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American Morning
Accused 9/11 Mastermind to be Tried in New York; Attorney: Hasan is Paralyzed; Feds Tries to Seize Muslim Group's Assets; America Too Politically Correct?; American Spend on Overdraft Charges
Aired November 13, 2009 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Good Friday morning to you. It's actually, Friday, November 13th today. Thanks for being with us.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: It's all good.
CHETRY: Yes. But, you know, it doesn't have to be bad luck for you. I'm Kiran Chetry.
HOLMES: Hey, good morning to you all. I'm T.J. Holmes. Thank you so much for being here. I'm sitting in today for John Roberts.
Here are some of the big stories we'll be telling you about in the next 15 minutes.
Happening right now, President Obama in Japan, already getting down to business, and a lot of business to get to, money, trade, war, also reports that accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is heading to New York for trial -- all topics of conversation during his trip to Asia.
We are traveling with the president. We're live with our Ed Henry in Tokyo, coming up.
CHETRY: Well, President Obama ordering a review of all intelligence gathered on suspected Fort Hood gunman, Nidal Hasan. He wants to know if someone in the government dropped the ball and maybe missed a red flag that could have prevented last week's horrific tragedy. There are new questions this morning about how Major Hasan was able to get a promotion just months before the massacre.
HOLMES: And a fascinating story here -- a little girl who just can't stop sneezing. Her story has doctors scratching their heads. She sneezes about 16,000 times a day. She just can't stop.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LAUREN JOHNSON, UNABLE TO SHAKE UNCONTROLLABLE SNEEZE: It was -- different and I just kind of -- got along with it -- thinking it wouldn't last this long. But it's been two weeks now -- and it hasn't stopped.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: That poor thing. Are you kidding me? What in the world is going on with this little girl? We're going to get some answers ahead from our Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
CHETRY: Oh, my gosh.
HOLMES: Yes. Can you imagine having to go through that? Can't get through a sentence without sneezing.
We do want to turn right now, though, to President Obama, launching his first overseas trip to Asia since taking office, a big trip for him. He'll visit four nations over eight days and his first stop is Japan, where this morning he's meeting with their prime minister. The president will then head to Singapore, China, and South Korea.
Just last hour, President Obama touched on some developing news we've been reporting here. Reports that accused 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed will be tried in a federal court in New York.
Our Ed Henry is traveling with the president. He joins us now live from Tokyo.
Hello to you again, Ed. And this is a big trip. A lot of focus is supposed to be on the economy and other things, but the president making some other news in his comments about this breaking story this morning that the 9/11 mastermind could be coming to New York for trial.
ED HENRY, SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: T.J., you're absolutely right. The president wanted to talk about Japan/U.S. relations, basically talking about how we're now equal partners, something that the new Japanese prime minister wanted to hear about on subjects like climate change, nuclear proliferation.
But instead -- you're right -- the headlines out of this news conference really all about some of the problems back home that have sort of followed the president over here to Asia. First of all, the reporters pressed Mr. Obama on whether he's taking too long to make a decision on troop levels in Afghanistan. The president said that he will make a decision soon, but will not be rushed into that decision. He said he wants to make sure he makes the right decision instead of getting it done quickly.
And then you're right, on the breaking news this morning, the president pressed on whether he can keep the American people safe, whether or not we can be assured that these terror suspects can actually get guilty verdicts if they're taken to American civilian courts -- terror suspects like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. Now, the president is saying he's confident that the job will get done.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I am absolutely convinced that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed will be subject to the most exacting demands of justice. The American people will insist on it and my administration will insist on it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HENRY: Now, the big issue the president is struggling there with is what to do with the some 215 terror suspects, detainees, still at the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. You'll remember his first week in office, the president signed an executive order, saying that he will make sure that that prison is shut down by the end of January 2010. Administration officials recently are saying, they're very unlikely to meet that deadline.
And as CNN reported late last night, the president's chief counsel at the White House, Greg Craig, is stepping down as early as today because of this controversy. He was a principle architect of this policy, of trying to shut down the prison. It has not exactly worked out that way. The first high-level staff -- senior staff shake up at the White House. It gives you an idea of how difficult an issue this White House is dealing with right now, T.J.
HOLMES: Yes. The president there, but big developing stories here are following him over on his trip to Asia.
Ed Henry, we appreciate you so much this morning. Thanks so much.
CHETRY: And there are some new developments, five minutes past the hour now, on the Fort Hood massacre investigation. We're finding out this morning that suspected shooter, Nidal Hasan, is apparently paralyzed. That information comes directly from his attorney. We got it from Ed Lavandera just short time ago.
We're told the Army psychiatrist may never walk again. Again, this has not been officially confirmed by Army officials, but we bring in Ed Lavandera. He's live at Fort Hood this morning.
We understand you just got a chance to talk to Major Hasan's attorney for the second time this morning.
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. We just spoke with him, and basically he goes into a little bit more detail as to Hasan's condition right now. We understand that according to him, he is paralyzed below the waist. You can hear a little bit of what he just told us this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COL. JOHN GALLIGAN (RET.), NADAL HASAN'S ATTORNEY: I've received permission by his family member, who went with me yesterday to meet with him, to at least disclose when I felt it might be appropriate the fact that he's not ambulatory. He's paralyzed, at least from the waist down. And my understanding is that there's no immediate likelihood that that's going to change.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAVANDERA: The attorney met with Hasan yesterday, down in San Antonio for about an hour. There was one family member that had flown down just to meet with him briefly. He wouldn't say who that family member is, but he describes that meeting as emotional.
As far as other details about Hasan's condition, the attorney says that Hasan has feelings in his hands, but is in extreme pain. So, obviously, how this will affect the course of this investigation and the legal proceedings is not clear at this point, but that investigation does continue into Hasan. And we're learning from more and more people who have known him over the last few years that Hasan did not shy away from expressing his extremist religious views.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAVANDERA (voice-over): Nidal Hasan's family describes him as a good American. But several people who knew Hasan in his years at this Maryland military university say the high-ranking Army officer expressed extremist Islamic views. One says Hasan openly pledged allegiance not to the United States, but to the Quran, and when asked if the Constitution was a brilliant document, simply responded, "No, not particularly."
Our sources asked not to be identified because of the ongoing investigation and the investigators wouldn't comment on the details they offered.
CHRIS GREY, AMRY CID: We are doing everything possible and we are looking at every reason for this shooting. We are aggressively following every possible lead. We are collecting, analyzing with, and disseminating every piece of critical information pertaining to this case.
LAVANDERA: Hasan has been formally charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder. The sources say, superiors at the Uniformed Services University were told about Hasan's inflammatory comments, but concerns about how to handle the situation led to Hasan being coddled and accommodated, even though he made class presentations pushing extremist ideology.
University officials wouldn't comment, and Hasan's attorney wouldn't either, saying his concern now is to ensure a fair trial.
GALLIGAN: Fundamental fairness and the right to a fair trial ought to be consistently applied in any of those areas. And I've said also, that given the nature of the offenses that at least folks are talking about, it's probably going to be a long and difficult road.
LAVANDERA: The road to recovery for the wounded in last week's attack will be long and hard. Twelve soldiers are still hospitalized, but many other soldiers who've left the hospital are already back on duty.
COL. JOHN ROSSI, U.S. ARMY: General Casey called this event a kick in the gut, which was so appropriate, but I will tell you, at this time, Fort Hood has gotten its breath back and we continue to move forward.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAVANDERA: And again, Kiran, the headline here this morning, Hasan's attorney telling us that he is paralyzed below the waist, has extreme pain in his hands.
In fact, the attorney also did tell us that it was extremely difficult just to get Hasan to be able to sign the power of attorney signature and some of the legal paperwork that they needed to work through yesterday afternoon during an hour-long meeting. And it was the first time that a family member had met with or had seen Hasan in person since the shooting here at Fort Hood last week -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Ed Lavandera with some new details for us this morning -- thank you.
And coming up in about 10 minutes, we're going to be looking at the Fort Hood shooting from a different angle -- mainly, why Major Nidal Hasan's extremist views were tolerated? Did political correctness play a role? Carol Costello has that part of the story.
HOLMES: Well, Al Gore, the former vice president, environmental activist, and a relieved boss. He gave Larry King an update on Laura Ling and Euna Lee. Those were the two journalists who were working for him when they were captured in North Korea. What's the deal, Mr. Vice President?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LARRY KING, HOST, "LARRY KING LIVE": What about your two young ladies who work for you? How are they doing?
AL GORE, FORMER U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: Well, they're doing -- they're doing well and they're taking time with their families and to restore their health and regain their strength. They're two remarkable young women, very courageous. I'm so happy that they're back safe and sound.
KING: They're still working for you?
GORE: Absolutely. We're still giving them time to recover. And we value them both very highly. They're remarkable young women.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Former President Bill Clinton, you may remember, helped secure their release back in August. They had been detained in North Korea since March.
CHETRY: Well, still ahead, we have the newest details on the Feds now trying to seize four mosques and a New York City skyscraper -- all assets from a group that they allege may have links to Iran and could be, perhaps, funding terror.
Ten minutes after the hour.
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HOLMES: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. Twelve past the hour now.
We're getting word that the attorney general, Eric Holder, will be holding a press conference today from D.C., around 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time, to talk about the new development that we're getting that the 9/11 mastermind, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, will be heading to New York for trial. Eric Holder is expected to discuss this matter at a press conference at 11:00.
President Obama already addressed the matter when he was asked about it by a reporter over on his trip to Asia. He was at a press conference in Japan and a reporter happened to ask him about it. And he said that he did belief that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed would get exacting justice, is how he put it, but he said he wanted to wait and let Eric Holder do most of the talking on this one.
So, he will be talking, 11:00 Eastern. You can be sure to see that right here on CNN.
CHETRY: All right. And also developing right now, federal prosecutors are trying to seize assets from a nonprofit Muslim group. And these include mosques in California, in Texas, in Maryland, and New York, as well as land in Virginia, and a skyscraper here in Manhattan. The Feds say that the owners have ties to Iran and are expected of helping bankroll terrorism.
Our Deb Feyerick is looking into this controversial case.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: U.S. officials are attempting to seize four mosques, plus a New York City skyscraper just steps from Rockefeller Center, on Manhattan's Fifth Avenue. The charge that the Alavi Foundation which gets money from these properties is actually a front company for a larger Iranian-owned bank and that that bank channels money to support Iran's nuclear program and parts of its military forces labeled terrorist organizations by the United States.
The four mosques include the Islamic Institute of New York in Queens, New York; the Islam Education Center in Houston, Texas; and two other mosques in Maryland and California. We're told that the imam at the New York mosque is on a pilgrimage to Mecca and could not be reached for comment.
President Obama, Thursday, extended the national emergency with respect to Iran because of ongoing problems with that country. U.S. officials are also attempting to seize bank accounts and other properties believed to have direct ties to the Iranian government. The U.S. accuses Iran of deceptive practices designed to fund terrorism and pursue its nuclear and missile programs.
American Muslims are already concerned about potential backlash because of the Fort Hood shootings. A senior justice official stresses that the move is against the Iranian landlords and the mosques just happen to be in some of the targeted buildings.
An attorney for the Alavi Foundation tells CNN the foundation has been cooperating with prosecutors and that they will fight these charges. Meantime, the skyscraper on Fifth Avenue remains open.
Deborah Feyerick, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Well, coming up, an amazing stat we heard this morning from Christine Romans, that this country spends more on a particular something than we spend on fresh vegetables.
CHETRY: We're just blowing wads of cash on --
HOLMES: And we get nothing for it.
CHETRY: Absolutely nothing.
HOLMES: Just blowing the money. We'll tell you exactly what we're talking about, Christine Romans coming up. Stay here.
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CONAN O'BRIEN, "THE TONIGHT SHOW" HOST: On Forbes list of the world's most powerful people, this is interesting, this year the founders of Google were ranked ahead of the pope. Yes, which makes -- which makes sense, because the pope can only help you find god, but Google can help you find naked pictures of god.
(LAUGHTER)
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CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: He needs to invent a verb, see, and then he would be able to...
CHETRY: The bottom line is it's Forbes' list, right? Forbes' list, so --
HOLMES: All about money, right?
CHETRY: Yes.
ROMANS: Well, there's a little bit of money in the Catholic Church. They've got some pretty pictures that are worth a pretty penny.
HOLMES: Hello to you again. Some interesting stuff here that everybody should be interested in happening to us and a lot of them don't even realize it.
ROMANS: Yes. It's this overdraft stuff. Okay, so the latest developments, the Federal reserve, the big Federal central bank has come out with some new rules to make it so that your bank has to ask your permission to put you in one of those overdraft protection programs. So that means that starting next July, your bank can't just give you a $39 charge when you run over your limit. They have to ask you if you can opt into that program.
How big a problem is this? It is such a big problem. We have been talking about this. We spend more in this country on overdraft charges than we do on fresh vegetables, than we do on postage. Than we do on books, for example. I mean, we are spending a ton of money on these overdraft fees. And they're a very important part of revenue for some of these banks.
You can see why, you know, they want it. Because frankly we've gone from $10 billion in these overdraft charges in 2004 to projected $26 billion or $27 billion this year. So it's an important revenue source. It's because, look, we have become very used to just using our cards, our credit cards and running them up, right?
CHETRY: Without worrying about what we have in the bank.
ROMANS: That's right. And our -- these overdraft charges are for your debit cards. You know, you don't have enough money in the bank, the bank floats you a little bit, but then charges you, and sometimes charges you multiple times in a single day. In the old days, we kept a running little check register, and we bounced checks.
CHETRY: Old days? I still do that, you know.
ROMANS: I know, I do it too. I'm a total geek. But, you know, and the people who know exactly how much money they have in their bank account are very, very unlikely to get all of these charges. This new kind...
CHETRY: Can I ask you a question about that? You know, that nowadays, with the touch of a button, your handheld device can tell you your bank account. It almost seems like the more we know, and the more access we have access to it, the less we pay attention to it.
ROMANS: How come the banks can't send me a little note, saying, ding, ding, ding, ding, you're within ten dollars of your limit. You know, wouldn't that be nice? Couldn't they possibly do that? I mean, think about the technology that they have. But then they wouldn't get the big, the big, all of the big charges.
Now something interesting, a little scam -- and I want to, I'm calling it a scam -- someone told me this week about a credit card company that called them and said, look, you can get ahead of all of these terrible $39 charges by signing up with us and your charge will only be $29. We're going to save you $10.
Well, it was a sneaky way to make them opt in into the overdraft protection, so that you opt in before any new rules, so then you're in the program and you're only going to pay $29. Look, you shouldn't pay anything. You should opt out of these programs if you can, opt out of them and don't pay the charge. Get embarrassed when your debit card is rejected, but don't pay the charges.
HOLMES: You should be able to opt out, you said. You can, surely you can.
ROMANS: You can. I mean you can right now. You can. I mean you can get through New York, if you're patient you can go through all their customer service. But you can. What the fed is trying to do is make it a requirement so the banks can't just sign you up automatically. The banks have to ask your permission to do this.
HOLMES: Okay, give us the numeral.
ROMANS: The numeral is 82 percent. This has to do with something that Kiran was talking about earlier about the proportion of people...
CHETRY: Okay, so out of all of -- there's one small group of people that's responsible for 82% of overdraft fees?
ROMANS: 82 percent of people pay no fees at all.
CHETRY: Okay.
ROMANS: But you got it. But you got it.
CHETRY: I never, ever get the "Romans' Numeral" right.
ROMANS: But, no, you're on the right track. This is from the American Bankers' Association. So obviously they represent the banking industry, and they want to say, look, most people do not rack up these fees and charges. The FDIC, which is the government...
CHETRY: So I brought up this point and I still got it wrong.
ROMANS: No, well, see that's the beauty of the roman's numeral, it could be anything. There's a twist on the number.
HOLMES: Told you we'd have an awkward moment before it's over, an awkward TV moment.
ROMANS: Just one awkward TV moment? It's three hours. There can be millions of awkward moments by 9:00 a.m.
CHETRY: Yes, you know it well.
HOLMES: Thank you, as always.
CHETRY: You know what else, speaking of awkward, some people don't even leave the house today. Not because they're afraid of awkward moments, they're afraid that it's Friday the 13th. And it's a time of year where the superstitious day has appeared on the calendar. The most it can happen in one year, by the way, is three times and that was this year. The least it can happen, once. And there's the movie that scared me senseless when I was young. By the way, if you're scared of Friday the 13th and you suffer from something called -- I thought it was something called paraskevidekatriaphobia. ROMANS: It's called being afraid of Friday the 13th.
CHETRY: Paraskevidekatriaphobia. Awkward moment number 2, ding, ding.
Meanwhile, 17 and 21 million people, between those 17 and 21 million people fear today's date. Henry Ford, in fact, refused to do business on Friday the 13th and FDR would avoid traveling on this day. They say there are fewer accidents according to at least one study out of a, I think this is a Dutch study because people are extra cautious and don't go out as much. If Wall Street's any indicator, today may actually be lucky, because over the past 185 Friday the 13ths, the market has actually risen an average of 4%.
HOLMES: A lot of good Friday the 13th information.
ROMANS: I love Jason and his...
CHETRY: Horrible hockey mask. I know.
ROMANS: Love it.
CHETRY: There you go. Well, if Friday the 13th isn't enough to scare you, what about the end of the world?
HOLMES: Yes, we have an exact date, folks, for the end of the world. We will share that with you next. You've got about two years to get your affairs in order.
ROMANS: And they say I'm the angel of darkness around here. Who needs to worry about overdraft fees when the world's ending.
HOLMES: We'll explain. Coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Twenty-six minutes past the hour. Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. You know, the warning signs were there, but they were missed. Army Major Nidal Hasan, the alleged Fort Hood gunman had some radical views and apparently some serious psychological issues.
HOLMES: Still, with all that, why didn't he receive greater scrutiny from the military? Carol Costello, in Washington, looking at that for us in her weekly segment, "Just Sayin'." Good morning to you, Carol.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning. I'm sure you have heard the charges. Political correctness. It's largely what really allowed Major Nidal Malik Hasan to escape detection and allegedly kill 13 people. Not only that, but the same political correctness may be impeding our national security. "Just Sayin'," is it?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SENATOR JOHN MCCAIN, UNITED STATES SENATOR: By the way, my friends...
COSTELLO (voice-over): Senator John McCain did what the military is urging Americans not to do, speculate about motive in the Fort Hood killings. But McCain did, calling the killings an act of terror and then --
MCCAIN: This may sound a little harsh, but I think we ought to make sure that political correctness never impedes national security or impacts it.
COSTELLO: McCain is expressing concerns about allegations Major Nidal Malik Hasan's superiors played down his extremist views because they didn't want to alienate a Muslim soldier. He's not alone Conservative columnist Ann Coulter on Baltimore's WBLA radio on political correctness.
ANN COULTER, CONSERVATIVE COLUMNIST, WBLA RADIO: I mean, it's just, I think, the constant increasing menace of liberalism. We're certainly getting it from the commander in chief.
And from the Army Chief of Staff, George Casey, General Casey. He said --
COULTER: What? That's pretty shocking. And here I thought they didn't allow gays in the military -- shocking!
COSTELLO: Just sayin'. Is our military too pc. Democratic congressman and former Navy Admiral Joe Sestak says no, the military should be diverse, and its leaders sensitive to minority soldiers.
JOE SESTAK, DEMOCRATIC CONGRESSMAN, FORMER NAVY ADMIRAL: Think about the stress they've gone under. The most deployments of any war we've had. The most stressful, I would argue, of any war for individuals going back three, four, five times, and the longest of wars.
COSTELLO: The U.S. Marine Corps rejects the notion Muslim extremists are hiding within its ranks for any reason. First Lieutenant Josh Diddumbs telling us bluntly, the corps has not seen any trends that indicate individuals are anymore likely to be involved in an incident based upon their religion. A look at history seems to bear that out.
In March of 2003, Army Sergeant Hasan Akbar, a Muslim, did kill two fellow officers in Kuwait. Court documents indicate religion was a factor. But there are many instances of soldier-on-soldier killings when religion is not considered a factor. In May 2009, Sergeant John Russell allegedly killed five fellow soldiers. In 2004, Senior Airman Andrew Whit killed a fellow airman and his wife. And in 1995, Sergeant Will Krutser killed one soldier and wounded 18 at Fort Brag.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: And those incidents were not seen by our country's leaders as potential impediments to our national security, although some say maybe they should have. Still, some conservatives fear political correctness is more dangerous because it allows obvious, suspicious behavior to go unchecked and military investigators and the FBI are taking those concerns seriously.
I asked what you thought about this. Is the military too PC earlier on "AMERICAN MORNING," and we've been getting some comments in on our blog and I would like to read some. CNN.com/amfix if you're interested in commenting.
But here are a couple, T.J. and Kiran. This is from Andy. He says "My experience as a military commander says, yes, PC gets in our way of our ability to swiftly separate substandard soldiers for a variety of reasons. By the time you get down going through the process, it's time to deploy again."
And this from Sherry. She says "Political correctness is a red herring. The issue in place with Hasan is the military's tolerance of bad behavior by its officers."
And finally from Lee. "He says, as a citizen I'm growing increasingly exhausted by wing nuts and their conspiracy theories. It's a madman with a gun -- horrible, tragic, and rare."
Keep the comments coming. Back to you guys.
HOLMES: Carol, thank you for that.
And we are asking for folks to keep those comments coming. Tell Carol what you think about whether the military is too PC or any of her other segments. Write to her on the blog at CNN.com/amfix.
CHETRY: It's 31 minutes past the hour. We check our top stories.
We've been talking about suspected Fort Hood shooter Nidal Hasan. Apparently, he is paralyzed. The information coming directly from his attorney a short time ago. Lawyer John Galligan telling CNN he spent an hour with Hasan yesterday and the army psychiatrist is paralyzed from the waist down and may never walk again.
That has not yet been confirmed, though, from army officials.
HOLMES: Self-proclaimed "Mastermind of 9/11" Khalid Shaikh Mohammed will be moved to New York to face trial in a civilian federal court. That is according to a White House official. President Obama was asked about the case earlier while holding a press conference in Tokyo.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: I am absolutely convinced that Khalid Shaikh Mohammed will be subject to the most exacting demands of justice. The American people will insist on it and my administration will insist on it.
(END VIDEO CLIP) HOLMES: Four other co-conspirators will also be transferred from Guantanamo Bay with Mohammad. Attorney General Eric Holder will make an official announcement at 11:00 eastern this morning.
CHETRY: And while the president agonizes over sending more troops to Afghanistan, the prime minister of Britain says NATO could be willing to send more than 5,000 troops there. Gordon Brown says his country has to adjust its approach in Afghanistan because of rising casualties, but he's confident that other NATO nations will send in reinforcements.
And with swine flu vaccine still in short supply, we're learning just how fast the virus is spreading. CNN is committed to helping keep you informed about the H1N1 epidemic, and we have the latest information now.
According to the CDC, flu activity -- that's a mix of both the seasonal flu and H1N1 -- is widespread pretty much everywhere with the exception of Washington, D.C., Mississippi, and Hawaii.
HOLMES: Well, the numbers can be pretty scary here. 22 million Americans infected, nearly 4,000 deaths, more than 500 of those deaths of children.
CHETRY: And while the viruses may not discriminate, in certain minority communities, the odds of contracting swine flu seem to be significantly higher. Our Deborah Feyerick is breaking that down for us.
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kiran, T.J., an alarming new trend is emerging in connection with the swine flu epidemic. Blacks and Latinos are at higher risk of contracting the illness. Why, then, are only a few cities aggressively working to stem the spread in these communities?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
FEYERICK: The first Haitian Baptist church in the heart of Boston feels as if it could just as easily be in the heart of Haiti. The service is in Creole, the signs in French, and the message on this Sunday is universal, the pastor urging everyone to put aside doubts that many Americans have and get their flu shots.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm a little bit skeptical about the flu vaccine.
FEYERICK: Girly Larouche is helping administer vaccines to her congregation as part of an unprecedented program by Boston health officials who discovered what they call an alarming trend, blacks and Latinos disproportionately affected by the 2009 H1N1 outbreak in the city of Boston last spring.
BARBARA FERRER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, BOSTON PUBLIC HEALTH COMMUNITY: Three quarters of the people hospitalized in Boston with the flu were blacks and Latinos even though they make up less than 50 percent of the population. FEYERICK: In Boston, health officials say underlying medical conditions like asthma and diabetes may be one factor. But there are other reasons as well.
There's also the issue of money. Parents can't afford to stay home and take care of a sick child. That mean the child goes to school and the parent, who may also be infected, goes to work.
Nationwide, the CDC found 50 percent of H1N1 deaths from April to August were among black and Latino children. Still, Boston is one of the only cities tracking swine flu by race. Officials there now classify minorities as high-risk, along with all pregnant women and children.
FEYERICK (on camera): Do you think Boston would have a higher mortality rate in the minority community were it not for this anticipated H1N1 vaccination program?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Absolutely. Absolutely.
FEYERICK (voice-over): Dr. Anita Barry and her team of epidemiologists discovered the trend. And nurses like Cindy Theodore targeted churches, tapping into the persuasive powers of pastors to get the word out.
CINDY THEODORE, NURSE, BOSTON PUBLIC HEALTH COMMUNITY: They're in church every week, so that's one way to get to talk to these people and offer them the help.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FEYERICK: Boston hopes to vaccinate roughly 300,000 people in the high-risk category. The CDC recently announced an estimated 540 children have died from H1N1 since the pandemic started in April -- Kiran, T.J.?
CHETRY: Deb Feyerick for us this morning, thanks.
HOLMES: Well, the world is coming to an end on December 21st, 2012. That's according to Hollywood. But now NASA is saying, don't believe everything you see on the big screen.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Yes, we've got another doomsday movie, folks. Some pretty scary stuff out there. That was a scene from the new movie "2012." It's based on what happens when the Mayan calendar supposedly ends and all heck breaks loose here on earth.
Scientists say the idea of the world coming to an end in 2012 is complete nonsense. But that hasn't stopped a lot of those doomsday chatterers out there online and what not.
So joining me now, Jim Garvin with NASA, the Goddard Space Flight Center. Sir, thank you for being here. NASA, I thought you all were busy trying to build a new rocket to send people into space and trying to discover life on the moon and mars.
But you're putting together a PR campaign against this movie, essentially -- not against the entertainment portion, but against some of the themes. Why is it important enough for NASA that you've got to come out and talk about this.
JIM GARVIN, CHIEF SCIENTIST, NASA GODDARD SPACE FLIGHT CENTER: Well, I think, T.J., what's important is that NASA really is dazzled by what the Hollywood can do to depict things that are a lot of fun for people to see. But we want people to also pay attention to the science behind the facts, what's really happening out there, because we live in space. So that's our real position here.
HOLMES: You're telling me no truth to it at all. There is no chance that in December of 2012, the world is going to have an issue?
GARVIN: Absolutely not. We understand what's happening, we're learning every day, of course. We have satellites studying the earth, watching the universe, looking for planets.
There is no indication, not one iota, that any of the things depicted in the film are going to happen in late 2012. We'll be busy then watching the things, but nothing that you need to worry about.
HOLMES: Now, would you even tell us if there was something to worry about?
GARVIN: Absolutely. In fact, I would say NASA is one of the best disseminators of stuff that you could imagine, not only on our Web site, but by the nature of who we are as engineers and scientists. We like to tell the world.
GARVIN: OK, help us and tell the world right now on the logic behind, or at least the idea, or the theme of this movie is that the Mayan calendar runs out. so give people a short little background, real short if you can, as to why that is connected to the end of the world?
GARVIN: The Mayans were great astronomers long time ago, and their calendars had end times, just like December 31st. And meanwhile there were other ancient civilizations that described other planets.
And if you put those things together with climate change that we have today that we're watching, with the idea that there's new undiscovered dwarf planets, put them all together, churn them up, and make a movie, it can make for the kind of doomsday prediction you see coming up today from Hollywood.
HOLMES: Are you seeing any anomalies out there, anything happening out there in the cosmos that would cause some kind of alarm, even something here on earth? Are things starting to get a little balance, anyway, that would, maybe, at least you all are checking out and leaving you scratching your heads a little bit and something to keep an eye on, to worry about?
GARVIN: T.J., we don't know what we don't know... HOLMES: That's comforting.
GARVIN: Yes, well, but we're curious enough to keep watching.
And of course there's things we haven't understood. But we have our finger on the pulse of our planet, of the universe. And by learning, we can be aware of what could happen. And right now there's no indication from the historical record, from what we're seeing, of any of the kind of doomsday things. In fact, our earth is one tough nut.
(LAUGHTER)
HOLMES: Well, that's a good way to put it there.
What about this other idea of solar maximums, this idea that possibly we could have a peak of solar flare activity, at least in a couple of years, and that could -- even if it doesn't lead to the end of the world, could cause power outages, could fry our grids, and we could be in the dark?
GARVIN: Of course, the solar max is coming, we can't stop that cycle. And we expect it will peak in 2012, 2013 or so. We're watching it. We have a new satellite that will get the most incredible data on it, the solar dynamics observatory going up in about a year. So there will be effects.
HOLMES: What are those effects now? The solar max, you said that something to keep an eye on in 2012, it just so happens, possibly. So what are going to be the effects of those flares?
GARVIN: Well, depending how big they are, we can have outages of cell phones, disruption of GPS service. Some of the satellites that give us information on weather could go into a safe hole where they're waiting and watching until we can bring them out sleep. Lots of little things can happen like that, but nothing unusual.
HOLMES: That sounds unusual. That sounds like scary stuff there, doc.
GARVIN: It is. But we've designed our systems -- there are a lot of great engineers at NASA -- to live through these things. We've done it before.
HOLMES: All right, the movie comes out this weekend. You going to go see it?
GARVIN: Absolutely. Hollywood is fun, and so is science.
(LAUGHTER)
HOLMES: All right, well, Jim Garvin, we certainly appreciate you coming in and breaking that down for us and calming some of us down possibly as well. We appreciate your being here, sir. You enjoy the rest of your day. Have a good weekend.
CHETRY: The quote of the day, the earth is one tough nut to crack.
HOLMES: It's a tough nut.
CHETRY: We can all rest in peace now.
HOLMES: For two years, three years.
CHETRY: Still ahead, imagine this one. This girl is so adorable, by the way, this adorable 12-year-old girl. However, she has one major problem. She cannot stop sneezing. In fact, she sneezes 16 times a minute, 32,000 times a day. Doctors can't figure out why. Sanjay is going to be looking into this.
It's 44 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: All right. We're coming up about 15 minutes before the top of the hour right now and Rob Marciano has been tracking a real nasty nor'easter that's hit the mid-Atlantic states especially hard right now. He's been telling us about it for the past couple of days and today boy, they can't escape the winds and they can't escape the rain and the flooding.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Quite a legacy, Kiran.
This thing as you may remember was a hurricane, hurricane Ida in the Gulf of Mexico last week and then it came on shore as a tropical storm. Pretty -- pretty mild tropical storm, at that. But the remnants of Ida certainly have done some damage with a historic storm surge, big-time winds coming into this area.
Yesterday we showed you this same map, wind gusts were over 40 miles an hour. Today, just a little bit more mild at 20. So we're still going to see some action, but things are beginning to wind down.
All right, I want to show you this video of our reporter out there, WTKR. Take a listen to his little report.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, guys. I'm out here at Bush and (INAUDIBLE) and you can see where the water is well over my waist.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARCIANO: A striking resemblance to Sanjay, I don't know if you noticed that but at first glance, I said is Sanjay Gupta in that storm? Anyway he's not. That guy definitely up to the waist and temperatures, 45, 50 degrees and raining and flooding, not good. This is inland flooding, over 10 inches of rainfall in Langley Air Force Base in Virginia. Oceana, Virginia 9.78, that's a little bit closer to the coastline. They also had 74, 75 mile-an-hour winds there.
So hurricane strength gusts, this thing not a named storm anymore but bringing stronger winds and flooding to the coastline of Virginia, Maryland, and Jersey than it did when it made landfall across the Florida panhandle. Still 160,000 people without power as well so an uncomfortable time there across the mid-Atlantic -- Kiran.
CHETRY: Yes, what a mess. And just in time for the weekend, unfortunately. Hopefully it will end soon for those folks. But you're right a resemblance to Sanjay.
MARCIANO: Well, yes.
CHETRY: T.J. and I were saying the same thing. All right, maybe it's his brother. Maybe his brother is in TV news too.
MARCIANO: Good too.
CHETRY: All right, thanks so much.
MARCIANO: All right.
CHETRY: Have a good weekend, Rob.
MARCIANO: You too and T.J.
CHETRY: And T.J., bless you.
HOLMES: Yes. She says that because we're going to be talking about a young lady -- excuse me, I have a cough. She has a sneeze, I have a cough. But this little girl can't stop sneezing. We're not just talking about a couple times. She can't get through a sentence, she can't get through a day without sneezing tens of thousands of times.
Take a listen to that. We're going to be talking to Sanjay Gupta trying to figure this mystery out.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Welcome back, folks, to the Most News in the Morning. Coming up about 10 to the top of the hour.
We want you to meet a little girl. Her name is Lauren Johnson. Look at her. Sweet, cute, little 12-year-old girl but she's different and special in her own way. It won't take you long to figure out why she's different.
Take a listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LAUREN JOHNSON, UNABLE TO SHAKE UNCONTROLLABLE SNEEZE: It was -- different and I just -- kind of got along with it, thinking that it wouldn't last this long -- but it's been two weeks now -- and it just hasn't stopped.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: All right. So what's going on there? She cannot stop sneezing; sneezes 16 times a minute, 32,000 times a day. Is it colds, is it allergies, is it psychological?
We're paging our Dr. Gupta for some answers. It seems so bizarre and her doctors can't seem to get to the bottom of it. What jumps out at you here with this situation?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's interesting. Because I've been following this story like you have and there's a few things that sort of jump out at me as you watch from that video again if we could take look at that.
A couple of things worth pointing out, first of all, she doesn't sneeze at night. And that's one of the important things. When you're trying to figure out, is something more somatic, meaning more within the body or more psychological, that's always an important clue.
Is this ongoing even at night, does it wake her up from her sleep or does it prevent her from sleeping? It doesn't, is what we're hearing. Also it doesn't appear to be a very productive sneeze as well. If someone has a true irritation of the bronchials, you know the lung lining or the sinuses or something usually they have more of a reproductive sneeze using your nose. This one seems to be coming more from her mouth.
So those are a couple of things that sort of jump out at me. And that starts to play something within the realm of more psychogenic, coming more from the psyche than it does from the body. And there are some rare instances of things that are almost like tic -- people hear of Tourettes a lot -- but a tic-like symptom that is psychogenic intractable sneezing, it's called, a pretty rare thing. But to me it seems to be more likely to be something like that.
HOLMES: Am I hearing that right, it could just be in her head, in some ways?
GUPTA: Yes, well, it's psychogenic. And when you say in her head, she probably has no conscious sort of recognition of this. It's all sort of subconscious, so she's truly sneezing, truly feeling like she needs to sneeze, but there's no sort of somatic or body reason for that to be happening.
HOLMES: Wow.
CHETRY: So if that's the case Sanjay do you think...
(CROSSTALK)
GUPTA: And the fact that she doesn't do it while she's sleeping.
CHETRY: Right, so she can fall asleep and stay asleep at night, that's what her parents have been saying. So could they try hypnosis or could they try something where they could see if -- I mean, some alternative-type therapy may be able to work just to get to the bottom of it?
GUPTA: Right. And from what I hear, she's been to lots of different doctors and specialists and this may be something that's ongoing for a period of time. But in terms of her types of treatment, I think you're right, behavioral therapy or even therapies that may treat an underlying psychogenic sort of disorder, sometimes antidepressants or anti-anxiety medications.
We've reported on your show before about people with intractable hiccupping for example, which ended up being almost a Tourettes-like thing that gets treated with those types of medications. So I probably wouldn't jump to medications first, but there might be behavioral-type therapies that might provide a little bit of help for her.
HOLMES: And Doc, last thing, real quick, a lot of us, we've all had colds and whatnot. If you cough a lot, sneeze a lot, it may physically just takes a toll on you. Can she be putting herself or hurting herself physically...
GUPTA: Right.
HOLMES: ... in some way by doing this constantly?
GUPTA: I was watching that video pretty carefully. I don't think so. You know, I mean, obviously, you would be concerned, is it interfering so much with her ability to breathe, to speak. She sneezes a lot, so it's affecting her activities of daily living. She's having a hard time going to school and participating in that way.
But physically, I think, at some point, if she continued to doing it, she might start to develop some pain in her lungs for example. Some people even get pins and needles type sensations in her hands from sneezing so much. But right now it looks like she's doing fine, she's able to oxygenate well, which would be a concern as well potentially in the long run.
CHETRY: Well, keep us posted on this. Because I mean, she's just so cute...
GUPTA: Yes.
CHETRY: ... and everybody is sort of feels for her. We're all wondering, what the heck would we do if that was happening to us. So let us know how it works out for her.
GUPTA: We'll keep an eye on it. Yes, absolutely, guys.
HOLMES: All right, thanks, doc. We'll see you.
CHETRY: We want to take a quick break we'll be right back, 56 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
JEWEL, SINGER: Hi. I'm Jewel. Two years ago I had the honor of serving on the Blue Ribbon Panel that helped select the top ten CNN Heroes of 2007. As founder of Project Clean Water, which works to improve the quality of life for millions of people by helping to provide clean water around the world, I'm thrilled to help CNN introduce one of this year's top ten honorees. Now more than ever, the world needs heroes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's no money to eat.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I live on the street.
JORGE MURILLO, QUEENS, NEW YORK: When you're hungry, you're hungry. That's it. Four years ago, I see those guys standing out there. They're desperate. They need to eat.
My name is Jorge Munoz and every night I bring food to the hungry soul in Queens, New York. I'm born in Colombia, but I'm a citizen right now. And I'm a school bus driver, when I come back around 5:15 my second job starts.
Prepare the meal, pack them up. It was like a family project seven days a week. I go to the same corners every night around 9:30. They're waiting for me.
I help anyone who needs to eat, just line up.
The best part is when you see their smile. I want them to eat every night. For me, it's easy. Compare with them I'm great. Very good, tired, but good.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: You can continue the conversation on today's stories by going to the blog at CNN.com/AmFix.
CHETRY: It's great to have you with us for the last two days of the week.
HOLMES: It's good to be here. Good to be here.
CHETRY: I hope you get back home to Atlanta safe and sound in time for your weekend job.
HOLMES: Always an adventure.
CHETRY: It sure it is, isn't it. Hey, I wish you flying to your return.
HOLMES: You know I'm back with my boys, yes.
CHETRY: All right, and thanks so much for joining us as well.
The news continues right now. So keep watching "CNN NEWSROOM" with Heidi Collins. Hey, Heidi.
