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American Morning
Asia's Major Index Down Big; Iraqi Military Saying CBS Journalist Richard Butler Rescued; Iraqi Government Fired Roughly 1,300 Soldiers
Aired April 14, 2008 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Shame on her. She knows better. She is running around talking about how this is an insult to sportsmen. How she values the Second Amendment. She's talking like she's Annie Oakley. Hillary Clinton is out there, you know, like she's out in a duck blind every Sunday. She's packing a six-shooter. Come on. She knows better. That's some politics being played by Hillary Clinton.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): The center piece of these latest flare-ups, Obama's comment that is small town folks facing tough economic times are bitter and cling to guns or religion. Hillary Clinton accused him of talking down to those all-important Pennsylvania voters.
SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I do think it raises a lot of concerns because it did seem so much in line with what often we are charged with. Someone goes to a closed-door fundraiser in San Francisco and makes comments that do seem elitist, out of touch, and frankly patronizing.
ROBERTS: He charged her with a sudden embrace of the Second Amendment after previously pursuing gun control. Framing what he saw as Republican style smear tactics.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hillary Clinton who was just here said you are being elitist.
OBAMA: Well, that is I think a good example of what happens on the presidential campaign -- is that we try to tear each other down instead of lifting the country up. I think it is very important to understand, and I think it's unfortunate that in the political process of presidential campaigns, that people have been trying to misconstrue my words.
ROBERTS: It was a rare moment of political confrontation at last night's "COMPASSION FORUM." An opportunity for voters to get inside the candidates and find out how faith would inform their presidencies.
CLINTON: For me, my faith has given me the confidence to make decision that were right for me, whether anybody else agree with me or not.
OBAMA: What I believe is that God intervenes, but that his plans are a little too mysterious for me to grasp. And so, what I try to do is as best I can, be an instrument of his will.
ROBERTS: The forum was mostly thoughtful and subdued. But today the trail will get white hot again. Clinton trying to gain political advantage of over what Obama said. He, trying to ensure his comments, don't become a turning point in the campaign.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: Presumptive GOP nominee John McCain was invited to take part in the "COMPASSION FORUM" but he declined.
The Democrats are filing suit today over how John McCain is paying for his campaign. They are complaining because McCain applied for federal munching funds, but is now ignoring them to avoid the spending limits that are involved. Their suit is against the federal election commission. The Republican National Committee calls the lawsuit, quote, "total nonsense."
First Colombia, now possible links to China that could pose another conflict of interest for Hillary Clinton. According to the Associated Press, President Clinton gave the keynote address in the 2005 Internet conference in China organized by Ali Baba. It's an Internet company that is accused of collaborating with the Chinese government in its crackdown on Tibetan activists. Senator Hillary Clinton has taken a strong stance against China going so far as too say that President Bush should boycott the opening ceremonies of this summer's Olympics games in Beijing.
Kiran?
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news this morning out of Iraq. The Iraqi military saying that CBS journalist Richard Butler who was kidnapped in Basra backed in February was rescued during a raid and is said to be doing fine.
Butler who is a Britain along with his Iraqi interpreter were taken by gunmen back on February 15th. Iraqi official say that Butler's kidnappers were also arrested during this raid. The interpreter was released just three days after the kidnapping.
And a popular center in Baghdad, the target of a deadly attack. At least four people killed when a roadside bomb was hit by a -- when a roadside bomb hit a mini bus. The blast following another explosion at the capital and that blast destroyed a number of shops.
And the Iraqi government was fired -- has fired roughly 1300 soldiers and police for varying things including refusing to fight and possibly sympathizing with some of the Shiite Militia during the government crackdown that took place last month.
A high ranking Iraqi official says more than 900 of those dismissed were stationed in Basra. That's a southern city that saw most of the fighting. The government says the troops dismissed will now face a court-martial for quote, "Showing solidarity with outlaws."
And a bloody sneak attack in southern Afghanistan overnight. These are pictures just coming in showing an attack on a police check point near Kandahar. Taliban militants killed 11 officers while they slept. Four other police officers were killed Saturday.
Afghan police are easier targets for the Taliban. They have less training and lighter weapons an Afghan army or NATO troops. 925 police officers have been killed in the past year.
And Iran is avoiding questions about its nuclear program today. Cancelling a meeting with international inspectors without any explanation. Some of that meeting was supposed to deal with last week's defiant announcement by Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad where he claimed Iran is installing new equipment that would greatly increase the country's ability to produce nuclear fuel.
ROBERTS: Fears this morning that deadly riots could continue within poverish (ph) Haiti as food prices continue to skyrocket around the globe. Protest in Luting (ph) have already left seven people dead. Haiti's prime minister was fired for not increasing food production. The president of the World Bank is now asking countries to contribute $500 million in emergency aid for the United Nations World Food Program.
Earlier this morning on AMERICAN MORNING, we spoke with Jeffrey Sachs from Columbia University who explained why food prices are climbing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SACHS: We have been putting our food into the gas tank. This corn to ethanol subsidy which our government is doing, really makes little sense. So we're taking this valuable food, we're putting it in the gas tank with the big subsidy. That's also driving up world food prices. Then climate shocks. For instance, the drought in Australia hit hard their exports.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: One United Nations official in Haiti says it is unclear whether people will wait for long term solutions to fix the crisis.
The Olympic torch is making its only stop in the Middle East today. The flame arrived in Oman in the southern Arabian Peninsula. Security was tight. So far, no reports of any protests or violence. They were expectations of a smooth relay, despite what happen in Europe and the United States. Oman has strong economic ties with China which is a major importer of Oman's oil.
CHETRY: President Bush will be briefed on airline safety, congestion, and other matters affecting the industry at a cabinet meeting today. American Airlines back on schedule after it was force to ground 300 planes and cancel more than 3000 flights last week.
It led to the stranding of hundreds of thousand of passengers. But there could be more trouble soon. The Federal government recently ordered audits of maintenance records. And analyst says that means that older jets are more likely to be grounded for time consuming inspection. American, United and Northwest are flying the nation's oldest fleets on average.
And there's talk this morning -- renewed talk I guess you could say of a major airline merger. It would actually make the largest carrier in the world if it went through.
ROBERTS: Yes. Some consolidation because of bad economics. So this was going on for a long, long time. And Ali Velshi told us about this deal Between Delta and Northwest which could dramatically increase the size. Find out what that could mean for American travellers, that's just ahead.
And as well, earthquake after earthquake.
CHETRY: Yes. This is hundreds in days just off of our shores where the ocean is rumbling. We will show you the pictures next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Nine minutes now after the hour.
New developments this morning for your money. Overseas markets are down after Friday's heavy losses on Wall Street. Asia's major index is down big. Tokyo's Nikkei plunged by more than 3 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng snapped the two-day winning streak. It was down by more than 3 percent. The Shanghai Composite went down 5.6 percent.
Ali Velshi here with more on business.
What's driving the money for us?
ALI VELSHI, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Shanghai was a specific Chinese issue. So I would disregard that from the mix. Those Asian markets were lower, so were European markets. But the DOW was looking to bounce back this morning.
ROBERTS: What these Asian markets have all become lagging indicators.
VELSHI: Yes, it's a lagging. Exactly. It's following what happened. The DOW was down 250 points on Friday, little more than that. What has happened now is Wachovia has come in with very bad earnings and as a result, the DOW has turned negative right now. So, we are actually looking at a strong -- sharply lower open on the DOW. I will keep you posted on that.
CHETRY: Yes. We're also talking about this airline merger. If it happens between Delta and Northwest.
VELSHI: Right.
CHETRY: It would create the world's largest airline. Would we see as flying passengers a difference right away?
VELSHI: Yes, you would see -- not right away. Because first of all, they announced this merger, which might happen within the next 24 hours, although I've told that you before and it hasn't happened. You know, there's a lot of stuff that has to happen for airline merger to take place.
First of all, look at the route map -- not the route map, but the map of the hubs of these two airlines. They are very different. That actually makes them complimentary. The blue ones are Delta. Salt Lake City, Dallas, Cincinnati and Atlanta. The red ones are Northwest, Minneapolis, and Detroit. Minneapolis is headquarters, but Detroit is actually the bigger hub. And Memphis.
So, there's some question about what would happen with Memphis and Atlanta because two hubs in the southeast might not be what an airline needs. The new airline if it were to happen would be the largest airline in the world by traffic. It would be called Delta. It would be headquartered in Atlanta. And the chief of the airline would be the Delta CEO.
Obviously, you are going to see fewer flights. You're going to see fewer workers. There's probably no chance you are going to see lower fares for consumers, but there's not much chance anywhere that we're seeing lower fares.
ROBERTS: What about Northwest's aging fleet which is -- this is one of the three oldest fleets in the nation. The Lockheed Super Constellation is a great plane.
VELSHI: Yes. Well, that's the thing. You've got airlines that needs -- the biggest issues are labor, fuel costs and fleet. So at this point, consolidation in the airlines makes sense. And if you see this deal, you'll probably see Continental and United working toward a deal. They will take a long time. But this is going to look very different at the end of the year than it does right now.
ROBERTS: All right. Ali, thanks.
CHETRY: The economy is issue no. 1 for the minds of voters. Ali, Gerri Willis and the CNN money team are all going to be here again at noon to bring you "ISSUE #1" right here on CNN and online at cnnmoney.com.
ROBERTS: It is being described as a swarm of earthquakes. Hundreds just off of our coastline. Why and why now? Scientists look for answers. We've got that coming up.
CHETRY: And Reynolds Wolf joins us now with more on the unseasonably chilly temperatures that we've been seeing in a lot of areas of the country.
Hey, Reynolds.
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hi, good morning. You're absolutely right. Many people waking up this morning. They're about to head down on the way to work and they're going to have to ground that sweater. Maybe that's sweatshirt. It's one of those mornings where temperatures are about 10 to 15, even 20 degrees cooler than normal. We'll give you the full scope coming up in just a few moments. Right here, on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: 600 earthquakes in 10 days. And that's what scientists at Oregon State University say happened off that state's coast. The biggest seismic swarm that's ever recorded there. Oregon not typically known for this kind of seismic activity. Researchers say at least three of the quakes registered a magnitude 5.0 or higher, but few, if any, could actually be felt onshore. So, they're looking into this strange phenomenon that's taking place in Oregon.
ROBERTS: What better way to check in on this a little bit more than to go down to Atlanta with Reynolds Wolf. He's at the weather update desk, but knows a lot about this stuff.
What's going on?
(WEATHER REPORT)
ROBERTS: Looking forward to it. Thanks for the good job this morning, Reynolds.
A curse at Yankee Stadium broken before it ever began. Take a look at this. That's a Red Sox jersey coming out of this hole here. Number 34 David Ortiz, perhaps the biggest Yankee killer of all time. Remember Game 4 ALCS 2004. Two-run home and then win it at Fenway. Kick off the comeback. And there it is.
It was buried under the new stadium by a construction worker who just happened to be a Red Sox fan. The fan told the local paper -- he bragged to the paper -- that he buried it to curse the Yanks. But he lied about exactly where he buried it. Lucky for the Yanks, two other workers had seen him, lead workers to the right spot. They got out an impact drill, dug down through the concrete, two feet of it, took them about 15 minutes, and pulled it up there.
CHETRY: I love how they're holding it like evidence. It's like a crime scene.
ROBERTS: Needless to say, the guy on the construction team, who is the Red Sox fan who buried the jersey, in a little bit of hot water today.
CHETRY: He could be. Well, first of all not only is he probably -- it's tough to show up for work among a bunch of Yankee fans after this news came out. But now the COO of the Yankees looking into possible criminal charges, perhaps criminal mischief, something along those lines. And possibly making him foot a 50,000 bill for what they say cost them to dig it up.
ROBERTS: Here's what we get into the area hyperbole. The Yankees are saying that it cost $50,000 to dig it up.
CHETRY: Lost wages, you know --
ROBERTS: 15 minutes with an impact drill. No. CHETRY: Hours of searching, hours of interviews to figure out where it was.
ROBERTS: Hey, I figure that they're fortunate that this guy told them where it was, bragged about it before the stadium was finally built because it would be a lot more difficult to get it out in a year.
CHETRY: After the whole thing was up to find that out. Wow, sure, if you're a Yankees' fan. I'm not, but I'm saying, for the Yankees' fans, I understand.
ROBERTS: But is it the only jersey that's buried? Maybe it's the decoy.
CHETRY: You could never know. It could be just the start.
Well, you're watching the "Most News in the Morning". There are new numbers showing that Americans are digging themselves deeper into debt. But is there anything to do as oil prices are getting more expensive, gas prices are getting more expensive, food is getting more expensive? How can you get out of debt? Our Personal Finance Editor Gerri Willis with details on avoiding what she calls panic borrowing, next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: 21 minutes after the hour. Americans appear to be relying on their credit cards to get them through some tough economic times. New data shows that people are using credit cards and home equity lines more these days. CNN personal finance editor, Gerri Willis, joins us now with the details.
First, a lot of people use credit cards to pay for everyday things, to big bills because they like getting the points, but these are people who are using them because they can't pay the bill.
GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Yes, exactly. I think people are panic borrowing out there, John. That's what we're seeing in this market place right now. Folks are worried, nervous. They can't get loans, so they are borrowing wherever they can. Let's take a look at some of the numbers here.
Credit card balances are up 9.5 percent year over year. Home equity lines of credit up, they are up as well, about 8.1 percent. Credit balances, you brought that up, if you look in the states where the housing market is the worse, say Nevada, California, and Nevada (ph) credit card balances are up 21 percent. In Nevada 14 percent. A lot of pain out there. And I got to tell you, you can understand why people are so concerned. Home equity lines of credit getting cancelled out there in some markets because, you know, let's face it. The bankers, they can't evaluate how much those homes are worth, or how much the debt is worth at this point. People are worried and when they are worried they often go out and borrow more instead of less.
ROBERTS: You know, home equity line of credit is one thing. It's got a fixed interest rate. And it's not that high.
WILLIS: Well, it's not really fixed. Some of the lines of credit -- most of them are -- they fluctuate. They go up and down with the marketplace. So that is the worry about helix. If you get a second mortgage, that is fixed. So people -- you are right. They are putting themselves at risk two different ways here.
ROBERTS: I'm just recalling one that I got that was fixed. But that was quite a while ago. But this credit card rates -- I mean, if people are carrying debt on a credit card, what kind of interest are they paying?
WILLIS: Well, I think the average right now is 14 and change. You know, it's a lot of money out there. And I think what's also worries them is the fees. The fees go up every single year, late fees. And let me tell you, the devil is in the details. You look at the small print on some of these credit cards it really worries me.
ROBERTS: So what can people do in this situation? They need to (INAUDIBLE) somewhere.
(CROSSTALK)
WILLIS: Yes, exactly. You know, look, if you are getting a big refund this year, change your withholding. You know, Uncle Sam isn't paying you money for the money that you give them. You want to make sure that you change withholding so you have more money in your pay check each and every month.
Also, you know, look, I'm always saying that you can, you know, contribute to your 401K but you can cut your 401K contribution or put it on hold if you are in real trouble. I hate to advise people to do that. But if you are having difficulty that might be a place to go so you have more money in that paycheck each and every month.
And finally only raid your 401K if you absolutely have to. And then, you want to make sure you don't take the hardship withdrawal. Make sure you only take a loan out. And John, you can take out a loan for $50,000 or half of your vested amount, whichever is less.
But you've got to be careful. There are fees. You'll pay that back. I know it's your money, you feel like hey, it's 401K, I contributed all that money. Why shouldn't I be able to take it out when I want? But you have to pay it back with interest. And if you are not careful, you're going to run into a lot of fees and penalties.
ROBERTS: All right. Some good tips. And let's not forgot also, Gerri coming back at noon today with "ISSUE #1." Gerri, thanks.
WILLIS: Thank you.
ROBERTS: Kiran?
CHETRY: There are some new developments this morning in the Texas polygamy sect. First look inside of the compound. And now a claim that the emergency call that sparked the raid may have been a hoax. Meantime, the mother is appealing to one state governor saying give us our children back. Our legal analyst Sunny Hostin weighs in on all of the issues in this case next on AMERICAN MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: With just over a week until the Pennsylvania primary. It's a week tomorrow. Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton spent part of the weekend there.
Last night, it was all about religion and values in CNN's "COMPASSION FORUM." Our senior political correspondent, Candy Crowley, was there as well. She joins me now from the side of the forum, Messiah College in Grantham, Pennsylvania.
And you know, the real hot topic last night, of course, were the comments that Barack Obama made at this fundraiser in San Francisco last week in which he said that people in small towns sometimes get bitter, they cling to guns, religion.
Hillary Clinton really went off on him over that. Let's listen quickly to something that he said about that Candy, just prior to the forum.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: Shame on her. She knows better. She is running around talking about how this is an insult to sportsmen. How she values the Second Amendment. She's talking like she's Annie Oakley.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: How much of a problem is this for him there in Pennsylvania, Candy?
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, we will see. I mean, the fact of the matter is that you've seen both -- I've talked to people that are on both sides of this. You see it in the newspapers here from east to west in Pennsylvania where, you know, you have some mayors saying listen, you know, we are bitter, we are frustrated. And you know, sort of side-step the idea of the prayer and the guns and the clinging to the prayer and guns.
But, you know, you also have people really criticizing him. Obviously, the Clinton campaign is stirring that pot saying he is elitist. He's not in touch with the Middle Class. It is an argument that she's making. Not just for Pennsylvania sake but for those superdelegates sake because as you know, John, the game here at this point may come down to the superdelegates and one of Clinton's arguments will be the unelectable argument.
ROBERTS: Right. She was making the point last night about him being out of touch. Let's listen to the way that she answered that question last evening at the "COMPASSION FORUM."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I do think it raises a lot of concerns because it did seem so much in line with what often we are charged with. Someone goes to a closed-door fundraiser in San Francisco and makes comments that do seem elitist, out of touch, and frankly patronizing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: You know, Candy, she really jumped on this. John McCain jumped on it as well. Does she have much time left to try to make a point with this and how much of a point can she make?
CROWLEY: Well, absolutely she has time. We've got eight days until the primary here in Pennsylvania. She's making it not just in words, but in pictures. You saw her over the weekend talking, first of all, about when she learned to shoot a gun here in Pennsylvania and her father taught her.
She talked about going hunting as first lady out with some people. She went into a bar in Indiana and ordered a beer, and then they urged her to take a shot. So there's all this kind of Middle Class, working class images, in addition to her pounding away at him saying he is an elitist. He doesn't get the Middle Class.
So they will use this right up to that line where it looks like she is going overboard. And I think you will hear about it for the next week.
ROBERTS: You know, they spent most of last night's forum talking about faith, talking about religion and values. Is this something that they can really make inroads against the Republican Party on between now and November, because typically faith and values has been the purview of the Republican Party?
CROWLEY: Absolutely. And I mean, that is one of the reasons they do these sorts of forums. The Democratic Party has come to understand that to reach into the south, and to reach into some of these red states, and to reach into some of the Republican areas of Democratic states, they need to understand the culture which means guns and God. And they need to be able to talk about it in the public forum.
This is something that has long been urged on the Democratic Party saying if you're going to crack in to those working class votes -- you know, those kind of Reagan Democrats, who very deeply feel their faith and their culture, you have to show that if you are not of it, you at least understand it. And that is what they have been trying to do throughout this campaign.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN, ANCHOR: Candy Crowley for us this morning along with CNN "Election Express" at Messiah College I\n Grantham, Pennsylvania. Candy, thanks. Good to see you.
And this morning we want to know, are you offended by Barack Obama's comments? Right now, 25 percent of you say yes, 75 percent say no, not offended. You can cast your vote at cnn.com/am. You can e- mail us from there. What are your views about Obama's comments? What do you think on just about the general tone of things? You can get to us at cnn.com/am. We will read some of those coming up in our next hour here.
CHETRY: Well, Russian President Vladimir Putin will visit Libya this week fuelling talk of an energy deal between Russia and Libya. Kremlin announced this morning that Putin will meet with Libyan leader Moamar Ghadafi Wednesday and Thursday. Last week, the Russian energy giant Gazprom announced that it is working on natural gas products in Libya.
And former President Jimmy Carter standing by his decision to meet with exiled Hamas leader Khaled Meshal in Syria later this week. Carter is in Israel this morning where he is getting a cool reception. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and other members of the Israeli cabinet have so far refused to meet with Carter.
We have some breaking news out of Pakistan. Rioters angry about recent power cuts have destroyed the office of the State Electricity Company. At least 33 people injured. A bank and several cars and motorcycles also set on fire. Higher demand and a lack of power plants have plunged Pakistan into a power crisis. The new prime minister is promising to fix the problem.
And Alina Cho joins us now with other stories making headlines. If you are waking up and having cereal for breakfast, you may want to check the box.
ALINA CHO, CNN, CORRESPONDENT: That's right. A lot of people are waking up right now and they are eating their breakfast, specifically cereal. We are talking about the company Malt-O-Meal. That company is recalling two types of cereal after report that at least 23 people in 14 states have gotten Salmonella poisoning from eating it. Now, the cereals to avoid are unsweetened puffed rice and unsweetened puffed wheat. They are sold under a number of store brands. So be very careful and look at your boxes very carefully. Look for best if used by dates from April 8, 2008 through March 18, 2009.
Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling will face a judge here in New York today. She is hoping to stop the publication of an unauthorized Harry Potter encyclopedia. Now, Rowling claims it's nothing more than a re-arrangement of her own material. She says she plans to write her own Harry Potter encyclopedia including material that never made it into the seven novels.
Well, first came the do not call list. Now a similar idea to stop knocks at the door. Listen to this, guys. It's called the do not knock list. The Cleveland suburb of North Olmstead is testing the idea beginning today. Sounds pretty good, huh. Under the new law, salesmen who defy the order could be hit with a $500 a day fine. Homeowners say it's necessary.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONNIE SMITH, RESIDENT: It really cannot tell when somebody comes to your door uninvited if they are legitimate and they are truly representing the organization they say they are representing or whether it is a scam.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHO: Well, there are a few exceptions, nonprofit, charity and religious groups can still knock away.
And if you live in the Chicago or if you've seen the hit movie "Wayne's World," you probably recognize this. Remember that, it's called the spindle. And now it can be yours for a high price, that is. The towering sculpture of eight classic cars on a spike in Berwin, Illinois is on sale on ebay right now, bids open at $50,000. And the auction closes this Thursday. Hurry up, guys.
CHETRY: Imagine, cars 1970s and 1980s.
CHO: Well, it's 1970s and 1980s.
CHETRY: That's a classic there.
ROBERTS: VW bug.
CHO: But get this, the ebay listing, you know, the bids open at $50,000, but it costs going to cost another $100,000 to ship it. So, 100 plus 50, that is just the opening bid. I don't know who is going to buy it.
ROBERTS: Where would you put it?
CHETRY: I mean, that's the thing exactly, Alina.
CHO: And it's not in the front yard, you know.
CHETRY: Anyway, right in the front. All right. Thanks, Alina.
CHO: You bet.
CHETRY: There are some new developments this morning about the Texas polygamy sect. New video overnight and the first look inside of this Yearning for Zion ranch that was in El Dorado, Texas. You can see empty bedrooms and other living areas. Meantime, the mothers of the seized children say that the kids are getting sick at the state run shelters. They actually wrote a letter to the Texas governor Rick Perry, asking him to investigate.
AMERICAN MORNING's legal analyst Sunny Hostin joins us now with more on this story. Sunny, an attorney for the sect leader, by the way, Warren Jeffs said that the 911 call that prompted all of this by the 16-year-old girl could have been a hoax if it turns out that that was not true or they can't verify that, because still up to this they cannot find the 16-year-old, what does that do for the case?
SUNNY HOSTIN, AMERICAN MORNING, LEGAL ANALYST: That could be a problem for the case. I mean, the fourth amendment ensures that you just can't burst into someone's home without a search warrant. And this was the sect's home. Basically, this search warrant was based on this informant's tip. And if the informant's tip is found to be unreliable, there really is a bad search warrant. You typically can't make a bad search warrant good. And all the evidence that flows from that search warrant is typically, typically excluded.
However in this case, if law enforcement, and if police officers here that affected the search warrant and raided the ranch did so on good faith, they thought that everything was OK. They believed this call, then it lays the groundwork for everything actually coming in. So, it's really going to be a close call. And it's going to go to court. No doubt. They really have to try to find this 16-year-old if in fact she does exist.
CHETRY: And then the other problem when you talk about going to court is that you are going to have to get witnesses, people that are willing to testify and so far they've talked about how notoriously private and how sheltered these kids were, and how they were raised to not trust anybody outside of the compound.
HOSTIN: Right.
CHETRY: So, how do you get them to really tell the truth about what may have happened to them?
HOSTIN: I have to tell you, Kiran, I think that's going to be the toughest part of this case. You know, I have interviewed children. You get trained to do that. Children -- interviewing a child is very different from interviewing an adult. They are more susceptible to impression, to distortion. And so, there aren't really bad child witnesses, the way you hear but there are bad interviewers. And they can't be asked these questions over and over again. The questions have to be open-ended so that you get at the truth. And that's what you try to do with children. I think it's going to be very difficult because the basis of a child interview is trust. And how do you trust someone when you've always been taught that the government is the devil, and that these are agents of the devil. I think it's going to be really tough.
CHETRY: And when we talked to the Utah attorney general, he was talking about the child-bride situation. Some of these children are the children of other children who were married off very young.
HOSTIN: That's right.
CHETRY: And how do you get the moms also to come forth and to be forthcoming about what happened?
HOSTIN: Again, I think this is going to be one of the most difficult child cases in history that we have ever, ever seen. You are right, it's sort of this institutional abuse, and institutional mistrust of authority of the government. I think we are going to see experts coming in to teach lawyers to teach people how to conduct these interviews. And it's too soon to tell, but that is going to be the stumbling block of this case.
CHETRY: Very tragic all around when you look and think of the 416 kids.
HOSTIN: Horrible.
CHETRY: Sunny, thank you.
HOSTIN: Thanks.
ROBERTS: A new warning for women to tell you about this morning. You may wan to listen up to this one. Drinking alcohol even in small amounts may increase the risk for breast cancer. CNN's Elizabeth Cohen has got the details for us this morning. Hey, Elizabeth.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN, MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. John, a glass of wine may be good for a woman's heart but bad for her breasts. We will sort it all out for you when AMERICAN MORNING returns.
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CHETRY: There's a new warning for women. We've heard alcohol may be good for your heart in moderation. But researches are warning that women who drink alcohol are at greater risk for developing breast cancer. Medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joins us now. So, when it comes to preventing breast cancer, what are they warning about in terms of how much alcohol is too much?
COHEN: You know what, in this study, Kiran, it found that even one glass of alcohol a day can be too much when it comes to preventing breast cancer. Let's take a look at what this new study found. What is found was that women who were drinking three or more glasses of alcohol today saw an increased risk of 51 percent. That is a lot, in terms of breast cancer.
And women who are drinking just one or two drinks a day, their breast cancer risk went up 32 percent. And I should say this is not the first time that a connection has been made between alcohol and breast cancer. And you might wonder why would drinking alcohol matter for breast cancer? Well it seems one theory is that estrogen, is that alcohol increases the amount of estrogen in a woman's body and tumors feed off of estrogen. The studies have also found it doesn't matter what kind of alcohol you are drinking, wine, beer, hard liquor, doesn't matter, all the same. Kiran.
CHETRY: You know, we've talked so much about how genetics plays a role in whether or not you're going to get breast cancer or what your risk is. Does genetic seem to play a role in this situation as well?
COHEN: Once again, your DNA does matter. Another study found that women who have one or two variations in their DNA that it can actually aggravate the situation. They can make alcohol, the effects of alcohol even worse. So, two women who drink the same amount of alcohol can react to that alcohol very differently when it comes to breast cancer risk.
CHETRY: All right. That's very interesting this morning. Elizabeth Cohen , thank you.
COHEN: Thank you.
ROBERTS: Forty-two minutes after the hour. I'm a little depressed this morning. Because it's such a lovely weekend. And now we are going down the tube again.
CHETRY: Right. And you need your wool scarf back again to walk into work.
ROBERTS: East coast, other areas of the country dealing with unseasonably chilly temperatures today. Reynolds Wolf in the CNN Weather Center for us this morning. Reynolds, what is going on?
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN, METEOROLOGIST: Sorry, John. Sorry that you had to get the scarf back out. But just today, things are going to start warming up once again. It's true what he said though, about 20, in some parts of the country about 12 degrees below normal this morning but at the same token parts of the country, how about 20 degrees above normal. I'm going to dish out for you whose got what coming up in just a few moments, right here on AMERICAN MORNING.
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REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN, METEOROLOGIST: Welcome back to CNN AMERICAN MORNING. So, you are about to catch that flight. You are on your way to Portland, Maine, or Portland, Oregon. Or maybe to Grand Forest or perhaps even Kansas City. The great news I have for you is that we have no delays to speak of around the nation. Nothing big and that's certainly good news. However, you might have a little bit of a delay, heading outside this morning if you are stepping outside in Atlanta. Got to go backing, got to grab that jacket, maybe the sweat shirt in Nashville where it is 39 degrees this morning. 39 in Birmingham. 38 in Charlotte. 44 in Dallas.
Much of the southeast the temperatures are well below normal. In fact, in many places 20 degrees cooler than what they should be this time of year. Reason why we've got a trough that's building in the eastern half of the U.S., while out west we got a big ridge that is forming. And with that ridge, you've got temperatures that are doing just the opposite. Not cooling down but rather warming up, anywhere from five, ten, fifteen, even 20 degrees above normal from parts of the central Rockies clear up to Montana.
Now, it was even warmer yesterday in parts of the L.A. Basin where temperatures got into the century point, up to 102 in Anaheim, for Fullerton, for Los Angeles, even to Long Beach, temperatures mainly in upper to mid 90s. In Boise, Idaho, pretty warm there with a high of 80 degrees. We can expect those warm conditions to continue out the west, the cool down to continue throughout the day in the East. Kiran and John, let's send it back to you.
ROBERTS: All right, crossing our fingers that one of these days the warm weather will be here to stay.
WOLF: Don't blame the weather guy. ROBERTS: CNN - all right. Oh, no, don't worry, we never do, Reynolds. We love you.
CNN NEWSROOM just minutes away now, Betty Nguyen at the CNN center with a look at what's ahead. Good morning to you, Betty.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN, ANCHOR: Good morning, John. All right, "Issue #1," it's in the NEWSROOM today and it's on the rundown. Now, let me ask you this. Are you heading to malls or shunning the stores? There are new figures on retail sales, they are just out. So, do they point to a recession? We find out.
Plus, custody hearings begin today for 416 Texas children. Police removed them from a polygamist compound. And we will take you live to Rome for a preview of Pope Benedict's five-day trip to America. He arrives in Washington tomorrow plus tax deadline. It is tomorrow but don't panic if you can't make it. We got tips for the last minute crowd, right here in the NEWSROOM.
I have done my taxes, John. Are you done?
ROBERTS: I got mine in on Friday with three days to spare.
NGUYEN: All right.
CHETRY: One day - due today.
ROBERTS: Two weeks I thought today was the 15th.
NGUYEN: Did you really?
ROBERTS: Yes.
NGUYEN: That's a good thing though. Next year, you should do the same. What about you, Kiran?
CHETRY: Betty, it's like $25 you find in your pocket, right, when you put on a coat that you haven't worn in a while.
NGUYEN: Yes.
CHETRY: She's ahead of the game.
ROBERTS: Listen, I'm thrilled if I find a dollar.
NGUYEN: No jokes, especially these days, right.
ROBERTS: These days, a little bit of pocket fuzz brings a smile to my face.
CHETRY: Thanks,
NGUYEN: You need to get out more often. All right. Take care.
ROBERTS: Hey, a growing crisis to tell you about. Skyrocketing food prices around the world. A solution may be on the horizon from the internet giant using something called a mashup. A radical thinking could help solve critical problems.
CHETRY: Also the stars come out to raise awareness and cash for the night of too many stars. Our Lola Ogunnaike talk with all the stars including the guys from blue men group. She joins us ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
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ROBERTS: Nine minutes to the top of the hour.
The skyrocketing price of food is touching off a global emergency. The World Bank calling for immediate action to deal with the kind of crisis that touched off violent food riots in Haiti and lead the government collapsing there. Now, possible solution to this crisis, coming from some place that you might not expect. Internet giant google and they're doing something called a mashup. Polly Labarre here to explain that. I know what a musical mashup but this one says internet?
POLLY LABARRE, CNN, CORRESPONDENT: Sure. It just what is sounds like. It is smashing to get a two sets of dater, two pieces of technology to create something new. A mundane example would be google maps needs craigslist department rental data.
But now we have this new wave of mashups. So I'm calling them mashups for social change or for good. And google is at the forefront of this where they are actually connecting up with big humanitarian agencies or NGOs or not for profits and say, hey, can we put our powerful google earth and google map technology together with the data sets coming in from, for example, the U.N. high commission on refugees and really create a broader understanding of what is going on in the world.
ROBERTS: So how does it help these global crises and find solutions to things like the increasing price of food?
LABARRE: Sure. I mean, the first thing is it tells the story differently. And I think we have some examples of how this google earth actually works, we will show in a minute. And so what it does is it gives a very visual, visceral understanding. Well, here we are flying right into a refugee camp in Darfur where you can find all kinds of information not just about where they are, but the challenges they face every day, the fact that they don't have enough water or enough food, and then you can drill down even further and say wait a second, I want to donate money so I specifically you can buy a water tank for this refugee camp in Darfur. So, it really connects the dots for ordinary citizens who are sitting at home and trying to understand what is going on in the world and what can I do.
ROBERTS: I think those are in Chad.
LABARRE: We are in Chad, Iraq, Colombia, working with refugees all over the world.
ROBERTS: And what is it telling us about the political season as well? There's a couple of interesting match-ups as well.
CHETRY: Sure, of course, this would migrate to the political world because there's lots of activism there. We've got the Sunlight Foundation, which is two-year-old not for profit that supports mashups. We've got a couple of really compelling sets of data put together, there is one called follow the oil money, we are all very interested in where candidates are getting campaign contributions. Those are really a visceral mashup where you can see how much oil money did McCain get, how much did Barack get, how much did Hillary get. The bigger the picture is the more money they got. Again, very visual, very visceral. You can understand it in a second. It is a relevant way to access the data.
ROBERTS: Something new and exciting on the web every day. Polly Labarre, thanks for pointing it out.
LABARRA: Thanks, John.
ROBERTS: Kiran.
CHETRY: Well, it was a night of too many stars all there for a good cause. Our Lola Ogunnaike visit just ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
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CHETRY: Well, proving again that laughter is the best medicine, Jon Stewart was host of the night of too many stars here in New York, all to raise awareness for autism. And our Lola Ogunnaike on the red carpet.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LOLA OGUNNAIKE, CNN, CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Can there ever be too many stars, really?
SUSAN SARANDON, ACTRESS: It depends on who they are.
KELSEY GRAMMER, ACTOR: If there are more than one star in a room, there are too many stars.
OGUNNAIKE: Sorry Kelsey. There was definitely more than one star in the room. Tina Fay, Rosie O'Donnell, Matthew Broderick and the blue men group. Your face matches the carpet. "Comedy Central" held this event once before in 2006 and raised more than $2.5 million for the cause.
JON STEWART, COMEDIAN: We are raising more money than "Idol gives back." More money than "Idol gives back."
OGUNNAIKE: Harry (inaudible) has an autistic son and knows what this money will mean to autism education. This Campbell company donated $100,000.
HARRY SLATKIN: You know, with autism you cry enough. It's a good night to get together and just laugh.
OGUNNAIKE: Senator Chris Dodd and a few fake ones too.
PRES. GEORGE W. BUSH, UNITED STATES: with great honor and dignification that.
OGUNNAIKE: Several comics stayed far away from signification. Suzie Osmond needed a bar of soap for her dirty mouth. Adam Sandler needed two. Steve Carell even binged for the cause.
STEVE CARRELL, ACTOR: What else are you going to do with that $100? Maybe that would get you six gin and tonics and a chocolate cake.
STEWART: Maybe he should eat the cake and then have a drink.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: Pretty cool. A lot of people out there as you said for a very good cause as well. And If you sat too close to blue men group, as we saw Christopher Dodd, it showed.
OGUNNAIKE: They destroyed my microphone. Chris Dodd had blue all over his year. But you know, everyone went all out for the cause. Steve Carrell drank all of the gin and tonics and ate the entire cake. So, he really threw himself into it.
CHETRY: Who gets all the money?
OGUNNAIKE: Various autism groups around the country and education of autistic schools, excuse me, schools for autistic children.
ROBERTS: We are expecting our own momentous occasion any day now.
CHETRY: That's true. Literally.
ROBERTS: Next two or three days, right?
CHETRY: That's right.
ROBERTS: You had a shower to prepare for all of this?
CHETRY: My great friends at CNN, including Lola, of course, and Alina Cho as well as Campbell Brown. There you see Sunny and Veronica. The beautiful blonde is actually our boss' wife Jen Klein. And Erica Hill.
ROBERTS: This was different type of shower, right?
CHETRY: This was an eco-friendly shower. Everything was -- it was a spa, we had to pamper ourselves for the day. Everything from the nail polish, to the food we ate, everything was environmentally friendly. And very creative gifts. Lola got me this hilarious stuffed doll that was made out of a sock, but very cute. I know it sounds better than you think. We thought it was a blow fish but we had it turned the wrong way, it was really an elephant. But hours of entertainment for the baby, no doubt.
OGUNNAIKE: The massages were fantastic and the lemonade was really good.
CHO: Yes, the lemonade was good. We had no idea how many equal co-friendly baby items there were until we started investigating it.
CHETRY: Well, now...
ROBERTS: Wow, green is just invading everything.
CHETRY: It sure is.
OGUNNAIKE: And Maya (ph) looked so cute. Baby Maya.
CHETRY:: And my 2-year-old had a blast. She discovered nail polish. And it's never going to be the same.
CHO: We like to call her Suri Cruise of CNN.
ROBERTS: When does it say eco-friendly nail polish, then we're good.
Hey, final check of this morning's "Quick Vote" question. Senator Barack Obama says the comments that he made about small town voters being bitter may have been ill chosen. He maintains he's not in touch with voters. His opponent Hillary Clinton complains (ph).
This morning, we've been asking, are you offended by Barack Obama's comments. 24 percent of you say yes, offended and 76 percent, the overwhelming majority said no. We've also been asking for you e- mails on this.
Daphne writes, "I am from a small town in New York and I am bitter over the way the elitists in Washington ignore the problems of the small people. I feel that Obama is telling it like it is and not the way that politicians think we want to hear it."
CHETRY: Not everyone feels that way though. Dee in Denver writes "I think that Barack's comments show a person that is arrogant and out of touch with the American people. He continuously makes demeaning comments about Americans."
ROBERTS: All right. We haven't heard the last of this either. More from Obama today. Thanks so much for joining us on this AMERICAN MORNING. We'll see you again tomorrow.
CHETRY: Meanwhile, keep watching CNN NEWSROOM with T.J. Holmes and Betty Nguyen, which starts right now.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN, ANCHOR: And that's us. Hey there, everybody. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm T.J. Holmes.
NGUYEN: Yes. Good morning, everybody. I'm Betty Nguyen. Tony and Heidi, they are off today.
HOLMES: And we got events coming in. TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.voxantshop.com
