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American Morning
Face-to-Face with Gadhafi; Government Shutdown Looming; Who Do Shoppers Love Most?; NYC May Ban Fast Food Toys; Rock n Rock n Innovation
Aired April 06, 2011 - 07:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: One-on-one with Moammar Gadhafi.
I'm Christine Romans.
Can a former U.S. congressman succeed where President Obama has not and convince the Libyan dictator it's time to go?
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: The leak at a troubled nuclear reactor in Japan, the water leak, at least is plugged. Now, there are fears that the entire reactors could crack under intense pressure. A warning from the U.S. government that the solution may actually be part of the problem.
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: And Democrats and Republicans are going to give it a go again today trying to hammer out a new budget. Which budget is this? For 2012? Is it for 2011, or is it just to keep the government running for another week? The two sides have until midnight Friday to make a deal. Democrats now blaming the Tea Party for the impasse on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ROMANS: Good morning, everybody . It's Wednesday, April 6th.
VELSHI: Lots of news this morning.
CHETRY: Do you think they are going to get a budget passed? Or do you think we're going to see a shutdown? We haven't seen that since , what, 1995?
VELSHI: I think there'd be a lot of angry people if there's a shutdown. There's never been one around tax season. A lot of people want their tax refunds.
Let's begin with a new diplomatic push in Libya.
Former Pennsylvania Congressman Curt Weldon is in Tripoli and expects to meet with Moammar Gadhafi sometime today. Weldon says he was invited by Gadhafi. He's been to Libya before. He led a congressional delegation back in 2004.
Before meeting with Gadhafi today, however, Weldon was asked what exactly he hopes to accomplish.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CURT WELDON, FORMER U.S. CONGRESSMAN: The key goal is to respond to what Gadhafi told me in 2004, when he said, why didn't an American come and meet me face-to-face before we bomb his tent? And I'm here to tell him face-to-face, it's time for him to leave. It's time for him to step down, allow the people to take over the government of this country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Weldon says it's going to be hard to try and bomb Gadhafi into submission.
CNN's Nic Robertson is live in Tripoli.
I don't know if this has filtered down in Zawiya, where you are, west of the capital -- or in Tripoli. Do Libyans know that this is happening?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Libyans are not aware that it's happening at the moment. This is something that's only just sort of beginning to emerge here. And it's quite possible that Libyans may not know about it. We night see pictures on state television when Curt Weldon -- if and when Curt Weldon meets with Moammar Gadhafi tonight.
But I think, perhaps, we can see that the ground is being cleared here. The way is sort of being cleared as far as Gadhafi would like to see it cleared for him to meet with a U.S. representative -- although, Weldon himself says he is not here representing the White House, not here representing the Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. We are seeing that because it appears that Gadhafi is sending a message through the state news agency that the United States has had, in his words, ended its bombing, essentially, in Libya, by removing itself from the coalition crusade -- crusade as he describes it in a letter that's being reported as being sent to President Obama this time.
So, you can see how Gadhafi is making diplomatic space for himself here by saying, well, the United States is no longer essentially at war with us. So, perhaps I can deal with them. The message that Weldon is bringing is that Gadhafi should (a), step aside, (b), that he should observe the cease-fire, pull out of key cities here.
But there's also language in the proposals that Weldon is bringing that gives something to Gadhafi here, the possibility that he could have an honorary title, the honorary chairman of the African Union, and things like that which may be palatable to him, that he is seen as not being pushed out at the point of the gun, but that he is recognized for everything that he's done for Libya.
So, an interesting moment and developments here, Ali.
VELSHI: Nic, the reason the U.S. got involved or at least the stated reason was to protect Libyan civilians and opposition leaders have been vocal in saying that coalition forces have actually not done that. So, we've have moved the conversation over on to what we're doing about Gadhafi. But there are opposition members saying the coalition is not doing enough to protect Libyan civilians.
What do you know about that?
ROBERTSON: That's certainly what the rebels are saying. What the international community said when it began the no-fly zone was that it would enforce Gadhafi pulling his troops out of Benghazi, Ajdabiya, Misrata and Zawiya. So far, Gadhafi's forces are out of Benghazi and Ajdabiya. And what the rebels are trying to do now is advance along the coast into new towns and it does appear at the moment as if NATO is not as willing as it was a few weeks ago to help the rebels take other towns in the international community.
The U.N. resolution hasn't sanctioned that they should, the rebels should essentially be pushing into. Where civilians who favor -- some favor the rebels, some favor Gadhafi, civilians of both stripes are living particularly, when you get further along the coast of some of Gadhafi's strongholds.
But the series of proposals that Weldon is bringing here include that there should be an interim government of some sort that would involve the prime -- being led by the prime minister here and one of the opposition leaders, Jebril, that there would be elections to be held here within a year and Saif Gadhafi, one of the -- the second son of Moammar Gadhafi, would able to run in those elections and there would be an advisory group to advice a new parliament on how to run a parliament in a democratic environment.
So, there are a lot of things that are sort of being talked about now, or potentially about to be talked about with Moammar Gadhafi and some of them have elements in them that may be favorable to the rebels that give them an opportunity to do this what they -- achieve what they want but not on the battlefield, where, at the moment, they are not having much success, Ali.
VELSHI: All right. Nic, thanks very much. We will continue to check in with you through the course of the day as the developments continue to unfold.
Nic Robertson in Tripoli.
CHETRY: And we turn to Japan now where workers at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant say they have plugged a leak where radioactive water was gushing into the ocean. This was provided by the power company, TEPCO. They released it showing this radioactive water that have been pouring out of reactor two.
Well, here's what it looks like now. No water coming out.
After trying a concoction of concrete, sawdust and newspapers, officials say it was finally liquid glass that sealed things up at that reactor. So, one problem down, but still many more to contend with.
Japan is still in the process of dumping 3 million gallons of contaminated water into the sea on purpose. They say it has nowhere else to go. They have to do it to make room for even more radioactive water to be stored at the site.
Meantime, U.S. nuclear experts sent to Japan to help with the crisis are now warning of very serious new threat. In fact, they now say that all of that water, millions and millions of gallons being pumped into the reactors could actually lead to a molten radioactive mass that could end up bursting out of those containment vessels into the outside world.
"The New York Times" got its hands on a report from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission and it warns that the containment structures are now filling with radioactive water are under so much stress that they could crack in another aftershock and that they are the last line of defense here. Engineers are also warning that the release of hydrogen and oxygen from the water could lead to new explosions.
So, basically, they are sounding the alarm about all of this, including the spent fuel pools. Experts say that previous explosions have torn away their roofs, leaving them exposed to the air.
ROMANS: India has become the first country to ban all food imports from Japan over radiation fears. It's in effect for three months, but could be extended.
So far, the U.S. has only blocked imports of milks, vegetables and fruits produced near the leaking plant.
With millions of gallons of radioactive water being dumped into the Pacific Ocean every day, there are fears now about the safety of fish coming from Japan. Japan, for the first time, has set radiation standards for its seafood.
Earlier on AMERICAN MORNING, we spoke to an expert who studied wildlife after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: We don't really know a lot about how radiation affects animals and, I guess, the circle of life, right?
TIMOTHY MOUSSEAU, RADIATION ECOLOGIST: We've been working in Chernobyl for the past decade or so, and many of our findings have been quite surprising that, you know, such low levels can lead to genetic damage and reduce fertility for the plants and animals living there. Hopefully, that doesn't translate into consequences for humans, given the very low levels that we're seeing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Timothy Mousseau says, right now, the U.S. shouldn't have much of a problem since most of our seafood has been frozen for a while. But we should be extra careful about the products that would come in after now.
VELSHI: Boeing now admits they knew about problems with lap joints, the overlapping joints on an airplane where the rivets are, on some of its planes. But it didn't expect cracks to appear in the 737 so soon.
The FAA has now ordered emergency inspections of older Boeing 737 planes after that Southwest jet that you're looking at here had its fuselage rupture in the middle of a flight, 36,000 feet last week.
Earlier on AMERICAN MORNING, former NTSB official, Peter Goelz, said that warning signs are often hard to find.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETER GOELZ, FORMER NTSB OFFICIAL: We are in, kind of new territory here. Planes are flying longer than ever. And I think Boeing, you know, did a best case estimate when they started making the 737. They made some adjustments to how they connect the skin. They've now gone back to the drawing boards. They were as stumped or as surprised as anyone.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Southwest Airlines inspections found five other 737s with cracks similar to the one suspected of causing the five-foot hole to open up on that plane last week.
CHETRY: All right. Well, it's nine minutes past the hour right now. We want to get a check of the weather.
Hopefully, things are calming down. Some rough weather down South. Florida is getting the brunt of it yesterday.
Things clearing out, Rob?
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, definitely coming down. You know, we had such rough weather the past 48 hours. Anything would be calmer than what we saw, especially in the last, well, 36 hours where we had over 1,000 reports of severe weather.
On the radar right now, we do have a little bit of rain that's moving into the western Great Lakes, actually mixed precip with some cold air kind of dammed up against the Allegheny Plateau and through the three rivers area. Pittsburgh might see a little bit of mix of rain, sleet, and snow there with temperatures just above the freezing mark. Into the mid to upper 30s from D.C., up to Boston, not a bad way to start your day, but the clouds will be on the increase as that little disturbance makes its way up and over the Appalachians.
Down to the South, yes, calm. It will be sunny and eventually warmer. But right now, a frost advisory is out for much of the South, including Atlanta and parts of Columbia.
Temperatures are now slowly rising above the freezing mark. But there you go. A couple of storms coming into the Pacific Northwest and we will be watching. But, definitely, more calm for folks who've seen their fair share of rough weather here the last few days.
Guys, back to you.
VELSHI: We needed a break. Rob, thanks very much for that. We'll check in with you later.
Two days -- two days to go and a government shutdown grows increasingly likely if there's no deal. Coming up next: the four sticking points in the standoff.
CHETRY: Also, will the Tea Party get blamed for any type of budget shutdown, because they won't compromise? Up next, we're going to be talking to two Tea Party Patriots co-founders, Mark Meckler and Jenny Beth Martin. How do they see what shaping up in Washington and are they happy with what Tea Party leaders in Congress have been doing?
ROMANS: And a little later, you may be scrimping and saving, cutting corners to deal with the rough economy. But guess what? Fido isn't. Is the pet industry recession-proof? The answer is yes.
Ten minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Lots of work to do today in Washington, D.C, partly cloudy at 40, mostly sunny, 63 later in the afternoon. But we are hoping all those senators and congressmen --
VELSHI: We don't want them to be --
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: We want them to be working behind closed doors because the government shutdown is looming at midnight Friday, if Democrats and Republicans cannot find a way to compromise on a spending plan.
Jim Acosta live in Washington.
Jim, we are hearing the president may call a meeting with senior lawmakers to get this whole thing moving.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, it might be a good idea to play some of that Stevie Wonder here in Washington, D.C. this morning, Christine.
Yes, we are seeing those reports out there that there may be this meeting this morning. But I can tell you, having e-mailed sources on all sides of this discussion, it is still unclear whether there will be a meeting at the White House between the president, Speaker John Boehner and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid on the budget. A Boehner spokesman says the speaker is not going to the White House at the moment, noting the president is still scheduled to leave Washington for a town hall meeting in Pennsylvania at around lunchtime today -- making a rare appearance at the press briefing yesterday.
As you know, the president said he would call congressional leaders back to the White House today if no agreement was reached last night. But the Boehner spokesman says talks will continue with Majority Leader Harry Reid and the administration officials behind the scene.
Now, as for some of the sticking points and the negotiations, you mentioned that a few minutes ago, here is what the president indicated at that briefing yesterday. Here they are. Provisions in the Republican calls for a budget that pertain to abortion, cuts to the environmental protection agency, head start and medical research. The president says let's get those out of the way and just agree to a number.
And that brings us to probably the biggest sticking point of them all, that is the size of the cuts. A source familiar with the meeting yesterday confirmed that the speaker did float the idea of $40 billion in cuts. That's higher than what the president said they originally agreed to. They feel like the speaker is moving the goalposts, but as I heard from one Boehner spokesman this morning, they are more optimistic today than they were yesterday -- Christine.
ROMANS: Jim, just to get this straight, Congress gets paid either way, right?
ACOSTA: That's right.
ROMANS: If there is a government shutdown, their paychecks are not shutdown? I just want to confirm that again.
ACOSTA: Yes. Yes. As we were talking about this earlier this morning, a bill has passed the House that says they don't get paid. A bill has passed the Senate that says they don't get paid, but there are two different bills. And as you know, Christine, you have to have, basically, the same legislation coming together before the president can sign it into law.
So, at this point, members of Congress would get paid if there is a shutdown and that is not going to sit well with all of those hundreds of thousands of federal workers would be furloughed in the event of a shutdown, and all of those taxpayers out there were waiting for their refund checks. They won't be getting paid, but Congress will.
ROMANS: All right. Jim Acosta, thanks, Jim. Kiran.
ACOSTA: You bet.
CHETRY: Well, we're having a conversation here. Let's bring you in on it. It's 17 minutes past the hour right now. If you ask the Democrats, a lot of them will tell you that this budget deal would be a done deal if not for the demands of the tea party.
We're going to listen right now to Chris Van Hollen, he's the ranking Democrat on the House Budget Committee. He was with us yesterday. And also earlier in a week, New York senator, Chuck Schumer explaining why they think there is no deal.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN, RANKING DEMOCRAT, HOUSE BUDGET COMMITTEE: What you have right now is the tea party wing and the Republican Party in the House saying it's our way or it's a shutdown. You've got to get a 100 percent of what we demanded or we're going to shut down the government, and that's exactly what is now fueling this drive toward a shutdown.
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER, (D) NEW YORK: The tea party is the only thing standing in the way of an agreement.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Joining us this morning to respond to those comments and discuss what members of tea party groups around the country are really looking for here with this budget. We have Mark Meckler and Jenny Beth Martin, national coordinators of the Tea Party Patriots. Welcome to both of you.
MARK MECKLER, NATIONAL COORDINATION, TEA PARTY PATRIOTS: Thank you.
CHETRY: In a way, I mean, Mark, this is a little flattering in a way that, you know, have big senators who have been on Capitol Hill. He's the third ranking senator for Democrats saying it's your guys' fault that they can't get a deal done?
MECKLER: You know, it's not necessarily flattering. That's not the right word, but the reality is we've changed the tone of the debate. This is what the American public demands. And they've said we're extreme, but the reality is they're out of touch with American public opinion.
Americans, 57 percent of them say, if they can't get bigger budget cuts, they are in for a government shutdown. So, really, we're representing Americans. They're out of touch.
CHETRY: Well, jenny, what some of the criticism has been is that you guys have brought the ball way further onto your side of the court. Meaning, the amount of cuts that now seems to be the magic number, $33 billion. I know you, guys, are wanting $133 million, I know you -- they did it as billion, yes.
I know you want a 100 billion, but it would be so much further down if it weren't for the tea party involvement, and what they're saying is, you guys aren't going to be happy, unless, it's all your way?
JENNY BETH MARTIN, NATIONAL COORDINATION, TEA PARTY PATRIOTS: Well, the fact of the matter is the spending is out of control. And the American people realize that. That's what started this whole entire movement. And it's time to stop. If we don't stop spending and cut it back now, when are we going to do it? CHETRY: But it's unrealistic to think we can do it all at once. I mean, clearly, you have the attention -- I mean, even the president wants to reign in spending, find a way to cut our deficit spending, but we can't do it all in one budget, can we?
MARTIN: Well, $100 billion in cuts which is what the Republicans pledged last year before they were elected, that is only 2.6 pennies cut out of every federal dollar spent. 2.6 pennies, and still not enough cuts, but it's a starting point.
CHETRY: I know, but the interesting thing is you, guys, used that number a lot so we dug into it a little bit. The problem is, yes, technically, it is except that when you talk about cutting 2.6 cents on a dollar, there are only certain dollars that can be cut. There are certain things that are already guaranteed.
They call it the discretionary versus nondiscretionary spending. So, really, it adds up to about 13 percent or 14 percent. They say that's just unrealistic to actually cut in one budget year.
MECKLER: Also, first of all, I'd say 13 cents out of every dollar is not unreasonable. If you're going to the grocery store, and I told you you had to cut your $100 grocery bill by $13, you could handle it. You'd figure out a way to do it. American families are doing this. And the only reason that they're saying it's 13 percent is because they refuse to deal with entitlements.
The Republicans are now forcing entitlement refund, but until now, they've simply refused. So, it's not that they can't deal with the full budget, it's that they've refused to deal with the full budget.
CHETRY: And are you happy with the proposal that Congressman Ryan has put forth that calls for actually trying to tackle entitlements in the 2012 budget or do you think they need to go further?
MARTIN: I haven't dealt all the way into it since they just came out yesterday. I think it's a step in the right direction. We have to put these things on the table and start looking at it and make serious, serious decisions about the future of this country, and at least, he is willing to put a plan out there.
CHETRY: Why do you guys think, I mean, when we take a look at the polling about favorable versus unfavorable, about the tea party movement, there are still people who view it unfavorably. Forty-seven percent view the tea party unfavorably on our latest poll. Are you guys getting a bad rep or people defining you or people misunderstanding what the tea party stands for?
MECKLER: Yes, I think the media has worked hard to define us. The left has worked hard to define us. That same poll said that we have a 32 percent favorable rating.
CHETRY: That's right. MECKLER: You know, and that's a single poll. Congress currently has a 13 percent favorable rating. So, we're almost triple Congress' favorable rating. I think that's pretty good. The people who are out of step are Congress. The tea party movement represents the American people. Sixty-nine percent of the American people are angry or very angry at their government. The tea party is expressing those sentiments.
CHETRY: Do you think it's unfair that, I mean, even when we put up, I put up Twitter posting saying that you, guys, were coming on, people think and associate, perhaps, other (ph) movements and racists, these words that come out when you mention tea party, why has that happened to you, guys?
MARTIN: We've just been misportrayed on the media. The fact of the matter is we're ordinary Americans. We're everyday Americans. We're moms. We go to work. We work hard for our families. We're normal Americans who are what makes this country great, and --
CHETRY: Are there some people with fringe beliefs who try to cloak themselves in tea party as well that don't necessarily represent what you, guys, stand for?
MARTIN: If they try to do that and associate with tea party patriots, we tell them we don't have any place for them at all. And as far as the racism, we are only aware of two instances of that happening within the movement, and Tea Party Patriots just kick those people out. We don't have anything to do with them.
CHETRY: In fact of the budget, Mark Meckler, would you be -- do you think the top priority is to not compromise at all and possibly go for a shutdown or say, all right, we got a good bit of what we wanted, let's keep the government running?
MECKLER: To be clear, we're not going for a shutdown at all. The Democrats are putting the shutdown on the table. It seems to be something they like. Howard Dean has said, gleefully, he would love to see a shutdown. Schumer is talking about extreme. The president is throwing out fiery schoolyard rhetoric about people should behave like adults.
These are the people that are pushing towards the government shutdown. We want to see a responsible cuts. We want to see a budget that protects our future and our children. That's what we're fighting for.
MARTIN: How can they blame us? We're not even elected. How can they blame us when they're the ones who are supposed to pass the budget?
CHETRY: Right.
MARTIN: And this year, this fiscal year we're talking about, it started October 1st --
CHETRY: That's right. MARTIN: Of last year.
CHETRY: Which we pointed out a lot. Yes, there are certainly challenges facing this Congress in terms of getting that done, threatening to shut down and moving on to 2012. Mark Meckler and Jenny Beth Martin, national coordinators for the Tea Party Patriots, great to talk to both of you this morning.
MECKLER: Thank you.
MARTIN: Thank you.
CHETRY: Ali.
VELSHI: All right, Kiran. Are you likely to buy -- more likely to buy from Amazon or from eBay? Well, it's, apparently, all about the reputation. Up next, which company's reputation influences you the most to make a purchase. Twenty-four minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: It adds to reason that a company's reputation can often be the difference between success and failure. So, which companies are doing the best at gaining your trust and admirations? Well, the Reputation Institute interviewed nearly 33,000 customers and found the most reputable company is Amazon followed by Kraft Foods, interesting that a food company is there, and Johnson & Johnson.
CHETRY: We find Johnson & Johnson interesting as well.
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: Guess who is the least reputable? There it is, Freddie Mac, believe it or not. I don't know if you have much choice in that matter.
CHETRY: So, Fannie Mae is better than Freddie Mac?
VELSHI: Maybe it's next.
CHETRY: All right. Well, young kids in New York City will not like this, if they even know that. Yes, they do know about this whole --
VELSHI: They're big part of our audience.
CHETRY: They either have to eat carrot sticks and get the Happy Meal or they go for fries and they go home toyless.
VELSHI: Right.
CHETRY: That's basically five-year-olds out there. A city councilman plan to introduce a bill today prohibiting fast food restaurants from giving away toys in the Happy Meal, unless, they meet certain nutritional requirements like fewer than 500 calories, and they contain fruits or vegetables. The bill is similar to legislation that passed in San Francisco. And official from McDonald says, you know what, taking away toys is not going to solve childhood obesity.
ROMANS: Americans have found all sorts of ways to pinch their pennies, as you know, during these tough times, but our pets have been spared from the list of movement. Alison Kosik is "Minding Your Business."
ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's a good way to put it.
ROMANS: You know, there are no Frugalista fidos around here.
KOSIK: No, no. You know, when it comes to our pet, it's like recession, what recession. You know, when it comes to their health, the sky is the limit. We really do love our pets. You know, and the number of us who actually own pets is actually at an all-time high, almost 73 million households have Felix the Cat or Fido the Dog or that's about 2/3 of all household.
We're also spending a lot more at the vet. Take a look at this. Back in 2006, we paid about $8 billion. Fast forward to now, it's expected we're going to spend -- yes, here -- expected we're going to spend up to $12 billion. And listen to this, some pet owners say that if they have a choice between paying for their own medical condition or their pets, guess who they are going to choose?
ROMANS: They're going to pick their pets? It's crazy. Are you kidding me?
CHETRY: The other problem is -- I mean, at least, we complain a lot about health insurance but for some people or for many people, it's there. For pets, forget it. i have a hypochondria for a Boston Terrier.
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
CHETRY: He lays around the house. So, it's a go to get a bunch of x-rays. He's not happy if he doesn't charge us $500 a month.
KOSIK: It's very, very expensive. She is still loving your hypochondria.
ROMANS: Hypochondria in Boston Terrier. That really got me. Sorry.
KOSIK: That's a lot of money.
VELSHI: Yes.
KOSIK: I think it's crazy.
CHETRY: I could spend presence for Ali and Christine.
VELSHI: We need to go to commercial so Kiran can really get it off her chest.
(LAUGHTER)
VELSHI: All right. Coming up next, U.S. engineers are sounding the alarm saying that the Fukushima Nuclear Plant is vulnerable to rupture after everything that's happened. We'll bring you that news right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: All right, top stories, face to face with Moammar Gadhafi, former U.S. Congressman Curt Weldon is expected to meet with Gadhafi later today in Tripoli.
Weldon says he's going to trying to convince Gadhafi to step down. This isn't his first rodeo. He met with Gadhafi in 2004. Back then he led a congressional delegation to Tripoli.
Some Libyans living in the United States are getting visits from the FBI. Agents at 10 FBI field offices across the U.S. have been interviewing Libyan nationals and students who were studying here. Officials say the interviews are precautionary and not related to any specific intelligence.
Crews in Japan have plugged a water leak at a badly damaged nuclear reactor. Now, the only radioactive water gushing into the Pacific is water that's being dumped here on purpose. Japan says it has to dump 3 million gallons of less contaminated water into the ocean by Friday to make room for more water that's even more radioactive.
CHETRY: The crack in the reaction may only be the beginning. U.S. nuclear experts set to help out with the crisis in Japan are now warning of some very serious new threats.
Martin Savidge is live for us in Tokyo that the NRC with some dire warnings about the potential for more explosions. I mean, this is scary stuff.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it is a very scary laundry list of potential disaster that could still be called in the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant. Let me just go over some of the issues they brought up here.
They talk about mounting stresses. What they refer to there is, let's face it, this nuclear facility has already gone way beyond the parameters of what it was ever designed to take. It's had an earthquake, 9.0, remember had the tsunami and then it's had a number of explosions in a number of buildings.
So of all these things were designed for it to accept, but not all of them all at once and then on top of it now, tons and tons of water being poured on to these structures to keep those reactors cool. So the fear is there could e some sort of major collapse.
If you get that happening, you have a major release of some sort. Vulnerability to rupture, well, the tanks underground basically or the water system, they clearly could be damaged or affected as a result of the aftershocks that continue to pound that area.
Then, we talk about the possibility of explosion. Well, yes, that could be a possibility in some of these containment vessels if you get a build-up of hydrogen. They are trying to inject nitrogen that has not begun just yet. They are thinking about it.
And then are you really getting enough water to the core of these reactors? And there's some real questions there, reactor number one, they're saying may not be getting any water. So still some very dire possibilities that could play out up in Fukushima. Kiran --
CHETRY: Did they offer NRC any plan? I mean, how do you get out of this? Do they have any ideas?
SAVIDGE: Well, there are a number of ideas out there. First of all, they say you have got to, and they are talking to Japan and TEPCO. You have to accept the help of the international community. There are a lot of very bright people. We have a lot of experience they would say.
We can help you through this process, but you have to get over the fact that you don't ask. So far, they have not asked. What is being suggested is, first of all, you have to get the main cooling pumps on. To do that, it is going to be tricky, but if you get those pumps going, you will go a long way to stabilize the circumstance there.
There have been other ideas that are floated such as encasing it in cement, not everybody agrees. That's kind of a Chernobyl fix as it's been described. One thing is certain Japan cannot keep doing what it is doing, the experts say and that's just constantly dumping water.
Because the water will have to go somewhere and as we know, it is already going in the ocean.
CHETRY: And also, of course, rising concerns about food. You actually visited a noodle factory to see how they are coping.
SAVIDGE: Yes, well, the concern here is sort of an after-effect. That is power. Because of the loss of the nuclear plants, the power generation of TEPCO has been reduced by 20 percent. There are the threats of rolling blackouts.
Well, for many corporations, that is a nightmare for them especially food industry people because they are right in the middle of making some product and all of a sudden the lights go out, the power quits.
That means the whole batch is ruined. Refrigeration stops. The same thing applies whether you are making noodles or making Toyotas. You interrupt the process, the loss is massive and how do you keep a workforce employed if they can't even ride the trains to get to the jobs.
Those are the kind of circumstances they are fearing could happen this summer as temperatures rise and the demand for electricity goes up.
CHETRY: It doesn't seem they get any better. They solve one problem, clearly dealing with many others. Martin Savidge for us in Tokyo this morning, thanks.
Executives of the company that owned the oil rig that exploded in the Gulf of Mexico killing 11 people now say they will donate their safety bonuses. That's right. The owner of TransOcean says giving that money to the deepwater horizon memorial fund is, quote, "the right thing to do." TransOcean justified those bonuses by calling 2010 TransOcean's best year in safety.
VELSHI: Well, families of our fallen troops come together. Up next, we are taking you inside a black tie charity gala for families who are grieving the death of a loved one serving our country. Barbara Starr emceed the event. She joins us live from the Pentagon coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: A black tie affair to salute the family of fallen troops. Last night, 500 people attended a gala to support those whose loved ones died defending this country.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Barbara starr was the emcee of that gala. She is here to tell us how it went. You know, of course, I mean, this is just so tough to know that your loved one paid the ultimate sacrifice. Did they find any comfort, Barbara, in knowing there is such a tremendous outpouring of support and love?
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, Kiran, Ali and Christine, I think they really did. This was an amazing event. CNN was so honored to be asked to emcee the gala. Five hundred people coming together to really support the families of the fallen. That's what it was all about.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STARR (voice-over): This is an organization called "The Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors." What they do is fund counseling camps, all kinds of efforts for families and children of the fallen. It was really quite an evening.
The headlines, you know, Admiral Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs was there. The headlines have taken us in so many directions in the last few weeks.
It was heart warming to be able to take a step back and remember that so many troops are out there fighting and so many military families are out there sacrificing, a very heart-warming evening and we were absolutely thrilled to be there.
(END VIDEO CLIP) VELSHI: Barbara, you've talked - you've gone over to the zones in which our military is fighting. You have been there, but something that was not obvious to us when we lose members of the military are there children? There were a number of young children at this event.
STARR: My goodness, Ali. I mean, there were very small children there. They were on the stage, children remembering their parents. These children, many of them attend grief camps funded by this organization where they learn, it is OK to cry.
As they say, it is OK to grief for their parent. They remarkable poise, I mean, very small children up there talking about their parents, remembering things. And when I was back stage, I mean, it will make you get your tissue box out. Some of these very young children hugging each other.
VELSHI: Yes, you know, we often say that people who join the military know what they are signing up for and that there is certainly more risks in their jobs than most jobs, but their kids don't sign up for that. They don't know they are going to lose a parent earlier than usual. Barbara, great work there. Thank you for being there.
STARR: Thank you.
VELSHI: Barbara Starr. Thousands of people descend upon Austin every spring for the south by southwest music festival. I was there this year. It is not the music that keeps them coming necessarily. I wasn't there for the music.
It is one of the most influential happenings on the culture calendar. Coming up, why south by southwest actually matters to you even if you are not interested in the live music scene?
CHETRY: Also get ready for another round of storms in the Midwest today. Rob Marciano is here tracking all of it for us coming up. It's 43 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: There it is, New York City, right outside our studios. In fact, that camera is on the top of our building. It is 42 degrees right now. Surprise, surprise, there will be some showers today and getting up to 57 degrees.
CHETRY,: Oh and that's my favorite rollerblading through Central Park song.
ROMANS: "Start Me Up".
CHETRY: Yes especially on those big hills but we're not going to see that. We're not going to be able to rollerblade probably until August, right?
VELSHI: No.
CHETRY: Maybe. VELSHI: Rob, can you rollerblade -- you can rollerblade when it's wet.
CHETRY: No, you cannot. You will go down.
VELSHI: Really?
CHETRY: Yes because the wet leaves have a slick surface and you will --
(CROSS TALK)
VELSHI: I don't have a very good record Rob with knowing what sort of athletics you can engage in when it is wet. I don't have much of a record at knowing what sort of athletics you can engage in when it is dry either.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Well, you know, as Canadian, you would appreciate this. You can do a hockey stop when it is wet.
VELSHI: That's right.
MARCIANO: And maybe shoot some spray up.
CHETRY: Not on rollerblades.
MARCIANO: No. Wear your protective gear, I suppose.
Good morning, guys.
It's going to be chilly across parts of the East Coast. After all the storms we saw yesterday, now things are beginning to quiet down at least for the time being but it has been chilly. The chilly starts for the day for folks say in Atlanta, some of whom are still without power. Temperatures slowly rising and we're getting out of this frost advisory which has been in effect or will be in effect in the next 20 minutes.
Temperatures also kind of chilly across the I-95 corridor, but nothing unusual for this time of year; a little bit of precip coming into that chilly air. Maybe a mixed bag of rain mixing with sleet and snow briefly in Pittsburgh.
This is a weak little disturbance that's kind of rolling over the top just building across the south and east. And what's coming on the West Coast, is a series of storms and a stormy pattern setting up for you folks.
Seattle to Portland, rain in the valleys and snow in the mountains, and this will be sinking to the south and then moving inland as we go the next couple of days especially down across Central and Southern California.
A little bit of fire danger across parts of west Texas as the winds pick up again there. And again, it looks to be fairly quiet across the southeast and that's nice to say after over 1,000 severe weather reports in the past 48 hours.
We are seeing 45-minute delays at BWI at the moment. Look for increasing delays at the New York metro airports because most of the breezy conditions and that little bit of precip that will be rolling in later today. 70 is the highest, so we've got a nicely strong spring sunshine across the Southeast today, 72 degrees expected in St. Louis, 57 in Chicago and 57 in New York.
And speaking of strong spring sunshine, a rite of spring, at August National. Tomorrow, the first round of the Master looks to be perfect; south, southwest wind light, temperatures approaching into 80 degrees mark under mostly sunny skies.
With that said, guys, I'll see you on Friday.
ROMANS: Rob Marciano.
VELSHI: I almost missed that, Rob. That's why you have to make sure we're always listening to you.
ROMANS: Poor man.
CHETRY: Thanks Rob.
VELSHI: Rob, good to see you.
MARCIANO: All right, guys.
VELSHI: Ok, we looked at this video earlier. And I want to show this to you again. This is amazing. And she got it on tape. Look at this. She's videotaping the trucks in front of her. Look what happens. Wow. A two by four flies through the windshield of a woman's car in North Carolina.
I was asking, why was she videotaping this? Doctor got her story.
CHETRY: Yes she says that basically the trucks were fooling around. They were playing cat and mouse holding each other -- with each other and holding up traffic. But she was basically videotaping at the time, which probably, obviously isn't recommended while you were driving. But she wanted to (INAUDIBLE) it looks like, did that blow off from the left lane?
(CROSS TALK)
VELSHI: I can't tell where it came from but boy she came within an inch of her life. I am hoping somebody gets in trouble for that.
ROMANS: They usually have that -- if you don't like how I am driving, please call 1-800 whatever.
VELSHI: Unbelievable.
ROMANS: Wow.
Ok, how much sleep do you get?
VELSHI: Not much.
ROMANS: For a small group of people, a couple hours a night is -- is just fine quite frankly. Up next, short sleeper, that's what it is called and why some people can run on very little sleep but they get so much more done than we do.
CHETRY: It's not fair.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: -- someone fell asleep just there. And you know --
(CROSS TALK)
VELSHI: Once in a while, we do stories that are a little bit indulgent. I think this might be one of them.
CHETRY: That right, this is one of them, because who needs sleep has really been our show's theme song because none of us ever get enough of course. But there are some people who this shift actually would be wonderful for them because they only need a few hours of sleep and they actually are fine.
VELSHI: I don't need one.
CHETRY: Scientists in fact are studying these people known as short sleepers. They only make up about one percent to three percent of the population. So they have identified a gene mutation that allows these people to go to bed while after midnight and get up well before sunrise and still function actually probably above normal.
VELSHI: Yes.
CHETRY: They may get wired as well. Many of them gravitate to fields like blogging, video game design and social media.
ROMANS: That explains everything.
Meanwhile, parents have been told to rest their babies on their back when they put them to sleep to reduce the risk of sudden infant deaths syndrome, SIDS. Researchers say a side effect about is more babies now have something that's called flat heads. A new report in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine says the number of reported cases have increased 900 percent between 1999 and 2007. Babies can be fitted for a helmet to correct this condition.
CHETRY: Right and you can also actually put them to sleep on their sides and alternate sides for that same exact reason.
You're like I'm just going to get on. You have an incredibly round head which you showcase.
VELSHI: I have a remarkably round head, yes.
CHETRY: -- which you showcase.
ROMANS: There's a big crease.
VELSHI: I know I was -- people don't see that. Nobody knew I had a big crease until you point it out.
ROMANS: It looks nice, it looks nice.
CHETRY: Oh please.
VELSHI: Ten years, you've kept that secret. Thanks, Christine. Christine does fine on no sleep. She just says things she shouldn't.
Five alcoholic drinks a day. Does that sound like a lot to you guys, five alcoholic drinks?
CHETRY: Yes it does, it does.
VELSHI: It does to me too.
CHETRY: The doctors say that that's not good.
VELSHI: Well, almost half of teens don't think it's a problem, 45 percent of kids say they don't see the big risk in downing five or more drinks a day. This comes from a new study out of the partnership for Drug Free America it finds that 68 percent of teens have tried alcohol. A quarter of them started drinking at the age of 12 or younger.
ROMANS: Oh that makes me sick to my stomach.
VELSHI: Why do they drink? They say, well, because they say it's fun and they don't want to feel left out.
ROMANS: They problem is that they -- they do have a study that correlate the younger kids start to drink --
VELSHI: The more they want to drink.
ROMANS: The frontal lobe isn't developed until at least 17; so like you are literally damaging your brain. I mean the brain science (INAUDIBLE) you're literally damaging your brain when a child is drinking at 12.
CHETRY: That's really scary.
All right. Well, it may not just be the music actually that brings people to South by Southwest anymore. It's the music festival. Coming up, though, we're going to explain why it matters so much why it is where all of the new things are happening. Twitter --
VELSHI: Twitter came from South by Southwest.
CHETRY: Twitter came from South by Southwest.
Six minutes until the top of the hour. We will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: When you think high-tech, you think Silicon Valley. You don't think deep in the heart of Texas. But today, in "Building up America", Tom Foreman is in the heart of Texas looking for the next big thing in the way we communicate.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The South by Southwest festival in Austin is a hot bed not just for music but also for innovation. Twitter, Foursquare and many other tech sensations made early big splashes here. So during this year's festival, CNN.com invited innovators from around the country to pitch their ideas during a short ride in a pedicab.
MAX MULLEN, BOUNCER: Hi. My name is Max Mullen, I worked on something called Bouncer, it's built (ph) for e-mail addresses so you can shorten, share and protect your e-mail address.
ALLISON ETTEL, FLY BY MILES: Hi. My name is Allison Ettel (ph) and I'm with Fly by Miles. Booking frequent flier tickets is a nightmare. So we decided to solve that problem by instantly having real time availability of frequent flier seats and be able to book it all from our sites.
ROLAND DILLON: My name is Roland Dylan and I'm representing "Trip Medi" (ph). Our idea is to make medical tourism available to everyone.
FOREMAN: This is more than just interesting. This town and a growing number of others have realized the relatively low investment high return possibility of tech can be enormous draws for young talent.
MAYOR LEE LEFFINGWELL, AUSTIN TEXAS: We have a very strong creative sector here and that's due to a well-educated young workforce and a large component of artists, musicians, people in software business.
FOREMAN: And those people in turn can fuel real estate markets, push tax revenues and build up many more traditional industries all by starting with one idea at a time.
Tom Foreman, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: All right. That's it for us today. Thanks for joining us. A lot of big news to get to still following this morning.
VELSHI: And of course, we will keep following it all day here on CNN.
CHETRY: Yes. And we will see you back here bright and early tomorrow.
Meanwhile we hand it over to Carol Costello. "NEWSROOM" starts right now -- hey Carol good morning.
