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American Morning

Invoking Vietnam: Bush to Argue Against Iraq Pullout; Dean's Next Stop; Tips on Managing Diabetes

Aired August 22, 2007 - 08:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR (voice over): Water world. Residents rescued from rooftops as floods rise in the Midwest.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were trapped on a roof. The Coast Guard had actually come in with a helicopter and dropped a line.

CHETRY: A new round of extreme weather threatening to make things worse today.

And Hurricane Dean set to make a second landfall. New pictures of the damage left behind and a new look directly into the eye of the storm.

Plus, one on one. Live with Elizabeth Edwards on politics, her personal life, and the often combative race for president on this AMERICAN MORNING.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHETRY: And welcome. It's Wednesday. It's August 22nd.

Glad you're with us.

I'm Kiran Chetry.

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Rick Sanchez, filling in for John.

And we do have an awful lot of news. A lot of it weather- related, but there's also political news that we're going to be bringing you as well.

CHETRY: That's right. We're pleased to say Elizabeth Edwards is going to be joining us in about 15 minutes.

First, though, we have some breaking news from Iraq and some reports within the last few hours about the crash of American Black Hawk helicopter and the deaths of 14 U.S. troops.

The U.S. Military says that two U.S. choppers were on a night mission flying in northern Iraq when one went down. They're saying it's because of mechanical failure, not enemy fire. It is the deadliest crash since January of 2005, when 31 troops died in a Marine helicopter crash. President Bush will be talking about the war today in Kansas City. The White House saying that he plans to use Vietnam's legacy in a speech at the Veterans of Foreign Wars convention in Kansas City.

CNN's Ed Henry is traveling with the president in Kansas City.

And it's interesting that he will make these comparisons, because for so long, the administration shunned those types of comparisons.

ED HENRY, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: You're right, Kiran. Good morning.

And the fact of the matter is, this is all about setting expectations for the progress report that the president will deliver to the American people next month. Yesterday in Canada, the president expressed his disappointment, his frustration with Nuri al-Maliki. That's because this report next month is clearly going to show that the Iraqi prime minister is not stepping up enough.

Today, before this friendly audience, the VFW convention, the president will start laying the groundwork for buying more time for General Petraeus and the surge on the ground in Iraq. Mr. Bush will say, "Our troops are seeing this progress on the ground, and as they take the initiative from the enemy, they have a question -- will their elected leaders in Washington pull the rug out from under them just as they are ganting momentum and changing the dynamic on the ground in Iraq? My answer is clear: we will support our troops, we will support or commanders, and we will give them everything they need to succeed."

As you noted, the president also will actually use the Vietnam War to try and make his case, asserting that a U.S. pullout there led to even more trouble, more slaughter. And then he will try to suggest that that could happen in Iraq if the U.S. pulls out as well.

The flip side, of course, is that critics note there's another comparison between Vietnam and Iraq, the fact that Vietnam was a quagmire -- Kiran.

CHETRY: Let's get back to the comments about the prime minister of Iraq, Nuri al-Maliki. There's been pressure on the Bush administration in the past to be more critical of Maliki. And in light of the report that comes out showing there hasn't been a lot of political progress, what are the options, Ed?

HENRY: There really are very few. And that is why the president has been sticking with Nuri al-Maliki all through various criticism in recent months. But now the president is under more pressure.

You have Democrats like Carl Levin saying it's finally time for Maliki to go. The president realizes maybe he doesn't want to be too closely tied to Prime Minister Maliki at this point, but as you noted, the problem that even Democrats admits, not just the White House, is there are no real other options.

If Maliki were to go, this process is so far along, it would be so difficult to find another prime minister to try to bring together all the parties and try to forge that reconciliation. So this is the person the president has been dancing with, this is the person he's going to have to stick with -- Kiran.

CHETRY: All right. Ed Henry in Kansas City, Missouri.

Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Hey, Kiran, from the big wall, we want to show you some of the stories that we're following right now.

And right directly behind me, you see the situation that they're dealing with in parts of the Midwest. I believe that's in Ohio.

Twenty-two people have died as a result of the flooding in the United States. We're all watching the situation down south around Mexico because they got a Category 5 hurricane, and we've got this taking place in our own back yard.

In fact, let me walk over here. I want to show you something else. Come on over here.

You see that helicopter rescue? That's what they're having to do in certain parts of places like Minnesota and Ohio because of all that flooding. And that's a serious situation that they're dealing with there.

By the way, we're going to do a little tease on what -- how to actually do those kind of rescues. I'll be telling you about an assignment that I'm going on in a little bit.

And let me walk a little bit further now and I'll show you Reynolds Wolf, because he's been following all of this. Busy guy. You can always tell when he is busy when he starts rolling his sleeves up. Little by little, they keep going higher and higher by the end of the day.

(WEATHER REPORT)

CHETRY: Reynolds just gave us a look at it. Now we're going to check in with Ed Lavandera, who's in Tuxpan, Mexico. It's Mexico City's closest port along the Gulf of Mexico and a major shipping post, and that's where the rain is beginning to fall.

Hi there. What's the scene, Ed?

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kiran.

Well, we're starting to see the initial bands of what is left of Hurricane Dean come on shore. They come in waves here.

We've seen about three passes through. We've had some rather heavy rain. And you can see here the river that runs out of the mountains, out this way toward the Gulf of Mexico. And this river is moving at quite a clip.

You mentioned this is a crucial port here because of its proximity to Mexico City. But, for the most part, it's almost as business as usual here this morning.

We've had several people coming up to us, trying to get a sense of when the storm is going to hit. It's almost like they're trying to plan out their morning routine here, see what they can get done before they have to seek shelter.

City buses are out here. We've seen them coming and going. Traffic is moving along here.

Some members of the military here. We've seen trucks like this, convoys like this, kind of run up and down the street. They've been doing patrols throughout the night.

Many people here -- down here in the city should be OK, but some of these streets flood rather quickly. The concern is up in the mountains.

As you leave Tuxpan here and you go up into the mountains, as we drove in, we saw many villages scattered throughout these mountainsides, on the hillsides, that were very precarious. And heavy downpour seemed it would be easy to wipe all of that away -- Kiran.

CHETRY: All right. Well, we'll be watching and tracking that forecast and checking in with you throughout the day.

Ed Lavandera in Tuxpan, Mexico.

Thank you -- Rick.

SANCHEZ: Just when it seemed, Kiran, the economy was doing fairly well, there is really a serious problem with the credit crunch, the foreclosures, the mortgages. This is serious.

Ali Velshi has been following it for us.

And can we take Ali up? There he is.

Ali, you know, we're hearing now there is, what, another big lender out there that is going to have problems? Or is it a builder?

ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we -- both. I've got a builder and I've got a lender with problems. In fact, and I'm -- and this is just happening as we're coming in.

We're just hearing from HSBC that it is closing a mortgage unit in Indiana, laying off 600 people. We're just calling to get confirmation on that.

But earlier this morning, we heard from a company called First Magnus, which is the 16th largest mortgage lender in the United States and one of the biggest independent mortgage lenders. They are filing for bankruptcy.

That's the note you will see on their Web site, saying, "In light of the collapse of the secondary mortgage market," they're not going to fund any future loans. Not accepting any mortgage loan applications.

Six thousand people laid off there. In fact, Rick, in the last three business days, we now have topped 9,000 layoffs in the mortgage business.

We also heard this morning from Toll Brothers, which is the seventh largest homebuilder in the country. Its quarterly profits down 85 percent.

Now, look at the picture there. Toll Brothers builds the big houses, more than $750,000. Even that side of the market is being hammered. The jumbo loans that you need when you buy a house like that, over $417,000, there is a premium that you pay above the normal mortgage rates for those loans even if you have perfect credit.

So, this is spreading around the economy. We have got a few more mortgage organizations in trouble this morning. And all of the major homebuilders in America are now in a situation where they will have a loss for all of 2007, maybe even 2008 -- Rick.

SANCHEZ: You used a term I'm not familiar with. Maybe other people are -- secondary mortgage lenders. Are these the guys who come in and try and make you a deal after you already have a mortgage?

VELSHI: Secondary mortgage market, in this instance, refers to what your lender does with the mortgage once they have it.

SANCHEZ: Oh.

VELSHI: This whole problem has been in the secondary market because what they do is they take these mortgages and they sell it to another investor or a bank, and that is where we've seen the Bear Stearns of the world, the Goldman Sachs, those people, because they buy that as an investment.

SANCHEZ: Got it.

VELSHI: And that is where this -- so this thing has trickled up from the mortgage borrower into the investment community.

SANCHEZ: And those are the heavy hitters, right?

VELSHI: The heaviest of the heavy hitters, that's right.

SANCHEZ: Yes.

VELSHI: And that's why we've seen the markets suffer.

SANCHEZ: Good stuff. Ali Velshi, thanks for bringing it.

VELSHI: All right.

SANCHEZ: I mean, not good stuff, but w appreciate you being on top of it for us. It's important information.

More than 20 million people in the United States suffer from diabetes, a disease that can certainly have its effect on people as well, and be as deadly if not treated properly.

CNN's chief medical correspondent Sanjay Gupta joining us now.

I guess the idea here is you've got some things that you could share that could keep people from having to go this route, right?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. You know, absolutely.

You think about diabetes. You think about the sixth leading cause of death. You've talked about the numbers.

Diabetes can really go in one of two directions. It can be extremely manageable, where you have a normal life span, or it can be something that leads to stroke, heart disease and lots of other problems.

Simple tips here, Rick, to try and get people through this.

First of all, know your medications. Whether you're taking medications to control your blood glucose, or whether you're taking insulin itself, you've really got to know what the medications are, know the proper dosing, know when you should take it and know its relationship to food and when you should take it with relationship to food.

Also, build a power team. I'm a doctor telling you this. Obviously, you want to see your doctor.

There are other people who are very important as well when it comes to managing your diabetes overall. A nurse practitioner can help out a lot, a nutrition might help you as well maintaining a good diet in addition to your medications. Very important.

Also, know your levels. A lot of people have diabetes and they're not sure what their blood glucose level is at any given time. Checking it often is really a critical concern. It really helps you manage, along with your doctor, your nurse's help, the best dosing of your medication, the best dosing of the insulin.

You really need to know those levels to keep things in check -- Rick.

SANCHEZ: What -- you've got some other couple of tips that you can help us with, right?

GUPTA: Yes. So, there's a couple of others as well.

By the way, when it comes to levels, you know, around 100 is considered a pretty good level, according to the American Diabetic Association. It depends on where your preexisting levels are, but shoot for around 100.

Also, stay active. You know, you get the diagnosis, you've been told you're a diabetic. Now is the time to try and change your life a little bit. Try and get some exercise back into your life. And the fifth thing really has to do with nutrition. There are all sorts of different diabetic diets out there. A lot of them focus on lower carbohydrates, lower sugars. It's important to have a very sensible diet to make sure you're getting your fruits and vegetables, just as you would if you're trying to do ward off heart disease, stroke or anything else.

This is a very manageable problem. People watching who are diabetic -- and there are many of you out there who are the diabetic or at risk for it -- you can manage this disease and have a normal life span if you just do a few simple things.

SANCHEZ: Jogging in Central Park, does that work? I did that yesterday.

GUPTA: Yes. I heard it's nice and cool there for you today, too. Go do that.

And by the way, I'll check your blood pressure when you get back. You've been talking about this all morning.

SANCHEZ: This guy is always on me. These doctors, you know.

Thanks, man. I appreciate it.

GUPTA: All right. We'll see you.

SANCHEZ: Kiran, over to you.

CHETRY: Thanks, Rick.

Well, she stood up to the mighty Ann Coulter, she challenged Senator Hillary Clinton on women's issues. The outspoken Elizabeth Edwards is going to be joining us live to talk about her husband's bid for president and some of the issues closest to her heart in just a minute.

Also, more people losing the place that they call home. Where the mortgage meltdown is hitting hardest and why, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING.

Elizabeth Edwards is increasingly vocal on the campaign trail these days. She's promoting the candidacy of her husband, John Edwards, of course. But not only is she willing to take on some of the other candidates, at times she is also willing to break with her husband on some issues.

And she has a new paperback edition of her book "Saving Graces". There it is now. And she's added to it.

Elizabeth Edwards joins me now.

Great to have you with us.

ELIZABETH EDWARDS, JOHN EDWARDS' WIFE: It's great to be with you.

CHETRY: I was up reading this book last night. Definitely shed a few tears. It's a very touching story. And you talk about your new diagnosis of cancer.

EDWARDS: Yes.

CHETRY: How are you doing health-wise?

EDWARDS: I feel strong. I don't have any side-effects. No symptoms, I should say, and no side-effects from the medicines I'm taking. So I feel strong. You know, I realize I have got that lurking, but I try not to think about it too much and worry about other people's health care and not my own.

CHETRY: Well, you certainly have a lot of things to keep you busy. You're campaigning out with your husband.

EDWARDS: Yes.

CHETRY: You guys are all over the place. You're raising two small children. And you're also worrying about your health.

How do you juggle it all? How do you keep all of the balls in the air?

EDWARDS: I mean, I think that there are people all over the country who are doing just what I do, and some in much harder circumstances. I have a lot of support. You know, a campaign full of energetic young people who are always happy to help, particularly with the younger two, who are a lot of fun.

CHETRY: They go with you everywhere?

EDWARDS: Not everywhere. They were with us last week in Iowa on a bus tour, and starting tomorrow in New Hampshire they'll be back on the road with us again.

CHETRY: You know, you haven't been just out campaigning, but you're been actually one of the most outspoken of the candidates' wives. In fact, you've drawn some fire from some of the things you've said...

EDWARDS: I have.

CHETRY: ... including in an interview with a blogger earlier in the month where you talked about finding ways to get the message out. And you said, "We can't make John black. We can't make him a woman. Those things get a lot of press."

Do you regret those comments?

EDWARDS: Well, I mean, maybe I could have stated it in a better way, because the point I was trying to make is, I think the press is legitimately interested in what is really a fascinating story, a candidate with an African-American heritage, a woman candidate, and I don't -- I don't begrudge the press being interested in it, but it is hard to get a candidate who doesn't have those atmospherics and is just trying to talk about policy into the discussion.

So, because he doesn't have them and we can't do anything about that, we've been relying very heavily in making certain that we use the Internet. You know? You don't have to go to "The New York Times" to read about his policies. You can go to johnedwards.com and read about his policies.

So if we can't get in that story, we do have another avenue to speak to people.

CHETRY: Well, the Internet and bloggers certainly have changed the game. I mean, when you have candidates announcing their candidacy on the Internet...

EDWARDS: That's right.

CHETRY: ... times have certainly changed.

EDWARDS: Yes.

CHETRY: You know...

EDWARDS: People felt that about the television at one point, you know. So...

CHETRY: Exactly. And probably radio as well.

EDWARDS: Yes.

CHETRY: Well, you've publicly disagreed with your husband on one issue that's been big in the campaign, and that was gay marriage. You said, "I don't know why somebody else's marriage has anything to do with me. I'm completely comfortable with gay marriage."

Does it hurt your husband's campaign when you publicly disagree with him on big issues?

EDWARDS: I don't think so. I think most people, certainly people who have been married for 30 years like we have, recognize that you're not going to agree on everything. And I was just answering the direct question.

I honestly don't think that my position means anything, that people should be voting for the candidates themselves and what the candidates believe. That's why, unless I'm directly asked -- and even then usually I try to defer it first. But if someone is persistent, I will tell them what my opinion is.

CHETRY: Do you -- do you try to sway him about issues that you feel strongly about? EDWARDS: I try to be a legitimate sounding board for him. He knows I don't have an agenda separate from his, so I can -- if he wants to bounce something off of me, I try to do that. But I don't consider myself, my job as a spouse, to try to persuade him.

CHETRY: Now, some people have said you're a different Elizabeth Edwards than we saw as the wife of the vice presidential running mate. Has your ongoing battle with cancer, your health issues made you feel freer and less caring about the criticism to express your opinion?

EDWARDS: Honestly, I think that I've not really changed. I just -- I was traveling on a news free zone before. Nobody really covered me.

I would be in smaller markets talking to smaller groups, usually of women, about women's issues. And had very little press follow me.

Now there's more press. People who do know me from 2004 know that I haven't actually changed.

CHETRY: How come you added to the book? What else did you feel was important to say? You have a new -- some new chapters in here, and also it's in paperback now.

EDWARDS: Well, you know, when the publisher said they were going to publish it in paperback and asked whether I would write a new chapter -- you know, it might make it interesting to people that there was something updated in it -- I didn't yet have my diagnosis, my new diagnosis, when I agreed to do it. And I actually wrote a chapter about the book tour and the wonderful people I had met there, the connections on the tour, and had written about the beginnings of this campaign. But obviously, the diagnosis has changed everything.

And so I had to rewrite the chapter because, you know, I think the book ends -- the original hardback ends in a very hopeful way. And this is maybe a little more somber because my condition is a little more somber.

CHETRY: It was -- it did make you cry at some times, but it also made you laugh. I especially identified with you when you talked about your mother giving you a Toni home perm. I think we were all victims of the Toni home perm at the hands of our parents.

EDWARDS: You look too young for that.

CHETRY: No. I had one, too. I think starting at age 3.

Elizabeth Edwards, great to meet you.

EDWARDS: It's really good to meet you.

CHETRY: And good luck on the campaign trail. Thanks for being with us.

EDWARDS: Thanks very much. Thanks.

CHETRY: Rick.

SANCHEZ: What an inspiration. That's great.

Well, by the way, here is this story we're following -- lots of crocodiles in Mexico? They say they found almost a hundred crocodiles in small swimming pools in some guy's back yard. Some were six feet long.

He now has five days to prove where he got them, how he got them, and what he's going to do with them.

Well, take a look at this sinkhole. This is in east Cleveland, Ohio.

It's at least 40 feet wide, getting bigger because of some heavy rain in the Midwest. The family that lives on the property won't stay in the house. The neighbors are worried that it will eventually swallow their houses.

They're going to be following it, and so will we.

Also, the housing boom gone a bust. Another sign that the market is in deep trouble. Who is losing their houses and why?

That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Welcome back to the most news in the morning.

A deal at the pump topping your "Quick Hits" now.

Gas for 29 cents in Scranton, Pennsylvania. It was a mistake made by a clerk. It ended up costing the station $700 in the five hours it took them to finally notice the error.

There you see it on the car (ph) as well.

The manager is saying he's going to use the customers' credit card info to charge them the difference, but, hey, if you paid in cash you get a bit of a break.

Well, imagine losing a ring, your wedding ring, of all things, and in all places, how about down that chute, a Port-A-Potty toilet? Well, this man in Ohio took the ring off to wash his hands.

Show me a Port-A-Potty -- where do you wash your hands in them?

Anyway, he was -- he was in some trouble, some deep doo doo, if you will, with his wife.

SANCHEZ: Oh, no! You didn't say that, did you?

CHETRY: Luckily, though, someone from the Port-A-Potty company was able to fish it out and, look, he is all smiles again.

SANCHEZ: Speaking of deep doo doo, there is the foreclosure markets in this country.

And yes, as we said just a while ago, there are problems.

We were talking to Ali Velshi. He is talking about there's another lender out there with problems, there's another builder out there with problems.

What does this mean for us?

You know, everybody wants to either buy a home, sell their home, or do something. So let's bring in our expert. Our finance editor, Gerri Willis, is here with a couple of answers about what's going on all over the country.

GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: It's mostly people who want to sell their home. Let me tell you, that's the big problem.

SANCHEZ: And we're not talking about port-a-potties here, right?

WILLIS: No. Although, maybe later, that could be integrated. I don't know.

All right. Well, the foreclosure numbers, that's what we're taking a look at today.

SANCHEZ: Right.

WILLIS: For July, up and up dramatically. Up over 90 percent from last year. Nine percent from last month.

SANCHEZ: Wow.

WILLIS: This is painful, Rick.

Let's take a look at the places where these numbers are the highest.

California: 39,000 homes in foreclosure. Michigan, Ohio, Florida, you can see there are a ton of them out there where people are really, really struggling.

Now I want to zoom in on a couple of states, Nevada and Michigan. Nevada, for example, has one in 199 homes that are in foreclosure, as you can see right here. Wow.

SANCHEZ: Let me fix that for you.

WILLIS: Thank you, sir. I appreciate your help.

SANCHEZ: There you go.

WILLIS: You were born to do this.

OK. Now, as you know, Nevada, it has a lot of problems right now with the housing market.

SANCHEZ: Yes, that's weird. Nevada and Michigan of all places. I guess because of the big boom in Las Vegas, right?

WILLIS: The boom in Las Vegas. Michigan is a flip side of the coin.

You've seen such a falloff in the economy there, Rick. I mean, it's a nightmare there.

Let's look at this in a little more detail. It's a tale of two cities, really.

Nevada, as you said, is really about Las Vegas. Las Vegas, big growing town. Lots of investors coming from all over the country to buy in Vegas.

Baby, it's over. There are...

SANCHEZ: Yes, that's a problem. You know, the same thing happened in Vegas, the same thing happened in south Florida. Everybody wants to go in and get a condo, and it doesn't work that way, right?

WILLIS: One in 31 homes...

SANCHEZ: Rent is too much.

WILLIS: ... in foreclosure.

Michigan, the story is Detroit. I'm telling you, it's the economy there. So many people being laid off in the auto industry. And as you can see, one in 29 households in Detroit in foreclosure.

So...

SANCHEZ: I guess the flip side -- the flip side is there might be bargains there eventually as well?

WILLIS: There will be bargains. The bottom fishers are already out. But I've got to tell you, foreclosures, the experts here say that the rates will run twice what they originally anticipated for this year.

SANCHEZ: Wow.

Gerri Willis, thanks so much. Good info.

WILLIS: You're welcome.

SANCHEZ: Well, we're going to be having more with Gerri right here on weekends. It's called "OPEN HOUSE". If you haven't seen it, you should, because it's a hot show. A lot of people love this, Saturday, 9:30 Eastern, right here on CNN.

How did I do?

WILLIS: That was fabulous.

SANCHEZ: Kiran, over to you.

CHETRY: All right. Thanks, guys.

Well, here's a look at one story coming up that you can't miss this.

You know, you get into a fight with your spouse. Sometimes people say it's better to hold your temper, right, maybe not let loose and say what is really on your mind? Well, Dr. Sanjay Gupta is going to tell us why, especially for wives out there, it could be hazardous to your health.

Sanjay Gupta is going to explain when AMERICAN MORNING comes right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SANCHEZ: It is Wednesday. It is August 22nd. And that is New York City. That's right, folks. We are going to be giving you images of all different parts of the country. But New York today, because it's a strange day in New York. It's not supposed to be this cold.

CHETRY: It's 60 degrees right now.

SANCHEZ: That's crazy.

CHETRY: It's only warming up about nine more degrees for a high today. There went my pen. Yeah. Ten degrees warmer than yesterday where we had 59 degrees breaking records all over the place.

SANCHEZ: Isn't that amazing?

CHETRY: The high has never been that low since 1911.

SANCHEZ: Your pen fell in your purse and we'd try to look for it, but I think it would take a couple of days, the size of that thing.

I'm Rick Sanchez. Hi, everybody. I'm filling in for John. This is Kiran, with the big purse.

CHETRY: That's right. I've got a lot of baggage to carry around sometimes in the morning.

SANCHEZ: Well said.

CHETRY: We begin with a story we've been following for a few weeks now. A self-confessed pedophile taking pictures of little girls, posting them on the web, even rating them; parents and neighbors outraged and so concerned they went to court and were able to get a restraining order against him.

There has been a startling new twist in the case. AMERICAN MORNING's Alina Cho has the story of Jack McClellan; she joins us now with more on that.

Hi, Alina.

ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, Kiran.

We've been talking about this all morning long that parents really have taken this on as a personal crusade. You may remember we last told you about this disturbing story just a week ago.

Police had arrested 45-year-old Jack McClellan for hanging around a UCLA day care center. Well, just yesterday, that twist we were talking about, he was released from jail on a technicality. McClellan had been charged with violating a restraining order, making it illegal to be within 10 yards, or 30 feet of any child in California. But herein lies the problem: The judge failed to schedule an additional hearing that could have extended that restraining order. It was invalid in the court's eyes, and therefore the prosecutors dropped the case.

Earlier on AMERICAN MORNING Kiran spoke with the attorney who served that initial restraining order. He is vowing to try McClellan on a contempt charge in civil courts in the hopes of sending him back to jail.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANTHONY ZINNANTI, ATTORNEY: I'm turning the tables around. We're tired of this and not sit back and wait for something to happen. I hope that he experiences a little bit of the terror that he inflicts on the victims of such abuse.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHO: McClellan has talked openly about his fascination for little girls, or LGs as he calls them. But he has never been convicted of child molestation. What got him so much attention was that he took pictures of young girls, posted them on his now-defunct website, along with information about the best places to find these little girls.

McClellan says maintained that he is protected under free speech. He has already been forced out of Washington State. He's living in his car in California. And he's due back in court on Friday. This time to fight another restraining order, guys, north of Los Angeles, this time in Santa Clarita.

But for now, he's a free man and parents, like yourselves, are outraged about this.

CHETRY: Yes, they're taking it upon themselves as we saw with this attorney, who says he's not giving up the fight. They are going back to court, I think, on the 24th of August. And they're going to try to --

SANCHEZ: You've got to do something about it. It's like saying I'm a murderer. I haven't murdered yet, but I'm a murderer. Well, you know what, you've got to keep an eye on a guy like that, right?

CHO: He maintains he is a pedophile, but that he looks but doesn't touch.

SANCHEZ: Tick, tick, tick.

CHO: So, he's not been convicted.

SANCHEZ: Tick, tick, tick, right?

CHO: Some maintain it's a ticking time bomb, that's right.

CHETRY: Alina, thanks.

SANCHEZ: Deadly floods: We've been showing you throughout the day some of these pictures. They've been spreading across the Midwest. Which is amazing, because we've got that situation down in Mexico, with the hurricane, and here we've got 22 people, 22 people reported killed in parts of the Midwest.

Some really muddy water. By the foot, filling the streets in parts of Ohio. They had to bring in this heavy equipment to try and take it out. Crews brought in the bulldozers to try and clean up the mess since many cars floated away. Rescue teams went in by boat to try to save lives as well and they've been doing a pretty good job.

Others were saved by air. Take a look at these pictures. Coast Guard pulling people to safety after their homes filled with water. Earlier on AMERICAN MORNING, we talked to this man. He got a rescue ride on a Coast Guard chopper and he had a message for the guy who saved his life.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MELVIN RISTER, SAVED BY COAST GUARD: He does make it sound a lot easier than what it was. I mean, they had a lot of debris, a lot of obstacles. They know what they're doing. I do want to say thanks again, though.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Lot's of flooding by the way from Tropical Storm Erin that caused some of this. Tropical Storm Erin -- not Hurricane Erin. Makes you wonder just how powerful these things and how much damage they can do even after they're done being hurricanes.

It's made things tough for ranchers in Oklahoma. Case in point: Jarold Callahan, he's joining us now live from his ranch in Yukon, Oklahoma, and he has the white hat to prove he is a good guy.

Jarold, we understand your problem was 500 of your cows ended up stranded in another part of your farm, where you couldn't get to them, or did you had to move them? Fill us in.

JAROLD CALLAHAN, PRES., EXPRESS RANCHES: Yeah. The water kept coming up. We got about eight inches Sunday morning and we moved part of the cattle. And then the tremendous rainfall west of here in western Oklahoma, so the North Canadian River kept rising. We just had to keep moving the cattle to higher land. They were kind of stranded. I think we got them all to safety now, but it's a hectic 48 hours.

SANCHEZ: By the way, that's a beautiful lake behind you. What is the name of that lake?

(LAUGHTER)

CALLAHAN: Well, the tree line back behind us is the North Canadian River. I guess this is Lake Bob Funk, because he is the owner of this property.

SANCHEZ: So, you're going to name it after him, right?

CALLAHAN: Yeah, I guess so.

SANCHEZ: Hey, did you have any idea this thing was coming? Was there any prep time?

CALLAHAN: No.

SANCHEZ: Go ahead.

CALLAHAN: No, there really wasn't. There really wasn't. We went to bed. We had a light shower on Saturday, and they thought we might get a little bit more. But I guess the weathermen had a little trouble analyzing this and the effects of the hurricane kind of reformed with the eye about 20 miles west of here, and dumped major rainfall over all this area.

SANCHEZ: How big is your land, by the way? How much you got?

CALLAHAN: We own several thousand acres in this vicinity. About seven in this vicinity and also have ranches in other states and in New Mexico, primarily.

SANCHEZ: But that one right there, you said -- how much? How many acres? I'm sorry?

CALLAHAN: About seven -- we've got about 7,000 acres in this vicinity.

SANCHEZ: OK, 7,000 acres and how much is under water?

CALLAHAN: Oh, there's probably 30 to 40 percent of it underwater everywhere here.

SANCHEZ: We've got a shot -- hey, Ellie (ph) see if you can put that shot back up where you can actually see the cows stuck almost like in what seems to be -- it almost looks like an island that has formed there.

CALLAHAN: Yeah.

SANCHEZ: There is some of the cows now. What happens to cows if they're in water for too long?

CALLAHAN: Well, it certainly causes some damage to their feet after a long period of time, because they soften. The big problem that you have is that they've got to have something to eat. So you've got to get hay to them and get them to grass, so they don't do well just standing -- in standing water for any length of time.

SANCHEZ: I imagine that could be a real serious problem, huh, after awhile?

CALLAHAN: Yeah.

SANCHEZ: Go ahead.

CALLAHAN: It gets to be a serious problem. In the smaller cattle you have to get out because the water was high enough on the calves that you could actually have some fatalities.

SANCHEZ: Hey, thanks so much, Jarold for joining us. We will certainly be watching your situation.

CALLAHAN: Thank you, all.

SANCHEZ: Thank so much for joining us. You speak probably for a lot of ranchers in that situation right now. Thanks for joining us once again.

Why were you laughing when I asked that question? Why is everybody laughing? I thought it was a perfectly good question. What happens to a cow when he is sitting in water for that long?

CHETRY: Well, you know what they said here in the studio?

SANCHEZ: What?

CHETRY: They become juicier steaks.

SANCHEZ: Juicier steaks!

CHETRY: You guys, they should have their own comedy show.

SANCHEZ: That and a little massage and you'll have better meat.

CHETRY: Well, now to our -- you're just asking for PETA to call this morning!

(LAUGHTER)

CHETRY: Now to our "Terror Watch": Authorities in Washington State are looking for two seemingly suspicious ferry passengers. Here they are, take a look. Several people have reported seeing the two men saying they were exhibiting unusual behavior. Homeland Security Correspondent Jeanne Meserve is in our Washington bureau with more.

I mean, people said they thought they looked strange, or suspicious. What does that factor into?

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, the FBI says they don't know what these men were up to, but they want to find out.

They were seen multiple times on multiple ferry routes in Seattle and they drew attention from both passengers and ferry workers for what the FBI describes undue interest in the layout of the workings in the ferry and the ferry terminals.

One worker suspicious enough to snap a picture of these men three or four weeks ago. According to an FBI spokeswoman, since then, authorities have been trying to identify them so they can be questioned. No luck. So now the unusual step of releasing the photos publicly.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBBIE BURROUGHS, FBI SPOKESWOMAN: We want to give them an opportunity to come forward, talk to us, and let us know what it was that they were doing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MESERVE: But the public also is being asked for help in identifying and finding the men. An FBI official says sometimes actions that appear suspicious turn out to be completely benign, but they are following up out of abundance of caution, Kiran.

CHETRY: All right. It's interesting. So, is there a worry about the ferries in Seattle in general?

MESERVE: There is. In Seattle ferries are like the subway in other cities. They carry a lot of people and there has been a lot of worry about what sort of terrorist target they'd pose. Some of these boats are very big. They carry more than 2,000 people, more than 200 cars. And they're hard to protect because they're in a maritime environment.

Of course, they have beefed up security, surveillance, and so forth on these boats. One of the things they have asked for is that passengers keep their eyes open. That they be vigilant. That is exactly what happened here. That's why authorities are aware of these two individuals.

CHETRY: Jeanne Meserve on "Terror Watch" for us, thank you.

MESERVE: You bet.

SANCHEZ: Have you seen what's going on in the NBA? It is crazy, what is going on with these officials. And now the NBA is bringing in a former federal prosecutor to review the way it hires and monitors its referees, just in case some others could possibly be involved in a huge gambling scandal, as we reported last week.

This move comes after reports of Tim Donaghy (ph), he's the ref who admitted go gambling on games that he actually was working. So, obviously, people are wondering whether the fix was in. He was prepared to name as many as name as many as 20 other people who may have broken rules as well. And that is what has the NBA extremely concerned.

Number 756 is for sale. The New Yorker who caught Barry Bonds record-breaking home run ball, happened to be on vacation. Stopped to see a ball game and ends up with one of the most important balls ever, that has been caught, as a souvenir.

Since he could be taxed now for having the ball he says, "I got to sell it." Sotheby's says it will hold an online auction between August 28th and September 15th. Experts say it could go for $500,000. If he waited, maybe more.

Beyonce's taped humble, the one on YouTube, the one she didn't want people to record and send to YouTube. There it is. The diva dishes the dirt on that spill caught on tape and her relationship with rap star Jay-Z, as well. This is good, folks. Stay with. You won't want to miss it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Wives, listen up. Staying quiet during an argument could be harmful to your health. CNN's Chief Medical Correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta is at the CNN Center with the answer.

When all of us wives heard this, we're like -- yes! This is more for our arsenal to explain why we have to discuss everything with our husbands.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Let me just say, at the outset, I'm not a marriage counselor by any means. This is a study that caught our eye, for sure, talking about communication and marriages, and why it might be important.

Study actually looked at 3,500 women, followed them along for a while, and found that women who stay quiet during a marital argument are subsequently four times as likely to die of coronary heart disease. Interesting, so, four times more likely. Again, you know, 3,500 women followed, so not a huge study.

They weren't exactly able to figure out why it was. Was it the argument itself, or was it this internalizing of what they wanted to say? Something they termed "self-silencing". When women "self-silence" they are more likely to die from coronary artery disease.

A couple of interesting points, one is that men are actually more likely to self silence than women, at least according to this study; but much less likely to suffer any of the physical consequences. Women seem much more susceptible to that.

And also, men whose wives came home upset after a bad day at work, for example, were three more times likely themselves to develop coronary artery disease later on in life. So, some links there between marital arguments or non-arguments and heart disease in both men and women.

CHETRY: Well, it's so fascinating, because you're talking about two different things, as well. But it just shows how the emotions and how bringing negative energy either way, it can be troublesome to your heart. How do they explain those correlations between this and heart disease and death?

GUPTA: Well, you know, there's three things that really sort of sprung out as we reviewed the study. One is that stress is linked to all sorts of chronic problems. That's not as big a surprise. So maybe the arguments themselves, or the constant arguments, maybe a factor.

Also, people who tend to self-silence, particularly women, also have feelings of defeat. And defeat is often associated -- in the animal world, for example -- defeat is often associated with earlier death.

And finally, if you're focused much more on these arguments, or the self-silencing, you may be less likely to be caring for yourself in some way, whether it's eating right or exercising. You're more sort of a consumed with these other issues, you may be less likely to actually take care of yourself.

CHETRY: Very fascinating. All right, like you said, you're not a marriage counselor, but you give couples maybe something maybe to talk about today.

GUPTA: You and your husband can both thank me.

CHETRY: Oh, he will, later.

If you have a medical question for Doctor Gupta, send to his mailbag at CNN.cnn.com/americanmorning. Doctor Gupta is here answering your questions every Thursday, on AMERICAN MORNING.

Meantime, it is 47 minutes past the hour. Hurricane Dean making it's second landfall later today. Our Reynolds Wolf is tracking it for us once again, from the CNN Weather Center.

Hi, Reynolds.

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hi, there. It is much weaker than it was 24 hours but still a force to be reckoned with.

We're talking about a Category 1 storm with winds sustained at 90 miles an hour. Keep in mind if it were to get six miles per hour stronger it would be then classified as a Category 2. It may well happen before the storm makes landfall between Tampico and Vera Cruz, possibly near Taxupin, right there on the coastline.

Now, here's the latest path that we have from the National Hurricane, that shows as I mentioned the winds maximum sustained at 90 miles per hour. Storm moving west/northwest at 20 miles per hour. We anticipate a landfall 2:00 p.m. today and then as we get to early tomorrow morning, it should be well inland as tropical storm possibly bringing very heavy rainfall. And we could get some flooding there as well.

Speaking of flooding we're seeing issues in parts of the Ohio Valley. We had some flooding in that part of the world just yesterday. Could see more today in areas like Columbus where we're seeing some scattered showers.

Let's send it back to you, Kiran.

CHETRY: All right, Reynolds. Thank you so much.

CNN "Newsroom" by the way, just moments away. Tony Harris is at the CNN Center with a look what is ahead.

Good morning, Tony.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR, CNN NEWSROOM: Kiran, good morning to you!

On the "Newsroom" rundown for you: Crash in Iraq, 14 American soldiers lose their lives today. Their Blackhawk helicopter like this one goes down in northern Iraq.

Hurricane Dean taking a second shot at Mexico landfall expected on the Gulf Coast at mid-day today. We're tracking it for you.

Heavy storms dumping more rain on flooded Ohio this morning. More than 20 deaths across the Plains and Midwest.

All of the morning's breaking news. You're in the "Newsroom" just minutes away, at the top of the hour right here on CNN.

Kiran, back to you.

CHETRY: Tony, thanks so much.

HARRIS: Sure thing.

CHETRY: Still ahead drug testing an entire city all at once. Well, that you're your "Quick Hits". Researchers at Oregon State University say all it takes is a teaspoon of city waste water to find out if drugs are rampant where you live. From that they were able to get a good snapshot what people were using in 10 different cities.

The Pentagon says it will close down a controversial database that stored information on peaceful Iraq war protesters. The protesters files were purged in 2005 when the practice became public, but the database, known as Talon, remained open.

She created her own perfume and she's an Oscar-nominated actress and she has released two solo albums. Our own Lola Ogunnaike sits down with Beyonce next on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Welcome back to the most news in the morning.

Billions of dollars down the drain, topping your "Quick Hits" now. According to a new report, music piracy cost the recording industry $12 billion, and 71,000 jobs a year. And that, the report indicates, can affect the entire U.S. economy. Best thing about YouTube is about to change. Ads are coming to YouTube. Google says they will be, quote, "unobtrusive" -- uh-huh, likely story -- and will appear at the bottom of some of the videos for 10 seconds. They say they won't run on user-generated videos.

She is one of the hottest celebrities around. Beyonce, she sings, she dances, she acts and now she has her own perfume. Our Lola Ogunnaike recently sat down with Beyonce to talk about life as a businesswoman, and of course, that now-famous YouTube fall. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LOLA OGUNNAIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): You walked in, and the crowd erupted. Talk to me about what that feels like.

BEYONCE: It's always shocking because you never know what to expect and I've been here before, and this has been the craziest appearance at Macy's I've ever had. It's really overwhelming.

OGUNNAIKE: You're a business. You are a mogul, right now. How do you feel about that? Is there pressure? Is it inspiring?

BEYONCE: I want even more. And I am proud and I am inspired. But I have a lot of help. My father is my manager. And, you know, I have weekly meetings, and we go through all of these opportunities and I decide the ones I like, and the ones I don't.

And it's great because I'm building more than just, you know, a career as a singer. I'm building a brand. And I'm proud of that, especially being an African-American woman.

OGUNNAIKE: I have to ask you about the fall. I know --

BEYONCE: Of course, you do.

OGUNNAIKE: It's come up.

BEYONCE: My heel actually got caught in the bottom of my coat, because I had a really long coat. And I fell head first. Hit my chin. I really was bruised up.

OGUNNAIKE: So, when you're falling, what are you thinking?

BEYONCE: I don't know. It went by so fast. I just kept thinking you better get up! It's crazy because I went into an immediate head bang. I don't know what that was about! I guess I was so shaken I was like go for it, do it harder. Whenever I do something like that I always perform really hard because it makes me a little mad at myself so I just go crazy. So they got a really good show at the end.

OGUNNAIKE: You say please, you all, do not put it on YouTube. Did you think that they wouldn't?

BEYONCE: Oh, of course, I knew they would. I was being sarcastic because I knew they would put it on YouTube. (END VIDEOTAPE)

CHETRY: She is so adorable and she really did hurt herself. You said that even afterwards she had battle scars, when you interviewed her?

OGUNNAIKE: Yes. When I interviewed her she had a Band-Aid still on her shin. And she talked about how banged up and bruised she was, but her adrenaline was just pumping. She is a consummate performer. I mean, they don't make them like that anymore.

CHETRY: She puts on a great show.

OGUNNAIKE: I've seen her in concert several times and it's always a good show. That girl works hard. And so I'm not surprised she was able to jump up. I personally wouldn't have been able to do it. I don't think a lot of artists could have.

CHETRY: She got lucky because she really did take a hard fall. Let's ask about rap mogul, Jay-Z, her long, long-time boyfriend. Do they have any plans to get married in the future?

OGUNNAIKE: I talked to her about that, too. They're still dating. You see them traveling everywhere. She says, marriage, not just yet. But it's something that she's thinking about for the future. But she's got so much going on now. She's going to take the month off and then she's going to go back in the studio to record another album, it will be her third solo album. So look for that early next year.

CHETRY: It's baby steps, because they didn't admit they were dating for years and now at least they're doing that.

OGUNNAIKE: Yes, they were very quiet about their relationship. But now at least they're out in public and they're acknowledging each other.

CHETRY: Very cute couple. All right, Lola, great job.

OGUNNAIKE: Thank you.

CHETRY: I'm glad you had a chance to talk to her.

Here is a quick look at what the "Newsroom" is working on for the top of the hour.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: See these stories in the CNN "Newsroom": 14 U.S. soldiers killed in a helicopter crash in Iraq.

President Bush's speech live in the "Newsroom" this morning. He is expected to use U.S. failures in the Vietnam war to defend his Iraq policies.

A weakened Hurricane Dean heading for a second landfall in Mexico today. Severe flooding swamps parts of the Midwest. "Newsroom" just minutes away at the top of the hour on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I got my dog!

CHETRY: Well, there he is. It was a desperate owner reunited with his dog in West Virginia. The Dalmatian was trapped for four days in a storm drain. The owner and friends spent two days using shovels and a backhoe to finally get him out.

No worse for the wear. There he is, 14 years old. He was taken to a vet to be checked out, but he is doing OK. He is actually a little celebrity now because of his ordeal, so congrats.

Thanks so much for joining us on the AMERICAN MORNING. CNN NEWSROOM with Tony Harris and Heidi Collins begins right now.

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR, CNN NEWSROOM: Good morning, everybody.

Fourteen U.S. soldiers dead in a helicopter crash in northern Iraq. The military says a Blackhawk helicopter went down today. We'll tell you more about this story coming up right here in the NEWSROOM.

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