Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Hurricane Dolly Strikes the Gulf Coast; John McCain Speaks at Town Hall Meeting in Wilkes-Barre; Viagra for Women?

Aired July 23, 2008 - 13:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Hurricane Dolly: it's strong; it's slow; it's beating up the Gulf Coast; and it's taking its time.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: And we are following the storm. We're in front of it and in the very heart of it, no matter where it goes or what it does.

PHILLIPS: CNN is your hurricane headquarters in the field, in the severe weather center, and in the eye of the storm.

Hello, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips, live in New York.

LEMON: And I'm Don Lemon, live here at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Gulf Coast communities right along the U.S.-Mexican border are really taking a beating from Hurricane Dolly. The storm is now a Category 2, dumping lots of rain and raising fears of inland flooding. Tornado warnings extend deep into the heart of Texas, and the governor's already declared emergencies in 14 counties.

Well, CNN is covering this storm from every angle, from various angles. Susan Roesgen, she's right in the thick of it. She's in Brownsville, Texas. We're also in Mexico. Our Reynolds Wolf is following the story, as well. He is in South Padre Island. We'll get to him in just a little bit. And Chad Myers is tracking Dolly from our hurricane headquarters.

Also in South Padre Island, Gary Tuchman, and he filed this report just a very short time ago. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: South Padre Island, the barrier island on the southernmost part of Texas, is getting ravaged. This behind me just a few hours ago was grass, was land. Now you can see the Gulf of Mexico and the bay have made it like a raging rapids. That billboard was on land.

We're standing right now on the causeway. In front of me is a bridge that links South Padre Island with the mainland. This is a barrier island, 44 miles long. Normally, there are 2,000 people who live here. But at summer weekends, up to 200,000 people are here. Most people have evacuated, but there are a lot of people still here.

We have seen -- we have seen roofs collapse. We have seen signs go down. Firefighters are all over, helping people evacuate who decided not to evacuate. But you can see, this is a Category 2 hurricane, and it's incredibly treacherous. And most people are surprised by how strong it is.

This is Gary Tuchman, CNN, South Padre Island, Texas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, powerful hurricane, potential tornadoes and endangered levees, a triple threat for people in parts of Texas. Our Susan Roesgen knows it all too well. She's live with us now in Brownsville.

Hi, Susan.

SUSAN ROESGEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kyra. You can see the wind and the rain out here today. If you want to know what the news is in Brownsville, buy the local paper. Believe it or not, the local Brownsville paper was able to run the presses today and get the paper developed, but it's soaked.

Now, let's see. This is the "Brownsville Herald." They're saying that they're worried about flooding. Now this was a big issue here. There is just a concern that there may be flooding when the wind and the rain is all over.

But right there is part of the levee that they've been talking about. Hundreds of miles of earthen levees. That levee right there is about a quarter of a mile from the Rio Grande River. That's the border between Brownsville and Mexico.

Now, we're here in the parking lot of, let's see, Danny's Restaurant, where I would take my newspaper normally and sit down and have a cup of coffee and read it, but it's closed today.

And right over here is the local hotel in this area. I've talked to the manager about 20 minutes ago. She said they have about two dozen people inside, all staying there, all spending the night, and they're all from Mexico. They're Mexicans who are working here in the United States and planned to go back to Mexico. But because they had children, they were too worried, Kyra, that they would not be able to make it just half a mile, about a quarter of a mile across the Rio Grande on one of the two international bridges. So they're going to stay here. They're not going to attempt to make it over into Mexico this afternoon. They might try later tonight.

That's the situation right now in Brownsville. Again, all the levees so far, according to the emergency management folks, are holding. No serious flooding; no reports of any injuries.

PHILLIPS: Well, that's the good news. Susan Roesgen there, live in Brownsville, Texas. Thanks, Susan.

LEMON: And you can see amazing pictures from both of our reporters. Our Chad Myers is in the CNN severe weather center. And we are tracking Dolly, still holding to Category 2, but that is very powerful, as well.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Right. Minimal Category 2. That does not mean minimal hurricane.

LEMON: OK.

MYERS: I mean, you know what we're talking about. A storm now 100 miles per hour. The threshold between Category 1 and Category 2 is 96 miles per hour. So we're above that.

Here's -- here's the radar picture. It's -- it's a clear view of the eye. This is near the Brownsville radar station. It's very clear to see what's going on here. I'm going to zoom in. That big red box is a tornado watch box, because many times hurricanes will bring in tornadoes with them from the ocean.

Port Isabel, you're really getting hammered now, but your winds are offshore. You need to be north of that eye. See that eye right there? See that hole right there in the donut? You need to be north of there to get the winds onshore. That's all national seashore. No one lives up there. There is nothing up there except beautiful, pristine, national seashore.

You cannot drive from Corpus Christi down to South Padre Island because of all of the cuts that have been made from all these hurricanes in the past. But here's South Padre. Heavy, heavy wind. Right now I'm guessing probably in an excess of 75 to 80 miles per hour easy. But the good news is that's the end of it. That's the end of South Padre Island. There's nothing north of there at all.

This is what South Padre Island looks like. Zooming right in here, this is Microsoft Virtual Earth. Maybe you've never been there, but this is a spring break paradise, and this entire area here is covered with big condos and very large hotels. And there's one of the hotels right there. And a lot of damage going on with these hotels right now.

And so far this -- we call this our has -- or our Hurricane Impact Zone, predicting more than three billion -- three billion with a "B" -- dollars in damage so far. And they're rerunning that model right now. They crunched the numbers. They know how much damage is there, how much property is there and how much could actually be done with this. And that's what they're figuring out right now.

LEMON: All right. Chad Myers, our meteorologist in-house. Also, we have Reynolds out in South Padre Island. He is moving, changing locations. We're going to get to him.

MYERS: He has to change locations, because it's the satellite -- now the wind is blowing offshore, and the satellite truck's doing this.

LEMON: Yes. All right. Chad Myers, thank you. Chad is -- getting this over to you real quick.

A little new information. MYERS: Tornado warning, yes, for southern Aransas County and -- this is actually going to be northeast of Rockport. And these tornadoes are not F-4, F-5 tornadoes, but they are significant. They are significant in themselves, because they are spinning, just because they're coming onshore, maybe, as water spouts.

This entire thing is spinning itself. Obviously, it's a hurricane. But these little storms, obviously, up in here. See these little dots that are up there? Those are the storms that are spinning, as well. And as they come onshore, they can produce some tornadoes.

Right now, this is not on the ground, just Doppler indicated, but that means there is rotation in the storm, and one could fall out of there any time. If you're up there near Rockport, you need to be taking cover now. Bayside, as well.

LEMON: Glad I got that little piece of paper to you. That was important stuff. I had no idea; it wasn't planned.

MYERS: Good timing (ph).

LEMON: Just walked it over there.

All right. Hey, thank you very much. We'll check back in with you about the tornadoes and hurricane, as well. And thanks to Dave Hennen for handing me that.

When the weather becomes the news, remember, finish your iReports. Go to iReport.com or type iReport@CNN.com right into your cell phone, and we'll take a look at your iReports, coming up with our Veronica De La Cruz. But remember, we want you to stay safe.

PHILLIPS: It's a day of meetings, with some sightseeing squeezed in, for Barack Obama in the Middle East. The Democratic presidential candidate started his day by laying a wreath at a Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem and meetings throughout the day with Israeli and Palestinian leaders.

Now, between those meetings, Obama stopped a short time ago at a southern Israeli town that's been the target of rocket attacks by Palestinian militants.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D-IL), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And I'm here to say, as an American and as a friend of Israel, that we stand with the people and with all of the people of Sderot and all the people of Israel.

Now, the Qassam rockets fired by Hamas deliberately and indiscriminately target civilians, and this terror is intolerable. Israelis should not have to live endangered in their homes and schools.

I'm hopeful that the recent understanding to end the attacks will provide some relief. But America must always stand up for Israel's right to defend itself against those who threaten its people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Now, next up for Obama: Europe. He visits Berlin tomorrow with other stops in Paris and in London.

For John McCain a familiar setting on the campaign trail. He's using his town hall format to take his message to voters in Pennsylvania today. In a speech you may have seen live here on CNN, the Republican presidential candidate focused on jobs and high gas prices as he spoke to voters in Wilkes-Barre. But he also repeated a familiar theme: his plans for victory in Iraq.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R-AZ), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: An unconditional withdrawal, my friends, without paying attention to the facts on the ground, could lead to our failure, a resurgence in our enemies, and we would have to go back. My friends, when I'm president of the United States, we will come home. We will come home with victory and honor, but we'll never have to go back, because we will have won this conflict.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: After his Pennsylvania stop in Wilkes-Barre, McCain heads to New Orleans, where he's scheduled to meet with Louisiana governor, Bobby Jindal. There's a lot of speculation that the 37- year-old Jindal is on McCain's short list of potential running mates.

LEMON: President Bush is due at the Pentagon this hour for a meeting with the joint chiefs of staff. A major topic is expected to be the war in Afghanistan and what some say is an urgent need to get more U.S. troops there to counter a rise in attacks by Taliban insurgents.

Mr. Bush has agreed to send in more Marines, and U.S. allies are also deploying more troops. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has said the sooner additional troops get there, the better.

PHILLIPS: Flattery or perhaps mockery? President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad today praised the U.S. for attending last weekend's multi- lateral talks on Iran's nuclear program. He said Undersecretary of State William Burns' presence was a step toward recognizing Tehran's right to acquire nuclear technology.

As for the main topic of the meeting, getting Iran to suspend its uranium enrichment program, he vowed Iran will not retreat one iota from its nuclear program, which he says is for peaceful purposes.

LEMON: Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice today pressed North Korea to doing more in dismantling its nuclear program. Rice told North Korea's foreign minister during talks in Singapore that it must prove quickly and proving that it -- that it has been truthful about its past nuclear activities. Rice says that's imperative if North Korea truly wants to improve ties with Washington and end its international isolation.

The meeting was the first cabinet-level talks between the two countries in four years.

PHILLIPS: Well, let's get to issue No. 1, your money. A housing bill is expected to become law, even though nobody's totally happy with it.

The White House announced today that President Bush will not veto the package after all. He opposes nearly $4 billion for areas hit by foreclosures, because he says it helps lenders more than homeowners. But he and the treasury secretary do support a clause that financially backstops the mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The bill also lets people at risk of losing their home to refinance to fixed-rate loans. The House votes this afternoon, the Senate possibly tonight.

Well, Northwest is the latest airline to see red. The company blames the high cost of jet fuel for a net loss of $377 million in the second quarter. Two weeks ago, Northwest announced that it's cutting 2,500 jobs to save money. The airline is in the middle of a merger with Delta that's expected to close by the end of the year.

Well, let's eyeball the markets right now. Dow Industrials are down about two points. Meantime, oil slide continues, in part because the latest inventory report as well as the weather forecast. Analysts now saying that they expect no disruption to oil rigs from Hurricane Dolly.

LEMON: Flooding is a big concern right now as South Texas and parts of Mexico take a hit from Hurricane Dolly. We'll check in with our Chad Myers for the latest on this dangerous storm, and we'll go live to the Mexican coast.

PHILLIPS: And in Ohio, anger over the response to a 911 call and the disappearance of a young man. We're going to tell you what happened.

LEMON: In Colombia, chaos as a bull fighting ring crashes to the ground. We'll show you how it unfolded.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MYERS: And destructive Dolly now taking aim right at the coast. We do believe that the western eye wall is on land there. Not -- that doesn't mean it's land fall yet. Because the center of the eye has to go over to actually claim land fall. But very close to South Padre Island.

Here's the big picture and what's going on. You can see storms all the way up to Corpus Christi. This red box behind me, that's a tornado watch box. That goes for another eight hours.

One more thing I want to show you -- it's very interesting -- is actually the three-dimensional radar of this show -- of this shot. There's the hole in the middle. That is the eye, itself. You can actually see just a couple of lines there on the ground. That's the island. The three dimensionality of this, this storm is -- I don't know -- maybe 20,000 feet -- right? -- 30,000 feet high. You don't really get hail with storms like this, because this is a warm core. It may be even higher than that. But this is a warm core system.

I want to show you the Flight Explorer for just a moment. The Flight Explorer will show you that all of these planes that are in the air are flying around this thing. Not one thing flying through it, except of course, the hurricane hunter aircraft, and that's its job, punching the core, trying to find out what's going on in the middle of the storm.

Obviously, tornado warnings still coming out, as well, and that's going to be all night long -- Don.

LEMON: All right. Thank you very much for that, Chad. We'll check back.

Caylee Marie Anthony, almost 3 years old and missing from her Florida home for more than a month. Frustrated prosecutors in Orlando say her case looks like a homicide.

The little girl's mother, Casey Anthony, is not officially a suspect but a person of interest. She is in jail on a half million dollars bond, charged with child neglect and lying to investigators.

A police investigator who took the stand in yesterday's bond hearing says he was struck by what he encountered inside of her car.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DETECTIVE YURI MELICH, ORANGE COUNTY, FLORIDA, SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: I actually went into the car to smell what the smell smelled like. Briefly just before I came into the child abuse unit, I was a homicide detective for two years with the Lawrence (ph) County Sheriff's Office. And in my experience, the smell that I smelt inside that car was the smell of decomposition.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Well, the detective also testified that hair that matches Caylee's length and color was found inside of the car trunk and suspicious stains that might still be processed.

PHILLIPS: Well, another missing persons case. This is the family of John Edward Maruschak. He's been missing from his Cleveland home since last Wednesday.

Two men, brothers, appeared in court today, charged with assault and kidnapping. They pleaded not guilty and are being held on $750,000 bond.

Maruschak has not been seen since the day police received the 911 call.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And the neighbor, they hit him with the ball bat. And they threw him in a truck and just left.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They're not there anymore?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did you get a license plate number?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's my neighbor. It's a red truck, my neighbor.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, but they're not there. We can't go somewhere where we don't know where they're at. If they come back, give us a call.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: One side note to this case. You heard that 911 operator. Well, she decided not to send police to the scene of that alleged kidnapping. Authorities call the handling of the call inappropriate and unacceptable. They're now investigating and may take action against the operator.

LEMON: A new charge has been added to the stack of already pending for polygamous sect leader Warren Jeffs. He is now accused of sexually assaulting an underage girl in Texas in January of 2005.

Jeffs is awaiting trial in Arizona on charges related to underage marriages, and he was convicted earlier in Utah of being an accomplice to rape.

PHILLIPS: We're getting word in now of an oil spill. Looks like off New Orleans there in the Mississippi River. According to the Coast Guard, they've closed a lengthy stretch of the Mississippi River here from central New Orleans down river. Apparently, there was a collision between a fuel barge and a tanker, and it dumped more than 400,000 gallons of heavy fuel oil into the water, we're told.

Apparently, that fuel barge collided with a Liberian-flagged tanker, resulting in about -- well, they're getting an exact number now -- 419,000 gallons of oil that spilled right there into the mouth of the Mississippi.

I guess it occurred just off downtown New Orleans, according to the Coast Guard, near the massive bridges connecting downtown to the west bank of the Mississippi. And the National Transportation Safety Board has announced that it is sending investigators now to probe the cause of that accident.

LEMON: CNN iReporters armed with their cameras and cell phones are giving us a firsthand look at the power of Hurricane Dolly. We'll share with you. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Oil prices have been sliding dramatically over the past two weeks, and today crude is down again. Susan Lisovicz on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

What's the good news? Hey, Susan.

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kyra.

And it is good news, because less than two weeks ago we were telling you that crude briefly topped $147 a barrel. Since then, it's down $20. In less than two weeks, right now, down about two bucks, under $127 a barrel.

The catalyst? Well, we've been reporting extensively about Hurricane Dolly. The sense is Dolly won't hurt any refineries or rigs along the Gulf Coast. That was a big reason why oil dropped $3 yesterday.

And today we got the weekly inventory report. Stacked stockpiles surged, and crude stockpiles fell less than expected. So what we're seeing is a little bit of a rally. Kind of faded, but the Dow was up two points. The NASDAQ is up 11 -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, we've been paying close attention to earnings out of the financial sector, and so far there have been some huge losses. More red ink at all today?

LISOVICZ: Yes. Yesterday we were talking about Wachovia's $9 billion quarterly loss. After the bell, we heard from Washington Mutual. It lost $3 billion in three months. It's the nation's largest Savings and Loan institution. S&L's typically have a lot of exposure to the mortgage market.

It's the third straight quarterly loss for WaMu. It set aside $8 billion for loan losses. And the company says it will continue to reserve loan losses over the next couple of years. WaMu shares are down 7.25 percent.

One of the steps WaMu is taking, Kyra: its CEO, its CFO, and its COO are not getting bonuses this year -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: We know how big those bonuses can get, too.

LISOVICZ: Yes, we do.

In the next hour we're going to be talking about help for homeowners. I'll bring that story to you in the next hour, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Sounds good, Susan. Thanks.

LISOVICZ: You're welcome.

LEMON: All right. How is this for an answer to the housing crunch? A house made of straw? Matt Martin of Louisville, Kentucky, built this 400-square-foot building out of straw bales covered in mud, then coated in stucco. Total price tag: $7,000. That's a pretty cheap home.

Well, Matt says he has heard all the jokes: big bad wolf and all that. But he's having the last laugh. He says his building is fireproof, and it is the first straw building in Kentucky to receive an official state permit.

PHILLIPS: Well, he's one of the best basketball players in the world, but he just sprained his ankle. Well, Lebron James, will he be ready to play for the U.S. team in Beijing? We'll get the first word, first-hand, when he joins us live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Hello, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips live in New York.

LEMON: And I'm Don Lemon, live here at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

All right. It's time now to tell you some of the stories we're working on for you today right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Hurricane Dolly is barreling into extreme south Texas this hour, along the Mexico border. Winds in the Category 2 storm are gusting up to 120 miles per hour.

President Bush now says he will sign a bill designed to assist the nation's ailing housing market if it passes Congress. Now the House is expected to pass the bill later today.

And another losing quarter for a major air carrier. Northwest Airlines says it lost $377 million in the second quarter. The airline blames the rising cost of jet fuel.

PHILLIPS: Hurricane Dolly's about to make land fall just north of Brownsville, Texas. And that's right on the U.S.-Mexican border, which has been getting hammered all morning by wind and rain.

And now the slow-moving storm has gained strength, folks are worried about flooding and tornadoes. Texas National Guard troops are on alert, and the governor has already declared 14 counties disaster areas.

Now just south of Brownsville, right along the border, Mexican soldiers are busy rescuing people caught in the storm right now.

CNN's Harris Whitbeck is there -- Harris?

HARRIS WHITBECK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, as you can see the wind and the rain have picked up considerably here in Matamoros, Mexico. Thousands of people are in shelters. Yesterday the government said up to 23,000 people should beat the cause and move into shelter. Some have already had to be rescued. The Mexican Navy had to rescue some families as the mouth of the Rio Grande River, who refused to leave. And the rising waters are now a threat to them.

The main concern here, of course, here is flooding. This storm is moving very slowly and it's dumping a lot of water on this part of northern Mexico. The land here, the earth is very, very dry. Not entirely capable of absorbing all the moisture that Hurricane Dolly is bringing. So, the concern, what the authorities will be watching from now on in, is flooding -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: How many people are we talking about? That are in danger or at least at risk?

WHITBECK: Well, about 23,000 was the figure released yesterday, Several thousand are in shelters. No figures exactly at this time as to how many might have stayed out in their home.

PHILLIPS: We'll follow it. Harris Whitbeck there, live for us in Matamoros, Mexico.

Thanks, Harris.

LEMON: Let's go straight now to the CNN Severe Weather Center. Meteorologist Chad Myers, working on the latest. And I'm looking at the radar, here. Looks like the eye wall almost on shore if not there.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: The eye wall is on shore on the seashore. Yes, absolutely. But that doesn't mean it's made land fall. It's splitting hairs.

The center of the eye has to come on shore in order for them to classify it as a land fall. And it's very close right now. I mean -- probably less than five or six miles away. But the worst of it is the eye wall itself, and the worst of it is on land.

The worst of it is South Padre, Port Isabel, up toward Bayview. Port Mansfield just getting pounded right now. Now the worst of the storm up here to the north and then down to the south, where should be the convection up here, isn't there, it's gone. It left. And now the worst of it is on the wrong side of the storm. We expect this to be the easy side of a hurricane. Well, that is the exact opposite of what's going on today. That's the hard side of the hurricane. Winds blowing off shore 85 and 90 miles per hour there and really taking a lot of things with it.

I'm going to take you now to a view here of what this is -- of South Padre Island. This is what it looks like. We're going to zoom right in and you'll be able to see the condos right on the beach. There they are. We'll spin you around. There are large condos all the way up and down this beach. This is obviously a shot before the hurricane. But I believe there's going to be an awful lot of damage to these condos and these high-rises and all these hotels that spring breakers call home, all the way through the spring break season. This is when all these people here make all their money on these condos and hotels.

But, right now I hope they're all evacuated because this is a pretty bad storm there, Don.

LEMON: All right. Chad Myers. We'll check back.

Thank you very much, sir -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: And leading our political ticker. More serious fundraising in the race for the White House.

Federal election commission totals show Democrat Barack Obama raised more than $50 million last month. Republican John McCain raised more than $16 million, but in cash on hand, it's a different story. Counting all funding sources at the end of June, McCain had just over $105 million on hand. Obama had just over $92 million.

Now, John McCain accused of messing up a time line in the Iraq war. Critics say that McCain in an interview with CBS News, mistakenly suggested the surge of American troops sparked the Sunni awakening that reduced the violence in Anbar Province. They say the surge actually came after the violence started dropping.

Here's what McCain said in that interview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I don't know how you respond to something that is as such a false depiction of what actually happened. Colonel McFarland was contacted by one of the major Sunni sheikhs. Because of the surge, we were able to go out and protect that sheikh and others, and it began the Anbar Awakening. I mean, that's a matter of history. Thanks to General Petraeus, our leadership and the sacrifice of brave young Americans.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Responding to the controversy, McCain's spokesperson Tucker Bounds says, quote, "Democrats can debate whether the Awakening would have survived without the surge, or whether Shiite militias would have unilaterally disarmed without U.S. troops and Iraqi allies disarming them by force but that is a transparent effort to minimize the role of our commanders and our troops in defeating the enemy."

Now John and Cindy McCain get a magazine parody of they're own. "Vanity Fair" and its online edition does a spoof on the recent cover of "The New Yorker," that showed Barack and Michelle Obama as terrorists, intent on destroying America. The "Vanity Fair" parody shows Cindy McCain holding vials of pills, the senator is leaning on a walker and the U.S. Constitution is burning in the fireplace.

LEMON: And back to our breaking weather news. We're talking about Hurricane Dolly.

And joining us by phone, on South Padre Island, is meteorologist Reynolds Wolf.

Reynolds, tell us what you're seeing. REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Don, what we've seen is just nothing short of amazing. We're dealing with, I guess, the backside of the eye of this system.

I'll tell you, earlier in the day, we were coming to you and most of the wind was coming due north. This time, it is just roaring into the west as we speak. I mean, rain coming down not in drops like we saw earlier, but just in sheets. It is -- if you go out there, it feels like you're getting ripped by razor wire. It is just incredible.

Earlier, obviously, we were going live with our live truck. The winds so bad, it caused us to shut the truck down just for the safety of the operator, the truck itself. I mean, just unbelievable. As we look out, I'm actually peering through a window that is facing westward, out towards, I guess the Inner Coastal Waterway, away from the island and back towards the Texas mainland. And from what I can see, there are just pieces of roofs, of -- just a sort of debris. I mean, who knows where this stuff comes from. I mean, it looks like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle that have been ripped apart and just thrown all over the landscape. That's what we've got here.

I can also see across the way through -- the visibility by the way, just unbelievable. Hard to see at this point. The trees bent way over on their side. I'd say some of them at least a 45-degree angle. Just many of them just getting thrashed. Just pummelled by this intense wind. And it just doesn't seem to stop. I mean, earlier, we would have those -- it was almost like a posting effect, Don. But at this time it's just a relentless, relentless force at this moment.

You know, we do anticipate that things will obviously calm down a little bit so to speak, in terms of the wind as this thing pulls closer to the mainland. But for the time being, it is just a power house.

Back to you.

LEMON: Reynolds, Chad has been talking about the power of this.

He's going to just in and ask you questions, here.

Chad, go ahead.

MYERS: Reynolds, you know, most of the time people board up their houses or they put their hurricane screens down. It actually faces the ocean. But this time the wind is coming off the bay and it's coming the wrong way. So a lot of unprotected glass is going to be facing westward. And especially with all of this debris you're talking about. This really could be a lot worse than a land falling storm where the winds are blowing onshore.

WOLF: Oh, you're absolutely right about that.

You know, it is funny. The places that we have seen boarded up, I mean, the homes that we've seen have taken those precautions, the homeowners definitely did the ocean side or at least the gold side.

But you're absolutely right. When it comes back to the areas that are actually facing back towards the mainland, you nailed it, they're unprotected this time. And I do wonder what we're going to find tomorrow when we go out and survey the damage. I fully expect bad news.

MYERS: Yes. Because they put the screens down, put these big roll downs on and they put them on the ocean side what you called the Gulf. It is not the ocean, it's the Gulf of Mexico. But anyway, it looks like an ocean when you're there.

And all of this wind blows on shore, from the wrong directions, blowing all of this debris into the glass that you thought you were protecting. That is really a great illustration of, if the storm goes left or right of you, how much difference the wind direction makes.

Now, let's talk about your live shot for a second. You were all set up to take a land falling hurricane with winds blowing onshore and your satellite truck was protected.

So what happened? Because it turned around, now the truck is in the wind?

WOLF: Well, I mean, the truck was in a very good location. And you know, we did anticipate if the winds were going to come from the opposite direction. But, I will be completely honest with you. I don't think any of us expected that the return winds would be of this magnitude.

I do not have a wind gauge with me outside. Obviously it's -- one that we have is rendered inoperable, which I don't know is due because of the strong winds or what the situation may be. But I'm telling you, from what we've seen that has been flying through the air, I imagine they're quite strong. I'd imagine an excess of 90 miles per hour. Many, of course, I'm guessing will be right at or over 100 miles per hour.

But to answer your question, we were really prepared for it on the first wave when we got the front side of the eye with the north -- breeze, north wind, rather. And then as it passed, things were fine during some of our earlier shots. And then it all just started falling apart. Not figuratively, in terms of the truck, but getting a shot out just became next to impossible.

MYERS: All right. Stay safe out there, dude. You know, I mean, that's all we really ask of all of the crews. And that's why we go out there, is to tell people how bad it is, but yet, you have to stay safe. You have to think about your personal life, as well. So...

WOLF: Absolutely.

LEMON: Yes. You took the words right out of my mouth.

Meteorologist Reynolds Wolf and severe weather expert Chad Myers joining us. We'll be checking back with both of them -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: So, still straight ahead, will women soon be singing viva Viagra? The latest on the little blue pill's effects on certain ladies.

LEMON: One minutes, hundreds of fans cheering, the next, fleeing and panic. We'll tell you just what happened and where.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: When Viagra hit the market, it was an immediate hit with millions of men. Now its market might be expanding to women. Hang on, though ladies, we're talking about a specific subgroup, here. Women taking antidepressants.

Let's get more now, from our chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's important to point out that about half the people who take antidepressants have some sort of sexual dysfunction. And it can be pretty profound. Profound enough where people would actually rather not take the antidepressant medication. And this is the exact group that researchers were sort of focussed on.

Relatively small study, around 100 women. And the study was funded by Pfizer, I should point out, as well. But they wanted to look at women who were depressed, who were taking antidepressants and who wanted to boost their sexual function. Now, what they found was that women who took Viagra in addition, actually had a significant improvement overall in their sexual function.

Now, a couple of caveats here. First of all, there are side effects of this medication, just as there are with men. You can get headaches, you can get flushing, you can get ingestion. But also, the Viagra did nothing for sexual desire, it didn't actually improve sexual desire at all. But just overall sexual function.

Now, as you may know, Viagra is not FDA approved for women. It's only FDA approved for men. So, this is not going to be something that most doctors are going to start prescribing. Although some doctors told us, they may use it in an off-label way. So, a woman who is taking antidepressants and having severe sexual dysfunction, may be able to get Viagra from her doctor.

But it's also important to look at all the other medications they're taking to try to figure out is something else causing the problems with the sexual dysfunction. My hunch is, when that Viagra sort of pill for woman comes out, it is going to be a blockbuster.

We'll certainly have it for you, when we hear it.

Back to you, for now.

PHILLIPS: And actually this ties right into Elizabeth Cohen's Empowered Patient focus this week. She looks at women who have dwindling sex drives. What can they do and where can they go for help? Empowered Patient, tomorrow.

LEMON: All right. We have a very interesting story to tell you about. It's about new research. And it has found some interesting mixed links between HIV and DNA.

Scientists have discovered a genetic adaptation found in people of African descent, increases the odds of infection by 40 percent. It is believed more than half of African-Americans have this gene variant, as do the vast majority -- 90 percent, of Africans. However, this variant seems to help people who do contract HIV. They live longer with the disease.

Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta will go in-depth on this tomorrow on CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING."

PHILLIPS: Lashing winds, driving rain. The Gulf Coast is getting a beating right now from a stronger Hurricane Dolly. We're tracking the storm's ever step.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

Well, back to our breaking news. Hurricane Dolly, now a Category Two storm, with winds topping 100 miles an hour. It's getting stronger and it's getting slower. It's a pretty scary combination for people along the Gulf Coast, where Dolly is latching the Texas/Mexico border right now.

It could dump 15 inches of rain in some spots, causing flash floods and spawning tornadoes. So, we're following the storm's every move in the field, in the CNN Weather Center and right there in the eye of the storm. CNN is your hurricane headquarters.

LEMON: Racial discrimination, will it always be with us? As part of our "Black in America" coverage, we ask that question in our latest CNN "Essence Magazine" poll. 51 percent of blacks and 41 percent of whites thought so, 57 percent of whites said race relations won't always be a problem, 48 percent of blacks disagree.

The achievement gap in test scores and graduation rates between Black and white students, is one example of the obstacles facing black Americans. As part of our "Black in America" coverage, CNN's Soledad O'Brien explores some of the ways people are trying to close this gap, sometimes just one student at a time.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Victor Keys (ph) and other volunteers are confronting America's education crisis head-on. They're going door to door in inner city Houston, trying to convince dropouts to come back to school.

VICTOR KEYS, WASHINGTON HOSPITAL: I'm Victor Keys, Washington Hospital. I spoke with you on the phone a few days back. O'BRIEN: This is where 18-year-old Brandon Gully (ph) lives. Keys wants to convince Brandon that a high school education is his ticket to the future.

KEYS: Brandon, Brandon, how are you doing, man? We come here to get you back in school, man. You didn't register. And so, as a matter of fact, I'm going to let you go -- matter of fact, if you don't have a shirt, I'm going to give you one of mine. We're going to take you back to school and get your registered.

O'BRIEN: Without saying so much as a word, Brandon simply turns around and walks back inside.

While 70 percent of all high school students graduate in four years, that number drops to just 50 percent for black students. This crisis in education has inspired Harvard economist Roland Fryer to action.

(on camera): If you could close that achievement gap between black kids and white kids, what do you think you could solve?

ROLAND FRYER, HARVARD PROFESSOR, ECONOMIST: Income disparities, wealth disparities. I'm not saying they will be totally be gone, but I'm saying that I think some significant portion of that, we would alleviate if we could close the achievement gap.

O'BRIEN (voice-over): And so professor Friar think he's come up with a possible solution. He takes us to visit some of the students he is paying to learn.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Remember Dr. Friar, everyone?

UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: Yes.

O'BRIEN: You heard right. He's paying kids to learn.

FRYER: The fact is, that these kids understand money already at fourth grade, but they don't understand how education's going to help them get there. And so this program makes that connection very explicit.

Oh, she beat me!

O'BRIEN: These fourth graders can earn up to $250, depending on how well they score on a series of exams. It's a privately funded program and the kids say it's making a difference.

(on camera): Do you think it's like getting paid for your test, you're ruining your love for learning?

UNIDENTIFIED GROUP: No.

O'BRIEN: Wow, that was a resounding "No." Oh my goodness.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's just encouraging us to do more work. It's not ruining our chances of getting good grades. It's actually highering it.

O'BRIEN (voice over): It's children like Eric whom Professor Fryer is trying to reach.

FRYER: So they started off behind, and we've got to figure out a whey to help them catch up.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: That was CNN's Soledad O'Brien.

Tonight CNN presents, "Black in America." Don't miss this ground breaking documentary tonight and Thursday night at 9:00 p.m. Eastern, only here on CNN. And also, be sure to watch a special one hour "Black in America: Your Reaction." That's tomorrow at noon Eastern. We're going to stream it live on CNN.com. "Your Reaction," we're going to stream it live. Soledad O'Brien gets your reaction to her special documentary. And she'll share some of your iReports, as well. It is a special hour, streamed live tomorrow at noon Eastern, right here on CNN.

Also joining us in the 3:00 p.m. hour of the CNN NEWSROOM, Soledad O'Brien, live. Remember the story about Gina and many other stories. (INAUDIBLE) that came to light, this year and last, by the black press, We're going to talk about that with Soledad in the 3:00 p.m. hour of the CNN NEWSROOM -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: One minute, hundreds of fans cheering, the next fleeing in panic. We're going to tell you just what happened here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)