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American Morning

Oprah "Shackled by Secrets"; Tax Day Tea Parties; Toyota's Damage Control

Aired April 15, 2010 - 06:00   ET

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


JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: President Obama looks to the future of America's space program unveiling NASA's new mission at the Kennedy Space Center today. The president's plans have touched off a heated debate within the space agency. We're going to have a live report on that just ahead.

And of course, as always every day, the AMFix blog is up and running this morning. Join the live conversation going on right now. Coming up at 6:30, Kitty Kelley joins us to talk about her new tell- all book about Oprah Winfrey. Tell us what you think about Oprah Winfrey and Kitty Kelley's book. CNN.com/AMFix.

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Our top story this hour, safety tests now being ordered on every SUV that is made by Toyota.

ROBERTS: The automaker insisting that it simply wants to put customers at ease after being forced to halt sales of its high-end SUV, the Lexus GX-460. Consumer Reports warned its readers not to buy the GX-460 this week after test uncovered an acceptable risks of spinout and potential rollover.

CHETRY: Deb Feyerick is tracking the story for us this morning. And you first brought us as we talked about earlier in the week, when we last left you, Toyota hadn't weighed in. So, what are they talking about.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's interesting that Toyota has clearly learned a very tough P.R. lesson from disasters that suffered recently. The auto giant moving quickly after the highly respected nonprofit group, Consumer Reports, warned its readers not to buy the Toyota made Lexus GX-460. Now, test conducted by the magazine uncovering a potential stability problem that you can see right there with the $52,000 SUV. The vehicle's rear end repeatedly slides out in tight turns posing a risk for rollovers especially when exiting a highway or driving curvy roads.

Toyota is now ordering tests on all of its SUVs to determine potential problems in the electronic stability control systems. The company right now denying published reports in Japan that it's recalling the 2010 Lexus GX-460, though, it has stopped sales in the U.S. and elsewhere. Now, if you do own one and you're nervous about driving it, Toyota is offering a free loaner car until the problem is fixed and identified, but the big problem as they had before is that the company says, quote, "there is no way of recalling a car voluntarily or otherwise unless we find something wrong with the car, and we haven't done that yet."

It's premature to talk about any recall steps at this point. As for the safety checks being ordered for all Toyota-made SUVs, the automaker insists, quote, "that the foremost reason for doing the extra tests is to put customers' minds at ease." So, really, they're just taking advanced steps so that, perhaps, they don't have to issue an overall recall.

ROBERTS: And as you said, they haven't even identified the problem yet, so --

FEYERICK: I know. It's the same problem with the gas pedal and the sticking accelerator and everything. So, you can't fix them if you don't know what it is. Hopefully, they'll get this one sorted out a little bit quickly. If it's electronic problem, they can readjust the software. If it is a mechanical problem, physical or structural problem, that's going to be a little bit more difficult.

CHETRY: So, the interesting thing is, if you're still taking your car to the dealer, they still don't necessarily know what to do.

FEYERICK: No. The only thing they can do is give you a loaner car, and hopefully, they're giving you a loaner car that doesn't have any problems.

CHETRY: Hopefully.

FEYERICK: Hopefully.

CHETRY: Deb, thanks.

FEYERICK: Of course.

CHETRY: Following breaking news out of Russia this morning, Moscow says it is suspending all adoptions to American families. A foreign ministry spokesman says that this freeze will remain in effect until the countries can reach an agreement on adoption procedures.

Now, the announcement comes after a Tennessee woman sent her 7- year-old adopted son back to Moscow on a plane by himself. If you may remember yesterday, we talked to the driver who picked him up at the airport and brought him to the Ministry of Education in Moscow. She claims that the Russian orphanage misled her about the boy's severe psychological problems.

ROBERTS: It is the Tea Party's big day; it's Tax Day. Today, there are more than 600 protests against big government spending scheduled across the country. Yesterday, Boston was headlined by the first lady of the movement, Sarah Palin. The party appears to be getting more and more organized with its sights set now on November. Jim Acosta joins us now live from Washington. And Jim, we're expecting a lot of activity there in the nation's capital on this Tax Day.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, John. In about a few hours from now, we will hear Tea Party activists sounding off on everything from big government to President Obama. And some of the talk that is going on inside this conservative movement right now is whether or not tea partiers will actually merge with the Republican Party and that has big implications in an election year.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARAH PALIN, (R) FORMER VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Boston, if anyone knows how to throw a Tea Party, it is you.

ACOSTA (voice-over): At the stop along the Tea Party express bus tour in Boston, Sarah Palin called for a political revolution. She wants Americans to party like it's 1776 and send the Democrats packing in 2010.

PALIN: Come November, that big government, big debt Obama, Pelosi, Reid, spending spree, that they're their little children, we're here to take care of you, that agenda is over. We're voting them out. We're going to tell them, you're fired.

ACOSTA: In other words, vote Republican in the upcoming congressional elections. Other conservative leaders are going further, touting the benefits of merging the Tea Party with the GOP.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's really merging into one single solitary unit.

ACOSTA: Some Tea Party organizers say that's fine as long as they first cleanse the GOP of its moderates, what some conservatives called RINOs or Republicans in Name Only.

MARK WILLIAMS, TEA PARTY EXPRESS CHAIRMAN: The Republican Party is in place as the party of the people. And after we're done chasing the RINOs out of the party, it will, again, be the party of the people, and if that's what people mean by merging with the Republican Party, great. I'll take that.

ACOSTA: CNN political contributor, John Avlon, points out many tea partiers are conservatives who felt abandoned by Republicans under George W. Bush.

JOHN AVLON, CNN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR: Right now, I think it's important to understand tea partiers, their natural home is and always was the Republican Party. They formed a conservative populist protest win. They're trying to move the Republican Party to the right.

ACOSTA: But for some tea partiers, a merger would be too much too fast.

MIKE GASKE, NATIONAL CAPITAL TEA PARTY PATRIOTS: If any one person thinks that they're going to get control of this whole movement, I think they don't really understand it.

ACOSTA: Even along the Tea Party bus tour, there were skeptics.

ROBERT BRAVO, TEA PARTY SUPPORTER: The whole point of this is that we are Americans, Republicans, Democrats, independents. ACOSTA: Still, a new CNN poll finds nearly 80 percent of tea partiers plan to vote Republican in the fall. Democrats insist, they're not sweating it. Check out this Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee website mocking upcoming Republican primaries as Palin primaries.

REP. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN, (D) MARYLAND: To the extent that the Republican candidates move away far to the right in this primaries to try and capture the more extreme elements of the Tea Party support, they're going to lose the support of independent and moderate voters.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA (on-camera): Democrats say they're going to stick to the issues, take Wall Street regulations, which they hope will drive a wedge between Republicans who might oppose those reforms and Tea Party activists do not only that don't like the banks, they really hate the bailouts -- John.

ROBERTS: You know, Jim, interesting poll today in the "New York Times," CBS News New York Times poll finds 36 percent of Tea Party supporters identify themselves as independents, 20 percent identify themselves as moderates. So, they do have some appeal in the middle there.

ACOSTA: They really do. And partly, I think that's because, this is what we've found in covering a lot of these Tea Party rallies over the last year, is that this is sort of a brand new brand, a political brand, if you will. And the Republican Party brand was so damaged in those last years of President Bush, that a lot of those former Republicans started gravitating towards the Tea Party movement.

And then you also have a lot of Democrats who might have supported Hillary Clinton during the primaries, never really warmed up to Barack Obama, and you have a lot of disaffected Democrats who, perhaps, are also gravitating towards that Tea Party brand.

But as John Avlon was pointing out, make no mistake, this is not an independent, middle of the road political movement. These are very conservative political activists out there who would like to see the Republican Party move to the right. If that happens, many of them will join the Republicans, take the Tea Party express that bus tour that crisscrossed the country. It started in search like Nevada, Harry Reid's hometown, essentially with the message that they're going to take down Harry Reid. As we reported on this program, the people who run the Tea Party express are Republican political operatives out of California. So, there are some Republican roots inside this Tea Party movement, but many of them are disaffected Republicans -- John.

ROBERTS: Sure, sure, but you know, you got to say one thing, Jim, they've come a long way in 14 months. No question about that.

ACOSTA: They have.

ROBERTS: Jim Acosta for us this morning.

ACOSTA: Absolutely.

ROBERTS: Thanks so much. Good to see you this morning.

Coming up at 7:10 Eastern, by the way, we're going to be talking with Darla Dawald. She is Grassfire's (ph) conservative activist who has been caravaning across the country. She's going to be speaking at the Tea Party rally in D.C. today. Does she think the Tea Party will be able to speak with one voice come November?

CHETRY: Also developing this morning, a volcano disrupting air travel across Europe. Volcano was beneath a glacier in Iceland. It's erupted for the second time in just a month. More than 250 flights into and out of London's Heathrow Airport as well as Gatwick Airport have been canceled because of the drifting ash. Airports in Scotland also completely shut down.

ROBERTS: Wow. When's the last time your flight was delayed by a volcano.

CHETRY: Exactly.

ROBERTS: Let's get a quick check of this morning's weather headlines with Rob Marciano in Weather Center in Atlanta for us this morning. Hi, Rob.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hey, guys. Interesting thing. We will touch on this ash deal a little bit more. Jet stream kind of doing a curve and driving all that ash down across parts of the U.K. and even to Europe, maybe in the path this stuff also. We don't have real good imagery of it at the moment, but we will try to get that for you. Certainly, an unnerving event if you are a pilot or a passenger updates throughout the morning.

Meanwhile, on this side of the pond, a little bit of moisture arcing over the top of the Great Lakes and that will be sneaking into the northeast later today and tonight, but until then, it looks okay for the most part. Eastern Mississippi, temps in the mid-80s and a lot of spots. We'll have more updates on this and what's going on over in Europe in about 30 minutes -- John and Kiran?

CHETRY: All right. Sounds good, Rob.

Coming up in the Most News in the Morning, President Obama set to announce some big changes for NASA. It's getting mixed reaction from people, both former and current people in the space program. We're going to be live at Kennedy Space Center with a closer look at what it could mean. Ten minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: President Obama travels to the Kennedy Space Center today to outline his vision for America's space program. Americans being launched into space on board an American vehicle for at least a decade.

CHETRY: And space veterans in NASA's ranking file are criticizing the president's plan saying they're concerned about their future. Suzanne Malveaux is taking a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The moon mission under President Obama is scrapped at least for now, a devastating blow to Kennedy Space Center employees.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A should have a plan B, but I don't have a good plan B yet. I could go back to being an aircraft mechanic or maybe I'll stick around here and drive a truck. I don't know.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's just kind of a cliff out there, and we're not sure what's on the other side of that cliff.

MALVEAUX: Family that least took comfort in President Bush's plan to return U.S. astronauts to the moon by 2020. But in February of this year, the Obama administration announced it was killing the moon mission called Constellation after having spent $9 billion on the program.

MALVEAUX (on-camera): This $500 million steel tower stands at 355 feet. It's brand new, never been used before. It was built to launch rockets into space, but under President Obama's new space program, this rocket launcher sits dormant.

MALVEAUX (voice-over): But White House officials say President Bush's mission to the moon was doomed from the start, over budgeted, and behind schedule/

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: President Bush articulated a beautiful policy back in 2004. But there wasn't a follow through. There wasn't a follow-up. They kind of drifted. NASA lost some of the money. It was supposed to have gotten --

MALVEAUX: But the Obama administration is worried that it is losing the public relations battle 48 hours before the president's visit here. White House officials announced changes to Obama's new space policy, including bringing back some components they were going to (inaudible).

The Obama administration also says it is increasing NASA's budget for long-term projects and further journeys into the solar system but wanting to leave trips to space for private companies. But the notion of having the Russians, Chinese or others fair a U.S. astronaut in space disturbs NASA's workers.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now we have always been leaders in space. If you're not flying, it is hard for me to believe you can be the leaders. I think we are going to lose that. It's disappointing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX (on camera): And there is also a great deal of pride too when you talk to the mechanics, the technicians, the folks who sweep the floors. They all feel they are part of something bigger here, a bigger mission, a part of history. That is what you are hearing, John and Kiran, really, a sense of loss from the people here.

ROBERTS: As he said, it really is difficult to be the leader in space when you're not flying. But at the same time, there are so many budgetary pressures these days that where is the priority on space exploration?

MALVEAUX: Well, John, you know, White House officials would say this, we understand how you feel but at the same time, this is what we expect the president to say, at the same time, let's hold off for a bit. Let's spend our money on research and development for even bigger projects later on down the road like, say, going to Mars for instance. And in the meantime, support the idea of these private companies shuttling back and forth doing routine missions for these U.S. astronauts.

CHETRY: Suzanne Malveaux for us this morning. Thanks.

Coming up next to the Most News in the Morning, the clock is ticking to get your taxes done. It's really ticking. Stephanie Elam here with some facts and myths about your taxes. Seventeen minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CHETRY: Twenty minutes past the hour right now. It's time for "Minding your Business." We have Stephanie Elam with us in for Christine Romans today on tax day. You already sent your stuff in, right?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I was supposed to do them today? My taxes are done.

CHETRY: Note to self. I need an extension.

ELAM: I did talk to a man who is a tax attorney and he told me that several times he has been standing in line around midnight on April 15. (Inaudible) someone who knows everything about the tax code so you never know. All kinds of people are out there today. Maybe some people took the day off even to do their taxes.

But we figured we would talk about people who may have heard some myths out there about tax day. We are going to start off with one of the ones we hear the most. How about this? Americans are overtaxed. We have all heard that one right?

So we did a little research here on this one and found out in '08, federal, state and local taxes claimed about 27 percent of the U.S. gross domestic product. It sounds like a lot. It does, but 30 of the riches countries, they all paid or averaged about 36 percent of GDP.

So just taking a look at that. So I can tell you this. Americans do pay far more in individual income taxes than other wealthy nations, but we do pay much less in sales tax. They pay more in sales tax there. If you take a look at who is getting -- the federal tax revenue, obviously 45 percent of it is going -- coming from income taxes, that's one you can see there. Who pays? Well, 45 percent will owe no federal income tax, have earned little. Everyone pays some sort of taxes. So 75 percent they are saying there.

Also, 99.7 percent of millionaires will pay federal taxes this year, which is one of those theories out there that rich people don't pay taxes. That's not true. Millionaires also pay 27 percent of their earnings in taxes, compare that to the average American who pays 18 percent of their earnings.

So just putting it out there. Everyone think that is rich people aren't paying taxes. That's not the case. They would be the first target of the IRS. That's the reason they are paying theirs on time.

ROBERTS: Their taxes could go up even further if they let the Bush tax cuts expire and also the health care taxes as well. In some areas, like New York City, people can be paying 54 percent or 55 percent, of taxes.

CHETRY: A lot of taxes, and that's why there's also --

ROBERTS: It's not quite Sweden but it is getting closer.

ELAM: Right, the European countries pay a lot. There are a lot of things that you can put in. That's why a lot of people take advantage of the tax credits and that's how they get their taxes. Stephanie Elam this morning "Minding your Business." Steph, thanks so much.

Still to come on the Most News in the Morning, inmates in prison collecting thousands from the IRS. John Zarrella is coming up with an AM Original. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: The tax fraud can land you in jail for years, but would you believe one of the most successful tax scams is being pulled off from people who are already there.

CHETRY: Yes, behind bars, right? Experts say it is happening. The IRS knows about it. The government isn't doing anything to stop it. John Zarella joins us live with more on this. It sounds pretty crazy that they know this is going on and aren't stopping it.

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kiran and John, you know, for years, this was a really, really big day at the jail down in Key West, Florida. Why? Because most of the inmates had filed for returns and refunds, even though they hadn't worked in years.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ZARRELLA (voice-over): Just a routine search of a jail cell, Officer Mark Lindback didn't expect to find much. SGT. MARK LINDBACK, MONROE COUNTY DETENTION CENTER: After the inmates exit the cell, went over, basic pulled up the mattress. He had some of the items under his mattress, additional items underneath the bunk.

ZARRELLA: The items, tax forms and address books with Social Security numbers and birth dates and cheat sheets for filling out returns. That was December of 2006. What Lindback had stumbled upon was a lucrative income tax fraud scheme run by inmates at Monroe County Jail near Key West.

Before they were busted, the inmates filed for more than $1 million in tax refunds involving half the jail population.

CAPT. PENNY PHELPS, MONROE COUNTY DETENTION CENTER: But what they would do is go to other inmates and suggest to an inmate, I can get you $4500 in a tax return. It will cost you $500.

ZARRELLA: In some cases, with the help of friends and family, the prisoners would fill out the 1040 EZ short form and attach a 4852 form with the names of businesses that didn't exist and income they never earned. The 4852 is a substitute used when an employer doesn't provide a W-2. The initial investigation was handled by County Prosecutor, John Ellsworth. Phone calls were recorded.

JONATHAN ELLSWORTH, FORMER ASSISTANT STATE ATTORNEY: One of the main guys at one point is telling one of his cohorts that he is not going to do white collar street crime anymore, because Uncle Sam is taking good care of him.

ZARRELLA: Before they were caught, the inmates collected at least $100,000 from the IRS. One inmate had checks sent to his brother's house.

(on camera): Dozens of checks were going to one address and that didn't raise any red flags to the IRS.

ELLSWORTH: Apparently not.

ZARRELLA(voice-over): By 2007, Ellsworth turned over boxes of evidence to the IRS. Case closed, right? Not so fast.

RICK ROTH, FORMER MONROE COUNTY SHERIFF: They said we are working on it. We're investigating. We can't take your investigation and prosecute from your investigation. We have to do our own.

ZARRELLA: Earlier this year, nearly 3 1/2 years after the scheme was busted, federal indictments were finally brought against a couple of the ring leaders and family members. Why so long? The IRS wouldn't say.

(on camera): Now, don't think this inmate "get rich quick" scheme started here at the Monroe County Detention Center. Oh, no. Authorities tell us it's been going on for decades at state and federal prisons all across the country.

PHELPS: One of the inmates I interviewed said he learned of it when he was in a federal prison.

ZARRELLA (voice-over): In a statement, the IRS told CNN it has programs to combat this. The IRS said, quote, "it is not a simple process, particularly considering the fact that some inmates are entitled to tax refunds and that the prison population is not static." According to Congressional testimony in 2004, more than 4,000 bogus refunds were issued to prisoners for almost $15 million, but the IRS blocked more than $53 million in false claims.

ROTH: The system has a flaw that needs to be fixed. It should be easy enough to fix by changing a form or changing the submissions.

ZARRELLA: While the IRS is now prosecuting the Monroe County jail case, guess what some inmates are still doing? Filing fraudulent returns and still getting checks.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think we have one here that came in that was for about $5,000.

ZARRELLA (on camera): So this is an IRS check that was sent to that inmate for $5,920 that was intercepted.

(voice-over): At least here the checks end up in the hands of the FBI.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZARRELLA: Now, that same inmate who wasn't getting his checks because they were either getting intercepted was then sending letters to the IRS -- that's how bold they are -- asking the IRS where his checks are. He can't believe he hadn't gotten his checks yet.

So, John, Kiran, it is still a problem. And it is still going on even in the Monroe County Detention Center after all these years -- John, Kiran.

ROBERTS: There is certainly, John, no shortage of chutzpah down there.

(LAUGHTER)

ROBERTS: Great story. Thanks so much, John.

Crossing the half hour now -- and our top stories this morning.

Toyota is now ordering safety tests on the stability control system in every SUV model that it makes. The company says it wants to put customers at ease after being forced to halt sales of its high-end SUV, the Lexus GX 460. "Consumer Reports" magazine warned its reader this week not to buy the GX 460 because of an unacceptable risk of roll-over.

The "Just Vote Them Out" tour is rolling into Boston, the site of the original Tea Party. Tax Day rallies are scheduled across the country today. Sarah Palin told the crowd of about 5,000 people to keep clinging to their guns, their religion and the Constitution.

And West Virginia governor, Joe Manchin, wants every underground coal mine in his state to stop production tomorrow for one day so workers can review safety issues and honor the 29 members who are killed at the Upper Big Branch mine this month. The governor's order calls for state inspectors to go back and re-examine mines that have been cited repeatedly for combustion risks.

And the governor is going to join us in our third hour this morning to talk more about that --Kiran.

CHETRY: John, thanks.

Well, Oprah Winfrey is arguably one of the most influential women in the world. She's reigned as the queen of daytime television for more than two decades. Her magazine, "O" turns 10 this year. And now, she even owns her own cable network.

But what do we all really know about the media superstar?

My next guest says that Oprah is actually shackled by secrets and she details it in an unauthorized biography that hits bookstores this week. It's called "Oprah: A Biography."

And author Kitty Kelley joins us this morning.

Great to have you with us.

KITTY KELLEY, AUTHOR, "OPRAH: A BIOGRAPHY": Good morning.

CHETRY: You tackle big, big personalities. And Oprah, arguably, is one of the biggest personalities of our generation.

KELLEY: I think the biggest.

CHETRY: You didn't get a chance to talk to her, which is why they call it an unauthorized biography, and many close to her also chose not to speak to you. But you did 850 different interviews and you also went through more than 20 years of Oprah's own interviews. What is the most interesting and perhaps important thing you learned about Oprah?

KELLEY: Probably that that wonderful on-camera persona that we really love, that warm, warm person, behind that, there's another person that's a little bit more complicated, much different from the on-camera personality. And when I say she's shackled by secrets, her whole life was that. When she -- when she went through that terrible experience as a child, sexual molestation, she had to keep it a secret. It was a shameful thing.

I truly think that Oprah sharing that secret probably is the best thing she ever did. I think it's her greatest legacy, more so than the $40 million-school in South Africa, because she helped so many people by bringing that taboo subject forward.

CHETRY: And many say she's sort of ushered in this whole time of confession television and being open and bringing things that would be otherwise shameful out, yet she doesn't -- at least you say -- share a lot of herself.

KELLEY: No, she doesn't. She seems to do that.

One thing the book shows you is this huge evolution of Oprah. People that know her in the last 10 years will be quite surprised when they read the book because she started out with a very raunchy, tabloidy show and she grew over the years. And she went from this really tabloidy up to a very spiritual, uplifting, live your best life shows. So, it really shows Oprah growing through the years.

CHETRY: Now, it's also interesting that interviews, that you said, they spanned 25 years. You said you had nearly 3,000 files. And you talk about these changes that she went into -- that she went through over the years. Some of the people that you spoke, you know, hadn't been close to Oprah in years.

So, are they giving you the full picture?

KELLEY: Well, you know what you do. You go to -- for instance, I interviewed her father, Vernon Winfrey, in Nashville.

CHETRY: And she does not have a relationship with him, right?

KELLEY: She does.

CHETRY: She does?

KELLEY: She does have a relationship with him. And she's very generous with him and she credits him a great deal. I hope she still, after this book, has a relationship with them. That could be worrisome.

But her Aunt Katharine in Mississippi talked and they gave me Oprah growing up, what she was like then. Others I talked to, I went to, talked to her college classmates, her high school classmates, colleagues that worked with her in Nashville and in Baltimore and in Chicago.

So, someone might say to you, Kiran, well, I've known Oprah for 30 years. But the fact of the matter is, they probably knew her for the two years they worked with her, like that.

CHETRY: Right. And it's also interesting, because people were sort of picking up on some of the parts of the book, some of the headlines, that she exaggerated how difficult her childhood was in terms of poverty, but also abuse.

What did your sources tell you about that?

KELLEY: Well, I think the biggest revelation in that is with Oprah's sexual abuse. She, herself, talked a lot about her sexual promiscuity as a youngster. And she was going to write her autobiography at one time and she characterized herself as a prostitute, and said that she had sold herself for sex.

And when you read that in the book, it almost makes sense. You have to see it in a sympathetic way. But when you take it out of context, it sounds quite sensational.

CHETRY: So, you're saying that if people read your whole entire book, that they will come away -

KELLEY: That's exactly --

(CROSSTALK)

CHETRY: -- with the same feelings that they have for Oprah? I mean, she's, you know, somebody that's really admired.

KELLEY: Yes. I started this book with a great deal of care and respect, and I ended up the same way. This book is an unvarnished look at Oprah. But at the end, it's a very inspirational story. There's just no better life story than Oprah Winfrey.

CHETRY: Now, you are getting some criticism for the work, though. "TIME" magazine columnist Joe Klein described you as a professional sensationalist and others --

KELLEY: Joe Klein -- now, who is that?

CHETRY: -- and others have criticized, saying that, OK, some of the sourcing and some of the facts may not necessarily be there. Although, you know, you also point out that you've not been sued successfully.

KELLEY: Never, never.

CHETRY: But why should people trust your unauthorized account of Oprah's life?

KELLEY: Well, I think an unauthorized book is the most honorable way to go, it's honest. You're not in the hands of a celebrity. You are not controlled by a celebrity. You're not putting out the myth.

If you believe in the First Amendment, then you really want an unauthorized version. I don't put a pejorative on that. I really think, the authorized version is the way that they want to present their life story and they want to air brush it and they want it to correspond to the myth.

So, I don't do that.

CHETRY: Have you gotten any reaction from Oprah's people on this?

KELLEY: No, not yet. But I don't think I'm going to get on the Oprah Winfrey Book Club.

CHETRY: Probably not. Thanks pretty much statement (ph) to say. But thanks for coming on and talking to us this morning.

KELLEY: Thank you.

CHETRY: We appreciate it.

And if you'd like to read some of the excerpts from Kitty Kelley's book, you can head to CNN.com/amFIX -- John.

ROBERTS: Coming up next in the Most News in the Morning, Kiran, a terrible earthquake in western China yesterday. The death toll continues to rise. We're going to have the latest on rescue efforts there coming up next. Stay with us.

Thirty-eight minutes now after the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ROBERTS: Well, the earth has been a restless place as of late, witnessed again in western China. Rescue crews with shovels and bare hands are digging through the rubble to hunt for survivors in the remote mountain town of Jiegu, China. More than 600 have been killed after yesterday's powerful earthquake, and some 10,000 have been injured.

Despite freezing temperatures, survivors are sleeping outdoors in fear of aftershocks that could bring down weakened buildings. The quake flattened buildings and collapsed bridges and roadways.

CHETRY: Well, here in the U.S., parents in South Hadley, Massachusetts, are demanding its school officials resign over their handling of the bullying that allegedly -- according to prosecutors -- drove 15-year-old Phoebe Prince to kill herself. Now, things got pretty heated at the school board meeting last night.

Here's a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. Gelinas, this is not your First Amendment right. You are here as a guest of the school committee. And it is First Amendment right is to go outside on the street and talk to whoever wants to talk to you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: There were multiple outbursts by parents. Some had to be removed by police. The chairman of South Hadley's school committee announced he was stepping down just nine days after being reelected.

There you see Luke Gelinas leaving. We had him as a guest on our show. He is a friend of Phoebe Prince's family and also says his own son was bullied and that his concerns fell on deaf ears within the school district and school.

Prosecutors, though, alleged that some high school staffers knew that Phoebe Prince was being bullied and did nothing to stop it. Six teens now face criminal charges in her death.

Well, it's 42 minutes past the hour. Right now, Rob Marciano is going to be along with your travel forecast right after the break.

ROBERTS: And coming up in 10 minutes time, has this fellow gone barking mad? Whoa! Not quite, he's just reenacting a crime. Jeanne Moos explains it all -- coming right up.

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ROBERTS: Waking you up this morning with the Foxboro Hot Tubs, also known as -- anybody, anybody, anybody? Nobody. All blank stares.

CHETRY: Yes, that was all you.

ROBERTS: Green Day. Fifty-six degrees in Atlanta right now. Later on today, 79 degrees and sunny. A beautiful day there in Hotlanta.

CHETRY: At least everyone is up now. Forty-five minutes past the hour.

Where do your income tax dollars go? We're going to get more on that in AMX. For now, the biggest chunk of money, 21 percent goes to defense and social security, 20 percent for health and medical programs, 11 percent for income security, 8 percent was spent on interest for the national debt, 6 percent on veterans benefits, and then 13 percent on other.

ROBERTS: Look at the beautiful weather in Atlanta. Let's see what it's going to be like across the rest of the country. Rob Marciano at the Weather Center for us this morning. Rob, you got gorgeous, gorgeous weather there today. It looks like we're going to have the same in New York. How about everybody else?

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It's been a nice stretch, John. The pattern is kind of locked down just a little bit. Big blue waves (ph) in control of the nation's eastern third of the county, some dry air for the most part here, but things have been rotating around this thing to bring in some rain across parts of Texas and around the western side of this ridge. There will be some delays, though, because of some cross winds at the New York metro airports, Detroit, and we've been talking about all morning long, across the U.K. and now maybe even into Western Europe.

Flights are interrupted, if not, completely canceled and some airports closed. So, if you are traveling over to the U.K., certainly call ahead because of the ash disruptions from that volcano that's erupting in Iceland.

All right. Here's the risk, so all that clear area, nothing shown up on the radar, still south of, let's say Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, everything kind of rotating up and over the top of this rate. And it's going to sneak back into the New York City area and in the northeastern over the next day or two so not quite done with this yet. We are seeing a little bit in the way of rain across parts of Texas, actually, a lot in the way of rain. And we potential for seeing some flooding across western parts of Texas into the red river as everything kind of streams in and focuses in this particular area. Eighty-three degrees expected in Kansas city, 86 degrees in Memphis, and 77 in Minneapolis.

Iowa and Wisconsin last night, check out this video. We're going to show you a couple of more angles of this throughout the morning, meteor. A couple of them, actually, the Gamma Virginids meteor shower. It's kind of a minor one but enough to light up the sky last night across Madison, Wisconsin. So, there's a little treat for you if you are hanging around the Western Great Lakes and the upper Midwest last night. John and Kiran, I know you'll have actually dash cam shot of that in the next hour. That's even better pictures of that meteor sparking through the sky last night.

CHETRY: Pretty cool.

ROBERTS: Looking forward to that. Thanks so much, Rob.

A lot of comments coming into our live blog this morning about a number of different topics. Let's take a look at a couple of them. You flip pass this one. I thought this was king of interesting (ph). Let me see. We mentioned this a moment ago when Jim Acosta was tag with the Tea Party says if John Roberts actually believes that 35 percent of Tea Partyers are moderates or independents, 20 percent moderates, 36 percent independents, then no doubt he would believe Bernie Madoff when he identified himself as an honest, honorable, caring human being. Thus are the perils of self-identification fooling, my mother used to say, oh, to see ourselves as others see us.

I was just quoting a poll.

CHETRY: A poll from "The New York Times" this morning about, again, how people who are part of the Tea Party movement see themselves politically.

The fellow writes back says Mikee (ph), do you have any actual evidence that John Roberts information is wrong or you just spewing the party line like most Democrats do.

ROBERTS: Little conversation going on there.

CHETRY: Yes. I love in the live blog turns into that back and forth. Also, we talked about the space program, and you know, some mixed opinions about cutting out the Shuttle program and adding other thing and Joann Burns writes, the space program costs too much money, but it's okay to do bailouts of private for profit automakers, bank CEOs, bonuses, take money and benefits away from elderly and seniors, supporting legal, and get nothing in return? Space has given us new technologies and insights to what we are and where we can go. It has improved the quality of our life, so people are --

ROBERTS: No question that was very costly in tough economic times. So go to our blog, CNN.com/amfix. Join the conversation here. Feel free to give us your views on whatever it is that's on your mind or go ahead and take on somebody in the blog whose opinion you disagree with.

CHETRY: Right. We like it. All right. This morning's top stories are just minutes away, including what we're just talking about, the Tea Party partying like it is 1773. A big revolt against big government in honor of Tax Day this morning. But can the GOP count on Tea Party votes in November?

ROBERTS: Twenty minutes after the hour, Toyota doing some damage control, now ordering safety tests on every SUV that it makes, the aftermath of a report telling readers to steer clear of one particular Lexus model.

CHETRY: Also at 40 minutes after the hour, change, of course, in space. President Obama heading to NASA. He's sharing his vision for the future of space exploration and that includes putting someone on Mars. Those stories and much more at the top of the hour.

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ROBERTS: One of the latest viral videos comes to us from down under. No, it's not the unsuspecting sap who opened a raunchy e-mail live on television.

CHETRY: Look guys, don't talk about him (ph), but anyway, this is Aussie's talent is all about imitation in this one. Jeanne Moos introduces us to the so-called Psycho Dogman.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Multiple choice, please select the scariest bark. Is it, "A," "B," or "C"? Quiet, Ray, who now answers to the name, is this the Psycho Dogman?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's me, it's me. You got it.

MOOS: This Australian retiree became an internet sensation after the show a current affair came to his suburb outside Sidney and interviewed him about two dangerous dogs living in the neighborhood.

RAY GRAHAM, CANINE IMITATOR: As soon as they saw me, they came bounding over. It was the bark heard around the world plastered on blogs. Psycho Dogman got his own Facebook page. Ray Graham's ferocious imitation was turned into remix after remix.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who let the dogs out?

MOOS: Even his wife's face was much remarked on, barely a flinch. Ray says he's never before done a dog imitation.

GRAHAM: Absolute spur of the moment.

MOOS: And yet his bark is scarier than even a snarl of the late champ of the ugliest dog contest raises far more terrifying than the bark of an 86-year-old man who encountered a bear in his house.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: By impulse, I went --

MOOS: The bear ran for the woods. Online admirers compared Ray to Kujo, a recording of the psycho dogman's voice at New York canines like putting and backing off. Although, Rocky just wagged his tail.

MOOS (on-camera): Ray says he has no plans to try to make any money from his dog imitation; though, an advertising agency has tried to get in touch with him.

GRAHAM: I think it's hilarious. Absolutely hilarious.

MOOS (voice-over): And Ray's imitation has sparked imitators with bonus underpants.

Now, Ray is doing it on command.

GRAHAM: Go on, hit it.

MOOS: Posted one person, that guy needs to be put down. Speak, Ray. Ray, what's your wife doing right now?

GRAHAM: Well, she was asleep.

MOOS: Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTS: I love the part where she plays it for the other dogs and they like what the --.

CHETRY: You know what it's like -- you know, you've been married a long time when you have absolutely no reaction. She didn't look at him. She just kind of grinned.

ROBERTS: That's what he always does. All remixing. People got too much time on their hands.

CHETRY: That's right.

ROBERTS: I'm sorry.

CHETRY: It's like the world of one up manship (ph) on the web. There you go.

Three minutes to the top of the hour. We will be back with your top stories.

ROBERTS: Go build houses in China. Come on.

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