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Chemical Spill in Pennsylvania; Obama's Special Olympics Gaffe
Aired March 21, 2009 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN HOST: In the meantime --
T.J. HOLMES, CNN HOST: The next hour, we have 11 o'clock going on here. We're transitioning now to the next hour. Hello to you all, glad you could be here, I'm T.J. Holmes, I will calm down here shortly.
NGUYEN: Yes, hello everybody I'm Betty Nguyen. All right, you're in the CNN NEWSROOM and we want to tell you about a rude awakening for thousands of people in eastern Pennsylvania. Hazardous materials crews have rushed to North Hampton, which is just north of Allentown, where a truck carrying corrosive hydrochloric acid overturned early this morning. And on the phone with us now is John Conklin with the county's emergency office. I understand John, a little bit earlier they were evacuating somewhere around 5,000 people. Is that still happening or is everyone out of their homes at this point?
VOICE OF JOHN CONKLIN, NORTHAMPTON CO. EMERGENCY MGMT.: Good morning to you T.J. and Betty. Yes, it's been about 5,000 residents. We have had a very active shelter at the high school. I spoke to some people there and they said everything is very calm, it's a real bright, sunny day here so people are just going shopping and it's fairly low key. Different story on the accident scene though, however, we do have Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and the United States EPA there, a whole variety of different hazardous materials experts and company officials.
As you mentioned, we did have the tanker truck roll over with the hydrochloric acid, an extremely corrosive and poisonous substance. The truck was coming down a very steep incline on this Pennsylvania route 33 which is a connector route between interstate 80 and interstate 78 right on the eastern border of Pennsylvania with New Jersey. It's under an underpass. The hazardous materials teams did notice that there was a small drip about every 15 seconds that was coming from the flanging and the valving of the tanker truck.
NGUYEN: There's a total of 33,000 pounds of this acid, correct?
CONKLIN: That's correct, yes.
NGUYEN: And as far as getting everyone out of harm's way, have you been able to do that? Have there been any injuries and I especially want to ask about the driver of that truck.
CONKLIN: The driver was originally entrapped in his cab, he was freed and transported to Regional Hospital and he was released. So good news on that front. We have no injuries from the scene, no injuries reported from any evacuation residents. There were four senior homes within the evacuation area that were evacuated and these people are all being sheltered.
NGUYEN: How long before they can go back into their homes, all these 5,000 people?
CONKLIN: Well, the first step is to mitigate and stop this small drip that we have coming from the flanging and then the plan is to offload the tanker on to another tanker that the company is providing and then upright the vehicle. And that will basically mitigate and get this whole incident to a close other than maybe some prolonged road closure.
NGUYEN: John Conklin joining us live today with the emergency management services there. Thank you for your information. Of course, we are getting a reporter on the scene and will bring you that live report in just a few minutes. T.J.?
HOLMES: After a weeklong distraction over what else, AIG, President Obama tried to shift attention back to his plan to get the country back on track. He talks budget in his weekly address saying any spending plan congress passes must cut the deficit.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: With the magnitude of the challenges we face, I don't just view this budget as numbers on a page or a laundry list of programs, it's an economic blueprint for our future, a vision of America where growth is not based on real estate bubbles or overleveraged banks but on a firm foundation of investments in energy, education and health care that will lead to a real and lasting prosperity.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: So what is the president up to right now? He's actually going to be making his way over to Camp David with his family. But the video you're seeing is a knock you might be getting on your door. The president is asking a lot of his volunteers, that whole army of volunteers and supporters he had during the campaign season to go out and canvass neighborhoods across the country soon, don't you be surprised if you get a knock on that door. We'll talk to you more about what's happening out there coming up next hour.
NGUYEN: And you can bet republicans will be demanding changes to the president's budget. In today's GOP address, Mississippi Governor Haley Barber repeated his party's theme calling the proposal overly ambitious and way too expensive.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. HALEY BARBOUR, (R) MISSISSIPPI: President Obama's budget spends too much, taxes too much and borrows too much. It's breathtaking. The new administration's budget for next year alone calls for a $1.2 trillion deficit. Nearly triple any past federal deficit. While families are cutting back, President Obama's proposed a massive government spending spree.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Barbour says trillions of dollars in new taxes won't cover the new spending. He says what it will do is leave the next generation trillions more in debt.
Well, with one off the cuff remark, the president shined an unexpected spotlight on the Special Olympics. Later this hour what he said and why the head of Special Olympics calls it a teachable moment.
HOLMES: The feds shut down three banks in three states, the feds I should say, not the Federal Reserve. This means we have at least 20 banks that have failed so far this year. The latest is First City Bank in Georgia, Colorado National, also Team Bank in Kansas. First City customers will get checks from the FDIC. Depositors at the other two will have accounts moved to other banks.
Also, you probably never heard of them, but the government has also taken control of two major corporate credit unions, some wholesale institutions that provide loans and other services to credit unions that serve members like all of us. The seized outfits are U.S. Central Federal Credit Union in Kansas and also WesCorp in California. The seizures won't affect services to your local credit union however.
NGUYEN: Going after the AIG bonuses, 20 states have announced official investigations into the millions of dollars in bonuses paid out by the company. In Connecticut, the state attorney general issued subpoenas for AIG's CEO Edward Liddy and 11 other executives. The state's senior Senator Christopher Dodd who has been criticized for legislative changes that he made which allowed the bonuses. Well he is defending himself. Dodd says he was misled by the treasury department and officials there.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. CHRISTOPHER DODD, (D) BANKING CHMN.: I'm the author of what was an 11-page amendment it covered the water front I thought eight weeks ago, seven weeks ago on dealing with these issues. So no one's angrier than I am to watch something that I thought was worthwhile and put into my own bill. I wouldn't go around and change my own amendment within days of that if I didn't think it was merely technical in nature. And so I'm angry about it and angry that in a sense I have been held up as sort of responsible for all of this when in fact I responded to what I thought was a reasonable request at the time, which turned out to be far more than that.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Well pointing the finger at just one lawmaker for the AIG bonus fiasco may be a bit too simplistic. As CNN's senior congressional correspondent Dana Bash reports there is plenty of blame to go around Capitol Hill.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Democrats are under intense pressure to get beyond the outrage and actually doing something about AIG bonuses.
REP. CHARLES RANGEL, (D) WAYS AND MEANS COMMITTEE: Do these people deserve at taxpayers' expense to receive these types of bonuses?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We just want to recover the taxpayers' money for them.
BASH: So house democrats rushed to pass a bill imposing a 90 percent tax on bonuses for employees with family incomes above $250,000. It applies not just to AIG but all companies that got at least $5 billion taxpayer dollars. Some democrats admit that punishing employees by taxing bonuses after the fact may be legally questionable, but because of public outcry it's worth the risk.
REP. SHEILA JACKSON LEE, (D) TEXAS: I realize this may be subject to constitutional challenge and or the courts. But you know what, I'm prepared to battle in the courts.
BASH: Keeping them honest, the question is why didn't congress wage this all out battle before to prevent the bonuses? Let's start with republicans. They now say.
REP. JOHN BOEHNER, (R) MINORITY LEADER: The AIG situation underscores the fact that Washington isn't doing anything to help our economy.
BASH: But the reality is, many GOP lawmakers voted against multiple attempts to ban bonuses, calling it meddling in the marketplace. As for democrats who run congress, they did pass strict anti-bonus bills, but they also allowed the Bush White House and the Obama administration to prevent those from becoming law. In fact, the Obama team's role came to light when CNN reporting forced Senator Chris Dodd to reverse himself and admit under pressure from the Obama treasury department, he inserted a loophole allowing AIG executives to keep their bonuses.
SEN. CHRISTOPHER DODD, (D) BANKING CHAIRMAN: The administration had expressed reservations about the amendment. They came to us and asked for modifications.
BASH: And now another senate democrat tells CNN the Obama administration blocked his attempts to stop the bonuses.
SEN. RON WYDEN, (D) OREGON: I can tell you specifically is I talked to virtually the entire administration economic team, I wasn't able to convince them to go along and I think that's unfortunate.
BASH (on camera): Although we're now hearing anger from the White House over AIG's bonuses, Senator Wyden and other democratic sources say just last month Obama officials made clear they thought banning bonuses was a bad idea because it risked driving talent away from Wall Street. Dana Bash, CNN, Capitol Hill. (END OF VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: And tonight Ali Velshi, as well as the CNN Money team they searched for truth inside the AIG scandal. See what they found in "AIG Facts & Fury," that's tonight at 8:00 eastern.
HOLMES: Despite the downturn in the economy, some businesses taking off. You can meet three moms who made all the right moves, their secrets to success.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: We're going to keep you updated on this situation we're seeing out of eastern Pennsylvania. Our affiliate is going to help us out on this thing. WFMZ in Northhampton. A truck loaded with hydrochloric acid has overturned. Thousands of people had to be evacuated. We're going to get the latest. Jaccii Farris there for us. I guess the main issue here is do they believe that there's any immediate threat now to anyone? They're doing this as a precaution to get everybody out of there, but do they believe there's an immediate health risk to people that are there?
JACCII FARRIS, WFMZ: Emergency officials have told us that they believe everything has been contained, the canker and its cargo has been contained. We're being told that the accident happened after the driver tried to avoid a deer on the roadway. This happened about 3:30 this morning. Now the tanker truck overturned. The tanker was carrying 33,000 gallons, we're going to show you a little bit of the scene behind us back up here while we're talking.
The tanker was carrying about 33,000 gallons of hydrogen fluoride. Now hydrogen fluoride is a very corrosive and poisonous in its gas state. But emergency officials again say they have the gas contained. You're looking at a traffic backup. This backup is massive for this part of the area. For about four miles here, we are on route 33 just south of Windgap in Northhampton County. Everyone within a mile radius of this area has been evacuated as a precautionary measure. Shelters have been set up at the high school about 20 minutes from where we are right now. Residents can expect to be out of their homes anywhere from 12 to 24 hours.
Again, emergency officials say this is just a precautionary measure as there is no -- there's not a major amount of gas leaking. They say there is a small amount and that's due to pressure buildup, it's called pop gassing, so we have got the Red Cross and the Eastern Pennsylvania EMS Council on the scene, taking care of the evacuees and detours and things of that nature.
HOLMES: Jaccii, I just want to make sure what we're seeing behind you. These are folks who are backed up, the traffic is backed up because the accident has shut off the actual highway there or these people are backed up trying to get out?
FARRIS: These people basically are caught up in this entire situation. It happened early in the morning, so word didn't get out as quickly as a lot of these people would have liked. So we have got a four-mile backup. They're being detoured off of 33 to get them around the area that is being focused on. So it's taking about 15 to 20 minutes to get from this point to get free from the area.
HOLMES: All right, Jaccii Farris with our affiliate there appreciate it, WFMZ our affiliate there in Northhampton County, we appreciate you so much. We will keep an eye on that and continue to update you about the situation there as we get more info.
Meanwhile, the U.S. post office already wants to cut back on mail delivery by one day, now cutting back on jobs, trying to save some money here, some 3,000 jobs mostly in management being cut. Early retirement also being offered to about 150,000 other workers. The change is expected to save about $100 million a year. Meanwhile the post office lost about $400 million just last quarter.
NGUYEN: All right, well the banker of General Motors is hiring. GMAC is expanding operations at its Charlotte, North Carolina location and is expected to add more than 200 new jobs. Now the average salary will be more than $96,000 a year. Not a bad gig. GMAC which handles auto financing and mortgages for GM dealers became a bank holding company in December and that allowed the company to tap into the treasury department's $700 billion bailout fund.
So how do you move from the unemployment line to re-entering the workforce? That is the topic this afternoon in our 4:00 eastern newscast. Fredericka Whitfield introduces a series called "Jobless, Not Hopeless" and she follows several people on their journey back to full employment. You can be a part of our discussion by sending your stories, pictures and questions to weekends@cnn.com or ireport.com. Several ways but make sure your voice is heard.
HOLMES: All right, a success story to bring you now. Reynolds talked to us about this a little earlier, he's had some good stuff this week, Reynolds. Well the past couple of weeks. We appreciate some of these stories you've been filing us, but you've found us a success story.
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I know, and it's hard to find a success story in this kind of market, let's be honest. I mean it's been really tough for a lot of people but we did find three people, three individuals that came together in 2006, each of them with their own separate strengths. They came together and formed a successful venture. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WOLF (voice-over): It began in 2006. Three friends abandoned their corporate jobs with one simple business idea, to create an apparel company that celebrates motherhood. Drawing on their separate strengths, Peace Love Mom was born. And now three years later, amidst a grim recession, their company is not only staying afloat, it's flourishing.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You know we've gone through zero customers to over I guess 350 retailers from coast to coast.
WOLF: They say that kind of growth comes from a belief in their message and their product.
SUZANNE SIMKIN, PEACELOVEMOM OWNER: Besides developing a great product everyone wants, I think we know who our customers and what they want. And we are going after that customer and matching our products with their needs.
WOLF: It's creative, it's really neat, where do you get your ideas?
KAREN EDELBERG-GOLD, PEACELOVEMOM OWNER: We look for what's trendy, what's interesting and just also try and put a unique spin on it too.
WOLF: And they credit that unique spin to their diverse opinions.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think that's what makes us successful because we can all look at the business differently, then put all the pieces together and then make the best decision we can to be a successful business.
WOLF: A professional transformation was a voluntary option for these three entrepreneurs. With jobless rates approaching record highs, it is a must for many. For someone that's thinking about starting their own business, are there any warnings you would give them.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You have to absolutely be a strong time manager. You have to make sure you are highly organized and you have to be able to handle stress. At the end of the day, if the cash didn't come in, you're not getting paid.
WOLF: Perhaps the most important thing Simkin says, is to love what you do.
SIMKIN: I used to get up and think this is the greatest thing ever. I get up every morning and say, ah, PeaceLoveMom, I love PeaceLoveMom. I might have a bad moment, but I never have a moment where I say I don't like what I do.
WOLF: And it's that mindset they say that allows them even in these tough economic times to keep the orders coming in and the products going out.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE)
WOLF: And it's not just t-shirts, it's also stuff for kids, clothing for kids and even stationary. I didn't try one of the t- shirts on. It said peace love mom, it's not gonna happen.
NGUYEN: It's probably not fitting for you.
WOLF: No, not really.
NGUYEN: But you could get it for your wife.
HOLMES: You could, yes.
WOLF: Maybe.
NGUYEN: Obviously he didn't.
WOLF: Maybe she's going to get it later on, it may be a surprise.
HOLMES: Oh I'm sorry.
WOLF: Maybe you guys just ruined everything.
HOLMES: Sorry about that.
NGUYEN: And maybe we did.
WOLF: Maybe you did.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HOLMES: President Obama sends a message to Iran and Tehran's response.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: A day after President Obama's videotape message to Iran, a chilly response from the country's supreme spiritual leader. Ayatollah Khomeini said rhetoric is not enough. He promised Iran will change its policy if the U.S. does the same. He made the comments while speaking to thousands of people as you see here. They were celebrating the Iranian New Year. And in his message, President Obama called for better relations between the two nations, grounded in mutual respect.
Well, change is coming for U.S. troops in Afghanistan. A senior defense official quoted by the Associated Press says the U.S. will soon be putting more boots on the ground to fight the resurging Taliban. The plan includes adding soldiers to more remote areas of the country and making neighboring Pakistan more of a player at fighting insurgents within its border. The plan also calls for more than doubling Afghanistan's current number of security forces. President Obama is expected to unveil the new strategy next week.
And new attacks to tell you about in eastern Afghanistan, they have killed 11 people. NATO says six died when a car bomb exploded at this police checkpoint outside the city of Jalabad, that's near the border with Pakistan. Afghan police say most of the other victims were killed by a blast near a shrine. That attack happened south of the capital Kabul.
Men laid off at higher rates than women, that's what we're starting to see.
HOLMES: Yes, so what does that do to a man's ego, what does that do to a man's relationships? We'll hear what they had to say.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Coming up on 11:30 here. And thousands of people as we've been telling you about this morning, a breaking story, have been evacuated after a truck carrying hydrochloric acid overturned in Pennsylvania's Northhampton County. It's about 60 miles north of Philadelphia. The driver was the only person injured we're told but had to go to the hospital, was treated, already released. Again, no other injuries reported.
We can report this now, five more banking institutions have shut down, have failed. Two were large corporate credit unions. The banks were seized in Kansas, Colorado as well as Georgia.
And a solemn memorial today for the 15 people killed in a school shooting in Germany 10 days ago. Teenage gunmen opened fire on pupils and teachers before then killing himself.
NGUYEN: The first family headed to Camp David today. They're scheduled to depart the White House this hour. But earlier this morning, during his weekly address, President Obama focused on his budget proposal.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OBAMA: These investments are not a wish list of priorities that I picked out of thin air. They're a central part of a comprehensive strategy to grow this economy by attacking the very problems that have dragged it down for too long. The high cost of health care and our dependence on foreign oil, our education deficit and our fiscal deficit.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour delivered the republican response labeling the president's budget a quote, "spending spree."
HOLMES: All right, you know the name, Earl Devaney, you might need to know it, remember it. He is the president's watch dog when it comes to spending stimulus money. CNN's Kate Bolduan says he has a real reputation for being a straight shooter.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BIDEN: They said last night don't mess with Joe. That is the guy you don't mess with.
BOLDUAN (voice-over): But the watchdog Earl Devaney is having a hard time getting started, without a real office.
EARL DEVANEY, RECOVERY ACCOUNTABILITY TRANSPARENCY BOARD: I'd like to get an address. I would like to get some phones and computers and start taking control of this. BOLDUAN: Devaney is in charge of making sure the $787 billion of stimulus money doesn't get wasted or misused. Experts say seven percent could be lost to fraud.
DEVANEY: The first time I took a pencil and figured that out, I was horrified to see it was $55 billion. So obviously the challenge is to try to minimize those losses.
BOLDUAN: He helped uncover the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal and is now chairman of the Recovery Accountability and Transparency Board. The chairman of the house oversight committee is demanding swift action.
REP. ED TOWNS, (D) NEW YORK: Mr. Devaney, who has a tremendous reputation, I hope that he would be able to pull together a team to make certain that the money goes to where it's supposed to go, do what it's supposed to do. We want to stimulate the economy, not stimulate some pockets.
BOLDUAN: Devaney's goal, fraud prevention rather than rooting it out after the fact. However, he hasn't yet taken control of the board's key tool, the recovery.gov website, where taxpayers are supposed to be able to track spending and report potential misuse. Meanwhile, money is already out the door and projects are under way.
DEVANEY: I arrived at the train station and found that the train had already left.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE)
BOLDUAN: Now Devaney says the backup website is getting almost 4,000 hits per second, clearly Americans want to know where their money is going and it seems that Mr. Devaney knows that's going to be a huge job. T.J.?
HOLMES: Yeah a huge job, but it sounds like there, you said he's not quite up on it yet and he's not quite in control of it yet. I guess when do they expect to have full control of this thing. And when people do go to this website and all those hits you said they're getting, they actually get the information that they're looking for.
BOLDUAN: Well Devaney is a straight shooter. He said I expect that control of the website and its content in 30 to 40 days. I'm still trying to get office space, he's still trying to get all of his staff and all the procedures together. He readily admits that it's a huge job but he says they're going to be able to handle it. One concern is there is a place on the website I think we just saw where citizens, taxpayers are going to be able to put information on there possible whistleblowers, giving little tips if they've seen misuse. And that's his big concern, all of this information is going to be coming in, do we have enough investigators, enough audit capacity to track all this stuff down.
HOLMES: Ok, yeah I'm just checking out the website here, looking at it here myself. But like you said he's trying to get that thing under control but he also needs some office space. The man has a lot on his plate obviously and a lot of zeros to deal with and that website as well.
BOLDUAN: Give the man an office that's what I say.
HOLMES: Give the man an office, yes.
BOLDUAN: He can take mine.
HOLMES: All right, Kate Bolduan, always a pleasure from Washington, D.C. today, thank you so much.
The president is spending the weekend as we mentioned earlier at Camp David, he will of course have a busy week ahead. As soon as he returns to Washington on Monday, more about the budget, he'll be talking about. And then on Tuesday, he meets with Australia's prime minister. That night he'll hold a news conference in the east room. Then on Wednesday, he meets with senate democrats over the budget of course. And that evening the president attends a fundraiser for the Democratic National Committee.
NGUYEN: The Mexican army claims a victory in its latest skirmish in the war on drugs. Officials say they arrested an alleged drug trafficker suspected of orchestrating a gun and grenade attack on a U.S. consulate there last October. They also think he's responsible for the killing of several soldiers in retaliation for a government crackdown. Six other suspects were picked up and are awaiting charges.
HOLMES: Some new video here to share with you of an incident we told you about, a standoff between the U.S. Navy and Chinese ships that happened in the South China Sea. The pentagon released the images yesterday. The USS Impeccable is a navy survey ship. Most of the crew, civilians, China's government accused the U.S. of violating its laws when five Chinese boats surrounded the vessel earlier this month. One Chinese boat actually tried to snag the cable that was towing the sonar array. The Impeccable turned out ok, turned its hoses on those other vessels.
Germany in a day of national mourning today after a deadly school shooting. A Catholic priest lit ankles for the nine students and three teachers killed in last week's shooting. Germany's chancellor and president joined friends and family members of the victims at a packed church. Still unanswered questions about the 17-year-old former student who killed himself during that exchange of gunfire with police.
NGUYEN: All across the country, men are taking a big hit in this recession, with so many of them losing their jobs, it's not only hard on the wallets, it's also rough on the male ego. I want you to listen to what they're telling our Lola Oguannike.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I start questioning my self worth and it starts eroding my confidence.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The hardest part is reaching out. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The judgment of my family and everybody around me.
LOLA OGUNNAIKE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Voices of men feeling the sting of the recession and unemployment. Anger, grief, self-doubt. These members of the Santa Monica Men's Circle in California are talking about a range of emotions.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Quitting has been there, it's the chatter that hangs around in the background.
OGUNNAIKE: Of the nearly 4 million who have lost their jobs since the recession began, 78 percent are men. And sociologists say, they're hurting more than women.
(On camera): Men are evolved now, men get manicures, men cry. They're not these hard charging Neanderthals.
MICHAEL KIMMEL, AUTHOR, "GUYLAND": And not only do they get manicures and cry and do all of those sort of metrosexual sorts of things, but their wives work. And yet, the idea of being a man, being a provider, being a breadwinner, is still the sort of anchor that most men have for their masculinity.
OGUNNAIKE (voice-over): Jonathan Sawyer can relate. He lost his job as a media researcher last October.
(On camera): You want to be the one who's out there slaying the dinosaurs while your wife is hovering in the cave.
JONATHAN STEUER, LAID OFF MEDIA RESEARCHER: Yeah, it's my job to beat things with a club and drag them home and dress them and serve them for dinner. To the extent that I'm not doing that right now, that's a bit of a frustration.
OGUNNAIKE (voice-over): And it's not always easy on their partners.
MARJORIE INGALL, HUSBAND WAS LAID OFF: I still sometimes wake up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night, thinking about, well, ok we're ok now, but what happens if he doesn't get a job?
OGUNNAIKE: For some couples, that's not the only concern.
(On camera): Men losing their jobs often leads to feelings of being emasculated, what does that mean for sex life?
KIMMEL: Could go either way, couldn't it Lola. I mean you could imagine a guy saying I'm not feeling the most powerful in the board room, but here in the bedroom, I'm still the champ. You could imagine that. Or you could imagine, since I'm feeling so much less powerful in my job, I don't quite have the energies of sterility, etc. to perform in the bedroom either. It's not an identity recession. It's just a recession.
OGUNNAIKE (voice-over): These guys are trying to look past the recession into what will define them in the future.
PAUL BOB VEUCK, COACH, SANTA MONICA MEN'S CIRCLE: We need to get to work. Whatever it is. Whether it's the inside job or the outside job. We need to get to work.
OGUNNAIKE: Lola Ogunnaike, CNN, New York.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: All right, so how do you move from the unemployment line to re-entering the workforce? That is the topic this afternoon in our 4:00 eastern newscast. Fredericka Whitfield introduces a series called "Jobless, Not Hopeless." She follows several people on their journey back to full employment. You can be a part of our discussion by sending your stories, pictures and questions to weekends@cnn.com or ireport.com.
HOLMES: The sudden death of actress Natasha Richardson brings some attention to traumatic head injuries. Next, how to know when you should consult a doctor.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Funeral mass scheduled for tomorrow for Tony winning actress Natasha Richardson.
NGUYEN: It will take place in Millbrook, New York where Richardson and her husband actor Liam Kneeson had a home. We're going to show you some video now of the couple's young sons arriving with their father Friday for a wake. Oh it's got to be such a difficult time. Friends say Kneeson appeared to be quote, "in shock." Richardson's mother British actress Vanessa Redgrave was there as well.
HOLMES: Richardson died after a fall on a ski slope, at first she seemed fine right after that fall, hours passed before she got to a head trauma center. Our Dr. Sanjay Gupta told CNN's Anderson Cooper that that was too late.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: When it comes to these types of injuries where there is blood accumulating underneath the skull, you have to try and operate on these as quickly as possible. It's tough to give an exact timeline. But if you take a look at an image like this and pay attention to that red spot, that red collection of blood starting to form, it has nowhere to go Anderson but push down on the brain. The operation to remove something like this is pretty relatively simple as far as neurosurgical procedures go but timing is key. If I can just show you really quick Anderson on a model like this, if you're looking at a skull model here, you basically have to try and just simply remove some of the bone and take that pressure off the brain and then put the bone back after the blood is removed. That's what you have to do. It's a pretty short operation, but you have to do it quickly.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Dr. Wendy Wright is a neurosurgeon at Emory University Hospital in Atlanta and she's going to be here live right here in the NEWSROOM to talk with CNN's Fredericka Whitfield about head injuries, when to get help, especially when young children take a hard tumble.
HOLMES: Friends, family teammates gathering to pay tribute to former defensive lineman Corey Smith, he was lost at sea last month, the Detroit Lions team holding a memorial service for him in Richmond, Virginia next hour. Smith is one of three men who disappeared after their boat overturned in the rough waters in the Gulf of Mexico. One man did survive, he was found clinging to that overturned fishing boat..
NGUYEN: A foot in mouth moment for President Barack Obama brings forth a challenge. Find out who wants to battle the president on the bowling lanes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: As you know by now, President Obama's appearance on "The Tonight Show" this stirred up a bit of talk. The notion of a sitting president joking around on late night TV during a recession didn't sit well with a lot of folks first of all. Then there was that unfortunate off the cuff joke he made about Special Olympics.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAY LENO: Are they going to put a basketball -- I imagine the bowling alley has been just burned and closed down.
OBAMA: No, no. I have been practicing.
LENO: Really, really?
OBAMA: I bowled a 129.
LENO: No, that's very good, yeah. Oh that's very good Mr. President.
OBAMA: It was like Special Olympics.
LENO: No, that's very good.
OBAMA: No, listen, I'm making progress on the bowling, yeah.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: The president apologized to the chairman of the Special Olympics, even before that show aired. Tim Shriver is his name, the head of the Special Olympics, he talked to our Larry King about Obama's remark.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LARRY KING: Were you shocked when you watched it? TIM SHRIVER, CHAIRMAN, SPECIAL OLYMPICS: I was, you know, I have to say, I was a little heart broken. Again, not because of -- not because of that I attribute malice to the president and, you know, I think all of us as Americans are respectful of the office and respectful of the leader that we have in these kinds of situations. But it hurt. And I think he knows that and he understands it and I think he -- you know, he's challenged this country to change in so many ways and we're all embarking on so many different changes. This is one of those changes where he can be the role model of how to do it. The first step is to say you're sorry and then I'm there to find the new patterns where we can find new ways to get along.
KING: In a sense then, a bad occurrence or an occurrence that was in poor taste can turn out good because it now focuses attention on what you do?
SHRIVER: I think that's right, I think if you look to even today, Larry, we saw a huge spectrum of responses, we had a lot of people writing to us saying how offended they were by these remarks. We had an equal number of people writing to us saying what was the problem? Why don't we have a sense of humor, get it over. I think it reflects again what we have been trying to discuss through our movement over 40 years which is there is still a gap in understanding. There's still a misunderstanding of the needs of this population, of their dignity, of their aspirations of their feelings. Still most people think there's nothing wrong with using the word "retard." There's nothing wrong with making a joke about Special Olympians.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Shriver is the son of Special Olympics founder Eunice Kennedy Shriver who's of course the sister of the late president and Senator Ted Kennedy.
NGUYEN: CNN iReporters responded fast and furious to the president's remark and here's an example.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROD VENGER: I'm a U.S. Air Force veteran and, yes, I'm disabled. I take great offense at President Obama's remarks regarding his bowling ability or lack of ability and the Special Olympics.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: A Special Olympian from upstate New York responded with a challenge for President Obama. Let's bowl, is what he says. Stephen Otto says he'll even go to Washington to bowl with the president on his own turf just to keep the playing field level, as he says. Otto is a medal-winning Special Olympics bowler. He says sometimes he bowls well, sometimes he doesn't, but he's got to keep at it. Otto says the president's comment made him, quote, sad.
HOLMES: According to Shriver there, he actually said there's a bowler, a Special Olympian athlete in Detroit who has bowled three perfect games before. He actually mentioned that in an interview he did the other day. So, hey.
NGUYEN: Hey, I'm just happy to get a turkey when you get three strikes. And I don't do that often.
FREDERICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: And I don't even know what that is and I have bowled a few times but I don't even know what a turkey is. Good morning to all of you. The both of you I should say and all of you, how's that? I know you guys are onboard the whole twittering and all that good stuff, but what if you were a defendant in court and you look over and you see jurors are twittering. Might be a little unnerved? Our legal guys are going to weigh in on that and why a number of judges, prosecutors, attorneys and of course, defendants are really kind of unraveled about all of that and they want some changes.
Then, of course, in these tough times we're all trying to figure out ways to cut back a little bit and that involves not going out to restaurants as much anymore. So we'll be joined by someone who will say this is how you trim some of the fat, so to speak when you go to the grocery store. Do you only want particular labels or are you willing to go for the store labels? How to eat on a budget and cook on a budget, too.
And continuing our series throughout this week of surviving this economic mess. Coming up in the 4:00 p.m. hour and throughout the day, we're going to offer you some ideas on how to be jobless but not hopeless. We're going to introduce you to a number of people who are unemployed, have been unemployed for months, if not years and how they are trying to stay upbeat about all of it. And we're going to have a recruiter onboard with us as well as an employer, some advice, some tips to offer to a number of Americans. We're in the millions now of people who are unemployed and we're going to try and help folks out throughout the day.
NGUYEN: It's good information because many people have been unemployed for months and months on end. We've been doing it with resumes and we had one guy this morning who has been out of work since April of last year. So a lot of help needed there.
WHITFIELD: We have a 57-year-old man who you'll get to know. He's been out of work for two years now and he doesn't have any leads, no bites. So he's looking for some assistance and some offerings of guidance and hopefully we're going to deliver on that today.
HOLMES: Trying to help.
WHITFIELD: Good stuff.
NGUYEN: Thank you.
HOLMES: We'll see you shortly.
(WEATHER REPORT)
NGUYEN: They say it's all about the dress on your big day, right? (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
Four, three, two, one! Go!
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Watch out. Stay out of their way or you could pay. What these bridezillas playing dirty to find that perfect dress. What they're doing to do it. We'll show you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right. We've got some cool pictures. Let's just go to these cool pictures. Discovery astronauts. They are going to be doing some spacewalking today. It's going to be happening next hour. Stephen Swanson, hey who's calling you over there, Reynolds? You want to check that for us?
REYNOLDS WOLF: It's your mom!
HOLMES: Tell her I said hi. (INAUDIBLE) scheduled to work outside the International Space Station. NASA says their efforts will ease the burden for future space walkers. With dangerous stuff of course they're always doing there. Both men will be working on the backbone of the floating observatory. NASA has taking precautions against the possibility of an electrical shock. All of that to worry about up there walking in space and you might get electrocuted. There are risk wings on the space suits are being covered with insulated tape so they're taking some extreme precautions. Make sure they're ok.
NGUYEN: For good reason. You may want to take some caution if you are looking for a wedding dress ladies or guys because this happens every year at Filene's Basement in Atlanta. Well, oh, not that. Hopefully that doesn't happen every year. But what we're talking about is how these women are going all out for a wedding dress. It's called the running of the brides and what they're doing is looking for a bargain on a wedding dress. Well it turned into a smack down of sorts shall we say with the brides. Maybe it was the pressure of pinching pennies during the recession, but as you see, well can we get to the video again, we have to show it at least one more time? Re- rack that video. There was a smack down and things got a little nasty there.
HOLMES: But that's a good point you make there. Times are a little tougher and maybe there's --
NGUYEN: There's the smack down. Whoa!
HOLMES: Over a dress. But it is. It's a little more tense these days. Everybody needs a deal. And the attitude added to a little intensity.
NGUYEN: I don't know, every year for the running of the brides, women, they really -- they cram inside the building. They go through these dresses, they're stripping right out in the open trying to find that perfect dress for a deal, of course. And you can save hundreds if not thousands for it. Is that worth a black eye on your wedding day? I would think not.
HOLMES: Fredericka.
NGUYEN: You didn't do that, did you Fred?
WHITFIELD: Wow! The smack down for a wedding dress?
NGUYEN: It got serious.
WHITFIELD: That is no blushing bride.
NGUYEN: But she might have something blue, right?
WHITFIELD: Exactly, there you go.
NGUYEN: Black and blue.
WHITFIELD: I like that. All right, thanks so much you guys have a great day. And try to avoid any scrapping today, ok.
NGUYEN: Yeah, we'll try our best.
WHITFIELD: All right, be happy, all right thanks so much, have a great day.
