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American Morning
Sinkhole in La Jolla, California; Miners Trapped in South Africa; Senator Pete Domenici Retiring for Health Reasons
Aired October 04, 2007 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And welcome. Thanks for being with us. It is Thursday, October 4th. I'm Kiran Chetry.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. I'm John Roberts.
Witnesses say they could hear the trees snap and the earth move as they watched the street disappear before their very eyes. Now, 111 dream homes are in danger of being swallowed up by a landslide on the hills outside of San Diego. The collapse, as you can see, left a huge crater all the way across a four-lane road, 15 feet deep, a half a football field across. Imagine if your house was on the edge of that. The city says $6 million-plus houses were damaged or completely destroyed as tons of earth slid downhill. It happened on a hilltop outside of La Jolla, just outside of San Diego.
And it's not the first time that something like this has occurred. Local leaders knew that they were due for it, and people don't know if they're going to be able to go back to their homes.
Chris Lawrence is live in San Diego with the very latest.
Chris, this is just incredible.
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, John. The major slide is over, but the ground is still shifting slightly. And there's going to be some mixed news today for the families that live anywhere near this incredible crater. Some of them will be allowed in, but the fire chief told me as they go about and do some more inspections, more of them are expected to be red tagged, which means their homeowners are going to be told, your home is uninhabitable. You know, Again, can you even imagine walking outside your front door right now and seeing this? Well, some of the evacuees told us they can actually hear the ground buckle.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUSSELL MOORE, EVACUEE: The street had upheaval. I don't know a better word to describe it, but the asphalt that should be under my feet was eight feet in the air, right in front of me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAWRENCE: Now, this was a shock, but not necessarily a surprise. The residents had been seeing some cracks in the pavement as far back as earlier in the summer. And the city officials had been monitoring this area for some time, even going so far to install above-ground water lines and putting some emergency crews on alert.
Now, some residents are very upset, saying they never received proper warning that anything like this could happen to their home, and that they weren't properly warned that their home was in danger. City officials say the night before the collapse they actually went door to door and warned some homeowners it was not safe to sleep in their home.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MYR. JERRY SANDERS, LA JOLLA, CALIFORNIA: We have contacted the most immediately affected people over and over and over again. The city will maintain contact with them. But it's perfectly natural when you have an incident like this to be upset. And I wouldn't expect anybody who's been affected not it be upset.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAWRENCE: Now, some of the homeowners have a theory and right now it's just that, a theory, that water leakage contributed to this. But some geologists say that's not the case, that this soil is just naturally unstable, and that is what contributed to this collapse -- John.
ROBERTS: Chris, there's also some suggestion that the construction methods there in California may have somehow been responsible, or at least contributed to this. What are they talking about?
LAWRENCE: Yes, it's a method called cut and fill, John. It's if you imagine a slope of a mountain, they would go in and they cut out a section of the mountain, and then move that soil over so that it juts out the side just adjacent to it, and then they put homes on each one. It allows more homes to be built. They are reinforced structurally in the fill part, but, again, it is fill; it's not bedrock, and that soil is subject to collapse at different points.
ROBERTS: Chris Lawrence for us this morning in La Jolla, California, Chris, thanks. We'll talk to you soon -- Kiran.
CHETRY: John, we're following breaking news out of South Africa this morning, and right now efforts are under way to save about 1,000 miners who are still trapped in the Harmony Gold Mine.
Now, we have some dramatic pictures that are coming in to us overnight of some of that, half of the 3,200 miners who were trapped. You see them being able to walk out. All of them being able to walk out unharmed, smiles on their faces, after really a harrowing experience. CNN has learned that it looks like what happened was an air pipe snapped. That damaged an elevator, and that's what led to them being trapped, but, again, more of them walking out OK this morning as fellow miners directing them and the flash bulbs of, of course, all the cameras there to document that. They were trapped for about 30 hours and, again, they still need to get about half of these miners out, a process that's continuing to take place as we speak -- John. ROBERTS: Coming up on five minutes after the hour now. New Mexico Senator Pete Domenici is retiring, he says, for health reasons. The 75-year-old is suffering from a brain disorder that is a form of dementia. He says that he is confident he can serve the remaining 14 months on his correct term, but he can't be sure how he's going to be seven years from now.
Joining us now with more on Domenici's condition is medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen. In the press release today, Elizabeth, he's going to say that he's suffering from frontal temporal lobar (ph) degeneration. What exactly is that?
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's called FTLD, and, John, it is a very difficult disease. It's a form of dementia, as you mentioned, and it affects frontal lobes. That's the part of the brain that's behind the forehead, and also the lobes that are just above the ear. It can affect one or the other, or sometimes both.
And what it leads to, starting at sometimes a relatively young age, it leads to a whole host of problems. For example, people have progressive dementia, as we mentioned, and also issues with organization, issues with decision making, mood changes, behavior. The person might start behaving very strangely, communication and personality. And sometimes these start out very slowly. People seem just like perhaps they're acting a little strangely, and sometimes people are misdiagnosed as having bipolar disease or schizophrenia, but eventually, as it becomes worse and worse, doctors eventually make this diagnosis of FTLD, or as it seems in the senator's case, they catch it early and they know what it is early on -- John.
ROBERTS: How does this process differ from Alzheimer's Disease?
COHEN: It's very different. When we think about Alzheimer's disease, we think about it affecting senior citizens, mostly people over the age of 65. What's different here is that this can start as young as 35. And usually you see it happening in people between the ages of 40 and 60, and that's sometimes why it goes misdiagnosed. I mean, if your 40-year-old wife all of a sudden starts forgetting things and behaving strangely, dementia is not the first thing you're going to think of.
ROBERTS: I know that the senator also suffers from a very, very bad back, but he's saying that it's just brain degeneration that is the reason that he's not going to seek another term.
Elizabeth Cohen for us in Atlanta. Thanks, Elizabeth.
COHEN: Thanks.
(NEWSBREAK)
ROBERTS: Eight minutes after the hours, and time to check in with our American morning team of correspondents for other stories new that we're following this morning. Remember those airport delays we told you about, how terrible they were through June and July. Well, guess what? They're even worse. The major airlines report one-third of their flights were delayed in August, and customers obviously hopping mad about the whole thing. Our Ali Velshi at the business desk update with more on this.
I mean, if it's like 25 percent early summer, 30 percent in August, where is it going now?
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's a good question. In fact, this report could be identical to ones that I've done in previous months, except the numbers keep on changing, and they don't get much better.
In August, the 20 largest carriers in the United States reported that their on-time arrivals were 71.7 percent. Let's take a look at some of the major airlines and how they pan out. Continental had an on-time arrival rate of 75 percent, which was the best of the majors. American Airlines, Delta and JetBlue all in at 70 percent. U.S. Airways now not leading the bottom of the pack, and Northwest at 69 percent, and United coming in at 66 percent; 159 planes in august were on the tarmac for more than three hours before takeoff, three of those planes were on the tarmac for more than five hours.
As usual, John, the airlines and those involved are blaming outdated air-traffic control systems, weather, which, as far as I can recall, has been going on since time immemorial, more passengers, smaller planes, as opposed to the large planes carrying people from points, and the greater use of general aviation, those private jets used usually by business people.
The bottom line is we have everything but a solution right now; we just have a worsening problem. And for anybody traveling, this isn't news to them, but those numbers and not getting any better. One-third of planes almost not getting to their destination on time.
And, John, the other thing is, as you know from having traveled a great deal on airplanes, they've padded those arrival and departure times. So the actual flight time to get from New York to Chicago or something like that, now shows as taking longer than it should, so this may not even be the real story. It may actually be much worse than these numbers indicate.
ROBERTS: All right, Ali Velshi, thanks very much.
VELSHI: OK.
(WEATHER REPORT)
CHETRY: Well, will losing her kids be a wake-up call that Britney Spears needs to get her life together? May be. Because there are reports that she could be headed back to rehab for the third time. Also the latest on what happened yesterday. They went before a judge, once again, in the ongoing custody battle for her two young sons.
Plus, the war of words heating up between Rush Limbaugh and anti- war activists. America's veterans fighting back in a TV and radio ad, but Rush says they've got the wrong guy in the ad, that's not who he was talking about. We'll break it all down for you. Our Political Hot Topics coming up next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: And welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING. Some real-life controversy on Wisteria Lane. The government of the Philippines demanding an apology from the producers of "Desperate Housewives" and ABC over a line that was in the season premiere Sunday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TERI HATCHER, ACTRESS: Before I go any further, can I check those diplomas, because I would just like to make sure they're not from some med school in the Philippines.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Ooh. Well. someone didn't find that funny. It actually made big news in the Philippines. ABC says they're offering sincere apologies to anyone who was offended. ABC also saying they may edit out the line of the show for future broadcasts.
ROBERTS: It's another blow to Republicans. Veteran New Mexico Senator Pete Domenici is expected to announce today that he is leaving the Senate, rather than seek another term. Domenici says that he is suffering from a progressive brain disease. It's a form of dementia. He's the fourth GOP senator to decide not to run for re-election. Are the Democrats licking their chops in anticipation of what might happened in the '08 election? CNN political analyst John Dickerson joins us now from Washington.
So, John, what could happen. New Mexico a swing state with a Democratic governor, and that's not the only place where some Republicans are stepping down. There's also Senators Hagel, Warner, Allard, which opens up states in Nebraska, Virginia and Colorado, all of which could switch.
JOHN DICKERSON, CNN POL. ANALYST: That's right. I mean, you have these swing states where you have now open seats Republicans have to defend. They already had a tough map. They're defending 22 of the 34 seats that up, and they've got four vulnerable incumbents in other states, New Hampshire, Maine, and so it makes the ugly map for Republicans even uglier.
ROBERTS: You know, I was talking with a Republican Congressman a few days ago, asking him if President Bush was an asset or a liability in the '08 election, this person who will go unnamed seemed to think that he was not certainly an asset. Don't know if he was exactly a liability. And this new NBC/"Wall Street Journal" poll that came out yesterday, John, shows that almost half of Republicans want a president who's take a different approach to President Bush. What does this say about his potential to add anything to the Republican campaign in '08? DICKERSON: Well, it's funny with the polling on President Bush, because there are other polls that show conservatives, or Republicans hanging by him, and part of that may just be that they're hanging behind the commander in chief, but it's clear when you talk to Republicans, certainly off the record, that the president is a liability, and also that, you know, these, you have discontent among conservatives, the real bedrock of the party, who says the president has abandoned us and the party has abandoned us, and he's the sort of poster child of that abandonment. So he won't be running around with a lot of candidates, I don't guess, in '08.
ROBERTS: Something else that could cause problems for Republicans is this dust-up between Rush Limbaugh, anti-war activists and Democrats. Votevets.org came out with an ad yesterday. Let's take a quick look at that and then I'll ask you about it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRIAN MCGOUGH, IRAQ WAR VETERAN: Rush Limbaugh called vets like me phony soldiers for telling the truth about Iraq. Rush, the shrapnel I took to my head was real, my traumatic brain injury was real, and my belief that we're on the wrong course in Iraq is real. Until you have the guts to call me a phony soldier to my face, stop telling lies about my service.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Now, that soldier was Brian McGough, who was not the fellow that Rush Limbaugh said that he was complaining about. He was a guy named Jesse Macbeth. But Limbaugh went ahead and called this guy McGough a suicide bomber that the Democrats sent out there to just give his story to everybody who was willing to listen. Is this something Limbaugh can win, and what are Republicans thinking about?
DICKERSON: Well, if Limbaugh were a politician, his advisers would tell him to stop talking, but that's what he does is talk. You know, he'll probably do fine with his fans. They'll listen to his explanations. It's a little bit trickier for Republicans who have to defend him. He's quite powerful among conservatives.
On the other hand, as Republicans well know, you don't want to be on the wrong side of any conversation that makes it look like you're not supporting the troops 100 percent. That's a very powerful ad, and Republicans have to be careful.
ROBERTS: And I don't think it is the last word in this escalating battle either. John Dickerson for us this morning from Washington. John, always good to see you -- Kiran.
DICKERSON: Thanks, John.
CHETRY: Well, they're not just selling soap, new ads that go beyond pushing a product and, instead, try to sell values. So, who's buying? We're going to take a look ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) ROBERTS: Well, a story coming up in our next half hour here on AMERICAN MORNING that you just can't miss. You can never get enough good news about chocolate. That's what I'm told.
CHETRY: And there is brighter side today to the chocolate. We're talking specifically about dark chocolate, and how it could possibly help you. We know it could possibly help with the heart, and also help lower blood pressure. Well, now, there could be some news for a disorder that affects millions of people. How dark chocolate may help.
ROBERTS: A little bit every day, just what the doctor ordered. We'll tell you more about that, when AMERICAN MORNING returns.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to American morning.
You know, there's a new trend developing in the advertising world where they're using so-called value ads, or anti-ads, that are meant to make you think, not necessarily pitch a product outright. So do they work?
Well, joining us this morning is AMERICAN MORNING contributor Polly Labarre. Good to see you, Polly.
POLLY LABARRE, AMERICAN MORNING CONTRIBUTOR: Good to see you, Kiran.
CHETRY: Well, let's take a look at one of them, so people know what we're talking about. One of the pioneers of this form of advertising, Dove, which sells beauty products to women. Let's look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Younger.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Taller.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thinner.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Lighter.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Firmer.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tighter.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Softer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: So there it says talk to your daughter before the beauty industry does, and they've also done this Real Beauty campaign. What are they doing? What are they aiming for?
LABARRE: Exactly. This is the latest salvo in that Real Beauty campaign we've all been exposed to. It's women of all sizes stripped down to their white skivvies advertising firming lotions. This takes it one step further, which is it's basically advertising their beauty products by taking aim at the beauty industry. It's basically a PSA against the beauty industry, saying, you know, be careful what the messages are around this industry. And you know, I just it's really interesting aspect for Dove to take, because what they're saying is basically, let's have a conversation. Let's not just sell our products. Let's get people talking about women and girls and the relationship with their body. And it's been incredibly effective.
The Real Beauty campaign, the products sold by 600 percent, 700 percent leaps in the six months after the campaign started in Europe and America a couple years ago.
CHETRY: That's pretty fascinating, because usually it's just a competition where they're advertising why their product is better or why it's going make you look better, and they're doing the exact opposite.
LABARRE: Right. Usually it's about aspiration, why you can be like this. Now, it's really about authenticity.
CHETRY: You know, another one that's interesting, is other companies that are doing this, the Sig water bottle. It's this aluminum bottle that's been around apparently what -- used by the Swiss army for more than 100 years.
LABARRE: A 100-year-old company, and basically 10 years they thought let's make this water bottle sort of this iconic aluminum water bottle. Just in 2005 they got hip to this environmental message.
I think in the last summer we reached a tipping point with plastic water bottles, where basically it went from, you know, ubiquitous prop to a tainted luxury and environmental sin, because we throw away so many plastic water bottles every year. They got hip to this context said, and basically said, why don't we market this as a an environmentally friendly product. It's 100 percent recyclable. It's durable. It's doesn't leach toxins like a lot of plastics do. And it's really an environmentally friendly alternative. Their sales have gone up 200 percent this summer alone with that kind of message.
CHETRY: So, clearly, this is working. This is effective. What about the anti-Nike, the Black Spot sneakers?
LABARRE: So we have the anti-water bottle water bottle. Now we have the anti-sneaker sneaker. So Black Spot sneaker brand came out of the Ad Busters organization, basically to create the most ethical shoe on Earth, made out of organic hemp, recycled tires, and it's produced by a union labor shot in Portugal. So really ethical sneakers. And it's a statement against branding itself.
CHETRY: Not only that, but also some of the questionable conditions with which these sneakers are manufactured.
LABARRE: It's dealing with every question around manufacturing, around branding, around consumption, and they've sold 25,000 in the past couple years. Not a huge amount, but it does show that people really do buy into values as much as they do into value.
CHETRY: Very interesting. Polly Labarre, Thanks for sharing it with us -- John.
LABARRE: Thank you.
ROBERTS: Twenty-nine minutes after the hour. And still to come, a terrible medical mixup -- a woman wakes up from surgery and find out she's cancer free. Problem is she never had the problem in the first place, and now there's no going back. The tragic story and the other victim, ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING and thanks for joining us on this Thursday, the 4th of October. I'm John Roberts.
CHETRY: Good to see you this morning, I'm Kiran Chetry.
You know, we're following this developing news out of South Africa and it's great news actually after some scary moments, hours, in fact, when people were trapped thousands of miners underground. Well, right now rescue efforts are continuing.
These are the new pictures coming in to us of miners who were trapped under there, some for as long as 30 hours. Walking unharmed, happy to be out from that mine. 3,200 people trapped and CNN has learned that it was because of an air pipe that snapped and damaged an elevator. The rescue efforts are ongoing. They got more than half of the miners out and everyone appears to be doing OK this morning.
Also, new today -- more than 100 dream homes in danger of being swallowed up after a landslide in the hills outside of San Diego. There you see the road just buckled. The collapse left a huge crater across a four-lane road, 15 feet deep and half a football field across. The city says that $6 million houses were damaged or destroyed, happened hours after a local leader sent out a written warning to residents. Some say they got it, others say they did not.
We're going to be talking to a homeowner who said that he had to run for it. That's coming up in our next hour.
Coast Guard Commander Thad Allen will be paying a visit to the Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut, today. He will be addressing racial incidents at the academy this past summer. In separate incidents, nooses were left for a black cadet and a white female officer conducting training in race relations. Admiral Allen is expected to address the cadets, the facility and the staff about the guards' anti-discrimination policy.
ROBERTS: New today in the manhunt for an armed and dangerous sex predator in Florida. This video was just released showing the suspect with a 15-year-old runaway moments before he left her there and took off. Police say the victim was found safe 400 miles away from home. Her father had a warning for other parents about their children's online chatting.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROGER FRANK, FATHER: I just want to thank every one of you for what you've done for me. I'd like to tell everyone out there, all the parents, watch your children, folks, OK. My baby was in front of me, on her computer. I mean, in front of me, not in her room. It's centrally located. It can be seen from the back porch of the house. It can be seen from the kitchen, the dining room, the living room, OK.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: He apparently had no idea that his daughter was talking to 46-year-old William Joe Mitchell, even though the computer was right there in the middle of the house. He's a man who police say was a convicted sex offender with 14 prior arrests ranging from burglary and bomb threats to lewd conduct. The girl told the police that the man had a gun. He is believed to be on the run in a black Chevy Lumina.
Maybe losing her kids was a wake-up call for Britney Spears. According to "OK" magazine, Spears may be checking into rehab in Antigua as early as this weekend to get treated for depression and alcohol addiction. Spears has had two prior stays in rehab. She was also a no-show at a custody hearing. A judge ruled that she gets supervised visits with her two young sons. Her ex-husband, Kevin Federline, will keep primary custody.
CHETRY: There are new details this morning about the events that led up to the death of Carol Gotbaum while in police custody at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport. Police released a statement saying that Gotbaum was loud and uncooperative and they were unable to calm her down, but the lawyer for Gotbaum's family has a very different story about how she died.
The lawyer talked with CNN's Joe Johns who is in Phoenix for us this morning. Hi, Joe.
JOE JOHNS, CNN, CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Kiran.
The new details add support to the police department's assertion that their officers followed procedures; however, it adds no new light to the question of how Carol Gotbaum died.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHNS (voice-over): Witnesses say Gotbaum screamed that she was not a terrorist, just a mother who needed help and then struggled with police. Accounts of what happened next are now different from initial reports after her death at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport. The early speculation was that Gotbaum somehow choked herself with a chain used by police to restrain her when she was left alone in a police lock up.
But the family's lawyer and some experts say she more likely died of something called positional asphyxia which can come from violent, forceful restraint such as being placed face down with a knee in the back and handcuffed, creating an inability to breathe. Witnesses say that's how Phoenix police handled Gotbaum and the family's lawyer says that might have led to her death.
MICHAEL MANNING, GOTBAUM FAMILY LAWYER: Well, that's when you put the body in the position for where the body cannot exchange bad air for good air. It can come from a compression of the diaphragm. It can come from bending forward. It can come from having your hands cuffed behind your back. It can come from a struggle in connection with a restraint. Lots of ways it can happen.
JOHNS: The danger of positional asphyxia when arresting people is well-known with police across the country.
CAPT. EDWARD MAMET, NYPD (RET.): A person whose prone face down with someone on top of them cannot breathe. Their chest is compressed. And so in a struggle to breathe, they push back to get this weight off of them. The people who are on them think they're fighting them and push harder to hold them down and it sets off this cycle of compression of the chest and pushing back.
JOHNS: Here's another issue. Phoenix police say they left Gotbaum alone to calm down for between six and eight minutes. Her family lawyer and some experts say that shouldn't have happened.
MAMET: Someone like that would be considered an emotionally disturbed person or an EDP. An EDP requires immediate medical attention. Now, in the case of an EDP, you have to get them under control because they're a danger to both themselves and the general public, but they require immediate medical assistance.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
JOHNS: Toxicology reports could take weeks. There also is videotape, we're told, of at least part of Gotbaum's encounter with police here last Friday, not clear when that videotape will be released -- Kiran.
CHETRY: What about the autopsy results? Will they clarify whether or not it's the story from the police about the choking on the handcuffs or the lawyer's allegation that possibly it was asphyxiation?
JOHNS: Well, there's some hope that they will, however, people that we've talked to say this issue of positional asphyxia is sort of an issue of ruling certain things out and coming to that conclusion at the end of the day. Right now, inconclusive is the report we're getting on autopsy. As I said, though, we still have the toxicology report to come. That could take two to three weeks. So, it might be a while whether we can determine if there was, for example, alcohol in the body. If there were drugs or any other possible causes of death. Kiran.
CHETRY: Joe Johns for us in Phoenix this morning. Thank you.
A tragic medical mix-up now. A Long Island woman found out that she was misdiagnosed with breast cancer only after she had already had a double mastectomy. Doctors told Darrie Eason that her tissue sample was mislabeled and that she never had breast cancer in the first place.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEVEN PEGALIS, PATIENT'S ATTORNEY: The pathologist read the slide correctly. The report was not attached to the correct patient.
DARRIE EASON, MISDIAGNOSED WITH BREAST CANCER: I have a philosophy that you have to laugh to keep from crying, so, I try to laugh as much as I can.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Well, trying to keep a good attitude about it. There was another victim, of course, because the report belonged to a woman who was told she was in good health, given the all clear and now she's found out she has breast cancer, but it was diagnosed much later than it should have been.
ROBERTS: Coming up to 39 minutes after the hour.
A high school English teacher in Oregon is suing her school district so she can carry a gun to class. It's not because of recent school shootings in the news. 43-year-old Shirley Katz says she is afraid of her ex-husband. They were divorced last year. She has had two restraining orders against him. The last of which expired last month.
She says that she missed the deadline to renew it and she wants the gun to protect herself. The husband says it's all a ploy to limit visitation rights with their 5-year-old daughter. So, we want to know how you think about all of this. Should Katz be able to bring a concealed weapon to school even for her own personal safety? Cast your vote at CNN.com/am. We'll have the results of our poll a little bit later on this morning.
So, that's obviously one that's going to provoke a lot of reaction.
CHETRY: Absolutely. And we'll let you know what our viewers think. Coming up, making terrorist talk. Still ahead, new today -- top secret documents, how the CIA reportedly pushed the limits of interrogation.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: A British judge may ban Al Gore's film "An Inconvenient Truth" from schools. He says it's unfit for schools because it's politically biased and contains scientific inaccuracies and sentimental mush. The case stems from a father who accused the government of brainwashing kids with propaganda by showing Gore's film in the classroom. Schools may have to issue a warning before they show students the controversial movie about global warming.
ROBERTS: Finally, somebody ... CHETRY: So, you don't agree.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS, METEOROLOGIST: There are definitely some inaccuracies. And you know, the Oscars, think about awards for fictional films as well. The biggest thing I have a problem with is his implication that Katrina was caused by global warming and there's a number of studies that have been out and really the jury is still out -- global warming does not conclusively cause stronger hurricanes like we've seen. By the end of this century, we might get about 5% increase, but that's by the end of the century. (INAUDIBLE) seen that yet.
CHETRY: And this year, in fact, we've had a relatively quiet hurricane season.
MARCIANO: It's been relative. Well, we had 13 named storms but two or three of those storms have been, you know, kind of toss-away storms. They haven't been that strong. This guy right here in the Gulf of Mexico, waters there are about average. So, we're not really looking at too much as far as the long-term average is concerned.
Here it is. You see the circulation. Not a whole lot going on right there. Let's move over to the Bahamas where this, this is a little bit more impressive circulation here. A larger cloud mass, we got high pressure at the upper levels of the atmosphere, which is important. You kind of see the swirl through there. And they may send a hurricane hunter aircraft into this system later on today.
All right, let's move along and show you the next graphic, which I forgot what we have lined up. Oh yes, the showers that are rolling into Georgia and the Carolinas. These are not really getting to where we really need the action. Up here is where the drought is, most of the rain is staying across the southeast coastlines of Georgia.
CHETRY: Where is the lake you were at a couple days ago?
MARCIANO: Altoona. Right there, pretty much.
CHETRY: So, they're not getting rain in this system?
MARCIANO: Not enough. Most of the heavy rain is going to stay in the south and east. We got a little bit up to where we need it, but Tennessee and Kentucky really seeing most of the drought conditions. Warm temperatures across the northeast, I don't have to tell you that. It is soupy out there this morning. Temperatures in the upper 60s, had a fog in some areas and temperatures today can easily get into the lower 80s.
CHETRY: So, you go to the pumpkin patch with shorts and a tank top on, I guess -- Rob.
MARCIANO: Global warming.
CHETRY: Thank you -- John.
ROBERTS: New this morning, top-secret U.S. documents that show the CIA walked a very fine line between interrogation and torture. According to the "New York Times" at the same time the Justice Department was giving public reassurances it did not condone torture it released secretly opinions about questioning terrorist suspects. Those opinions endorse the harshest techniques. All OK'd by then Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.
They also reportedly gave the green light for the CIA to use painful physical and psychological tactics on terrorist suspects, such as head slapping, simulated drowning and exposure to frigid temperature. All of them considered fair game. The techniques were not considered "cruel, inhuman and degrading and within the standards set by congress."
Our Justice Correspondent, Kelli Arena joins us now from Washington with more on this. Kelli, wasn't Gonzales plagued throughout his entire tenure as attorney general by his perceived support for these harsh tactics?
KELLI ARENA, CNN, JUSTICE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, I mean, you obviously remember the so-called torture memo and that was the memo that Gonzales endorsed when he was actually White House counsel, which basically authorized everything short of causing pain that was said to be equal to organ failure. And he also endorsed the argument that terrorism detainees were not covered by the Geneva Convention.
And so, what's new here is that, what you said, like in 2004, the Justice Department very publicly backed away from these harsher techniques but then 2005, Gonzales comes in and gets the job as Attorney General and DOJ goes right back to its original stance. Very secretly, of course. So politically, you know, Congress and the American public are hearing one thing, but very privately the administration is going about business as usual.
ROBERTS: I'm sure Congress is going to have a problem with that, as well. The "New York Times" mentions that then Deputy Attorney General James Comey protested all of these. His contention was that the guidelines of DOJ was putting out, would embarrass the nation. Do you recall any other decent at the time?
ARENA: Well, there was a lot of descent, John. The head of the FBI, for one. I mean, very early on, you know, Bob Mueller was disturbed by techniques that were being used. So much so that sources told us at the time that he gave an order to FBI agents flat out not to be in the room when the CIA interrogated people, so they could distance themselves from that activity. Because at the end of the day, if any of these folks would ever be prosecuted, you know, there was a lot of concern that the information gleaned in that way would not be admissible in court. So there was very much a distancing effect that we saw at the time.
ROBERTS: I suspect we're going to hear a lot more about this over the course of the next few days
ARENA: You can bet on it.
ROBERTS: Kelli Arena in Washington. Kelli, thanks.
ARENA: You're welcome.
ROBERTS: Kiran.
CHETRY: Well, it looks like you have to do your Christmas shopping early this year. Your "Quick Hits" now. Many of the most popular toys this season could be sold out weeks before Christmas, according to industry experts. They say increased product testing caused by this wave of recalls could actually limit the flow of toys that make it to store shelves in time for the busy holiday shopping crush.
Nintendo is adding a cushion to its Wii mote. It is a wand that player use for the Nintendo Wii. Well, it's reported gone flying out of the hands of some excited players so a soft, rubbery cushion should help prevent injuries or damage, if that should happen.
Well, we've heard before about the benefits of eating dark chocolate. Now, there's hope that it could fight one of the most mysterious diseases that affects millions of Americans. We'll explain when AMERICAN MORNING comes right back.
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ROBERTS: Confirmation hearings for a new attorney general are back on track. Democrats had stalled the hearings hoping to force the White House to turn over sensitive documents related to the firing of federal prosecutors. The White House refused, though. Michael Mukasey, a retired federal judge from New York is the nominee. The hearings are expected to begin in a few weeks' time.
CHETRY: Well, there's a new study out. It's small, but the results are pretty sweet. Dark chocolate may be a shot in the arm for people suffering from chronic fatigue syndrome.
ROBERTS: When it comes to good news about chocolate, it doesn't matter how big the study was. Our medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, joins us now from Atlanta with more on this. Tell us, Elizabeth.
COHEN: Kiran is right that it may be in a shot in the arm, but you definitely don't want to inject the chocolate, you want to eat the chocolate. What the small study found is that when folks had about one to two ounces of dark chocolate and the dark part is important here, it seemed to make them less fatigued. These are people who had chronic fatigue syndrome who were severely fatigued for six months or more.
Now, why would chocolate do this? Why would it help you feel less sleepy? Some people I think, at first think, it must be the sugar. it just gives you a boost, but actually that's not it at all. There are two special ingredients in chocolate.
One, they're called flavonoids and they have anti-oxidants and sometimes have been shown to give people sort of energy boosts and also something called phenylethylamine. That's an ingredient that sometimes people call chocolate like the food of love. It makes you kind of feel like you're in love, sort of similar feelings. It gives you a kind of a mood enhancement. So, those are the two things in chocolate that may be helping these people who suffer from chronic fatigue.
CHETRY: OK. So, I'm sure people are wondering if a little dark chocolate is good, is a lot of dark chocolate even better if you're suffering from chronic fatigue?
COHEN: Right, wouldn't that be fabulous? It's just that you could go bar after bar and you'd be doing even better, but well, of course, I'm here to tell, that that is not the case. The experts we talked to emphasized one to two ounces a day. That is really a very small amount and, more is worse because people with chronic fatigue are supposed to keep their sugar down, too much sugar can make things worse.
CHETRY: You know, that's interesting. These all three have different percentages of cocoa, does it matter? This one says 55 percent, 65 percent and then 77 percent cocoa.
COHEN: Right, you want to aim for higher. In the study, they used 85% cocoa. So, you want to aim for as pretty much as high as you can get.
ROBERTS: I was just looking at how much dark chocolate, an ounce a day would be, it's like a third of one of this. So, you really have to show some restraint. What are some of the other reasons though, Elizabeth, to eat dark chocolate? Some of the other health benefits?
COHEN: There have been a lot of studies out there, John, that shows that chocolate really does have great health benefits, but, again, in these small amounts. For example, it's shown to possibly help people with high blood pressure. it's been shown to possibly help get cholesterol down. it's been shown to possibly help regulate insulin levels.
So again, little bit can actually do a little bit of good. It's not going to cure anybody of any of these things, but might help improve the situation.
ROBERTS: All right.
CHETRY: So, not yet proven, but some promising results from this study and hey, why not, right?
COHEN: Right, it probably can't hurt you to have an ounce or two of dark chocolate a day.
CHETRY: Thanks, Elizabeth.
ROBERTS: Final results aren't in yet, but go ahead.
COHEN: Right. So keep testing. You know, keep testing.
CHETRY: Keep testing. Thanks.
Also a reminder while our chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta is away on assignment, his mailbag is always around. Go to cnn.com/am, e-mail us your questions and usually we get him to answer them today, but he's going to be back tomorrow.
ROBERTS: He's on assignment today. So, we're postponing the mailbag for a day and we'll get to it tomorrow.
October 22nd, going to be a tough day to hail a cab. Your "Quick Hits" now, about 9,000 of the 44,000 New York City cabbies are expected to walk off of the job that day. The drivers are upset about new rules requiring them it has GPS systems and credit card readers in their cabs. This would be their second strike in two months.
Two California cities are going to vote on whether to ban people from smoking in apartment buildings. The cities are Belmont and Calabasa (ph) said the rules are each a little bit different, but generally they ban smoking in places like doorways and common areas, which are used by non-smokers as well.
There's reason why contestants on "The Biggest Loser" can peel off of those pounds.
Why a dollar incentive could help employers who are looking for ways to cut health care costs. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
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ROBERTS: Three minutes now to the top of the hour. Ali Velshi back and "Minding your Business" this morning and news about "The Biggest Loser."
ALI VELSHI, "MINDING YOUR BUSINESS": "The Biggest Loser" actually makes money in this particular case. We're talking about weight. Follows nicely out of Elizabeth's report that dark chocolate is good for you. Actually, I had some for breakfast. I had a few pieces of dark chocolates.
CHETRY: You look so much happier.
VELSHI: Now, here, combine the idea that dark chocolate and your company paying you money to lose weight. This, again, like the dark chocolate was a small study, 200 people at colleges in North Carolina were paid very little money. $7 and $14 to lose weight. The study indicates that people who are paid $14 to lose weight, $14 per percentage of your weight that's lost. Percentage points, if you're 150 pounds, that's 1.5 pound. The people who were paid $14 were five times more likely to lose weight than people who when weren't paid at all.
The idea is, does this stretch into the workplace where employers could pay money to keep weight off and then in the case of one company they actually give you an extra day off per year if you keep that weight off. There are a lot of mixed feelings about whether this is going to work. It seems a little strange that small an incentive will actually help people but maybe the idea that there's any incentive at all to lose weight other than your own good will and good feeling.
ROBERTS: Here's all the incentive I need to lose weight. Sitting right beside me here.
VELSHI: Right, right, exactly. That said, you'd actually have to spend more money getting your clothes all fixed.
ROBERTS: So maybe the payments need to be a little bit higher.
VELSHI: Yes, a little bit more. Maybe get my clothes altered and I'll lose as much as you want.
CHETRY: But you know, pinstripes are thinning.
VELSHI: Very thinning, you noticed that. You know what (INAUDIBLE) it's not working for me, so I'll do this.
ROBERTS: Ali, thanks so much.
CHETRY: So, here's a look at a story coming up, we were just talking how the workplace by the way. How about workplace asthma? Is this more common than we think? And what triggers it?
ROBERTS: How many people have you talked to and say come in to work not necessarily here, but in other places and they say, you know, I'm allergic to this building. This building is making me sick.
CHETRY: Do they have a point, is it actually a medical reason and what are the long-term effects. We're going to talk about it. Coming up.
ROBERTS: The next hour of AMERICAN MORNING starts right now.
CHETRY: Breaking news.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They've seen daylight for the first time in nearly two days.
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CHETRY: The joyous pictures. Thousand of miners making it out alive.
Edge of disaster -- we watch the trees snapping and cracking and more boulders come down to our feet.
Million dollar dream homes destroyed in a landslide.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These houses have already failed. They're in a landslide. (END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Live with a homeowner who had to make a run for it.
Plus, the man behind the unforgettable image, a pilot still in the cockpit. His plane crashed in pieces around him.
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