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Obama: Time to Reform Immigration; Ex-EPA Lawyer Describes BP as "Serial Environmental Criminal"
Aired July 01, 2010 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Well we turn to our "Crime and Consequence" today, and we are talking about the case of Russian spying. Nine accused of spying, they were all in court today; their homes had been raided earlier this week. Bail hearings in federal courts in three cities -- Boston, New York, Alexandria, Virginia. They're all accused of taking part in a long-term spying mission against the U.S.
And there's another suspect who is over in Cyprus. You see his picture there. He was the alleged paymaster who dealt with all the funding for this group. He's released on bail there. He was told not to leave the country and he was told he had to check in nightly. He didn't check in last night.
Another suspect, Anna Chapman, now she is the Russian redhead, you've probably seen her pictures around here and there. She has already been denied bail. The Russian Foreign Ministry calls the accusations unfounded.
CNN senior international correspondent Matthew Chance is live for us in Moscow with reaction. And just how strongly is Moscow -- how strongly are they responding right now to what they're seeing happen and being accused of literally spying on the U.S.?
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, at first they reacted pretty strongly saying that these were baseless allegations against these individuals, saying that they were intended to essentially, you know, kind of undermine the diplomatic political progress that has been made by the Obama administration and Moscow in rebuilding some of the political bridges between the two former Cold War enemies.
But since then, they've been down playing the situation somewhat. There's not been many official comments and, you know, they're basically hoping that this is just going to go away and the countries can get on with rebuilding their relationship, T.J.
HOLMES: And, Matthew, did I hear you right? They're not necessarily defending or not necessarily denying anything, but more so just trying to avoid the conversation right now?
CHANCE: Yes. I mean, it's interesting, they haven't categorically come out and said, you know, these people that you've arrested are definitely not spies for us. They left that a bit ambiguous.
But what everyone is emphasizing here in terms of officials and analysts that we talked to is the timing of all this. They're not talking about, you know, what these people did. They're talking about why these people were arrested right now.
And the theory here in Moscow is that this is all about hawks in the administration in Washington and the security establishments perhaps from the Cold War era that don't want to see President Obama rebuild its relationship, become closer to Moscow, but instead want to derail that. And this is a message is the speculation in Moscow from those security official hawks to the Obama administration.
HOLMES: Well, fascinating story. Matthew Chance for us in Moscow -- we appreciate you today. Thanks so much.
Well, we're coming up to the top of the hour. And we are coming up on a new rundown for you as well.
People out there are frustrated, they saying the system is broken. President Obama is summing up the state of immigration reform in the country that way. He says it's time to move forward. But are Americans ready to follow the president on this one.
Also, violating environmental laws, softening its safety rules and treating the government as a pest? Just some of the allegations being leveled at BP, and they don't even stem from the current Gulf disaster. Our Special Investigations Unit does some digging for us.
Also, how many times have you heard the phrase, "Come on, it's just soccer"? Well, don't tell that to the rest of the world. We'll tell you why in today's "XYZ."
But, first, the president's push for immigration reform today. The president spoke just a short time ago, gave a speech on immigration reform. Kind of laid out, not a big policy push some are saying, but at least laying out some of the things he'd like to see in there. He talked about it just a little while ago.
And now, we'll see where it goes. He admitted that, in fact, yes, we're talking about it now because of what we saw happened in Arizona. We've seen more immigration stories in the headlines here lately. And maybe it's time now to act.
Take a listen to the president from just a bit ago.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We need to do more. We should make it easier for the best and brightest to come and start businesses and develop products and create jobs. Our laws should respect families following the rules instead of splitting them apart.
We need to provide farms, a legal way, to hire the workers they rely on, and a path for those workers to earn legal status. And we should stop punishing innocent young people for the actions of their parents by denying them the chance to stay here and earn an education and contribute their talents to build the country where they've grown up. The DREAM Act would do this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: All right. So, how do Americans feel about immigration right now?
Take a look at one of the latest CNN polls. We asked the question: what should the U.S. policy be focused on? Thirty-eight percent say it should be focused on allowing illegal immigrants to become citizens. While another 60 percent say the focus should be on deporting and barring illegal immigrants.
Also, the controversial Arizona illegal immigration law -- 57 percent in our poll say they favor that Arizona law. Another 37 percent say they oppose it.
Let me bring in CNN's Jessica Yellin, joining me now from New York, and GOP strategist Leslie Sanchez, joining me from D.C.
Ladies, good to see you both.
Jessica, let me start with you. Why immigration, why here, why now?
JESSICA YELLIN, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, there are actually three degrees. One, T.J., is because the president vowed that he would get it done in 2009. So, that deadline has already passed. That's what he said during the campaign. And a number of Hispanic groups have been outraged and agitating for action. So, there's one.
Two, is the Arizona law as you point out, that goes into effect. It also goes into effect that it's passed. But it's not in effect yet. It goes into effect at the end of this month.
And we're expecting when the federal government sues over that law, will be in the next few weeks, around the time it goes into effect. So, that's going to be a flash point and he wants to lay down a marker on where he stands before that lawsuit would go forward.
And three, let's face it, because it's an election year, this is a huge issue. And they need to also lay in their ground work so that they can bring this forward as the campaigns progress in November.
HOLMES: Well, Leslie, you heard her list there, and listed number three as politics. A lot would say that's -- would say that's the number one reason. What does the president get out of today's speech? What does he lose possibly moving forward to the midterms?
LESLIE SANCHEZ, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Very interesting, I think Jessica is right on point. That is the most important element that came out of this. This was a political speech for political purposes. He's certainly losing a lot of support among key Democratic Hispanic leaders, associations.
There's a bipartisan coalition of Latinos with strong voices in this country who want to see immigration reform, from Republicans and Democrats. They're frustrated with the parties not working together. The president had to show leadership.
The problem is, the president said this before. And I think there's a lot of distrust and a lot of wondering if the president is doing more political -- for political purposes than real results.
HOLMES: Now, Leslie, you --
SANCHEZ: The gamut --
HOLMES: Yes. It sounds like you said there, you believe that was solely a political speech. Did you not get any policy push out of this?
SANCHEZ: You know, the truth is, for people that have covered immigration for a long time and followed this president even through the campaign, this is more of the same. There wasn't anything really new here.
The big differences that Jessica has alluded to are Arizona, the states who are in a position of crisis. They need reform. You're seeing more border patrol agents and resources there.
But there is not the type of border enforcement push that I think a lot of conservatives would like to see. You talk about political gains and losers. If the president is sincere in moving these efforts forward, he will find allies among Republicans. We want to see something done.
HOLMES: Go ahead, Jessica. Go ahead.
YELLIN: T.J., both sides -- both sides are playing politics here and that's not surprising. I mean, as the president pointed out in his speech, there was a group of Republicans who came forward for comprehensive immigration reform before he was president, when George Bush was president, and they're nowhere to be found on the issue now. That's because it's become such a troubled issue in an election environment where both sides are so on edge. No one wants to really touch it.
And because of the Arizona law, T.J., what we're going to see happen is more and more states try to take on this issue independently. And Democrats are calling on the president to show leadership nationally, so that there is a national policy and states aren't acting on their own. But, you know, you need both -- you need two to tango and he's trying to find a way for Republican to come to the table. Both sides are polarized. It's tough.
HOLMES: Well, you mentioned, Arizona -- a lot of talk about Arizona and maybe being the impetus for the president kicking this off today. So, let's listen to the part the president had to say today about Arizona.
YELLIN: Yes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: Into this breach, states like Arizona have decided to take matters into their own hands. Now, given the levels of frustration across the country, this is understandable. But it is also ill-conceived.
And it's not just that the law Arizona passed is divisive -- although it has fanned the flames of an already contentious debate. Laws like Arizona's put huge pressures on local law enforcement to enforce rules that ultimately are unenforceable. It puts pressure on already hard-strapped state and local budgets. It makes it difficult for people here illegally to report crimes, driving a wedge between communities and law enforcement, making our streets more dangerous, and the jobs of our police officers more difficult.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Well, Leslie, we showed our own poll a little earlier, 57 percent agree with the Arizona law. So, listening to this speech today, those Democrats and Republicans who are going to have to run for reelection here in a couple of months, who are the ones who heard the president today and say all right, I've got an issue to run on? And who are the ones saying, oh, Lord, I've got to talk about immigration now?
SANCHEZ: There's a little bit of that in both parties to be truthful about that. What the president did not say is it puts -- Arizona puts pressure on the federal government in the same way that a lot of state measures in 1994, the early part of the '90s did, that ultimately led to immigration reform of 1996.
States are the incubators for ideas. They're looking for responses. Some will work, some will not.
But ultimately, it's forcing the president's hand to take some sort of action. Is it the actions Republicans want? There's not enough on border enforcement, those dollars have actually been going down. While other areas of technology or boots on the ground, have gone up, for example.
They're going to have to come up with a compromise. Republicans understand this is the hot -- a very hot controversial issue, but the controversial parts relate to status of the undocumented and citizenship.
Is it going to be blanket amnesty? I don't think there's an appetite for that. But quite honestly, among Republicans or Democrat, but it's yet to be seen.
HOLMES: And, Jessica, you uncover plenty, Democrats and Republicans up there on the Hill. Who do you think is going to be receptive to this debate right now?
YELLIN: Well, the Democratic leadership will be receptive, and it's going to remain a polarized debate. I mean, there's not -- there's not a lot of evidence, T.J., that this is really going to move a legislation forward on the Hill.
The best chances Dana Bash has been reporting -- the best chance Democrats have of passing anything would take -- to be talking piecemeal elements of a larger plan and just try to pass little elements like letting kids of immigrants go to college here, the DREAM Act or special program allowing agricultural workers who are here to stay.
But to do a whole comprehensive package, no one really expects that to get done this year. The environment is just too difficult.
HOLMES: And I'll let you wrap it up. I saw you nodding your head there, Leslie. I'll let you wrap it up and I'll let you both go.
SANCHEZ: Well, we've talked about the DREAM Act for a long time. I mean, even when you get into details like that, like allowing students to have access to in-state tuition, you know, if they're undocumented students, there's a lot of good students who have been here their whole lives and want that opportunity. But it goes down the slippery slope of now, do they now get access to federal financial aid and all those other areas in detail that have yet to be discussed.
There's not an easy solution. The president is going to have to lay more political capital and probably a lot more speeches to show he's sincere in this effort.
HOLMES: All right. Leslie Sanchez and our Jessica Yellin, ladies good to see you both. Thanks so much. Enjoy the rest of your day.
SANCHEZ: Thank you.
YELLIN: Thank you.
HOLMES: Well, BP, do you think they really needed another black eye? CNN has learned now the company is trying to close down a special unit created to address safety concerns -- more on that from our Special Investigation Unit. That's next.
Stay here.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: There it is -- day 73 now of this oil disaster.
Tropical storm Alex and it's still crippling much of the cleanup, it's turning turned its way across the Gulf after it did turn its way across the Gulf, went from a hurricane down to a tropical storm again. But still, it's kicking up big winds, rough seas through the clean-up zone. Of course, that is causing a problem.
The surface skimming, the controlled burn, the aerial spraying of dispersants -- all had to be put on hold because of the waves and the winds being kicked up. A big section of boom is also being damaged. Even containment and collection at the broken wellhead being compromised a bit.
Now, just a short time ago, just a moment ago, really, we heard from the government's point man.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ADM. THAD ALLEN, NATIONAL INCIDENT COMMANDER: The hurricane passed by, generated some swells and weather up towards the well site. That required us to delay bringing on board the third production vessel, the Helix Producer, which we thought we would have on line by today.
We will need about three days after the weather calms to less than three to five feet for that vessel to be able to hook up to the flexible coupling that would be required to do. So, we're looking at somewhere around mid-week next week to bring the third production vessel on line and it will bring our capacity up to 53,000 barrels per day.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: And Admiral Thad Allen, he's officially retired from the Coast Guard, official happened yesterday. But, of course, he's still staying on to handle this incident. He's the national incident commander for the oil disaster.
For the past four years, BP has paid for an internal watch dog unit created under congressional pressure in the wake of BP oil spills in Alaska and a devastating fire and explosion at its refinery in Texas City, Texas. This was so-called ombudsman unit. It's supposed to investigate worker complaints about safety and other issue and then get BP to do something about it. That's what it's supposed to do in theory.
The reality, CNN has learned that BP is actively trying to eliminate the unit, even though the company has promised in writhing it will exist for at least another year. That is just the tip of the iceberg as our Drew Griffin found of our Special Investigations Unit.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SPECIAL INVESTIGATION UNIT: For 26 years, Jeanne Pascal was a lawyer for the Environmental Protection Agency, investigating and helping to prosecute some of the worst environmental polluters in the northwest, including oil companies in Alaska. And the worst of the worst, she says, is British Petroleum.
(on camera): You describe BP as a serial environmental criminal.
JEANNE PASCAL, FMR. EPA ATTORNEY: I have.
GRIFFIN: Do you believe that?
PASCAL: I do.
GRIFFIN (voice-over): BP has pled guilty to illegally discharging oil in Alaska and also faces a criminal complaint, alleging it violated clean air and water laws. Pascal retired earlier this year, so she is now free to speak out about a company she says reportedly violates environmental laws.
PASCAL: From my perspective, BP has, for a long time, been a company that is interested in profits first and foremost, safety and health and environment are subjugated to profit-making and I do not think that it's changed.
GRIFFIN: In congressional hearings after the fatal explosion at BP's Texas refinery in 2005, lawmakers asked BP's then CEO: "Did workers warn about safety issues at the plant?" He said they had not. There were questions about whether they feared retaliation or speaking up.
(on camera): Bottom line: after pressure from lawmakers, BP opened an independent ombudsman office to manage and hear the safety concerns of its workers. It's run by a former federal judge, just not here in Alaska.
It's a very small office, tucked away inside this office building here in Washington, D.C. But British Petroleum has been running this employee complaints program for several years.
(voice-over): The independent former judge who runs the unit refused to comment to CNN.
Michigan Congressman Bart Stupak was one of those who pressured BP.
(on camera): They tell the reason that office came to fruition was because of safety.
REP. BART STUPAK (D), MICHIGAN: It was because of safety, yes. And safety concerns continue yet today.
GRIFFIN (voice-over): Since the ombudsman office opened, 112 BP workers have come forward to file reports; 35 of them deal with, quote, "system integrity or safety issues." And the ombudsman office says they are extremely serious.
But keeping them honest, sources close to the ombudsman office tells CNN, BP doesn't like it and its independent investigators, and that it doesn't like employees reporting safety problems outside the company.
A union representative says some BP workers who complained have faced retaliation. Jeanne Pascal agrees.
PASCAL: Many of the employees who have actually reported safety, health, environmental and safety issues, particularly in Alaska, have been retaliated against, they've been demoted, they've been terminated, and they've also been blackballed.
GRIFFIN: A BP spokesman tells CNN the company has, quote, a "zero tolerance" policy regarding retaliation. The company, he says, is unaware of any unresolved cases that violate the policy.
And there's this: not long after he took over as chairman of BP America, Lamar McKay met with Congressman Stupak.
STUPAK: One of the first things Mr. McKay said was, I'm going to replace the ombudsman. I want to shut her down. We asked, what do you mean? He wasn't even on the job, but a few weeks, maybe a month or two, and start wanting to shut down the ombudsman. We encouraged him not to do so.
GRIFFIN (on camera): Doesn't it stun you he would make that remark?
STUPAK: Yes, it did. We were shocked he would bring it up in the first meeting, and then second meeting we had with them. The logic was, well, we'll make things better. Well, we don't see --
GRIFFIN: Their logic was "Trust us"?
STUPAK: Trust us.
GRIFFIN: You don't?
STUPAK: No.
GRIFFIN (voice-over): BP has said it can do a good job investigating complaints through an established internal system without the ombudsman's office.
PASCAL: I think at some point a reasonable person has to come to the conclusion that this is a company that has no intention of changing its mode of operation, that the dollar is going to be paramount, and that the health, safety, and safety of American workers and the American environment are a secondary or tertiary concern.
GRIFFIN: Before the Deepwater Horizon disaster, BP promised Stupak in writing that its watchdog unit would be in place for at least another year. But a source inside the ombudsman's office tells CNN, "Frankly, I'm surprised we're still here."
Drew Griffin, CNN, Seattle.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: And coming up next: kids learning about alternative energy at school, in classrooms that are powered by the sun -- the city that hopes to become the greenest school district in America. That's next.
Stay here.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Taking a look at a couple of stories that are making headlines.
Toyota is checking into reports of engine problems involving about 270,000 of its vehicles. The automaker says the vehicles could stall while in motion, but it hasn't said whether it will issue a recall here. The problem involves seven Lexus models and one Toyota model. The company says no accidents have been linked to the problem.
Also, lawmakers are paying their final respects today to Senator Robert Byrd of West Virginia. His body lay in repose in the Senate chamber. Byrd died Monday at the age of 92. He was the nation's longest serving member of Congress.
As BP focuses on cleaning up the Gulf, analysts say its tumbling stock could make it a possible target of a takeover. BP's stock has lost more than 50 percent since the April 20th rig explosion that killed 11 workers. Oil industry analysts say that's enough to make it attractive, not just to individual investors but a potential parent companies.
Well, the oil gush into the Gulf has many people calling for energy alternatives. California's largest school district, Los Angeles Unified, is making a major step in that direction. Despite threats of teacher layoffs and slashed programs, new measures are paying for everything from solar panels to gardens and students are learning new, invaluable lessons -- and that is today's "One Simple Thing."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: LAUSD is the second largest school district in the country. And we're looking to be the greenest school district in America.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: LAUSD has hundreds and hundred s of acres of land. Much of it asphalted and much of it is concrete. We've had a year-long effort to increase the number of gardens in our schools.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's bringing learning. It's bringing modification. It's bringing jobs and it's just really smart on how to spend money.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You remember Joe from the restaurant. We need to harvest all these beautiful onions, because he's been taking the onions to his restaurant and cooking with them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In this time of change and this time of budgetary challenges, getting to yes is even more important, because it is so easy for us to say no to innovation.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: LAUSD is 91 percent kids of color, 77 percent kids of poverty.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This garden here at Verando (ph) is one of the newest ones. It was reclaimed from an area that was largely unused.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: First, this was just cement a couple of years ago. There wasn't really much life here. But now, a lot of creatures have homes here.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I like to see them crawl around. They each have their own personality.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You get to see bugs you like in the garden instead of on the floor or the streets. And instead of wasting your money in market, you get to have vegetables here and cut them yourself.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are installing solar cells at 90 of our campuses. Its' going to generate 17 megawatts of electricity that will save us almost $5 million every year once they're installed.
(MUSIC)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The kids know their school is through solar panel, is creating the energy they're using and they are grid free. And it's hot, so we've got a lot of sun today.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It will just be a lot more green.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: A lot more green.
Speaking of a lot more green, one man in one city gain to get a whole lot more of it. But we are talking not the environment this time, we are talking cold hard cash. Let the courting of the king begin. The two-time most valuable player in the NBA is up for grabs as of today. Cleveland's loss possibly is going to be somebody else's gain.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: It will be a sad day in Cleveland if LeBron James steps out in the press conference here in a couple of weeks with a different jersey on. But the full-court press is on right now for Cleveland's hometown hero. He officially became a free agent. We're talking about James LeBron here, the back-to-back MVP of the league, became a free agent today -- as of midnight last night, he became a free agent.
Now, New York is after him. Chicago is making a pitch. New Jersey, Miami, you name it, everybody wants him. They're throwing in celebrities like Jay-Z getting into the mix as well. New York is up, they are making their pitch, the New York Knicks, trying to get their shot.
CNN's Richard Roth live for us from New York.
Richard, we know there might be no team out there who is in desperate need or as desperate need of a superstar as the Knicks right now.
RICHARD ROTH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's why I'm holding their jersey because if you were wearing this for the last 10 years in New York, it meant -- it does mean your team is one of the worst in the league, you probably wouldn't even want to be caught dead on the streets wearing this. You don't see many people wearing Knicks uniforms here in New York.
But the big hope is that LeBron James would be the savior. The Knicks, as many of our viewers probably know, have been saving money on their rosters, slashing away, trying to make room for LeBron James. So this free agent transfer window, the free agent window, to sign stars like LeBron, opened at midnight. It was called midnight madness to one of the local papers here.
Lebron James is one of the top superstars in the NBA. One of the top two players, though he's-- team has only reached the finals once. New York City under the mayor has started a come to New York campaign through viral videos, the web, hasn't noticeably changed the attitude of Lebron James and his advisers.
James is reportedly has met the New Jersey nets and the New York Knicks officials today. The first day of the signing period. Fans in New York would like Lebron, though, they aren't holding out much hope, I think.
HOLMES: Not holding out a lot of hope. It sounds like, at least from what we've been seeing here, Richard, you still hear me all right, you got me?
ROTH: I can still hear you, yes. We were going to hear from some fans I talked to yesterday.
HOLMES: Do we have that, guys? I thought we were going there, too.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROTH (voice over): Where do you want Lebron James to go?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I want to go-I want him to go to Washington, D.C.
ROTH: Because?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE : Because that's where I live. And the Washington Wizards haven't won a playoffs, the playoff championship in a while. So yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROTH: So of course, Lebron James isn't his only person. Here's his jersey it goes for $80 here at the NBA store which we're in front of. We were not paid for this commercial. The Bulls have big hopes for Lebron. He may go there, link up with one or two other stars like Chris Bosh who was with the Toronto franchise.
So the big stars are going to make the big money. The bench players are not going to make as much money. And of course with the economy the way it is, some people are certainly going to question how these players can be paid and Lebron jams could make $96 million over the next five or six years. He can make more if he stays in Cleveland. Back to you T.J.
HOLMES: All right I love talking to you abort sports Richard. Going to let you go with just your prediction. Where would you say he's going to go?
ROTH: Well, I can't make a prediction. I really can't. That would be my against my code of ethics and I'm usually wrong. Though in the World Cup pool, I'm still doing pretty well.
HOLMES: See you don't mind predicting World Cup matches but when it comes to Lebron, you have a code now. Richard, always a pleasure, kind sir. Thanks so much.
And Lebron of course is going to make a lot of money no matter where he goes. But a lot predict that when he does go to whatever city, he's going to bring in and generate millions and millions of dollars through restaurants, bars jersey sales, you name it.
A lot more people going to be seeing that franchise that's going to bring in more money to a city somewhere. Stay with us here, we're seeing all kinds of things being made by really smart guys. Scientists can come up with cool stuff. Rockets, flat screen TV's you name it. Some scientists out there are building something else. They are building lungs. You heard me right stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
Welcome back here we have been keeping an eye on-this thing changed up a bit. We're just calling it Alex because we weren't sure if it was a hurricane at one point a two a one, a tropical storm. What is this thing now and where is this thing?
CHAD MYERS AMS METEOROLGIST: This thing is a dying mess truly. It was something before it got into the Yucatan Peninsula over Belize. It was very close to a hurricane here,. Then it tore itself up when it went over land. . If you get up - eye (ph) the hurricane or any part of a hurricane over land, it begins to die off it's not as strong. So it died there for a little while. Then it got into some warm water right through here . And it became a significant storm last night.
This was probably as close to a cat three in June as we have seen in 50 or 60 years. No kidding. The eye was absolutely perfect. Look at that right there. Symmetrical eye, about the same size and the same depth, the same pressure as Hugo was. Now the only difference between this and Hugo, well, Charleston got in the way for one Myrtle Beach and on. Nothing got in the way here, very few people live right there in-guess (ph) I guess that's great news for people of Mexico. Very unpopulated area. As this storm came onshore.
HOLMES: Remind me one more time, where are people getting it worse. We think about the eye making landfall, but still what's the worst part of that storm? Where do you not want to be, in that storm?
MYERS: You g (ph)-right here it's called Punta, or Punta Da Piedra, which means basically rock point. That is where it came on shore. You can go to Google earth you can find it right there. Anywhere to the north of that line right there is where it got the worst.
Because all of the moisture coming on shore here, all the winds were coming on shore here. And up here in this box, that's a tornado watch. These storms are spinning and so therefore the potential for a small tornado to touchdown anywhere in that box could be the worst thing you would see from this storm.
HOLMES: All right and that-and again that's the area we got all of this mess is part of the storm too. But still that box you showed us is the main issue. You have you're-- You're "Off The Radar" And you know I didn't even want to learn too much about this because I wanted you to educate me. Going "Off the Radar" today . Growing lungs.
MYERS: I'm going out there.
(CROSSTALK)
MYERS: I'm over the edge.
Researchers at Yale with the help of the National Institute of Health.. Literally have taken a healthy lung from a rat, taken all the healthiness out of it, stripped it down to nothing except the skeleton of what the lung is.
Taken all the good stuff out. This thing can't breathe at all. It's basically a dead carcass of a skeleton. They put this back into an incubator and they put blood cells in it and they put airway cells in it, basically lung cells and they grew attached to this basic dead thing a brand-new set of cells that for a while, 45 minutes to two hours literally breathed like a real lung.
It exchanged oxygen and carbon dioxide. They put it back into four of them four halves into four different rats and they all worked. They all worked from something to nothing to something again and it worked. I'm amazed
HOLMES: You said 45 minutes to an hour?
MYERS: It didn't last long. HOLMES: That's a big deal, though, if you're able to make it work.
That's huge.
MYERS: For the first time? Sure right you have a healthy lung, you make it unhealthy you basically you kill it, and then you regenerate it with fetal cells .Kind of like embryonic stem cells but they were actually used actually rats was born. They scraped the little cells off, got it (INAUDBILE) incubator, and it lived.
HOLMES: This is just maybe the beginning, but this has the potential to be -- you went way off the radar. Chad we appreciate you as always.
But really it has some potential here down the road to be just phenomenal.
MYERS: Decades, but still whatever.
HOLMES: But still this is a good story. Chad thank you as always.
Coming up here though the mother of a U.S. Marine afraid to leave her home because she doesn't know if she'll be able to return. Next we're going to put a face in the country's raging immigration debate. Stay here with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well President Obama's push to reform immigration it's a life-changing matter for a lot of people and one we're about to introduce you to now. A Phoenix woman, she's become a prisoner in her own home out of fear she'll be deported, even as her oldest son serves in the Marines. Our Thelma Gutierrez is live in Los Angeles with this story. Thelma, hello to you. And I imagine there are a lot of stories out there similar to this one.
THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There are, T.J and I can tell you, this is an emotional issue for people on both sides of this entire issue. Now, we spent some time in Arizona with an undocumented mother who's afraid to leave her home.
She talked candidly about the conflict she felt as the mother of a United States Marine.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GUTIERREZ: Somewhere in Phoenix, Arizona, a mother lives in fear. Her son is at war, and in many ways, she is, too. Her name is Maria. She welcomed us into a small apartment she shares with five children. Maria told us t was risky to go public with her story. But she wanted her voice to be heard in the national immigration debate. Maria and her husband came to the United States illegally more than 20 years ago. Her husband supported the family as a baker, but nine months ago, he was detained and now he's about to be deported. With a tough new immigration law about to be enacted in Arizona, Maria is afraid to walk her kids to school, even go to the grocery store.
GUTIERREZ (on camera): What are you afraid of?
MARIA, IMMIGRANT IN FEAR: (SPEAKING SPANISH)
GUTIERREZ (voice over) : She worries who will care for her young children if she is picked up.
(on camera) A lot of people are very upset that you're here without documents. What would you want to tell them?
MARIA: (SPEAKING SPANISH)
GUTIERREZ : Maria says she doesn't feel welcome here and she knows she has many critics. She says she wants them to know, she's contributed, too. Her first born son, 20-year-old Lance Corporal Chui Nunez (ph), a U.S. citizen who is serving in the U.S. Marine corps and fought in Afghanistan.
MARIA: (SPEAKING SPANISH)
GUTIERREZ: Maria says she worries about her son who has to deal with life and death issues at war, while shouldering the financial and emotional burdens of his family back home in Arizona.
MARIA: (SPEAKING SPANISH)
GUTIERREZ : Even so, her two younger sons also want to become Marines. A decision she fully supports, despite the immigration battle she's fighting here.
(END VIDEO TAPE)
HOLMES: And Thelma, tell us about the Marine himself. Were you able to speak with him? How does he feel about what's going on?
GUTIERREZ: T.J., I spoke with Lance Corporal Nunez yesterday and he says he feels very conflicted over all of this. On one hand he's a proud Marine, he's doing a job he loves to do, that he's always dreamed about doing.
On the other hand, he worries about a father who could be deported any day now, a mother who could be picked up as she takes his brothers and sisters to school and he worries about his siblings, who will take care of them if his parents are deported. He says it's a very tough place to be. And at the same time, of course, he's fighting this war, T.J. HOLMES: All right, Thelma Gutierrez for us. Again with one of the what we can imagine are many stories like that here in the U.S. thank you so much for bringing that one to us.
Well, Larry King, you may have heard, he's stepping down from his nightly show here on CNN after 25 years. He's not doing it for a couple more months, though. So he'll be on tonight tune in. But still, this gave us a chance to steal a couple of pairs of his suspenders. Let people try them on for themselves. I didn't get a pair. Well wait till you see how this worked out.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: It's day four of Supreme Court Nominee Elena Kagan's Senate confirmation hearing. Start today at 4:00 eastern, however. She won't be testifying. Instead it will be outside witnesses for and against her nomination.
Also, the coast guard is assessing the impact on tropical storm Alex on the gulf oil clean-up. Skimmer boats were sent back to shore because of high waves generated by the storm The delay could last until this weekend at the earliest. Meanwhile a massive Taiwanese oil skimming ship has arrived in the gulf but it's waiting right now for the OK to start work.
And NASA, adjusting the schedule for the final two shuttle missions pushing the last flight into next year. A hardware problem is forcing Discovery to move from a September launch to November, Endeavor will switch from November to February of 2011.
And, our Larry Kng is about to hang up the suspenders. Going to step down from his nightly show after 25 years as a prime time icon. He's going to do that sometimes later at the end of this year. But after 25 years know Jeanne Moos now, she has a whole lot of material to work with.
(BEGIN VIDETOTAPE)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT(voice over): Larry, we know you're palsy walsy with presidents and world leaders, but those aren't the moments we want to highlight.
LARRY KING, HOST "LARRY KING LIVE": I'm fine, I'm following the clock.
MOOS: Now that out time with you is running out,. We'd like to recall the feisty moments.
CARRIE PREJEAN, FMR MISS CALIFORNIA: Larry, you're being inappropriate.
KING: What? I'm asking a question.
MOOS: The unexpected moments like when a toad freaked out your son.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Those are poison glands right back there.
LARRY KING'S SON: Get it away from me!
MOOS: Moments like the one when Marlon Branddo wanted you to stop pointing at him
MARLON BRANDO, ACTOR: It's not this finger, it's this finger I'm worried about. .
MOOS: : 25 years of TV Larry, isn't it fun? .
KING: We'll take a break. Don't scream in my ear. I'm a human being. We'll return after this.
We'll be right back, don't go away
MOOS: Now you're going away, who's going to take our calls?
KING :Oklahoma city hello? Gainesville Florida hello? Boston Massachusetts for Monica Lewinsky
MOOS: Who are comedians going to kid for having so many wives?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One more and I'm on the Octomom of divorcees!
KING: : You always seem to laugh alone.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: :Larry we've got an interview with one of your sperm is in assisted living Miami.
MOOS: You danced along, you played along, you sang along with Willie Nelson
WILLIE NELSON, SINGER: Blue days all of them gone,. Nothing but blue skies from now on.
MOOS: Please forgive us raiding your New York office and borrowing your old fashioned, nonfunctioning RCA mic.
(on camera) The Larry King memorial microphone.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think he's got one in every city
MOOS (voice over): :And a few pairs of trademark suspenders.
(on camera): These are English, these are English . Made in London.
(voice over): In the halls of CNN this is a holy relic.
(on camera): A moment of silence, Do you know what this is?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE:I think I do
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do we need to bow down?
MOOS: You should bow down. This is Larry King's microphone. Do you want to meet Larry King's microphone?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh wow that's awesome.
MOOS: You want to touch his microphone? Look these are his actual suspenders.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE You should take over.
MOOS: I sort of feel like a walking Larry King museum here.
(voice over) I once ran into Larry while I was out doing man on the street interviews.
KING: You are the world's most famous street walker. Get back to work.
KING: The guy who asked a million questions also knew how to answer them.
NAOMI JUDD SINGER: And I ask you, what would be the first question you would ask God. Do you remember what you said?
KING: Do you have a son?
JUDD: Yes! I thought that was the greatest answer ever.
MOOS (voice over): After 25 years on CNN --
(on camera) Try on one of his suspenders --
MOOS (voice over): Larry, you're still leaving them quivering. Jeanne Moos, CNN New York.
HOLMES: Whoa well, Larry has a way to move people, doesn't he? Well Larry King again after 25 years stepping down but not until the end of the year. You can still catch his show every night right here at 9:00 Eastern. He continues with some of those trademark interviews and, the suspenders which are apparently worth sniffing.
Well measuring hurricanes. It's all about wind speed and damage possibilities. It's also our "Wordplay" That is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right today's "Wordplay", some words you might be hearing a lot throughout this hurricane season. The Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale developed back in 1969 by engineer Herbert Saffir and also named after the national hurricane director at the time, Dr. Bob Simpson.
Now this is the category scale we're familiar with, with all the hurricanes. Category 1 is the smallest, 74 to 95 miles an r. Category 2, 95 to 110 miles an hour. Then you got up to cat 3, 111 to 130 miles an hour. Katrina was a category 3, you may remember when it made land fall. Category 4, 131 to 155 miles an hour.
And again here, we're talking about sustained winds. Some of the gusts can be stronger. And then the top of the chart is category 5. Only seen a couple of these over years Camille in 69 and Andrew in 92 were both category 5s when they lit land. Coming up next in my XYZ, soccer not just a game in many parts of the world. And I've got the proof coming up, stay here..
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well in today's "XYZ" Have you seen the movie "Superbad"? It's a little crass and toilet humor. But I love it. But there's a scene in there where a high school kid is playing soccer. Kids are out there during gym class playing a soccer. game
One guy yells at his teammate for not playing hard, saying come on man, we're down two points. His teammate replies come on, dude, it's soccer. Well that be may be many Americans attitude. That hey it's just soccer so who cares?
But don't tell that to the Nigerians and the French. The Nigerian team has been suspended from international competition for two years by their own president after their poor showing in the World Cup. Nigeria finished last in their group.
Lost two of its three games, had a draw in another game, ended up with only one point in the group. The team is nicknamed the Super Eagles. The critics calling them the super Chickens. This was a team that's ranked number 21 in the FIFA world rankings. The team has apologized to the government and all Nigerians for their performance.
Then there's France. Listen to this the French president Nicolas Sarkozy has said he'll lead an investigation into what happened to the French team. The French team was runner up in 2006, that World Cup. Won the World Cup in '98 and this year and this year did not win a game.
The team then refused to train after one player got into with the coach and was sent home. The coach then refused to shake hands with the opposing coach after the team lost it's final game. The coach and the French sports minister called before a parliamentary panel to be scolded.
So they were kind of an embarrassment all around. One French official put it like this. "This isn't just about football. It's about France. It's our honor that's at stake". So what about the U.S. team that got out of but still underperformed in the group stage to only get booted in the next round by 32nd ranked Ghana? Well the team captain Landon Donovan has been welcomed back to the U.S. with open arms and welcomed like a rock star. He's been doing the rounds and hanging out with folks like Regis and Kelly and David Letterman , Jon Stewart. Been on all the morning shows, so it's just soccer? Maybe to us but don't tell that to Nigeria and France. That is today's "XYZ" Now time for "THE LIST" it's Brooke's List today.
