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American Morning

Paying More for Just About Everything; Charlie Sheen's Weird Radio Interview; Protests Across North Africa and Middle East; Meet a Man Who Plans to Run from North to South Pole; Update of Congresswoman Giffords' Recovery

Aired February 15, 2011 - 07:00   ET

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

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): You're going to be experiencing some sticker shock at the grocery store, at the mall, pretty much everywhere you shop. In a matter of months, you will be paying more at the cash register for just about everything. Who's raising their prices and why on this AMERICAN MORNING.

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CHETRY (on-camera): And good morning to you. Thanks so much for being with us. It's Tuesday, February 15th. Glad you're with us on this AMERICAN MORNING. I'm Kiran Chetry.

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: And hello to you all. I'm T.J. Holmes.

Also coming up for you this morning, a lot of people talking about Charlie Sheen. He says he's ready to go back to work, but he also says crack is OK if you can manage it, just one of the strange things he said in an interview that a lot of people are talking about this morning.

CHETRY: We're also going to meet a man who plans to run, literally, from the top of the planet to the bottom. North Pole to South, two marathons a day for almost a year. We're going to find out how the heck he plans to do it, and most of all, why.

First, though, we're talking about how much money you'll end up spending at grocery stores or department stores for appliances. The things that you need to buy will soon take an even bigger bite out of your wallet with food, clothes, toothpaste, even refrigerators costing more if they don't already, and in some cases quite a bit more.

Christine Romans is here to break it down. You have warned about commodities going up and how at some point this was going to be passed along to consumers. Is that point now?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: That point is now, this year. They have been trying to absorb this. Look, everyone is frugal. Consumers don't have a lot of wiggle room, so a lot of companies knew they couldn't pass these costs on, and they went as far as they could, and now the companies are telling us they are starting to pass these prices on. Why? Well, first of all, some low-wage places where a lot of labor is, well, there's labor unrest. And those prices are rising to make goods. Also, raw materials prices -- there is a freeze in Mexico, for example, that means you could see this in your cucumbers and tomatoes very soon, shortages or higher prices there.

Let's look at meat, dairy and produce. I've been telling you about these prices rising, grains prices rising since last summer. Meat, dairy, produce, you're likely to see a three percent increase for those products in the grocery store.

Cereal, cereal companies saying they're going to start having to pass along prices to consumers, maybe three to four percent. This could mean the box of cereal gets smaller, it could mean the price of cereal is more, or fewer manufacturers' coupons, so there aren't the 30 cents or 40 cents off that a lot of people have been relying on to buy a $3 or $4 box of cereal.

T-shirts, cotton prices have doubled over the past year. T-shirt prices could rise 10 percent. You could see prices rising for underwear and other clothes, as well.

Refrigerators, LG will be raising prices this year. Whirlpool has told investors it will be raising prices, everything from refrigerators to washers, dryers, because of higher costs to make these things than some of those other markets where they have moved production. It also because of higher metals prices.

And even things like toothpaste, palm oil, some of the ingredients they use in some consumer products have been rising. You can see a one or two percent increase in things like that.

So the price that you pay for something is the raw materials. Those have been rising for just about everything. It's labor, that's been rising in certain countries where companies have moved labor where they thought it would remain very, very cheap for them.

Packaging, that's increased. Shipping, that's increased. Then you have a little piece of profit. That's the whole price thing there. A lot of those prices have been rising. Profits have not. And so some companies will start to raise prices. You're going to see it.

CHETRY: Any tips? I mean, buy in bulk? Anything? Can you buy in season?

ROMANS: The coupon thing is what gets me. A lot of families that are using a lot of coupons and being smart and the frugal are ruling the world these days with how they're handling their food budget. If you're going to see the manufacturers' coupons, that's going to hit those people.

The USDA says officially they think three percent food price rise this year. So that's the official target of the government. But people out there are filling up their shopping cart, they're noticing things are starting to rise. And big-picture items, too, even shoes. You're going to be seeing shoes and apparel and a lot of things inching higher. Companies have to be careful how they do it, though, because we're all still frugal at heart after the last few years, and a lot of people don't have extra spending money. So you could see people pulling back in some place to say pay for the basics.

HOLMES: All right, Christine Romans.

ROMANS: Sure.

HOLMES: We appreciate you as always. Thanks so much.

The Obama administration has tried to push the president's new spending plan. You may have heard about this. He released his budget yesterday. The treasury secretary will be out, Geithner, and also the White House budget director will be out. And the Health and Human Services secretary Kathleen Sebelius all will go before members of Congress today.

They'll be making the case for the $3.7 trillion budget that includes over $1 trillion in spending cuts. Republicans, as you can imagine, are not too wild about the president's budget plan. They say these cuts at $1.1 trillion don't go far enough. They say it doesn't address drivers of the longest term debt, Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security.

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor has said the GOP budget, which will be out this spring, will address those entitlement reforms. In just about 30 minutes our Jim Acosta will have more about this passionate debate over spending cuts and government priorities.

CHETRY: New developments this morning for the parents of Danroy, D.J. Henry, the Pace University student who was shot and killed by police in New York last fall. The Justice Department is now stepping in to investigate after a state grand jury decided yesterday not to indict the officers involved. Police shot and killed Henry through the windshield of his car in October claiming that he ran into four officers while trying to speed away from a bar fight.

Earlier on "American Morning" Henry's father called the grand jury decision predictable.

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DANROY HENRY, SR. BELIEVES SON WAS MURDERED BY POLICE: Without accountability, this will happen again. It will happen to somebody else's family and it will happen the same way. It's happened before, it will happen again. So we have always believed there should be both punishment and penalty.

A civil judgment would be the penalty. But we're still very interested in the punishment. We still believe there needs to be a murder conviction here, starting with an indictment. We never believed the indictment would come at the state level. We always thought it would have to come at the federal level. We hope it happens now.

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CHETRY: And Henry has filed a $120 million civil suit against the town of Mount Pleasant, New York, and the village of Pleasantville, New York.

HOLMES: We're going to take you to Italy now, where the prime minister Silvio Berlusconi will be tried on criminal charges of having sex with an underage prostitute, and also charged with abuse of power. We're just getting this judge's ruling that the prime minister will have to go on trial.

Our Dan Rivers is live for us in Italy. Dan, good morning to you. What is the reaction of the people so far to this news that their leader will go on trial for a sex crime?

DAN RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think this is going to be the most sensational trial Italy has probably ever are seen, if it does go ahead. And there is a full trial.

Now, I say that because today the judge has effectively fast-tracked this case. The prime minister, as you say, has effectively been indicted on these charges. There are a lot of other things that could happen that could derail this trial before we get to the conclusion.

The Berlusconi defense team has been fighting all the way with this. He has angrily denied the charges, saying they're politically motivated. They're trying to bring in the legislature down in Rome, saying that they have already voted in his favor on a related issue.

So there's a lot of things that could go wrong in all of this, but the big picture, this is bad news for Silvio Berlusconi, another strep step to the trial going ahead, and it will be incredibly sensational when it does. We have already heard a lot of evidence, wiretap evidence of burr loss cony's friends and guests, painted lured picture of sex stories, all of which Berlusconi's and the people involved deny, but it is not good for his reputation politically here.

Dan Rivers with the latest in Silvio Berlusconi's history of scandal. This might be worst we might have seen yet. Dan, we appreciate you, as always.

CHETRY: We have dealt with subfreezing temperatures, now it's up to the 70s in some parts of the country, a major change in the weather in store for us.

(WEATHER BREAK)

CHETRY: The countdown begins on who will take home the coveted title of Best in Show. The Westminster Kennel Club dog show kicked off in New York's Madison Square Garden on Monday. Four group winners were selected as the city's top dog. And today we find out the top contenders in the sporting and working dog categories.

Between all the pomp and pageantry, only one porch comes out of top, and tonight they will be crowning Best in Show.

HOLMES: I always wanted to go to that show. They did one on Christmas Day?

CHETRY: You can do the cup and the Westminster Dog show. They have a bunch of them, but this is a big deal. The most surreal thing is walking through the city and seeing, you know, the dog owners bringing their dogs around, so you get to see all these -- there's more security for those dogs than people, because, you know, some get stolen.

HOLMES: All right, we'll have the winner tomorrow. I assume.

Also ahead on this "American Morning," could Iran be the next Egypt? We'll explain why there is a different road ahead for the protesters on the streets of Tehran than those in Cairo.

CHETRY: And also Charlie Sheen gave an interview to host Dan Patrick where he has some pretty bizarre advice, including whether or not it's OK to do crack. It's ten minutes after the hour.

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CHETRY: Protests spreading across North Africa in the Middle East, and now Iran. Tens of thousands of demonstrators defying the government warning and marching in Tehran. Unverified videos are popping up on YouTube showing they were beat back by riot police with batons and tear gas. A whole different ballgame there than what's happened in Egypt. They did try this before and paid for it with blood.

Emad Shahin is an associate professor of religion, conflict, and peace building at the University of Notre Dame. He has also taught at the American University in Cairo, and that's where he is this morning in Cairo. Welcome, thanks for joining us this morning.

EMAD SHAHIN, ASSOC. PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME: Thank you.

CHETRY: We showed some of that video, and again, we said this is unverified video from YouTube of protests and the government response in Iran. We all remember back in 2009 when many protesters took to the streets, as well. What is your take on what's happening in Iran now?

SHAHIN: Look, I think they listen to Egypt, and Egypt would set us apart. So a number of countries in the region that suffer from similar problems that Egypt and Tunisia had been suffering from, issues of repression, issues of hypocrisy, issues of lack of freedom and stifling civil society and economic society. So this should not come as a surprise, particularly after the success of the peaceful demonstration, pro-democracy revolution or revolts in Tunisia and Egypt.

I'm also not surprised by the response from the Basij of the anti-riot police in Iran because that's exactly what happened as you said, in 2009. And they tried to force them to suppress the movement, this movement at the beginning. But we notice now that this movement has not died out. I think it has gathered a storm, and sooner or later, it will go to Iraq again.

CHETRY: What are the chances though that we'll see what happened in Egypt? I mean, in Egypt, the protesters were able to bring down the government, at least bring down Mubarak. Can that happen in Iran?

SHAHIN: Well, the situation in Iran, of course, in terms of the political structure is different. You have here a revolution that has been in place for the past 13 years with all of the oppressive situations. You also have a class of clergy that has managed to infiltrate the society politically, economically, and ideologically, of course. And also, you have a movement that is a bit fractionalized with different leaderships. So what I'm trying to say that it is not impossible, but the movement there is facing some kind of challenges. But hopefully it's able to address these challenges and sustain and persevere, and bring its values to effect.

CHETRY: I want to ask you other question, new developments this morning about the Muslim Brotherhood. They announced that they are applying to become a political party, that they want to be a political party, even though they were banned yet tolerated in Egypt. What's your reaction? How do you see the Muslim Brotherhood fitting into the new process going forward in Egypt?

SHAHIN: Look, the Muslim Brotherhood is part of the Egyptian political society. It has been around since 1928. As we all know, it's one of the best if not the best organized political movement. It's also the most popular Islamic opposition. And I think these on the -- some values that this pro-democracy revolution has said that it would like to build an all-inclusive, political, democratic system. So that should not come as a surprise, that the Muslim Brotherhood will try to find a legitimate and legal role and place any kind of future set in Egypt.

The issue is, I know, that this brings a lot of fear -- it must have been analysts, it must have been policymakers, but I think our focus here should be on building safeguards and institutions in Egypt, a constitution system in Egypt that actually would prevent any power, be it the military generals or the Muslim Brotherhood or an autocrat, even an individual, from monopolizing power. The focus should be on an institution, constitutional institutions and democratic structures that can promote a healthy and conducive democratic life in Egypt. And in this case, the Muslim Brotherhood will be like the other key players in the system, and they cannot always be prevented from monopolizing power.

CHETRY: Can the United States enjoy an ally status, the likes of what the relationship between Egypt and the U.S. was before, with some facet of the government being controlled by the Muslim Brotherhood?

SHAHIN: Look, of course. Mubarak's phase or era I think has been really unprecedented. He has been a close strategic ally to the United States, and I think he has been given unprecedented privileges to the knights of Israel. I don't expect this to continue. But having said that, I also -- for example, the drastic, drastic foreign policy changes are going to take place, like for example, the peace treaty with Israel or certain measures, strategic measures that any Egyptian government has to provide, like passage through the Suez canal or commitment, our commitment to international treaties and our international commitment will not change. What will change, of course, is the issue of the nature of the relationship, the basis of this relationship. I think it's going to be a -- based on parity, as President Obama also hoped for in his different speeches, in the Cairo speech, it will be based on mutual interests and respect. That's what I expect.

CHETRY: All right. Well, certainly hopefully that will be the case. Emad Shahin, associate professor at the University of Notre Dame, great to talk to you this morning. Thanks so much.

SHAHIN: Thank you.

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Well, you passengers out there, could you finally get a bill of rights? Well, one is being introduced today. Supposed to protect you airline passengers. We'll tell you what rights you might get.

CHETRY: And Whoopi Goldberg was mad yesterday. She blasted the "New York Times" for leaving her out of an article talking about African- American Oscar winners. We're going to have more, because the "New York Times" also responded.

Twenty minutes past the hour.

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HOLMES: Well, 23 minutes past the hour now on this AMERICAN MORNING. We could get a bill of rights, a passenger bill of rights. California Congressman Mike Thompson is said to officially introduce the Air Passenger Bill of Rights Act of 2011.

Now, the main part maybe you want to know about here is this would include a three-hour rule. That would be the limit of how long you could sit in a plane on the tarmac without being given the option to get off the plane. The government, you may remember, started fining airlines already for delays over three hours. That was back in April. This would actually have some meat, some legislation behind it. Some airlines, however, since that rule went into place by the federal government, they just started cancelling flights all together to avoid some of those fines.

CHETRY: Whoopi Goldberg was all fired up on "The View." She was blasting "The New York Times" for leaving her out of an article on the small number of African-American Oscar winners. Goldberg won Best Supporting Actress for 1991's film "Ghost" and she also had --- she got nominated also for "The Color Purple," as well. But she says "The Times" had some explaining to do. Here's a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WHOOPI GOLDBERG, CO-HOST, "THE VIEW": This omission -- I don't know what to say about what you've done. It's just nothing I can say, except that you're sloppy in your work, and you're supposed to be better than this. This is "The New York Times." It's not some bozo newspaper from hoochie coochie (ph) land. This is the "New York Times." I'm just, you know, hurt.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHETRY: All right. Well, "The Times" though was standing by its story saying that the error lies with those who misread the story. This was "The Times" statement. "The point of the piece was not to name every black actor or actress who has been awarded an Oscar. It was to draw a comparison between the number who won prior to 2002, the year that Halle Berry and Denzel Washington won, and those who have won since. The story states very clearly that in 73 years, prior to 2002, only seven black actors and actresses won Oscars."

HOLMES: Well, let's turn to Charlie Sheen now. A lot of people talking about him this morning. A lot of people worried about him this morning.

He did an interview with Dan Patrick's radio show, a syndicated radio show, and among some of the things that caused alarm for some of the listeners, he said that crack is OK if you can manage it socially. That's just one of the things he said. He also had some things to say about rehab. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How long have you been sober?

CHARLIE SHEEN, ACTOR: I've been off -- I'm not in AA. I don't believe in that. You know, it's off and on. You know, it's been -- I was sober five years a long time ago, and just bored out of my tree and decided, you know, this is not authentic. It's not who I am. And like that. You know, I didn't drink for 12 years, and man, that first one, Dan, wow.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: As many of you know, his show, his show which is one of the highest-rated on television, "Two and a Half Men" is on hiatus right now. He says, however, this is the time to get him because when he falls off that wagon, it's a pretty fast fall. But also he says he recovers quickly, and right now he's in that recovery period. Literally says you've got to get him while he's good.

CHETRY: Said he went to the studio and started knocking on the door, he's ready to go, and they weren't opening the door. So I'm sure there'll be reaction to this today, probably from the studio, as well, but we're also going to be hearing from Jane Velez-Mitchell. She wrote a book "Addict Nation" where she talked about her own battles with addiction. We're going to hear what she has to say about Charlie Sheen.

Also coming up, President Obama's budget plan for the next year is out. The critics are slamming it, saying the administration dodged some of the biggest, most painful cuts. HOLMES: Also this morning, did you know we have landed on Mars? Kind of sort of. We'll explain this mock mission.

It's 26 minutes past the hour.

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CHETRY: Pretty shot this morning of New York City, where it is 39 degrees -- oh, that's -- oh, sorry, that's Atlanta. I'm sorry I need glasses. I really do need glasses. It's 39 degrees in Atlanta right now?

HOLMES: That's not bad.

CHETRY: No, how high is it going to get later today?

HOLMES: Well, it's 39 now -- I guess around -- it says 59, the voice in our heads tells us here now. It's been kind of a rough winter, something we're not used to there in Atlanta. But so far, so good.

CHETRY: Yes, that's a pretty shot this morning, too.

Good morning to you. Thanks so much for being with us. Crossing the half hour right now. I'm Kiran Chetry.

HOLMES: And hello to you all. I'm T.J. Holmes. You're not going to want to hear this one this morning.

The prices on just about everything you buy is about to go up. We're talking about food to appliances. Now we have kind of seen this coming. The main culprit here, higher raw material cost. So companies already like Kellogg's, Brooks Brothers, even LG say they're going to have to raise prices to protect some profits.

Also, we have seen protests pop up in many countries across North Africa, the Middle East. Well, Bahrain is another place where protests have been erupting and now we're getting word they have turned deadly. A human rights group says one protester was shot in the back and killed. Reports of several officers and demonstrators being injured there, as well.

CHETRY: Well, President Obama has his budget out for 2012, as we know, and critics say that the spending plan fails to make the very tough choices, like taking on the big entitlement programs, Medicaid, Medicare, social security. And, of course, the interest on our debt. Our Jim Acosta is live in Washington this morning with more on it. So it's a hard thing to win, you know.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh, yes.

CHETRY: When the cuts came out, a lot of people were very unhappy with the programs that we're seeing the cuts. On the flip side, a lot of criticism saying we're not going far enough. So it seems like it's hard for him to win on this one.

ACOSTA: Well, that's right, Kiran, but remember the president created a deficit commission but he's not offering up many of the recommendations from that bipartisan panel. And now if you look closely at the numbers, a balanced budget is nowhere in sight.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALAN SIMPSON (R), DEBT COMMISSION CO-CHAIR: If you spend more than you earn, you lose your butt.

ACOSTA (voice-over): Leave it to the famously plain spoken Alan Simpson, Republican co-chair of President Obama's deficit commission to boil it all down. He says the president's budget is still drowning in red ink for one reason. Politics, as usual.

SIMPSON: It isn't going away. This is a stink bomb in the garden party.

ACOSTA: Yes, the $3.7 trillion budget for 2012 would reduce the deficit by $1 trillion in 10 years. But $7 trillion would still get tacked on to the national debt by the end of the decade. While the president is talking tough about cutting spending for domestic programs like billions for college financial aid, and billions more to help the poor pay their heating bills -

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It will mean cutting things that I care deeply about.

ACOSTA: The White House is steering clear of where the real money is, popular entitlement programs like Medicare and Medicaid.

REP. PAUL RYAN (R), BUDGET CHAIRMAN: I guess I would say debt on arrival, d-e-b-t on arrival.

ACOSTA: Then there are congressional Republicans who just laid out their plans for cuts to current spending. The GOP is reluctant to touch defense spending but would slash domestic programs and foreign aid.

HILLARY CLINTON, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: The truth is that cuts of that level will be detrimental to America's national security.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: So everybody is protecting their turf here in Washington. Now, these budget proposals in Washington reflect the fact that there is a presidential election next year. The result is a national debt that could rise from $14 trillion to get this over $20 trillion in the next decade. And if you listen closely, Kiran, in the nation's capital, that's the sound of the deficit can getting kicked up and down Pennsylvania Avenue.

CHETRY: I know. It's politically difficult. And still not happening. Jim Acosta for us this morning, thanks.

ACOSTA: You bet.

HOLMES: Well, coming up, we hear all the time people will run for charity, walk for charity. Well, one guy is taking this to the extreme. Literally running across 14 countries. From the North Pole to the South Pole. We'll talk to him here in studio in just a moment.

CHETRY: Also, another good news update about the health of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. We're going to be filled in by Sanjay Gupta with more on the latest in her remarkable recovery.

33 minutes past the hour.

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CHETRY: 36 minutes past the hour now. It is a mission to Mars, kind of. The European Space Agency sent two of their volunteer astronauts for their first mock Mars walk on Monday. It is on a simulated sand pit at a station in Moscow. They performed experiments on its surface. It's all part of the Project Mars 500 project. The six- member crew is sealed up in a pretend space ship for 520 days. Wow. Researchers are trying to understand the psychological effects on astronauts who may someday make that real-life mission to Mars. T.J.?

HOLMES: Well, Kiran, now to the ultimate run for charity. Pat Farmer is what they call an ultra-marathoner. He's a former federal minister of Australian Parliament. He is hitting the ground, running for a good cause. Now, the goal here is to raise $100 million for the Australian Red Cross. He's going to try to bring some clean drinking water to developing countries. But this is not just some marathon he's doing or marathon or two. This is the ultimate marathon.

Take a look at this trek. It begins literally at the North Pole, and ends in the South Pole. He's going to run through North America, Central America, South America, and going to end up somewhere in Antarctica, we think around February of 2012. He is in studio with us this morning. Ooh! You are in some good shape, I take it.

PAT FARMER, MARATHONER: Hey, T.J., I am. I've been acclimatizing over here in New York with the snow through January.

HOLMES: So you've been - what's that process like?

FARMER: Well, it was interesting. On Christmas day, I was surfing out at (INAUDIBLE) Beach in Sydney. And then to make the contrast between there to come over here and then pull a couple of tires around in the snow over here and trying to marathon a day in Central Park, New York, that's brought the temperatures down about 10 degrees less than what I was used to. And then I'll move on into Canada. It will be another 10 degrees less. And then I'll move toward Hunt Island, another 10 degrees less. So I should be able to deal with minus 40 in 100 kilometer an hour winds in the North Pole.

HOLMES: OK. This is pretty - this sounds pretty dangerous, quite frankly, some of the conditions you're going to be in.

FARMER: Yes.

HOLMES: Are those the most extreme, the cold temperatures you're worried about? FARMER: It's the cold, it's the polar bears. I understand they're pretty hungry that time of the year, as well.

HOLMES: Can you outrun a polar bear?

FARMER: No, I don't have to. I just have to out run the cameramen.

HOLMES: Who is going on this trip with you? I know you'll be documenting, you said a camera man. But I assume you need a medical team.

FARMER: Well, there will be a medical team that I'll take on board from Yellin, I think, Canada, down the (INAUDIBLE) down the southern into South America. And from there, I'll fly across and into the South Pole. And when I leave the North Pole, I'll fly across (INAUDIBLE).

HOLMES: OK. Let's leave that map up for a second. But so people can see the trek. But give me an idea of your daily schedule. This is going to be going on for nine, 11 months?

FARMER: 11 months. This is 13,000 miles. 11 months. I will do two marathons per day, every single day. There are no days off during the course of my time from Canada.

HOLMES: OK. So that doesn't sound healthy? How do you deal with that?

FARMER: Well, you know, it's amazing what the human body can do if you train it right and treat it right and you have the right mental attitude. And you have the reason to do what you're doing. And we all need purpose in our lives.

HOLMES: OK. But you're telling me, you're not going to get a Saturday or a Sunday, you're not going to take a break or a day here or there.

FARMER: No. I understand that JC took every Sunday off. But unfortunately, I don't have that luxury, but I'll be saying my prayers on Sunday. Don't you worry.

HOLMES: How much sleep per night are you going to be getting?

FARMER: Well, it will be good. I'll get around eight to 10 hours sleep. At the moment, I survived on just four hours' sleep. But I'll just be a machine. I'll get up in the morning, I'll run, I'll eat, I'll eat, drink, sleep, run. That's it.

HOLMES: OK. Those two marathons a day, what is your time going to be like per marathon, and how much time in between each marathon?

FARMER: OK. The marathon will be back-to-back. Immediately. So I will do 50 miles, in excess of 50 miles, 52 miles every single day. So I'll get up in the morning and I'll complete that through and then I'll rest at the end of the day.

HOLMES: OK. And I am and so many people fascinated by what you're doing and how to do but why you're doing it in the first place.

FARMER: Well, look, I was a member of Parliament and you know, I sat in a cushy office. I had so many people coming to me about aid, international aid, and you know, you would talk about millions of billions of dollars, and these numbers were just - they meant almost nothing to you. But then I had the opportunity to get out there and to see firsthand. I went to India, Egypt, Nepal and Peru and I saw the incredible work that the International Red Cross does worldwide in these communities. And face it, it's not just areas where there is poor sanitary conditions and lack of fresh drinking water.

But as soon as there say a hurricane or there's a flood or something like that, they need fresh drinking water. Straightaway. So, you know, I saw this work firsthand. I lived and smelled in this. I lived in rubbish, I smelled the stench of those communities, and I wanted to do something about it.

HOLMES: And your goal here is $100 million. That sounds awfully ambitious.

FARMER: Well, the whole thing is awfully ambitious. But the bottom line is, I mean, I'm going run from one end of the earth through to the other end of the earth, I think it deserves a decent target, and I need a substantial amount of money for the International Red Cross, so that they can provide clean drinking water and fresh, sanitary conditions, to communities worldwide.

HOLMES: Now, you're one of the so-called ultra-marathoners, I think you have run between New York and California a couple of times before. But are you concerned that you might be pushing your limits a little bit here?

FARMER: Well, I don't think anybody really knows what their limits are until they get there. And I've always said that. You know, I've been asked by journalists many, many times, when will you know when you've had enough? And I said when I drop. And I can't get back up again.

HOLMES: Well, we hope that doesn't happen.

FARMER: Well, so do I. But that's about good preparation, it's about knowing your body very, very well. You know, I've been training for years for doing this. This is the accumulation, this is the sum of 20 years' worth of distance running.

HOLMES: And how old are you now?

FARMER: I'm 48.

HOLMES: 48? Well, you certainly have to be clearly in good shape. You're looking good this morning in the suit. I know you're going to get out of that, and this journey starts in just a couple of months. So Mr. Farmer, we appreciate the time. We hope to follow up with you. Good luck. Don't drop out there, all right?

FARMER: I won't. I won't. HOLMES: All right. Kiran.

CHETRY: What an undertaking, scary just to think about trying to do that. Amazing.

Well, ahead, on AMERICAN MORNING, it gripped headlines for weeks, and now the spotlight is back on the 33 trapped Chilean miners. A new book details what really happened underground, some of the shocking claims.

Also, storms on the West Coast and some big changes in store for other parts of the country, including the northeast and the Midwest. We're going to have Rob along with the travel forecast after a quick break.

It's 43 minutes after the hour.

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CHETRY: Forty-six minutes past the hour. Time to get you caught up on the top stories and the latest from Egypt this morning. Now asking the United States to freeze the assets of some former Egyptian officials. The State Department says that the request doesn't include ex-President Hosni Mubarak by name, but that he's believed to have amassed a fortune worth billions, scattered around the world that he built up over his 30 years in power in Egypt.

HOLMES: The Obama administration has a sales job to do now after unveiling the 2012 budget that was put out yesterday. Today, that man you see there, the director -- the budget director, Jacob Lew, he is one of a number of White House officials trying to defend the $3.7 trillion spending plan. He will be testifying on the House Committee today. Republicans say the president's plan doesn't do enough to cut back on the deficit.

CHETRY: The 33 trapped Chilean miners, we all watched the story unfold, the drama, cheered their amazing rescue. There's a new book, though, detailing a much different version. It's called "The 33." The book says the miners' families smuggled pot down and in some cases pornography to keep morale up. It also describes their brief contemplation of suicide and even cannibalism. Shockingly, the author also claims the rescue video feed was dubbed at times with old footage to cover up perhaps embarrassing moments.

HOLMES: We're just about 12 minutes at the top of the hour, our Rob Marciano keeping an eye on things in the Extreme Weather Center.

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CHETRY: So, Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. We've talked about her remarkable recovery. It continues. Walking, talking, mouthing the lyrics to songs. We're going to get another update on her condition from our own Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

HOLMES: Also a lot of people even more concerned about Charlie Sheen this morning after a strange interview he gave to Dan Patrick. You'll hear about it and we'll talk about it with our own Jane Velez- Mitchell. She's coming up. It's 10 minutes until the top of the hour.

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CHETRY: Fifty-three minutes past the hour.

It's been just over weeks since Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was shot in the head. And since then, her recovery from this near fatal brain injury has been nothing short of remarkable, and these are in words of her doctors.

This morning, there's some more good news about Giffords' progress. And joining us from Atlanta, chief medical correspondent, our resident neurosurgeon, Sanjay Gupta.

Great to see you this morning.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Morning.

CHETRY: So every day when you hear about this, it just seems like she's leaps and bounds and her doctors have said that, as well. What is the significance of being able to mouth the lyrics to songs and some of the other things we're hearing she is doing?

GUPTA: Let me say a couple things.

First of all, the idea she's improved so quickly, Kiran, we've talked about this before. But your overall end point how much you're going to recover in the long run is really dependent on how quickly you recover in the short run. That's why they're are using this term remarkable.

Her ability to mouth words like to these songs that we're hearing, "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star," that's significant for a couple of reasons. She's shown that she can understand speech, she's shown that she can express herself by asking for things. Now she's actually drawing on her memory to some extent, not only the words to a song, but also the melody to a song, as well, which shows some degree of integrating all of these things together. Her reception, her expression and now drawing on previous memory.

So, now you're starting to see more parts of the brain sort of working together. We also heard, incidentally, Kiran, a lot of people have been asking, you know, if you look at her now, you know, the left part of her head, the skull was removed, as you remember, Kiran, during the operation initially. We're hearing now that by the end of this month that should be placed back, as well, and giving her back a normal shaped contour to her head, Kiran.

CHETRY: That's amazing, as well. We're taking for granted all of the physical recovery in that there's so much risk while she's there of infection and everything else.

Is she going to physically look the same or at least similar?

GUPTA: I think so. You know, right now, she probably does not. And I think that's in part why we are not seeing any pictures of her. You know, you usually have a concavity to the side of the head after someone's had this procedure done.

But, you know, it may sound ironic to some extent to some people, but simply putting that bone back is more of a cosmetic procedure. I mean, she's fine otherwise and so you want to wait until someone's absolutely ready to have another operation. They say by the end of this month, she should be ready.

CHETRY: What are -- there are some other questions, as well, about movement. There's a lot of talk how she could move on one side and not the other. I was reading some accounts where she's walking down the hallway, doing squats. I mean, how much of this is assisted and how much is she really doing on her own?

GUPTA: They say she's using a shopping cart-like device, something that she can sort of hang on to as she's moving down the hallway.

You know, almost since the beginning, we heard when she started getting out of bed, we heard she could bear weight on the left leg. Remember, the injury was on the right side of the brain. That controls the motor strength on the right side of the body. We heard the right leg was pretty strong, able to bear weight. We haven't heard as much about the right arm. But that physical therapy is a large part of the pretty intensive therapy she's getting now -- six hours a day, including trying to really build up the strength in that side of the body.

CHETRY: Amazing. Sanjay Gupta, giving us an update on how this is going and it sounds wonderful.

Thanks so much.

GUPTA: You got it.

Top stories coming up after a quick break. We'll be right back.

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