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Oil Hits Mississippi Marshes; Maintaining a Healthy Marriage

Aired July 10, 2010 - 16:00   ET

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


FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: All right, now day 82 and we're almost three months into the Gulf oil crisis and new today, BP says it has removed a leaking containment cap and work is underway to replace it with a tighter fitting cap. BP says this new cap, once installed, could stop most of the oil that is now gushing like an underwater geyser. We still have a whole lot of questions about this. So, let's bring in Terry Anderson he's a structural engineer. He's coming to us from Santa Rosa Beach, Florida. He's joining me now on the phone.

All right. So give me an idea, Terry, when we say or when BP says it has removed the old cap or that it is in the process of removing the old cap, that means a whole lot of oil, thousands of barrels of oil continue to gush until they can put the new cap on. Is that right?

TERRY ANDERSON, STRUCTURAL ENGINEER (ON THE PHONE): Well, that's exactly right. Once the old cap is removed, we're going to be free- flowing about 5,000 gallons per minute of oil, at least for a couple of days until the new cap is put on. But this seems to be the best solution we have at this time, and in all probability, it will work.

WHITFIELD: So you say this is kind of like a mini volcano, the amount of oil that will continue to gush, and if it is gushing at such a great velocity it would seem to me that it would be very difficult to put a new cap on top of that. How does that cap, the placement of that cap compete with the velocity of the oil?

ANDERSON: Well, basically they'll winch it down using a block and tackle system, that's my understanding of it, and that's about the only way to do it, an ROV would be completely unstable in that operation. So it would take winching it down on top of the pipe.

As I said, we're going to be blowing a tremendous amount of oil at a tremendous pressure, so it's very unusual and it's something that's never been tried before and at a depth of a mile below the surface, it compounds the problem 10 times.

WHITFIELD: Yes and give me an idea, we're talking about some amazing obstacles that are under way, 5,000 feet, a mile below surface, we're looking at the robotic arms there in these live, as well as taped images that we're seeing. Give me an idea how intricate, how surgical this procedure is.

ANDERSON: Well, you're exactly right. It is a surgical procedure, except the surgeon in this case is blindfolded and is operating from another room. So that's what makes it so difficult. This would be hard enough to stop if it were on the surface but at 5,000 feet below the surface, it is a major undertaking.

WHITFIELD: And it seems that the images that we're seeing right now is the removal of these, what, six bolts that hold down or were once holding down that old containment cap. Give me an idea how much more difficult it would be to actually install bolts once you get that new cap in place.

ANDERSON: Well, with the technology that we have available to us now, it's not extremely difficult. The difficulty comes in the logistics of the distance we are away from our control, to where we're trying to complete this operation.

WHITFIELD: How long will this unabated flow continue before they're able to get that new cap in place and fix it?

ANDERSON: Probably two days. So we're talking in the range of 120,000 barrels of oil that's going to be free flowing during that intermittent time.

WHITFIELD: So in your view, this was the best case scenario. This is certainly a solution, a stop gap measure that has a fairly good rate of success?

ANDERSON: It is a stop gap, you're exactly right and I think everyone with some knowledge in this field agrees that the relief wells are the only legitimate long-term solution. This is a stop gap but anything we can do at this point is going to be better than what's going on now.

WHITFIELD: And the finalization of that relief well at least as a public information, everyone's expectation is that comes in August, right?

ANDERSON: Yes.

WHITFIELD: All right. Terry Anderson, structural engineer, coming to us from Santa Rosa Beach, Florida, thanks so much for your time.

ANDERSON: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: So much of that oil that is spewing out of the BP well has made its way to beaches and marshes all along the gulf. that's what's taken place over the last three months or so.

CNN'S Ines Ferre is in Waveland, Mississippi. And that is a location where people say and we see the booms behind you, but people say already that oil has made its way in some of the marshlands. What can they do about that?

INES FERRE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, Fred, this is what happened actually. You see this here, this is a little inlet where water comes in and out of the marshes. And you see that boom at the end over there. What happened is a of couple days ago they had high seas, high winds and the water literally overtopped across this road and it went right over here into the marshes, and you can see the line where the water reached on the grass, the brown line, so that's water and oil that reached this area.

And this area is so important, because the marshes is where the crabs lay their eggs, shrimp lay their eggs, they reproduce and it's a really delicate area. The mayor of Waveland saying, look, if you step in it, you make it even worse so it's hard to clean and they've been warning about this for weeks. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR TOMMY LONGO, WAVELAND, MISSISSIPPI: We've raised the red flag when the southeast wind was blowing and high tide was coming, we raised the red flag and we said, "hey, this is what's going to happen. You know, this is what we've been telling you," the berms, we wanted to put on the north side of the beach, where now you see the silt fencing that went up yesterday, after the fact.

It's been a response rather than the aggressive fight to stop it. It's been a response after the damage is done, and that's what makes you angry. That's what's frustrating.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FERRE: And now since this happened, they've put booms out here. They also have what are called these silt barriers which if water, that way the water doesn't go through. The mayor though saying, look, first of all he doesn't like the idea of these things because he thinks the water still will go through. But he's also saying look these things should happen before things happens. I mean, these should be precautionary things that you do before you have high winds and high seas. Fred.

WHITFIELD: So their complaint is they didn't have any of these precautions in place before it was high tide, before the water made its way over those sand dunes?

FERRE: Yes. Exactly. Their complaint is that they've been warning about this, that this would reach the marshes at some point and it did once they had the high seas and high winds. But now they've got these things here but their complaint is that this should have been done earlier.

WHITFIELD: OK. Ines Ferre in Waveland, Mississippi, thanks so much.

All right. Federal responders have a new aerial weapon in their arsenal to battle the gulf oil disaster. It is a U.S. Navy blimp, and this afternoon the coast guard is training spotters on the slow- moving craft and officials hope the blimp will actually survey oil in the gulf, guide skimming vessels to areas where they are needed the most and to help spot oily wildlife as well.

So it's a unique view of the gulf oil spill that you only see here on CNN. Coming up at the bottom of the hour, CNN's Amber Lyon, an accomplished diver, takes a camera crew underwater to see the waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

And more help for veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan. New rules for medical benefits said to go into effect. We'll take a look.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: To Afghanistan now, a total of six U.S. service members were killed today in separate incidents in eastern and southern areas of the country. CNN's Atia Abawi has more from Kabul, Afghanistan.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ATIA ABAWI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Six ISAF service. members were killed in Afghanistan on Saturday, all confirmed to be American. Two were killed in the south of the country in two separate IED attacks, improvised explosive devices that have been proven to be the number one killer for NATO service members in Afghanistan.

The other four were killed in eastern Afghanistan, also in separate incidents, one by an IED attack, one by an insurgent attack, one by small arms fire, and the last by an accidental explosion.

This follows the deadliest month for NATO forces since the war began in 2001. In June, we saw at least 101 NATO service members lose their lives in Afghanistan. But this was not unexpected. Last year, when President Barack Obama announced a new counter insurgency strategy as well as a troop surge the then top NATO commander of ISAF forces here said that it would result in more ISAF casualties at first, while they were prying to protect civilian lives and trying to regain the trust of the Afghan people.

But as they gained ground and as they gained the momentum back in Afghanistan, those deaths would fall, but right now, we are seeing what was grimly predicted last year.

Atia Abawi, CNN, Kabul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: And new rules are on the way for veterans trying to get help for post traumatic stress disorder. Now a veteran will only have to show that he or she served in a war and performed a job during which traumatic events could have happened.

Previously they had to document a specific incident that could have caused the trauma before getting any kind of assistance at all. The new rules apply to veterans of any war and President Obama talked about the change this morning in his weekly address.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't think our troops on the battlefield should have to keep notes just in case they need to apply for a claim and I've met enough veterans to know that you don't have to engage in a firefight to endure the trauma of war. So we're changing the way things are done.

On Monday, the Department of Veterans Affairs, led by Secretary Rick Shinseki will begin making it easier for a veteran with PTSD to get the benefits he or she needs. This is a long overdue step for the veterans not just of the Afghan and Iraq wars but generations of their brave predecessors who have proudly served and sacrificed in all of our wars.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Right now, around 400,000 veterans are getting benefits for PTSD-related problems and under the new guidelines that number could easily double or triple. Earlier I talked to Paul Sullivan, executive director of Veterans for Common Sense about the importance in his view, of the change.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL SULLIVAN, VETERANS FOR COMMON SENSE: For any medical condition, whether it be traumatic brain injury, say an amputation or even post traumatic stress disorder, the Department of Veterans Affairs will want to confirm that the condition exists by examining the veterans. That's reasonable. Americans would expect that so that we don't have any cases of fraud.

I think what Americans really want to know is, are our veterans going to get faster and more accurate claims decisions and the bottom line is, yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Again, those new rules are expected to be officially announced on Monday.

How about a checkup for your marriage? We'll take a look at early warning signs that your relationship just might be in trouble.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: OK. We get yearly physicals for our health, right? Dental checkups for our teeth, even tune-ups for our cars but how many of us get a marriage checkup? How many of us have actually heard of that?

James Cordova is the author of "The Marriage Checkup: A Scientific Program for Sustaining and Strengthening Marital Health." He is joining us live from Boston. Good to see you.

JAMES CORDOVA, AUTHOR "THE MARRIAGE CHECKUP: A SCIENTIFIC PROGRAM FOR SUSTAINING AND STRENGTHENING MARITAL HEALTH": Good to see you, thank you.

WHITFIELD: So where did this come from? That you felt people that you know what people need to get a marriage checkup, because some folks are familiar with, you know, marriage counseling, but you say this should actually precede that, in what way?

CORDOVA: Oh, absolutely. I think just like your regular dental checkup or your annual physical health checkup, those things are there because they are useful tools to help us take good care of our dental health, good care of our physical health, but there hasn't been anything that's sort of the equivalent for our marital health, and our marriages are a health system. So they deserve that same kind of love and care.

WHITFIELD: So you said there are actually some signs to look for, when you realize that, you know, maybe there's trouble in paradise, and at the core, you say, of trouble in paradise may simply be, you know, intimacy or lack of intimacy, but there are lots of definitions of what intimacy really is, so help us understand what you mean.

CORDOVA: Yes.

WHITFIELD: When you say intimacy is at the core.

CORDOVA: Sure. Well, the way that we're thinking about intimacy is that sense that you have that you are safe being yourself with your partner, safe being vulnerable. That your partner is a safe harbor for not just the things about you that you're proudest of but maybe the things about yourself that you're least proud of, and so you can feel like your partner is somebody that is a safe person to be with, warts and all.

WHITFIELD: So it's being comfortable with one another, but you know, so say you're very comfortable with your spouse, you guys do your day- to-day routine, et cetera, and as far as you know, everything's OK.

CORDOVA: Sure.

WHITFIELD: But you say there are indicators, maybe you're not communicating really well, really connecting, how do you understand or pinpoint those things?

CORDOVA: I think it's that sense of drift that begins to happen in a relationship. A lot of the couples that we see now in particular, I think, are struggling in this spot where life is just so busy, it's so demanding, that even with the best of intentions, partners begin to drift away from each other and they'll try to catch each other's attention.

It catches their sense that something is missing here, but then the next thing that's demanding shows up and that grabs their attention again. And so over and over again, partners are drifting further and further away from each other, and then you know, waking up one day to realize that they're lonely, in places that they wished that they weren't.

WHITFIELD: OK. So how do you get to the bottom of this? Through your book, people will be able to see how to identify intimacy, how do I identify that there's a problem in our relationship and then you get to the point of like actually trying to fix it.

CORDOVA: Sure.

WHITFIELD: Trying to connect, and you have some really great, I guess kind of tools on how to be better communicators. You need to sit face-to-face. There may even be like a pen or a marker or something, whoever has that in their hand is the one who gets to speak and that means the other person is actually listening.

CORDOVA: Right.

WHITFIELD: What are some of the other things?

CORDOVA: Well, I think it's important just that simple business of sitting down and paying attention to each other. The rarest commodity at this point is our bare attention, so really looking at each other, seeing each other with fresh eyes and talking about the things that matter most. Both paying attention to the things that we are proudest of, about who we are together as partners, the strengths that we have in our relationship and the things that may be rubbing us the wrong way and to get those out on the table early and often. The more we talk about the -

WHITFIELD: Go ahead. Go ahead.

CORDOVA: Well, the more we talk about the things that are bothering us when they bother us, the more gracefully we end up dancing with each other in the long run.

WHITFIELD: OK. So we had a list up there. I want to go through some of those things one more time.

CORDOVA: Sure.

WHITFIELD: Sitting face to face, deciding who will speak first and listen.

CORDOVA: Yes.

WHITFIELD: Pick an object to indicate kind of the speaker, and you say focus on the "I" message not the "you" message. Oh, boy. What do you mean? It's not kind of like you do this or you know, what you do drives me crazy. Or I like when you do this. You say instead focus on I, in what way?

CORDOVA: Yes. Well I guess the way they usually talk about this is trying to stay on your side of the street. I think it's really sort of tempting to get over on the other person's side of the street and say well you're the cause of our problems, if you would only pick your dirty socks up or if you didn't come home so late or if you paid more attention to the things that matter to me, and in some ways their hearts in the right place when they are doing that, we are trying to put our fingers on the things that are bothering us but it's such a hard message to hear.

Once we hear the word "you are" we automatically get defensive, even if our hearts are in the right place, even if we're doing our best to try to listen lovingly, we can't help but get defensive. When we stay on our own side of the street and just talk about what our experience is, you know, it makes me mad when, it hurts my feelings when, I wish that things were different in such and such a way. Then it's at least a little bit easier for our partners to actually hear us, and their ears don't get quite so clogged up with defensiveness. WHITFIELD: Is your gut feeling that and based on all of the people that you interview and talk to all the time, your clients, do you feel like most marriages are very healthy and most are doing pretty good or are most, in your view, in need of a marital or a marriage checkup?

CORDOVA: Well, I think that most marriages are, I mean the people in the marriages are doing their level best, you know. Everybody is trying their hardest. Marriages matter to people in the deepest possible ways, and the things that matter most deeply to us, we need to take really good care of, and the nice thing that I think about, something like an idea, like the marriage checkup is that it provides this regular opportunity to turn our attention to how we're doing, what our strengths are, what our weaknesses are, and come shoulder to shoulder in relation to that and move forward together as friends and partners.

And life is just so busy and complicated these days that it's very easy to not give it the attention that it deserves. So we end up in this place where I guess the analogy that I've been using is imagine that you only went to see the dentist when one of your teeth really started to hurt.

At that point, something's gone horribly wrong, but oftentimes, you know, our marriages are so quiet that they don't really make any noise for a long time, and then when they start to make noise, that may be a real indicator of an issue, so if we are getting in there and doing these regular checkups, even if they're only annually, maybe sometime around our anniversary, what's best about us, where could we be better.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

CORDOVA: Then maybe less time goes on. Maybe fewer things accumulate. Maybe we get there earlier and are able to prevent damage that we could have prevented.

WHITFIELD: James Cordova, the book is "The Marriage Checkup, A Scientific Program for Sustaining and Strengthening Marital Health." Of course, the book will cost you, but in the end this is a whole lot cheaper than going to couples counseling, I imagine, right?

CORDOVA: That's right, absolutely. Absolutely. It's money well- spent.

WHITFIELD: That's right. All right. James Cordova, thanks so much for your time. Appreciate that.

CORDOVA: Thank you, absolutely.

WHITFIELD: All right. Relationship dramedy on the big screen with A- list stars as a same-sex couple. Our film critic weighs in on "The Kids are All Right."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) WHITFIELD: A look at our top stories right now. Oil is gushing freely in the Gulf of Mexico from that damaged well head again, and that's because a short time ago BP robots removed the containment cap.

And over the next several days they are expected to maneuver a new, better fitting containment cap into place. It won't be a permanent fix but it is expected to do a much better job. That's the hope, by BP than the current one.

A super villain with a soft heart, a group of warriors hunted by aliens and siblings with two moms find their birth father. I know you know I'm talking about movies and three different ones, not one very confusing one. They're all set to hit the big screen.

Ben Mankiewicz, host of "Turner Classic Movies" and film critic of "What the Flick" on the youngturks.com joins us now from Los Angeles. Good to see you.

BEN MANKIEWICZ, HOST OF "TURNER CLASSIC MOVIES": You too, Fred.

WHITFIELD: OK. "Despicable Me" is rated PG but it sure does seem like it's an animated kind of flick for adults. Do you want to take the kids to this?

MANKIEWICZ: Oh, yeah. I think it will work for kids, too. I mean, it's not going to scare kids. It works on two levels, sort of the way "The Simpsons" does. You know, the more I've been thinking about this movie this week, actually the more I like it.

WHITFIELD: Yes?

MANKIEWICZ: Steve Carell voices the super villain. He's not so much villainous for evil reasons. He's sort of villainous to impress other super villains. It's like as if Blowfeld from the James Bond movies if his whole reason in life was to impress Lex Luther. You know, I liked it. He seemed kind of fully realized and human. If I have a criticism of it, is that the first half is really sort of interestingly dark and subversive, when he adopts three orphans to help him with his super villain plan it gets a little schmaltzy. But I gave this movie a B minus but as the week goes on I think I like it a little more than that. But I have to stick with the B minus.

WHITFIELD: Let's check it out and see if we can agree with your B minus in this short little clip.

MANKIEWICZ: OK, all right.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I meant to close that. He'll be all right, I'm sure.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do the effects wear off?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ahh, so far, no, no, they don't. And here of course is the new weapon you ordered. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, I said dart gun, not - OK.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, yes. Because I was wondering under what circumstances would we use this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: And even if you don't like the story line, I'm not saying I don't because I haven't seen the movie but I'm just saying, you know, this animated films have just reached a whole new level. They are incredible to watch.

MANKIEWICZ: Yes, this one is in 3-D. I don't think the 3-D adds anything. I'm tired 3-D, of paying for it.

WHITFIELD: Already?

MANKIEWICZ: I don't think it adds anything to it. But you see from that clip there I'm pretty sure that was for kids. That is Russell Brand's voice along with Steve Carell, you saw the little minions there. You know, Gru doesn't treat his minions poorly. He knows all their names. Again, I sort of wish I had given it a B. I think I'm selling it a little short.

WHITFIELD: OK. So "Predators" now, a group of kind of hardened killers become the hunted in the latest installment of this sci-fi franchise. What were your thoughts on it?

MANKIEWICZ: Well, you know, I actually like this better than the original "Predator," the Arnold Schwarzenegger movie. This is Adrien Brody, Alice Braga, Walton Goggins, Danny Trejo. This is a group of people. They don't know each other. They are soldiers. They are mercenaries. They are criminals and they suddenly find themselves on this, it seems like earth but it's not earth and it turns out it's a sort of, it's a game preserve and they are the hunted.

And you know it's interesting, it's an interesting premise and if you can get past an interesting, a different action star in Adrien Brody who I think spends a little too much of the movie trying to be an action star, sounding like Christian Bale in "Batman."

WHITFIELD: Oh, no.

MANKIEWICZ: And some light-hearted movies, Larry Fishburne is in it. Topher Grace with absolute humor.

WHITFIELD: Wow.

MANKIEWICZ: You know I like more than just like it. I gave it a C plus. If you like this genre, I think you'll like this movie OK.

WHITFIELD: Yes, how do you beat the first "Predator"? I mean, that was the best.

MANKIEWICZ: I don't love the first "Predator."

WHITFIELD: You don't?

MANKIEWICZ: I don't. I know it's sacrilege and I know people (INAUDIBLE) crazy but that just seemed like sort of '80s, action, typical (INAUDIBLE) to me. I really didn't like it. But I was in an anti-Arnold Schwarzenegger phase then.

WHITFIELD: That's why I'm not the movie critic.

MANKIEWICZ: Well, it's all right to have an opinion on that. I'm fairly isolated in that regard.

WHITFIELD: "The Kids Are All Right," and do you know, we haven't seen the star of this show in quite a long time. It's kind of nice to see her back on the big screen. What were your thoughts?

MANKIEWICZ: I assume you mean Annette Benning.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

MANKIEWICZ: Annette Benning is with Julianne Moore, here. They play a lesbian couple sort of struggling to raise two teenagers. And you know, there's a sort of a genuineness to this movie, it's funny. Again it feels genuine. If I have a criticism of it, and I do, is that at times it feels a little bit smug, but that said, that's overcome by the humor, and really outstanding performances both from Benning and Julianne Moore, who are not just two of the finest actresses, but two of the finest actors working today.

Mark Ruffalo is in it. It turned out that he is their biological father as a sperm donor. He's never met the kids. Josh Hutcherson plays the son, the daughter played by Mia Wasikowska. I want to make sure I get her name right, because she is outstanding.

WHITFIELD: She's the best one.

MANKIEWICZ: Really good performances and strong script. I like it. "New York" magazine found it uproariously funny. I don't know about uproariously funny, but authentic and genuine. I gave it a B. It's worth seeing. It is in limited release but as it goes wide I think people should check it out

WHITFIELD: Nice grade. They should be very happy to get a B from you, no minus, no plus, just a nice solid B.

(LAUGHTER)

MANKIEWICZ: I liked everything this week. Thank you, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Good, I like that. Thanks so much. Good to see you. Enjoy L.A. today.

MANKIEWICZ: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: OK, it is one of the most popular movies around, the globe, right now, why the "Twilight" saga's fictitious vampire, werewolf, human girl, love triangle, all that stuff, could be the cause of a troubling new trend among teens.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, CNN is taking you where virtually no news crews have taken you during this horrible oil disaster, beneath the waves of the Gulf of Mexico. Check out this incredible view of the disaster from deep below the surface.

CNN's Amber Lyon and photojournalist Rich Brooks joined marine environmentalists Philippe Cousteau for a dive into the oily and dispersant filled waters. And what makes this particularly unique is they were able to talk about it live, and record it as well, while underwater and while that very interesting dive.

Amber joins us right now with more on her underwater expedition. Joining us from New Orleans now.

AMBER LYONS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Fredricka. How are you doing?

You know, the thing about jumping in this water, the reason we were hearing HAZMAT suits. You saw there, hopefully my red HAZMAT outfit, to keep any water from touching our skin no scientific experiments have ever been done to test how toxic a dispersant/crude mixture is in the water, long-term effects on humans, nor marine life.

And that is why environmentalists have pretty much been accusing BP of conducting a giant science experiment in the Gulf of Mexico. We wanted to get in that water, see what was going on down there, and that's why we went about 48 miles from the Deepwater Horizon spill. We dove down into the Gulf, about 25 feet down, we brought a crew of experts with us, as Fredricka was mentioning earlier. One of those was environmentalist Philippe Cousteau.

Now, Cousteau says he was concerned most about the millions of tiny oil droplets we were seeing in the water column. He says that oil's toxic to fish eggs and larvae in the parts per billion levels. Put this into perspective here, parts per billion levels is equivalent to one drop of oil in something the size of a swimming pool.

We also brought a marine scientist, Scott Porter with us. He was mostly concerned about the color of the water. He says when you head out that far in the Gulf, most of the water should be looking this brilliant cobalt blue color. Unfortunately, though, we ran into patches of water as far as the eye could see that were a dark brown color. And at one point we actually stuck a white towel into that water and it came out with pieces of dispersed oil on it.

In addition to that, we had a crew of fishermen and local boat captains with us. They said they were most concerned about the fact the lack of bait fish in the water, also about the lack of tuna they were seeing.

And I'm an avid diver. And I think what got me the most about this dive is normally when you're on a hot boat all day the first thing you want to do is jump into the water, it's very refreshing, when you go scuba diving. And in this case, though, after looking at foamy pieces of dispersed oil, foamy like paddies of it on top of the water you just had a disgusting feeling when you were getting into the Gulf of Mexico. And it was pretty upsetting for most of us, especially Philippe Cousteau.

WHITFIELD: Right. And so what is Philippe going to do with this information after making this dive with you?

LYONS: I think he wants to -- Philippe is really big on telling stories with pictures, and really spreading the word to the public about what he believes is going on in the Gulf of Mexico. He was one of the first scuba divers to get in after the oil spill hit, and get amazing footage of big chunks of oil down in the water column. And this will just give him more ammunition, the small, little particles of dispersed oil that we saw, to go around and tell people what he believes is going on in the water column.

WHITFIELD: Amber Lyons thanks so much, joining us from New Orleans, after a pretty courageous and insightful dive yesterday in the Gulf of Mexico.

Let's check in with our Jacqui Jeras here in the Weather Center.

And you know, we've been talking about how the weather impacted the cleanup, the dispersants, the flow of this oil, et cetera, what do we expect is happening right now?

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: The last, you know, week or so we've actually had bad conditions in the Gulf and we had to stop some of the efforts, like the skimming boats that have been going out.

But conditions this weekend are just gorgeous. Take a look at the Gulf. I mean high pressure is in place, very calm conditions, you can see a couple of areas of disturbed weather down towards the Yucatan, and then heading up towards northern Mexico. None of these are expected to develop into anything tropical. So things are pretty tranquil and this is really ideal for that next top hat, or cap number 10 to be put in place. So things are looking really, really great across parts of the Gulf.

Now things not looking so great across the northeastern part of the United States.

(WEATHER REPORT)

WHITFIELD: Biting to show affection? It's apparently not just in the movies, but maybe it's being inspired by the movies. What teens are doing these days.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, teenagers and risky behavior, two things too often go hand in hand. That's nothing new, but what is new is the type of dangerous behavior that some teens are actually engaging in these days. Which brings us to, two disturbing trends among teens, biting to show affection, and wearing potentially damaging eye contact lenses. Joining us live from New York is Doctor Rameck Hunt, an internist at Princeton University Medical Center.

Good to see you. Oh, boy, this is really interesting stuff.

DR. RAMECK HUNT, PRINCETON UNIV. MEDICAL CENTER: Good to see you, too, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: It is kind of freaky, though. Let's begin with these contact lenses. We're not talking about the contact lenses to help one see better, but instead this is cosmetic and this is, did I get this right, not something you get from your doctor.

HUNT: No, you don't. You get them online. And it's been reported recently a lot of kids are starting to do this. And it's concerning because they don't get them fitted properly. You don't know the quality control of these contacts. And so it can cause a lot of problems with your eyes, so it's very important that we get the word out that they need to be careful about that.

WHITFIELD: When we're looking at this video, right now, what this contact does, if you really look closely is, it is one that simply makes your iris look bigger, right? And so for some reason, some of the young ladies feel that makes their eyes more appealing, more eye- catching so to speak. And it's kind of the hot, new thing.

HUNT: Yeah, but the problem about these contacts is, are that, and you don't know if it's fit properly on your eye and if it moves around a lot it can cause cornea abrasions. And in worst cases it could cause corneal ulcerations, and bacterial infections as a result. And that could lead to eye damage.

WHITFIELD: And some of the-here are some of the things you're talking about right now that it could cause, pain, infection, permanent damage, blindness. I'm sure if a lot of young people knew about this they would not see this as being a very appealing trend. There has been one other bit of inspiration I guess, some kids are saying they saw this Lady Gaga video. And her eyes looked particularly big and eye-catching, but there's discussion whether that is digitally enhanced as opposed to these contact lenses that you do get. That you buy online.

Let's talk about something else, how the not-so-real world is inspiring the real world. All these young kids are-I sound old now saying that "the young kids"-they are into these vampire movies particularly the "Twilight". And so somehow this seems appealing to bite one another, and a lot of young kids are doing it. They're biting one another, whether it's biting the arm or the neck, or whatever. This is a big old yuck.

HUNT: Biting is, you know, when I first heard about this, I didn't really get it. But biting is bad. Because there's a lot of bad things in the mouth and you have to be careful, you know, if you bite somebody, you have to be very, very careful particularly if it's a deep bite. Because then you need antibiotics because there's risk of infection. And then also if you draw blood, there is still a risk of HIV infection as well, so we definitely need to be careful about that WHITFIELD: Oh, gosh. This is so strange. It's like you know, biting, it's not the first time we've heard of young people biting, because you think of your toddlers, or something like that, that go through that whole biting stage. But now we're talking about teenagers. I don't know how in the world you get the word across to teenagers when they're looking up on the screen and see it glamorized. Whether it is "True Blood" or whether it is these other vampire movies.

HUNT: Yes. But you know, they have to be very, very careful particularly if some of the bites are coming-if you get bit on the hand, for instance, that can be a bad thing and you can have tendon rupture, and tendon damage. And it can affect you for the rest of your life.

WHITFIELD: Oh, my gosh, Doctor Rameck Hunt-am I pronouncing that right? I think every time I have you on, I think pronounce your name the wrong way. I'm sorry.

HUNT: When you first started it was-it is Ra-mi-que (ph).

WHITFIELD: Rameck, OK. I got it right that time. I'm sorry about that.

HUNT: Yes. That's OK.

WHITFIELD: Good to see you. I know we're teaching a lot of folks, particularly a lot of parents who had no idea their kids are into this, so you're helping to convey some really important healthful messages. Thanks so much, Doctor Hunt.

HUNT: No problem. Thank you.

WHITFIELD: OK, you might remember this lady as Foxy Brown, actress Pam Grier. Well, she's talking about finding balance, and her friendship with a new generation of artists, like Rapper Snoop Dogg.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAM GRIER, SINGER: So, they come out, coming up with this great music and they have us in our videos. And then they said, "Ma'am, I apologize for all the horrible things I said about women. You're not like that at all." I said, "OK."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: It's part of our face-to-face interview with actress Pam Grier.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: A big old "no comment" from actor Mel Gibson on an explosive audiotape released online. It supposedly catches Gibson's obscene and racist rant in a telephone conversation with his ex- girlfriend.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You go out in public and it's a (EXPLETIVE DELETED) embarrassment to me. If you get raped by a pack of (EXPLETIVE DELETED) on heat. And if you get raped by a pack of (EXPLETIVE DELETED) it's your fault, all right? Because you provoked it. You are provocatively dressed all the time w your fake (EXPLETIVE DELETED) you feel you have to show off.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So CNN has not independently confirmed the authenticity of the tape or the voices on them. Earlier this week, the Malibu Hills Police Department opened an investigation into an alleged domestic violence incident involving Gibson's ex. The two have been in a custody dispute over their eight-month-old daughter.

Icon and Actress Pam Grier has been called the first female action hero. Probably best known for her role as Foxy Brown in 1974. And in the final installment of our "Face To Face" interview she talks about her balance in life, and her friendship with the next generation of musical artist including rapper Snoop Dogg.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD (On camera): You have to wonder what's the next chapter but before the next chapter, where are you with the cervical cancer? How are you doing in that? How is that battle?

GRIER: I've been in remission for 22 years.

WHITFIELD: Fantastic.

GRIER: Tomorrow is not a given. I constantly seek the balance of my PH and I practice yoga and Pilates, and herbs and teas. And I learned about the geothermal dynamics you drink hot water and hot teas and stuff, too, when you eat greasy foods to keep it going through your system. And don't drink cold drinks when you have a lot of eat greasy foods. That can stay in your system and coagulate and cause problems and illnesses.

I am very healthy. I love being around my animals in Colorado, and having my friends, they call my little old brick house, like Snoop did. They drove right by it. They thought it was the caretaker's house. I do invite them when I know they're coming to town for a concert, I invite them out for breakfast and I'll send them lunch. Because they kept my image alive, a lot of the artists of the '70s, and the music of the '70s. They are the children of it. They heard it in the womb, so they come out with the great music and they have us in our videos. And then you know, they said, "Ma'am, I apologize for all the horrible things I said about women. You're not like that at all." I said, "OK." You know, and so I talked to them about that dynamic, of the posturing of anger and superiority, and oppression of women in music and in their videos. And I said, is that because you saw me do it?

WHITFIELD: What did they say? GRIER: They go, "hmm." But is it in the community? Is that what you really want to do? That's your daughter. I was your daughter. I was your sister.

WHITFIELD: Are they listening to you?

GRIER: Probably not. I don't think they're going to listen to me.

WHITFIELD: They're asking you.

GRIER: I think, they don't hear me until they have a daughter.

WHITFIELD: Oh.

GRIER: Or a son. Then they have this epiphany, or maturity, happens when it's now their daughter.

WHITFIELD: What's your recommendation to young men and women today of finding balance, finding the kind of inner peace that you found, without having to go through the exact same journey you did? Because every journey is different.

GRIER: I hope not. Thank God. Learning, people outside of me were teaching me, be agape, be open, ask, learn, be curious. That's all we have.

WHITFIELD: Pam Grier, you're an inspiration, thanks so much. Pleasure meeting you.

GRIER: Thank you. I lost a kidney on this one. What ovary, I had left, you took it. Ow, I'll be OK.

WHITFIELD: You gave, we take.

GRIER: You took, you have an extra one, you know. But yes, thank you for the invitation.

WHITFIELD: It's a fantastic book.

GRIER: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: Pam Grier, "Foxy: My Life In Three Acts." Pretty extraordinary.

GRIER: Yes, and the next one I'll be under the witness protection program. There won't be a next one. There will not be a next one.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Oh, famous last words, Forever Foxy. So, if you missed the first two spots.

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR, CNN NEWSROOM: Did she mention me?

WHITFIELD: No, sorry. I know, who doesn't love her?

LEMON: I'm so jealous. How did you get to do that? Oh, man.

WHITFIELD: You know, it's about timing sometimes. There are two other parts, I don't know if you saw. That was the third part. It's on my blog, CNN.com/Fredricka, if you want to see more, if you want to gush some more, and be upset even more that I got to sit with her.

LEMON: Do you remember Coffee and Foxy Brown?

WHITFIELD: I know. She said she really did kind of channel her mother as she did Coffee.

LEMON: Really? And Beyonce did it, remember she did Foxy Cleopatra.

WHITFIELD: Right, right, right.

LEMON: Same sort of thing. Anyway, it was great.

WHITFIELD: Oh, thanks.

LEMON: Everyone is talking about the interview.

WHITFIELD: You're coming up next, that's right.

LEMON: They're saying great interview, the tour, people, Jacqui Jeras.

WHITFIELD: Glad people enjoyed it. It's a good book.

LEMON: Oh, gosh, I feel so short. How tall are those heels?

WHITFIELD: I'm sorry. My heels are a little high today.

LEMON: See you soon.

WHITFIELD: Much more straight ahead, NEWSROOM, Don Lemon.

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