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American Morning: Wake Up Call
Job Speech One Week from Tonight; Katia Now a Hurricane; Obama's Jobs Speech Next Thursday; "Hangover 2" Stuntman Sues
Aired September 01, 2011 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. It is Thursday, September 1st. Can you believe it? This is your A.M. WAKE- UP CALL.
I'm Carol Costello joining you live from New York.
OK, it's a date. The president's big speech on economy will be a week from tonight. He wanted to speak before a day earlier but House Speaker John Boehner said there wouldn't be enough time to do a security sweep of the House chamber. Others complained it was on the very night of the Republican presidential debate.
All of that smooth now, except the president could go head to head with Drew Brees and Aaron Rogers. The NFL opener is that night, September 8.
CNN chief White House correspondent Jessica Yellin talked about what a big deal this speech is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: This is a different kind of speech. It's not about talking to the American people as much as it is laying out. I mean, they want to get their message out, but it's laying out for Congress a clear plan, very specific, saying here is the -- here's my proposal from the White House. Now it's your turn to act.
And so they're taking it directly to Congress. They're going there because it's his one shot of sort of delivering the message to Congress.
And then it's up to congress to sort of take it, leave it, take pieces of it. It's really out of the president's hands beyond that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Take a look at the CNN/ORC International poll. It shows only about one third of the Americans approve of the way the president is handling the company, and nearly 75 percent say the country is in bad shape right now. So, yes, the president's speech is big.
Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, a Republican, what would she have done? Would she have attended the big speech in D.C., or would she have gone to the GOP presidential debate in California? Of course, it's not an issue now, but before the date was changed, it was some tasty campaign fodder. Bachmann said this in Iowa.
Let me read it to you. "Either, A, the president wants to distract the American people so they don't watch him, or, B, he doesn't want the American people to hear what the next president of the United States is going to say."
Here's a quick update on the big story out of Aruba. Gary Giordano, the man held in the disappearance of an American woman, will stay in custody for another 60 days while authorities work on their investigation. It's been a month since Robyn Gardner was last seen at a bar with Giordano. He claims she was swept out to sea while they were snorkeling.
Let's talk about two sections of the country with opposite problems. First, Oklahoma. Two fires are on the move in Oklahoma City. Wind and bone dry condition are pushing one of them toward a residential area. Several hundred people have been told to evacuate their homes. Fire officials hope to stop the fire before it crosses Interstate 44. Fires this week have been moving so fast people barely have had time to react.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, I've got about 10 minutes, what do I grab? And the first thought was make sure the kids are safe and that they've got some clothing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: And to the South, in dry windy Texas, a huge wildfire about an hour west of the Dallas-Ft. Worth area has destroyed about 40 homes now.
Let's about Irene and the saturated Northeast. Nearly 2 million people from North Carolina to Maine still don't have electricity. Flood advisories are in effect today for parts of five states.
In New Jersey, the flood Passaic River is settling back into its banks and should be below flood stage this morning.
Emergency officials in Vermont say the worst is over there, too. Crews managed to patch washed out roads and get supplies into isolated towns. It's going to take longer to repair bridges, though.
The National Guard has been dropping supplies to other towns by helicopter. One 93-year-old Vermont man remembers the legendary flood of 1927 and the hurricane of 1938. He says Irene was worse than both.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIM TREPEM (ph), VERMONT RESIDENT: This is worse. Much worse. I can't believe that this happened.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Vermont is getting help, by the way, from a few of its friends. A Black Hawk crew from New Hampshire brought over some supplies and nearly 100 members of the Illinois National Guard are helping, too. The state has sent over eight of its helicopters to Vermont.
All of Vermont's continues, where are they? Well, they're still in Iraq.
Now, let's head to the weather center and Rob Marciano.
OK, Katia, I guess it developing into a hurricane.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes.
COSTELLO: But we don't need to worry, right?
MARCIANO: Not at the moment. No.
So, yes. Good morning, everybody.
Katia is now a hurricane. We got strength as of the 5:00 advisory of 75 miles an hour. So, that hasn't changed since the 11:00 advisory last night.
But it's pretty big. There you see on the satellite picture. Fairly well organized. And you know, all indications there's nothing much ahead of it in the near 500 miles to slow it down.
So, we will continue to see -- move off to the west at about 19 miles an hour. Here's the forecast track for the National Hurricane Center.
All right. Off to category 2 status and major as we head toward the weekend. Notice that it is heading in the general direction of the United States. So, yes, it is of grave concern for the folks on the East Coast as we have to wait for this thing to really make a northerly jog and peel of to sea which is a possibility but not a slam-dunk at the moment.
Of more concern or more immediate concern, I should say, is this disturbance now getting into the Gulf of Mexico. The red box versus the yellow box yesterday, which means the National Hurricane Center has upped this into a very good chance of becoming a tropical depression or tropical storm here in the next two days.
They have a hurricane hunter aircraft scheduled to fly into this thing and investigate it this afternoon. We'll know much more about this. But some of our models take it anywhere from Texas to the Florida Panhandle -- anywhere from a weak tropical storm to potentially a hurricane. And that would happen as soon as the weekend and as late as the beginning of next week.
So, that one is closer to home. Well, one thing. I forgot to mention this -- interesting news from science. We have developed or we found that coral -- there's an analogy on coral that produce as sunscreen that protects coral. Fish eat that coral and maybe they get the sunscreen from this algae.
So, Carol, there may come a time where we can develop this algae into a pill to where you don't have to slather on the sun sauce. You just pop a pill. Wouldn't that be cool?
COSTELLO: Really? That would be terrific. It's pretty far off, but London based scientists had discovered that and are investigating.
COSTELLO: It is still quite interesting. Thank you, Rob Marciano.
It is issue number one. And no matter where you look or turn, there's no escaping, talks about the economy or in this case jokes about the economy. Here's your morning punch line.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
JAY LENO, COMEDIAN: Well, coming in today, I found a quarter on the sidewalk. Finally, some change I can believe in.
President Obama has chosen Princeton labor economist Alan Krueger as the new White House economist. Krueger is considered an expert on unemployment. You know, these days, a lot of people are experts on unemployment, OK? How about getting a guy who's an expert on employment? Why don't we get that guy? That's the guy we need.
Economists are now saying Hurricane Irene will actually help the economy. The irony being that people who have been saving money during the recession will now use the money to buy things like windows and repair items.
That's you know the economy is in the best shape, OK, when the best plan Washington come up with is, hey, about more hurricanes and tornadoes and earthquakes? That's what we need. More earthquakes.
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
COSTELLO: Still ahead, elements of this story may sound familiar. An Apple employee goes into the bar and reportedly loses an iPhone prototype. The full story on the other side of the break.
But, first, check out the quote of the day. This is the quote. Quote, "Some of them in Congress right now of this Tea Party movement would love to see you and me hanging on a tree," end quote. Find out who said this coming up in 90 seconds.
It's eight minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: It is 10 minutes past the hour. This is your A.M. WAKE-UP CALL.
Now, back to the quote of the day. Quote, "Some of them in Congress right now of this Tea Party movement would love to see you and me hanging on a tree," end quote.
Who said that? Well, it was Democratic Representative Andre Carson. He later clarified to CNN that he was not talking about -- not all but some members of the Tea Party. Carson says he stands by the remarks. He's a member of the Congressional Black Caucus. Now you know.
Next two stories are sure to be the talk of the office today. We're talking iPhone and Facebook.
Kristie Lu Stout joins us live from Hong Kong to bring us up to tech speed.
So, it sounds like a joke. So, an Apple employee walked into a bar and leaves an iPhone 5 prototype behind. It's deja vu all over again.
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: I know. And, Carol, it sounds like a really bad joke, a bad case of deja vu. Another Apple employee appears to have lost an iPhone prototype in a bar. This is according to a report from CNET.
CNET says in late July, the prototype of the yet to be released iPhone went missing from a Mexican bar and restaurant in San Francisco. After it was sound it was apparently sold on Craigslist.
And, yes, you've heard this before. Last year, an Apple employee lost and released an iPhone 4 in a bar. So, Carol, there appears to be a link between drinking and losing things, especially if you work for Apple.
COSTELLO: Really? I would have never thought that link would exist between drinking and losing things.
Let's talk Facebook now because is Facebook really thinking about getting into the music game?
STOUT: That's right. It's been out there for such a long time. But according to sources, Facebook is planning to launch a music service next month. A source familiar with the plan told CNBC that the service would launch on September 22nd.
Mashable is also reporting Facebook plans to launch a music service next month with partners like Spotify providing the content. All the major music labels have long hoped for Facebook to build a music store and sell songs directly to users. And Carol, remember, in addition to you and me, it has a massive user base, 750 million strong and growing.
Back to you.
COSTELLO: Wow. Well, I know you'll continue to keep your eye on things. Thanks so much, Kristie Lu Stout -- reporting live from Hong Kong.
Disagreement in Washington, certainly nothing new. But does it go to far when the White House and Congress have trouble agreeing on something like a date for a major speech on jobs? More on that story coming up in 90 seconds.
It's 12 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: It's 14 minutes past the hour.
As you probably know, former Vice President Dick Cheney gave an exclusive interview to NBC about his brand new memoir. But this interview you probably haven't seen.
Here's your punchline.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
DAVID LETTERMAN, HOST, "LATE SHOW WITH DAVID LETTERMAN": Ladies and gentlemen, here now is an exclusive NBC interview with Dick Cheney. Take a look.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Should we still be waterboarding terror suspects?
DICK CHENEY, FORMER U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Secret prisons?
CHENEY: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Wiretapping?
CHENEY: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Using genital zapping torture boxes?
CHENEY: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Putting terror suspects into juicers and making them into terror smoothies?
CHENEY: Well, with the right of approval.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you becoming aroused?
CHENEY: Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
COSTELLO: I'm sorry. Oh. That was funny. It -- I don't know. It struck me as so funny.
It is time now for our Political Ticker with Tim Farley, host of "Morning Briefing" on Sirius POTUS live from Washington.
Good morning, Tim.
TIM FARLEY, SIRIUS XM POTUS: Good morning.
It wasn't real, was it? He didn't really say that, did he? Come on.
COSTELLO: No, that wasn't real.
FARLEY: Right.
COSTELLO: Let's talk about something that should not be real as well, this weird flub between the president and the House Speaker John Boehner over when exactly --
FARLEY: That seems surreal, doesn't it?
COSTELLO: What?
FARLEY: That seems surreal itself, does it not? I mean, this whole battle back and forth between the president and the speaker?
COSTELLO: Oh, yes. The president came out. Actually he sent a letter to the House speaker saying, hey, I want to address a joint session of Congress on September 7th. You need to do some parliamentary things to make sure that's OK.
John Boehner writes back to the president. It's not the best date because we can't get the security sweep needed -- we can't get the security sweep done to make that happen and then it moved on from there. Take it away.
FARLEY: Yes. And yesterday if you were to try to summarize the mood in the White House press briefing as White House Press Secretary Jay Carney was explaining that there was no politics behind this decision, you'd have to just sorts of imagine a face that went -- because everyone was trying to figure out exactly what the reasoning was behind the scheduling of this speech. It was the night of the GOP debate.
Now, truth be told, it's the GOP debate among several candidates. It's one of many. But on the other hand, the White House had to know that it was that night.
So, John Boehner, the speaker, says, well, we can't quite do it that night, Mr. President. We'll do it the next night.
And then we find out the president has moved it. So, what's going to happen out of all this, I guess is the question. What is the bottom line?
America once again sees dysfunctionality in Washington, D.C. Republicans and Democrats are not getting along. And, frankly, I think the president is going to lose out because people are going to be tuning in to see Kid Rock and Antebellum who are the premiere or first game of the NFL season with the Packers and Saints on Thursday night. And instead at 8:30, they're going to be seeing the president at the joint session of Congress talking about jobs.
So --
COSTELLO: Well, and you also have to wonder, Tim, if the president will lose out because he's coming on and he's saying, look, I want to work with Republicans. Let's put aside this partisan sniping. But, yet, his people schedule his speech on the same night as a Republican debate. So, I don't know how you --
(CROSSTALK)
FARLEY: This is pretty much -- to your point, Carol, this is pretty much acknowledge to be a political speech, because unless the president comes out with amazing substance, this is going to be an opportunity to look presidential in front of the joint session of Congress and maybe look past what is interpreted or expected to be something that's going to be less than spectacular. And I don't mean to try to get ahead of the president -- it's just that this has been seen as a political game. And as you've said the president's tried to go above that and yet they'll go ahead and schedule this on the same night of the debate? It doesn't seem to fit.
COSTELLO: I know. Well, we'll see what happens. Tim Farley, thanks so much for joining us as usual.
FARLEY: Thanks.
COSTELLO: Same-sex marriage, front and center on Piers Morgan. GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum defended his views when Morgan says gays don't admit it publicly because of bigotry and asked Santorum if his views bordered on bigotry.
Here's what Santorum had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
RICK SANTORUM (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: No, just because we disagree on public policy which is what the debate has been about, which is marriage, doesn't mean it's bigotry.
I had Piers Morgan call me a bigot because I believe what the Catholic Church teaches with respect to homosexuality, I'm bigot. So, now, I'm a bigot because I believe what the Bible teaches. Now, what, 2,000 years of teaching moral theology is now bigoted.
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
COSTELLO: In other news this morning, Prince Harry heads to the United States next month but not to hobnob with diplomats and A- listers. He's coming for military training. We'll tell you where he'll be and what he'll learn. That's coming up.
We're also going to talk about the unrest in Libya. And to go along with that, here's a tidbit for you. Today is Revolution Day in Libya. It celebrated on the anniversary of Moammar Gadhafi coming into power that happened back in 1969.
It's 19 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: It is 22 minutes past the hour. This is your A.M. WAKE-UP CALL.
Here are three things to put on your radar today:
At 8:30 Eastern this morning, weekly jobs numbers will be released. Experts predict an increase in claims.
President Obama is set to deliver his jobs plan before lawmakers one week from today.
Then, at 3:30 Eastern, NASA updates us on the mars rover. The mars rover is called Opportunity. Opportunity is said to be sending back amazing pictures from a Martian endeavor crater.
And tonight, the college football season officially gets underway. It's definitely set to be an interesting season considering some of the trouble teams like Ohio State and Miami are facing involving NCAA violations.
We still don't know where Moammar Gadhafi is, but his four- decade grip on power in Libya is slipping away. And Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is in Paris for a high-powered meeting to talk about post-Gadhafi Libya.
So, let's head around the world with Max Foster. He's live in London. So, what's this meeting about?
MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's a big test, really, I think, Carol, for the NTC, which is running Libya now. In the past the rebels had one thing in common, of course, and that was getting Gadhafi out of power. He's not in the picture anymore politically speaking, at least.
So, this is a test to see how the NTC, how the rebels are organized as a body that can run a country. They ask for something like $7 billion worth of humanitarian aid really. It's something to deal with their emergency needs and they're going to have to convince the likes of Secretary Clinton, also, dozens of other prime ministers and other heads of state around the world that they need the money and can get it now.
They have started receiving money. The British government has released about $1 billion worth of Libyan bank notes which are held in the U.K. while the war was continuing. The first trounce of that has already arrived. It's going to the central bank in Misrata -- in Benghazi rather as we speak. And also the French today have announced they're releasing $2 billion worth of assets they've been holding while this has been resolved. So, it's starting to happen. A big test for the NTC, Carol.
COSTELLO: Also on another topic, Prince Harry is coming to the United States next month for some military training. Tell us more.
FOSTER: Yes. Well, he's going to be there for two months. We weren't quite sure where he was going go. We now know he's coming to El Centro in California and Gila Bend in Arizona.
He's got two months of training over there in the U.S. It's the last part of his Apache helicopter training. So, once he completes that, he will be a fully qualified Apache helicopter pilot. And he's ready, really, to go to war. But there aren't any wars for him to go to right now. He'll have a bit more training when he gets back to the U.K. and he'll be set to go.
But a major blackout, Carol. We're not going to hear about the training while he is there. There will be some footage released when it returns. We're not going to hear much more about it until it's over.
COSTELLO: Bummer because we like a few Harry spottings here in the United States. Thank you very much, Max Foster -- reporting live from London.
If life is a highway, buckle up. There are a lot of bad drivers out there. But Allstate is out with a new list of safest big cities for driving.
Chicago earned the number five spot. Yes, Chicago. Houston comes in at number four, and San Antonio is number three.
Hear which city came out on top right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Good morning to you. It is Thursday, September 1st. Yes, it's already September 1st. And it's almost Friday, too.
This is your A.M. WAKE-UP CALL. I'm Carol Costello, joining you live from New York. It is just about half past the hour.
Katia now a hurricane. It grew into a category 1 storm overnight, churning in the Atlantic, with winds clocked at about 75 miles per hour, could strengthen into a major hurricane in the next few days but it is way too early to tell if Katia will hit land.
And there's another storm system to keep an eye on brewing in the Gulf of Mexico. No name yet but it could organize into a tropical storm by this weekend.
President Obama is traveling to New Jersey this weekend, declaring a major disaster there in the wake of Irene. The Passaic River pushed past its limits in Paterson, forcing the city to fight the highest floodwaters in 100 years. The president will be there on Sunday scoping out recovery efforts. Irene killed more than 40 people from Florida to New England, and nearly two million people still without power.
President Obama, he has agreed to reschedule his big jobs speech for Thursday night. He originally wanted to do it on Wednesday, but House Speaker John Boehner said that would not work. Boehner blamed logistics. Other republicans were furious, though, because there's a GOP presidential debate on Wednesday night, September 7th.
But now that the date's been changed, it's been already even decided, the president does have his work cut out for him. Check out this CNN/ORC International Poll. Only a third of Americans approve of how the president is handling the economy.
A Philadelphia police officer has been arrested accused of sexually assaulting a woman while on duty. The victim says she was waiting for a bus early one August morning when she flagged down the officer for a ride. According to our affiliate, KYW, the victims says the officer forced her to perform a sex act, then dropped her off at a bus terminal. Corley (ph) is facing several charges. Philadelphia's Police Commissioner says he's committed to rooting out criminal cops.
An injured stuntman from "The Hangover 2" is suing Warner Brothers over a street scene gone wrong. Scott McLean who worked as Ed Helm's stunt double said he suffered permanent brain damage in a high-speed head-on crash on the set in Bangkok. He was in a medically induced coma for months after the wreck. The suit claims ante (ph) of speed in the last-second scene change for the crash. Warner Brothers says it's working closely with the stuntman to resolve this.
And for all of you, non-stuntman types, the safest big city for commuters to get behind the wheel is phoenix. San Diego, San Antonio, Houston and Chicago round out the top five for cities with more than one million people. All state released the list based on insurance claim data in terms of car crash frequency.
Those daily coupon deals that you get in your inbox every day, some of them can be irresistible, but for some consumers, it may be getting a little bit too much. We'll talk about that in today's morning money.
But first, we're getting close to Girl Scout cookie season and in honor of some of the most addictive snacks on the planet. Here is today's "Get Smart" question. You can probably guess this best- selling Girl Scout cookie, the new mint, but what comes in second? Is it A. Tagalongs, B. Samoas, or C. Do-Si-Dos? Yes, I know, the names are different, but you know what I mean. The answer in 60 seconds. It's 32 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: It is 33 minutes past the hour. This is your A.M. WAKE-UP CALL. Now, back to today's "Get Smart" question. After Thin Mint, which Girl Scout cookie sells the most? Is it A. Tagalongs, B. Samoas, or C. Do-Si Dos? The answer is B. Samoas. Check out 'Wired" magazine's super creative graphic to illustrate the percentage of Girl Scout cookie sales.
Thin Mint came in first with a quarter of all sales, second, of course, Samoas, third Tagalongs, fourth Do-Si-Dos, fifth Trefoils. I think that's how you pronounce that. That's a new one for me. All the other flavors make up 23 percent of all sales.
For this morning's money news, let's head to Christine Romans now and talk about the AT&T/T-Mobile merger that's not a merger just yet because the justice department has filed an anti-trust lawsuit against AT&T. What's this about?
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: This is about competition and it's about the ability for consumers to have low prices, good service, and choice. The Department of Justice, also the FCC coming out very, very strongly and saying that this huge $39 billion merger would not be good for you, Carol. It would not be good for me. It would not be good for anyone who carries a cell phone.
And consumer advocates have been saying this for a long time. They've been saying when you take away competition in this very, very important arena, that it's going to mean less innovation, it's going to mean companies -- little companies that come up with new gadgets are going to have a harder time finding customers for those and getting those innovations on the market, things that are good for us.
And that they think that it's going to mean less quality of service and just less choice and higher prices overall. And, of course, the company is going to fight this. This could be -- this actually could be a pretty epic battle between a very big company, AT&T and the U.S. government. So, stay tuned there, Carol.
COSTELLO: OK. Let's talk about what's going on with things like Groupons, because I think people have lost the Groupon fever now.
ROMANS: It's deal fatigue. Some of the folks that track this say that in recent weeks -- last week and the week before, in particular, for the first time ever, you're seeing traffic start to decline on some of these deal websites. There's a lot of different wins. Groupon is the very big one. Living Social is another. Those of you who -- I have never -- have you ever done it? I've never actually done one of these deals where they pop up in my inbox.
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: You have?
COSTELLO: Yes.
ROMANS: Oh, man. Well, anyway, maybe people are feeling a little bit of deal fatigue. At the very beginning, many thought, oh, wow, this is great. I'm going to do this. I'm going to save some money, but there seems to be something maybe happening here. We'll see if it's seasonal. We'll see if it's just -- I don't know. Some of the euphoria early on wearing off.
But it's interesting and important for investors, because some of these things are companies are, you know, they're poised to go public or have gone public. So, we'll see if the deal fatigue sets in.
COSTELLO: Groupon could be a bust.
ROMANS: Yes.
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: Christine Romans, thank you. See you in a bit.
ROMANS: Yes.
COSTELLO: Washington cannot agree on a budget. Why would we think they could agree on a date of a speech? That story is coming up in 90 seconds. It's 36 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Thirty-nine minutes past the hour. President Obama will roll out his big jobs plan next Thursday, not Wednesday, as originally planned. The president rescheduled after Republican House speaker, John Boehner, basically said no. The president's speech would have taken place at the very same time as a Republican debate that was going to be broadcast on MSNBC.
So, let's bring in CNN contributor, John Avlon. He's on the phone here in New York. So, John, this is so ridiculous. This was a partisan fight over the date of the president's speech.
JOHN AVLON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR (on the phone): I know. Did anyone think, though, that it wouldn't come to this? I mean, it's just the latest low in Washington. The president making a very -- what is traditionally, historically a very preformed (ph) request to Congress. And it's the first time in really recorded memory that the leaders of Congress have said no. And so, it's just the latest sign of just how bad the blood is in Washington, D.C.
COSTELLO: Do you think that the White House did this on purpose?
AVLON: Well, clearly they couldn't help but notice that they were trying to get a joint session of Congress right before a GOP presidential debate. And so, they may be guilty of being too clever by half in that, trying to remind people that President Obama is president, and the Republican contenders are just that, contenders.
That said, the following night is directly opposite, the NFL season sort of opener, opening night match-ups, so, between the Packers and the Saints. I think most Americans are going to be probably a little angry with the overlaps with that game than preempts of Republican debate by one hour.
COSTELLO: Well, I guess the obvious question, why does the president feel that he has to give the speech before a joint session of Congress? Why doesn't he just give the speech to the White House, and we wouldn't have these arguments?
AVLON: Right. That would have been the other obvious alternative, but the president, clearly, wants to communicate to the American people that this is coming out of the summer, the number one issue facing the country. He's promised to propose new ideas, and it communicates the seriousness of the fiscal crisis for your end (ph) and the need for the parties coming together to solve this problem.
Remember, we have a divided government. Any plan that gets past needs the support of both parties. So, this does get things off on a bad foot, the fact that there's an unprecedented denial of the president's request to speak before a joint session. Then the president saying, fine, doing it one night later, ever closer to that shadow of the tenth anniversary of 9/11 as well.
COSTELLO: OK. Well, we'll be talking a lot more about this on "American Morning." You'll be joining us. Thank you, John Avlon, reporting live on the phone from New York.
Let's take a quick look at sports now. A long-time enforcer of the National Hockey League was found dead in Toronto. Wade Belak was -- wrapped up a 14-year career back in March. He was going to be a sideline reporter in national covering the Predators. No one has said anything about the cause of death, but Toronto police do not suspect foul play. He was just 35 years old.
Still hard to believe that Venus Williams will be watching the rest of the U.S. Open and not compete. She pulled out yesterday before her second round match. Williams says she's been diagnosed with an autoimmune disease that affects hr energy level and her joints.
And here's a little bit of dug out fun. Brian Wilson, he's always fun with the Giants. He's using his famously bushy beard to break a baseball bat.
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: Don't try this at home, OK? Actually the bat was already broken. His facial hair is impressive, but it isn't that strong. But that was enjoyable.
There's a new hurricane churning in the Atlantic. All the details, and if you should be concerned at all, just ahead.>
But first, on this day in history, back in 1939, World War II began when Nazi Germany invaded Poland. As many as 60 million people died during the war. It's 42 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Good morning to you. It is Thursday, September 1st. This is your A.M. WAKE-UP CALL. I'm Carol Costello joining you live from New York. It is 45 minutes past the hour.
Wildfires are ripping through parts of Texas and Oklahoma, devouring homes, forcing evacuations, and closing highways as and flames feed themselves on bone-dry conditions and high winds. Jim Spellman joins us live on the phone from Possum Kingdom Lake, Texas. Jim, is it any better at all this morning?
JIM SPELLMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on the phone): Right now, Carol, it is calm and it's a little bit colder. It's probably only in the mid-80s right now. Yesterday, the fire crews here worked all day using helicopters dropping water and airplanes dropping retardants, try to get ahead of this fire. But early in the afternoon, the winds picked up about 105 degrees, and it just got away from them. We watched from a command center.
They had set up as fire just raced towards them, and we were forced to pull back as embers were flying across this reservoir and started starting fires on our side, and they had to move the command center. It just got away from them. They lost 19 more homes yesterday here, about 39 total now. And they forced to evacuate more people here as this expands with this terrible drought conditions here that are just creating the ideal conditions for the fire to expand -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Jim, you're in a little tiny town. Where exactly in Texas are you? Give us --
SPELLMAN: It's about 50 miles west of Dallas. It's kind of a resort area. A lot of second homes, vacation homes, really lovely area. They have some serious challenges for the firefighters. All the homes ringed its big reservoir lake (ph), and it creates some limited options for the crews to get into these communities and the (INAUDIBLE) for people to evacuate. They're trying to evacuate people ahead of time.
There's about 400 homes they consider in jeopardy here today. But this drought condition, I mean, 90 percent of Texas is under extreme drought conditions here. And if you add a little wind to that, it just takes a spark to start a fire. So, even if they get this one under control, similar fires can break out anywhere, and you're already seeing that in other parts of Texas.
And now as of yesterday up in Oklahoma City where there's new fires breaking out there, it's just with these conditions it's going to keep happening for weeks to come until they get some serious rain here to mitigate these drought conditions -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Yes. Jim Spellman reporting live from Texas, 50 miles outside of Dallas. Thanks so much.
All right. It's a date. The president's big speech on the economy will be a week from tonight. He wanted to speak before a joint session of Congress a day earlier, but Republican House speaker, John Boehner, said there wouldn't be enough time to do a security sweep of the House chamber. Others complain the speech was on the very same night as the Republican presidential debate.
All of that move now, except the president could go head-to-head with Drew Brees and Aaron Rodgers. The NFL season opener is scheduled for September 8th, the same night as the president's big job speech.
CNN's chief White House correspondent, Jessica Yellin, talked about how big of a deal the speech is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JESSICA YELLIN, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: This is a different kind of speech. It's not about talking to the American people as much as it is laying out. I mean, they want to get the message out, but it's laying out for Congress a clear plan, very specific saying here is the -- here's my proposal from the White House, now it's your turn to act. And so, they're taking it directly to Congress.
They're going there because it's his one shot at sort of delivering the message to Congress, and then, it's up to Congress to sort of take it, leave it, take pieces of it. It's really out of the president's hands beyond that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: It's an important speech, though. Look at the CNN/ORC Poll. It shows only one third of Americans are approving of the way the president is handling the economy, and nearly 75 percent say the country is in bad shape right now. So, aha, the speech is big.
Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, what would she have done? You know, if the speech was held on September 7th? Would she have attended the big speech in D.C. or would she have gone to the GOP presidential debate in California? Of course, it's not an issue now, but before the date was changed, it became some tasty campaign fodder.
Bachmann said the president must be feeling a little insecure. She added either, A, he, the president, wants to distract the American people so they don't watch him or, B, he doesn't want the American people to hear what the next president of the United States is going to say. As I said, it's smooth now, because the speech is scheduled for September 8th.
Big day in Paris today. Libya's rebel leaders will tell the world what they need to do to make the transition to Democracy. Representatives from 60 countries will be there. Hillary Clinton is there for the United States. Russia has now recognized the rebels as Libya's governing authority. The old governing authority, Moammar Gadhafi, Reuters reports that he might be in the desert town of Bani Walid, that's 100 miles from Tripoli. We'll keep you posted. We already have a correspondent there.
Awful news. Another human foot has turned up on the shore near Vancouver. It was found inside a running shoe along with a leg bone. That makes it 11 feet that have washed up in British Columbia and Washington State since 2007. It remains a mystery.
Let's talk about Irene now and the saturated northeast. Nearly two million people from North Carolina to Maine still don't have electricity. Flood advisories are in effect today for parts of five states. In New Jersey, the flooded Passaic River is settling back into its banks and should be below flood stage this morning. Emergency officials in Vermont say the worst is over there. Crews managed to patch up some washed out roads and get supplies into isolated towns. Vermont, by the way, is getting a little help from its neighbors. A black hawk crew from New Hampshire brought over some supplies and nearly 100 members of the Illinois National Guard are helping, too. Illinois had sent over eight of its helicopters. All of Vermont's helicopters, where are they? They're in Iraq.
Now, let's head to the weather center and Rob Marciano. So, that's good news. The rivers are returning to their banks, and things are getting a little better, at least.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. One thing -- one part -- one thing about that part of the country is that the rivers fall quickly. The other problem is they rise quickly, and, that's what we saw there, especially in Vermont. Yes. So, clean-up efforts will continue to be ongoing. And whether or not, it's still bad up there. It's been pretty nice, actually, for the past couple of days.
Katia, let's talk about this. Hurricane strength now. If you're just waking up with a 75-mile-an-hour winds and movement is to the west at about 19 miles an hour. So, this is certainly of concern. Our forecast track takes us towards the west and brings it to major hurricane status. Notice a bit of a northerly turn, but it's generally pointing right toward the east coast of the U.S. I'm hoping that strong cold front next week will take this baby out the sea, but no guarantee of that at the moment.
Of more immediate concern, more pressing matters, Gulf of Mexico. This disturbance now in it. And a hurricane hunter aircraft expected to be in it later this afternoon. And we'll know much more about it. Good chance of it becoming a tropical depression or tropical storm here in the next two days, and quite honestly, we have no idea what it's going to be. Steering currents in this part of the world are very, very weak right.
Just to give you an idea of the confusion our computers are going through right now, loop deloops and -- I mean, just take your bowl of spaghetti and throw it against the wall. You have no idea where it's going to end up. So, we'll just keep you posted. Once the plane gets in there this afternoon, we'll have a better ideas to may be what's going to happen.
Carol, I know you've got friends out west. My surfing friends on the West Coast, if you're up, you may still be, get to bed, because surf's up. I mean, we've got a monster swell ahead in California right now. A huge storm in New Zealand has propagated these waves. They were 40 footers in Tahiti, and now, they're in San Diego, and they're just loving life (ph).
You know, normally they get the swells in the wintertime from storms up here in Gulf of Alaska. So, this is a fairly rare event, and the water's a little bit warmer this time of year. So, get out there, get on it. Hang ten, baby.
COSTELLO: Oh, that's beautiful. And don't go to bed until the end of this program, OK?
MARCIANO: Exactly
COSTELLO: Thank you, Rob.
MARCIANO: Take care.
COSTELLO: Let's take a look now at the word of the day. It's levamisole. Find out what it means and why you need to know after this short break. It's 53 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: We are just about at top of the hour. This is your A.M. WAKE-UP CALL. Back to our word of the day. It's levamisole. It's actually a deworming medication meant for lifestock, but South American drug lords are using it to stretch cocaine instead of using traditional fillers like baking soda. The side effects are disgusting. It can rot your skin, lower your white blood cell count, and make your immune system attack your bone marrow.
The journal of American Academy of Dermatology says levamisole is found in three quarters of all cocaine bricks seized in the United States. Now you know.
We've got a special punch line for you. Jay Leno tells a joke on how boring economic speeches can be, but, our own Carter Evans makes a special appearance. So, check it out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAY LENO, HOST, "THE TONIGHT SHOW": Even though the economy is still sputtering, you'd never know it by the Fed chief, Ben Bernanke. You see this guy, he gave a speech. And this guy was just doing whatever he could to make it seem more upbeat. Here it is. Take a look.
CARTER EVANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: This ahead, of a speech from Ben Bernanke today. These are Kansas City Feds annual retreat Jackson Hole, Wyoming. Investors are eagerly awaiting to hear what the Fed chief has to say. We turn next to the federal market committee's quarterly economic projection also being released today.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Carter, I admire you because you actually have to listen to speeches like this in their entirety and then interpret it. That takes work.
EVANS: Yes, it does take a little work, but, you know, it's interesting because everybody's trying to interpret something different from these speeches and that's what's so exciting about it. I guess, how they're going to be interpreted by the market. Nice to be noticed, I guess, right?
COSTELLO: You are such a business nerd. So, Mr. Business Nerd, tell us how the markets are shaping up this morning. EVANS: OK. Well, we've got a lot of reports today. We've got the weekly unemployment numbers coming out, we do every Thursday. We've got a report on manufacturing, a report on auto sales and construction spending. Our futures today on the downside. Take a look. Dow futures down about 58. NASDAQ futures down 9.25. S&P futures down about seven points. Isn't that exciting?
COSTELLO: You know, I was -- I could barely contain myself. It was exciting. Anything on CNNMoney.com we should be paying attention to?
EVANS: Oh, yes. You know, the question of the day. Why would HP make more of these touchpads and then sell them at a loss? You know, HPs getting out of the personal computer business. It's now selling its touchpad for 99 bucks, a big loss. Well, now, it has to make a whole lot more of the. And HP says it's to meet unfulfilled demand, but insiders say it's really because suppliers have way too many parts so they've got to continue making.
COSTELLO: They have no choice. Carter Evans, thank you, and I loved your appearance on "The Jay Leno Show." You're famous now. Even more famous than you are right now. Thank you, Carter.
"AMERICAN MORNING" continues right now.
