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American Morning
Dick Cheney Criticizes Colin Powell, Says Obama Endangers Nation; Orphans Trapped in War Zone Between Pakistan, Taliban; Iran to Free American Journalist Accused of Spying; Driver Texting Causes Trolley Crash; Orbitz Wants Cuba Travel Ban Lifted; Scientists Studying Tornadoes
Aired May 11, 2009 - 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: And we're crossing the top of the hour. It's Monday. It's the 11th of May as we begin a brand new week. John Roberts together with Carol Costello, who is in this morning, filling in for Kiran.
Good morning.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Dare I say, happy Monday? I will.
Happy Monday. I hope you had a great weekend and a great Mother's Day.
A lot to cover this morning. Here are the big stories we'll be breaking down for you in the next 15 minutes.
Former Vice President Dick Cheney on the attack, engaging in an extraordinary public debate with the new White House, accusing them of endangering America. He's also criticizing members of his own party. We're live in Washington with the story.
Also this morning, the United States on the hunt for Osama Bin Laden, despite the president of Pakistan saying he believes the terrorist leader has died.
And in Pakistan, a growing humanitarian crisis, as a flood of families flee Pakistan's war on the Taliban. We're live in Islamabad.
And the pope is in Israel this morning, and he's calling for the immediate creation of a Palestinian state, something Israel's prime minister does not currently support. The pope will spend the day in Jerusalem and plans to visit a holocaust memorial after a welcoming ceremony at 9:15 this morning. That would be Eastern Time.
Dick Cheney isn't holding back. He's accusing the Obama administration of making America less safe. He's also going after his former secretary of state. This comes as the former vice president spoke over the weekend, calling on his fellow Republicans to remain true to their conservative values.
Jim Acosta live in Washington for us.
Jim, the former vice president. You know, he spent the last eight years conducting business very privately, now he's suddenly very, very public.
Why?
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Well, this has a lot to do with those enhanced interrogation methods that were used during the Bush administration. He says if he doesn't defend them, nobody else will. Just a few days ago, he appeared on an obscured North Dakota radio talk show, where he insisted Republicans should refrain from moderating their positions. Then he returned to one of his favorite settings, the Sunday talk show circuit, where he again unloaded on his critics.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DICK CHENEY, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If I don't speak out, then where do we find ourselves, Bob? Then the critics have a free run and there isn't anybody there on the other side to tell the truth.
ACOSTA (voice-over): Far from a secure undisclosed location, Vice President Dick Cheney is out in the open and sounding off. Whether it's on Rush Limbaugh's recent broadside that Colin Powell no longer belongs in the Republican Party...
CHENEY: If I had to choose in terms of being a Republican, I'd go with Rush Limbaugh, I think. I think my take on it was Colin had already left the party.
ACOSTA: Or on the Bush administration's use of questionable interrogation techniques on suspected terrorists.
CHENEY: No regrets. I think it was absolutely the right thing to do. I am convinced, absolutely convinced that we saved thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of lives.
ACOSTA: Even as the Justice Department is weighing whether to prosecute Bush administration officials for authorizing harsh interrogation methods, Cheney stated the orders came straight from the top.
CHENEY: He basically authorized it. I mean, this was a presidential level decision and the decision went to the president. He signed off on it.
ACOSTA: Last week, the former vice president told a North Dakota radio program it would be a mistake for the GOP to moderate, even as "Time" magazine declared the Republican an endangered species, other party leaders are echoing Cheney's message.
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: I don't want to moderate either. I think our policies, the principles of our party are as viable today as they have in the past.
ACOSTA: Democrats like the sound of that.
DONNA BRAZILE, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: You poll Rush Limbaugh, Colin Powell, my money is on Colin Powell.
ACOSTA: Cheney is not the first vice president to take on his successors. Al Gore accused the Bush White House of using torture three years ago.
AL GORE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They violate the Geneva Conventions, the international convention against torture, and our own laws against torture.
ACOSTA: Now, it's Cheney's turn.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you surprised, sir, you're the one who has to defend the administration that much?
CHENEY: That's what vice presidents do.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA: There is one question Cheney will not answer at this point, and that's whether he would be willing to testify under oath about the Bush administration's interrogations policies -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Interesting. You know, Jim, Dick Cheney sure was a popular target at the White House Correspondents' Dinner this weekend.
ACOSTA: Yes, he was.
COSTELLO: Oh, wasn't he ever? The mistress of ceremony, Wanda Sykes, had her way with the former vice president. Even the president couldn't resist.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Dick Cheney was supposed to be here, but he is very busy working on his memoirs tentatively titled "How to Shoot Friends and Interrogate People."
WANDA SYKES, COMEDIAN: Dick Cheney. Oh, my God. He's a scary man. He scares me to death.
I tell my kids, I say, look, if two cars pull up and one has a stranger and the other car has Dick Cheney, you get in the car with the stranger.
Dick Cheney is trying to defend torture. He's trying to defend torture. He goes, yes, well, they should release the memos that show all that good information we got from our practice.
You can't defend torture. That's like me robbing a bank and then going in front of the judge and saying, yes, your honor, I robbed the bank, but look at all these bills I paid.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Pretty edgy stuff there on Saturday night from both of them actually. COSTELLO: I know. Can't we all just get along? That ugly partisanship will never die.
ROBERTS: They will have to come up with some new material next year though. It's always fun to take swipes at the previous administration at the first correspondents' dinner after you get elected. See what they come up with next year.
COSTELLO: That will be interesting.
ROBERTS: This morning a dangerous development as Pakistan's war on the Taliban escalates. "The New York Times" reporting today that Al Qaeda is now capitalizing on the chaos to strengthen its presence in nuclear-armed Pakistan and recruit militant extremists. The Pakistan's president is repeating his belief that Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden is dead.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ASIF ALI ZARDARI, PRESIDENT OF PAKISTAN: I've said before that I don't think he's alive.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And you believe that?
ZARDARI: I have a strong feeling and I have solid (ph) reason to believe that because I've asked my counterparts in the American intelligence agencies and they haven't heard of him in seven years.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: The United Nations says more than 360,000 Pakistanis have fled their homes in the Swat Valley in just the past week. The Pakistani army says it has killed at least 200 militants in the past day alone, that many of the true victims of this war are children caught in the middle.
CNN's Ivan Watson has got that story from Islamabad.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These boys are orphans, and they're lucky to be alive. Just three days ago, they escaped from Pakistan's Swat Valley, traumatized after their orphanage ended up on the front line of the government's war with the Taliban.
(on camera): This is a moment of peace and calm for 23 boys who spent days and nights terrified in the middle of a gun battle between Taliban militants and Pakistan army soldiers. They've been describing to me what that was like and how the children were crying at night from the sound of the explosions and the bullets whizzing past.
(voice-over): Over a simple lunch of flat bread and beans, the boys tell me how Pakistani soldiers set up sandbags on the roof of their orphanage, a four-story building that offered a lookout over the neighborhood. The boys hid in a back room for days as the Taliban laid siege to the orphanage. These kids have seen more than their share of violence in the Swat Valley over the past two years. When I asked what the worst part of the fighting was, they say it was the suicide bombers.
(on camera): Scary, huh?
ABDUL AZIZ, AGE 12: Yes.
This is very dangerous.
WATSON: Very dangerous?
AZIZ: Yes.
WATSON (voice-over): These boys finally escaped with several teachers by first clinging to the roof of a bus and then hitching a ride in the back of a vegetable truck. Orphanage director Mohammed Ali is overwhelmed. He worries these children may end up homeless.
As the conflict threatens to tear this country apart, the call to prayer brings these orphans back together and raises hope that the boys from Swat may one day be able to go home.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WATSON: And, John, the dramatic story of these orphans is not over because some 25 orphans were left behind trapped in the city of Mingora (ph) in Swat Valley and they left yesterday. They had to travel by foot because there were no vehicles available traveling by foot, children as young as 7 years old, and they had to spend the night overnight sleeping on the floor of a religious school because a curfew was imposed. We're waiting to find out if they make it safely out of the conflict zone -- John.
ROBERTS: Terrible story with those young orphans, Ivan. But what about the bigger picture here? What is going on this morning in the Swat Valley and the battle between the Pakistani military and the Taliban?
WATSON: Well, what we have is a wave of humanity moving out. Some 360,000 people registered by the United Nations over the past week and a half. That's roughly the population of Minneapolis, John, all moving out of this conflict zone. And on top of that, the Pakistani military claiming to continue to be battling with the Taliban claiming up to 700 Taliban militants killed over the last week and a half.
We cannot confirm that. We do not have evidence of that. However, there was a deadly suicide bombing in the western city of Peshawar today. A car bomber slammed into a checkpoint of paramilitary forces killing one paramilitary soldier and killing three civilians, John.
ROBERTS: Ivan Watson for us this morning from Islamabad. Ivan, thanks so much for that. COSTELLO: Also this morning, swift reaction after a trolley rear-ended another trolley in Boston injuring nearly 50 people. The head of the transit authority says he will ban all personal communication devices after the conductor of one of the trolleys told police he was text messaging at the time of Friday's crash.
Coming up in about 20 minutes, we'll talk with a member of the National Transportation Safety Board about the investigation and what can be done to stop it from happening again.
The cost of so-called snail mail going up today. A first class stamp goes up two cents to 44 cents and mailing a large envelope will now cost you 88 cents. The new price of sending a postcard, by the way, now 28 cents.
And your rising credit card debt could be the next ticking time bomb for America's struggling banks. We will explain.
It's nine minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. It's 12 minutes after the hour.
A live look at Jacksonville, Florida. Thanks to our friends at WJKT, 74 degrees right now. It's going up to 95 today. Thunderstorms are in the forecast though. So that might cool things down just a little bit. Either that or turn the entire place into a steam bath.
Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Time to fast forward to some of the stories that will be making headlines later on today on CNN.com and CNN.
At 2:01 p.m. Eastern, the space shuttle Atlantis launches a mission to fix the Hubble Space Telescope. Forecasts show the weather down in Cape Canaveral, Florida, should cooperate. As we said, it's going to be hot.
2:00 p.m. Eastern, the Miss California USA pageant will hold a press conference to address the fate of crown holder Carrie Prejean. Pageant officials have been trying to determine if she should keep the tiara because of possible contract violations including failing to reveal that she posed for revealing pictures when she was a teenager.
And at 3:00 p.m. Eastern, NBA Hall of Famer Dave Bing will be sworn in as the new mayor of Detroit. He won a special election last Tuesday. You'll remember, of course, the city's the former mayor, Kwame Kilpatrick, resigned last fall after lying under oath about an extramarital affair.
A lot happening today. A lot to keep track of.
COSTELLO: I know. Christine Romans here, keeping track of credit card bills.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I know.
COSTELLO: And I guess you're going to say a few words in support of the credit card companies, and I admire you for that.
ROMANS: Would I ever say anything in support of this? It's not possible to be in support of credit card companies. No, I'm not going to do that.
COSTELLO: As a journalist, I'm just saying you're going to show this from their perspective.
ROMANS: Well, you're going to hear a lot over the next few weeks about credit card bills and credit card debt because the Fed and the Congress and the president are really pushing to end some really egregious things the credit card companies do. You know, like raise your rates and suddenly close your account, or you don't even do anything wrong and suddenly they've lowered your credit limit, right?
Well, here's another way to look at this, too. The banks, we own them. The Americans own the banks and the banks are in trouble because of all the credit card bills the Americans aren't paying. So, here's the problem for many of the banks. This is part of the stress test from last week.
The number of credit card losses that could potentially happen over the next couple of years, $82.4 billion. This is a big challenge for the banks as we go forward here. It's the next problem as unemployment rises and we know unemployment is rising, people are not paying their credit card bills. They're not paying enough of them. They're paying them late, and this is going to translate into big losses for the credit card companies.
Why do we care? Well, we own those credit cards and we also own the banks. So, it's a tough situation here. It was a part of all of the calculus of the Fed last week trying to figure out how much stress these banks can undergo.
ROBERTS: We own so much. It's like the president was joking at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner that an automotive publication named him automotive CEO of the year.
ROMANS: I know. I know.
ROBERTS: Hey, we should -- I want to mention to you, we're starting something new today. You've heard of Roman numerals, right?
Well, we're starting "Romans's Numeral." It's a number that's going to be driving the news, and Christine has got today's "Romans's Numeral." What is it?
ROMANS: I do. The number is 59. And it's actually a percent. Fifty-nine percent -- this is the number of people who pay their credit card bills last. So think about, how do you pay your bills? You pay your mortgage first, right? Then you probably pay...
ROBERTS: Mortgage is automatic. ROMANS: Yes, pay your utilities. You pay everything except the credit card bill is the thing that you pay the last. As we have more and more people who are losing their jobs, more and more people are paying that bill last. And it's something they really know...
ROBERTS: Fifty-nine percent. Wow.
ROMANS: Yes, pay it last. And frankly, a lot of people -- a lot of people now aren't paying them at all.
ROBERTS: A stunning "Romans's Numeral" too would be the amount of credit card debt that people are holding every month.
ROMANS: $10,700, according to Card Web (ph).
COSTELLO: Amazing (ph).
ROMANS: For people with more than one credit card, it's 10,700. You know, I don't know you get -- I don't know how you get up from under it. And you can't say to people you can't really demonize it for not paying their credit card bill if I'm paying it last, frankly, if they have all of these other debts along the way.
So, I think credit cards are a big bubble that pops, too. I think it's going to be. We're not going to have as much credit card debt in the future. We're not going to have as much credit cards, I think.
ROBERTS: Yes.
ROMANS: It's just going to be a new way of life.
ROBERTS: Like George Soros says the housing market, the subprime market was the detonator bubble that exploded all these other bubbles as well.
ROMANS: Big consumer bubble.
ROBERTS: Yes.
COSTELLO: Yes.
ROBERTS: Christine, thanks so much.
ROMANS: You're welcome.
COSTELLO: We're following breaking news out of Iran. An American journalist who's been locked up there on charges of spying will reportedly be released within the hour. It's an about-face for Tehran.
Plus, Facebook may be blocking your e-mail messages. The online social networking giant says it's just stopping online crime, but is it really a case of "Big Brother" invading your privacy?
It's 16 minutes past the hour. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
COSTELLO: And welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. We are following breaking news out of Iran this morning.
An American journalist being held on charges of spying will be set free. It is a complete surprise and a complete about face from Tehran. Our international security correspondent Paula Newton, she's working her sources. She joins us live from London.
What can you tell us about this, Paula?
PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, interesting, this came out of an appeals court ruling, apparently. And her lawyer now saying that her sentence which was eight years for spying has now been reduced to two years of a suspended sentence. And what that means, Carol, is that, in fact, she will be able to leave jail apparently within a few hours.
Her parents are rushing to the prison where she is being held for her release. And apparently, Iranians also saying that she will be allowed to leave Iran even though she has to have that reduced sentence of two years, a suspended sentence.
Iran here, Carol, in the last few weeks sending much better signals about this case in general. In fact, even President Ahmadinejad saying that he was sure she would receive a fair trial. This is good news all around as this story was simmering really on the back burner in terms of American and Iranian relations. And if this indeed, if she is allowed to eventually leave Iran, perhaps even in the next few hours, will come as a great deal of relief to both her family and the American administration -- Carol.
COSTELLO: And, Paula, I just want to tell our viewers CNN has confirmed this as well. You know, a question about why Iran would act this way. Is there any like quid pro quo? Because I know there was some talk of Iran wanting the United States to release some Iranian prisoners being held in Iraq?
NEWTON: Nothing of that yet, nothing of that nature right now. What we had heard in the few days leading up to this, Carol, starting by about Thursday or Friday, this great kind of outpouring from Iranian officials saying, look, our justice system is fair. Our justice system is fair. And they continually wanted to be able to prove this.
At the same time, though, Carol, they're saying, look, she cannot practice journalism in Iran for five years. That's banned. I think they wanted to be able to preserve some kind of high road on this, but then also remove it from the table in terms of this being an irritant running up to presidential elections midterm in June and then following on from the overtures from the Obama administration.
Whatever is behind this, Carol, I can tell you the sense of relief from the family. This has not been the outcome at times for other Iranians being held in prison and for that reason, the family really will be incredibly relieved to actually see her come through those doors hopefully in the next few hours.
COSTELLO: And we hope so. I know she's been on a hunger strike in prison to protest her arrest, so we'll be awaiting her release and hoping for it.
Paula Newton live from London, thanks so much.
ROBERTS: A texting Boston trolley conductor crashes sending close to 50 people to the hospital. It's not the first time that something like this has happened, so why haven't professional drivers gotten the message that they could kill someone by doing that. We'll ask the NTSB, the National Transportation Safety Board.
And former Vice President Dick Cheney says President Obama is making us less safe. Hear why. And see who else the vice president had some choice words for just ahead.
It's 23 minutes now after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Good morning, New York where it's mostly cloudy and 51 degrees right now. Later, mostly cloudy and 66. It's going to be a little cooler. A cold front blew in yesterday that's why it was so windy, but still should be a half decent day.
A developing story this morning, the Boston Transit Authority has now told all drivers to leave their cell phones at home after a trolley crash sent close to 50 people to the hospital. Investigators say the driver admitted that he was text messaging his girlfriend instead of paying attention.
Joining us now live from Boston is NTSB board member Debbie Hersman. She's part of the team that's investigating this crash.
Debbie, what have you found so far? How did this whole thing unfold?
DEBBIE HERSMAN, NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD: Well, we were notified on Friday might about the crash that occurred on the T, and we're very thankful that there weren't any fatalities or life- threatening injuries. As you remember last fall, we were in Chatsworth, California, and there were 25 fatalities on that accident.
Soon after the accident, we were advised that the operator had disclosed to the police that he was text messaging right before the collision, and so that obviously was a concern to us because we've seen that before as well.
ROBERTS: Do you think that that was the direct cause of the crash, that he was looking down, looking somewhere else and just plowed into the back of the other trolley? HERSMAN: Well, the NTSB hasn't determined the probable cause. We're still gathering evidence while we're on scene, and we have not yet talked to the driver of the trolley and so we're planning to do that. But we have found some good information.
We know that there were several signals -- two green signals, a yellow signal and a red signal coming out of the station and that point of collision occurred 80 feet past that red signal. We did a site distance test and we know that the operator had the ability to see the trolley stopped in front of him 480 feet in advance of the collision. And so all of those things are pieces of the puzzle that we're putting together.
ROBERTS: So it sounds very similar to that Caltrans accident that you mentioned just a moment ago that occurred last September, where the driver of the train was looking down texting and missed a signal and then ran into a freight train. As a result of that, cell phones and, you know, texting devices were banned from all Caltrans trains, and buses and whatever other vehicles that they might have.
Why do transit authorities across the country not get the message from that crash? Why was this guy, you know, in possession of a texting device at the time that he was driving this trolley?
HERSMAN: Well, that's something that the safety board is going to be looking at, the policies that each of the properties have, and also the enforcement and the compliance with those policies. We know that the T (ph) had a policy that prohibited operators from utilizing those devices while they were on duty. But now they've put out a more stringent policy following this accident to basically ban those devices from people's possession while they're on duty.
We're going to be looking at these measures very closely. One thing that the safety board is very clear on is that you should not be using these wireless devices while you're operating a vehicle. We know it's a cognitive distraction and it takes your attention away from the task at hand.
ROBERTS: All right. Well, you know, people were ignoring that first regulation. We'll see if they can make this other one stick.
Carol (ph) Hersman from the NTSB for us this morning. Carol (ph), good to talk to you this morning. Thanks so much.
HERSMAN: Thank you.
COSTELLO: It's 28 minutes past the hour. Breaking news this morning, a total surprise, an about-face from the Iranian government.
American journalist Roxana Saberi is expected to be freed from an Iranian prison in just a couple of hours. Her father confirmed that to CNN. He is waiting outside the prison for her right now. Saberi was convicted by an Iranian court last month after a one-day trial behind closed doors on a charge of spying for the United States.
The smoke now clearing in Santa Barbara, California, and revealing more devastation. Authorities now say 77 homes burned to the ground, that's double the last figure that came out. Many of the 30,000 people ordered to get out of town were able to come home over the weekend. Investigators suspect power tools used to clear brush and reduce the wildfire threat actually started the fire.
ROBERTS: The fact that former Vice President Dick Cheney is criticizing President Obama and his policies is not too surprising, but he's also questioning the loyalty of his former Secretary of State Colin Powell.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHENEY: If I had to choose in terms of being a Republican, I'd go with Rush Limbaugh, I think. I think, my take on it was Colin had already left the party. I didn't know he was still a Republican.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: For more on the friendly fire of the weekend's big political headlines, I'm joined now by CNN political contributor Bill Bennett.
Bill, it's good to see you this morning. What did you make of what the vice president told Bob Schieffer yesterday about General Colin Powell?
BILL BENNETT, CNN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR: Well, he says he thinks Rush Limbaugh is closer to what conservatives and Republicans believe than what Colin Powell is. There are obviously disagreements inside the Republican Party. But in terms of his loyalty, I mean, I don't know that's loyalty so much as fidelity to the cause and the party. You know, Colin Powell said he was voting for Barack Obama. So, I mean, that's a pretty good indication of not loyal to your party at least in your vote.
ROBERTS: Right. Did you think that Colin Powell should join the Democratic Party?
BENNETT: No, I want him to stay. I saw him, by the way, at the Jack Kemp memorial service. And I said, by the way, do you need a mediator between you and Rush, because I know you both and I like you both.
And he said, "Well, you guys have to straighten this out." I said, "What do you mean, 'you guys'? You're still a Republican last time I checked."
ROBERTS: Right.
BENNETT: So -- no, look -- go ahead.
ROBERTS: Just to say there were some people who think that, you know, former Vice President Cheney and the type of comments that he's making are part of the problem with the Republican Party. David Frum wrote in "The Week" last week what it's going to take to renew the Republican Party. And one of the things he said was, quote, "How do we Republicans reverse this downward spiral? First, how about we stop eating our own?" You know.
BENNETT: Yes.
ROBERTS: That's the crux of the whole thing there.
BENNETT: Well who...
ROBERTS: He went on to say some other things. But didn't the vice president do exactly that? He's trying to chew up Colin Powell?
BENNETT: Well, who started this schoolyard fight? I think it was actually my friend Colin Powell and not my friend Dick Cheney, by criticizing the Republican Party. You could call that eating their own.
Look, I think it's a big -- it's still a big party. I know all the news magazines are announcing the end of the Republican Party, the death of conservatism. Even one magazine said Christianity in America is, you know, on the way out.
I don't think so. And we shall see. The news is much exaggerated. But part of this debate is healthy. But let me just get one factual thing on the table. This so-called right-wing party, conservative party nominated John McCain. You know, this is the most moderate guy this party has nominated in a very long time. And by the way, we lost.
ROBERTS: Yes, but you also know what it took to get to that nomination. There were are a lot of conservatives who were on the fence for an awfully long time over that. Just in terms of looking forward...
BENNETT: There sure were.
ROBERTS: In terms of looking forward, Bill, there's debate over which way the party should go. Should it become a purer party? Should it become a broader party, more inclusive?
"Politico" writes, and they're talking about Arlen Specter here, "The GOP is quietly pursuing a 2010 strategy that relies on candidates nearly identical to Specter" -- talking about moderates, RINOs, Republicans in Name Only -- "and "squishes the derisive terms applied to centrists by movement conservatives."
Is the right wing going to have to swallow hard and take it in the interest of building the party and try to win back some seats in 2010?
BENNETT: I'll give you a very straightforward answer. I think it will very much depend, John, on where you -- what state you're talking about, what part of the country you're talking about. Let me just say this, you do not have to give up your principles. You don't have to swallow your principles and step forward counterfeitly. But the things you lead with will, I think, turn a lot on where you are and what the issues are.
Right now, it is the economy. And that actually spares the conservative party or the conservative wing of the Republican Party a lot of fights because I think most of us can agree that the way Barack Obama is going is not the way we would go.
ROBERTS: All right. Bill Bennett for us this morning. Bill, it's always great to catch up with you. Thanks for being with us.
BENNETT: Thanks, John. Thank you.
COSTELLO: New this morning, the H1N1 flu virus coming between nations. A rift growing right now between Mexico and China. Mexico says it is boycotting a Shanghai trade fair after China withdrew its guest of honor at the event. Mexican officials were already angry over China's decision to quarantine dozens of Mexican travelers, cancel flights and ban Mexican pork imports. China says the moves are necessary to keep the virus away from its billions-plus citizens.
It's like the movie "Footloose" except it's real. An Ohio Baptist school has suspended a student, told him to stay home on graduation day because he went to his girlfriend's prom at a public school where there were such things as rock music, dancing even, even hand holding. All are banned at Heritage Christian School where 17- year-old Tyler Frost is a student. Here's what Frost has to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TYLER FROST, SUSPENDED FOR DANCING: The prom itself, I don't see anything wrong with it. I'm not going to change my viewpoints on something just because someone else doesn't like it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Frost's stepfather says school rules should not apply outside the classroom, and he is considering legal action.
Plus, some Facebook users are wondering if Big Brother is watching them when they log on. Find out why the social networking giant may be censoring you. That's just ahead. It's 34 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
COSTELLO: I love the Killers. My favorite band. We're taking look at "Hotlanta" this morning, which is so hot, it's 62 degrees there with thunderstorms. But later, it's going to be 73.
Facebook is under fire this morning. The social networking giant is blocking some messages based on their content. In other words, if Facebook doesn't like what you're sending, your message could go nowhere. The reports surfaced on wired.com and joining me now is the magazine's senior editor Nicholas Thompson. Welcome.
NICHOLAS THOMPSON, WIRED.COM, SENIOR EDITOR: Good morning, how are you?
COSTELLO: So some people might find this very disturbing.
THOMPSON: I think they do find it a little bit disturbing. What happens is if you send an e-mail, if I send you an e-mail that says hey, Carol, check out this site, and I send you a little link to the Pirate Bay, a site that people go to often to download music, sometimes illegally but there's also a lot of legal content on it, and if I sent you some legal content on it, Facebook will block that message, and it won't get to you. I tried it last night. I tried to send somebody a copy of "Tom Sawyer," which is in a public domain, and it was blocked.
COSTELLO: So, does that mean they actually read through every e- mail that is sent through Facebook or do they do it another way?
THOMPSON: They read all of your e-mail, but everybody reads your e-mail. I mean, Gmail reads your e-mail. So, Google -- if I send you a Gmail message that says hey, read this copy of "Tom Sawyer." Google will read it but they might -- they won't block it. What they'll do is they try to sell me an ad to "Huckleberry Finn" on it. Facebook will block it if it thinks I'm sending you illegal content.
COSTELLO: OK. So what about this argument, Pirate Bay, it's a huge file, it could slow down the system. And as you said, it allows some illegal activity on the Web.
THOMPSON: Lots of illegal -- it's called Pirate Bay, right. I mean there's...
COSTELLO: So, why wouldn't Facebook want to block something like that?
THOMPSON: Well, the reason they wouldn't want to is that it will upset their users. I mean they don't block, they don't scan your e- mail to see if you're planning a robbery. They don't scan your e-mail to do all sorts of things that are illegal and bad. I mean what Facebook should do is they should block spam. They should block viruses and should they block you if you're sending illegal content?
I think it would have made more sense for them to have a little window that pops up and says we see you're sending something on Pirate Bay. We don't really trust Pirate Bay. Please press this button and authorize that you have rights over it. I think that would be a much more sensible approach than we stopped this message, it's not getting through. Sorry, Nick.
COSTELLO: And we might want to share with our viewers that it's not illegal to go to Pirate Bay.
THOMPSON: It's not illegal to go to Pirate Bay. And there's lot of legal stuff that can download Tom Sawyer there.
COSTELLO: Right. But we do have a statement from Facebook. And it says just as many e-mail services do limited scanning to divert or block spam, prevent fraudulent, unlawful, or abusive use of the service, Facebook has automated systems for the messages that have the capability to block links." That's why I asked you that question...
THOMPSON: Right.
COSTELLO: If it's automated and pirate bay comes up. That means supposedly Facebook doesn't really read your e-mails.
THOMPSON: Right. They're not reading. They don't - there's nobody at Facebook who knows everything about me and what I sent yesterday, but they're certainly scanning everything automatically which a lot of services do. Now, there's a danger for this for Facebook, and that is the site was developed by 20-year-olds for 20- year-olds. Now it's being run by 40-year-olds. And there are a whole set of other policies that are coming through like this one.
They're trying to make Facebook more appealing to advertisers. They're making it a site that they can really make money. But if Facebook is suddenly perceived as not cool because it does things like this, and their young users start to leave, then you've got a real problem. And what happened to Friendster or even more partially happening to MySpace, could happen to Facebook. These things, you know, can disappear. So Facebook has to make sure they maintain that cool perception and this is something that could run against that.
COSTELLO: Well, they just had that recent controversy where they, you know, were fighting to own content on Facebook even after the Facebook user had disappeared.
THOMPSON: Right. So, this is again, you know, a site design for 20-year-olds being run by 40-year-olds who are in touch with all these lawyers. You should have these terms of services that say this and that created a backlash. So, what we'll see with Pirate Bay, there are some people saying that Facebook may be in legal trouble with wiretapping laws...
COSTELLO: Right.
THOMPSON: I don't really buy that. But I could see a potential backlash. And you might see protests on Facebook. And I bet you, if they protest, then Facebook will change their policies. To Facebook's credit, when there are users protesting, when people get outraged, they do look at it, they take it seriously and they sometimes change their policy.
COSTELLO: OK. So, if you're really mad about this policy, people, you know what to do. Complain, complain, complain. Nicholas Thompson, thanks for joining us this morning.
THOMPSON: Thank you.
COSTELLO: We always appreciate it. John.
ROBERTS: Well, the travel Web site, Orbitz, want the government to lift the travel ban to Cuba. They're launching an Internet campaign this week. We'll talk to their spokesman and find out why.
Plus a team of scientists launching a multi-million dollar project, the largest of its kind, to understand deadly tornadoes. We're live this morning from tornado alley at the National Weather Center in Oklahoma. Coming up next. It's 42 minutes after the hour.
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ROBERTS: Welcome back to the most news in the morning. It is now 44 1/2 after the hour. Now let's fast forward to stories that will be making headlines later on today on CNN and CNN.com.
After touching down in Tel Aviv this morning, Pope Benedict XVI immediately took on the politics of the region saying an independent Palestinian state should be established. At 9:15 a.m. Eastern, he'll be officially welcomed in Jerusalem. And later on this week, the Pope will visit Palestinian territories.
At 11:30 a.m. Eastern this morning, President Obama sits down in the Roosevelt Room with representatives of the health care industry. The groups are offering $2 trillion in spending reductions over the next 10 years to help pay for the president's health care overhaul. An hour later, the president takes to the podium to talk about the plan live.
And at one minute after 2:00 here on the east coast, NASA is scheduled to launch the space shuttle "Atlantis." Forecasters showing near perfect conditions for the launch. The shuttle is taking seven astronauts and hundreds of millions of dollars in new equipment for a rendezvous with the Hubble space telescope.
Well, meanwhile, a small army of scientists and storm chasers are getting together this morning. It's the start of a $10 million project which has one aim, understanding more about tornadoes.
Our Rob Marciano is live at the National Weather Center in Norman, Oklahoma, and what are you going do exactly, Rob, on this storm hunt? It sounds like a lot of fun.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, it should be. It's certainly going to be exciting and for these scientists, hopefully eye opening. You know, I never thought that a Kanye West song "Touch the Sky" would be equated to some weather research, but I guess, metaphorically, that's what these guys are hoping to do.
As you mentioned, this is the largest tornado experimental research mission ever attempted. About 100 world class researchers and students from all over the world, 10 universities involved in this, 40 research vehicles and some high-tech gear. It's going to be a five-week mission during prime time and prime real estate for tornadoes which is happening.
This is the mecca by the way. The National Weather Center is an all-inclusive place, includes the University of Oklahoma, includes the storm prediction center, it includes a national severe storm laboratory. The head of research to figure out what happens. To give you, to try to relate things a little bit. What I'm standing in front of, actually some tornado research pod, but some of these are not real.
This one you may recognize from the movie "Twister," Dorothy, where they tried to plop it out in the middle of the tornado and have the lid open and have the instruments fly up into the vortex itself. This one from a competing research team in that movie, but this is the real deal. This is TOTO, which is known for the Toteable Tornado Observatory. That was retired in 1987. This is all small potatoes for what they're doing today and for the next five weeks, including Doppler on wheels, they're going to try to surround tornadoes as they form and try to forecast them better.
That's the ultimate goal here, John. They did this about 15 years ago and they documented the tornado from start to finish. Now they want to find out why they happen, why they happen out of certain storms, why they touch down and for how long and how come some are much stronger than the others. Hopefully after the end of these five weeks and the analyzation of that data for the next two years, we'll have a better understanding of how the atmosphere works. Back over to you.
ROBERTS: You know, we saw in the movie "Twister," Rob, they finally did get some of those instruments inside a tornado. But what about in real life, have they ever managed to get a tornado to go right over one of those instrument bearing canisters.
MARCIANO: They got one over this guy but it got side swipe and the instruments didn't do too well. So our best angle of attack is surround it with smaller pods and also using high-tech radars and surround the storm that way. They hope to do that. Today, ironically enough is the not best day for storm chasing, tomorrow looks to be a bit better and hopefully by the time the middle of the week comes, we'll have some interesting video to show you.
ROBERTS: Stay out there as long as it takes, Rob. Even if you've got to stay there through August. No problem.
Rob, thanks.
MARCIANO: If you pay the bill, I'll be happy to do that.
ROBERTS: No problem. We look forward to seeing what you've got to say a little bit later on this week. Thanks so much. Carol.
COSTELLO: You know, two weeks ago, Pakistan's president said Osama Bin Laden might be dead. Now he's going a step further saying he believes the terror leader is dead. So is he dead or alive? We'll see what our intelligence sources are telling us.
And New York City now charging rent at its homeless shelters. We'll tell you why and we'll hear from someone who says it's doing more harm than good. It's 48 minutes past the hour.
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ROBERTS: Good morning, Washington. Good morning, Mr. President. Good morning, first lady. Cloudy, 57 degrees there right now. Later on today, showers and a high of just 62, a little bit of a cold front slipped into the mid-Atlantic and the northeast overnight.
Top videos right now on cnn.com. Most popular, partying with the Obamas. Wolf Blitzer sharing the red carpet with Demi and Ashton, only at the White House Correspondents Association dinner.
Also a Saudi Arabian judge shocking an audience saying it's OK to slap your wife if she spends too much. What's really, really great about this is he reportedly made the comments during a seminar on domestic violence. You just can't make this stuff up, folks.
And parade for the Pacman. The Philippines honoring boxer Manny Pacquiao with a national day of celebration. People in the poor community calling him the people's champion is returning home after flattening Ricky Hutton in Las Vegas. And the whole thing was delayed over swine flu fears in the country, by the way.
COSTELLO: But he's back and they're celebrating and boy, that was a smack down. Wow.
You know, you were off last week.
ROBERTS: Not all of last. Well, just a couple of days.
COSTELLO: Just a couple of days. But you were at the University of Colorado giving a commencement speech. And give us a few highlights.
ROBERTS: Oh, I love going out there. CU-Boulder. It was fantastic. There is Folsom Field, ladies and gentlemen where 5,280 some students received their diplomas. There I am there. In front of the crowd.
COSTELLO: Why aren't the whole bleachers filled over there?
ROBERTS: Well, because the stadium holds 55,000 people. So, you know you had about 22,000, 23,000 people.
COSTELLO: I was afraid for you for a second that no one would show.
ROBERTS: No, those are the side bleachers. There you go. There's some more photos in the bleachers there. It's always a great time. I got an opportunity to do two commencement addresses, one to the school of journalism, one to the main...
COSTELLO: Student body graduating.
ROBERTS: ... graduating class. It's undergrad and it's graduate students, as well. You know, law school, all of that, masters degrees. But it's just any chance you get to be out in Boulder is a great time because it's such a beautiful setting, such an amazing place to go to school. The only thing is that these graduates, you know, they are coming out of school in a terrible, terrible job market. So they've got their work cut out for them in terms of trying to find gainful employment.
COSTELLO: But you know, this generation is really smart, really technologically savvy. I think they're going to do OK, I think.
ROBERTS: I think so, yes.
COSTELLO: There's been no trace of Osama Bin Laden -- on to other news now -- and Pakistan's president says he believes he's dead, but some intelligence experts aren't buying it. We're live with details.
And Orbitz wants America to send petitions to Washington about Cuba. A top executive of the company is here to tell us why. It's 53 minutes past the hour.
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COSTELLO: Well, don't you wish you were in Miami this morning? It's partly cloudy there, or we should say partly sunny, and 82 degrees. They're looking at a high of 87 for today.
Orbitz is launching a new campaign to end the U.S. travel ban to Cuba. Opencuba.org allows customers to petition the government to open up travel to Cuba. The travel company is offering anyone who visits the Web site and lobbies Washington a $100 coupon towards a Cuban vacation if the effort is successful.
Joining us live from Washington is Brian Hoyt. He is the vice president of government affairs for Orbitz, and Brian, this is very interesting idea. I mean, you're really taking a political stand and you're a private company. So tell us why you decided to do this.
BRIAN HOYT, VICE PRESIDENT FOR GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS, ORBITZ: Well, Orbitz worldwide has never been afraid as an active corporate citizen to take public positions on issues of social importance. We're one of the first online travel agencies to serve the LGBT market with gay travel and gay advertising.
Just a few years ago, when we launched the protect planet earth campaign, we were one of the first on-line travel companies to launch an ecotourism Web site in promoting green travel. So this is a step down in that direction, as well. We're happy that 67 percent of Americans support our position that 50 years of a travel ban to Cuba is long enough and that we should follow a path of engagement versus isolationism.
COSTELLO: You visited the White House and talked about Cuba. Is this where the idea was born?
HOYT: Well, actually, our CEO had an opportunity to visit the White House a few months ago with the U.S. Travel Association. And it became evident to us that the travel industry was a top concern by the Obama administration with concern with the travel industry and wanted to help us. And out of that meeting, when President Obama restricted travel -- relaxed travel restrictions between allowing Cuban Americans to go and visit their families in Cuba, we did some research and saw that Americans were ready to take this a step further. Again 67 percent want to end the ban, 72 percent said that our lives and the lives of the Cuban people could be enriched if we allowed our cultures to mix. And we think, again, the exchange...
COSTELLO: Well let me just...
HOYT: ... of cultural ideas is one of the best ways to promote peace and prosperity.
COSTELLO: OK. So I'm going to ask you a cynical question. I mean, you're a travel Web site, right? So, if the travel embargo is lifted, you stand to make lots of money potentially, right?
HOYT: Well, I mean, this really isn't an issue about money. I mean, no one's making any money right now booking travel to Cuba. And as a matter of fact, several of our colleagues in the travel agent community have been fined by inadvertently allowing travel to Cuba. Not only is it illegal for U.S. companies to book travel to Cuba which again we think should also be changed.
It's illegal for any of our subsidiaries outside of the United States to book travel. By the way, the United States is one of the only countries in the world with a ban in place on travel to Cuba. Our allies in places like the United Kingdom and Canada and Mexico, they're traveling to Havana. They're experiencing the culture. And hundreds, and we believe anecdotally hundreds of thousands legally through Canada and Mexico.
And we quite simply think that there is just the momentum. There is the will of the American people to change this, it's 50 years since this ban has been in place. And we'd like to follow a path of engagement by allowing our cultures to experience each other versus one of isolationism.
COSTELLO: Well, we'll see what happens with the site. Thank you so much for joining us this morning. Brian Hoyt from Orbitz. John.
HOYT: Thank you very much, and please go and sign the petition.
ROBERTS: Not you personally, Carol.
COSTELLO: Of course not.
