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American Morning
Obama Taking Health Care Debate to Prime Time; Shocking New Developments in the Murders of a Florida Couple; Iranian Activist Stage 3-Day Protest at U.N.; Tracking the Bailout Money; Bad Streets, Big Dreams
Aired July 22, 2009 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: That brings us now to the top of the hour. It is 8:00 Eastern, it's Wednesday, it's the 22nd of July. Thanks for being with us. I'm John Roberts.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Kiran Chetry.
Here's what's on the agenda. These are the big stories that we're going to be breaking down for you in the next 15 minutes.
It's an all-out blitz from the White House pushing the president's plan for health care reform. President Obama is taking his sales pitch to prime time tonight. Does he have a new angle of attack for his critics? He's already sounding upbeat about his chances of pushing his plan through Congress.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I know that there are those in this town who openly declare their intention to block reforms. But there are many others who are working hard to address this growing crisis. I know that there is a tendency in Washington to accentuate the differences instead of underscoring common ground. But make no mistake, we are closer than ever before to the reform that the American people need and we're going to get the job done.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: We're live outside the White House with the very latest today.
Iranian living in the United States beginning a hunger strike right about now, outside the United Nations. They are protesting the Iranian government's crackdown on opposition demonstrations and after the country's disputed presidential elections. We are live outside the White House with the very latest today.
Iranian living in the United States beginning a hunger strike right about now outside the United Nations. They are protesting the Iranian government's crackdown on opposition demonstrations after the country's disputed presidential elections. We are live at the site of the protests.
CHETRY: And new details emerging in the investigation into the murder of a Florida couple who adopted 13 special needs children. We're going to look at how the suspects were trying to get their hands on the, quote, "mother lode" of valuables at the couple's home.
But we begin though with President Obama's push for health care reform. He's taking it straight to you with a prime time news conference he's holding tonight. Some Republicans say the plan will just create government-run health care, and even some Democrats are against it. The president is accusing his critics of playing politics.
Our Suzanne Malveaux is live at the White House.
And as some of the support erodes from independents and perhaps even some fiscally conservative Democrats, what can the president say tonight to add to this debate?
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Kiran, the idea is just for the president to keep talking about this, even if it's repetitive, to keep pushing this forward. This is his fourth prime time press conference in the first six months of his presidency. We are going to see the president earlier today meeting with Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki to talk about the progress there. But tonight, Kiran, it is all about his number one domestic priority, and that is health care reform.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX (voice-over): President Barack Obama is raising the stakes using a prime time news conference to throw all his weight behind health care reform.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: But make no mistake, we are closer than ever before to the reform that the American people need, and we're going to get the job done.
MALVEAUX: Facing skeptical lawmakers, including members of his own party, the president's strategy consists of private arm-twisting and public scolding.
OBAMA: Time and again we've heard excuses to delay and defeat reform.
MALVEAUX: Using his popularity and political capital early in the game.
OBAMA: I don't want you to feel old.
MALVEAUX: With town halls, TV interviews and prime time, aimed at building momentum and creating a sense of urgency to get health care legislation on his desk by mid-August.
OBAMA: We have traveled long and hard to reach this point. I know that we have further to go.
MALVEAUX: Some say a risky strategy.
DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: I think from his point of view, there are many in the public who would like to hear from him but they'd also like to see him just sit down and negotiate out the plan. You know, what they look for is a leadership that says here's where we're going to go. Not a leadership that says I'm encouraging Congress to make more progress.
MALVEAUX: The effort comes amid recent polls showing approval for Mr. Obama's health care plan dropping below 50 percent, and Americans now split over his handling of the economy. Republicans are seizing the moment.
MICHAEL STEELE, CHAIRMAN, REPUBLICAN NATIONAL COMMITTEE: We want to fundamentally reorient one-sixth of our economy in two weeks. And that makes no logical sense to me.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: Kiran, the timing of this, and really the high-profile nature of this press conference meant to push lawmakers here so that the president can deliver some good news tonight. But the state of play right now, still negotiations taking place. Health care reform very much in flux. We even heard from the Press Secretary Robert Gibbs saying after the August recess when they come back, they are still going to have work to do on health care reform.
Kiran?
CHETRY: Suzanne Malveaux for us this morning at the White House. Thanks so much.
And a reminder, CNN is the place to watch the president's prime time news conference with the Best Political Team on Television, 7:00 p.m. Eastern. Join us for the "MOMENT OF TRUTH," the countdown to "BLACK IN AMERICA 2." The president speaks at 8:00 p.m. And at 9:00 Eastern, it's the premier of the two night even "BLACK IN AMERICAN 2," tonight, only on CNN.
ROBERTS: Six months into President Obama's term, a new Associated Press Poll suggests that great expectations have given way to some harsh realities. Overall, 55 percent of Americans approve of the job that the president is doing. But the president's poll numbers are down sharply in several key areas -- improving the economy, withdrawing troops from Iraq, fixing America's image around the world and overhauling health care.
Coming up in just a few minutes time, we're going to talk with Neil Barofsky. He's the special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, SIG TARP as he's known, about where all the financial industry bailout money has gone.
We are learning new details of the home invasion and murders of a Florida couple know for adopting special needs children. A source telling CNN, the suspects tried to get their hands on a safe loaded with cash in the home of Melanie and Byrd Billings. Seven men are facing murder charges. One of them, Leonard Gonzalez Jr., identified by a fellow suspect as the gunman.
CNN's Susan Candiotti is following all of the developments for us this morning.
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: John, Kiran, good morning. CNN has learned there was a second safe in the billings house, and that this is what the suspects were really going after. It was called the mother lode.
According to a source familiar with the investigation, this safe contained at least $100,000. But for whatever reason, the suspects were unable to get to it and did not get the money.
On Tuesday night, Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan was asked about this development on "AC 360."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: A source familiar with the investigation telling us there was a second safe in the house containing cash, $100,000. Can you confirm that for us, sir, and tell us about it?
DAVID MORGAN, ESCAMBIA COUNTY, FLORIDA: I cannot. I can only confirm the items that we have recovered -- or that -- excuse me -- that we know have -- were removed from the Billings home. And that was a small -- mid-sized safe and a black briefcase.
KING: Are you ruling -- you are saying there was not a second case, or that you just can't confirm that, sir?
MORGAN: I'm saying, sir, that I'm not at liberty to address that issue.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CANDIOTTI: An attorney for the Billings Family also said she had no comment.
Now the reason this second safe is significant is because up until now, we only knew about one safe, one safe that the suspects did get away with. But, the sheriff's office has said that it contained only some jewelry, some family papers, and medication for the Billings children.
There are other new developments in the case. According to court documents, one of the suspects charged with murder allegedly told investigators that suspect Leonard Gonzalez Jr. is the man who shot and killed Byrd and Melanie Billings. Now the sheriff has said that he has tried to talk to at least three other persons of interest, and that he could be making more arrests.
John and Kiran?
ROBERTS: Susan Candiotti this morning.
Police say the suspects trained extensively for at least 30 days, and there are reports that they actually staged a dry run of the crime at the Billings home. CHETRY: And checking our other stories new this morning. Super Bowl champion and Pittsburgh Steeler quarterback Ben Roethlisberger is now being accused of sexual assault. The casino host at Harrah's filed a civil complaint -- not a criminal one, a civil complaint saying the assault happened last summer in Lake Tahoe while Roethlisberger was staying at the resort for a celebrity golf tournament.
On gram, McNulty also claimed in the suit that eight employees at Harrah's contributed to her emotional distress and some tried to cover up the incident. Roethlisberger's attorney says that Ben has never sexually assaulted anyone.
ROBERTS: More legal trouble for outgoing Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. A preliminary state report says Palin may have violated state ethics laws by letting supporters set up a legal defense fund to help her battle ethics complaints. Palin cited the time and money needed to fight a flood of ethics complaints as a major reason that she's stepping down.
CHETRY: The White House goes a little bit country. The White House, the president and Mrs. Obama, hosting award-winning musician Alison Krauss, Brad Paisley, Charley Pride last night for a musical series. The goal, to encourage art education. The president says country music tells America's story while pulling no punches.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: Garth Brooks said, "It's honesty, sincerity and real life to the hilt." And Dierks Bentley called it, "the best shrink that 15 bucks can buy."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: There you go. We hear a little bit of it now. 26-time Grammy winner Alison Kraus getting down with some blue grass last night. The performances were the second in a music series that First Lady Michelle Obama launched last month to promote arts education.
Pretty cool. You have your own personal concerts. You heard the president.
ROBERTS: The beauty of being president.
CHETRY: Exactly.
It's nine minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
A group of Iranian activists here in the U.S. making a powerful statement about their country's disputed election and the regime's violent crackdown on demonstrations by opposition supporters.
And they're just now beginning a three-day hunger strike. It's taking place outside of the United Nations right here in New York.
CNN's Reza Sayah is there for us.
And Reza, when we last checked in with you, you were at a concert. They were trying again to bring attention to the plight of those in Iran. Tell us now about this hunger strike.
REZA SAYAH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. These types of activities continue to happen outside of Iran. What's happening today is stars and celebrities going on a hunger strike.
Now you may not know these individuals unless you're Iranian. If you're from Iran or you are Iranian decent, you probably know at least some of these individuals. What we're going to have here in front of the U.N. building is a collection of Iranian movie stars, singers, musicians, songwriters, film makers, activist, authors and professors, all going on a hunger strike in support of the opposition movement back in Iran.
But, specifically, they're calling for the release of these individuals. All these names are political prisoners detained after the vote. The names in red are individuals who have been killed, for example Sohrab Arabi.
These individuals here on this hunger strike are hoping to put enough pressure on the U.N. and international community to get these people released. Will a hunger strike across the world have an impact? Here is Shirin Meshab, an award-winning filmmaker and what she had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHIRIN MESHAB, IRANIAN-AMERICAN: We are here today, invited many of our American friends to join us and we really do believe that the more noise we make on the outside, the Iranian government will take us more seriously that this will not be tolerated and they have to stop the bloodshed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAYAH: Rain is in the forecast during the next couple of days so the tent is already up. It's three days. They're going to go home at 8:00 p.m., come back tomorrow at 8:00 a.m.
Kiran?
CHETRY: All right. Interesting to see the visual impact of all of those names lined up against that wall. Reza Sayah for us outside the United Nations.
And also just a quick question about the impact they hope to make. Are people, you know, aware of what's going on, diplomats inside the United Nations, and others?
SAYAH: Well, this is a gathering of very influential people. And they believe that every bit helps. And they're also calling for the international community. They've called on Robert Redford, people like Sean Penn. Robert Redford's daughter is coming here. So it may not seem like much, but they believe any kind of pressure put on the Obama administration, any kind of pressure put on the U.N. will help these individuals be released.
CHETRY: Reza Sayah for us outside the United Nations. Thanks.
ROBERTS: Well, he's the SIG TARP. Might not be SIGTAR. Might not be the most elegant sounding name, but what he does sure is awfully important. SIG TARP is special inspector general of the Troubled Asset Relief Program. Neil Barofsky is the government watchdog over where your money is going. He's joining us coming up.
It's 14 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CONAN O'BRIEN, HOST, "LATE NIGHT WITH CONAN O'BRIEN": A woman named Kelly Hildebrandt is going to marry a man named Kelly Hildebrandt who she met by searching her own name on Facebook.
(LAUGHTER)
Yes. Yes. Upon hearing this story, hundreds of men legally changed their name to Megan Fox.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning.
The Mac is back. Apple reporting a 15 percent increase in third quarter profits over last year. Makes largely the strong Mac computer and iPhone sales. It's the best non-holiday quarterly earnings in the company's history. Apple sold 5.2 million iPhones during the quarter. That's a whopping 626 percent jump in unit sales from the year before.
CHETRY: And court records show that actor Stephen Baldwin is millions of dollars in debt and has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Documents also showed that he owes more than $1 million in taxes and has about $70,000 in credit card debt. Baldwin has appeared in several films, including "The Usual Suspects" and "Half Baked". And recently, he was on the NBC reality show "I'm a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here!" He did leave the show, though, early last month.
ROBERTS: Plus, a new study shows the number of Mexicans immigrating to the United States has dropped sharply since 2005 by about 40 percent, but the number going back to Mexico remains steady. The study from The Pew Hispanice Center also says it's too early to say if this is a new trend or reaction to a bad economy.
When Neil Barofsky, the special inspector general for the Troubled Asset Relief Program released his quarterly report to Congress this week, some big numbers jumped up. The biggest was nearly $24 trillion. That's right -- $24 trillion. It's a number that taxpayers could be on the hook for in a worst case scenario involving the bailout of big banks. Barofsky says the Treasury Department needs to do more to make sure that your money is not wasted in the financial rescue.
Neil Barofsky joins us now from Washington.
Neil, it's great to see you this morning. That $24 trillion figure. A lot of people choked on that. Explain for viewers exactly where those numbers come from, and what is the potential reality of that coming to pass?
NEIL BAROFSKY, TARP INSPECTOR GENERAL: Sure. The reality of that is slim. And what we did in the report, and what we set out in the report, was we attempted to take a look not just at the TARP, which is our primary responsibility, but the whole vast terrain of all the different financial support programs from the government, and put them in one place.
So the American people, members of the media, members of Congress could see it in one place. So what we did is we did a brief description about the 50 other non-TARP programs and described how much is outstanding right now on those programs, what the high water mark is and what the total is.
Basically, what the total exposure, what the total potential support if you add up each and every one of those programs. Now we explain in there that, look, some of these programs have already been terminated. Some of them the money has been paid back. And, you know, full subscription to all of them at the same time is not necessarily likely. But we thought it was very important from a transparency perspective to put them all in one place so that the American people could see what was going on. So the actual amount outstanding is about $3 trillion, not $23.7 trillion.
ROBERTS: Well, still, $3 trillion is a big piece of change, too. And this issue of transparency was a big one for you, too, at the hearings on Capitol Hill. You said that more transparency and accountability is needed in the TARP bailout.
Just to quote something that you said. You said, quote, "TARP has become a program in which taxpayers are not being told what most of the TARP recipients are doing with the money, and still not been told how much their substantial investments are worth and will not be told the full details of how their money is being invested."
You do say that the Treasury Department has become a little more transparent in terms of these TARP funds but still lacks in accountability.
How much are they lacking in that area?
BAROFSKY: I think we've got a long way to go. I think those three things that you just listed, we should not be at this point in the TARP's history, we shouldn't still be wondering -- the American people shouldn't be wondering how much the assets are worth, especially when Treasury is receiving internally monthly reports.
American people still shouldn't be wondering did all this money go into a black hole. What are the banks do with the money? How are they using it? These are things that are verifiable. Things that can be obtained. And we believe that Treasury's failure to act on our recommendations to bring this level of transparency is a significant failure.
ROBERTS: So what's going on here? It's almost like a split between the National Transportation Safety Board and the Federal Aviation Administration, where the NTSB is responsible for, you know, checking out accidents and making sure that, you know, problems don't happen going forward. They give their recommendations to the FAA, and the FAA says, yes, thanks very much. I mean, it seems to be a very similar relationship you've got here.
BAROFSKY: This is our statutory authority and obligations to make recommendations. And we make them to Treasury and the policymakers make the decisions. And all we can do is bring transparency, if you will, to the lack of transparency.
ROBERTS: So why aren't they listening? Are you and the Treasury secretary not talking much?
BAROFSKY: Well, I speak to other people in Treasury. I don't speak much to the Treasury secretary at all.
ROBERTS: When was the last time you talked to him?
BAROFSKY: Late January.
ROBERTS: Wow.
BAROFSKY: Yes.
ROBERTS: I mean, shouldn't there be a little more of a dialogue there?
BAROFSKY: We made recommendations...
ROBERTS: I mean, I'm not blaming you, but shouldn't he be reaching out to you to say, hey, Neil, what's going on with the money here? And saw your report, let's talk about this?
BAROFSKY: Oh no. I suggested that we have periodic meetings to his chief of staff right when he came on-board. I'm still waiting to hear back.
ROBERTS: Really?
Do you think that we'll ever get the $700 billion back?
BAROFSKY: I think it's very unlikely that we would get the full $700 billion back. You know, some of these programs, there really is no expectation of return. The mortgage modification support is $50 billion where the way our program's designed, there's not going to be any money coming back. So I think it's very unlikely that we would get the full $700 billion back.
ROBERTS: OK. So taxpayers are sitting here today, saying, "All right, Neil Barofsky, tell me, from your standpoint, from what you've seen, has TARP been successful?"
BAROFSKY: I think that really depends on what your definition of success is. You know, the original point of the TARP when it was first announced was to take $700 billion of toxic assets off the books and records of banks. That obviously has not happened.
One of the other goals was to increase lending. I don't think that's happened either, although I think that there might be far greater decrease in lending absent at TARP. So it really depends on what your definition of success.
If it was to avoid a systematic failure, a complete collapse of the financial system, I would say the TARP along with other programs may have achieved that goal.
ROBERTS: So, quickly, give me an overall grade.
BAROFSKY: I hate to do letter grades. And I'm going to maintain my optimism that Treasury will adopt my recommendation. So I'll just give them an "incomplete" for now.
ROBERTS: All right. Well, we'll see if the chief-of-staff gets back to you on that meeting with the Treasury secretary.
BAROFSKY: Sure.
ROBERTS: Neil Barofsky, thanks so much for joining us. Really appreciate it.
BAROFSKY: Thank you.
CHETRY: He really like laid it out there in English for all of us.
All those zeros. All those zeros.
ROBERTS: I love the fact that he's still waiting to hear back on this idea of periodic meetings.
CHETRY: Yes. You know how that works, right?
ROBERTS: Right.
Twenty-three and a half minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Well, here's a story that many of you can probably relate to. A telemarketer calls during dinner or late at night and you're really want to go off on the person.
Well, a guy in Ohio did just that, and now he's facing four years in prison.
CHETRY: Yes. Oops.
Charles Pattenfuss (ph) called St. Louis Marketing Firm after receiving junk mail asking him to renew a bogus car warrantee. Well, according to the court documents, he allegedly told a sales representative that he would burn down the firm's building and kill all the employees and their families. The Better Business Bureau says that sometimes consumers are pushed too far by telemarketers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Someone could become so frustrated by the misleading tactics that these companies use so that a consumer could feel pushed to the point of doing something that they wouldn't normally do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: There you go. Well, maybe the Better Business Bureau should help bail him out.
ROBERTS: I think that there are probably some people out there who may in fact get a defense fund going. The man's wife said the outburst was unusual for her husband. She described him as being cool-headed most of the time. Pattenfuss remains in jail on a $45,000 bond. She can't pull enough money so that's why he's still there.
CHETRY: All right. We'll see what happens. Maybe he was cutting into a nice juicy stake and that exact second, ring, ring.
ROBERTS: Who knows what happens.
CHETRY: All right. Meanwhile, 27 minutes past the hour. We're tracking a lot of developing stories this morning for you.
The federal government could be powerless against cyber attacks. That's according to a brand-new study that's out this morning. It reviewed 18 federal agencies finding that national security could be in jeopardy unless the feds hire more people that are able to handle threats from hackers, cyber terrorists, as well as other countries.
ROBERTS: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is telling Asian nations that the United States is back. She says the U.S. wants to get more involved in the region, and also said that Washington is worried about a military alliance between North Korea and Myanmar. Secretary Clinton is meeting today with leaders from Southeast Asian nations in Phuket, Thailand. She's back in Washington again tomorrow.
CHETRY: And it's a first for the nation. In a landslide, voters in Oakland, California passed America's first tax on medical marijuana. Eighty percent in the city voted for that tax, which is being supported by several marijuana clinics in the city. ROBERTS: And disorderly conduct charges against a prominent African-American scholar have been dropped, but Henry Louis Gates is still angry over his arrest at his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts. An officer responded to a report of a burglary after Gates was locked out of his house and forced his way into the front door. Gates claims he was arrested simply because he was black. He is demanding an apology from the arresting officer.
CHETRY: Well, in big cities across America, black kids are often surrounded by poor schools, bad choices and high crime. And it's difficult for children growing up in that kind of environment to believe in their own abilities and also to develop big dreams.
ROBERTS: One woman has found a way, though. It's part of our "BLACK IN AMERICA" series. Soledad O'Brien joins us with a story of extraordinary inspiration.
Good morning to you.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you. And thank you.
One of the things we wanted to focus on in our documentary this time around was success. And kind of deconstructing what works in the communities so that you could take someone's success and take it across the nation really. So the woman who is doing that is Malaak Compton-Rock. You might know her as the wife of Chris Rock. And what she decided to do is to take a bunch of kids, some of whom had never left Brooklyn. Take them 8,000 miles to show them that the world is big and their opportunity is even bigger.
Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LATOYA MASSIE: And we're walking. My name is Latoya. And this is my hood. I have friends that live here. We party and stuff. We were going to Bushwick.
JEREMY BAKER: What's up, everyone. My name is Jeremy Baker. 15 years old. This is where I just hang out. Come over here. I'll take you to see the basketball court.
O'BRIEN (voice-over): Latoya and Jeremy live around here, Bushwick, Brooklyn, just five subway stops from Manhattan. Bushwick weathered lootings in the '70s, then crack in the '80s. The neighborhood is improving, but wrong choices still litter the streets. Allure to many teens.
BAKER: There's a Salvation Army Bushwick right here as you can see.
O'BRIEN: One right choice is the Bushwick Salvation Army. It's where activist Malaak-Compton Rock, the wife of comedian Chris Rock, has come with a big, bold plan.
UNIDENTIFIED CHILDREN: Cheese!
O'BRIEN: She's going to select 30 kids, age 12 to 15, and take them to South Africa. She calls it journey for change.
(on camera): Why did you focus on Bushwick? It's kind of in a way classic inner city neighborhood. It has crime, has drugs, entrenched poverty.
MALAAK COMPTON-ROCK, FOUNDER, THE ANGELROCK PROJECT: 50 percent high school graduation rate.
O'BRIEN: Is that why?
COMPTON-ROCK: No. These kids come from the Bushwick Salvation Army Community Center and it is a community center that my husband attended as a child. He really always talked about it being an amazing place.
O'BRIEN (voice-over): Malaak believes that the children on these streets limit their dreams and their futures. She wants to expand their horizons. Not by exposing them to a better life, but exactly the opposite. The plan - two weeks of volunteer work in South Africa's shantytowns where the poorest of the poor, the country's aids orphans, survive.
COMPTON-ROCK: These kids have always been on the receiving end of aid. They've never been on the giving end of service. I think that's going to open up their world.
O'BRIEN (on camera): What's your goal for them?
COMPTON-ROCK: I mean, our dream, the goal is to come back and these kids are going to be our next leaders, our next civic leaders.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Yes, you know what Malaak Compton-Rock is doing is really what the rest of our leaders are doing. We're going to focus on the people who are making a difference in their communities by saying -- Malaak Compton-Rock can write a check and a big check to make a change but she's saying, you know, it's the one-on-one mentoring that really matters. The check helps but people have to commit to changing a kid's life.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, it's the give the fish or teach to fish.
O'BRIEN: Exactly. Exactly.
ROBERTS: Right.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And the kids knowing that there is so much interest and that so many people care. You've got them in on the film making.
O'BRIEN: We did. We posted a lot of their videotape on our website. You can go to cnn.com, just click on the "Black in America" little icon at the top. And you can see their stories. We had them shooting when they went on safari. We had them shot their own personal stories. We gave them some cameras that CNN are nice enough to hand out. And it's been great to follow their stories. They blogged. They've gone since then to advocate for themselves in Washington, D.C. - ROBERTS: Good for them.
O'BRIEN: Before lawmakers, rebuild homes in New Orleans and tour college campuses.
CHETRY: Just wonderful. You guys shine the light on a lot of the challenges and a lot of things that are going on. It is very interesting for "Black in America 2" go to see re-visit some of those things and see what's worked.
O'BRIEN: Yes.
CHETRY: To see where the changes had happened.
O'BRIEN: Absolutely. To me it was - is it scalable? Is it replicable? That's I want to know. Can your program work across the nation? That's what people want to know. Great. Thank you for laying out some of the issues, how do you fix them?
CHETRY: Yes. Well, we look forward to it. Soledad, great seeing you.
O'BRIEN: Thank you. Thank you. Thanks.
CHETRY: You can watch the kids' journey and the change for "Black in America 2." The big premier, by the way, is tonight after the president speaks. It will be right here, 9:00 Eastern time on CNN.
ROBERTS: So if you've got a driver's license in New York state, you can drive across the country, right? So if you have a concealed weapon permit from, let's say Wyoming, should you be able to use that in any state across the nation? Well, that's the debate that's under way right now because there is a measure before Congress today that would allow you in 48 states in the nation to do just that.
Our Carol Costello takes a look at the controversy, coming right up. It's 34 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Welcome back to the most news in the morning. There are strong emotions and powerful arguments on both sides of the gun debate in this country. Playing out right now in the Senate, where in just a few hours' time lawmakers will vote on a new proposal that could make a license to carry good just about anywhere in the country. With the exception of two states.
Carol Costello's standing by now live in our Washington bureau. Carol, the proposal up for a vote. High noon in the Senate today. What's it looking like? Is it likely to pass?
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they need 60 votes for this amendment to pass. And don't sell them short because they just may have those 60 votes, because gun rights advocates are having a banner year. Congress has already passed a law that allows guns in national parks. Washington, D.C.'s attempt at gun control has been thwarted by Congress, and now the Senate is considering a law that would allow gun owners to carry concealed weapons across state lines. Plenty of people are angry about that though.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO (voice-over): Colin Goddard is a survivor. He was a student at Virginia Tech the day Seung-Hui Cho burst into a classroom and open fire. Goddard was shot four times. 32 students were killed before Cho turned the gun on himself. Goddard is in Washington to tell lawmakers even if had he a gun that day, it would not have stopped the Seung-Hui Cho.
COLIN GODDARD, VIRGINIA TECH SURVIVOR: When I smelled that gun powder, that's when I knew what was happening. To be able to effectively respond to someone coming through a door like that, guns blazing? You need millisecond response times. And even the most trained police officers can't do that.
COSTELLO: Goddard is lobbying against republican John Thune's proposal which would allow people to carry concealed firearms into other states so long as they have concealed carry permits from the state in which they reside. Goddard argues the proposed law would make it easier for unbalanced people to carry guns anywhere they chose, including states with more stringent concealed gun laws. He isn't the only critic. Mayors from 450 cities took out an ad in "USA Today" urging senators to vote down the amendment.
MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, NEW YORK; What it would do is it would put an enormous number of guns on the streets and it takes away states' rights.
COSTELLO: But the National Rifle Association says carrying a gun is a constitutional right, and a matter of personal safety.
WAYNE LAPIERRE, NATIONAL RIFLE ASSOCIATION: At the scene of the crime there's only two people there, the criminal and victim. And the victim always ought to have the right to own a firearm and have a firearm to protect themselves if they choose.
COSTELLO: Case in point - last year a bank customer legally carrying a concealed weapon near Detroit thwarted a bank robber who claimed to have a bomb.
NABIL FAWZI, THWARTED ROBBERY: I told him I don't care, but you're not robbing the bank today.
COSTELLO: But critics say for every hero, there are many villains like Richard Poplowsky who legally owned guns and used them to kill three Pittsburgh police officers. And Seung-Hui Cho who bought guns legally and killed 32 at Virginia Tech.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: And of course, John, we've asked our viewers to comment on my blog at cnn.com/amfix. And we're getting hundreds of responses. I'm just going to read one for you now. This is from Dan. He is against the amendment. He said "I say Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, Vermont, Maine and New Hampshire all get together and tell the gentleman from Wyoming that they'll recognize their law on concealed weapons as soon as they recognize they're legalizing same-sex marriages. Should those couples choose to move there." In other words, if you're going to trump state laws and allow people to carry concealed weapons from state to state, then why not trump state laws and allow same-sex marriage everywhere?
ROBERTS: A viewer, Dave Gratton(ph) writes - and this is in response to something I said when we were interviewing Mayor Bloomberg about it which I said in the state of Vermont you don't even need a permit to carry a concealed weapon, then you can take that weapon and come to a place like New York City. Dave (inaudible) says I live in Vermont. You are allowed to carry a weapon, and this is true. But we are also screened, checked before we legally purchase a weapon. The amount of people killed by personal weapons in the state is, at best, about two percent. It is not the guns that kill people, it's people that kill people. That's just my two cents. In fact, of course, it is people who kill people.
But he point being that Mike Bloomberg was making, Carol, is, you know, in New York state, you've got to go through a rigorous check to get a concealed weapons permit. Then in New York City, you have to have another level above that. It's extraordinarily difficult to get a concealed weapon permit in this city. But you can ostensibly go to a place like Vermont, buy a gun, you have the right to carry a concealed weapon without even a permit there, and then that right would apply here in New York City. So that's really what the mayor is really worried about.
COSTELLO: Yes. The rub here is that states have different laws concerning concealed weapons. Some are much more stringent than others and that's upsetting some people. But then again, you know, some people say, you know, if you're licensed to carry a concealed weapon, you should be able to carry it whenever you wish, wherever you wish. But keep the comments coming. Cnn.com/amfix.
ROBERTS: Absolutely. If you have a concealed weapons permit, should it be valid in every state? As Carol said, give us your thoughts online at CNN.com/amfix. It's 42 minutes now after the hour.
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CHETRY: There we ego, a beautiful shot of the river today in New York City. It's partly cloudy. It's 71 degrees right now. It is going to be partly cloudy and 82 a little bit later but that will be much better than yesterday where it was just a total washout here in New York City. We've been getting a lot of rain.
ROBERTS: It was an awful day yesterday. What a terrible summer day. Looking a lot better today.
CHETRY: There it is. And Rob Marciano's tracking all this all for us. My hubby was just looking to see if we even broke a record. We could have been 30 degrees hotter yesterday, it was about 66 in the afternoon.
ROB MARCIANO, CNN, METEOROLOGIST: Yes, it was definitely cooler. But look at this one right now, the rain's gone, you know, New York is greener than it normally would be this time of year. So -
CHETRY: That's true.
MARCIANO: That's one way to look at it.
MARCIANO: It's been incredibly wet. As a matter of fact, New York has seen almost a foot of rain since June 1st. Unusually wet summer, that's for sure. Check out some these records. Newport, Arkansas, seeing five inches of rainfall. Just north of Little Rock, three inches. And New Haven, Connecticut, actually saw some record rainfall as well getting almost three inches of rainfall. So it definitely was a washout across the tri-state area yesterday.
Some rain squall lines moving through parts of the south. These aren't too serious. And we might see some back-filling of some rain into parts of Chicago. About 50-50 shot of seeing that. Hot out west, cool in the east. Temperatures will be in the 70s across parts of the Great Lakes.
All right. Let's take a look at the eclipse. This is the best shot I found out of China. And boy, they got a good clear shot of it in parts of that country. There was some clouds that shrouded it at times. Some people would get in front of the camera. But to see a total lunar eclipse like certainly is a spiritual event, no doubt. But it can do some weird things. Some monkey things.
Check this video out of Richardson, Texas where a plant store - this is a surveillance camera out of a plant store. This little guy right here, there he is. He's on the move. There's been a rash of robberies, stealing plants and flowers and things. So they set up security cameras. And ended up being a monkey taking like 30, 40 plants at a time, Kiran and John, out of this, and also figurines that apparently look like monkeys. There was a human accomplice on the other side of the fence. But the monkey well trained obviously was the monkey burglar.
CHETRY: Actually that confuse me because we just showed you in the last hour the monkey's like ripping through the - that rooftop carrier, the people's car, ripping out clothing. I thought it was the same monkey. It was the same crime.
MARCIANO: No, no. Different monkeys. Different crime.
CHETRY: All vandalism. MARCIANO: All under a total solar eclipse. So blame the stars.
ROBERTS: So this guy trained the monkey to go in, steal the plants and bring them back to him.
MARCIANO: Seemingly so. And the plant owner, the owner of the plants not pressing charges because she thinks it's kind of funny.
CHETRY: Right.
ROBERTS: It is.
CHETRY: It's funny for the monkey, not so much for the guy there, right?
MARCIANO: Have a good morning, guys.
ROBERTS: Rob, thank you, too. 48 minutes after the hour.
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ROBERTS: A disturbing statistic connecting health and race. Life expectancy is more than five years shorter on average for African-Americans. And the burden of many diseases is greater as well. The big question is why. Our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta is here with us now to explain. Good morning, doc.
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John. We've worked on this story for several months now. And it really is relevant to a lot of discussions we're having about health care with regard to public options, private options, all of that. If you look at some of these disparities in health, is it because of environmental issues? Is it because of access issues? Even genetic factors play a role to some degree. But as you start to scratch below the surface as we found out here in this report, John, race is a big part of all this as well.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA (voice-over): The Reverend Gary Spears is the organist at this church in the southwest Bronx. A few years ago, he got a paper cut that turned into something far worse.
(on camera): For a period of months, lost over 80 pounds. Became nauseated at the sight of food. Lost your energy. You were urinating every 20 minutes and had you a paper cut that turned into - sound like a full-fledged infection.
REV. GARY SPEARS, CHURCH ORGANIST: Yes.
GUPTA: And they said --
SPEARS: Change the gauze, take antibiotics, you'll be fine.
GUPTA: Spears went to an emergency room, not once, but twice. And both times he was sent to an outpatient clinic run by the hospital. He never got a diagnosis, he never got a single test. As we'll tell you in a moment, what happened to Gary Spears should never happen to anyone.
(voice-over): That was it. Until a chance meeting with Dr. Neil Calman. Dr. Calman told me he could see right away, Gary Spears had a severe case of untreated diabetes. A simple blood test confirmed it.
SPEARS: He immediately began to run tests and told me for the first time that I was a diabetic and that the reason why my body was not healing was because I was a diabetic.
GUPTA: Spears had medical insurance and thought he had good care. So he wondered why his illness had gone untreated for so long.
SPEARS: I believe now, after, you know, many years after this happening, that it had to be because of my color. The color of my skin.
GUPTA (on camera): Because you're black, you think they -
SPEARS: Yes. They did not take that extra step to give me the medical care that I deserved and was entitled to as a human being.
GUPTA (voice-over): Dr. Calman says it is part of a larger pattern.
DR. NEIL CALMAN, INSTITUTE FOR FAMILY HEALTH: It's been absolutely proven through studies that a black man and a white man going to the hospital with exactly the same complaint would be treated differently. That's been shown through study after study.
GUPTA: In one of those studies, cardiologists were shown tapes of people complaining about identical symptoms. The same symptoms. And yet the doctors were more likely to order additional tests for the white patient.
Gary Spears says Dr. Calman helped him regain some trust in the medical profession but he still believes he suffered too much, for too long, just because he is black.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GUPTA: You know, it's interesting, John, I started off thinking we were going to do a story on insurance discrimination, really looking at is there a difference between people who are on Medicaid versus people on private insurance. But as we started doing these interviews, this issue of race kept coming up over and over again. And I can tell you, you know, as we interviewed a lot of people, there are a lot of people are out there who feel that they've been discriminated against with regard to their health care because of race, John.
ROBERTS: So why does this happen, Sanjay? I mean, you know, you're a doctor. You take an oath, you know, to help out everybody who comes along. Why is there this inherent disparity? GUPTA: You know, I don't know, John. As you can probably tell from some of those interviews, I was stunned as anybody else. Sort of as I was hearing this over and over again, I don't know. You know, it's not an access issue as far as we can tell. It doesn't seem to be environment where you come from. People with the exact same health care, the exact same symptoms can be treated very differently.
Now we tried to talk to Gary's doctors about this. We chose not to identify the hospital that we are talking about in the piece but the doctors and health care people there flatly refuse to talk to us about this. There is a lawsuit looking at the sort of racial discrimination in health care currently taking place in New York.
ROBERTS: Yes, you know, I'm watching your piece there and I say, he's diabetic. Just before you said he's diabetic. And if I can figure it out, a doctor should be able to figure it out. Wouldn't you think?
GUPTA: No question. He was up all night going to the bathroom, drinking water all the time. He lost 80 pounds over a period of months. He had an infection that wouldn't heal. Most people, well, I shouldn't say most people but a lot of people out there, John, you're absolutely right, would know that diabetes is at least something that should be checked.
ROBERTS: All right. We'll see if we changed some attitudes out there. Sanjay Gupta, thanks so much doc. Appreciate it.
GUPTA: Thanks, John.
ROBERTS: Don't forget to join us tonight for a special night of prime time events at 7:00 p.m. Eastern. Join us for a "Moment of Truth," a countdown to "Black in America 2." Then at 8:00, CNN is the only place to watch the president's prime time news conference with the best political team on television. That is followed by the premiere of a two-night event of "Black in America 2," that's tonight only on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Welcome back to the most news in the morning. It's an all-out blitz from the White House pushing the president's plan for health care reform. The president's been on message for days. On Friday he spoke from the diplomatic room in the White House. On Saturday, he pushed Congress on the issue. During his weekly radio and video address. Sunday, the White House was dark but on Monday the president held another roundtable. Yesterday he spoke from the Rose Garden and tonight is the big prime time news conference. We're hearing a lot of reaction already from you, our viewers, on our AM FIX hotline. Here's a sampling.
(BEGIN AUDIOTAPE)
VOICE OF CAROL, VIEWER FROM FLORIDA: Since when is it a crime to be rich? I'm not rich, but a lot of these well-to-do people have worked very, very hard to get where they are today, and they really shouldn't be paying for health care for a bunch of people.
Why not more time and do it right, as they said, when it comes to the health care bill?
VOICE OF ANONYMOUS, VIEWER FROM NORTH CAROLINA: The thing about this health care - this is socialism when we tax the people that jeopardize our health. But then again, nobody makes anybody eat all this stuff.
(END AUDIOTAPE)
ROBERTS: Join us for tonight's special coverage, 7:00 p.m. Eastern, "Moment of Truth," countdown to "Black in America 2." Then the president's news conference at 8:00 p.m. night one of a two-night event "Black in America 2." That is tonight only on CNN.
And then tomorrow morning, be sure to catch a very special AMERICAN MORNING. We're going to be talking with James Carville, Bill Bennett, and Rudy Giuliani, see what they have to say about the president's news conference. That's tomorrow morning starting at 6:00 a.m. Eastern.
CHETRY: All right. Well, we hope you join us. And you can continue the conversation by the way on any of the stories that you saw today on our blog, cnn.com/amfix. You can also find us on twitter.com/am fix, twitter.com/kiranchetrycnn or johnrobertscnn. So we'd like to hear from you.
ROBERTS: How many followers do you have these days on twitter?
CHETRY: 3,000.
ROBERTS: Wow! I got to catch up. Come on, I've only got 2,000. Let's go! Let's go here. All right. Thanks very much for joining us. We'll see you again tomorrow.
Right now the news continues with Heidi Collins in the CNN NEWSROOM.
