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Privacy Issues for Presidential Candidates; Richardson Backs Obama; Midwestern Floods Wreak Havoc
Aired March 21, 2008 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Presidential candidates, well, they don't expect much in the way of privacy, but passport files are supposed to be, supposed to be, confidential. The State Department's got some explaining to do.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: And this? Well, it's not a low bridge. It's a high river, and the house shouldn't have been there at all. A snapshot of Midwestern floods that could still get worse long after the rain has gone.
Hi there. I'm Brianna Keilar at CNN Center in Atlanta. Kyra Phillips is on assignment in Iraq.
LEMON: And I'm Don Lemon. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM -- 3:00 here in the East. The misery mounting in the Midwest, where rivers are still rising and getting destructive.
Look at what happened in St. Louis, Missouri. The floodwaters collapsed part of a road and tore through an earthen dam, sending muddy water rushing right into this lake. From southern Illinois to Arkansas, thousands of people are out of their homes. Many more could be by Sunday.
The flooding is blamed for at least 16 deaths. Two people in Arkansas, they are still missing.
And once the winter snow starts melting, expect more flooding. Of course, it has to stop snowing first. It's piling up quickly in parts of the upper Midwest.
(WEATHER UPDATE)
LEMON: Flooding in the nation's midsection. The water rises. The misery deepens. And from Missouri to Kentucky, Arkansas to Indiana, the worst, it has yet to come.
CNN's Jacqui Jeras looks at the losses so far.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST (voice-over): Raging rivers, washed-out roads, topped levees and, in northern Arkansas, the White River did this.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Took care of that.
JERAS: From Arkansas to Indiana, to Ohio, towns and homes, left under water, and people sent scrambling.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't have time for tears.
JERAS: Some were lucky enough to pack up and get out. Others left to salvage what they could.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Inside of all these homes, it's all at least waist high. You know, dark, dirty -- just stuff floating around.
JERAS: Many, like this woman, pulling a trailer full of furniture and pets in Missouri didn't quite make it. Or this woman pulled from her car, put on a canoe and then transferred to a rescue boat.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I tried to back up and my car just started floating away.
JERAS: She clung to a tree, called 9-1-1, and waited for help.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was scared. I thought I was going to die.
JERAS: Rescue boats cruised neighborhoods picking up people and pets who stayed behind.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on, buddy, climb in.
JERAS: And down river, an all-out effort to brace for the worst.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We want to trust the levee but we can't afford to be wrong.
JERAS: Jacqui Jeras, CNN, Eureka, Missouri.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KEILAR: And here's an example of just how dramatic the Midwest flooding has been. This is yesterday. It's an intersection in Fenton, Missouri. That's a town along the Merrimack River, which has yet to crest.
Here is that same intersection today. Amazing, underwater and obviously completely off limits to traffic.
LEMON: Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico is off the Democratic fence and in Barack Obama's corner. Richardson dropped out of the Democratic presidential race in January. Today, he stood alongside Obama in Portland, Oregon, and endorsed his bid for the presidency.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. BILL RICHARDSON (D), NEW MEXICO: Your candidacy -- and this is an expression of your candidacy -- is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our nation, and you are a once-in-a-lifetime leader.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
RICHARDSON: You -- you will make -- you will make every American proud to be an American. And I am very -- and I am very proud today to endorse your candidacy for president.
(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Both Obama and the other remaining Democratic presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton, had lobbied hard for Richardson's endorsement. The governor was a member of Bill Clinton's Cabinet.
KEILAR: Leading our Political Ticker: serious questions for the State Department.
Why were the passport files of all three major presidential candidates breached? The department says, several times this year, contract workers breached Barack Obama's file. John McCain's was also breached this year, Hillary Clinton's last year. In the Obama case, two contract workers were fired. A third was disciplined. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice vows to get to the bottom of the matter.
LEMON: John McCain has been a fierce critic of France. Today, though, he's soaking in the sights and sounds of Paris. He's meeting with President Nicolas Sarkozy, who is considered much more pro- American than his predecessor, Jacques Chirac. McCain is wrapping up a weeklong congressional junket to the Middle East and to Europe.
KEILAR: For what it's worth, Barack Obama's controversial former pastor once met former President Clinton. A photo that surfaced on the Internet, where else, shows Jeremiah Wright and Bill Clinton at a White House prayer breakfast 10 years ago.
The former president's spokesman says, during two terms in office, Clinton had his picture taken with tens of thousands of people.
LEMON: Almost 4,000 American war dead. That's almost 4,000 shattered lives and shattered families. We will meet a mother who lost her son and so much more.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KEILAR: We want to warn you that this next story contains some disturbing images. It's out of Knoxville, Illinois. It's far from the war-scarred deserts of the Middle East, but an Army mother there will always have a connection to the conflict in Iraq. It's a connection that broke her heart forever.
CNN's Cal Perry reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CAL PERRY, CNN BAGHDAD BUREAU CHIEF (voice-over): It was May the fourth of 2006 when we met Caleb Lufkin, here in Baghdad's busiest combat hospital. He was scared and near death.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't you dare try to die on me, OK? I didn't give you permission.
CALEB LUFKIN, U.S. ARMY: Don't let me die.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I won't let you die, dude. I promise. I promise. I give you my word, OK?
PERRY: It was a roadside bomb that shattered his body, and Caleb, like thousands of other wounded veterans, flew to Walter Reed Hospital for follow-on surgeries.
Two years later, we wanted to hear for ourselves what had happened to Caleb after he left that hospital, so we came here to his hometown Of Knoxville, Illinois, and visited with his mother. Marcy Gorsline immediately cast her mind back 20 years, when her eldest son was just a kid.
MARCY GORSLINE, LOST SON IN IRAQ WAR: ... little hand, and you would take him to the first day of kindergarten, had the little backpack on, you know, and you would get him to the door, well, you don't want to let go of their hand.
PERRY: He grew up fast and seemed destined for a life of public service. He wanted to become a firefighter here in his hometown, but soon after he left high school:
GORSLINE: He called me up one day, and he said, "Mom," he said, "I need my Social Security card."
I said, "Why?"
And he says, "Well, mom, I'm going to join the Army."
PERRY: And he did, graduating from basic training.
GORSLINE: He was suddenly a man. I mean, he -- he went from being, I guess, my little boy. He was a man.
PERRY: Marcy was against the war in Iraq, but she still had to let her boy go. And so he joined the Fifth Engineering Battalion of the U.S. Army and was soon packing for his first deployment overseas.
GORSLINE: He had his backpack on and his fatigues. And, of course, we're all crying. And he looked over his shoulder before he got on the plane. "I will be all right, mom."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Breathe deep for me, Caleb. You're having trouble breathing over there?
LUFKIN: A little bit.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Big breath.
PERRY: Marcy flew immediately to his side, meeting him at Walter Reed Hospital and preparing for what was to be his final surgery before going home.
GORSLINE: He said, "Now, you're going to fly home with me, right?"
And I said -- I said, "You're darn right I am." We're flying him home.
And so he went into surgery, and, right before he went in, I tussled his hair, and I kissed him on the forehead and I said, "I love you, bud."
And he said, "I love you, too, mom."
PERRY: And then in an instant, Marcy faced every mother's worst nightmare. Caleb's heart had stopped, and he died on the operating table.
GORSLINE: We had to get on the plane without him. I felt like I let him down.
You know, someone said, what's this war mean to you? What has it done?
It took away dreams. It took away dreams. To the world, he is number 95 for Illinois. To us, he was the world.
PERRY (on-camera): That's why you decided here?
GORSLINE: Uh-huh. he's where he's supposed to be.
PERRY: Under the flag?
GORSLINE: Under the flag.
Doggone it. There we go.
PERRY (voice-over): Every day, she comes to Knoxville Cemetery and tends to the grave of her eldest son. Her world is still turned upside down.
GORSLINE: Moms shouldn't have to bury her child. So, now the flag's protecting him, instead of him protecting the flag.
PERRY: But what's important to Marcy:
GORSLINE: I just don't want anybody to forget him. And I don't want anybody to forget the other 4,000.
PERRY: Cal Perry, CNN, Knoxville.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: As we mark the fifth anniversary of the war in Iraq, we remember other fallen heroes. Tomorrow, friends and family of Army Specialist Donald A. "Wesley" Burkett will gather for his funeral. The 24-year-old from Texas was killed when his vehicle was hit by an improvised explosive device in Iraq.
Sergeant Lerando Brown of Poplarville, Mississippi, got married a month before he deployed to Iraq. His wife, Candice, says his death left a hole in her heart. Brown died of a gunshot wound in Balad, Iraq, last week.
Twenty-four year-old staff sergeant Christopher Frost was killed when his helicopter crashed during a sandstorm in Iraq. The Waukesha, Wisconsin, native had a five-year-old daughter and a two-year-old son.
These are three of the 3,992 men and women in the U.S. armed forces who have been killed while serving in Iraq.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: All right, let's talk about your money.
Even before the mortgage meltdown, alarm bells were ringing about a contagion of fraudulent lending. The FBI says mortgage fraud is one of the fastest-growing scams in the country. Just wait until you see what happened to a family in California.
Here's CNN's Thelma Gutierrez.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Ronald and Tracylyn Sharrit were living the American dream. They owned their own home, raised six kids. Now the Sharrits are in financial quicksand after what the California attorney general calls one of the worst mortgage scams he's seen.
JERRY BROWN, CALIFORNIA ATTORNEY GENERAL: This is just outright theft. Instead of using shotguns, they're using documentation.
GUTIERREZ: California fraud investigators say a group of young successful mortgage brokers and escrow agents ran Lifetime Financial and several other companies. The CEO, 25-year-old Eric Pony.
TRACYLYN SHARRIT, HOMEOWNER: It's too late to stop it now.
GUTIERREZ: The Sharrits say their ordeal began two years ago with a phone call telling them they could refinance at a low fixed rate.
SHARRIT: They can get us a rate as low as 6. 34 percent interest rate fixed for 30 years.
GUTIERREZ (on-camera): When you heard that?
SHARRIT: I thought it was a really good deal.
GUTIERREZ (voice-over): The Sharrits went to sign the loan and said they walked away because it wasn't what they were promised.
SHARRIT: That evening we got a phone call from Eric Pony, who wanted to come to our home, all the way from L.A., to come to our home and make nice-nice and bring better documents.
GUTIERREZ: But again, they say Eric Pony's loan wasn't fixed or low interest. The Sharrits discovered somehow the loan went through, a loan they say they never signed.
SHARRIT: It was a 40-year loan, amortized starting at 9. 5 percent interest with two balloon riders and a prepay penalty of 20 percent. Why would we do that to ourselves?
GUTIERREZ: How did the loan go through?
SHARRIT: My signature showed up later in the loan documents as Tracy Sharrit. My name is Tracylyn. My name is spelled with one T., not two T.'s. They misspelled my name.
GUTIERREZ: Sharrit says her name was forged on notarized documents.
LARRY ROBERTS, DEPUTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY, SAN FERNANDO COUNTY: They created documents that were simply false, and they would submit them to the escrow company and the escrow company would submit it process it and submit it to the lender.
SHARRIT: It just rolls into this big financial mess that you almost feel like you're breathing under water.
GUTIERREZ: The Sharrits' payments nearly doubled. Their son Matt, who's fighting in Afghanistan, helped out.
SHARRIT: I have a son who is in a war zone who's more worried about his parents right now than he is about what's around the corner for him.
GUTIERREZ (on-camera): While the Sharrits were struggling to make their house payments, investigators say Eric Pony was living the high life, right here behind these gates.
(voice-over): It all came to an end this week. The state seized all of Pony's assets, including Ferraris, a Bentley, and 13 different properties. Prosecutors told the Sharrits Lifetime Financial processed thousands of loans.
SHARRIT: Not just our family, but seniors and single mothers with children. It could happen to anybody.
GUTIERREZ: Pony, his sister Paulette and four others are now in custody, charged with 47 felonies, including conspiracy, grand theft, and forgery. During their arraignment, each of the defendants pleaded not guilty to the charges.
(on-camera): So, how were these people caught? The district attorney says they picked on the wrong person. Tracylyn Sharrit is the president of a rotary club with connections to law enforcement and attorneys. She started digging. She turned over all the information she got to the district attorney.
Thelma Gutierrez, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BUSINESS REPORT)
LEMON: Well, sometimes, fitness doesn't come easy. Shedding those extra pounds, well, everybody knows it can be tough. But boot camp tough?
Well, that's what Dr. Sanjay Gupta is talking about in today's "Fit Nation."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ten, nine, eight
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Running drills, pushups...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One, two.
GUPTA: ... sit-ups, all of it, before sunup.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's go, everybody.
GUPTA: Operation Boot Camp is about pushing you to your limits.
SHANNON ALEXANDER, BOOT CAMPER: By 8:00, I'm off to work and I know I can handle anything. I mean, I just handled, you know, rolling around in the wet grass and doing 800 sit-ups. I can do anything that's going to come after me.
GUPTA: Thirty-four-year-old Shannon Alexander couldn't always handle it, but a routine doctor's appointment became an epiphany.
ALEXANDER: I found myself in the doctor's office with lower back pain, and I just kind of had a moment where it was like, I'm 34 years old. I have a six-year-old son. I should not be feeling this kind of crippled and limited by my own body.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ten, nine, eight, seven.
GUPTA: So, Alexander joined this intense 6:00 a.m. boot camp class.
ALEXANDER: I really didn't know what to expect. I was terrified that first morning.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A little lower. A little lower.
GUPTA: Now, just six months in, Shannon has lost weight, gained confidence, and started training for a marathon. Most importantly, she says she feels happier.
ALEXANDER: It's definitely had a huge impact on just helping me to feel stronger and more capable, more hopeful. You know, I can play with my son now and keep up with him. And, heck, he can hardly keep up with me.
GUPTA: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KEILAR: How will Bill Richardson's decision to back Obama impact the Democratic battle for the White House? We will find out what our political roundtable has to say.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KEILAR: Hi, there I'm Brianna Keilar in for Kyra Phillips live at the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta.
LEMON: And I'm Don Lemon.
It is Friday and you're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
OK. Well, just last month Bill Richardson watched the Super Bowl with Bill Clinton. Today, Richardson endorsed Hillary Clinton's opponent, Barack Obama, for president. How does that work?
What's it mean for the Clintons' uphill battle -- her uphill battle for the nomination?
Joining us to discuss that, CNN's political analyst and Republican strategist, Amy Holmes.
Hi, Amy. How are you doing?
AMY HOLMES, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Hey, Don, great. How are you?
LEMON: OK. Are you ready for this segment?
HOLMES: I'm ready.
LEMON: Democratic strategist and Clinton supporter Maria Echaveste.
Did I say that right, Maria?
MARIA ECHAVESTE, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Yes, you did.
LEMON: Thank you very much.
And Jamal Simmons, a Democratic strategist and an Obama supporter.
OK, do we have the video of these guys watching the Super Bowl together?
They're watching the Super Bowl together just last month and then all of a sudden, he endorses his wife's opponent.
So what does this mean? What is going -- you know what I want to know from you -- and I'm going to ask you, Jamal -- what is going on in the Clinton campaign for all of these people to be, I guess, defecting, so to speak, to Barack Obama? These are longtime Clinton friends.
JAMAL SIMMONS, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: You know, Don, it's like when you're dating, you know, a kiss is not a commitment.
HOLMES: Oh, really?
(LAUGHTER)
LEMON: Well, Amy wants to know why. Explain that, Jamal.
SIMMONS: Well, you know, just because the two of them had a good time together on the couch watching football doesn't mean that Bill Richardson is obligated to endorse Hillary Clinton.
I think, though, what this really means is that it's going to be very helpful for Barack Obama because there are probably a lot of super-delegates and some other people who are getting a little queasy and a little nervous because of the last week or so of the campaign. And having somebody this prominent come out and support him will chill out a lot of those folks.
LEMON: I've got to say, and Bill Clinton looks pretty bored there. Maybe his team wasn't winning or maybe he knew something was up.
I've got to say, this is Hillary Clinton's response -- and I want -- I want to play this for you, Maria, and I want you to respond to this. Hillary Clinton's response is she likes and respects Bill Richardson: "But both of us have many great endorsers and the voters, not endorsers, will decide this election. And there are still millions of voters in upcoming contests who want to have their voices heard."
But, really, is it up to voters, because she is behind in the delegate count and it's really going to come down to super-delegates.
ECHAVESTE: Well, actually, you need both. I mean there's no question that it's a hunt for delegates, because coming in, neither side is going to be able to have the sufficient number to claim the nomination. But it will improve your chances to have the super- delegate support, if you increase your lead among pledged delegates.
And in terms of Richardson's endorsement, yes, it may be somewhat helpful to Obama, but it's not going to really make the final difference. The fact is, is that Hillary has always had tremendous support among Hispanic voters and -- both members of Congress, elected officials and among the voters.
LEMON: Right. OK.
Amy, I want to bring you in on all of this, because the Bill Richardson and, also, we know the State Department thing, with the breach of trust there and people looking at the passports. That really got the Jeremiah Wright story off of the front pages. And the Republicans were sort of using that as leverage, sort of as, I've been saying, an antidote against Obama-mania.
So now this is on the front page, this endorsement. Does this mean anything on the Republican side?
HOLMES: Well, on the Democratic side, Bill Richardson definitely did throw Obama a life raft this week. He started with a disaster, he's ending with an endorsement. That's good news for Barack Obama.
What does this mean for Republicans? You know, not much. The Jeremiah Wright story will come back to haunt Barack Obama if he's the nominee in the general. I'm pretty certain of that.
LEMON: Why do you say --
HOLMES: And we --
LEMON: You don't think that story is over?
HOLMES: I don't. I think it's over for the week, but I don't think it's over for Barack Obama.
But getting back to Bill Richardson, Don, you know, people know him as the governor, they know him as a former U.N. ambassador under the Clinton administration. I more fondly remember him as Monica Lewinsky's job search captain. And this is, I think, very interesting that Bill Richardson is breaking with the Clintons after being so intimately involved with them and with that administration all those years ago.
LEMON: OK...
HOLMES: So I think this is also telling super-delegates hey, if I can do, it you can do it, too.
LEMON: Hey, Amy, I want you to listen closely, too, because this one is about infighting among Democrats. Bill Richardson mentioned this today in his endorsement of Barack Obama. I want you to comment on the other side. Hang on.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICHARDSON: My great affection and admiration for Senator Clinton and President Clinton will never waiver. It is time, however, for Democrats to stop fighting amongst ourselves and prepare and prepare...
(APPLAUSE)
RICHARDSON: ... and prepare for the tough fight we will have against John McCain in the fall.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Amy, does he have -- does he have a point there?
HOLMES: I think he has a huge point. He has a very important point. You know, I've been looking at the super-delegates on the Democratic side and I'm thinking what is their strategy? Is this the wimp strategy?
Their decision is not going to get any easier come June 4 after this whole primary schedule has rolled out. Barack Obama will most likely still have the pledged delegate lead, still have the popular vote lead and super-delegates are going to have -- be facing the same decision they face now, which is do they overrule the will of the voters and give this to Hillary Clinton because of backroom dealing or do they allow the ballot box to determine their vote?
LEMON: OK, and Jamal, I haven't forgotten about you, but I want to get Maria in on this. I want to talk about what this means for Hispanics.
A couple of people I've been speaking to, especially Hispanic people who have been here on CNN have been saying that Barack Obama really hasn't made any headway among Hispanic voters and that's why Hillary Clinton is winning on that side. Does this endorsement help today?
ECHAVESTE: I don't think it really does, because even when Richardson was in the race, he did not attract the number of Hispanic voters. Hillary always enjoyed two to one, almost three to one support, depending on the state. And so I think that, in the final analysis, it's not going to help.
And I don't think -- in terms of Amy's point about the let's cut this off now, I mean we have a number of primaries left. And why are we going to say that they don't get a chance to vote?
LEMON: OK.
HOLMES: Well, I'll tell you why, because you want a nominee who's strong going into the general, not one who's limping toward the nomination.
LEMON: OK, Amy --
ECHAVESTE: And if we're --
HOLMES: Go ahead.
LEMON: All right, we're going to have to end it right there.
But I want to get Jamal in, a last word. I want to get back to that kissing on the couch thing before we go.
(LAUGHTER)
SIMMONS: Well, you know what I want to get back to is this issue about the State Department file breach. I think there's some very important questions we don't know.
What was the contracting company that got this contract? Who did these people work for? Is there any overlap between these companies' CEOs and any donor lists that we haven't investigated?
I think that there's more to this story than we have any answers for. And there's some dirty tricks that -- it smells like there's some dirty tricks around this thing.
LEMON: You think it's politically motivated, is that what you're saying?
SIMMONS: The fact that they went into Barack Obama's files on certain key days and maybe even John McCain's files -- you know, a lot of things don't happen by accident involved.
LEMON: OK.
These are our players today Jamal Simmons, Maria Echaveste...
SIMMONS: Very good.
LEMON: ...and Amy Holmes.
Hey, have a great Easter weekend, you guys.
HOLMES: Thank you. You, too.
SIMMONS: You, too, Don.
ECHAVESTE: Thank you.
KEILAR: He was off-duty and out of harm's way, so why did this Army Ranger die in Iraq?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KEILAR: We heard today from the family of the woman killed yesterday in that unbelievable run-in with an eagle ray in Florida Keys. Well, autopsy results show blunt force trauma killed 55-year-old Judy Zagorski.
She and her family were boating off Marathon Key when this 75- pound ray that you see right there jumped out of the water and struck her. Apparently, the stinger had nothing to do with her death.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, COURTESY WSVN)
DAN BOUCK, VICTIM'S BROTHER: The events that led to Judy's death yesterday were the result of an unavoidable accident. It couldn't have been prevented and won't likely be replicated.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: The autopsy does not tell us whether the impact with the fish or the fall afterward was the fatal blow.
LEMON: A mom wants to know how could a soldier in Iraq survive bullets and bombs only to be electrocuted in his own barracks?
At least one member of Congress wants to know, too.
Here's CNN's Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Staff Sergeant Ryan Maseth stepped into the shower on January 2 at his base in Baghdad, turned the water on and died. The 24-year-old combat veteran was electrocuted by a short in a water pump, according to the Army. His mother, Cheryl, is heartbroken.
CHERYL HARRIS, MOTHER OF ELECTROCUTED SOLDIER: He was a Green Beret. He was a weapons master. He was trained to survive. And hearing that he was electrocuted, it just was so senseless to me.
STARR: Maseth is at least one of 12 service members the military says have been electrocuted in Iraq since 2003, most by improper grounding of electrical systems in areas such as swimming pools and showers.
Congressman Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Oversight Committee, is calling for an investigation, and says Kellogg Brown and Root, the largest American contractor in Iraq, had the job of maintaining the shower building and may have known about the electrical problems.
Maseth's parents are suing KBR, claiming in part, in a court filing, "The water pump servicing the facility was manufactured by a Chinese company for sale to countries outside the United States because it failed to meet applicable U.S. safety standards."
KBR said in a statement it's cooperating with investigators, adding, "At the time of Staff Sergeant Maseth's tragic death, however, KBR was providing repair services at the facility in response to requests issued by the Army."
But the family attorney, Pat Cavanaugh, says it's all too late.
PAT CAVANAUGH, FAMILY ATTORNEY: In Ryan Maseth's building they, in fact, knew about it, reported it, were funded in excess of $3 million to fix it and for whatever reason, did not fix it.
STARR (on-camera): The case is under review, as well, by the DOD inspector general. The Pentagon says KBR was responsible for electrical safety issues at the building, but was only ordered to fix them after the sergeant died. It may be very small comfort to his family. Ryan is survived by two brothers still serving in the Army.
(voice-over): And the Pentagon says that Chinese water pump was installed years ago by the Iraqis.
Barbara Starr, CNN, the Pentagon.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
KEILAR: Floodwaters and more rolling downriver. The losses stacking up as the water keeps going up.
LEMON: Well, here's something you don't see every day. Oh my gosh, look at that. Well, some houses have two car garages. This one has a one car bathroom. We'll tell you what happened.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: All right, we want to thank a minute right here to show you some of the best pictures we've come across today. It was bad luck for the woman who stole the wrong truck. The truck stalled on the train track. It's there on the left.
There it is. Wow! As the train comes in from the right, whamo (ph). The woman wasn't hurt, believe it or not. She's been arrested already by police in Lacrosse, Wisconsin. They taped what happened with a dashboard camera. The truck got dragged for a couple hundred yards. The woman got dragged to jail.
KEILAR: Get a load of this -- a house -- this is in suburban Atlanta. Well, it's got a new addition. It's not the kind you normally like. It's an SUV lodged in the bathroom wall. And police say the driver was speeding and then lost control. And as bad as this might look, thankfully, no one was critically hurt. The driver, though, has been charged with reckless driving and, not surprisingly, failure to maintain his lane.
LEMON: It looks like art. It's something you have to see to believe -- a house being washed down the rain swollen White River in Arkansas. Man, oh, man. The water is so high you know it's not going to clear that bridge. And that's just one of the dramatic images we're seeing from across the Midwest, where some rivers won't even crest until the weekend.
KEILAR: It's called "Stop Loss" -- the military's policy of holding service members beyond their terms of enlistment. It's a word you normally -- or a phrase you normally hear Barbara Starr use. Well, it's also a new movie.
And CNN's Kareen Wynter takes a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: By the authority of the president, you've been stop-lossed.
KAREEN WYNTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The movie "Stop-Loss" gets at the core of what many consider a controversial military practice -- when a soldier's contract is involuntarily extended.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How can they do this?
RYAN PHILLIPPE, ACTOR: They're doing whatever they want to do. With a shortage of guys and no draft, they're shipping back soldiers who are supposed to be getting out. It's a backdoor draft is what it is. WYNTER: Actor Ryan Phillippe leads the film's young case.
PHILLIPPE: You live every day over there hoping to get home and get home alive. And to be forced back against your will is really -- you can't imagine that.
WYNTER: Currently, some 7,500 active service soldiers are subject to stop-loss. And since 2001, the policy has affected more than 100,000 soldiers.
For Stewart McKenzie, the consequences were devastating.
STUART MCKENZIE, STOP-LOSSED SOLDIER: I think it's dishonest. I really don't feel -- if, you know, somebody wants to be at war and somebody wants to go, then let them go. But if they've done their four years, they've been like, OK, I signed a contract for four years, I'm done.
WYNTER: Like the characters in the film, McKenzie was 18 when he enlisted in the Army. He was eager to serve his country, but now questions the explanation his recruiter offered about the stop-loss policy.
MCKENZIE: He basically made it sound like if World War III had popped off then it would be activated. But, you know, he said there's no chance. Don't worry about it. Just sign right here.
WYNTER: The Army says stop-loss is necessary to sustain a cohesive force and is used sparingly. McKenzie was stop-lossed while still stationed in Iraq. Seven months after he was scheduled to finish his four year contract, a roadside bomb severed his left hand and blew off part of his leg.
MCKENZIE: You go over there and I mean, you're always just dodging bullets.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, sir. I was just waiting around to get blown up, huh?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cool.
WYNTER: Now discharged on medical retirement, McKenzie's hope for "Stop-Loss," the movie, is that it helps people understand stop- loss, the reality.
MCKENZIE: Just open everyone's eyes and let the people judge if they think it's right or wrong.
WYNTER: Kareen Wynter, CNN, Hollywood.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: OK. So one candidate is making sure you know where he stands on at least one issue. He changed his name to Mr. Pro-life -- and I'm serious.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PRO-LIFE, CANDIDATE FOR SENATE IN IDAHO: It seems like only a nut would do something like that. But I'm not a nutty kind of a person at all.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: Jeanne Moos introduces us to Mr. Pro-life and tell us why he did it, straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KEILAR: Thousands of Christian pilgrims marked Good Friday with a walk through Jerusalem's Old City, retracing the route Jesus is said to have taken on the way to crucifixion, many of them carry crosses. And prayers were offered at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, said to be where Jesus was buried and resurrected.
And at the Vatican, Pope Benedict XVI presided over a Good Friday service at St. Peter's Basilica. Then later he's scheduled to participate in the Way of the Cross procession at Rome's Coliseum.
LEMON: What's in a name? Well, a lot -- a lot if that name is Mr. Pro-Life. This one, of course, has Jeanne Moos written all over it.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Say hello to Mr. Pro-Life, because that's how he says hello.
PRO-LIFE: Yes, Pro-Life.
MOOS (on-camera): Mr. Life?
PRO-LIFE: Yes?
MOOS (voice-over): Actually, Pro-Life is all one name. The former Marvin Richardson made it his legal name. And now the State of Idaho says he can use it on the ballot when he runs for the U.S. Senate.
PRO-LIFE: It seems like only a nut would do something like that. But I'm not a nutty kind of a person at all.
MOOS: This organic strawberry farmer chose to legally change his name to Pro-Life because he says saving the unborn is --
PRO-LIFE: My mission in life.
MOOS: To make the story even stranger, Pro-Life is running for the Senate seat that Larry Craig is leaving.
SEN. LARRY CRAIG (R), IDAHO: I am not gay.
MOOS: Guess those four words would be too long for the ballot, though Pro-Life is not gay. That's his wife.
Bloggers are taking liberties with the name change, posting comments like: "I guess wide stance was already taken."
Taking on odd ball names is nothing new. There's a guy who calls himself "Vermin Supreme," always running for office up in New Hampshire. And then there's this guy, who changed his middle name from Anthony to "Low Tax."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In "The State of Tennessee v. Byron "Low Tax" Looper."
MOOS: But he ended up in prison for murder, trying to win election with a Smith & Wesson by shooting his political opponent, telling one of his buddies...
SGT. JOE BOND, FORMER FRIEND OF LOOPER: I killed that dude then I busted a cap in his head.
MOOS: "Low Tax" Looper really stooped low.
And remember Grandpa Munster?
AL LEWIS, ACTOR: Igor, please, not now.
MOOS: Al Lewis once ran for governor of New York.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's your platform?
LEWIS: Solid oak.
MOOS: He tried using "Grandpa" on the ballot, but no go.
(on-camera): Of course, some people are just born with a name that coincidentally rings a bell.
(voice-over): Meet Dot Comm.
DOROTHY COMM, ABBREVIATED NAME COMMON IN COMPUTER TERMS: And I'm nobody.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, you're Dot Comm.
MOOS: Her real name, Dorothy Comm. But friends prefer Dot.
From Dot Comm to Pro-Life, it's on his driver's license, his Social Security card.
PRO-LIFE: Hey, if people want to laugh about my name, it's fine. Just so they don't kill their baby.
MOOS: Pro-Life is out to make a point, though he expects to get only five percentage points of the vote.
PRO-LIFE: Well, God bless you.
MOOS (on-camera): OK. Bye-bye, Mr. Pro-Life.
PRO-LIFE: OK, bye.
MOOS (voice-over): And when it comes to that final good-bye, one e-mailer joked: "Can't wait to see that tombstone."
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: Hey, that's what America is all about, right? You can do whatever you want.
KEILAR: Whatever you want.
LEMON: As long as you're not breaking the law. My nickname is B.K. but that's really --
KEILAR: The nickname for me?
LEMON: That's (INAUDIBLE) so --
KEILAR: The nickname for me, yes.
LEMON: B.K.
KEILAR: I call you Don Lemon, but --
LEMON: OK. Well...
KEILAR: On that note --
LEMON: We call him John King and he's hosting "THE SITUATION ROOM."
KEILAR: Yes.
LEMON: Take it away John King.
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