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Searching for Iranian Nukes; G.I. Bill Battle; More Money and Fewer Miles: Increasing Gas Prices Take Their Toll on Travel

Aired May 27, 2008 - 15:00   ET

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

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Hi there. I'm Brianna Keilar at CNN Center in Atlanta.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: And hello, everyone. I'm T.J. Holmes.

And you're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(WEATHER UPDATE)

HOLMES: Well, China right now ordering tens of thousands of people to leave their homes. Why? Because of a quake lake. This is one of several lakes that has been formed after that massive earthquake some 15 days ago.

And this is rising water, this happening upstream, the fear, that many people could now be in danger of some massive flooding.

Our Hugh Riminton is watching things for us in Chengdu.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

HUGH RIMINTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Once again, in the earthquake zone, there are people setting up tents, anything they can find, camping out in the open. These, in many cases, are the new homeless.

It's all down to this new threat, the quake lakes, and particularly one of them, the largest. The water has now backed up to the depths of nearly half-a-mile, more than 725 meters deep. That is the water now that has amassed behind a fundamentally unstable rock wall.

The big fear by the Chinese authorities is that that dam will burst and send a catastrophic wall of water sweeping downstream. They made a precautionary order a few hours ago, telling 158,000 people to evacuate to higher ground by midnight. That deadline has now passed.

People are crowding into any spare space they can find, along the side of motorways, under trees, anywhere that takes them away from the river. The further addition to the fears and anxieties in the area, two further strong aftershocks that took place in the last few hours, one 5.2 magnitude, the other 5.7.

Meanwhile, the attempts to reduce the dangers of this rock wall continue. There are soldiers with explosives laid. They have also brought in bulldozers to try to clear a slipway. They have had some success with that already, draining away some of the water, relieving some of the pressure behind this wall. But they certainly do not believe it is safe yet. There are plans potentially for the evacuation of well over one million people.

Hugh Riminton, CNN, Chengdu, China.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: And also something -- look at these amazing images here, from joy to horror. A church crumbles. Wedding parties have to run for their lives. We will hear from some of them and the man who caught the China quake on camera.

Well, our CNN I-Reporters have been obviously helping us tell the story of the China earthquake. If you would like to share some of your I-Reports from the quake, also see some of the others, you can go to ireport.com.

Also, a lot of you out there with the issues happening with the earthquakes, also with the disaster in Myanmar, a lot of people want to help. You can find a way to do that with "Impact Your World," our Web page. You can find links to many aid groups and details on what you can do to help them. Again, that's CNN.com/impact -- Brianna.

KEILAR: John McCain says it's going to take optimism, energy and innovation to head off a global threat that is now at the crisis stage. The presumptive Republican nominee focused on the spread of nuclear weapons in a campaign speech today in Colorado, taking aim at two countries.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It is a vital national interest for the North Korean nuclear program to be completely, verifiably and irreversibly ended. Likewise, we have seen Iran marching with single-minded determination toward the same goal. President Ahmadinejad has threatened to wipe Israel off the face of the Earth, and represents a threat to every country in the region -- one we cannot ignore or minimize.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: A group of anti-Iraq war protesters interrupted McCain's speech. You can see a couple of them here. McCain replied that he would never surrender in Iraq.

Let's talk about Iran. What is Iran not telling us? That is the question raised by this new U.N. report. Inspectors say Iran is still withholding critical information about its nuclear program in its suspected quest for nuclear weapons.

CNN chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour has interviewed Iran's President Ahmadinejad twice now. She joined us in the NEWSROOM earlier.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: They basically accuse Iran of continuing to stonewall. They are not suggesting in this report that there is new evidence of a march towards a military program, but that they still do not have the answers to all the questions that they want. And that, of course, is important.

KEILAR: (AUDIO GAP) intentions, though. The U.S. government, of course, fears that Iran's nuclear ambitions are for -- not for peaceful purposes, even though Iran insists that they are. Can the IAEA shed any light on this?

AMANPOUR: Well, it's trying. And that's the whole point of the IAEA inspections. They are pretty upset, because they have constantly tried to be the objective broker in these talks with Iran.

The head of the IAEA himself about a year or so ago put forth sort of his own deal with Iran that they had to come forth with all the verifiable information that the IAEA demanded. And all this has not yet happened.

In terms of intentions, the IAEA says that it still cannot say whether Iran's program is simply peaceful, as it continues to claim. And it cannot say whether it is military, as the U.S. and Israel and others have always accused Iran. So there are still a lot of outstanding questions.

But the key here is that -- is a black mark against Iran that it has not come up with answering the questions that the IAEA, the U.N. Atomic Energy Agency, had wanted it to do.

But European leaders, including the top foreign policy leader in Europe, Javier Solana, is still planning to go to Iran with a whole set of demands and requests on this program and also to talk about how to move forward on this.

Just one other note: even though President Ahmadinejad of Iran constantly talks about the pace of the Iranian enrichment, the IAEA says that that enrichment, while it's proceeding, is not proceeding as fast. Nor are the cascades being put in as fast as Ahmadinejad keeps claiming.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Let's head out now to the campaign trail, Barack Obama speaking live in North Las Vegas. He's talking economic issues.

Let's listen in.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: ... the pain out on Main Street trickled up to Wall Street.

Then, a few months ago, he rolled out a plan that was too little, too late. Instead of offering meaningful relief, he warned against doing too much. His main proposal for an economy that's leaving working people behind is to give more tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans, even though they don't need them and they weren't even asking for them.

Now, I don't know what George Bush is thinking.

I know that John McCain doesn't like to talk about the economy. Earlier in the campaign he admitted that, "The issue of economics is not something that I have understood as well as I should."

Apparently that hasn't changed...

(LAUGHTER)

OBAMA: ... since his plan amounts to little more than borrowing the ideas from George Bush.

For months John McCain struggled to come up with a real plan to address the housing crisis, even as millions of Americans face the nightmare of not being able to make the next payments.

It took him three tries to come up with the answer for struggling homeowners. And he still came up short.

And Senator McCain is so out of touch with the struggles of working people that he gave a speech laying out his economic agenda last week, and he couldn't even be bothered to talk about the foreclosure crisis that has put so many families on the brink of financial catastrophe and put our economy on the brink or in recession.

We have had enough of the can't-do, won't-do and won't-even-try approach from George Bush and John McCain. We can't afford another president who can't be bothered to stand up for working people. I believe it's time for a change. It's time that Washington went to work for working people. And that's why we're here today, because we want to go ahead and bring about that change.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: And to stabilize our housing market and to bring this crisis to an end, I am a strong supporter of Chris Dodd and Barney Frank's proposal to create a new FHA housing security program.

This will provide meaningful incentives for lenders to buy or refinance existing mortgages and to convert them into stable 30-year fixed mortgages. Understand, this will not be a windfall for borrowers. They are going to have to share any capital gains of their -- as the housing market stabilizes and their priority values start going up again.

And it's also not a bailout for lenders or investors who gambled recklessly. They're going to have to take losses. It asks both sides to sacrifice. It offers a responsible and fair way to help Americans who are facing foreclosure to keep their homes at rates they can afford. Now, the president has threatened to veto this approach. Well, it's time to stand up to George Bush and tell him to stop standing in the way of meaningful relief for working people.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: Congress must pass this bill. The president should sign it. And the FHA should start implementing it this fall. We can't wait any longer. It's time for Washington to start acting now.

For homeowners who were victims of fraud, I have also proposed an immediate $10 billion foreclosure prevention fund. If the government can bail out investment banks on Wall Street, then we can extend a hand to folks who are struggling on Main Street.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: This fund will help homeowners sell a home that is beyond their means, or modify their loan to avoid foreclosure or bankruptcy.

And it's long past time to amend bankruptcy laws that were written to protect banks and lenders, instead of working people. Families should not be forced to stick to the terms of a home loan that was predatory or unfair. It's time to close a loophole that protects special interests, while punishing working people.

And, as president, I will get tough on enforcement, raise the penalties on lenders who break the rules, and implement a new home score system that will allow consumers to find out more about mortgage offers and whether they're going to be able to make those payments in the first place.

We need a housing market that is open and honest and transparent. We need to make sure that homebuyers have access to accurate and complete information about their mortgage options.

Finally, we need a tax code that's fair. John McCain is running for a third term of tax cuts that only shift the burden onto working people. That might make sense to Washington lobbyists who run John McCain's campaign, but it won't do anything to help families that are struggling.

That's why I'm going to give a tax credit to working people. We'll give homeowners a tax credit that covers 10 percent...

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: ... covers 10 percent of a family's mortgage interest payments. We'll eliminate income taxes for seniors making under $50,000 a year. And we will extend...

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: And we will extend a "making work pay" tax credit of up to $500 per individual, $1,000 per family, every year. That's the kind of tax cut that makes sense for working people. And just so you know that we're paying for it, we are going to close some of those tax loopholes and tax havens for corporations...

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: ... and we are going to stop giving tax breaks to companies that ship jobs overseas, save those tax breaks for hardworking Americans and companies that are investing right here in the United States.

You know, for far too long, our policies have been measured by how much sense they make for Wall Street and K Street, and not the difference that they're going to make on Main Street.

This election must be our time to stand up and say that those aren't the American values that we believe in.

We believe, as Felicitas and Francisco believe, in an honest day's pay for an honest day's work. We believe in an America that welcomes hardworking immigrants like Francisco.

We believe in an America where you can leave your children with a little more opportunity than you had, where you aren't turned out of your home because a mortgage lender went for the easy buck and didn't disclose all the information that you needed.

I do not accept an America where Washington's only message to working people is, you're on your own. We're here, once again, to reaffirm the fundamental American belief that we are in it together as Americans.

(APPLAUSE)

OBAMA: Because the dreams of hardworking Americans like Felicitas and Francisco matter to us. Their struggle is our struggle. Their dreams are our dreams. And that's why we call it the American dream. And that's what I will work for and fight for, every day, when I'm president of the United States of America.

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

KEILAR: Barack Obama in North Las Vegas talking about economic issues, saying that he backs a Democratic plan to expand the government's role in stabilizing the housing crisis, also saying that he wants to get rid of tax breaks for companies who outsource jobs overseas.

HOLMES: A wounded U.S. soldier is taking part in an historic experiment, to regrow body parts. We will have more on this amazing advancement here in the NEWSROOM.

KEILAR: And grand theft auto, Canadian style. See the jarring tactic that police used to nab the suspect. It was caught on camera.

HOLMES: Oh.

KEILAR: We will show you more.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, this sounds like science fiction, but it's an exciting and emerging field of medicine. And doctors hope to help soldiers regrow body parts.

Our Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr with the story now, but we do want to warn you, some of this video is a bit graphic, may not be suitable for all viewers.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Army Sergeant Shiloh Harris is wheeled into history making surgery at Brooke Army Medical Center in Texas. Harris was badly wounded in Iraq. Military doctors now are trying to regrow one of Harris' missing fingers. Dr. Steven Wolf is senior surgeon at Brooke.

DR. STEVEN WOLF, BROOKE ARMY MEDICAL CENTER: For instance, you don't have a finger, we want to grow a finger for you. OK, if you don't have a bladder, we want to grow a bladder for you. If you don't have muscle, you're missing some muscle, we want to put -- make that muscle come back.

STARR: It's the emerging field known as regenerative medicine. In surgery, Wolf cuts back the skin on what's left of Harris' finger and sprinkles on a powder made from pig tissue and then sews it all closed. Dr. Wolf believes the powder will help Sergeant Harris' body to begin regrowing a new finger within weeks. How does it all work? Experts say it's like a salamander regrowing limbs.

WOLF: The stem cells that are circulating through that patient's body see this stuff, say oh, look, I need to stop here because this environment is telling me to stop. And where am I? Oh, I'm a finger. OK, I need to start making finger stuff.

STARR: The impact of this new science could be huge. The Pentagon is so hopeful, it's taking part in a $250 million research effort with several leading universities and hospitals.

Nearly 700 troops have suffered burns. More than 900 have had limbs amputated as a result of battlefield injuries in Iraq and Afghanistan. Regenerative medicine offers the potential for a better quality of life by trying to restore lost tissue.

(on camera): It sounds like science fiction.

WOLF: It is, but science fiction eventually becomes true, doesn't it?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

STARR: Well, you know, T.J., it really does all sound like science fiction. And even the physicians at Brooke Army say it will be years before they can really determine if this research pays off, years before somebody can regrow an arm or leg or a lung or something like that.

But this is a program that is really catching interest across the medical community across the country. The military is paired up with a number of leading universities and hospitals, all of them devoting millions of dollars to this emerging field of medicine. And they really hope it will pay off in the years ahead -- T.J.

HOLMES: And we're talking about a payoff here and talking about soldiers in the piece, but this kind of technology, this kind of research and these advancements can some day possibly branch out and help anybody, not just the military.

STARR: Help all of us, if it works out in the years and decades ahead. What they told us down there is, look, people suffer traumatic injury, degenerative disease all across the country, tragically.

Somebody who has had cancer and has had perhaps a bit of bone, tissue, something like that, removed, maybe this can help them, somebody who might have suffered an amputation due to diabetes complications, all of that sort of thing. So, there's a lot of home emerging in the medical community that this will hold some promise. But everybody agrees this is something that could be years away from really being realized -- T.J.

HOLMES: Still promising, though, but, yes, it sounds like science fiction, but it's the real deal here.

Barbara Starr for us at the Pentagon -- thank you so much, Barbara.

STARR: Sure.

KEILAR: A new G.I. Bill, it sailed through the Senate with a lot of Republican support, but President Bush and John McCain are opposed to it, and it's now becoming an issue on the campaign trail.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BUSINESS REPORT)

HOLMES: And it was supposed to be a day to remember. It certainly will be for much different reasons for wedding parties who were sent running for their lives, as the church crumbles in a quake. We will show you how it was all captured by the wedding photographer.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Hello, there everybody. I'm T.J. Holmes in for Don Lemon. And we're live at the CNN World Headquarters in Atlanta.

KEILAR: And I'm Brianna Keilar in for Kyra Phillips.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

HOLMES: It's the bottom of the hour here in the CNN NEWSROOM. Here's a look now at three of the stories we are working on. First, President Bush condemning Myanmar's decision to keep Aung San Suu Kyi confined. Ignoring global appeals, the country's military rulers have reportedly decided to extend the democracy activist's house arrest by another six months.

Also, a new report from the U.N. nuclear agency says Iran is withholding key information about its nuclear program. Iran says it will keep cooperating with the agency and denies that it's secretly building nukes.

And jeers as well as cheers for John McCain at the University of Denver. Anti-war protesters heckled the presumptive GOP presidential nominee four times as he laid out his nuclear security policy. In one incident, the hecklers chanted "endless war" and the crowd responded with chants of "John McCain." And he responded that he would never surrender in Iraq.

KEILAR: In Southwest China, 160,000 earthquake victims are scrambling to higher ground. And that is because they live in more than 30 villages that are downstream from a giant lake that was formed when the quake dammed up a river two weeks ago. The water now rising by the hour.

Elsewhere in the quake zone, two aftershocks reportedly have brought down more than 420,000 homes. The official Chinese News Agency reports 63 people are hurt and the death toll from the May 12 quake now exceeding 67,000.

Fifteen days ago, a wedding photographer in China was on assignment just doing his day's work, when the ground shook and everything around him crumbled.

CNN's Kyung Lah has the story and the remarkable pictures.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Frozen in time -- the moment the quake struck. A bride in her wedding dress, her church in ruins. Young couples who had all scheduled wedding photos taken months before their wedding day, as is Chinese custom. They hoped to capture their joy and were now immortalized in horror. This is one of the young couples minutes after the quake.

"I heard people shouting earthquake!" she says. "I couldn't run anywhere. I fell forward, crawling on the ground until I found my fiance. He held my hand tightly as the ground was shaking and shaking." Photographer Wang Qiang never stopped taking pictures.

"I could hear the walls crashing, but my mind was blank. I started taking pictures out of instinct." Through the aftershocks, they managed to crawl out of the rubble -- their shoes, wig and wedding veils left behind. They made it to this village -- or what was left of it. Jiang You Cong's home was destroyed. But that night, he shared everything he could -- clothes, food and a fire to stay warm.

"They're not locals," says Cong, "but we are all one nation. How could I not help them?"

A coal truck gave them a lift out of the village. Back home, their families were all safe -- their homes still standing.

(on camera): There were six couples having their wedding pictures taken that day. Some 33 people were inside this building. All of them somehow managed to make it out alive. There are very few signs that this was once a church -- but a few remain.

The story of this church and the images have made their way around the world on the Internet, embraced as a symbol of hope amid ruin.

"They're something we'll keep for the rest our lives," says the groom. "They're the most important wedding photos for us."

It's a moment that's changed them as a couple forever. They do have a few photos before the quake hit. But it is the ones after and their life together that they will cherish.

Kyung Lah, CNN, Bailu, China.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Leading our Political Ticker today, Barack Obama's pitch to working class and rural voters in South Dakota. A new ad features Obama supporter and former South Dakota senator, Tom Daschle. In the 30 second spot, the former Senate majority leader says Obama is rooted in the same values as most South Dakotans. The state's Democratic primary is a week from today.

Meanwhile, in Puerto Rico, a raucous rally for Hillary Clinton. The New York senator drew a big crowd at yesterday's union event in Ponce, six days before the island's Democratic primary. Puerto Rico can help choose nominees, but can't vote in the general election. Clinton has events this evening in Montana, whose Democratic primary is a week from today.

Meanwhile, President Bush and John McCain appearing together in Phoenix. The president is helping McCain raise money at a private event that initially was meant to be public. The campaign and the White House both insist the change had nothing to do with the president's dismal poll ratings.

KEILAR: Congress is looking at ways to expand veterans' benefits under a new G.I. Bill.

But how much is enough?

There are competing measures under debate. And we're not talking just in Washington. This is an issue that has sparked a war of words between presidential candidates John McCain and Barack Obama. Sorting it all out for us, CNN's Randi Kaye.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After two tours in Iraq, Marine Corporal Kevin Grafeld works as a paint ball referee.

CPL. KEVIN GRAFELD, IRAQ WAR VETERAN:

GRAFELD: Both sides get ready!

KAYE: This former intelligence specialist needs money for college.

(on camera): When you signed up with the Marines, what were you told about college and how much would be covered?

GRAFELD: What I was told was the G.I. Bill was going to pay for everything -- you know, schools, books, tuition, you know, living expenses, gas, the whole nine.

KAYE (voice-over): Kevin says classes here at Nassau Community College cost him about $1,600 a semester. He gets about $2,400 a semester from the G.I. Bill, but says that's not enough to cover even half his expenses. Factor in books, gasoline to get to campus, even lab fees for science classes, and the G.I. Bill still comes up short.

Corporal Grafeld even moved in with his parents to save money.

GRAFELD: I'm not trying to sound greedy, but I do think we deserve at least a little bit more. I don't want a free ride, but I at least want the ability to stand up on my own two feet and make something of myself.

KAYE: Signed by Franklin Roosevelt 1944, critics say the G.I. Bill, which contributes to veterans' college education, hasn't kept pace with rising costs.

Two proposals are being debated in Congress. Senators Jim Webb and Chuck Hagel want four years tuition covered at a public anniversary, plus living expenses for veterans who served at least three years. One study estimates the bill will reduce retention rates by 16 percent, so John McCain is suggesting an alternative -- increase benefits based on length of service to keep troops serving longer in a military stretched thin.

Barack Obama through threw the first punch.

OBAMA: I respect Senator John McCain's service to our country. But I can't understand why he would line up behind the president in his opposition to this G.I. Bill. I can't believe why he believes it is too generous to our veterans.

KAYE: McCain issued this scathing statement: "I will not accept from Senator Obama, who did not feel it was his responsibility to serve our country in uniform, any lectures on my regard for those who did." Obama didn't let that go.

OBAMA: I think the notion that somehow I can't speak out on behalf of veterans because of the fact that I didn't serve makes no sense whatsoever.

KAYE: President Bush threatens to veto the Webb-Hagel Bill, though Congress passed it overwhelmingly. The debate goes on.

Kevin Grafeld's bills mount.

GRAFELD: We go to Iraq, we go to Afghanistan, we go to Africa, we go all over the world and we serve our country at the drop of the hat. We do whatever is asked of us.

When we get out, we're being paid this tiny, tiny amount of money to go to school.

KAYE: Increasing troops' education benefits may cost $2 billion a year.

Too much?

Consider this -- it costs just as much to fight one week of war in Iraq.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: That was Randi Kaye for us.

And before the original G.I. Bill passed Congress back in 1944, returning troops received few benefits. In fact, World War I troops got little more than a $60 allowance and a train ticket home.

HOLMES: Well, as we all know, gas prices usually go up in the summer. Especially going up right about now this summer. But did you know you may be paying more for less?

We'll explain here in a second.

KEILAR: A bear out of his element...

HOLMES: Ouch.

KEILAR: He got a helping hand there.

And that is help the hard way, isn't it?

This is all Caught on Camera. We're going to show you more.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Gas prices up again today just a tad. AAA says the new national average for a gallon of regular is about $3.94 -- a tenth of a cent higher than yesterday, but a tenth of a cent, of course, yes, sets another record. Along with the price, the gas itself is heating up as we head into summer.

And Susan Candiotti reports that can be dangerous to your wallet.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: When gasoline heats up, molecules expand and experts say that means you get less energy for every gallon of fuel. Which raises the question, when you gas up, are you getting what you're paying for in hot weather?

(voice-over) As if pain at the pump wasn't bad enough...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Gas prices are just going through the roof right now.

CANDIOTTI: ... Now add summer heat to the equation. When gasoline gets hot, its molecules expand, so there's less energy per gallon.

JOAN CLAYBROOK, PUBLIC CITIZEN: So if you think you're buying 10 gallons of gas, you may not be buying 10 gallons of fuel. The consumer is overpaying for that gasoline.

CANDIOTTI: Consumer group Public Citizen estimates Americans are forking over an extra $3 billion a year in hidden charges because of hot fuel. For years, the oil industry has used 60 degree gas as its price-setting standard. Using that figure, a car getting 25 miles per hour per gallon would go 500 miles. But that same car using 90 degree gas would go only 490 miles.

JOHN MASON: 78.9 degrees. This is right from the tank.

CANDIOTTI: Florida trucker John Mason (ph) drives his rig 25,000 miles a year.

MASON: Just being 70 degrees, I'm paying $1,200 more a year at today's prices.

CANDIOTTI (on camera): 84.6 degrees. That sounds -- that's a high temperature.

(voice-over) Miami fuel distributor Max Alvarez just got a hot fuel delivery, but he says the oil supplier shaved 75 gallons off to compensate him for the heat.

MAX ALVAREZ: If that was not adjusted to me, I would probably have to charge more. So the consumer is getting exactly what they're paying for.

CANDIOTTI: Consumer groups don't buy it and are urging Congress to mandate retrofitting gas pumps to adjust for temperature. Canada has done it for years to compensate for cool weather.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody wants to do something. Well, here's something. It's right there. The door's open. Get it done.

CANDIOTTI (on camera): Is it worth to it retrofit gas pumps to compensate for hot fuel?

Many people in the oil industry say in the end, you'd only wind up saving pennies. But these days, consumer groups say, every penny counts.

Susan Candiotti, CNN, Hollywood, Florida.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: And yes, $4 gas is a shock to our system. But can you believe in Britain they would really consider that a bargain. Hundreds of ticked off British truck drivers are actually protesting diesel costs today. They parked, as you can see here, in lines along main roads into London and several other cities. British truckers are paying more than $9 a gallon for diesel. This is a price that they say will cripple the industry and they are asking the prime minister for a tax break.

HOLMES: All right, check out the picture. No little green men. We're looking. None yet. But a lot of other oohing and ahing (ph). But you have to have a trained eye to ooh and ah at these pictures. Me and you, not so much, Brianna.

But NASA's Phoenix Mars Lander bringing beaming back some new pictures of the Martian landscape. The little lander touched down in the planet's arctic region two days ago. It's got a robotic arm that will dig below the surface, looking for ice and other telltale signs of whether life could exist right now or might have existed, at some point, in that region.

And we have a first of its kind photo. It shows the Mars lander on the planet's surface. This was shot high above Mars by another spacecraft, NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. We've got a lot going on around Mars right about now.

KEILAR: We sure do.

And there's a whole lot going on for a Minor League baseball team that's famous for its whacky promotions. Well, they may have finally hit one out of the park at Senator Larry Craig's expense. We're going to take you to Bobble Foot Day at the ball park.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, bobble head dolls have depicted everyone from sports figures to political candidates. Now we've got a bit of a twist here.

And who else to bring it to us but CNN's Jeanne Moos?

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bobble her again.

JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's one thing to bobble Senator Hillary Clinton's head, but Senator Larry Craig's foot?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It bobbles up and down and taps.

MOOS: Just when you thought you'd heard the end of bathroom stall jokes...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's all a little tappy, tappy on the tootsie. MOOS: They're back, thanks to what one Web site called the greatest minor league giveaway of all time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It reminds me of that senator from, what is it, Oregon?

MOOS: Idaho, actually. But the bathroom Senator Craig got arrested in was at the Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport. And the St. Paul Saints decided it would be a great publicity stunt to have Bobble Foot Day. What a giveaway. There were only enough for the first 2,500 fans.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We did have a lineup that began at about 10:00 in the morning for a game that began at 7:00.

MOOS: Things could have been worse. Last May, the Milwaukee Brewers had Rectal Exam Day. Or, as one Web site put it, "Turn your head, order a beer and cough." The idea was to promote prostate cancer awareness by offering two free tickets to a future game if you let a proctologist do a quick exam.

Bobble Foot Day stirred up some complaints.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The question was, how do I explain this to my kids?

MOOS: Here's what happened if you didn't explain it.

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: He's going to the bathroom.

UNIDENTIFIED CHILD: Going to the bathroom.

MOOS: The stall even included some graffiti: "For a good time, call this number."

(on camera): Hey, I like a good time.

(voice-over): But the good time number was just more self- promotion.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you for calling the St. Paul Saints Baseball Club.

MOOS: This team is famous for oddball giveaways, like a doggy chew toy dedicated to dog fighting organizer Michael Vick and a seat cushion that allows you to sit on the face of either the baseball commissioner or the players union leader.

We always thought the Larry Craig talking doll would be the ultimate dumb toy from this scandal.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am not gay. I never have been gay.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You could even put him in his famous wide stance, which has been put in the press so much.

MOOS (on camera): Bathroom stall not included? (voice-over): Now, the bathroom stall is practically all that's included -- plus that spring-loaded foot. And some fans who got them free are trying to sell them on eBay for around 200 bucks. Now, that's mind-bobbling.

Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: Grand Theft Auto Canadian style -- police using a rather jarring tactic to nab the suspect. This was all Caught on Camera. We're going to show you more.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, it's time for us now to check in with CNN's Wolf Blitzer.

KEILAR: He is standing by in "THE SITUATION ROOM" to tell us what's coming up at the top of the hour -- Wolf.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks very much, guys.

Today, John McCain wanted to talk about the threat of nuclear weapons and take some political swipes at Barack Obama, but hecklers took him off script. You're going to see what happened and hear Senator McCain's response.

Also, McCain hopes President Bush can show him the money. The president will raise money for McCain, but you won't be seeing it. Why and where exactly do they agree and disagree on the issues?

We're checking it out.

And which candidate would best protect the country from a terror attack? I asked the former top terror adviser, Richard Clarke. His brand new book is entitled "Your Government Failed You: Breaking the Cycle of National Security Disasters."

All that and a lot more coming up right here in "THE SITUATION ROOM" -- back to you.

KEILAR: All right. Thanks, Wolf.

We've got two kind of strange stories Caught on Camera for you today. From Canada, check out this wild police chase in Vancouver, British Columbia yesterday. Police say that a naked man stole a pair of overalls and a big truck and he threatened to blow up a bridge.

HOLMES: Wow!

KEILAR: Isn't that strange?

HOLMES: Yes.

KEILAR: And this suspect, he stopped a truck on the highway and then he tried to flee on foot, but he was hit by a police car. You can see right there. Don't worry, though, he is OK. He was treated, though, for minor injuries.

And then this story. A wayward bear had a hard landing in Scranton, Pennsylvania yesterday. He was holed up in this tree outside of the V.A. hospital there and he found himself on the pointy end of a tranquilizer dart. I want you to know, this looks bad, but he is tranquilized and this bear was OK. Wildlife officials hauled him off outside of the city limits so that he could sleep off the tranquilizer.

HOLMES: It just looks like a bad fall, but painful.

KEILAR: My first on air-job...

HOLMES: I know.

KEILAR: ...like within the first three or four days, I covered a bear in a tree.

HOLMES: A bad story.

KEILAR: I was very serious about it, too.

HOLMES: Look how far you've come.

KEILAR: Yes.

(LAUGHTER)

KEILAR: Everyone, I think, has to cover it, I swear.

HOLMES: Yes.

KEILAR: But the closing bell now about to ring on Wall Street.

HOLMES: And so that means we need to check in with Elam -- Stephanie Elam -- for a final look at the trading day.

KEILAR: Did you cover a bear story ever?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I've never ever done the bear story.

KEILAR: Oh, just me. Never mind.

ELAM: Brianna and the bear. (INAUDIBLE). We'll have to keep that in mind.

HOLMES: That's a cute children's story. Yes.

ELAM: Yes, exactly.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

HOLMES: All right. James Bond -- he's back. But for now you're going to have to read his latest tale of espionage. The next Bond novel, "Devil May Care" will hit store shelves tomorrow.

Got to have the music -- there you go.

The model who adorns the cover of the British addition brought the first published copies up the River Thames in a military speed boat.

There she goes.

A large crowd was on hand to watch as the books were unpacked on the Destroyer near Tower Bridge. The new book was written by Sebastian Faulks and is being released on Ian Fleming 100th birthday. Now here is what we do know -- it's set in the 1960s Cold War era, and that there is torture and romance. It wouldn't be a Bond book without it. There you go.

HOLMES: What was that noise -- make that sound for us again.

Yes --

ELAM: The markets were saying that too.

(STOCK MARKET REPORT)

KEILAR: You've made our day. That was very fun.

Let's head now to "THE SITUATION ROOM" and Wolf Blitzer.