Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
Volcanic Ash Continues to Ground European Flights; Living the Battle in Afghanistan; Examining the Tea Party and GOP; Jobs For New Grads; President Announces New NASA Budget; Building Homes for Returning U.S. Veterans; Jamie Oliver Fights Fat; Porn for the Blind
Aired April 16, 2010 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ALINA CHO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everybody. It's Friday. It feels like a Friday, April 16th.
Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING. I'm Alina Cho. Kiran Chetry has the morning off.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. I'm John Roberts. Thanks so much for being with us as we get to ready to start the weekend.
Here are the big stories we'll be telling you about in the next 15 minutes.
One of the biggest travel nightmares ever, volcanic ash from a spectacular eruption in Iceland. The Eyjafjallajokull Volcano is making it too dangerous to fly to and from Europe. Tens of thousands of travelers are stranded there maybe for days. So, they'll be spending their weekend cooling their heels in an airport somewhere.
CHO: Hopefully, they are taking it in stride as we say.
A big step forward meanwhile for same-sex couples. President Obama extending hospital visitation rights to the partners of gays and lesbians. It affects any hospital getting Medicare or Medicaid funding. We're going to look at the politics behind the decision.
ROBERTS: And President Obama canceling NASA's plan to send another manned mission to the moon, saying there are more important things to explore in space, like Mars. The president is announcing that he's going to add $6 billion to the agency's budget over the next five years, and try to find out more about the red planet.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I believe we can send humans to orbit Mars and return them safely to earth. And the landing on Mars will follow. And I expect to be around to see it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: It's still not going to happen for a while. Former NASA astronauts Mae Jemison and Robert Springer will be joining us live at 8:30 Eastern. We're going to ask them what they think of the president's vision for the space agency and how realistic it is for him to expect to see us land on Mars sometime in the next 25 years.
And, of course, the amFIX blog is up and running, as it is every day. Join the live conversation going on right now. We'd like to hear from you about what's in the news this morning and what's on your own. Just go to CNN.com/amFIX. And we'll read some of your comments throughout the morning.
CHO: But, first, what is being called the biggest travel disruption since 9/11. The cause: a monstrous cloud of volcanic ash coming from the middle of the Atlantic under a glacier in Iceland.
Look at those pictures. They're just incredible.
That eruption is sending ice chunks as big as homes into the ocean and a plume of ash and smoke upwards, floating miles above the clouds. That is causing global flight delays this morning as it moves east across Europe and the travel chaos could last for days.
Gary Tuchman is on the ground. He joins now live on the phone from Iceland this morning.
Gary, what is the situation there like?
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (via telephone): Well, not only am I on the ground, Alina, I am now at the foot of the volcano. And this is the most remarkable part of the story. You're showing these amazing pictures, these plumes of ash that are going hundreds of miles to the east disrupting entire nation's flights.
And we're standing right next to the mountain, right next to the volcano, and we don't see any ash whatsoever, because we are on the safe side of the volcano. The west side -- the winds are blowing to the east. Now, I would not want to be standing where I'm standing when the winds shift and start heading to the east. Fortunately, we're going to listen to the meteorologist, make sure that doesn't happen.
What we do see here, though, however, on the west side are immense floods -- because this volcano is under a glacier, we don't have lava flowing out. What we do is rushing glacial floodwaters flooding out. And it looks kind of like the Mississippi River flooding or the Red River of the North flooding in North Dakota.
All around us, we see lands that were farm lands that are now lakes, with waves running through them. And see debris and rocks that came out of the volcano. But the good news so far here in Iceland, no fatalities, no casualties of any kind, and limited flooding to property because this is not a populated area.
While the airports in Europe and the airports in Scandinavia are closing down and tens of thousands of flights being cancelled, here in Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland, and three other international airports in this country -- the airports are open and flights are going everywhere.
Life is pretty normal right now in Iceland despite the fact that the volcano that's causing so many problems elsewhere is still erupting, as we speak, as we stand right next to it -- Alina.
CHO: Just incredible. Gary Tuchman live for us on the ground in Iceland this morning -- Gary, thank you.
ROBERTS: Well, it doesn't matter whether it's for business or for pleasure, first class or coach -- you're probably not getting in or out of Europe any time soon.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We just wait. We're pawns. We are nature's pawns. There is nothing anyone can do. So, it doesn't make any sense to get angry with anyone, and that everyone just accepts that this is an act of God and there's nothing that we can do about it. And we should just sit back and relax.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Pawns of nature. So sit back and relax.
The volcanic cloud has forced at least six countries to entirely close their air space. Well, the 200 transatlantic flights have been grounded from the United States. The U.K. has grounded most nonessential flights until 8:00 p.m. Eastern Time. And nine German airports, including two in Berlin, are closed today.
Let's turn to Rob Marciano now in the weather center. He's tracking the plume of volcanic ash as it makes its way across the north Atlantic and into the Europe and the U.K.
Rob, what's it's looking like today? And how long is it going to last as this wind pattern?
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, we're hopeful the winds of change will begin to disperse this but it gets complicated. Winds slow down, change directions, but what does that do with the ash and how much ash is the volcano going to continue to pump out?
I'd show you some couple of pictures that we've been taking from outer space. This is infrared satellite imagery. You can kind of see the ash plume here emanating from the volcano right there, and the black and the red driving down towards the south and east. So, that's continuing. And then, it continues to kind of disperse its way along the United Kingdom and back through parts of Western Europe.
This is from the European Space Agency actually tracking the sulfur dioxide and the plume of ash and chemicals that's coming out of that from Iceland back through parts of the U.K. and getting over towards -- over towards Finland where they close that airspace. What we're trying to do is get this thing to be more westerly as opposed to driving down to the south, which it did yesterday. We're starting to see a little bit of that shift in the weather pattern. But generally speaking, everything is going to continue to go from west to east and that means Scandinavia and the U.K. certainly will continue to be affected by this for some days to come.
John and Alina, back up to you.
ROBERTS: Rob, thanks so much.
Right now, troops in Afghanistan are feeling the impact of this volcano. Here to talk about it our Pentagon correspondent, Chris Lawrence.
CHO: That's right. He just spent more than a month embedded with the U.S. Marines there. So, Chris, what's going on? How are they affected?
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's -- John and Alina, the air over Afghanistan is just fine. It's the air over Europe where a lot of those cargo flights, supply flights come in at. A lot of the air traffic has been grounded there in Germany.
So, what's happening is, a lot of the cargo flights are being halted right there on the ground. And the U.S. military expects that to be the case through the weekend. What that means for the troops is, maybe, mail, supplies -- things that they were expecting may be pushed back four, five, six days.
ROBERTS: And, of course, cargo flights for everybody are halted as well. So, there's a lot of goods that normally travel between Europe and the United States that aren't getting through.
In terms of you and your time that you spent there, great work you did by, when you were in Afghanistan.
LAWRENCE: Thank you.
ROBERTS: You're there for just a little bit more than a month in Helmand Province, which, of course, is the central area of this new surge strategy, trying to root out the Taliban.
In the overall, how do you think the fight is going?
LAWRENCE: Big picture -- you still see the problems. You've seen this sniping back and forth between the U.S. and President Karzai. Still, a lot of Afghans that we spoke with either have no connection to their national government or very little trust in it.
But you really get the sense being there on the ground that the U.S. really has no other viable option. Karzai is the man. He is the president. And like it or not, he is who the U.S. is going to have to deal with.
On a smaller level, you really see these Marines that we were within Now Zad, you see them making progress. They are so into this counterinsurgency mission. They believe in it.
And we would see them in these meetings with the local elders, tribal elders, and hours and hours would go by, sipping tea, small talk, meeting after meeting, and then finally, at the end of the meeting, one of the locals mullahs would say, if you turn off the camera. And then he'd lean in and he'd say, OK, they're planting the IEDs around 6:00 at night and they're using the sheet to disguise it.
CHO: What about, though, you talk about the Marines. And we don't hear much about this, but what are the living conditions like right there right now and how did that affect you?
LAWRENCE: It really depends on what base you're at. I mean, at a big base like Kandahar, believe it or not, it may surprise a lot of people, but you got TGI Friday's just opened up, you got Burger King, Subway. You got volleyball, basketball, a huge gymnasium.
CHO: Yet, and no running water?
LAWRENCE: Well, look, that's Kandahar, that's how some troops are living at Kandahar, at the big base.
At the base we were at, no toilets, no showers. You're taking showers with bottled water, soap up and then you use the bottled water to rinse soup, baby wipes, things like that. The troops have no hot meals. It is all MREs.
But, you know, some of the troops, the Marines especially that we spoke with, that's kind of a point of pride. You know, like we're here on the front line. It's rough out here. And they -- I don't know necessarily that they're, you know, angling to get a Friday's there. I think they like the fact that we are in these rough conditions, we are right out here on the front lines where it's not so easy.
ROBERTS: Yes. Again, great work that you did there. And look forward to you going back again to cover the offensive in Kandahar.
LAWRENCE: Yes. That's coming up two months from now.
CHO: Wow.
ROBERTS: Chris Lawrence, thanks so much.
LAWRENCE: Yes. You're welcome.
ROBERTS: Coming up next on the Most News in the Morning, we want Candy. Candy Crowley joins us coming up to talk about the president's new memo, giving same-sex couples hospital visitation rights, as well as all of the other politics de jure and what's ahead on "STATE OF THE UNION."
Stay with us. Ten minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC)
ROBERTS: We want Candy.
Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. It's 13 minutes after the hour.
A major ruling for President Obama could expand rights for many gay and lesbian couples -- this when it comes to medical visitation. The president is issuing an order to grant hospital visitation to same-sex partners.
CHO: You know, it would also make it easier for gays and lesbians to make health care decisions for their partners when the patients aren't able to.
So, joining us from Washington to look at that and some of the week's other top political stories, Candy Crowley, CNN's chief political correspondent, host of "STATE OF THE UNION."
Hey, Candy. Good morning. Nice to see you.
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
CHO: You know, the president, as you well know, has been under pressure to fight for gay rights. You know, he's made this promise to repeal "don't ask, don't tell," for example. That hasn't happened so -- yet. So, how important is this step?
CROWLEY: I think this is symbolically important. It's such a fundamental human issue in so many ways. When we're talking about being able to be with your partner in a life and death circumstance, I mean, it's such a kind of a fundamental right to, you know, sway people who, you know, obviously, go in with their husband or wife and are able to be there in the final moments.
So, this is, I think, a huge issue that is important to this community in a very symbolic way. And it was sort of an easy one for the president to do because he can sign an executive order and have that happen.
So, it's certainly is an important constituency for the president. Largely, the gay community was supportive, is supportive of Democrats, was supportive of his campaign. And therefore, it is a step.
Now, there are much larger issues that they want to see address, "don't ask, don't tell," certainly, is one of them. So -- but, I think this is an important step because it does have such a human element to it.
ROBERTS: Candy, we've been talking a lot this morning about the Tea Party because they held that big Tea Party Tax Day rally there on Capitol Hill yesterday. We talked with Congressman Walt Minnick, who's the only Democrat that the Tea Party is endorsing in the mid- term elections. You know, when you look at the numbers in support for the president, only 7 percent of Tea Party members support the president and nearly 90 percent oppose him. But, then, at the same time, Scott Brown, who was their candidate in the Massachusetts special election, is distancing himself from the Tea Party because of a couple of votes and not really thrilled at the moment with the whole relationship.
There is this complex relationship between the Tea Party and republicans. What's it all about? Where is it headed.
CROWLEY: Well, I wish I could tell you where it is headed, because republicans would like to know that, too. What they do understand -- and it's interesting, I talked to Governor Haley Barbour of Mississippi last week. And just what we were chatting before we went on camera talking about the Tea Party. And he said, you know, he thought that in many ways the republicans have to do with the Tea Party what he tried to do as head of the Republican Party when the Ross Perot phenomenon came along, which is invite them in and say, you know, you will be heard, we are listening and kind of make them a part of it but not the driving force, because, obviously, there are other elements to the party.
It is easier said than done. I think we are going to know more about whether this helped republicans or hurts republicans once we get past the primary stage. Because obviously, the Tea Party people are putting up a lot of candidates or backing a lot of candidates in these primary races against what are largely more moderate republicans.
If those Tea Party candidates, backed candidates lose, the question is, do the Tea Party voters still go ahead and vote for the Republican? And that, we are just not going to know until November. And it may differ from state to state because this is not exactly a group that's all that cohesive. It tends to be, you know, in one state slightly different than the other state. So it is a little hard to get a grip on, you know, how it is going to go nationwide.
CHO: But it is fun to read the tea leaves, isn't it, Candy.
CROWLEY: It's great.
CHO: So it's kind of - it's crunch time for you. You are trying to nail down guests, putting together the show. So what's coming up on "STATE OF THE UNION" on Sunday.
CROWLEY: We will have Republican leader, Mitch McConnell talking to us. We obviously want to talk about financial reform. He is the face of the opposition. Not even some in his own party think that he is totally on target when it comes to his opposition to some parts of financial reform.
We are also going to have some top level economic experts to read these economic numbers for us. I don't know about you all but every day, a new number comes out and they go, this is good and then the next number comes up, oh, that's not so great. So we are going to try to get a grip on where we are in the economy. Has the recovery started? Does it have staying power, that kind of thing? ROBERTS: Always great to see you. Candy, thanks so much.
CROWLEY: Thank you guys.
ROBERTS: And again, be sure to catch Candy Crowley on "STATE OF THE UNION" this Sunday morning, 9:00 eastern right here on CNN.
CHO: You know a lot of people are graduating from college right now. So what are the job prospects for those college grads? Can you say internship? Could be. Christine Romans is next with that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHO: We are getting started early on this Friday.
ROBERTS: Well when you get up at 2:00 in the morning, happy hour starts at 9:00 a.m.
CHO: That's right.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I don't think that's the work experience I mean when I say put work experience on your resume if you are from the class of 2010.
CHO: There we go.
ROMANS: I'm not sure that's the one.
ROBERTS: Happy hour.
ROMANS: It's not happy hour for me, John.
ROBERTS: Join in.
CHO: It will be in a couple of months.
ROBERTS: Well we could give you a --
ROMANS: A milk martini -
ROBERTS: Something virgin somewhere -
ROMANS: All right, I'm here "Minding Your Business" about the class of 2010.
Folks, if you are in the class of 2010, the bad news is you are competing with some people from the class of 2009 for jobs. But things might be loosening up just a little bit. Last year was a tough year for college grads. It probably won't be as bad this year. This is according to a survey by Challenger Gray & Christmas finding that employers saying it is about 50 percent thinking it is the same as a year ago. Slightly better, 28 percent, worse 12 percent. Or much better rather, 12 percent and worse, 10percent.
I want to talk to you about the best chance of success for your major or degree field. If you are in health care, and by this I mean nursing, physical therapy, pharmacy sciences, medical technician, better chance of getting a job there. Business majors next on line there, 18 percent said they are hiring. Eighteen percent of employers said they are hiring business majors this year. Compute terse, 11 percent. Accounting and finance you can go down the list, you can see liberal arts and education at the bottom of this list.
What employers are saying is they want work experience on a resume. Look, there are 15 million people out there who don't have a job. Twenty five million who are considered underemployed, you may have experience and they'd like a better job. So these 2 million college graduates are competing with all these people. You are going to need some work experience. What qualifies as work experience on there? Internships, the number one thing. Internships. And we are seeing college graduates signing up for summer and fall unpaid internships to get work experience on the resume. Part-time jobs, volunteer, class work and school organizations round out that list.
CHO: Incredible.
ROBERTS: The place to be, no doubt.
ROMANS: Yes, with medical technicians, labs, and physical therapy, anything like that are really doing well right now.
ROBERTS: Not happy hour for them, too busy working.
ROMANS: No.
ROBERTS: Thanks Christine.
President Obama's ambitious space program, kill the constellation program, but still, shooting for mars at some point. How realistic is it? We are going to ask former astronauts May Jemisoa and Robert Springer. Coming right up, stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: From colorful costumes to compellingly device narratives, and of course, the occasional (EXPLETIVE DELETED) idiot -
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- our country died.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Obama lied our country died, worst Dr. Seuss book ever.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Welcome back it is time for an "A.M. Original." Something that you will see only on AMERICAN MORNING.
He has been the darling of the Tea Party movement but his conservatives flexed their political muscle this week. Massachusetts Republican Senator, Scott Brown, was noticeably absent from the Tea Party proceedings. CHO: And it is Friday, maybe he is saying, thanks but no thanks to the people who helped get him elected. So the question is, why? Well, it's time for a gut check every Friday. Carol Costello goes behind the headlines for a little perspective. She is in Washington for us.
Hey, Carol, good morning, so what's going on?
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning.
Tea Party leaders are not shy when it comes to bragging. They have real political clout. Proof positive, Republican Scott Brown who wanted Blue Massachusetts, thanks in part to Tea Party support. So why didn't senator Brown show up at the Tea Party rallies this week? We figure it is time for a gut check.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO (voice-over): The Tea Party Express blew into Washington brash as ever.
REP. MICHELE BACHMANN (R), MINNESOTA: We're onto this gangster government, and I say it's time for these little piggies to go home.
COSTELLO: That's Conservative favorite, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann.
Sarah Palin gave a shout-out too in Boston, but Senator Scott Brown, who some say owes his Senate seat to the Tea Party Movement, was a no show.
He was busy.
SEN. SCOTT BROWN (R), MASSACHUSETTS: We have votes that we're working on, obviously, and, you know, that's my job, and I'm here doing exactly what members of the Tea Party and others sent me here to do.
COSTELLO: Some political observers say, really? Brown couldn't spare five minutes for the Tea Partiers? Where's the love?
LARRY SABATO, PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: I think that the Tea Party may be more in love with Scott Brown than Scott Brown is in love with it anymore.
COSTELLO: Larry Sabato and others say Brown is tip toeing away from the Tea Party because it may cost him reelection in 2012.
Tea Party favorites Palin and Bachmann are beloved by the far right, but not so much in Brown's district, and some of those signs do not play well in a district once represented by liberal lion Ted Kennedy.
PROF. JEFFREY BERRY, TUFTS UNIVERSITY: They want us to be just Conservative enough to attract Tea Party voters and not so Conservative as to drive away Moderates. That's a subtle dance. It's difficult to do. You open yourself up to criticism.
COSTELLO: And Brown has done that. He broke with most Republicans and voted for the February jobs bill, and he refused to go along with a Republican filibuster over extended unemployment benefits.
Fans on his Facebook page went ballistic, calling Brown a hypocrite, a sellout and a fiscal Conservative my (BLEEP).
Oddly, though, Tea Party reaction to Brown's no show at this week's rallies in Massachusetts was muted.
MARK WILLIAMS, CHAIRMAN, TEA PARTY EXPRESS 3: I'm not going to ask him to postpone hearings on nuclear bombs to come talk to folks in, you know, in his own district. It's hardly a snub.
COSTELLO: Sabato says that's smart. Tea Party leaders know Brown is widely considered a Republican hero. He's a face the Tea Party needs as an example of its political might.
SABATO: The Tea Party will never do better, you know? He's -- he's so good looking. He's a centerfold. They'll never do better.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Well Scott Brown voted for some things the Tea Party movement objected to. He also voted no on health care reform. Williams says, he will take that. He will take voting the way of the Tea Party movement 75 percent of the time. It is better than 0 percent of the time. Funny thing is, some Democrats would agree.
CHO: Carol Costello, live in Washington for us with a gut check. Carol, thank you.
COSTELLO: Sure.
CHO: Thirty minutes after the hour. That means it is time for this morning's top stories.
One of the biggest travel nightmares ever this morning, ash from a spectacular eruption of the volcano in Iceland is spreading over Europe and closing more and more airports. Airlines literally around the world have canceled flights to the continent, including hundreds of flights from the United States.
ROBERTS: More than 200 coal mines across the state of West Virginia are stopping production today to review safety procedures and also to honor the 29 miners who were killed earlier this month. Governor Joe Manchin order the one-day shut down. He wants inspectors to reexamine mines with the greatest risk to explosions similar to the one that took all those lives at the Upper Big Branch mine.
CHO: And turn in your tasers. That's the order from California's Bay Area Rapid Transit district after it says its officers need more training. A federal court judge recently tightened laws on when police can use stun guns. The move comes just two weeks after a BART officer fired his taser at a 13-year-old boy. He wasn't actually hit.
ROBERTS: When it comes to NASA, President Obama is seeing red, as in the red planet, Mars. He wants to kill the space agency's Constellation program, which was going to go to the moon, and scrap plans for a manned mission to mars, instead using private corporations to develop spacecraft to take us into low earth orbit while concentrating NASA's efforts on heavy lift rockets that one day, we're talking 20 years from now, could take us deeper into space and maybe to the red planet.
Joining me to discuss whether this is the right direction for NASA to take, Mae Jemison, the first African-American woman to travel in space. That was back in 1992. She was the at president's speech yesterday. And former astronaut Robert Springer, who has flown on both the Discovery and the Atlanta shuttles.
Great to see both of you folks. Mae, let's start with you. First of all, your reaction to the president canceling the Constellation program, dismissing a return to the moon by saying we have already been there.
MAE JEMISON, FORMER NASA ASTRONAUT: We have to separate the concept of the Constellation program from human space exploration. I believe what we are doing is to say, let's go further. Eventually reaching the moon again has not gone away, but we are saying, let's move further. Let's go out to Mars now.
I think cancelation of Constellation frees up the space program to do a number of other things. In fact, it frees us up to try to produce a vehicle that will have more capability and capacity to support future space flight endeavors outside of our orbit.
ROBERTS: Bob Springer, do you agree with that? I asked the question in the context of three very famous astronauts, Neil Armstrong, Jim Lovell, and Gene Cernan sent a letter to the president describing the cancellation of the Constellation as "devastating," one that, quote, "destines our nation for second and even third-rate stature"?
ROBERT SPRINGER, FORMER NASA ASTRONAUT: John, I think that's a little bit overstated, with all due respect to those three famous men who have been pioneers in the space flight field.
But I think, for one thing, Mars has always been part of the stated goal. It was to go to the moon as a precursor but the destination has always been Mars.
And I think that's one of the things that I object to just in general with what the president stated yesterday. It was a wonderful speech, but I didn't see that much real new other than the cancellation of project Constellation and a lot of promises that, quite honestly with the budget he has proposed, I don't think are realistic. ROBERTS: Maybe Neil Armstrong left something up there he wanted somebody to pick up. We don't know.
JEMISON: Let me just say hello to Bob. I haven't seen him in a while.
But I think one of the issues that we see in this country is the fact that funding is not committed continuously. So what the budget, the proposal does this time, is it actually continues to fund basic science research and the technology development in NASA, which the Constellation program had really cannibalized and was also underfunded.
And what we have to make any of these programs successful is commit to a program of funding over a long period of time and actually have Congress fund it rather than sort of saying this year we will not give you money for that, cut something else out but still do something wonderful. We have to commit to them funding long-term.
ROBERTS: In fact, this increases NASA's budget by $6 million over five years, so a little more than $1 billion a year. The new plans are to ramp up robotic exploration, extend the life of the international space station.
And this is really interesting too, Bob -- work with private companies to develop new spacecraft, a private/public partnership. We see Richard Branson heavily involved in near-space exploration. But do you think a private/public partnership is something that could work for going further into space?
SPRINGER: I think long-term, John, it is a great idea to do that. And I spent nearly 20 years in that sector doing those kinds of things.
The problem is that when you try and get that public partnership going, you only have one customer. That's NASA. The Richard Branson thing aside, that's a very limited applicability. And so when you're talking about the long term programs and all that, NASA is still the only customer out there that's going to foot the bill.
And I can't see any of major aerospace companies investing the billions of dollars of their own capital when there is only one customer. The business plan doesn't close for that.
The other thing which is something to tag on to something Mae said. And Mae, hi. It has been awhile. Building technology without a real goal and without a plan doesn't make sense. We have been doing for way too long.
That was the one advantage of Constellation -- I'm not trying to sell Constellation. People smarter than I am can decide whether that is right or wrong approach. But just trying to gather together a set of technology with no real plan in mind, again, from the business standpoint, that doesn't sell.
It is a kind of, if you build it, they will come approach, and I don't think we can afford that in today's economy.
ROBERTS: You know, Mae, retiring the shuttle fleet leaves us basically out of the space business. We can put satellites up in the sky, but we don't have a heavy lift booster. The Russians still have the Soirs (ph) booster. They are working on the Angara booster which will come out in 2015.
"Time" magazine summed it up this way on the president's speech, "He may have succeeded only in applying very, very pretty lipstick to what remains, alas, a pig."
JEMISON: Let's do two things. We have to separate -- the shuttle was slated to retire and that came about as a decision six years ago. And so what we have to do is to separate that out. We were always going to have this lag where we are going to be dependent upon the Russians.
I think as any astronaut would, we would like to have the United States have continuous capacity to put people in orbit. But that was not going to happen. That was always a lag.
What we have to do now is say, how do we best support the future? There is a plan. There are plans to go to other bodies to be able to get astronauts to fly in other locations. So it is not that there isn't a plan.
I think what we are looking at now is a plan that doesn't have the single focus with only this one focus or goal in terms of human exploration but doing an optimal balance with robotic exploration.
And I want to go back one other thing about the commercial aspect.
ROBERTS: Quickly, if you could.
JEMISON: We want to have space as a platform. So are there ways to get people who are physiologists, geologists, other folks who are not tied to NASA's budget up in space to be able to use that as a platform? That is the other commercial partner kind of issue we will look at, the access to weightlessness.
ROBERTS: A lot of people worried about the idea we are going to stick our thumb out to hitch a ride to the space station for at least the foreseeable future. Mae Jemison, Bob Springer, great to talk to you this morning. Thanks so much.
JEMISON: Thank you.
SPRINGER: Thanks, John.
CHO: We've got a news flash for your this morning -- people don't know how to eat. Apparently, people don't know how to eat. Jamie Oliver, that celebrity chef, he has a show called "Food Revolution." He went into West Virginia which has a high obesity rate, he went into schools. He went into homes. It's an incredible really look at how America doesn't eat right and how we should be eating better. Sanjay, as you see there, talked to him. He talked to Jamie Oliver. We are going to bring you that interview next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHO: Welcome back to the Most News in the Morning. We are shining the spotlight on remarkable acts of service. They are our CNN heroes. This morning, I want to introduce you to Dan Wallrath. He's building homes for wounded veterans.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Baghdad ended up being a difficult ride. I sustained a very severe blast injury. My life just came to a complete halt.
DAN WALLRATH, COMMUNITY CRUSADER: How you doing? How is everything? You look sharp today.
I have been building custom homes for 30 years. One of the most important things for a family is a home.
I want you to read a sign for me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Future home of Sergeant Alexander Reyes, United States Army.
WALLRATH: Congratulations!
(APPLAUSE)
Giving these folks a new home means the world.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just thank you. That's all I can say.
WALLRATH: My name is Dan Wallrath. Five years ago, I had a friend of mine call me, a friend of his, his son had been injured in Iraq.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the day after he graduated from boot camp.
WALLRATH: He showed me some pictures. His son was a big, strapping marine. Then he showed me pictures of Steven in the hospital. It just broke my heart.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Steven was wheelchair-bound. We were going to have to remodel. I had no idea how I was going to pay for it. Dan just said we are going to take care of it.
WALLRATH: We remodeled that home. And I realized this is not an isolated case. So I went back to my builder buddies and said we've got to do something. We build homes for returning heroes from Iraq or Afghanistan. The houses are mortgage free. It changes the whole family's life and gives them a new start so they can move forward. These young men and women are doing this for you and me. How could I not help them?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS: Well, cooler, wetter weather moving in to parts of the northeast in particular. Our Rob Marciano is checking in on all of it. He has the forecast coming up for you right after this. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Well, if you're planning on shaking one up in Miami a little later on today, you've got a beautiful day to do it. Right now, it's cloudy and 76 degrees. Although it does looks there's a lot of sunshine out there, later on today, partly cloudy with a high of 79.
You know, they call it The Sunshine State. But really, you can call it the partly cloudy state. It is partly cloudy literally every day.
CHO: Yes and when the rain comes down, it really comes down for about 15 minutes then it clears up.
Anyway, I want to get the travel forecast, Rob Marciano in Atlanta with a look at that. Hey, Rob good morning.
MARCIANO: Good morning, Alina. Hi again, John.
South of Florida, much of Florida actually should be partly cloudy to mostly sunny today where you're going to see the rain and the rain come down. Well, at times moderately hard will be across parts of the northeast.
This cool front trying to push eastward; where you see the red, that's where we expect to see the threat for severe weather later on this afternoon.
Right now, we are just seeing the rain kind of bump up around this ridge that's been keeping everybody else nice and that's in Texas. So you're going to see -- you're going to see rain again today.
Kansas City then Chicago, just a light rain for now but that's the leading edge of that front that's going to push across parts of Pennsylvania, which is clear right now.
And then on the northern part of this thing where the warm front is trying to push through, some showers and cool weather across parts of the northeast.
Look at the difference between New York's high of 60 forecast and 84 degrees in D.C., so partly cloudy there, certainly in the warm sector. And then the cool air dries down to the south and east.
Pollen still remains in the extreme category. Eastern -- southeastern third of the country and southwestern third, I should say, as well.
And travel delays today in New York City, Metro, wind a little bit of showers. Wind potentially in D.C. and of course, what's going on over there in Europe. Flight cancellations abound because of the ash aftermath and this volcano.
We are seeing a little bit of a change in the weather pattern. But all in all, U.K. and certainly Scandinavia is going to be affected for the next several days. Southern Europe may get a bit of a break but right now, a lot of ash in the air and that is not good for airplanes. So we'll be covering that story certainly throughout the day today.
John and Alina back up to you.
ROBERTS: Thanks so much, Rob.
CHO: The celebrity chef, Jamie Oliver has a show out called "Food Revolution" where he goes into the public schools and goes into the homes of people in West Virginia where they have a fairly high obesity rate.
Sometimes, you know, they welcome him with open arms. Other times they don't. They are a little skeptical of what he is doing there. But at any rate, he walked around with our Sanjay Gupta.
And we're going to bring you that interview next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHO: Are you ready for a food revolution? Well, celebrity chef and bestselling author, Jamie Oliver, wants to change the way you eat.
ROBERTS: CNN's chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta sat down with Oliver in this morning's "Fit Nation" report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JAMIE OLIVER, CELEBRITY CHEF: This is one of America's dark moments in health, especially with children. You know, they say that this is the first generation of kids expected to live a shorter life span --
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes.
OLIVER: -- than their own parents.
Obesity going through the roof and all the other kind of diet- related illnesses and yet, you know, in schools we really need them to have nourishing food, cooked on site, local if at all possible and -- and also be taught to cook ten recipes --
GUPTA: Right.
OLIVER: -- to save their life.
GUPTA: People talk about childhood obesity a lot. President Clinton has looked into this obviously. A lot of organizations have tried to address this. I have to tell you, even here at CNN, we really have taken this on as well.
It seems tough. And it seems touch, because people don't want to listen. And they all know a lot of stuff what you are saying. How -- how -- first of all, why do you think you're going to get through and how do you do it?
OLIVER: I think being a foreigner in this country and having a totally clear, unbiased opinion of anything; you know, you can walk into a situation and sort of evaluate it. And what I'm getting from people is they do want help, they just want quick, easy tools and they want to be shown very clearly how to do it.
GUPTA: Well, that's a perfect segue. So you're -- you called yourself an outsider coming to the United States looking in. Again, if people want to do the right thing and want to do right about their own body, their children's bodies, who is wearing the black hat in all of this? Is it the food industry or fast food?
I mean, I know -- everyone says, look, everyone is to blame. But you --
OLIVER: I have changed my views. Five years ago I would have given you a long list of people that I would love to slap about, right and disappear off of the face of the earth. And that would be very immature sort of way to deal with the black hat guys.
These brands, these logos are loved. You know, and I say my grown-up attitude has gone from being much more activist, to -- well, you can activist and burn things down all you like, but they aren't going nowhere.
So really, I believe that everyone is part of the solution.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHO: He's absolutely right.
You know, you could see more of Sanjay's interview with Jamie Oliver this weekend. They even have some cheap and healthy dinnertime ideas. That's "GUPTA, M.D.", Saturday and Sunday, 7:30 a.m., Eastern Time.
ROBERTS: Well, there's a huge market for it in this country. Not that I'd known anything about it, how about you?
CHO: Of course not.
ROBERTS: The porn industry, always seeking new avenues for marketing. Well, how about porn you can touch for people who can't see.
Jeanne Moos has got the story coming right up. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Well, time now for "The Moost News in the Morning". A Supreme Court justice once famously said that he couldn't define pornography but I know it when I see it.
CHO: Yes, that's famous, you know. But what happens when you can't see it? We have something for you. Here is Jeanne Moos with porn for the blind.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There plenty of racy pictures for people who can see. But if you are blind, this may be the only way to cop a feel. Raised images of naked bodies with Braille descriptions alongside; some of it are calling it porn for the blind.
But its creator, Canadian Lisa Murphy, has another term.
LISA MURPHY, CREATOR, PORN FOR THE BLIND: I call it nudy pictures.
MOOS: The book is called "Tactile Mind" and lots of folks might mind if we showed the raised image on the cover. But inside things are far tamer.
KEVIN COUGHLIN, BLIND MAN: It's a torso, right?
MOOS: Yes.
But most of these torsos are wearing rabbit ears or elephant masks. As one critic joked --
GREG PROOPS, ACTOR/COMEDIAN: Those were clearly Abyssinian drawings taken from the palace than Nebuchadnezzar built. And they're only a turn on if you're wearing a braided beard and riding a goat with golden horns on it.
MOOS: Actually they're wearing masks because it was easier for Murphy to get her friends to pose nude if their faces were covered.
MURPHY: I'm actually in the book as well, itself --
MOOS: Oh, you are?
MURPHY: Yes, but you can't tell who I am.
MOOS: Murphy used to be a volunteer at the Canadian National Institute for the Blind. She spent two years and $14,000 making this book.
MOOS: What does it say?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You are going to have to learn Braille.
MOOS: Is it supposed to be arousing?
MURPHY: It has aroused a few people.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My gut feeling when I looked at that for just a second was like, A, it's hilarious, and B, that's it, like I don't have any other reaction to it.
MOOS: The masks seem to throw off our blind testers.
COUGHLIN: It feels square.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I hope to God it is a camera or television.
MOOS: It isn't sexy.
MURPHY: Well, maybe not for you.
COUGHLIN: To me, it is very cold and sterile.
MOOS: Kevin Coughlin it turns out is gay and I have been giving him nude women to explore. But he felt the same way about the male images.
"Tactile Mind" was a labor of love for Lisa Murphy. Her homemade book sells for $225. She sold fewer than a 100 copies of what she calls nudy pictures.
MURPHY: Other people have been calling it crap, but you know --
MOOS: Porn for the blind? You have to feel it to believe it.
Jeanne Moos, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHO: Well, that's one way to make money.
ROBERTS: I guess.
That's going to wrap it up for us. Thanks so much for joining us on this Friday morning. We'll see you back here bright and early again on Monday.
CHO: Now here's "CNN NEWSROOM" with Kyra Phillips.
Hey, Kyra, good morning.
