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American Morning
Al Gore Endorses Obama; Taliban and Afghan Forces Could Face Off; Iowa Flood Victims Eager to Go Home; Oil Prices Eases Slightly; The Fear of Monkeypox Spreading in Congo; McCain Backs Offshore Drilling, and Courts the Women Votes
Aired June 17, 2008 - 07:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Barack Obama opposes same sex marriage but does support civil unions. He also opposes a constitutional amendment that bans same-sex marriage.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: It is 7:00 on the nose here on the East Coast. A look at what's making news this Tuesday.
Flood zone. President Bush will get an update this morning on the floods in the Midwest. On Thursday, he's going to personally tour some of the hardest hit regions.
Also a blockade. Some amazing pictures from Peru this morning where thousands of protesters blocked a major highway and overpowered police. All of it over mining royalties.
And here's the headline. The price of gas actually went down overnight. The national average now hovering just under $4.08 a gallon.
And backing Obama. Former VP Al Gore endorsing the Illinois senator at a Detroit rally. Our senior political correspondent Candy Crowley is live in Washington with the story for us.
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kiran. In fact, it was the first sighting of Al Gore at least along the 2008 campaign trail. He didn't come out, obviously, when the primary was in its most heated moment. Perhaps that is just as well. A lot of them, a lot of people look at that and say it might have been a lot more divisive had he stepped into the race when Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama were going at it.
Gore's speech last night in Detroit, Michigan, picked simply because it is Michigan, a state that Barack Obama must win. This is also the state he picked for the endorsement of John Edwards. So clearly signaling how much he will battle for Michigan.
As you recall, Obama did not campaign in Michigan because the primary there ran afoul of party rules. Gore's speech, basically a rift on all the things that have gone wrong with the Bush administration. He said at one point, "Take it from me, elections matter." Very strong endorsement of Barack Obama.
And on his Web site, for the first time, he asked members to make a political contribution, of course, to the Obama campaign. And Gore pledged that he would do everything he could to see that Obama is elected.
So a big score. Not an unexpected score, but certainly Gore can be helpful to Obama as we move into the fall campaign, Kiran.
CHETRY: So Barack Obama saying he's going to be visiting Afghanistan. He's also going to be heading to Iraq to get a sense of how things have improved since he was there last, which I think was more than two years ago. Is he playing into Senator McCain's hand?
CROWLEY: Well, certainly there is the appearance of that because McCain has started -- started some time ago, as did the Republican National Committee, pounding Barack Obama, saying how could he possibly know what's going on in Iraq. He hasn't been there for X amount of days.
On the RNC Web site, they put up a clock. As of yesterday, John McCain had said it was 900 days. Now, the Obama campaign says it has nothing to do with that but he always planned to go. And in fact, one would look at a presidential candidate like Barack Obama, where there are questions about his experience in foreign policy, a trip overseas to Iraq and Afghanistan may strengthen his argument about Iraq.
He can say I saw it. I still believe in what I said, and perhaps a trip to Europe and his greeting might assure people that he is a player on the international scene, Kiran.
CHETRY: Candy, good to see you. Thanks.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Three minutes after the hour.
New this morning, NATO and Afghan forces could be headed for a battle with Taliban militants. The Taliban took over several villages near Kandahar. And then when NATO dropped leaflets warning residents to leave, the militants planted mines and destroyed bridges to keep the villagers there.
Our Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr was just on the phone with NATO sources. She joins us now from the Pentagon to tell us what she has learned about all of this. Good morning, Barbara.
BARBARA STARR, PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, John.
Let me update several things because we are now getting some new information. First, those leaflets that you referred to. Actually a NATO spokesman tells me that the leaflets are not telling the Afghan villagers to leave. In fact, those leaflets now telling them to stay put, to keep their families safe by staying in their homes in these villages if fighting breaks out in the hours and days ahead.
What is going on here is after a prison break in Kandahar last week, nearly 400 Taliban and 500 additional criminals on the loose in this region in southern Afghanistan near Kandahar, a place called the Arghandab District, a longtime Taliban stronghold.
What NATO believes now is there are Taliban in control of some villages moving through this region, but they don't know how many. That is the problem right now. They are flying -- NATO is flying planes overhead, conducting surveillance, trying to see exactly what's going on. They know Taliban are there, but they do not know how many.
So they're dropping these leaflets, telling people to stay in their homes, please. And that is the best way for them to stay safe. But make no mistake, NATO is preparing for combat if that's what they believe is necessary. Our sources also telling us just a few moments ago, British forces are now joining Canadian, U.S., and hundreds of Afghan forces that are repositioning, moving into this area called the Arghandab District, getting ready to go in and look for these Taliban and try and get this thing wrapped up before civilians get hurt -- John.
ROBERTS: Barbara, if the Taliban is keeping these villagers penned up to use as human shields, how does that complicate any kind of assault by NATO and Afghan forces?
STARR: Well, that's exactly the point. Of course, it's going to be so tough for NATO. If these people are still in their villages, any use of air power, for example, by NATO will be very tough because they can't really be assured that they won't have civilians caught in the cross hairs. That can happen on the ground, of course, if they use ground troops. But from the air, it is a much tougher problem.
NATO has very strict rules about the use of air power, but they're going to have to be very cautious by all accounts -- John.
ROBERTS: Barbara Starr for us this morning working her sources at the Pentagon. Barbara, we'll check back with you a little bit later to find out what else you've learned. Thanks -- Kiran.
CHETRY: There are also some new concerns this morning for cities and towns along the swollen Mississippi River. That river is expected to crest over the next several days, and the Army Corps of Engineers says more than two dozen levees are now at risk. Almost 40,000 people have been evacuated from their homes and the economic toll is expected to be in the billions.
And the costs to provide flood relief also taking a toll on the American Red Cross. The agency saying that its disaster relief fund is now broke and that it must borrow money. So far, the flood response costing more than $15 million, and the Red Cross estimates that figure could reach as high as $40 million.
And this morning in some parts of Iowa, the water levels are starting to fall. But the anger levels are rising. Tens of thousands are still unable to return to their homes.
CNN's Ed Lavandera is live for us in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, with more. You know, everybody has this heartbreaking story to tell of just how they're trying to see what's left of their lives and pick them up again.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right, Kiran. What compounds that problem is that many people don't know what they will be going home to. And many of the people who live in the affected areas trying to get back to the neighborhoods come across these check points throughout the city here in Cedar Rapids.
This is the point where they just can't get past at this point. And even though if you look back down this way, this is a neighborhood where floodwaters have receded a great deal, but still people aren't allowed back in because there are teams that need to go throughout these neighbors to make sure that the homes are still structurally safe. That is the real concern here even though the floodwaters have gone down.
But coming up in a little while, we'll have the story of one family who did manage to get past one of these checkpoints -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Ed Lavandera, we'll check back in with you in a few minutes as well. Thanks.
ROBERTS: Drink a lot of coffee and you may stay alive longer. That's what a new study out of Harvard says. Doctors found many health benefits to drinking coffee. The more the better. Get this, up to six cups a day.
CHETRY: Hey, we're golden.
ROBERTS: What did my doctor just tell me last week? The study finds that coffee cuts the risk of heart disease especially for women and the overall risk of dying prematurely, but it found no link between coffee consumption and a lower risk of cancer.
CHETRY: I had to laugh. Every time we see these stories, coffee and health, you have to actually read it. Is it good this week or bad this week?
ROBERTS: Mind you, it flips back and forth, doesn't it?
CHETRY: It does, doesn't it?
ROBERTS: It's like a little toggle switch.
Hey, you're watching the "Most News in the Morning."
Up next, not ready. The government says New Orleans' levees would not withstand even a medium-size hurricane.
CHETRY: Also, courting women. Team McCain in the uphill battle. We'll speak with the woman who is leading the charge.
ROBERTS: And later on, live from the Amazon, as only CNN can. We take you to the jungles as Google is trying to map the rainforest to save it on this AMERICAN MORNING.
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ROBERTS: Coming up on AMERICAN MORNING, devastated.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not for sure I even want to go back to my house.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Neighborhoods destroyed by floodwaters. And while some families get their first look --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mud. Inch -- inch thick on everything.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Others are left to wait and wonder.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We haven't been inside to see really how bad it is. We still don't know what we're going to do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Inside a disaster zone. You're watching the "Most News in the Morning."
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ROBERTS: It's 12 minutes after the hour. You'll notice that Ali Velshi is not here today. That's because he made good on his promise that if the price of gasoline went down he'd take the day off. No. Just kidding.
CHETRY: With his oil barrel as well.
STEPHANIE ELAM, BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Which I do not have because it's not cute. Just kidding, that's not why.
The reason why is because -- well, that's Ali's thing and it's not mine. But I what I can tell you about gas prices is that they went down ever so slightly, down two-tenths of a cent.
So if you take a look at the national average, it's $4.08 a gallon. That's where we were. Now, it's $4.07.
ROBERTS: A bargain. Go fill up.
(CROSSTALK)
ELAM: So, yes, big jump, I don't know, but still I'll take what I can get.
This ends 10 days of consecutive increases. If you take a look at that last month's business there, we're up about 7.5 percent from last month. From a year ago, we're about 36 percent higher. So people are definitely feeling that.
If you want the cheapest gas, you have to go show me in Missouri. They have the cheapest gas. And the expensive, California, which is not a surprise really to many now.
If you're wondering, let's take a look at oil how this all factors in. Oil yesterday came within smacking distance of $140 a barrel, and we are looking at a run-up of about five bucks. And then in the end, it retreated off a quarter there, as you can see at $134.61.
And the dollar was really weak yesterday. That did not help. But in the end, this whole business about Saudi Arabia saying that they're going to pump an extra 200,000 barrels of oil a day, people are saying, well, why did oil run out?
Well, really, that's not that big of a deal. If you take a look at it, the global demand is still really huge. Americans may be hitting that tipping point but for a lot of the countries -- India, China -- they're still there. And that is, of 85 million barrels used a day for the world, 200,000 extra barrels is like 0.2 percent.
CHETRY: Right.
ELAM: It's not really that huge of a deal.
ROBERTS: So we're having this much trouble in this country paying for gasoline and oil, how do they do it in India and China where the demand is so high?
ELAM: I know, and a lot of them there are looking at smaller cars and they're starting to have personal vehicles, which is something that we haven't really seen in India. But now, they're starting to do that, more so for families having their own cars. Different people in the family having cars, and that's what's actually pushing up demand there.
ROBERTS: Steph (ph), thanks so much.
ELAM: Sure.
CHETRY: Still ahead, New Orleans still not ready for a major hurricane despite all of the work and the $7 billion to repair flood defenses since Hurricane Katrina. If a strong Category Two or higher storm hits, water could come over the levees. That's according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
ROBERTS: And a devastating earthquake hits Japan killing at least 10 people. And check out what it did to this bridge. The bridge collapsed during a 7.2 earthquake over the weekend. More than 300 aftershocks have been felt across the country.
Our Rob Marciano is checking out the extreme weather across this nation today. He joins us now from the weather center in Atlanta. Good morning, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: That's a dramatic shot, John. Unbelievable.
From the bridges where they want them to go, some of the flooding in areas across the Midwest, bridges were no good. We are looking at waters that have to get into the Mississippi River and before it does that, it's -- we're going to see some record flooding in some spots.
Wisconsin, for one thing. The Rock River there, haven't talked much about that. That is going to crest here in the next day or two and that will eventually get into the Mississippi River system as well.
Here's where we're seeing the flood watches and warnings. This map hasn't moved a whole lot of late. The good news on it today though is that we've got very little in the way of precipitation in the flood zone. Mostly right now down across parts of Oklahoma.
These could very well pop to be severe. Certainly a lot of red on the map. So heavy rain, maybe some hail and certainly some gusty winds possible with this batch of thunderstorms as it rolls in through Oklahoma City.
We do have a threat for seeing severe weather, a slight one across the Carolina Coast and then in through the Tornado Alley area all the way stretching up through Montana and Wisconsin. Damaging winds, large hail and the potential of seeing a few tornadoes as conditions seem to be right for that.
You had your rough weather up across the northeast yesterday. It should be a very pleasant and more quiet 81 degrees in the Big Apple. John and Kiran, back up to you.
ROBERTS: That's nice. And hopefully Kiran will have her power back so she can run her air conditioner today.
CHETRY: Oh, I was just going to say, now that I have all the batteries ready the lights are back.
MARCIANO: Batteries, candles. It can be very romantic without power.
ROBERTS: I want to see her run her air conditioner on batteries. That will be an interesting trick (ph). Rob, thanks.
You're watching the "Most News in the Morning." Planet in peril, and a new health threat to humans. We're going to Africa this morning where our Dr. Sanjay Gupta is reporting from the Congo today. It's something that you'll see only on CNN.
CHETRY: Also, at risk. A national defense facility charged with protecting America may not be able to protect itself. Details coming up on AMERICAN MORNING.
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CHETRY: We're using the worldwide resources of CNN to track the planet in peril. And we sent Dr. Sanjay Gupta to Africa, where his first stop was in the jungles of Cameroon. And today we're paging Dr. Gupta all the way from the Congo.
Now, the Congo is where monkeypox is a big concern. It got its name because it was first discovered in monkeys but has now spread to people. In humans, this disease starts with a fever. It then leads to a rash and is deadly up to 10 percent of the time. Now, doctors are worried that monkeypox could spread to humans outside of that region.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, guys. We made our way from Cameroon into Losha (ph), which is in a Democratic Republican of Congo. It's a very small town. It took several hours to actually get here.
But we're here because I'm looking at something that I've never seen before as a doctor. I want to introduce you to Coy (ph). She's 22 years old, and what she has is an active case of monkeypox.
Now this is something, again, that I've never seen before, but is actually endemic here in the Congo. She just came to this particular surveillance center from over 200 kilometers away to try and get whatever treatment she can possibly get. They've been looking in her mouth. They've been taking blood from her, trying to figure out exactly how serious her case is.
Now, while it's something I've never seen before, monkeypox is endemic to this particular area. Meaning there are cases all around us. It's in the animals and obviously in humans as well.
We need to pay attention to this because it's also something that happened in the United States in 2003. You may remember, pets, Gambian rats, specifically, were exported from Africa to the United States. Ultimately, they got infected into prairie dogs and a few human cases as well.
So you look at it in the case of monkeypox here in this very small town, and everyone around the world has to pay attention to it. The real question for the doctors here, the researchers is, can you stop this from turning into a pandemic? Can you stop that sort of global transfer?
That's what we're investigating. I'm going to have much more on that in the days to come. Back to you for now.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: All right. Sanjay, thanks. Sanjay joins us this morning in the Congo. And also, keep an eye out for a new "Planet in Peril" series, "Battlelines." It is coming this fall. The first one is spectacular. You and I had a chance to see that.
ROBERTS: Oh, yes. It was great.
CHETRY: We look forward to the next one as well.
ROBERTS: It's just amazing that we can reach out and get Sanjay all the way over there in Africa this morning as well.
Finding more oil. John McCain says he wants to ease oil costs by looking for it off of our shores. Now a battle is shaping up in critical swing states. We're live with McCain's senior adviser. Checkpoints defended. D.C.'s police chief backing the neighborhood lockdowns. Does it secure the subdivision, or is it a violation of visitors' rights?
And Google wants to use the power of the Internet to save the rainforest. How a new effort to map the rainforest will shows that trees are being illegally cut down.
You're watching the "Most News in the Morning."
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CHETRY: New today in our political ticker.
Barack Obama now saying he will visit Iraq and Afghanistan before Election Day. He says he spoke to Iraq's foreign minister on the phone and reiterated his plan to pull out troops. Obama's last trip to Iraq was in 2006 before the troop increased, and John McCain has criticized him for not going back since then.
A House Republican wants to know if colleagues cashed in on sweetheart mortgage deals from Countrywide. Two prominent senators are accused of getting breaks on their mortgages from Countrywide. Texas Congressman Jeb Hensarling says he will ask for hearings to find out if any lawmakers used their connections to get special breaks in their interest rates. It's the same issue that brought down Obama campaign adviser Jim Johnson.
And for more up to the minute political news, just head to CNN.com/ticker.
ROBERTS: Twenty-five minutes after the hour.
John McCain now saying that he supports offshore drilling to find more U.S. oil. Right now, there's a federal ban in place that stops states that might want to from allowing oil drilling. Will it set up a battle in some key swing states this election year?
Here to talk about that and McCain's efforts to gain more women voters is Carly Fiorina. She's a senior adviser to the McCain campaign. Also, the former CEO and chairwoman of Hewlett Packard. She joins us now from McCain headquarters in Arlington, Virginia.
Carly, good to see you again. Thanks for coming in this morning.
CARLY FIORINA, RNC VICTORY CHAIR: Nice to see you, John. Good morning.
ROBERTS: So tell me a little bit about this proposal that Senator McCain will issue later on today to lift the federal moratorium on offshore drilling. Critics are saying that it's not much more than an outreach for contributions from the oil and gas industry and maybe to try to take a swing at some voters in Virginia, a state that is considering allowing offshore drilling, if it were, if it had the authority to do so. FIORINA: Well, John McCain begins a series of conversations today with the American people about our energy crisis and he will talk as well about what it will take to achieve energy independence. John McCain first began talking about this subject about a year ago, and since then, it's important to remember the price of oil has doubled in just a year.
And so, clearly these are extraordinary times. And he is proposing both a series of short term and long term measures. But to your specific question, yes. He is calling for a lifting of the ban on offshore, off continental shelf drilling. It will still be up to the states to decide whether they will permit such drilling.
But obviously, this is a time now where we need to tap all of our own reserves of oil, natural gas, coal. He proposes basic research into clean coal, but we need more sources of energy of our own.
ROBERTS: Now, some polls are suggesting that the majority of Americans may support a proposal to increase offshore drilling on the coast of the United States. But this proposal would also put him at odds with environmentalists who say it flies in the face of his plans to curb global warming. And the real rich prize here in all of this, Florida.
Governor Crist is well opposed, and environmentalists in the state of Florida are very much opposed to offshore drilling there. So could he ever get this through?
FIORINA: Well, ultimately, of course, as I said it will be up to the states to decide and Florida will have a decision to make. But I think it's also important to remember that McCain has consistently said that the U.S. must take a lead in curbing global warming. It is why, despite his call for the lifting of this ban, he also will repeat today, once again, that he believes we must preserve pristine wildernesses like ANWR, like the Grand Canyon. So he does not propose drilling there.
But again, this is a time now where we are in foreign debt paying for foreign oil, where the price of gas goes up every day. And so, in addition to short-term solutions like the gas tax holiday which he has proposed for several months now, he also wants to talk to the American people about the longer-term solutions, which are mining our own energy more effectively.
ROBERTS: Right.
FIORINA: But also turning to green technologies, nuclear power -- all of those things that will help us achieve independence from foreign oil.
ROBERTS: Let me switch gears here a little bit because there's a battle raging out there on the campaign trail for disaffected Hillary Clinton supporters. You're involved in this outreach. You were on a conference call with John McCain other the weekend.
Barack Obama is taking aim at this outreach to women saying, "About Senator McCain, he has opposed equal pay. He has opposed the CHIP, that's the health care program, that would make children insured. He opposed efforts to protect women against some of the discrimination that they experience in the workplace. You know, that's not going to be a track record that I think is going to be very appealing to women."
How do you respond to that?
FIORINA: Well, first, I think, John McCain has a very particular view about the role of government. And he doesn't believe that government should be regulating pay although he certainly agrees that women need to be treated equally in the workplace.
But very specifically, what I would say is this. No one should be taking the women's vote for granted. They represent 52 percent of the voting public. They start small businesses twice the rate of men, small businesses the engine growth in this economy. And so, what John McCain is talking to women about is the fact that they are an economic and political force.
ROBERTS: But --
FIORINA: And he wants to talk to them about issues that matter to their pocketbooks. They manage the family budget, for example.
ROBERTS: But according to recent polls, Senator Obama has got a huge advantage in women voters. As much as 13 percent in some polls.
FIORINA: Well, that lays out the challenge for us to make sure that women understand who John McCain is, what he stands for. And the reality is that I have met many, many, women across this country who are very open-minded and eager to understand John McCain. And I think that represents a huge opportunity for us. And I think we will narrow that gap considerably.
ROBERTS: We will keep watching this battleground very closely. Carly Fiorina, thanks for being with us this morning. It's good to see you.
FIORINA: Nice to be with you, John.
ROBERTS: Take care.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN, ANCHOR: 30 minutes past the hour. Here's a look at what's making news on this Tuesday. California marriage redefined. Thousands of same sex couples will tie the knot today. But voters may get the last word on this deciding in November if it should remain legal.
Flood zone. President Bush will get an update this morning on the floods in the midwest. On Thursday, he will personally tour some of the hardest hit areas. And the floodwaters in Iowa are beginning to recede this morning. But that's revealing in an unbelievable devastation left behind. CNN's Ed Lavandera is live in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, this morning. Hi, Ed.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Kiran. Well, you know, as the floodwaters continue to recede here in Cedar Rapids. Officials hope that in the next few days the perimeters surrounding the areas that are blocked off and residents unable to get past them, that those areas will start shrinking. But there are some people who figured out a way to get past the check points.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SHAUN KIENE, FLOOD VICTIM: Mud. Mud.
JULIE KIENE, FLOOD VICTIM: It's all over the streets.
SHAUN KIENE: An inch thick on everything.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): It will take more than a hose and some water to wash away Shaun Kenney's pain right now.
SHAUN KIENE: After just seeing my backyard, I'm not for sure I even want to go back to my house.
LAVANDERA: Shaun is in the Iowa National Guard. He and his wife, Julie, were allowed to go back to their home briefly but couldn't even get inside.
JULIE KIENE: Piles of garbage and our backyard has 12 inches of water in it. Floating garbage.
LAVANDERA: The basement filled with water. And another six feet poured into the first floor. Mattresses and debris strewn all over the backyard.
JULIE KIENE: I wanted to go in the house but then when I walked to the backyard and seen all that garbage and --
SHAUN KIENE: Destruction.
JULIE KIENE: ...destruction.
SHAUN KIENE: It's dangerous. It's - luckily we got a quick glimpse. And now I fully understand why they won't let us down there.
LAVANDERA: The Kiene's and their nine-year-old daughter are staying with family until they're allowed back home.
COURTNEY KIENE, FLOOD VICTIM: I miss my room and everything that was in there. Because there was a lot of special things down there.
LAVANDERA: Fortunately a nine-year-old is immune from the frustrations of adulthood. Shaun and Julie don't have flood insurance and the disaster cost Julie her job. And filing for unemployment benefits on the internet is frustrating.
SHAUN KIENE: You must file an unemployment insurance application along with the appropriate disaster unemployment assistance forms. Sure. If you can find the damn thing online.
LAVANDERA: The floodwaters are receding. But the Kiene's are left wondering if life as they remember it in Cedar Rapids has also dried up.
JULIE KIENE: We talked about just moving and not even try to fix it or rebuild it. But we haven't been inside to see really how bad it is. We still don't know what we're going to do.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAVANDERA: And I think a lot of people will be feeling that way as they get past these check points and allowed back into their homes. City officials here in Cedar Rapids acknowledge that the damage that they're finding in these neighborhoods is much worse than what they had expected to see. Kiran.
CHETRY: That's so sad for all of the people affected by that. Ed, thank you.
ROBERTS: It's coming up on 34 minute after the hour. Alina Cho here with other stories new this morning. And Midwest is not the only place being affected by flooding.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's absolutely right. Good morning, guys. Good morning, everybody. And new this morning more misery in southern China. Not far from the earthquake zone, more than 60 people have died now in some of the worst flooding there in decades. The rising waters have forced more than 1 million people from their homes. And the torrential rains have been making it extremely difficult to help the thousands of survivors of last month's earthquake.
Washington, D.C.'s police chief is strongly defending that controversial check point in one violent neighborhood. She says the check points were a success. Adding not one shot was fired in the area while the check points were in place. Critics say the police tactic violates the constitutional rights of citizens. Still unclear whether police will set up another roadblock in the neighborhood.
Military leaders say the nation's new Homeland Security nerve center, the Norad facility has, "severe physical security problems." How about that? The new facility is located at Peterson Air Force base in Colorado Springs. It moved there back in May from Cheyenne Mountain. Officials say the existing security system at the Air Force base would fail if attacked by even a low level threat.
And Tiger Woods has won the 2008 U.S. open on the 91st hole. Take a look. That was Rocco Mediate. He missed it. But Tiger got it out. He fails his test on a bum knee. Finally, beating Rocco Mediate after an 18-hole playoff and then one final sudden death showdown. Could we have seen Tiger there in the video? Tiger's 14th major win by the way, putting him four behind Jack Nicklaus there.
CHETRY: There it is.
CHO: There we go. His sore knee, by the way, may keep him out of the British Open in five weeks. But all those wins, you know, it's 14 wins now and he says this might have been his best. Yes, the end for him.
ROBERTS: Yes. The end was a little strange because...
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: It was anti-climactic.
ROBERTS: Tiger lagged up.
CHO: Sunday was exciting.
ELAM: Yes. Sunday was exciting.
ROBERTS: Tiger just lagged up a par putt and put it in. And then it was up to Mediate. So when he missed it was like, oh, Tiger won as opposed to the moment where it goes in the hole and everybody...
CHO: All I know is that on Sunday when I was at the Father's Day dinner with parents and they keep looking at their watches. I said why? We get to go back and watch the end of the U.S. Open.
ROBERTS: It was great.
CHETRY: A lot of people who normally don't watch golf couldn't keep their eyes off it.
ELAM: Well, see I can keep up on what was happening because I was at the stock exchange and you can hear the traders start screaming at three strokes. We ended up sticking around to see what happened at the end right after the bell rang.
ROBERTS: It was one for the ages. No question. Hey, hairless prophet of doom is off today so Stephanie Elam filling in this morning.
ELAM: With all of my hair.
ROBERTS: All of your hair.
ELAM: All of my hair here today. We're taking a look at the floods. It's not nearly as much fun but we're going to take a look what this can mean for your grocery bill because of all these floods and even if you don't eat corn on the cob it still may have an effect. We'll take a look right after the break.
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ROBERTS: Hey, it's 38 minutes after the hour. If you're worried about the price of food now, wait until next fall with what's happening in the midwest.
ELAM: This is scary for so many people. I mean, despite the fact that it's already a tragic story for so many people living in that region. It's going to have going to have a far reaching affect as far as jobs are concerned and then crops. And that's what I want to take a look at right now. The higher grocery prices are probably in the works for many of us across the country because of this disruption to mainly corn production.
Obviously we have soybean there. We also have wheat in the region as well. A lot of these crops still under water. So it's going to take some time to really see how long it takes before they can be planted again. But corn futures on Monday, they hit a new intraday high as we take a look at this situation here. Iowa has lost somewhere between 1 to 3 million acres of corn production because of this. That's the estimation at this point. So that's about some of 21 percent of their overall production. Now, the crops were already hit hard by cold weather during the planting season. So, all of this means that crops could be down about 10 to 12 percent this year. Gavin McGuire of Iowa Grain, that's a brokerage firm in Chicago, taking a look and giving us these numbers. But meat and dairy, they are going to take a big impact because obviously meat, they have to eat something and they eat corn. And so that's where the majority, nearly half of the corn crop goes, to feed actually. Dairy products also following as well. Then there's sweeteners like your high fructose corn syrup. That's in your sodas. That's there too. Nonfood uses for corn. Take a look at your mouthwash, your tooth paste. It's in there as well. Ethanol of course. And then some plastics are going to be feeling the effects.
Some of these effects will be felt this year. Some will be next year and McGuire also pointing out too that 90 percent of U.S. corn exports - of corn, I should say, are exported. But only 11 to 12 percent of what is grown here is actually eaten here. So the exports could also take an impact because the railroads need to be fixed. The barges, some of them are just mired on the side of the Mississippi. Some locks still closed. All of that going to play a part in this.
ROBERTS: There could be some difficult times. Steph, thanks for that.
ELAM: Sure.
CHETRY: You're watching the most news in the morning. Demonstrators kidnap the cops. An angry mop of thousands taking hostages and running over other officers during an extremely violent protest. Susan Peru will have more on that.
Also, Rob Marciano watching extreme weather for us. Hey, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hi, guys. Hey, Kiran. We're looking at the flooding situation which is going to get worse in some spots before it gets better. But better weather across the northeast after a rough night last night. Complete weather coming up when AMERICAN MORNING comes right back.
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ROBERTS: 43 minutes after the hour. Difficult travel last evening if you're going into Washington or New York City. Rob Marciano here with the extreme weather forecast and tell you about what it would be like today. Hey, Rob.
MARCIANO: A little more tranquil, John. That's the good news. We had wind reports in excess of 60, 70 miles per hour wind gusts. Over 100 of those reports and the hail reports across especially upstate New York and through Pennsylvania, over 260 hail reports. A little more quiet, a bit more cool today as well. Traveling to Boston, New York and Philly you're OK. Temperatures starting now near in the 60s and it will be a little bit more comfortable throughout the day today.
This is what's left of that front and rough weather that came through the i-95 corridor yesterday. It continues to move off to the east and should be mostly dry there I think across the northeast. Mostly wet this morning from Oklahoma City, up through Tulsa. These are some rough thunderstorms that are drifting down to the south and seat. They should begin to dissipate. And they will remain pretty much over the Texas Red River Valley. And not really get into the flood areas. So, they should be mostly dry today. Also dry across the desert southwest. If you're heading to Phoenix, bring shorts. Excessive heat warnings are in effect in Phoenix. The west along the i-10 corridor almost into the L.A. area. Temperatures there will be at 110 or better. If we hit 114 in Phoenix that will break a record that has been up and running for over 100 years. So, we'll see if that happens today. 80 in Kansas City, 86 in Denver, 91 degrees in Dallas, 89 degrees in Atlanta, 80 in D.C. and 81 degrees in New York City. Lower levels of humidity. A little sunshine. Should be pretty nice.
CHETRY: It's a perfect day, Rob, for 91 holes of golf.
MARCIANO: Wouldn't that be nice.
ROBERTS: Even 18 would be a great there. Rob, thanks so much.
MARCIANO: All right, guys.
CHETRY: You're watching the most news in the morning.
You know, Google is trying to save the rain forest. There's a new effort to call attention to a problem of illegal logging. Also, a beating caught on tape. Israeli settlers attack a Palestinian family. See for yourself the tape that police are now looking at. You're watching the most news in the morning.
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CHETRY: Also ahead on AMERICAN MORNING, viral video.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How are they? It's not working.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's going to work. Give it a second.
CHETRY: If cell phones can pop popcorn, can these subversive ads sell something you never see?
CHO: But never in these videos do we even see a blue tooth.
CHETRY: Alina Cho takes us behind the campaign that's popping up all over the internet. You're watching the most news in the morning.
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ROBERTS: It's 48 minutes after the hour. The internet helping to save one of the most important places in the world. Google using the power of its google earth software to map the Amazon rain forest and show you how it's being illegally cut down. We're going one better than google this morning. We sent our Harris Whitbeck deep into the heart of the Brazilian Amazon. And he joins us live now all the way from a village in the rain forest. Harris, incredible shot behind you there this morning.
HARRIS WHITBECK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. The people behind me are members of a Suli tribe here. They're in Brazil's Central Amazon, not too far from the border between Brazil and Bolivia. These people have lived in and off of the rain forest here for centuries and centuries. And just 40 years ago they were still literally using tools made out of stone. And today due to this partnership with google earth they will be getting access to technology that will bring them into the 21st century and allow them to use the internet as a tool for preserving their culture and for preserving the rain forest.
Now, just to give you an idea of how isolated this place is, it took us about six different flights, landing in consecutively smaller airports, to get here. About two days of travel from Mexico City. We joined the team from Google here. And the first thing that they did last night was to open a cultural center in a nearby town which has electricity. They have six computers there. That cultural center will be used as a training center for the team from Google earth to train people from the Sudali village in the use of Google earth.
Again, the idea is that they use Google Earth as a platform to put pictures of their culture, of their lands, of their towns, blogs, works of art, all of these elements of information that they can put up there to enlist world support for them in their fight to preserve their land and their culture. Again, this is a very, very historic moment, John. 40 years ago these people were literally using tools made out of stone. Today they've taken a quantity leap into the 21st century and will be using the internet to... as help in their fight to preserve their lands and their way of life. John.
ROBERTS: Really incredible the way, Harris, that modern technology can aid these folks who obviously still live a fairly primitive life and amazingly we could just drop you in there this morning and get that live report. Harris Whitbeck for us from deep in the heart of the Amazon. Thanks.
CHETRY: Bigger. Stronger. Faster.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That was a fat kid from (inaudible). You know, from upstate New York. And I wanted to know, how do I get like Hulk Hogan?
CHETRY: What happens when training, prayers and vitamins aren't enough? A new documentary follows a family struggle with steroids.
Plus, is this your brain on cell phone? The viral video that's trying to sell you a blue tooth. You're watching the most news in the morning.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not working. It cannot work.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. That's crazy. Give it a second.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on, come on, come on!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. I told you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Well, that's a video heating up the internet, apparently showing how cell phones can heat popcorn kernels. They can pop. Turns out the video is a hoax. Nothing more than a publicity stunt. But which company is responsible? And exactly what are they trying to promote or sell? Our Alina Cho joins us now with the answer. Hi, Alina.
CHO: Hey, there. Well, it was all a mystery for a little while there, Kiran. Good morning. You may be surprised to find out who's responsible for the video. Especially since you never actually see the company's product in those videos. We can tell you they were a youtube hit. More than 8 million hits sparking debate, discussion, and fear over cell phones and what they can do to your brain.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's going to work. Give it a second.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on, come on!
CHO (voice-over): Truth or fiction. Cell phones radioactive enough to popcorn? That's what millions were asking after three videos popped up on youtube last week, showing friends making popcorn by simultaneously ringing their cell phones this was no scientific experiment. Instead, a stealth marketing campaign by Cardo Systems, the makers of one brand of blue tooth headsets.
KATHRYN RHODES, MARKETING MANAGER, CARDO SYSTEMS: We wanted to create something that was very unique within the industry and evoke curiosity around our brand.
CHO: But never in these videos do we even see a blue tooth.
RHODES: We wanted to leave that very vague so people would then wonder who was behind these videos.
CHO: Viral videos like these are a powerful advertising tool. But a clever ad may not be enough. Just as important, where the videos are posted.
REUBEN HENDELL, CEO, MRM WORLDWIDE: Just putting videos out there doesn't make it viral. Actually having something that's engaging enough where friends will pass along to friends is what makes it viral. CHO: The ultimate success, the internet buzz. Part of the system says nearly 8 million hits in 12 days, spawning parody videos and also fear. What could a cell phone do to a person's brain?
RHODES: We don't ever discuss or imply that there's any health risk with using a cell phone.
CHO: You don't state it, but I think that the - that the message seems to be clear.
RHODES: No. That wasn't our intent. And, in fact, it would take more than 10 million cell phones in a very small space to even attempt to create enough power to pop any type of kernels.
CHO: Ultimately Cardo systems came clean. Posting on its website, making popcorn with a cell phone happens only in the movies. So one final question. If it wasn't the cell phone's popping the popcorn, what was popping the popcorn?
RHODES: That's a Cardo Systems trade secret that we really want to keep a secret so that we can keep the curiosity intact?
CHO: Well, it's working. Cardo Systems says the company may reveal what's behind the popcorn mystery eventually. You may have to wait until they make it another series of video ads. And a little bit about the process. This is really interesting. The company systematically rolled out the three videos after each one received a certain number of hits, finally revealing they were behind it. That incredibly drove traffic to their websites and the company says, Kiran, that sales of blue tooth headsets spiked exponentially as a result. All because of these viral videos as these called. And if you consider 500 hits considered a success, 8 million, really incredible over 12 days.
CHETRY: And I think the consensus here is there was some sort of heating element under a metal table.
CHO: That's right. It is a big mystery. We had our intern staff working it for hours. Corn kernels and cell phones. Of course, it didn't happen.
CHETRY: What did you learn on AMERICAN MORNING? Well, I learned that cell phones don't pop popcorn.
CHO: Yes, you need about 10 million of them to do that.
CHETRY: Thanks, Alina. Joining us now with more on this type of viral advertising is Scott Goodson. He's the founder and CEO of Strawberry Frog. It's an award winning global marketing agency. Thanks for being with us. Why do you think ads like viral videos like the one we saw, the cell phones and popcorn, why do they work?
SCOTT GOODSON, FOUNDER & CEO STRAWBERRYFROG: Well, the advertising industry is going through a huge revolution right now. The internet is behind it. And basically people sending messages to each other is the new medium. So, that's creating a huge revelation in the way brands are communicating with consumers and how consumers are actually spending time sending information on to their friends.
CHETRY: You know, and as Alina asked the woman from this company, even though they're not saying it out right, they are sort of making people believe a falsehood, right, which is that cell phones are strong enough and powerful enough and emitting enough of something that's probably not good for you to pop popcorn?
GOODSON: Well, there's good and there's bad marketing. Bad marketing in my opinion is like running into a movie theater and screaming fire. It's going to get a lot of attention but ultimately it's going to fail. Because today consumers are truth junkies. They're truth seekers and the internet allows people to have access to truth in a way that they didn't have five years ago. So, if a film is false, people will know relatively quickly. So while there maybe a spike initially the long-term success will not be there. So, the brand has to be authentic and it has to be fun. I mean, there's no reason why you can't be fun and you can create buzz. But I would suggest that you don't do it in a way that would suggest that's absolutely untrue.
In this case it's praying on people's fears that mobile phones in blue tooth technology can fry your brain which is obviously not accurate.
CHETRY: Let's talk about one of your ads from your company that really was a hit as well. This is the ad for the Sony Ericsson phone. And we're going to how a little bit of it. It won actually an award for best global marketing. And it's basically under the premise that this new Sony Ericsson phone is just so amazing and so exciting that people are actually drooling. A little gross, personally. But it really caught on. What makes a good viral video?
GOODSON: Well, I think a good viral video, in this particular case, the objective was to basically get kids, young people to be excited about a brand that was very popular among parents. So in this particular case we wanted to do a campaign where older people said that's gross and the more that parents said that's gross, the more kids thought that was cool. So, I think a brand has to be able to do it in a way that's entertaing and fun but not irresponsible.
CHETRY: And bottom line, are we going to see this replace the 30- second commercial in terms of what really gets people to buy things?
GOODSON: It already has.
CHETRY: Wow. Very interesting. Scott Goodson founder and CEO of Strawberryfrog. Thanks for being with us.
GOODSON: It's a pleasure. Thank you very much.
CHETRY: John.
ROBERTS: Crossing the top of the hour now and breaking news to tell you about.
Demonstrators kidnap police during violent protests in Peru. Officials say the mob overpowered the officers, injuring close to 40 people and taking another 40 hostage. They were demanding a larger share of mining royalties.
