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American Morning
Strong Winds Hit South and Midwest; Charlie Sheen Continues to Give Interviews; Democrats and Republicans Take Different View on Government Spending; Governors on the Budget; Facebook to Share Your Personal Info; US Moves Warships Near Libya; Measles Contamination?
Aired March 01, 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)
VELSHI (voice-over): Breaking news. Fires in Florida shutting down parts of Interstate 95 this morning. Evacuations are underway. Right now, the fire rapidly growing and spreading out of control on this AMERICAN MORNING.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI (on-camera): Good morning. It's Tuesday, March 1st, and welcome to AMERICAN MORNING. I'm Ali Velshi.
CHETRY: And I'm Kiran Chetry. We are following the latest with this massive wildfire in Central Florida, and it has shut down one of the nation's busiest stretches abroad. Strong winds and dry conditions are fanning the flames, and emergency officials say at least 10,000 acres have already burned, and that the fire is growing rapidly.
It started yesterday along Florida's Atlantic Coast, not far from Cape Canaveral, and this is a 20-mile stretch of Interstate 95. It remains closed this morning because of the fire, which is now burning on both sides of 95. And you can see the flames literally jumping the highway. A nearby RV trailer park had to be evacuated.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: So any rain in the forecast that could help firefighters could give them the upper hand. Rob Marciano in the extreme weather center for us. I saw earlier there was some sort of weather pattern over Florida. But will it be enough to help out this situation, rob?
ROB MARCIANO, METEOROLOGIST: I think so. It's not going to bring in drastically stronger winds. It'll bring a quick pulse of rain. This may be a helpful thing. I don't think there's a tremendous amount of lightning with this line, so I don't see it spawning more fires.
And here it is. The tail end of all of the severe weather that rolled across the eastern corridor of the country yesterday afternoon with tornadoes and snow and ice and flooding, this is what's left of it. And it's moving through central Florida right now. And with that will come a wind shift. But the line is about to hit that fire probably within the next 30 to 50 minutes. And it'll be a quick little dousing, maybe a 20 to 30-minute shot of rain. And you can see the winds on the front side of this and on the backside. We see more of a shift going westerly at about the same intensity. So we don't look for the winds to pick up all that much. This rain, I think, will probably help.
Take a look at some of these aerial pictures. Gives you an idea of how weather plays such a huge role in this brush fire. You mentioned jumped I-95. That's how vicious the winds were blowing yesterday when this storm farther to the north was at its peak. And just taking that smoke and moving it sideways as opposed to moving it up. And that obviously reduces visibility and, well, that's why they had to shut down that roadway. I look for improving conditions later on this afternoon. But this warning is going to be a dicey situation all around. Guys?
VELSHI: Rob, thank you.
MARCIANO: You bet.
VELSHI: From Florida, the mid-south and the Midwest now a powerful winter storm is being felt this morning. The effects of it continue to be felt. As the snow melts, this is what it looked like in Knoxville, Tennessee. This is what it looks like right now in Knoxville, Tennessee. Heavy rains yesterday spent rivers of water down streets. Police say dozens of people had to be rescued from their cars.
In Franklin County, Tennessee, along the state's border with Alabama, more severe flooding wiping out homes, sweeping away vehicles. The sheriff's office says one man was killed when high winds lifted a trailer off the ground and pinned him.
CHETRY: Well, in Ohio, every single county in the state, all 88 counties under a flood warning right now. In Valley View, Ohio, outside of Cleveland, entire neighborhoods are completely submerged. Homes and businesses are in ruins. The area got hit by three inches of rain Sunday, and there was so much snow melt in the area to add to that. Every corner in the state faces the risk of more severe flooding today.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the worst I've seen around here. We're left with this, but I'd rather have this than no home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Severe thunderstorms really carved up central and southern Indiana as well. At least three tornadoes touched down leveling homes, ripping trees out of the ground and thousands lost power. The flood warnings remain in effect this morning for many counties in the state.
VELSHI: So moments of terror in the air over Washington, D.C. continental flight 1559 had just taken off from Reagan International Airport bound from Houston when a group of cadets at the D.C. fire training academy spotted serious trouble from the ground.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We heard a loud boom, looked up, saw the fire coming out of one of the engines on the aircraft.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's probably about five or six large balls of red flame coming out of the engine. And every time there was an explosion, the plane would tilt more toward the right toward the Potomac.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What were you thinking?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm glad I'm not on that plane.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: A bird had been sucked into one of the plane's engines. The jet's flight crew radioed air traffic control. Listen to the conversation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We just hit some birds. We're losing our left engine.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're losing your left engine?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're losing our number one engine, we're going to have to go over --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you cleared for emergency?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, we are.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: The good news is the Boeing 373 landed safely at Dulles, and 44 passengers onboard, no one was hurt.
CHETRY: Also, the federal government is cracking down on fake pot. Effective today the DEA is banning the chemicals used to produce spice and other types of synthetic marijuana for at least a year. It puts them in the same category as heroin or cocaine.
This fake pot is already outlawed in 18 states and also prohibited by the military. But a "Washington Post" report said synthetic marijuana was widely used by Navy midshipmen, again, because it passes in the routine drug test. But they say it's turned into a problem for them. They've actually had to expel several midshipmen because of it.
VELSHI: The Charlie Sheen media tour will have to continue without the actor's long-time publicist. Stan Rosenfield resigned yesterday. He said that he cares for Charlie very much, but at this time he's unable to work effectively as his publicist. Meanwhile, Sheen says he's not an addict, but someone who enjoys life to the fullest. Here's what he said in an interview last night to our Piers Morgan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PIERS MORGAN, CNN HOST, "PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT": Are you under the influence right now of any substances?
CHARLIE SHEEN, ACTOR: No, nothing. I'm under the influence of -- of -- of you.
(LAUGHTER)
MORGAN: That may not be the best influence. I'll tell you.
SHEEN: I'll take it. It looks pretty cool to me.
MORGAN: But you took a drug test to prove you are currently completely drug-free.
SHEEN: Where are those results?
MORGAN: You actually got the results on you?
SHEEN: Yes, well, these days, carry this stuff with you.
MORGAN: When was this taken?
SHEEN: It was taken -- when was it taken? Yesterday? The day before.
MORGAN: Assuming this is accurate, which I believe it is.
SHEEN: Yes.
MORGAN: This is completely clean. So when was the last time you took a drug?
SHEEN: I don't know because not being, you know, held hostage by AA anymore, I don't count my days because it puts such a premium on them. And you run around with your days, don't lose your days, don't lose your days, where did my days go? Keep coming back, here's your one day back, everything's cool.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Let me get the rest of my script.
CHETRY: You've always got to keep your script handy because you never know.
VELSHI: Sheen says he's ready to go back to work though he hasn't spoken to any of his cast mates since CBS put the show on hiatus last week. He really is something else. He's keeping us interested.
CHETRY: And a lot of people are saying he seems self-aware, yet at the same time he seems oblivious to the damages the situation has caused. We're going to be speaking with Jeff Gardere, a psychologist. He's going to talk about where he thinks Charlie Sheen is headed.
Coming up on this "American Morning," to spend or not to spend. There are two governors with two very different points of view about not only their states but where we should be heading in terms of the federal government. We'll be talking to Florida governor Rick Scott and Maryland Governor Martin O'Malley.
VELSHI: And it's one Facebook feature you may not like -- details on the site's plan to share more of your personal information. It is seven minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Ten minutes past the hour. Welcome back to "American Morning."
The president is pushing his health care plan and pushing more spending on education, technology, and infrastructure. And Republican governors are pushing back. They had a chance yesterday to meet with the president at the White House, many governors on both sides of the aisle getting a chance to sit down with the president.
And joining us are two governors with two different takes on the way forward. We want to welcome to our show Governor Rick Scott, the new Republican governor in Florida, welcome, as well as Governor Martin O'Malley, Democrat from Maryland and also chairman of the Democratic Governors Association. Great to have you both here.
GOV. RICK SCOTT, (R) FLORIDA: Thank you.
CHETRY: Governor Scott, you have been a pretty vocal critic of the president, especially when it comes to the health care reform bill. Yesterday he said he would embrace a proposal that would allow states to opt out of health care reform if the states leaders can prove they're going to expand coverage in a different way. Are you onboard with that?
SCOTT: Well, I think the positive is it looks like he's open to some flexibility. The negative is it sounds like we have to have the same Bill as the president's bill. And my concern about that is it's going to ration care for Americans and taxpayers won't be able to afford it and it'll explode Medicaid costs. But they're at least talking about flexibility now.
CHETRY: Governor O'Malley, you had an interesting debate with Texas governor Rick Perry. You guys talked about the advantages of your state embracing health care reform. You said that Maryland would save $850 million over the next ten years due to money saved from health care costs.
How do you get to that number when you talk about skyrocketing costs, more and more people needing Medicare and Medicaid, and more retirees going into the system?
GOV. MARTIN O'MALLEY, (D) MARYLAND: Well, you do it not by avoiding the problem of rising health care costs. You do it by attacking the problem. And that's what we've been doing in Maryland for quite some time. We're one of few states that controls -- regulates all of our hospital rates, for example. The result of that has been lower hospital rates in Maryland than other states.
But we see all of this coming back to the primary goal of creating jobs again in our country. No business, large, medium, or small can invest dollars into job creation and into their plant and expanding their business if they're sending another 20 percent away every year to insurance companies for health care.
So some states are going to be winners in this change when it comes to health care if they embrace the change and if they actually do the things necessary to reduce costs. That's what we're doing in Maryland. Ten of our hospitals are already moving to what we call global budgeting, which is to change the incentives so that we pay for wellness instead of paying for procedures.
And these are all of the things that the president wants our states to do. I think we need to put aside the ideological battles of the past and actually embrace the things that reduce costs and create jobs in our states.
CHETRY: And Governor Scott, I want to ask you about the debate over unions continuing. Obviously we know this is going on in Wisconsin, but Governor Walker in Wisconsin has enjoyed the support of the Republican Governors Association. There's even an ad running saying these public workers need to pay for their benefits just like everyone else.
The president yesterday said that public workers being denigrated or vilified helps no one. What is your take on why the Republican governors association is jumping into this as it relates to Wisconsin?
SCOTT: Sure. Well, it's a debate about how you treat taxpayers fairly and how you treat government workers fairly. Taxpayers that aren't working for the government, they typically don't have a pension plan. If they have in a retirement plan, it's a 401(k) plan that they probably put up most the money.
In contrast in most plans, the government worker, it's a pension plan, a guaranteed return, and they're not putting up any money. In our state, what we're going to is we have our government workers have never put -- never contributed, they're not contributing, so they're going to start contributing five percent. So that's what we're going to make sure happens is we're treating taxpayers fairly and government workers fairly.
CHETRY: Governor O'Malley, do you think is just about balancing budgets? Or do you think it's in the interest of Republicans to not have strong unions who tend to support and contribute to Democrats?
O'MALLEY: Yes, in all of the states, Kiran, including the state of Maryland, we're asking our public employees to come to the table and to make adjustments and make additional payments to the pension systems. But this goes beyond that, which is why several Republican governors, I think including Governor Scott, are distancing themselves from the governor of Wisconsin. This is about union bashing. This is about eliminating the unions. This is about taking advantage of this crisis in joblessness in our country in order to destroy public employees' unions.
I don't think it's the way we get things done. And I'm glad that some Republican governors are distancing themselves from this behavior.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Well, let me ask --
O'MALLEY: We all need to be focused on jobs.
CHETRY: I want to ask Governor Scott, are you distancing yourself from this --
GOV. RICK SCOTT (R), FLORIDA: Wait, I'm not -- I'm not distancing myself from Scott Walker. What he's trying to do is the same thing I'm trying to do. We've got to balance our budgets. We've got to treat taxpayers fairly and government workers fairly. Now, he's in a different position. We have collective bargaining in our constitution. So that's not going away.
CHETRY: But you said you would change that if you could, right?
SCOTT: Absolutely. Because what I think it hurts me is I want to pay the hardest workers, the most effective workers the most. And collective bargaining prevents me from doing that. But my focus right now is I want to fix our pension plan, I want to treat taxpayers and government workers fairly.
CHETRY: Well, I'll give you the last word, Governor O'Malley.
O'MALLEY: Well, I think what all of us need to be focused on are the things that bring people together to create jobs. And whatever the governor of Florida is saying today, the fact of the matter is what's going on in Wisconsin is way beyond balancing budget. It's going after public employees' unions and that doesn't bring people together to solve problems and that doesn't bring people together to create jobs. We need to invest in high-speed rail. We need to invest in infrastructure, education and innovation, not put those things at the front on the cut list as the governor of Florida has done.
CHETRY: All right. Before we go, I know Governor Scott, you were talking about a big tourism push, as well. You want to bring people to the state of Florida.
SCOTT: Yes.
CHETRY: You're hoping that that ends up helping you guys out, as well, in terms of money.
SCOTT: Yes, we're going to Washington, D.C., Philly, New York and Chicago. We're giving away vacation packages. Share a little sunshine. You go to sharealittlesunshine.com. You guys, you can tell we have great weather down here. I hope everyone around the country comes down and enjoys it.
CHETRY: All right. Well, we certainly wish we were there at times. I'll tell you that with the weather we've had up here.
SCOTT: Thanks a lot.
CHETRY: Governor Rick Scott, Governor Martin O'Malley, great to get your take this morning. Appreciate it.
O'MALLEY: Thank you, Kiran. Thank you.
CHETRY: Ali?
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Well, coming up next on AMERICAN MORNING, Kiran, Facebook planning to resume a feature that had a lot of users upset when they first rolled it out. We'll explain when we come back.
And coming up, let's hear it for the muscle car. How the Mustang made a list of the year's best cars. We've got the top cars on AMERICAN MORNING. I'm going to be in that car in just a little while. We're back in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Do you like me?
VELSHI: I like you.
CHETRY: Do you like a lot of people?
VELSHI: I don't, actually. Because I don't really get what this like thing is on Facebook. I'm not painting myself as some kind of old fogie. I think Facebook is fascinating. I use it a lot. But I'm not sure what it gets me to like people. I think I like you because you told me to.
CHETRY: Yes, exactly, because I asked you to.
VELSHI: Yes.
CHETRY: Sometimes the best thing to do is just ask. Stephanie Elam, by the way, is here talking more about this. So this liking is sort of like friend. It's friending on a page that's not a personal page.
VELSHI: A person, right.
CHETRY: Is that what it is?
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Right. But I like that it's become like.
CHETRY: We don't know how else to --
VELSHI: Because if you're out there you don't do this, and I said you like me. Who knows what this means. So if you like, it's a Facebook -- ELAM: OK. Let's talk --
VELSHI: When I was in junior high, "like" meant something else.
ELAM: Yes, it is. It means you wanted to go around with somebody.
VELSHI: Go around.
ELAM: But let's take a look at what's going on with Facebook. They've actually brought in this new feature January 14th, and then folks didn't really like it because they didn't know what they were OK-ing (ph) and what information would be shared. So they took it away on January 17th.
Well, guess what, folks? It's coming back. And let me tell you exactly what's going to happen here. There'll be a permission box and it grants third-party applications and, you know, these developers, they can have access to your phone numbers and address. Now, you do have to opt in, but they could have your cell phone numbers, whatever information you put in there, your home address. A lot of people do that.
VELSHI: You do have to opt in.
ELAM: You do have to opt in.
VELSHI: So stop blaming Facebook for you putting your information on a free service and then getting all mad that they use it.
ELAM: And I do see people who put their home address on there.
VELSHI: Yes, I don't know why. I don't know why they would do that.
ELAM: Or my cell phone number, I wouldn't do that either.
VELSHI: Yes.
ELAM: But anyway, so that you would get this access, right. They would give them access. So the thing is, there's going to be another box. They haven't said when this is going to happen. You'd opt in for this and then these applications could go ahead and call your information.
A lot of people were concerned because there are a lot of minors on Facebook.
VELSHI: Right.
ELAM: And they're saying they haven't exactly figured out how they're going to deal with that. But they're looking to address that, as well. So there's no date for reintroduction, but be aware, know what you're saying, know that your information could be out there for a lot of people. And you're allowed to say no. And even if you accidentally say yes, this is cool, you could go ahead and change it later.
VELSHI: Go back and change it.
ELAM: All right. Let's take a look at the markets because you know what, we had some green hours yesterday. It's pretty neat.
VELSHI: Nice.
ELAM: We like that. The Dow was on the upside by 95 points, 12,226. Nasdaq better by just a skosh (ph), but, hey, we'll take it. And the S&P 500 a little bit higher as well. So we'll see how we do today.
VELSHI: Very nice.
CHETRY: Can I ask you one other Facebook question. So they're saying that if you like certain things, it now shows up in your friends' feeds, as well.
ELAM: Yes. Your friends will be able to see what you like. But the idea about that is let's say you say, you know, I like Columbus Circle, right, which is where we are, and there's a big mall here.
VELSHI: Right.
ELAM: Right? Then your friends will see that too and, like, oh, you know, Ali goes shopping at Columbus Circle and drives around in Mustangs. You know, maybe I should go do that too. They're hoping that's a way of advertising.
VELSHI: That doesn't trouble me. But if I'm going to go out there and say --
ELAM: Your friends probably know that.
VELSHI: -- I like something, then that's cool.
ELAM: Yes.
VELSHI: You see where I stand on this, right? Your personal information is yours to control.
ELAM: You should protect it.
VELSHI: Yes.
ELAM: And be aware of what you're saying yes to.
VELSHI: That's different from somebody completely stealing your information, but on Facebook you're putting it there.
ELAM: Yes. But in general, I like you guys.
VELSHI: I like you too.
ELAM: Without the air quotes.
CHETRY: Thanks Stephanie.
VELSHI: Good to see you, Stephanie.
ELAM: Good to see you too.
CHETRY: They have a warning, by the way, coming out from federal health officials right now to anyone who is -- who has been on a plane in the last nine days that you may have been exposed -- may have been exposed to measles. Dr. Sanjay Gupta is going to be joining us in the next half hour with more on the flights involved and what you should be looking for, and whether or not you're at risk.
VELSHI: And Charlie Sheen back at the critics. He's hitting back at the critics. He's proclaiming that he is clean. But could this be a warning sign that the actor's actually headed for more trouble?
It is 23 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: A lot of people are asking why we continue to cover Charlie Sheen. He is on a mission to right what he calls serious wrongs. And he keeps saying just enough to keep the story interesting. He told our Piers Morgan he is the real victim after some recent trouble with the law and his show being put on hold.
CHETRY: Yes, the actor's been adamant that he is not an addict. Here's a little more of what he said last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PIERS MORGAN, HOST, "PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT": Are you a happy guy?
CHARLIE SHEEN, ACTOR: Oh, absolutely. Yes, my motto is enjoy every moment. And hurry --
MORGAN: People think all addicts have to be essentially unhappy people.
SHEEN: I don't believe myself to be an addict. I really don't. I think that I'm just going to ignore or smash or finally dismiss a model that I think is rooted in vintage balderdash.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Vintage balderdash.
CHETRY: Yes, we want to bring in our Jeff Gardere right now. Dr. Jeff, he's a psychologist and a contributor to healthguru.com.
Thanks for being with us.
JEFF GARDERE, PSYCHOLOGIST: Thank you. Balderdash. Horam, foram, foram (ph).
CHETRY: Right. Well, the question is, I mean, you know, it's very interesting. He sounds so lucid.
GARDERE: Yes.
CHETRY: He claims that he's, you know, passed these drug tests. There have been, you know, people who have said, yes, he sure seems to have passed these drug tests, yet he seems so out of it. What's going on?
VELSHI: Into it and out of it at the same time.
GARDERE: Yes. First of all, let's not forget he's a great actor.
VELSHI: Yes.
GARDERE: And he's also a comedian and he's been hilarious, but really the joke is on him because even though he may not be on any illicit substances, it's quite obvious to me and many mental health professionals that we have not examined him, you know that caveat, that this is a guy who seems to be in the middle of some sort of a manic, acute manic phase.
VELSHI: But he specifically said, he addressed that last night on Piers Morgan. He said people say I'm manic, I don't even know what that means, and it -- it means I'm headed for a crash. And so he dismisses that.
GARDERE: Well, he is headed for a crash. Hopefully there will be that intervention by family members that as he starts to run out of steam -- and eventually he will. He says he only has one speed and that's go.
CHETRY: Right.
GARDERE: But that's going to slow down. That he'll start listening to reason and stop listening to himself. If you really listen to this guy, he even tries to censor himself. He'll say certain things and he'll say, enough, stop.
CHETRY: Right.
GARDERE: Oh, that's too much. Oh, over the line. So there is something in the back of his head that's saying, listen, Charlie, you really you're going off the rails here a little bit.
CHETRY: Let's listen to what he said about that whole notion of him being manic.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHARLIE SHEEN, ACTOR: I'm a winner, and their lives look like they're, you know, ruled by losers. Just to put it in black and white terms, I don't want their lives and they want mine, but they want to criticize the hell out of it. You know? And now they ran the gamut from like, OK, he's not loaded? Now what? Oh, he's manic. I don't even know what that means. I guess that would imply that there's going to be a crash. I don't know when that's coming, but maybe you can cover it when it does.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: And that's the self-awareness too.
GARDERE: Yes.
CHETRY: He even says maybe you can cover it when it does.
GARDERE: Yes.
CHETRY: But at the same time, the question is --
GARDERE: Smart guy.
CHETRY: What does he have to gain? You know, what is his purpose of just sort of coming off the rails like this? Ripping the show, leaving scorchers behind his very, very successful career.
GARDERE: Well, first of all, we know that, look, he's a likable guy. All right. And this is -- and he sees himself as a victim and we all understand that. But there's also some other things going on. The deeper psychiatric issues, I believe, and also somewhat of a narcissistic personality. I mean, after all this is a guy who was raised in wealth. You know, people have always catered to him. He's the highest paid actor on television.
So all of that feeds into a huge ego that he has. He sees himself as being this incredible figure and everybody else is just an underling. Everybody wants his life, everybody wants to criticize him. But in effect what we're really doing is saying, "listen, you're putting yourself out there, we see the behaviors, and we're calling you on it. That's all there is to it.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: It's strange because I'm sure people would like his money and like -
GARDERE: And his women and his goddesses.
VELSHI: But I'm not sure I want most of his life. Here's an interesting thing, he's really taking shots at treatment programs. People who are addicts. At the AA model. He claims he's not an addict and he feels he's dealt with anything that might have been an addiction himself. He was also, you know, he's also been found with drugs on him in the past.
GARDERE: Sure.
VELSHI: Can you do that yourself? Can you rehabilitate yourself?
GARDERE: Well, I think you can rehabilitate yourself. And I think some of the criticisms that he's had about AA are somewhat accurate. I mean, a lot of statisticians, researches have said that there's a five percent success rate. But you can't look at the success rates when you're looking at AA. You have to look at how it changes somebody's life. It's incredibly successful for some and not for others. And I think Charlie is being somewhat irresponsible in just trashing AA in this way because there are a lot of people who are very much plugged into it and need it and how might he be helping his brethren who have these issues? And for him to say that he's completely cured from drugs, we know time and time again it's not about being cured, it's about being in recovery by the grace of god.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And he even said, you know, are you clean? Are going to stay clean? And he said I don't know.
I want to ask you about Bernie Madoff.
VELSHI: Yes.
CHETRY: Because he's also speaking out to "New York Magazine." And this is somebody who has been characterized by many as a sociopath among other things which he actually alluded to saying am I a sociopath? Let's hear a little bit about what he said, about how he destroyed his family.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BERNIE MADOFF: - she's still unhappy about it. She's embarrassed about it -nothing is going to change that. But she feels sorry for me to a certain extent, you know, because she realizes, you know, I'm not a horrible person.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: So again some justification on the part of Bernie Madoff as well. Feels sorry for me, I'm not a horrible person.
VELSHI: Yes. He made some other allusion to that. He said even the investigator said how are you dealing with it? It's about him.
GARDERE: Right. And even more, now he's getting weekly therapy at FCI Butner. And he says, "hey, listen, my therapist has told me I'm not a sociopath." Well, Bernie, have news for you, you may still be a sociopath, but here's the deal, he is having more self-awareness and good for him. He feels a tremendous amount of guilt for how it's destroyed his family, the estrangement from his wife, what's happened with his children, the suicide of his son. You don't want that for anyone.
VELSHI: Right.
GARDERE: But I think he has not taken full responsibility. In that he said, hey, listen, my investors, most of them, are still going to get their principal back. But Bernie, it's not about that. It's about all the emotional pain, financial pain that you've caused the people. But he's just at the infancy of his awareness. And I think as the years go by, hopefully he'll live longer, be healthier that he will begin to see the totality of what he has done out there and will look for forgiveness for himself and for his family. That's part of the evolution of the human spirit. And we can only wish him well on that, as well as his victims, of course. CHETRY: All right. Dr. Jeff Gardere, always great to get your take.
GARDERE: My pleasure to see you both.
CHETRY: (INAUDIBLE) this morning.
GARDERE: Thank you.
CHETRY: Back to our top stories. Fires in Florida shutting down parts of interstate 95 this morning. In the midwest, three states waking up this morning after being hit by tornadoes yesterday. And there's also some serious flooding from Ohio to Tennessee. Our Rob Marciano's tracking all of it for us from the extreme weather center. Hey, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hey, good morning again, Kiran. Today, a lot quieter than it was yesterday. But we're dealing with the after effects of what was an extremely turbulent day. The radar showing fairly little across the area. But flooding is an issue certainly from the leftover rain and all the snow melt that's trying to get through the river system. And down across - this is a leftover front that is trying to push through Florida. And that is interacting with that wildfire. Let's show you some pictures of what's been going on between Orlando and pretty much Cape Canaveral (INAUDIBLE). That's where the fire broke out yesterday, just exploded overnight and then jumped to i-95 where they've had a shut down part of that interstate.
And this rainfall that's coming through will help. There is some lightning strikes with it. But the winds will be more calm later on today and they will switch. So they're going to be dealing with changing weather patterns, but I think the rain will help in this dangerous situation, which is spawned by the winds and extreme drought that Florida's been in.
All right. Talk about the severe weather that rolled across parts of the mid south yesterday, the Tennessee Valley, got hit extremely hard. One fatality in a tornado that ripped through south central Tennessee yesterday. Winds with this over 120 miles an hour, and there were a total of six tornado reports yesterday.
In the past two days there's been over 350 reports of severe weather with this system rolling through. And if you didn't get the severe, you've got the rain. And flooding across parts of Indiana in through Ohio, and this is what the roads looked like yesterday. Even with the clearing skies, they're still seeing rivers that are up over their banks. All right. We'll be warm and dry across the midsection of the country, another cold shot coming down from Canada. And after this brief break, the storms are lining up off the coast. March 1st coming in, kind of, like a lamb. You know what that means at the end of this month but we'll deal with that when we get there. Ali and Kiran, back up to you.
CHETRY: All right. Rob, thanks so much.
And still to come, next on "American Morning," the hottest cars in the country. We're going to get a live look from the top picks from "Consumer Reports." There they are in front of our building this morning. Ali's on his way down. He's going to test drive some of those babies.
35 minutes past the hour.
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VELSHI: All right. I've been telling you all morning that I'm going to be in a Ford Mustang in a second. The reason why is that "Consumer Reports" just came out with its annual auto issue. They put 270 cars through the test. They checked brakes, safety, fuel economy, all sorts of things. Dave Champion is here with me. He's a good friend of mine. He's a senior director of Automotive Testing for "Consumer Reports."
Dave, you came up with a list of 10 cars, the 10 best. You got a lot of categories. You brought four of them to us -
DAVID CHAMPION, SENIOR DIRECTOR, AUTOMOTIVE TESTING "CONSUMER REPORTS": Yes.
VELSHI: An American car has made it into the top of the sporty cars list. It's the car we've been bragging about all morning, it's the Ford Mustang right here. Tell me about this 2011 Ford Mustang and why you guys put it in the top of your list.
CHAMPION: Well, the Mustang came out a few years ago and it was a good car, but each year they've improved it time and time again. This year for 2011, it comes with a new five-liter engine. They've done some more work on the interior to make it a little bit more nice. It's a great car to drive, it's really fun. Wonderful handling. But also, in every day life, it's very livable.
VELSHI: And one of the beautiful parts about it is what this baby sounds like. You brought me a nice stick shift so you can hear it.
CHAMPION: Yes. It is just lift the throttle - this when you're driving it is just - from a car guy point of view, it just sends adrenaline through you.
VELSHI: You definitely love this car. The 2011 Mustang, second time only that an American car has made it to the top of your sporty cars list.
CHAMPION: Yes.
VELSHI: All right. This one, I had one of these years ago, I didn't mind it back then, but it's come a long way. The Alantra has made it to the top of the list as the best small car.
CHAMPION: Yes, the Alantra is new (INAUDIBLE), the old one was in our ratings, this one has come a long way since that point. Gets 29 miles per gallon overall. It's very nice.
VELSHI: Which makes it more efficient than even some hybrids out there that are small cars. CHAMPION: It does. But, you know, the nice thing about this car it starts at $18,000. It's got a good amount of room inside, the interior fit and finish is very nice.
VELSHI: Yes, take a look inside this backseat. I don't know if you guys can get out this far. Not the world's roomiest, but it's fine. This thing can accommodate a family quite nicely.
CHAMPION: It is just a very nice car and it comes well equipped. There's a lot of features on the car that you would think you would have to pay extra for, but it comes as standard.
VELSHI: 29 miles in the city, 40 on the highway. You want something bigger? You want something more luxurious. This is the classic, the Nissan Altima. This has made it to the top of your family sedan list.
CHAMPION: Yes, the Nissan Altima has been one of our top picks for family sedans for a number of years.
VELSHI: That's right.
CHAMPION: It gets 25 miles per gallon overall with a four cylinder, it's got a good amount of room inside. The interior fit and finish is very nice and the handling, overall, it's just a very nice, competent package overall.
VELSHI: This one ranges from about $21,000 to $34,000, which means there are a lot of options in terms of how nice you want it on the inside.
CHAMPION: There are. But when you look at 25 miles per gallon, you know, that's as good as some small cars today. So you're getting a big car for the same gas mileage as a relatively small car.
VELSHI: Yes, these Nissans are a lot of fun to drive. It's what I'm driving now. One of those brands. This is another really nice one. Kia, same company -
CHAMPION: As Hyundai.
VELSHI: As Hyundai but this is the Kia Sorento, which you have called the top family SUV. This is another car that was competing with its much more expensive competitors on fit and finish. You can sit in this car and feel it's much more expensive.
CHAMPION: It is. And wait until you see where Kia has come from years ago, it has really improved tremendously. This is a three row SUV, so it's excellent for families.
VELSHI: A little tight with that third row. It's not the roomiest three-row. But if once in a while you're carrying a bunch of people -
CHAMPION: Well, kids don't really care.
VELSHI: Right.
CHAMPION: You put them in and say how comfortable is it and they say it's fine.
VELSHI: In fact, I think all you can do is put that down. You guys can take a look in there. If you once in a while need to carry some people or some kids, that works out pretty well. it can carry up to seven. This has got a V-6 engine. It's optionally got a bigger engine as well?
CHAMPION: It's got a V-6 and a four cylinder, but we found the fuel economy was the same on the six and the four.
VELSHI: So you might as well buy the six.
CHAMPION: So you might as well buy the six. And all these cars that we have here are very value orientated.
VELSHI: Yes.
CHAMPION: They give exactly what a customer wants in that class at a reasonably good price.
VELSHI: And you've got the Issue - is it on shelves yet?
CHAMPION: It'll be on store shelves in about a week's time.
VELSHI: All right So if you're looking to buy a car, remember, these guys buy their cars themselves, retail and anonymously. It's not like that you go in and say we're "Consumer Reports" buying this car so all of a sudden you're making sure you got a really nice one. You're buying them the same way I would buy a car.
CHAMPION: We negotiate the best price, so we tell you some of the negotiating tactics that you can do to get the lowest price. We keep them for many months and put thousands of miles and really live with the cars and then put them on the full test program so you get a much better evaluation at the end of it to really help you buy the right car for you at the right price.
VELSHI: And I've been up with you in the test center, in Connecticut. They really do put those cars through the test. Dave (INAUDIBLE), good to see you. Thanks to all the folks at "Consumer Reports." If you're buying a car, check this out. It's always a good way to do things. Back to you, Kiran.
CHETRY: All right. Ali, awesome, thanks.
Coming up next on "American Morning," the U.S. military increasing its muscle in the waters off the coast of Libya. New details on new show of force.
Also a little later, sticker shock - it's not just the price of gas on the rise, you're going to be paying more for a lot of other items because of the rise in gas and oil. We're going to check in more on that coming up as well. It's 44 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK CHETRY: It's 46 minutes past the hour right now. The U.S. military presence in the waters off Libya could be getting bigger as Moammar Gadhafi digs in, refusing to step down and continuing brutal crackdowns on protesters. Our Chris Lawrence is live at the Pentagon. What are we talking about here when we talk about upping our military presence off of Libya?
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kiran, everything's on the table from humanitarian relief to using the military to disrupt Colonel Gadhafi's ability to broadcast in Libya all the way up to imposing a no-fly zone over the country.
Now, right now, the USS Stout which is a guided missile destroyer, that was already in the Mediterranean Sea. It's been held there in that area, and the U.S. Navy has a command and control ship in an Italian port.
Also two major warships are now moving closer to Libya. Up in the Red Sea, up near the Suez Canal is the USS Kearsarge, and a little bit farther south is the USS Enterprise. The Kearsarge is an amphibious assault ship with the ability to land marines, but also one of the largest floating hospital bays. It's got the ability to treat up to 600 patients, which come in handy if a humanitarian crisis develops there in Libya.
On the other hand, the Enterprise has a full strike group, the capability to enforce a no-fly zone if it comes to that.
But one analyst I spoke with said just the mere sight of American fighter jets flying over Libya would discourage Gadhafi and let the protesters know that the U.S. is on their side.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Even if we buzzed the palace and didn't release any ordnance, it could be enough to bring the war to a quick conclusion.
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LAWRENCE: It's his belief Gadhafi will fall, the protesters will win, and the U.S. should get behind them as soon as possible.
CHETRY: Also, how much pressure is there on the Obama administration right thousand by our allies to impose this no-fly zone?
LAWRENCE: A lot, and it's mounting. Senators John McCain, Joe Lieberman, a lot of others are pressuring the Obama administration to try to immediately impose this no-fly zone because of events like what we saw yesterday when, you know, air power was being used against some of the Libyan protesters.
But it's not something the U.S. would ever do it alone unilaterally. They'd be looking to get allies onboard. The British signaled they would be willing to help. Prime Minister David Cameron is already talking to his military telling them to work with the British allies. But again, it's not -- a no-fly zone is not a cure-all. When the U.S. imposed one in northern Iraq, it was successful in part because the Kurdish militias controlled a lot of the ground. The U.S. implied over southern Iraq did not stop Saddam Hussein from massacring a lot of the Shiites there because there was no control of the ground. So it's not a cure-all.
CHETRY: That's right. That's very important to keep in mind as well. Chris Lawrence for us this morning, thanks so much.
Ahead on "American Morning," Florida on fire. There is a massive wildfire shutting down Interstate 95, at least a good stretch of it. CNN's John Zarrella will be live with more on that story.
Also coming up at 8:30 we are thrilled to welcome baseball hall of famer and iron man Cal Ripkin, Jr. in the "AMERICAN MORNING" studio. He's just written a wonderful children's novel and he's going to tell us all about it. That's still ahead.
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CHETRY: It's 52 minutes past the hour right now. It's time for your "AM House Call." The American Academy of Pediatrics on a nationwide brand of teens using indoor tanning devise because of an increased risk of skin cancer. They say ultraviolet radiation produced by some tanning units can be 10 to 15 times stronger than the midday sun. Right now more than 30 states have some sort of restriction on tanning for those under 18 and they recommend it, obviously, for people over 18 either.
The National Football League has developed a new test for concussions. This would be a standardized way to figure it out on the field in six to eight minutes and designed to determine whether a player is hit too hard to return to the game. Every team in the league will be using the new neurological tests starting next season.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Have you been on a plane in the last nine days? If the answer is yes, a New Mexico woman may have exposed you to measles. Our chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta is joining us live from CNN Center in Atlanta. Boy, Sanjay, not only have they found a woman with measles, she has been in a lot of airports on a lot of planes. Who needs to be concerned about this?
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: This is interesting from a public health standpoint. She flew through four airports, Dulles, VWI, Denver, and Albuquerque. What they are trying to do, the CDC that is, is trying to find people who sat within five rows of this woman. Five rows in front or five rows in back is what they are looking for. I find it interesting when you're thinking about a spreadable disease like that it gets down to those specifics.
Those people are being reached out to now because this particular measles is caused by a virus. That virus resides in your throat or your lungs and that makes a concern about respiratory spread. That is the real concern here. One thing, Ali, symptoms don't show up for eight to 12 days after an exposure. February 20th through the 22nd is when we're talking about here. People may start having symptoms. If they do, they may not have symptoms yet.
VELSHI: Let's assume they can find the people in the five rows before or in front or behind her which they can because there are records for these things. What will they do? Those people may not be exhibiting symptoms of measles.
GUPTA: I think at this point they let them know there is a spread, so they need to be vigilant about fever, runny nose and the characteristic rash that people think of with measles and white spots in the mouth also very characteristic.
But they are just going to be vigilant for the symptoms. And if they develop symptoms, no specific treatment for this virus, but there are other things they can do for them to lessen the effects of this. In a certain number of people, especially children, as you know, Ali, measles can make people very sick and can also cause death in a certain number.
VELSHI: I remember being vaccinated as a kid and a booster shot. Most people I know have had that. Is there any concern if you've had the vaccinations?
GUPTA: People born before 1957 are generally immunized because measles was circulating at that time so people got a natural immunity. Since then the one shot and the one booster shot seems to offer you pretty good protection. It's a good vaccine from that perspective.
VELSHI: Let me ask you this. If this were to spread a little bit, is there much danger in this day and age? If you get measles and you get medical treatment, are you in any particular danger?
GUPTA: There is no specific treatment for this virus so the treatment is primarily supportive care. People can get very sick with this. Is it likely to kill people now? No. But people can get very sick from this. In the United States there are 60 cases a year still and people were primarily un-vaccinated. In England over 1,000 cases, and that's so why people are concerned about it spreading globally.
VELSHI: Why the difference between the U.K. and here?
GUPTA: It probably has to do with vaccinations rates overall. People are talking about not getting children vaccines. The rates in the United States are still higher in England than here.
VELSHI: You know a lot. Sanjay, thanks for being with us.
GUPTA: You got it.
VELSHI: All right, top stories are coming your way in 90 seconds.
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