good morning. That's a little bit of Paula Abdul to get us going in the morning.
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: It's the only exercise I get. Let's get right to it. We're not talking about Paula yet, we're talking about Bennifer in the good way.
JESSI KLEIN, COMEDIAN: Part two.
O'BRIEN: Good news. Version 2.0 is what I like to call them. The one that seems to be working out.
KLEIN: Maybe, sort of.
O'BRIEN: No? Aren't they engaged?
KLEIN: They are engaged. Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner seem to have decided to continue on with their relationship, perhaps forever. O'BRIEN: Isn't that a good thing?
KLEIN: I feel like if their first collaboration, which was the movie "Daredevil," is any indication, the worst movie of all time, I'm worried about the marriage.
DEVIN GORDON, NEWSWEEK: Well, did you see "Elektra"? So let's not jump to conclusions. I actually think that this divorce -- I think they made have an under the table deal with Jennifer Garner and said, OK, if "Elektra" is a hit, you can walk away scot-free from this relationship. But if "Elektra" bombs you've got to stay in the relationship.
O'BRIEN: You guys are such negative people. Thank you.
AMY BARNETT, TEEN PEOPLE: I think it's perfect. They're like the perfect Patagonia couple. And Ben looks so much more comfortable now that he's not living J-Lo's blingy lifestyle. He is obviously more Patagonia...
O'BRIEN: "La Vida Loca"?
BARNETT: Well, he went from "Jenny from the Block" to Jenny from the cul-de-sac.
KLEIN: Supposedly this engagement ring was much cheaper than the one from Lopez, this was only $500,000.
O'BRIEN: And it's only 4.5 carats.
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: It's tiny.
(CROSSTALK)
O'BRIEN: Embarrassing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's like he got it out of one of those machines.
O'BRIEN: Well, you know what? Good luck to them.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good luck to them.
GORDON: Good luck to them.
O'BRIEN: I hope it works out well.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Two-point-five kids I predict.
O'BRIEN: Who knows? Let's get to Paula Abdul. She's had a tough time and she has been acting a little bizarrely. Give me a sense of what she's been doing.
BARNETT: Well, really, she's just acting a little loopy on the show. And apparently, she was so upset after reading some negative stuff about her on the "American Idol" Web site, including allegations that she was on drugs, that she decided...
O'BRIEN: These were people who were posting, not the official Web site.
BARNETT: No, no, no, no, no, no, of course not, of course not. They were like fans who were just saying that she was acting crazy and dancing with the contestants.
GORDON: "American Idol" would never drum up controversy, never.
BARNETT: Exactly, to air more and more episodes. So what she did is she decided to come clean in this week's People magazine and she reveals that she's had some injuries and was is in some car accidents and has been in chronic pain for years. And so she was diagnosed with reflex sympathetic dystrophy. It's a rare disorder. And so she's finally being treated, she's pain-free, but along the way, she has tried everything, tons of things that haven't worked, including medications and...
O'BRIEN: Yes, something Enbrel, which she is saying kind of made her loopy, but the company says it doesn't have any sort of psychological effects to it.
GORDON: Yes, that strikes me as a classic case of publicity trying to shift the story. She admits to some disorder that she's got and then we forget about that fact that wait a minute, you've been acting loopy and we still don't have an explanation for it. What's going on here?
KLEIN: I think if you had to sit next to Simon for three years and pretend to laugh at all his jokes, you'd be a little bit loopy too.
O'BRIEN: Well, then she also said that she's been loopy because she's so happy because she's finally pain-free. And I think anybody who's had bad back pain -- she said it was like a cheerleading injury, that's really depressing and horrible.
BARNETT: What's she's saying is that she was loopy from the previous drugs, and now that she's on Enbrel, she's actually fine and calm and pain-free and doesn't have to eat monkey gall bladders which is apparently one treatment that she was subjected to from Chinese medicine doctor.
O'BRIEN: Wow. That will make you loopy.
(CROSSTALK)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Poor Simon.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Simon, works with monkey gall bladders.
O'BRIEN: Let's talk about the fall schedule. I'm confused. A lot of fighting going on, I think it's fair to say, over the producers of "Will & Grace" who then sell that show to NBC. What exactly is the fight over? Is it just over the ratings? And what's going to happen do you think?
GORDON: It's over money.
O'BRIEN: Like, duh! Are you stupid? Sorry.
GORDON: The producers want more money before the ratings completely go in the toilet and then they have no leverage. But "Will & Grace" is going to be back for another season. NBC doesn't have enough hit shows to go around canceling the ones that they do have. But it does look like the cast may be forced to take some pay cuts if they want to come back. And this is just all fallout...
O'BRIEN: But doesn't NBC need them? Want to come back, what if they say, OK, we won't come back?
GORDON: Well, if you've noticed their movie careers, I think they need NBC.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, exactly.
GORDON: So you know, neither side really has too much leverage here. And I think it will end up working out being the status quo for both sides, with maybe a little less money for everybody involved.
BARNETT: I mean, no way Debra Messing's not going to come back. She has got a new baby. But what I want to know is if she's taking a pay cut, is her character going to have to take a pay cut too? You know, all the characters.
O'BRIEN: What is a pay cut when you're making millions of dollars?
KLEIN: Exactly. Does it register?
O'BRIEN: They won't even notice the difference.
KLEIN: I don't think so.
GORDON: You'd have to drop a nanny.
O'BRIEN: Only six nannies now. You guys, as always, I thank you very much. Nice to have you.
Let's get right to Bill.
HEMMER: All right, Soledad, thanks.
Three minutes before the hour. Now one of the biggest heists in corporate history hits the big screen. The rise and fall of Enron, chock full of heroes and villains and comedy skits. Have a look at that in a moment here when we continue after this.
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