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American Morning
President Bush Asking Congress to Give Him Authority to Raise Fuel Economy Standards; What Do People in Iran Think of Americans?
Aired April 28, 2006 - 09:34 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: President Bush says one way to fight rising gas prices, make cars more fuel efficient. That seems reasonable. He's asking Congress to give him the authority to raise fuel economy standards.
Elaine Quijano in Washington with that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (on camera): With high gas prices persisting, President Bush and lawmakers here in Washington want to show Americans that they are taking steps to alleviate those high costs. That's why we saw President Bush yesterday in the Gulf Coast region encouraging Congress to give him the authority to change fuel economy standards for cars. He already has that authority for light trucks.
Now right now the standard for cars is 27 1/2 miles per gallon. That's been the same standard since 1990. Administration officials say that they want to change the standards, or at least take a look at changing them in a way that is safe and cost effective. Now that's just one idea being talked about by Congress, important to keep in mind that all this discussion about high gas prices and what to do about them is taking place as members of Congress are looking ahead to those midterm elections coming up in November. Important to note as well that in this case, changing fuel economy standards would be a long-term solution because it would take time to implement such a law and it would take time to create a law like that in the first place.
Elaine Quijano, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
S. O'BRIEN: Here's a question for you, what do people in Iran think of Americans? To answer that question, let's go to CNN's Aneesh Raman. He's in Tehran, and paying a visit to the social center of any country, a mall.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In Tehran, population 10 million, the two constants are crowds and traffic. And amid them both, we went to find out what Iranians think of Americans.
(on camera): It's incredibly difficult for us to get inside public places here, like malls or cafes, and so where we're headed now is Banak (ph) Square, where Tehran's rich go shopping.
(voice-over): Here, we find 27-year-old Shana, who's never been to the U.S., but from all she's seen would like to go.
"Radio, TV, satellite," she says. "When we see American films we get to see how they live and how we behave. They are similar to Iranians. They are humane."
You have to look hard to find Americana in Iran. U.S. brands are banned but there is a KFC, that's Kabooky Fried Chicken. And there's Pepsi, but not really, a ripoff from Dubai.
(on camera): To find out what Iranians thing about anything, it depends on where you go. We were just in the north, where the more affluent liberal people live, and now we've come to the conservative south, to the capital's biggest market.
(voice-over): Here there's less awareness of the U.S. The last American movie Benjamin (ph) saw was "Terminator 2."
He says the media here should do a better job of covering the U.S. a state media that concentrates on hostilities, with past emotion still on display.
This mural sanctioned by Iran's government still hangs prominently just off a main highway, and just days ago a demonstration, celebrating the crash of helicopters in 1980 during a failed attempt to save the American hostages.
Now 25 years later, shopkeeper Ali says, so long as the U.S. government pressures or people, our people will say death to America, but not to the people of America. And it is architect Nashin's (ph) view that goes one step further, that two societies can connect, even if their governments cannot.
"Political problems have always existed," she says, "but our experience with the culture of Americans has been positive. A lot of thing they do is a model for me, including the way they work so hard, and their willingness to learn from others."
Aneesh Raman, CNN in the Iranian capital, Tehran.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
M. O'BRIEN: OK, so do you ever wonder what happens to that spanking new golf ball you just shanked into the lily pad-covered pond on that fairway there? Well, guys like Stephen Martinez don scuba gear and pull a Jacques Cousteau in search of the not-so-rare marine maroon Titlist. Hey, it's a living. And most days a pretty routine job, until you run into an angry alligator, which is what happened to Stephen the other day. He is here to tell us the rest of the story, as they say.
Steve Martinez joining us now from Florida.
Stephen... STEPHEN MARTINEZ, ATTACKED THE ALLIGATOR: Good morning.
M. O'BRIEN: Glad you're well, relatively speaking. You've got a hurt arm there. I can see you've got the sling and all that. You've been doing this for 15 years. Surely over time in Florida you have seen plenty of alligators. How was Tuesday different?
MARTINEZ: Well, started diving for about a half an hour, and felt something tugging on the back of my tank, and I knew it couldn't have been a turtle or some large cat fish or what have you. It wound up being a gator as I feared.
M. O'BRIEN: The gator bit your tank.
MARTINEZ: Yes. The back of my tank. As I was reaching. I carry a knife on my right leg. As I was reaching for my knife with my right hand, it had latched on to my left arm and completely locking my hands in its mouth.
M. O'BRIEN: Wow. And so I assume you felt a fair amount of pain at that point, a tremendous amount of pressure. I can only imagine that.
My immediate reaction would be to try to pull my hand out. That's probably not a good thing, and you had the presence of mind to understand that, right?
MARTINEZ: Yes, I was going to pull my hand out. And I thought about it. As tight as he had me, it would have ripped my hand to shreds. Luckily I thought it through, rode with him for a while, and he started pulling me toward the middle of the lake. We started to roll, and I rolled with him for once -- luckily he didn't keep rolling on me, and I just saw the chance to start punching him, and it felt like it was going forever.
M. O'BRIEN: I can imagine.
You never got to your knife, right? So you were just using your free fist to punch the alligator, essentially, right?
MARTINEZ: Exactly. Exactly.
M. O'BRIEN: Did you have the sense that the alligator was responding in any way, or did he just keep clamping on to your hand? What happened eventually?
MARTINEZ: He got tighter and tighter. There was -- I kept waiting for a point when he was going to try for at least another bite or what have you, and that chance never came, and that's when I realized as well again that I'm in some serious trouble.
M. O'BRIEN: yes.
MARTINEZ: This thing's going rip my arm off. So I took the fear of losing my hand and just started punching him, and luckily after quite a few punches it had finally released, and I tucked my arm close to me and swam to shore as fast as possible.
M. O'BRIEN: Oh, my gosh. How deep was the water where you were at that time?
MARTINEZ: It was about eight feet deep.
M. O'BRIEN: So it wasn't even that deep that. But you must have been just sucking down the air in your tank and everything. And when you got to the surface, were there golfers around? Did you get help pretty much right away?
MARTINEZ: Yes, I was assisted very nicely at the golf course. They were very kind to me.
M. O'BRIEN: All right, so all things considered, you had some puncture wounds, but you've still got your hand. That's a good thing.
Of course the question on everybody's mind. You're living, golf ball retriever, scuba style. Will you do it again?
MARTINEZ: Yes. To me, it's like any job. I mean -- well, not like any job.
(LAUGHTER)
M. O'BRIEN: It's not any job, Steve!
MARTINEZ: There's always going to be danger. The person doing construction has incredible dangers. Even the person cutting a lawn. You know, something can happen. There's always that chance that's something's going to happen.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
MARTINEZ: And my just about just happens to be one of those.
M. O'BRIEN: So back you go.
MARTINEZ: Yes, I'll be back in the in as soon as possible.
M. O'BRIEN: By all mean, be safe. I'm sure you'll be looking for gators.
MARTINEZ: I will.
M. O'BRIEN: Stephen Martinez...
MARTINEZ: Thank you.
M. O'BRIEN: ... a brave man indeed who risked life and limb in pursuit of golf balls and lived to tell the tale. Thank you for your time.
MARTINEZ: Thank you.
S. O'BRIEN: Not a lot of danger in your job. No alligator is going to bite you. I loved the way he said, there's danger in every job.
Good for him. It's nice to see that he's well, and he looks good.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
(WEATHER REPORT)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BUSINESS HEADLINES)
KAGAN: "CNN LIVE TODAY" is coming up next. Daryn Kagan will be taking to the con (ph) at point. What's coming up, Daryn?
DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Miles, good morning.
You are just minutes away from "CNN LIVE TODAY." You're going to meet grandfather and grandson, a touching story of life's unexpected turns. I'll talk with Dan Gottlieb about his book "Letters to Sam."
The controversial movie "Flight 93" opens today. I'll talk with a man who lost his wife on 9/11, and we'll go to Hollywood for one critic's take on the film, and then there's this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Emotions got the best of them. I'm most definitely positive that he probably didn't mean to do that on purpose.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAGAN: One of baseball's rising stars loses his cool at the plate. Bats fly when LIVE TODAY gets started at the top of the hour.
Please, play nicely up there in New York.
S. O'BRIEN: Wow.
M. O'BRIEN: His strike zone just got very small, just about like that.
S. O'BRIEN: Or actually...
SERWER: Yes, and what were we saying about dangerous job, too, right?
M. O'BRIEN: Wow. He will not get a pitch.
Thank you very much, Daryn Kagan.
(CROSSTALK)
S. O'BRIEN: I wonder who threw that.
M. O'BRIEN: Huh?
SERWER: We're going to find out next hour. You'll have to stay tuned, right?
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, wow.
M. O'BRIEN: All right, "A.M. Pop" is straight ahead on AMERICAN MORNING . Today Cheryl Hines is checking in with us. The movie is "R.V." You may recognize her from "Curb Your Enthusiasm." We'll talk about whether that show is going to come back for another season. It's all up to Larry. Everything's about Larry in that show, as you. But we'll talk about Robin, too. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
M. O'BRIEN: She plays Larry David's TV wife in "Curb Your Enthusiasm." In her new movie "R.V.," Cheryl Hines is married to another comic, crazy Robin Williams. The film is about an ill-fated family vacation, an R.V. road trip with a family who puts the funk in dysfunctional.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FEMALE ROBOT VOICE: You are 31 hours from your destination.
CHERYL HINES, ACTRESS: What's that?
ROBIN WILLIAMS, ACTOR: Roadmate 700. I call her Lola.
FEMALE ROBOT VOICE: Make a right in 100 feet.
WILLIAMS: Thank you, Lola. She's accurate to within ten feet.
HINES: Go straight.
WILLIAMS: Lola says take a right.
HINES: Well, you'll hit mall traffic. Just go straight.
FEMALE ROBOT VOICE: Fifty feet.
WILLIAMS: Yes, but she said take a right.
HINES: Well, I'm telling you to go straight.
FEMALE ROBOT VOICE: Twenty feet.
HINES: Choose.
WILLIAMS: Please.
HINES: Choose!
FEMALE ROBOT VOICE: Turn right. HINES: Choose!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Dad!
WILLIAMS: Whoa!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
M. O'BRIEN: Robin Williams' is the wrong choice. Always go with the wife in the seat. Cheryl Hines, thanks for being here. Always...
HINES: Thank you for having me.
M. O'BRIEN: I've had this very argument with the "Betty," as I call her and my wife. And I always go with the wife.
HINES: Your wife. That's smart. Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes, this looks like a lot of fun. Did you have fun making this thing?
HINES: Oh, my gosh, we had so much fun. It was like going to summer camp. Truly! But in an R.V. with Robin Williams. So if that sounds like fun, then it was a blast.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes, I guess fun is how you define it. But what -- the whole notion of working with him. I mean, he is -- he makes stuff up on the fly. And that's what we've been doing in "Curb Your Enthusiasm," so you were like the natural person to go to on that.
HINES: Well, that's very sweet of you to say.
M. O'BRIEN: Well, you do a good job with that.
HINES: Well, thank you. You know, we had a good time. So, yes, there's a lot of improvising that goes on, and you know, you learn just not to plan anything and expect everything. And, of course, with Robin, you get everything. You never know what's around the corner.
M. O'BRIEN: And this whole notion of doing feature-length films, as opposed to TV? Do you like that?
HINES: I love it. And we had so much fun. You know, it's a different experience. You go off on location and you kind of hang out with everybody for months at a time. And it's really cool.
M. O'BRIEN: Yes.
HINES: Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: Tell us about the show. I'm a big fan. Love it. And I sit there and I watch and I know you don't have a script. We're talking about "Curb Your Enthusiasm" now.
HINES: Yes. M. O'BRIEN: I know you don't have a script, you just sort of have a general idea of what the story is about. And that is, in fact, an improvement. How do you keep a straight face with Larry David and the stuff he pulls off?
HINES: It's so hard. That's the hardest part of my job. I mean, even in "R.V.," trying to keep a straight face. I get yelled at a lot because I can't do it. But with Larry, I've really learned to bite the inside of my cheek. I do that a lot. Because I don't want to the ruin -- the one to ruin the take. So Larry breaks all the time. He laughs all the time.
M. O'BRIEN: But he's allowed to because it's his show.
HINES: He's allowed to because it's his show. But if I break, it's like, how dare you ruin my take. So I just try to think of -- I was going say something bad. We don't need to do that in the morning.
M. O'BRIEN: You think of bad things. You think of bad things. And so is the show going continue on? What's the thinking on that?
HINES: That is the million dollar question.
M. O'BRIEN: You'll be there if Larry decides...
HINES: I will be there. I don't know if Larry's coming back. No. I don't know. I'm waiting for Larry to decide. You know, after every season, from the very beginning, after we would finish shooting our ten episodes, he'd say, I can't do any more.
M. O'BRIEN: The movie is "R.V.," the program is "Curb Your Enthusiasm." We hope it isn't curbed. We hope to see another season of it.
HINES: Thank you.
M. O'BRIEN: Thanks for dropping by.
HINES: Thank you for having me.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: That's it. We're out of time on this Friday morning. Oh, no happier words were said.
M. O'BRIEN: That's a week. That's a week. That's a wrap!
S. O'BRIEN: That's a wrap! We're out of here.
M. O'BRIEN: Daryn, it's yours.
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