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American Morning
Obama Bound for Asia; Cargo Bomb Minutes from Blowing; Netflix Crashing the Internet?; Blogger Mom Defends On; Human Factor: George W. Bush on Oprah
Aired November 05, 2010 - 07:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Thanks so much for being with us. It's Friday, November 5th. I'm Kiran Chetry.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. I'm John Roberts. Thanks so much for being with us. And here are this morning's top stories.
President Obama ready to take off on a four-nation trade mission to Asia. His first stop, India. The White House shooting down claims that this trip is going to cost taxpayers $200 million a day. As some Republican members of Congress have been saying. Whatever the cost, a lot of people are wondering why the president is headed to Asia at all.
CHETRY: Seventeen minutes to spare. That's what France's interior minister says is how long they had to diffuse one of those two parcel bombs from Yemen. We are live with what the White House is saying this morning.
ROBERTS: And in about 30 minutes' time, new job numbers will be released by the Labor Department. It should give us a pretty good snapshot of how things are going on Main Street. Our Christine Romans standing by to break it all down for you.
CHETRY: But first, though, another disaster in the making for Haiti. Hurricane Tomas making a powerful pass by the island with winds up to 80 miles per hour, sustained, gusting to 100 miles per hour right now, and as much as 15 inches of rain expected. More than a million Haitians have been displaced since the earthquake hit in January and they're desperately seeking shelter from the storm.
Reynolds wolf is tracking Tomas for us from the extreme weather center. Have we gotten an update, Reynolds?
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: The latest we have on this with our latest update, and to answer your question, yes, we have. 85 miles an hour. That's the latest we have in terms of wind speed. So it has strengthened since the last update.
The size, still pretty expansive going from above central Cuba all the way over to just east of the Dominican Republic. And you see the areas that are shaded in purple. That's where you have your highs, your coldest spot tops and your heaviest rain.
And the issue that we have with parts of Haiti is not necessarily just the wind, it's really going to be the rain and the potential of mudslides in Port-au-Prince and many other parts of just extreme western Haiti along the coast. It could be very rough for them to say the very least, especially over the next six to eight hours. But then and fast forward into Saturday and into Sunday, the system is expected to move further to the north, moving into cooler water this weekend into Sunday and weakening, but it's really going to be crucial over the next couple of hours.
One thing we're going to be seeing with this is going to be pretty interesting situation, especially in parts of this area of Haiti. Let me line out that little bit of an area. We've got very high elevations in extreme southwestern Haiti. With the highest tops that we have here, some places over 3,000 feet in terms of your highest cliffs, we have what we refer to as orographic lift. It enhances the amount of rainfall.
And as the rain goes down those mountain sides, you have to remember you've got many areas that are barren of trees. So, we could see some mudslides, a real potential, especially for people that have those tent shelters. So, it could be very critical to watch over the next couple of hours.
Eventually, as the storm moves towards the Turks and Caicos Islands, they could certainly see some rough weather. But it looks unfortunately Haiti may catch the brunt of it.
Something we're going to be seeing today in terms of the U.S., we're going to be catching the brunt of rough weather in parts of the Northeast and delays already in New York, LaGuardia, 25-minute wait.
Back in the Great Lakes, some strong winds through Chicago and Detroit. It might give you delays later today. Out and across the nation's midsection, pretty nice. Still warm out in parts of southern California. Your high temperatures back into the 80s for much of the coast.
More on that weather coming up in just a few moments. But it looks like it's going to be a fairly warm weekend for much of the Golden State of California.
Let's pitch it back to you guys.
CHETRY: All right. Reynolds, thanks so much.
WOLF: You bet.
ROBERTS: New this morning, a passenger plane carrying 68 people has crashed in central Cuba. There were no survivors. It was an AeroCaribbean flight headed from San Santiago, Cuba, to Havana when it went down last night near the village of Guasimal. Officials say 28 foreigners from 10 countries were on board that flight.
CHETRY: And a faulty engine design may be to blame for a midair engine blowout that forced the Qantas Airbus A380 to make an emergency landing in Singapore. Qantas' fleet of double-decker supejumbos remains grounded this morning. But the airline CEO says that they could be back in the air this weekend once the cause of the Thursday's near-disaster is officially determined.
Qantas CEO Alan Joyce also denied claims that the engine failure may have been a result of cost-cutting maintenance. In fact, he called those suggestions, quote, "outrageous."
ROBERTS: And a small plane carrying 22 people crashed overnight in Pakistan. Everyone on board was killed. Officials say the pilot warned of engine trouble shortly after taking off from the southern city of Karachi. Witnesses say the plane burst into flames upon impact.
Well, President Obama is heading to India today and the White House insists the trip will not cost taxpayers $200 million a day, even though some conservatives keep tossing that number out there, hoping that it will stick with someone.
President Obama is embarking on a trade mission to four Asian nations where his approval ratings are higher than they are here at home. He's planning stops in India, Indonesia, South Korea and Japan -- four countries that he considers critical to America's economic recovery.
Our Sara Sidner is live in New Delhi this morning. And what are you hearing from authorities there in India, which apparently is where this claim originated that the president's visit is going to cost $200 million a day?
SARA SIDNER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that number, of course, has been knocked down by the White House, saying that it's absolutely an outrageous number that's not true.
But what we've seeing in local reports and hearing from some officials, all of them unnamed, some people are saying the price of the trip to India, the four days that the president will be here, is around $60 million. But, really, the numbers aren't available. It becomes very secretive because of security, so you're not really getting an exact number.
But I wanted to give you this: the president and all of the people traveling with him, they have booked the Taj Hotel in Mumbai, all of the rooms. There are about 565 rooms. They have all been completely booked because of security. It's surrounded by hundreds of members of security.
And so, if you look at market rates -- and who knows what deal they have with the hotel -- but if you look at market rates, that could cost something around $170,000 for the day. So, if they're paying market rates, then there's a big bill right there, John.
ROBERTS: Taj is where the terror attack was, correct?
SIDNER: Absolutely. And that is one of the reasons why the president has chosen to go there and he wants to show his solidarity with India in the fight against terrorism.
One of the very serious things happening there, the president is going to meet with some of the victims of the Mumbai attacks that happened back in 2008, some of the American and some of the Indian victims.
ROBERTS: OK. So, staying at the hotel where there was a terrorist attack and, obviously, any time the president goes overseas, there's a lot of security around him. What is the Indian government doing on its end to ensure security for the president?
SIDNER: Pulling out all the stops. They've got security all over the place and there is a combination of, for example, Marines from the U.S., even naval ships from the U.S., as well as India's security forces. They are out in masses out in Mumbai where the president is stopping first. And then you will see a similar situation here in Delhi.
They're even closing down the roads in Mumbai and Delhi, and I can tell you that that is quite a feat in cities that have between 14 million and 18 million people normally swarming through the roads of Mumbai or Delhi.
So, definitely, they're taking some major precautions and inconveniencing some of the locals, for sure -- John.
ROBERTS: Those Harley-Davidsons you are talking about yesterday will be off the road for the next couple of days. Sara Sidner for us in New Delhi -- Sara, thanks.
SIDNER: I think so.
CHETRY: They'll be corralling the monkeys and watching for falling coconuts.
ROBERTS: Yes. They've taken all the coconuts off the trees, just in case, only a bonk on the head.
CHETRY: Exactly.
Well, also new this morning, Democratic incumbent Patty Murray declaring victory in Washington state's Senate race. Her challenger Dino Rossi conceded yesterday after he was down two percentage points, 82 percent of the vote counted. Murray's win gives Democrats 51 seats in the Senate and then there are two independents who caucus with the Democrats.
ROBERTS: Well, the race is on to contain a whooping cough outbreak in Chicago. At least two schools now reporting cases of the contagious disease. The outbreak has affected a total of 18 students so far. City officials are recommending vaccinations for any students who have not had one.
CHETRY: Well, both the Dow and NASDAQ open this morning at a two-year high -- specifically, the Dow, jumping 220 points yesterday, thanks to the Federal Reserve's new $600 billion stimulus plan to try to get the economy moving again, as well the results of the midterms being already known.
ROBERTS: We'll see how the economy's moving at about 25 minutes' time when we get the latest jobs outlook.
Special night last night for the members of the Canadian rock group Rush. You know, they're pals of mine. I have a pleasure of knowing them for 30 years, was honored to present them with "Billboard" magazine's Legend of Live Award in recognition of their lasting impact on the concert industry.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: When I was a kid, growing up in Canada, so many years ago, my mom who was an incredibly astute and patriotic woman used to tell me, "Son, there are three things to really be proud of in this nation: hockey, maple syrup and Rush.
(CHEERS)
ROBERTS: What's most incredible is that 40 years later, the country is still producing talented hockey players, there are barrels of fresh maple syrup every spring, and, yes, you can still get a ticket to a Rush concert.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Lead guitarist Alex Lifeson was on hand to accept the award. The guys just wrapped up the North and South American legs of their Time Machine Tour. You remember, we interviewed them in Atlanta back in September and actually got to live out my rock 'n roll fantasy, jamming with them a little bit on stage.
CHETRY: You look very comfortable there with your guitar, rocking with Rush.
ROBERTS: Can you imagine, inside, I'm like --
CHETRY: Well, you didn't look it. Pretty cool.
ROBERTS: Alex, Geddy and Neil, they're just -- they're terrific guys. They are so down to earth. The absolute antithesis of rock stars. Amazing musicians, too. The fans are the most important things in their musical lives.
CHETRY: And they're still going strong. So, good for them.
ROBERTS: A lot of people like them. Yes, in their late 20s for the third time.
CHETRY: Forever.
Well, coming up: we're learning more about one of the bombs found on the cargo planes last week. It was diffused just minutes before it was set to blow. A live report from homeland security correspondent, Jeanne Meserve.
ROBERTS: And a new weapon for doctors in the battle against lung cancer that could cut fatalities by 20 percent. We'll tell you all about it, coming right up.
Nine minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Eleven minutes after the hour now.
And on the CNN security watch, some stunning, new details about the cargo bomb plot that was uncovered last week.
CHETRY: Yes, some in France are now claiming that it may have been an extremely close call involving one of the explosive parcels.
Homeland security correspondent Jeanne Meserve is following developments for us.
When we say close, at least one of the officials in France is saying 17 minutes until it was set to go off.
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: That's right. But others are not confirming that number.
A U.S. official says new information gathered about the bomb plot over the past several days points very directly at al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, AQAP. The official would not elaborate on that new information, but we are learning more about the bombs.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MESERVE (voice-over): A startling statement by the French interior minister -- one of the bombs found last Friday was just minutes away from exploding.
BRUCE HORTEFEUX, INTERIOR MINISTER OF FRANCE (through translator): One parcel has been diffused. One of the parcel bombs, and it was diffused only 17 minutes before the time of the blast.
MESERVE: The French Interior Ministry did not confirm or clarify the remarks. U.S. officials say they cannot confirm their accuracy. But no one disputes this was a dangerous situation.
U.S. officials say the devices contained syringes, like the underwear bomb allegedly worn by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab on Christmas Day. But in these bombs, the syringes were filled with a chemical lead azide commonly used as a detonator. Cell phones were components but their SIM cards removed, meaning the bomb could not be triggered by a phone call.
JIM CAVANAUGH, FORMER ATF OFFICIAL: The cell phone function is a timer. The power source would ignite a wire inside the improvised detonator inside the syringe and then heat up and cause the lead azide to explode and that would detonate the main charge of PETN.
MESERVE: U.S. officials believe the bomb maker is Ibrahim al- Asiri, a Saudi member of AQAP who suspected of contrasting the underwear bomb. Experts say he is likely already adapting, devising a new method of attack.
CAVANAUGH: And every day he's free, I say there's no doubt that he's either making a bomb or thinking about how to make a bomb, or putting together some chemical or devilish mixture that's going to kill innocents somewhere in the world.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MESERVE: Now, Cavanaugh theorizes that the bombers address the packages to Chicago rather than East Coast city because that increased the chance that the bombs would explode over the Continental U.S. U.S. officials aren't weighing in on that. They say the forensic study of the devices is not done yet.
John and Kiran, back to you.
CHETRY: All right. Thanks, Jeanne.
ROBERTS: Jeanne Meserve for us this morning -- thanks, Jeanne.
After the shellacking comes the so-called "Slurpee Summit" and plans are taking shape. President Obama has invited the bipartisan congressional leadership to the White House for a meeting and dinner. But like the Slurpee itself, the atmosphere could be a little bit icy.
CHETRY: Yes, that summit scheduled for November 18th and GOP leaders may not be happy if Slurpees are actually served because as House Speaker in waiting, John Boehner, said, how about a glass of Merlot?
ROBERTS: Not drinking any Merlot around.
All this talk of Slurpees is giving 7-Eleven free advertising for its signature drink and company officials say if the president wants a "Slurpee Summit," they're ready to cater with red and blue Slurpees, even a purple one if they want. That's what you get, of course, when you mix the blue and the red together.
CHETRY: Coming up: now that Republicans gained control of the House, the clock is ticking on the "don't ask, don't tell" policy. Will it be repealed?
And one moment, he's trapped underground in the mine in Chile, the next thing you know, -- oh, he's on "David Letterman." The marathon miner -- coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Eighteen minutes after the hour. Time for some of stories that had us talking, oh, what we're talking in the newsroom this morning. Is the Internet on the verge of crashing because of Netflix? Experts are worried that broadband capacity has been stretched to the limit, and Netflix is the chief culprit. The firm now has more than 15 million subscribers accounting for 20 percent of all web traffic in North American homes during peak usage hours.
CHETRY: Yes. Now that everybody has mobile devices, they want to watch movies anywhere, any time.
ROBERTS: I saw a guy watching a movie on his iPhone the other day. I'm sorry. The screen is just a little too small.
CHETRY: Yes. A lot of people do it, though.
Well, a Kansas City mom is an Internet hit for defending her 5- year-old's son decision to dress up like a girl on Halloween. There's a picture of him. He was Daphne from Scooby Doo. She said that the little boy's fellow classmates didn't say anything about it, were pretty supportive, but it was some of the moms who she says actually bullied her for the decision. Well, she started blogging about it, and it really touched a nerve. She's got 19,000 comments and over a million hits on that blog.
ROBERTS: You were talking to her just last hour, right?
CHETRY: Right. You know, we just asked her about it. Most of the people on the blog were very supportive, but there were others who strongly disagreed with that said you shouldn't let your kids do that because you set them up for bullying, but mostly supportive.
ROBERTS: And she said dad, who's a police officer, fully supports it, too, right? So, we'll see where this goes.
Finally, check this out. An American spacecraft came within 435 miles of a comet. Here are the pictures that sent back. This is the comet Hartley 2, and you can see geysers of gas and other materials spewing off of its surface. There are flies (ph) around the solar system.
CHETRY: You said the iPhone was too small to watch movies on. How about an iPhone table? Really an app for that. Well, here's some YouTube video. It shows users connecting an iPhone to a table-like display, and it response like to -- responds to touch like an iPhone does. Hold on. I still haven't seen this. When are we going to see it?
ROBERTS: I'm seeing an iPhone.
CHETRY: We see the whole table. Come on.
ROBERTS: Oh, look at this. Oh, it's a table-sized iPhone.
CHETRY: There you go.
ROBERTS: Also cool. CHETRY: That would be good to watch a movie on, right? Wired magazine and several of the bloggers say that they actually doubt that such an iPhone table connects, actually exist, this may go the way of the slip and slide.
ROBERTS: Oh, this could be just -- ah, yes. That's somebody's got a --
CHETRY: A tricky camera work.
ROBERTS: A black table and they're just super imposing the iPhone on it. You have to have a pretty big pocket to put that thing in.
CHETRY: Yes.
ROBERTS: Well, you got to check these next pictures out. Canadian authorities investigating why a young man, and he's the one that you can see on the left here, boarded an air Canada jet in Hong Kong disguised as this guy, an elderly white male. Officials say during the flight to Vancouver, the guy went into the bathroom as the old man, and then sometime later emerged, as -- we'll show you the picture here.
This guy who appears to be in his 20s. No one knows why he disguised himself, but Canadian officials say he filed a refugee claim just as soon as he arrived in Canada. That guy's got a future in makeup.
CHETRY: If he did that himself, yes.
ROBERTS: Prosthetic make-up in the movie industry. You watch.
CHETRY: Well, after 69 days being trapped underground, Sunday's 26.2-mile marathon in New York City may seem like a piece of cake for Chilean miner, Edison Pena. Before he was rescued last month, he actually runs six miles everyday underground in the mine in his boots. And last night, he talked about it with David Letterman.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID LETTERMAN, HOST, "THE LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN": And how long were you a miner?
EDISON PENA, CHILEAN MINER: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. I was a miner only seven or eight months when the accident happened.
LETTERMAN: Oh. Wow. Yes.
(LAUGHTER)
LETTERMAN: Do you consider yourself to still be a miner?
PENA: (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No. I'm a miner for life. I'm a miner for life out of respect of my colleagues who are miners and out of respect for my country and the people of the world. I self identify as a miner.
LETTERMAN: Wow. God.
(CLAPPING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERTS: Interesting fellow.
CHETRY: Yes. He was running the marathon in New York City. He also got invited to Graceland because he's famously the Elvis fan. And I think he's also going to get to see Broadway play featuring the music of Elvis or it's a Vegas production.
ROBERTS: He's going to Vegas.
CHETRY: Yes. So, he has (ph) a lot going on. Congratulations to him.
ROBERTS: She's great, too.
CHETRY: Very --
ROBERTS: You know, usually the simultaneous translators are like --
CHETRY: I know.
ROBERTS: She was great. Very animated.
CHETRY: She was.
ROBERTS: He's going to have a lot of fun here.
CHETRY: And we'll see if we hear from some of the other ones, as well because they all had such amazing stories.
ROBERTS: To a person, they did. Can you imagine?
CHETRY: Wow.
Well, we are getting the latest job numbers coming out in just about eight minutes. We'll know whether or not the economy has added jobs or whether the economy has lost jobs. The October jobs report out just a couple of minutes. Christine Romans standing by to break it all down for us. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Twenty-six minutes past the hour right now. President Obama pledging to repeal the Pentagon's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policy toward gays during his administration. So far, he is not. And now, in the wake of the Republican takeover in the House, he may have lost the chance. And it could cost him big time in 2012. Our Chris Lawrence is following all that for us live at the Pentagon. How is this playing out right now?
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kiran, it really gets the clock ticking very quickly now because some senior high-ranking Republicans in this new Congress have already said publicly they don't want to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell." Some of the troops that I've spoken with, they feel the same way, too. But this issue really means something to a lot of gay and lesbian activists. And now, President Obama's got about four weeks left with this old Congress to get something done for them.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAWRENCE (voice-over): Some of President Obama's strongest supporters remember the leader who twisted arms and pushed hard for financial reform but say that guy was nowhere to be found on repealing "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's time for us to move this policy forward.
OMAR LOPEZ, U.S. NAVY VETERAN: I'm truly disappointed because, you know, when he was running and campaigning, I was, you know, pro- Obama.
This guy --
LAWRENCE: Omar Lopez was kicked out of the navy for being gay.
(SHOUTING) Keep your promise, Obama.
LAWRENCE: He says the president squandered a huge majority in Congress and had its justice department fight to keep "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" in place after an appeals court ruled it unconstitutional.
LOPEZ: Now, this is not a Bill Clinton administration law. Now, it's turned into his law because he's pushing against it. You know, lifting it and taking a sweet time. It's already been two years that he's been in office and hasn't taken any, any action.
LAWRENCE: The old Congress has one more shot before the new one is seated. And Senator Reid determines what bill gets brought up and when. The senators begin to lame duck session November 15th to debate the repeal, pass it, and reconcile with the House of Representatives could take at least three to four weeks.
If Reid doesn't bring up the bill until after Thanksgiving, there's likely not enough time. The Pentagon study on what troops think is due December 1st, so senators might have those results by the time they actually cast their vote, but again, they'll probably go home around the 22nd.
ALEX NICHOLSON, SERVICEMEMBERS UNITED: If this bill gets brought up under a less than optimal procedural condition, that that'll be Senator Reid's decision alone. If it gets brought up after Thanksgiving versus before Thanksgiving, that'll Senator Reid's decision alone. So, Senator Reid is a very important player in this.
LAWRENCE: Roll call's Ben Roth says what Reid decides now will impact President Obama later. Remember what Omar Lopez said?
LOPEZ: Now, this is not a Bill Clinton administration law.
LAWRENCE: Gay rights supporters may punish him at the polls.
BEN ROTH, ROLL CALL: Again, it's going to be harder in 2012 when he's going to really be trying to gin up his base, and some of them will say, well, when you had 59 senators, I mean, you couldn't get this through. What was the problem? And you waited too long.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAWRENCE (on-camera): So, the key to those four weeks is really going to be these moderate Republican senators who have said they want to wait to hear what the troops think before making their decision. Folks like Scott Brown and Olympia Snowe. They would have to allow this bill to go forward for now knowing that they would get a chance to see the results of that Pentagon study before actually casting their vote next month -- Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. So if we -- if they decide to make a move, we should know pretty soon. Chris Lawrence for us this morning.
LAWRENCE: Very soon.
CHETRY: Thanks so much.
ROBERTS: We're coming up on the half hour now that means it's time for this morning's top stories.
A faulty engine design may be to blame for a midair engine failure that forced a Qantas Airbus A380 to make an emergency landing. That's according to the Australian's CEO. He adds the airlines fleet of double-decker planes could be back in the air this weekend once crews finish completing safety checks of all those engines.
CHETRY: CT scans could be the key to reducing lung cancer deaths in this country. There are some early results out from a big government study, and they show a dramatic drop in fatalities when the scans are used as a screening tool instead of the traditional x-ray.
ROBERTS: And a new disaster unfolding in Haiti this morning. Hurricane Tomas battering the island right now. As much as 15 inches of rain are expected. This expected to fall in some areas. Right now, aid groups are scrambling to move more than a million earthquake victims who are still living in tent cities. They want to get them out to get them into more hardened shelters.
Some of the good news, though, we talked to somebody on the ground a couple of hours ago, and he said that the wind there not as strong as had been expected. So, maybe they'll dodge a bullet in terms of the wind. But he said there is still lots of rain coming down.
CHETRY: We're talking 15 inches, the threat of mudslides. We'll have our fingers crossed for Haiti this morning.
Meanwhile, Costco shoppers, if you recently bought any Dutch- style Gouda cheese by bravo farms, you are urged not to eat it but return it to the store. Federal health officials say it's linked to an E. coli outbreak that sickened 25 people so far. The cheese was sold in Arizona, California, New Mexico, Nevada, as well as the San Diego, California, area.
We're finding out more this morning about those Costco outlets that they were offering free samples, ironically enough, of this contaminated cheese to shoppers.
All right, well, just in to CNN right now, the Labor Department releasing the latest jobs report. We have Christine Romans working in action right now. You see her on the phone and conference call getting the numbers. Questions as to whether or not this 9.6 percent rate will change. Looks like it stayed the same.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: It did. And it was a good report -- 151,000 nonfarm payroll jobs added, best since I think May, 2010. That's the best -- maybe since April. I got to check that back there. Up 151,000 jobs, which is more than we expected. We thought maybe 60,000 jobs added, but we have added twice that in the economy in October.
So that is a good sign for the economy. We'll be awaiting the breakdown of how much of that was government jobs, private sector jobs, because as you know the private sector jobs here is key. You want an economy healthy enough that businesses are creating the positions for people to work in, not the government and federal spending.
We know that federal and state and local jobs have been something that's been going away over the past few months as the stimulus is expiring and many teachers and municipal jobs have been lost. So 9.6 percent is the unemployment rate. And keeping it steady even uncomfortably high but not worse is important.
ROBERTS: And no major government jobs creation programs going on. Could it be private sector?
ROMANS: It could be. I know that Brian and Ryan are looking through the numbers.
CHETRY: So 159,000 private sector jobs so that means --
ROMANS: That means that private sector offsetting losses overall in the public sector and public sector job loss is something to be expected because the spending is pulling away.
ROBERTS: Usually October's a horrible month. So it's nice that the Dow on the way up. Jobs added.
ROMANS: You are right, a two-year high for the Dow. Commodity prices are high.
ROBERTS: Black and white.
ROMANS: But 151,000 jobs, how many times have you heard me say you have to have 150,000 new jobs created just to keep up with new people entering the work force? For the first time in a very, very long time, we are able to say the new entrants, there were a position for them. We're not eating into the jobs lost in the recession but moving in the right direction and tell us this morning. Moving in the right direction on a Friday.
ROBERTS: Thank you, Christine.
ROMANS: Private sector jobs.
ROBERTS: Hope things keep looking up.
ROMANS: Sure.
ROBERTS: Talking about things looking up, space shuttle Discovery pointed up but not going up. They scrubbed the launch. It is not today's pictures. Oh, it is today's pictures. Why aren't they firing it up? Looks like a beautiful day. Apparently there is some weather in the area, though.
CHETRY: Yes.
ROBERTS: Picturing can be deceiving.
CHETRY: They're saying is a gaseous leak made them decide to -- very funny -- to scrub it. The quote is that shuttle managers are evaluating a hydrogen leak at the ground umbilical carrier plate.
ROBERTS: That's a lot of information.
CHETRY: Nice weather. Still can't go up.
ROBERTS: Just -- shuttle's a little gassy this morning and won't be blasting off.
Greg Heffley back for more torture in the fifth installment of the red hot series "Diary of a Wimpy Kid." The author Jeff Kinney is coming up next.
CHETRY: And George W. Bush opening up to Oprah and what he is saying or isn't saying about this president and the GOP taking over the House in the midterm elections. It's 34 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right, Bulldog, meet your new opponent.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But, this is boys' wrestling.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You ever heard of Title 9?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Her parents threatened to sue. You show her what it's like to wrestle a real life boy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Come on! What you waiting for, huh? Don't be such a wuss. Make your move!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She's a girl. Where do I grab her?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Well, just about every kid in the country can identify with Greg Hefly. He is the protagonist in the "Diary of a Wimpy Kid." And while he may be an outcast in his fictional school, he's actually a fixture in many American homes which 37 million copies of the "Wimpy Kid" series in print.
ROBERTS: "The Ugly Truth" hits bookstores on Thursday. The author and illustrator joining us this morning. Good to see you, Jeff.
JEFF KINNEY, AUTHOR AND ILLUSTRATOR, "DIARY OF A WIMPY KID" SERIES: Great to be here.
ROBERTS: Congratulations. I love stories like this. J.K. Rowling, Stephanie Myers, they put their heart and soul into this. They shop it around. You get, you know, publishers going no, no, no. One person says, you know, I'll take a flier on this. Bam, it takes off.
KINNEY: I feel really lucky. I came to New York a few years ago, walked the sample packet around and ran into just the right guy, Charlie Poucher, my editor. And he took a look at it saying this is exactly what we're looking for and this is why we're here. It just happened really quickly for me.
CHETRY: I first found out about the series watching kids on the subway reading the books. My niece is reading the books. This is taking off and people say it brought around reluctant parents saying the kids were interested in reading. And it's disarming. It's illustrated. There's comic strips in it.
Why do you think it's so successful? Kids love to read your books.
KINNEY: I think it's the humor. I think that also that I have a bit of a crutch in my drawings. If a kid picks the books off the shelf, they can open it up and say it's not threatening and also, you know, I feel like I don't talk down to kids. I don't write down to kids. I think that's why they're responding.
ROBERTS: How much is drawn from your own experience as a child? You were writing this for a different audience.
KINNEY: Right. I think that there's a lot of my childhood DNA in these books. A lot of my experiences have kind of made their way into the books sideways. It's a work of fiction but a lot of fun stuff from my childhood in there.
CHETRY: It's also interesting because as you talk about some of your humor, I mean, adults are laughing at it. The Title 9 reference in the movie.
KINNEY: Right.
CHETRY: It's sort of one of things where parents and kids enjoy it.
KINNEY: I'm glad that parents enjoy it. I wrote it for adults, actually. You know, I never envisioned this as a children's series and by a few twists of fate it became a children's series. So I'm happy it's finding the way to the intended audience.
ROBERTS: I was actually -- I was reading it yesterday and, you know, some books are like -- OK, I have to read this. I was really engaged in the book. It was terrific.
KINNEY: Thank you.
ROBERTS: Greg, the main character, a lazy kid, doesn't like school, manipulative. No big lesson at the end of the book. Do you worry that people see him as the wrong kind of role model or as a role model?
KINNEY: I hope not. I think kids are intelligent enough to know you shouldn't do what Greg does. And they can see he's really flawed and you can laugh at him. I think that kids are really smart enough to figure that out.
CHETRY: You have two sons now, five and seven years old. I mean, do they tell people at school, yes, that book you're reading, my dad wrote that?
KINNEY: My five-year-old tells me and everything this is not his favorite book but my seven-year-old, almost eight, just old enough to read the books and they have some fun with it like small-time celebrity.
ROBERTS: They say, dad wrote the book. I can't -- it's not cool if I read dad's book.
We saw the first movie. There is another movie coming out, as well? This is an empire.
CHETRY: The board game here.
ROBERTS: The series. Believe me, we had to have security watch that for us. It is like gold. Here's the new one, too. This bun doesn't come out until Tuesday.
KINNEY: That's right.
ROBERTS: We had to sign nondisclosure agreements to get this.
CHETRY: We did.
ROBERTS: And you have the game over here, as well.
KINNEY: Yes. The cheese touch game.
ROBERTS: How do you feel about establishing an empire off of this?
KINNEY: It's a lot of fun. Things just get stranger and stranger. And the latest thing is there's a balloon in the Macy's Day parade.
CHETRY: Yes. Greg's going to be a balloon now.
KINNEY: Right. I just can't get any weirder so a lot of fun and trying to have fun with it.
CHETRY: Jeff's a fellow University of Maryland grad, and we went to school together. I didn't know this until recently and I remember reading your little character in your comic strip in our paper.
KINNEY: That's right.
CHETRY: You tried to shop that around for years. No takers?
KINNEY: No. I didn't have enough professional enough style and that's why I wrote and write as a seventh grade boy.
ROBERTS: There's an a certain "Far Side" sense to your cartooning which is very engaging.
KINNEY: I came up as a teenager when "The Far Side" and "Calvin and Hobbes" ruled the comics page. And I said that's what I want to do. And I didn't know that the landscape would change and the opportunities diminish. I feel lucky that I couldn't break into newspapers.
ROBERTS: So you're not disappointed at all they rejected your comic strip and instead you got this unbelievable success?
KINNEY: Right. I have had a lot of fun with that and I feel very fortunate.
CHETRY: Good for you. Congratulations on the series. Everybody's waiting for this to be available.
ROBERTS: Give us an idea of the new one. We know. We have it. People are wondering. Give us a quick preview.
KINNEY: This book is about Greg growing up and puberty sort of tacitly in a g-rated sort of way. But it's about the decision of whether or not, the artistic decision of whether or not Greg should stay a cartoon character or if he should be a literary character and grow up. I have made the decision with this book, which I won't tell.
CHETRY: Jeff Kinney, great to talk to you. KINNEY: Thank you.
ROBERTS: Great to see you.
Coming up on the Most News in the Morning, fly the friendly skies of Oprah. She's getting her own plane. Yes. You thought Jeff Kinney was pretty successful. He doesn't have his own plane. But she is going to be -- it's good to be the queen of talk, particularly talking about it in the air.
CHETRY: Oh, yes.
And also a rainy start to the weekend for a lot of people. Reynolds will have the forecast for us right after the break. It's 45 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: It's 47 minutes after the hour.
What a great guy Jeff was.
CHETRY: Yes, congrats to him. As "Diary of Wimpy Kid" series I mean, it's really taken off. So good for him.
ROBERTS: And it -- it's good when nice people do well, too. Because he's a very, very nice guy.
Let's get a quick check of this morning's weather headlines with Reynolds Wolf in the Extreme Weather Center tracking some weather here in the Northeast and particularly down in the area of Haiti. Good morning -- Reynolds.
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hey, guys. Absolutely, we're going to start off with Haiti very quickly. What we have now as the storm has intensified a bit; still at 85 miles per hour, gusts of 100. It is a very massive storm. Only a Category 1 but in sheer size it extends from almost central Cuba when you look at the outflow all the way past the Dominican Republic and it is continuing to make its way to the north and northeast around nine miles per hour.
The heaviest action expected near Port-au-Prince I would say within the next several hours and then into the evening and then fast forwarding into Saturday and Sunday. The storm expected to continue it's the march to the Northeast, eventually by Sunday becoming a tropical storm.
Now, around the U.S. what we can anticipate, the rain will continue in parts of the northeast; the wind will also. We have delays right now at La Guard of about 25 minutes. I would expect them to stack up in smaller regional airports like Buffalo, maybe even into Syracuse. As you make your way back to Detroit, the winds might cause a few delays there also later on.
But no issues to the central part of the U.S., southwest it's going to remain a bit warm today, with highs around 85 degrees for L.A., 71 in San Francisco and 53 in Seattle. In Denver, 72 degrees you're the expected high, Chicago with 44, 68 in Houston, 67 in Tampa and 57 in our nation's capital.
That is a quick snapshot on your forecast. We're going to be giving you more updates throughout the rest of the day and into the afternoon. And keeping a very sharp eye on the tropics. Back to you.
CHETRY: Thanks, Reynolds.
All right, coming up Oprah Winfrey goes one-on-one with former President George W. Bush. Is he's piling on President Obama after the Democrats midterm defeat? We'll hear what he says coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROBERTS: Eight minutes now to the top of the hour.
Fear is not an option for opera singer Charity Tillemann-Dick, those are words to live by. That belief was severely tested though, when she was diagnosed with an illness that threatened to still her voice, her career and her life.
Our chief medal correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta has her story in today's "Human Factor."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): That soaring voice belongs to Charity Tillemann-Dick, a voice that almost went silent. Six years ago she was diagnosed with a rare lung disease. Without treatment doctors said she would be dead within five years.
CHARITY TILLEMANN-DICK, OPERA SINGER: And it just -- it didn't seem real.
GUPTA: For a while, medication was enough. But by last summer, her only option was a double lung transplant at the Cleveland clinic. Her family, ten brothers and sisters, had always been at her side. But when she was rushed to surgery, she was alone. She pleaded with her doctor.
TILLEMANN-DICK: Please, please keep me alive so I can say good- bye to my mother. And I told him that if he could do anything to save my voice, to do it.
GUPTA: She was in a coma for a month. It was another month before she could speak a word.
TILLEMANN-DICK: They took me off of the trach (ph) and they told me to say "e" and nothing would come out. And I wouldn't stop and finally, finally you could hear "e" -- "e" and it started coming out and tears were streaming down my face. And I remember thinking to myself, I am so deeply grateful. I can -- I can make sound.
When I got home the first song that I sang and I had this real connection to was "Smile" by Charlie Chaplin. Smile when your -- when your heart is -- is breaking, even though it's aching.
When I sing, I feel like I'm taken to another place. And it's this -- this place of pure sound and transcendent beauty.
GUPTA: Beauty saved by the grace of an organ donor.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN, reporting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHETRY: She's got a beautiful voice.
ROBERTS: Oh doesn't she, though? Oh my goodness.
CHETRY: Good for her.
Well, we're going to take a quick break. We'll be back in just two minutes.
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CHETRY: You can fly into the great white open with Oprah now reaching new heights for her farewell season. It is the debut of her own 757. United Airlines unveiled the aircraft yesterday which is painted nose to tail with the show's logo.
The plane has a customized interior and passengers are greeted with a video message from Oprah. United plans to use the Oprah plane on domestic flights through May of next year.
ROBERTS: Speaking of Oprah, she sat down with former President George W. Bush to discuss his memoir which goes on sale on Tuesday and she tried in vain to get him to weigh in on the job that President Obama has been doing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm through with politics. It is hard for people to believe, I already said that. I'm through.
OPRAH WINFREY, TALK SHOW HOST: Is that why you haven't commented on what Obama is doing or how he's doing it?
BUSH: No because I want to treat my successor the way I would like to have been treated. I don't think it's good for a former president to be out there opining on every darn issue. He's got a plenty tough job, trust me. And there's going to be plenty of critics and he doesn't need me criticizing him. I don't think it's good for the presidency.
WINFREY: Yes.
BUSH: Other people have a different point of view.
(END VIDEO CLIP) ROBERTS: So there will be no opining in the Bush household.
CHETRY: No. And Oprah's interview, by the way, with former President Bush airs on Tuesday. And we want to tell you about a new member of our family here on AMERICAN MORNING.
This is Collin Douglas Maines. He is the son of our Vista Wall operator Douglas Maines. He was born on Halloween, by the way, October 31st, 8:33 a.m. So he was born during our show; that's one of the requirements we have here. 8.2 pounds and 19 1/4 inches. Everyone's doing great. He's adorable.
ROBERTS: He really is. Congratulations to dad and to mom, as well. Fantastic. Isn't that beautiful.
CHETRY: Yes.
ROBERTS: He looks just like daddy. He's fast asleep.
CHETRY: Very funny.
ROBERTS: Everybody who works these hours fast asleep.
That's going to wrap it up for us. Thanks so much for joining us. It's been a long week, hasn't it? But it is finally Friday now.
CHETRY: Yes, I can say that with absolute certainty today, Kyra, that it is indeed Friday. "CNN NEWSROOM" continues now with Kyra Phillips.
We'll see you back here Monday, guys.
