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American Morning

Katrina Fallout; Oklahoma Wildfires; Minding Your Business; Hollywood vs. Heartland

Aired March 02, 2006 - 07:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

ANNOUNCER: You're watching AMERICAN MORNING with Soledad O'Brien and Miles O'Brien.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: We're just waiting for the snow to fall here in New York City. Good morning.

MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, it's expected any moment, isn't it?

COSTELLO: At any moment it may fall from the sky.

I'm Carol Costello. Soledad has a few days off.

We're going to head out to Oklahoma a little bit later though because those wildfires, those grass fires are still burning. And we're going to talk to a spokesman from the fire department to try to figure out how these fires started. We know one suspect is in jail right now charged maybe with arson. We're going to ask him.

MILES O'BRIEN: How sad is it to think that people would start a wildfire like this?

COSTELLO: Exactly.

MILES O'BRIEN: But, anyway, let's get to Kelly Wallace in the newsroom with some headlines.

Good morning, Kelly.

KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning and hello, everyone.

We're beginning in Pakistan where police are on a hunt for bombers who killed an American earlier today. A pair of explosions ripped through a parking lot next to the U.S. consulate in Karachi. Police say at least one of the explosion was caused by a car bomb. A total of four people were killed, dozens more wounded.

President Bush says the bombing won't deter plans for his visit to Pakistan which is set for Saturday. He's in New Delhi, India, today where a few hours ago he announced a landmark nuclear deal with the country. The nation's civilian and military nuclear program will be split. The president says it will make the world safer. Critics say it is an invitation to spread nuclear weapons.

Convicted serial killer Charles Cullen will hear from family members of his victims this morning. His sentencing hearing is taking place less than two hours from now. Cullen is facing life in prison for 22 murders. He will also face sentencing later for murders in Pennsylvania. The former nurse is convicted of using lethal doses of medication to kill his victims.

And the first people nabbed in connection with that $92 million heist in Britain are being held without bond. The two men and one woman were nabbed in a raid last week. At least 11 other people have been arrested, but not yet charged. Meanwhile, no confirmation yet on reports that a portion of the money has been found buried on a farm. We'll keep you posted about that.

That's a quick look at the headlines. Now to Miles.

MILES O'BRIEN: Thank you, Kelly. See you in a bit.

Six months since Katrina, New Orleans still a wreck. There recriminations continue to swirling and now some pictures to add to that sad narrative. A teleconference of state and federal official on the eve of Katrina's landfall on the Gulf Coast. So much has been said and written about the government's Katrina failings. Is there any more political damage left to be done? From Los Angeles we are joined by CNN Senior Political Analyst Bill Schneider, from Washington Spencer Hsu with "The Washington Post" who's written extensively about this.

Bill Schneider, any more political damage left? Most people have made up their minds about how the Bush administration did or didn't do in the wake of Katrina.

WILLIAM SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, video tapes always have a special impact. When people see before their own eyes what happened before the Katrina disaster, they see the briefings that the president got, the warnings he got, including from Michael Brown, the director of FEMA, that this could be the big one. That, you know, we have to marshall resources. That the Superdome could be an utter catastrophe. And the president pretty passive throughout the whole thing, encouraging people by saying, we're fully prepared, and really not asking any questions. I think that will be very disturbing.

MILES O'BRIEN: Let's share an excerpt with folks of that. This is the president. He was on the ranch. This is on the eve of Katrina. Let's listen to a little bit of what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I want to assure the folks at the state level that we are fully prepared to not only help you during the storm, but we will move in whatever resources and assets we have at our disposal after the storm to help you deal with the loss of property and we pray for no loss of life, of course.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MILES O'BRIEN: Spencer, I guess what people are saying is, what is telling is, that that's all he said pretty much in this teleconference. There wasn't a lot of questions asked. There are some transcripts, however, that seem to indicate that the FEMA director at the time, Mike Brown, felt the president was engaged. What's your takeaway?

SPENCER HSU, "THE WASHINGTON POST": Right. I mean, I think, Miles, what's important is what wasn't shown in this videotape, and that is that you have officials who are, you know, pushing the buttons, pulling all the levers thinking this is going to engage a maximum response. But as Americans saw after the storm, that didn't translate into enough in Katrina's case. I think this is going to prolong a focus on an issue the White House probably wanted to turn the corner on. It's going to hand more ammunition to people who, like Mike Brown, are calling for changes in FEMA, making it a direct report to the president. Handing more ammunition to congressional investigators who want to make additional changes. And, you know, at the same time, it will probably increase attention on the issue for the next few days.

MILES O'BRIEN: Let's listen. Perhaps one of the most interesting thing was Max Mayfield of the National Hurricane Center. If there's any doubt that there was some concerns or questions raised about the possibility of New Orleans' levees being topped, listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAX MAYFIELD, NATIONAL HURRICANE CENTER DIRECTOR: So if the really strong winds clip Lake Pontchartrain, that's going to pile some of that water from Lake Pontchartrain over the south side of the lake. I don't think anybody can tell you with any confidence right now whether the levees will be topped or not. But that's, obviously, a very, very grave concern.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MILES O'BRIEN: OK. That's a pretty prophetic statement. Just September 1st the president said to an interview, I don't think anyone anticipated the breech of the levees.

Bill Schneider, that's a political problem for the president.

SCHNEIDER: It's a very serious problem for the president to say no anticipation and there's the head of the National Hurricane Center briefing the president and federal authorities that there is a very serious concern that the levees could indeed be breached. I think this just raises the questions that Katrina raised initially, which is competence. And it's one of a number of stories that have raised that issue about this administration. You have them all piled together now.

You have the issue of port security. How in the world did that decision get made? It defies common sense. Now you have the revelations about Hurricane Katrina. And on top of that, you have the situation in Iraq which our own U.S. ambassador has described as the brink of civil war. You put all those together and you have some very, very serious political problems for this administration. MILES O'BRIEN: Spencer, when look at the meeting, everybody sort of says the right things. Is there just a complete disconnect between the meetings and the action or inaction?

HSU: You know, you raise a great point. On the one hand, these are images that are very easy to understand. The public will grasp immediately what's going on. The problem with Homeland Security, experts will say, is that what happens the other 364 days of the year? You know, what happens to knit together the Pentagon with the state agencies with the counties agencies? Everybody is on this conference call but a day before a hurricane is probably to late to get the hard work done.

An ironic point is that this week Secretary Michael Chertoff with Homeland Security has been up defending the president's 2007 budget on Capitol Hill. A budget that Republican and Democrat critics say will cut funding for state preparedness grants and also doesn't increase money for port security. So there's a lot of additional work that four years after September 11th, you know, sceptics say remains to be done in this area.

MILES O'BRIEN: That's an interesting coincidence, a bit of irony there. Senior Political Analyst Bill Schneider, Spencer Hsu from "The Washington Post," thank you both for being with us this morning.

HSU: Thank you.

MILES O'BRIEN: Carol.

COSTELLO: Crews in Oklahoma battling a round of wildfires across the state. In Duncan, Oklahoma, 80 miles from Oklahoma City, officials say fires has destroyed too many homes to count. More than 500 people evacuated from Duncan and its neighboring towns. Sam Darst is a spokesman from the Duncan Fire Department. Sam joins us now.

Good morning, sir.

SAM DARST, DUNCAN FIRE DEPARTMENT: Good morning.

COSTELLO: I see the fire burning over your shoulder. How contained is it?

DARST: At this moment in time, the fire is contained. Overnight the crews spent their time mopping up hot spots and dousing out any rekindles, and that's kind of what's going on here today.

COSTELLO: So you would say about 90 percent contained? Is that accurate?

DARST: Yes or more. As you see these hot spots, you see mostly pieces of trees and whatnot. Everything around those trees has already been burned. So what they're doing is trying to keep those embers from floating somewhere and just dousing those areas as they flare up.

COSTELLO: You've lost too many homes to count. Can you give us a hard number this morning?

DARST: Well, you're talking here in rural Oklahoma. We have an estimation somewhere between 30 and 40 homes have been lost. We know that one church building has been lost and possibly another, and just a lot of timber. Not a lot of timber, but a lot of grassland. Approximately 7,000 to 8,000 acres at this point in time. And we hope to assess that and get you a better number later in the day.

COSTELLO: Let's talk about how this fire started. We know that one suspect is in custody right now. Who is that suspect?

DARST: I do not have the ability to give you that name at this time, or the liberty to. We do believe there are two suspects possibly. But at this time, I don't have those names to pass along.

COSTELLO: Well, Sam, are they men? Are they women? Are they young? Are they old?

DARST: I can't speculate on that either at this time.

COSTELLO: How did they supposedly start this fire?

DARST: Well, don't know the ignition system of this fire and we have ideas, but can't speculate on that at this time.

COSTELLO: How were you led to these two suspects? How did you know who to look for?

DARST: Well, you always have a starting point. And I'm not going to speak for the fire marshals or those that are doing their jobs, as law enforcement here. But I'm sure that they have breaks in this situation. I have not spoken to those individuals that made the arrest last night and until I do I can't tell you exactly.

COSTELLO: Well, you said they had a starting point. Where was the starting point?

DARST: Yes, ma'am. The starting point is approximately five and a half miles southwest of the city of Duncan, in the area of a small community called Empire here that everyone knows. And we have a perfect storm situation yesterday. We had winds out of the south at 40 miles per hour, 17 percent humidity, no rainfall to speak of over the last three to four months. You combine those things together, you get an ignition source, and something's going to give. And during the process of fighting this fire, the wind changed direction on top of it two times, switched to the west and then switched to the north during this fire. So you have a c. And if you'll -- if you can drive the countryside here, you would see that this fire is actually turned direction and come from three different directions.

COSTELLO: Oh, yes, it went in this circle around firefighters. Really frightening.

Sam Darst from the Duncan, Oklahoma, fire department.

And, Sam, if you want to stick around, we're going to go to our forecast center in Atlanta to check in with Chad about those swirling winds.

Give us an update, Chad.

(WEATHER REPORT)

COSTELLO: Andy is "Minding Your Business."

ANDY SERWER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I am.

COSTELLO: And what's coming up?

SERWER: Carol, what is the one single brand of American car that rates with the Japanese? Only one. Coming up next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SERWER: I think Carol's got a new thing going there.

MILES O'BRIEN: A thing for the Bond guy, huh?

COSTELLO: I think Daniel Craig is so attractive.

SERWER: I guess she likes blondes.

MILES O'BRIEN: So you're not going to that unbond site or whatever it is?

COSTELLO: No.

MILES O'BRIEN: The one where they want to unbond, de-bond him or whatever they do?

COSTELLO: I was just asking Andy if he saw that picture of him running on the beach without his shirt in the tabloids.

SERWER: You know, I missed that. It's funny.

MILES O'BRIEN: Is that like your Balero (ph) moment?

COSTELLO: That is my Balero moment.

SERWER: That is her Fabio moment.

COSTELLO: Oh, a big kiss to Daniel Craig.

MILES O'BRIEN: He looks like The Riddler.

COSTELLO: Oh, he does not.

MILES O'BRIEN: Remember, The Riddler. And he wears a life jacket.

SERWER: He's no Sean Connery, I'll tell you that. No Sean Connery.

COSTELLO: Let's get to business news, shall we?

SERWER: Get that dude off the screen. Come on. All right. Thank you.

MILES O'BRIEN: John Boy, they say. Who was it? Who was it? Scott?

COSTELLO: (INAUDIBLE).

SERWER: All right. Lt's talk about cars a little bit. You know, this "Consumer Reports" study came out today and it's great news for Japanese automakers and terrible news for U.S. automakers. Japan automakers swept the best sedans category. That's the biggy. Five Hondas, two Toyotas, two Subarus, and one Nissan. That is the best models. Of course, the difference between a model and a brand is that a model is a Mustang, the brand is Ford.

Now let's switch over . . .

COSTELLO: Thank you, Mr. Serwer.

MILES O'BRIEN: Thank you very much, Mr. Serwer.

SERWER: Well some people don't -- you know, some people don't know that.

MILES O'BRIEN: I was so confused. Thank you.

SERWER: Well, some people, because they're different categories here. We're just trying to help our viewers out. We know you guys are real in tuned here with this kind of stuff.

Now shall we talk about the brands? There is only one U.S. . . .

MILES O'BRIEN: Not the models, the brands.

SERWER: Yes. No, to be clear. Thank you.

There is only one brand in the top 10 of "Consumer Reports" most reliable vehicles, and it is the Mercury. The Mercury. Otherwise, it's all Japan again. The Lexus, the Honda, the Toyota, the Mitsubishi, the Subaru, the Acura, the Scion, and then, at number eight, the Merc.

COSTELLO: The Merc.

SERWER: Owned by Ford Motor Company, of course. Then you've got the Mazda. And the Merc is up from 16. So it made a lot of progress in terms of being a reliable vehicle, which is good news out there. What's the worst, the worst brand? Can you guess?

MILES O'BRIEN: Well, you set me up there. You're set me up there.

SERWER: I know. No, you know what it is, it's Porsche.

MILES O'BRIEN: Porsche. No, I never would have guessed that.

SERWER: The Porsche Cayenne rated . . .

MILES O'BRIEN: Really?

SERWER: Which is their SUV, rated very, very low.

MILES O'BRIEN: That's a good-looking vehicle.

SERWER: At least it costs a lot, though.

MILES O'BRIEN: But, yes, figure. You have that prestige of owning a very expensive lemon.

COSTELLO: Exactly.

SERWER: Yes.

MILES O'BRIEN: All right, thank you, Andy.

SERWER: You're welcome.

COSTELLO: Later on AMERICAN MORNING, we'll talk about the top cars with the editor of "Consumer Reports" auto testing division.

Also, Hollywood's abuzz about this Sunday's Oscars, but the heartland, not so much.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Oscars are for the people in California. I don't think anybody else really cares.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COSTELLO: Has he been talking to my dad? That is the sentiment in one tiny Midwest town. We'll take you there for a look at the Oscar disconnect.

And later, you don't want to get stuck with a hearing aid when you're older. Coming up . . .

MILES O'BRIEN: Huh?

COSTELLO: Stop that.

Coming up, tips for protecting your hearing as you enter your 30s, 40s and 50s.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MILES O'BRIEN: Hollywood's big night just a few days away which has folks across the country holding their collective breath, right? Well, maybe not. Just how much difference is there between Hollywood and the heartland? CNN's Brooke Anderson set out to find out.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROOKE ANDERSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Far from the glitz and glamour of Hollywood lies Lebanon, Kansas, population 250 people, median age 52. A place where three houses recently sold for a grand total of $11,000 on eBay.

Many have asked the question, is Hollywood out of touch with middle America? What better place to find out than the middle of America. This is the geographic center of the continental United States in Lebanon, Kansas.

RANDY MAUS, LEBANON RESIDENT: Out here, at least in rural America where you could say it's the Bible belt, we're still looking for movies that have creative substance and a storyline.

ANDERSON: Randy Maus is a Lebanon transplant from the Boston area. He, along with other Lebanon residence, including the ladies in the Methodist Church bell choir, aren't exactly thrilled with the films the Oscars are honoring.

Has anybody seen "Brokeback Mountain?"

LADIES: No.

ANDERSON: Anybody want to see it?

LADIES: No.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're just not interested in all the sex and skin.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's just not my style of life.

ANDERSON: What kind of movies do you want Hollywood to make?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What about "The Sound of Music" and some of those?

LADIES: Right. Right.

ANDERSON: We stopped by the Lebanon hotspot, Ladow's Market, where one local told us Hollywood just can't relate to a farming way of life?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They've never been back in here to know what it's like to actually have to make a living doing this.

ANDERSON: The closest theater is 12 miles away in Smith Center, Kansas. One movie theater, one film shown per week, and none of the movies nominated for best picture have played here.

MIKE HUGHES, CENTER THEATER: We have a large senior citizen base, so we gear a lot of our movies towards that and our children's pictures do real well.

ANDERSON: So say you put "Brokeback Mountain" on the screen? HUGHES: I feel it would not play very well. It wouldn't be profitable for us.

ANDERSON: Dave Karger, a senior writer for "Entertainment Weekly," says profits aren't the driving force behind the Academy Awards.

DAVE KARGER, "ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY": They're about recognizing the five best movies of the year, not the five most profitable movies of the year.

ANDERSON: Here in the middle of America, in Lebanon, the Oscars are as far from their minds as they seem to be from the minds of those in Hollywood.

Does anyone plan to watch the Academy Awards?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think the Oscars are for the people in California. I don't think anybody else really cares.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why waste your time? We'll come to bell choir practice.

ANDERSON: Brooke Anderson, CNN, Lebanon, Kansas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MILES O'BRIEN: Well, perhaps the bell is tolling for Hollywood there.

Another example of the disconnect here, follow the box office receipts. You know what they say, follow the money. The five movies nominated for best picture have gross a combined $222 million. Compare that to the $287 million grossed by "The Chronicles of Narnia," and the $216 million earned by "King Kong."

COSTELLO: Oh, that was a bad movie.

MILES O'BRIEN: "King Kong"?

COSTELLO: Yes.

MILES O'BRIEN: It had moments.

COSTELLO: Yes.

MILES O'BRIEN: It went on to long, though. I mean the . . .

COSTELLO: Yes, it's like, are they ever going to get to New York for God's sakes.

MILES O'BRIEN: Please. Please. Yes, and how did they get that chimp back to New York? They never solved that. On that little boat? They can do that. Boom, suddenly they're in New York.

COSTELLO: It's true. These are questions for another day. MILES O'BRIEN: These are questions that have been bothering me ever since I saw the movie. How did they get him back, you know?

COSTELLO: I know. Top stories coming up.

A nurse who killed 29 people will be sentenced today.

New FEMA transcripts reveal government confusion before Katrina.

Fierce wildfires burn in New Mexico and Oklahoma.

President Bush signs a landmark nuclear deal in India.

Plus, a career criminal is let out of jail to save his son. But his son's life now hangs in the balance due to a truly despicable act. Stay with us on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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