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Greif Counseling Program Helps Children That Lost Father's in War; Off-shore Oil Exploration & it's Connection to the Price of Gas; Mariah Stackhouse Makes Her Mark in Golf; Male Model Tyson Beckford is an "African-American First."
Aired May 24, 2009 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RANDI KAYE, CNN ANCHOR: Speaking out: Colin Powell says he's still a Republican. And the former secretary of state has tough words for Dick Cheney and Rush Limbaugh. We'll get in the middle of this feud.
Why are gas prices rising again just in time for the summer travel season? We'll go on the road and offshore to find the answer.
And, a teenage girl whose drive matches her -- drive. She's just 15, and she's being called "the next Tiger Woods."
Hello. I'm Randi Kaye, in for Don Lemon. A lot to get to tonight.
But first, this just in to CNN: NORAD and the FAA say the restricted air space around Camp David was violated this morning by what's described as three small slow-moving aircrafts. President Obama and his family are at the western Maryland retreat and will return to the White House tonight for Memorial Day commemoration.
The air space violations are being called minor and fighter jets intercepted each of the aircrafts. No details on who the pilots are.
Now to a political family feud playing out on a national stage. Republicans -- out of power on Capitol Hill and in the White House -- have some decisions to make: Move to the political center, stay true to the conservative base, or find a way to appeal to both while bringing in new converts.
Retired General Colin Powell has been at the center of this debate. Today, he called on his party to open its doors.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, CBS/"FACE THE NATION")
GEN. COLIN POWELL (RET.), FORMER SECRETARY OF STATE: I have always felt that the Republican Party should be more inclusive than it generally has been over the years. And I believe we need a strong Republican Party that is not just anchored in the base, but has built on the base to include more individuals. And if we don't that, if we don't reach out more, the party is going to be sitting on a very, very narrow base.
(END VIDEO CLIP) KAYE: Former Bush Cabinet Secretary Tom Ridge is also speaking out. On CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION," Ridge took Powell's side and he took issue with one of the loudest voices on the political right.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN KING, HOST, "STATE OF THE UNION": You have used those terms -- need to be less shrill, less judgmental. Who's being shrill and judgmental?
TOM RIDGE, FMR. HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: Well, I think a lot of our commentators are being shrill. I mean, I don't disagree ...
KING: Rush?
RIDGE: Yes. Listen -- Rush Limbaugh has an audience of 20 million people. A lot of people listen daily to him and live by every word. But words mean things, and how you use words is very important.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: Our political editor, Mark Preston, joins me now.
And, Mark, right now, it seems the Republican Party is in somewhat of a disarray.
MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: You know, Randi, no question it is at this point. The Republican Party is in this family feud. We have social conservatives who want to push the party a little bit more to the right. They want to talk about issues such as abortion, stem cells. And then we have centrist Republicans, folks such as Governor Ridge -- we just heard -- as well as General Powell, who say that they need to become a big tent party.
You know, Randi, the big problem right now for centrists is that they are often overshadowed -- drown out by the likes of Rush Limbaugh and Dick Cheney. So, they have a very difficult time trying to get their message across.
KAYE: Well, Colin Powell certainly not being drown out, he was responding to his critics on the Sunday morning talk shows this morning.
Let's take a listen and we'll talk some more.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
POWELL: Rush will not get his wish. And Mr. Cheney was misinformed. I'm still a Republican.
And I'd like to point out in the course of my 50 years of voting for presidents, I have voted for the person I thought was best qualified at that time to lead the nation. Last year, I thought it was President-now Barack Obama. For the previous 20 years, I voted solidly for Republican candidates.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: All right. So, Mark, when you hear that, where is the Republican Party headed?
PRESTON: You know, it's going to be a divisive fight. I think that, you know, it will play out for several more months. But in the end, Randi, I believe that the centrists are going to win.
You know, I had this opportunity to talk to a lot of Republican National Committee members here in the D.C. area. They were attending a speech by the RNC Chairman Michael Steele. And they were very pragmatic. They don't want to give up their conservative principles. They don't want to give up the fact that they are against abortion; that they are against same-sex marriage. But, you know, they also understand that they need to grow as a party.
Right now, if you look at polling, it shows that Americans still have more confidence in Democrats to run the country, more confidence in President Obama to run the country. And Republicans still -- are below 50 percent.
So, I think the pragmatic side is going to win out. It will be a divisive fight.
KAYE: All right. Mark Preston, standby for just a moment.
The debate over closing the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, is the other big talker on the Sunday talk shows. Admiral Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, says he agrees with President Obama's plans to close the facility. But he says it won't be easy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, FROM ABC "THIS WEEK")
ADM. MIKE MULLEN, JOINTS CHIEFS CHAIRMAN: I've advocated for a long time now that it needs to be closed. President Obama made a decision very early after his inauguration to do that by next January. And we're all working very hard to meet that deadline. It focuses on very difficult issues of what you do with the detainees who were there. There are some really bad people there. And so, figuring out how we're going to keep them where they need to be, keep them off the battlefield as well as close Gitmo itself is a real challenge.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: Our political editor, Mark Preston, joins me again.
Mark, the president wants to close Gitmo, as we know, by January. But he's having a hard time getting not just Republicans but Democrats to support his plan.
PRESTON: Yes, Randi. And, you know, Democrats, as well, up on Capitol Hill, they, too, want to close Guantanamo. But there's never been a plan given to them. And, in fact, they dealt a major blow to President Bush when they refused to give him the funding in order to do so. This is really a case of "not in my backyard," Randi. Nobody wants these terrorists relocated to prisons in their communities. They're afraid that, in fact, they'll become targets of terrorism themselves. But, you know, this is absolutely a situation where Democrats said to themselves, certainly on Capitol Hill, "President Obama, we support you, but on this one, we have to take a step back until you can give us a plan."
KAYE: And, mark, let's listen to what Colin Powell had to say, also speaking about Guantanamo today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
POWELL: It is a complex problem, and President Bush wasn't able to close Guantanamo on his watch. And President Obama came in, saying he would close Guantanamo, and he is running to some of those same sorts of problems. So, I think we need to kind of take the heat out of this issue.
I think President Obama didn't handle it very well by going up to the Congress and asking for $80 million without a plan. And by, frankly, giving enough time to opponents of it to marshal their forces as to why we shouldn't do this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: So, Mark, President Bush wanted to close Guantanamo, even John McCain wanted to close it. Now, President Obama is being criticized, not for wanting to close it actually but for not having a plan in place for detainees before his announcement to close it.
So, is this poor planning or a miscalculation by the administration?
PRESTON: You know, I think it was poor planning by the administration and they didn't have a plan. They weren't able to rally their troops on Capitol Hill to get the funding to close it.
And, you know, Republicans have been so successful, Randi, in pushing this issue. We've seen them go to the Senate floor, the House floor. We've seen them hold news conferences here in Washington, D.C., back in their district to talk about how dangerous it is and the fact that President Obama has not come up with a plan that is acceptable to Congress.
So, it certainly was a miscalculation on their part. And really, you have to give some credit to Republicans on this one. They haven't had very many wins, Randi. But certainly on this issue, Republicans scored a win.
KAYE: All right. Mark Preston for us -- we'll speak to you again in the next hour. Thanks, Mark.
PRESTON: Thanks, Randi.
KAYE: Get the best four hours of Sunday morning talk television in a one-hour primetime version. CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION" with John King replays tonight at 8:00 Eastern, right here on CNN. You don't want to miss that.
It may be a president's most influential move while in office: selecting a Supreme Court justice. And we may know President Obama's choice to replace Justice David Souter as soon as Tuesday.
CNN White House correspondent Elaine Quijano has the latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Randi, ahead of the president's announcement, some Republicans are already saying the confirmation process may not be as swift as the president would like.
(voice-over): President Obama hasn't yet named his pick to replace retiring Supreme Court Justice David Souter, but he told C- SPAN in an interview taped Friday he wants the Senate to confirm his nominee quickly.
PRES. BARACK OBAMA, UNITED STATES: I think it's safe to say we're going to have an announcement soon. And my hope is, is that we can have hearings in July so that we end up before Congress breaks for the summer.
QUIJANO: Not so fast say some Republicans, including Senator Jeff Sessions. The top Republican on the judiciary committee recently told ABC he doesn't think a vote before Congress' August recess is feasible. And former top Bush aide, Karl Rove, warned it would be a mistake for Obama to name someone too soon.
KARL ROVE, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: I mean, they've got problems with vetting already. They had the well-known tax problems with five of their nominees.
QUIJANO: Still, Senate Democrats are prepping for an imminent announcement. On CNN's "STATE OF THE UNION" with John King, California Democrat Senator Barbara Boxer said she and Republican Senator Olympia Snowe wrote the president a letter, urging him to choose a woman.
SEN. BARBARA BOXER, (D) CALIFORNIA: Mr. President, there's only one woman on the court and there are eight men. Frankly, if it were reversed, I'd be saying appoint a man. You just need that point of view.
QUIJANO: But the president says he'll pick the best candidate, period.
OBAMA: I don't feel weighed down by having to choose a Supreme Court justice based on demographics.
QUIJANO: The former Republican speaker of the House says the choice will be a defining moment, and a decisive task of the moderate approach Obama stressed in his commencement speech at Notre Dame. NEWT GINGRICH, (R) FORMER SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: Because, if he picks a radical, it'll prove that the Notre Dame speech had no meaning and that, in fact, this is a really radical administration.
QUIJANO (on camera): As for the time frame, Illinois Senator Dick Durbin, the number two Democrat in the Senate, says he's been told an announcement is likely this week -- Randi?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAYE: Elaine Quijano for us at the White House.
Big changes maybe ahead at the U.S. State Department -- specifically, how the government compensates gay employees and their domestic partners. Several sources tell CNN, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is preparing to send a notice to her employees. It says that the partners of gay diplomats should be allowed the same benefits that heterosexual couples enjoy. But, a senior administration official adds, it is far from a done deal.
This story, of course, raises a whole lot of questions. We will dig deeper next hour.
"The top six ways to kill Piper." It is not a new TV show. This is Piper, and her classmates found some creative ways to kill her. Wait until you see that video.
Also, a foreclosure story that ends with a family moving in, not out. It all began at an auction.
And Don is off today, but we still want you to know -- we want to know what's on your mind tonight. So, log on to Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, or iReport.com -- tell me what you're thinking.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: Welcome back, everyone. I'm Randi Kaye in for Don Lemon.
Now to a story that takes bullying to a whole new level. Wait until you see this. A group of grade schoolgirls created a cartoon of themselves killing a classmate in a half dozen ways. Elisa Hahn of our Seattle affiliate KING has the disturbing story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ELISA HAHN, KING REPORTER (voice-over): The cartoon is called "Top six ways to kill Piper." It includes depictions of five girls shooting her, making her commit suicide, even pushing her off a cliff.
BETH SMITH, MOTHER: I was horrified. I hope to find kids making jokes, and it wasn't, it was death.
HAHN: Beth Smith says the cartoon targeting her daughter was posted on YouTube to a Hannah Montana song called "True Friend." Piper is a sixth grader at Elk Plain School of Choice. The girls who made the video attend the same school. PIPER SMITH, STUDENT: It was beyond funny stuff. It really, really hurt my feelings. I mean, if somebody could hate me that much, to make a video about me like that, it made me feel like really bad.
HAHN: Piper's mother contacted the parents of the girls who made the video. Some were shocked. Others were dismissive.
B. SMITH: One guy blew it off and said he was making dinner. Yes, he's busy making dinner right now, he'd get back to us.
HAHN: The school district says, because of privacy rules, it can't say how the girls were disciplined.
KRISTA CARLSON, BETHEL SCHOOL SYSTEM: Since then, these students have expressed their remorse about this incident, and we do believe that Elk Plain has been and will continue to be a safe place for students to learn.
HAHN: Not knowing what happened leaves Smith frustrated because she wants to know her daughter is safe.
B. SMITH: My heart aches. I fear for her safety.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAYE: I spoke with best-selling author and parenting educator, Barbara Coloroso, about "the kill Piper" cartoon. She explained why she thinks cyber-bullying is a growing trend among adolescents.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: Why are we seeing an increase in cyber-bullying among these middle-school aged kids?
BARBARA COLOROSO, PARENTING EDUCATOR: Well, we often see an increase in bullying in general -- verbal, physical, and relational -- all of which can be combined in cyber-bullying. At that very vulnerable age, 11 to 15, I call it the un-age. They're not yet adults, and they're not children anymore -- and they want to be both. And so many things are happening in their lives.
And now, today, our children have small computers in their hands that double as a cell phone. And so, it's very easy to send text messages, to target somebody with gross pictures, or as you saw these young girls being very creative, attaching music to hand-drawn figures and animating them. It is only a tool. The Internet's only a tool. The cell phone's only a tool.
What concerns me in all of your stories is that it's about being mean and cruel, and using a tool to do it with.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: So, when you think of foreclosure, you don't think of families benefiting from it. But for one family we met, that's exactly what happened when they got a deal of a lifetime. And he is one of the sexiest men in the world, but he's more than just a pretty face. He's an African-American first.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: The shuttle Atlantis headed west for a picture perfect landing today. Atlantis touched down at 11:39 a.m. Eastern Time at Edwards Air Force Base in California. Rainy weather postponed the shuttle landing Friday and Saturday at Florida's Kennedy Space Center. NASA had said that Atlantis could've remained in orbit until Monday, but mission controllers wanted to land the shuttle today. Thankfully, Mother Nature did cooperate.
Bad weather creating traffic troubles for more than just the shuttle, of course. CNN meteorologist Jacqui Jeras joins us now with a stormy Memorial Day outlook? Is it true?
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: It is. It's very true. Oh, so true. You know, not a lot of severe weather per se, Randi, but just annoying, you know? Kind of ruining the holiday weekend plans, unfortunately ...
KAYE: Yes.
JERAS: Yes, for a lot of people. Check out the radar. You know, it's much easier today to pick out where it's not raining as opposed to where it is raining. You know, it's really the upper Midwest, Great Lakes, interior parts of the northeast and then the west where things are looking nice and sunny.
But lots of heavy shower and thundershower activity all across the southeastern corridor -- there you can see in the Atlanta metro area, some showers and thunderstorms beginning to roll back in. It's been wet for about a week and looking for more wet weather coming up. We've had some big hail-makers around the Boston area. It's getting down towards Connecticut, and into New Haven, as well.
We do have a tornado warning in effect for New Haven and Fairfield counties. This is a Doppler-indicated tornado. We don't expect widespread severe weather, but it's something to keep in mind.
We've also had a couple of injury reports due to lightning today in Massachusetts and also in New Jersey. So, keep that in mind -- when thunder roars, go indoors. It's not worth trying to stay outside with that barbecue grill.
There you can see some thunderstorms moving across Galveston Bay and into the Houston area, and we have some thunderstorms around the Denver area. So, it's just all over the place today.
Go ahead and take a look at some of the airport delays that we have now as a result mostly of thunderstorms. Boston Logan, you've got a ground stop. So, nobody's taking off to get to Boston until 6:30. We've got the same thing in Denver, ground stop until 4:30; JFK, ground stop until 6:30; LaGuardia, 45-minute delays here, 45 minutes at Newark. And there you can see Houston with delays at 25 minutes.
OK. Maybe you're not traveling today. What about tomorrow? Expect some delays, as well. Atlanta, Washington, D.C., easily could see some delays, 30 to 60 minutes plus -- St. Louis, Memphis, and Nashville and Denver and San Francisco. So, it's going to be a rough go for a lot of people throughout the rest of the weekend -- Randi?
KAYE: Not very good news. All right, Jacqui. Thanks for keeping us up-to-date there.
JERAS: Sure.
KAYE: We were talking about top of the show about the Powell- Cheney face-off, if you want to call it that. A lot of you are sending in your tweets. Thank you for that.
Here's a few: Soverpeck says, "Cheney thinks the only thing that defines ones political affiliation is whether or not they support torture. He is misinformed." Attila says, "Dick Cheney versus Colin Powell, no holds barred death match, bare knuckle. Who wins?" Rmendez1 writes, "Cheney is much more than misinformed, but I doubt the classy Powell will say it."
Realitygal says this, "Go Powell, give it back to Cheney." Bolmah, "It's not wise to move Gitmo prisoners to the USA." Hustlar chimes in with, "I think they should be moved to undisclosed places within the U.S. without alarming the American people."
So, do us a favor. Join the conversation. Log on to Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, or iReport.com. You can tweet with me directly at RandiKayeCNN and tell me what you're thinking.
Last year's record number of home foreclosures led to a bumper crop of bargains that went to auction. CNN's Susan Candiotti checks back in with a home buyer who finally got the deal of a lifetime.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's moving day. And Victor Guevares can hardly believe it. He finally is a homeowner and what a journey.
CNN was there last march when Guevares after saving and renting for 12 years, sweated it out at a New York foreclosure auction, hoping to gain on someone else's pain.
Amid ear-splitting auctioneers, he nervously battled other bidders to snatch his bargain basement home that last sold for more than a half million dollars last fall.
Sold for $230,000, but that was just the start. He had to plunk down 5 grand just to bid and another $7,000 cash in fees to go to the next step. In April, before Guevares could get a mortgage, an inspector first had to certify the house was up to code. It passed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's work on the deed. CANDIOTTI: A few weeks later, it's closing day. Guevares officially owns a home.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's gratifying for us to help you.
VICTOR GUEVARES, NEW HOMEOWNER: My dream came true.
CANDIOTTI (on camera): This is the new place, huh?
(on camera): After some fever pitched renovation, including new floors and much more.
V. GUEVARES: We opened this up. I got a new banister and a new post.
CANDIOTTI: Victor Guevares moved his family into their new home.
V. GUEVARES: What I had to do when I moved in was make it home, and that's what we did.
CANDIOTTI: It's a work in progress. So far, they spent $20,000 fixing it up. But Guevares says he's still coming out ahead.
V. GUEVARES: I got a good deal on the house. I got a great deal on the house. My mortgage is $300 less than I paid rent.
DEVON GUEVARES, VICTOR GUEVARES' SON: Right there.
CANDIOTTI: Eight-year-old son Devon now has his own room with a window overlooking his backyard, and no downstairs neighbors.
D. GUEVARES: This is my house.
CANDIOTTI (on camera): This is my house. Does that make you feel what?
D. GUEVARES: Strong.
CANDIOTTI: Strong.
V. GUEVARES: The last three months has been an incredible run.
CANDIOTTI (voice-over): But buying a foreclosed home at auction takes preparation.
V. GUEVARES: So, definitely, research the property that you're into, be prepared to dole out a buyer's premium, and bring ear plugs.
CANDIOTTI: Yes, ear plugs. The family already is planning backyard barbecues.
(on camera): What are you going to have?
V. GUEVARES: Hot dogs, Italian sausages, hamburgers, steak.
CANDIOTTI (voice-over): And a lifetime of memories. V. GUEVARES: I don't look at it like it's my home. It's their home. It's for them.
CANDIOTTI: Their future.
V. GUEVARES: Their future.
CANDIOTTI (on camera): For one Queens' family, a new adventure, owning its first home. For a neighborhood, perhaps a sign of better things to come -- in an area still smarting from a high number of foreclosures.
Susan Candiotti, CNN, Queens, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAYE: It's the hardest part of having a parent serving in the military.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED BOY: I try not to think about the sad stuff. I try to remember him as an awesome guy and what a great dad he was.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: But one organization is helping kids and their families cope with their loss. We'll tell you about TAPS.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My brother Sergeant Kyle Daggett was serving his first tour in Iraq and the vehicle was hit by an explosive device. And he sustained very bad injuries but didn't make it. And his family was by his side as he passed.
Kyle was amazing. He was funny, he was caring, he's determined. I just want to tell him how much I miss him and I just wish he were back here, because you never dream that you're never going to see your brother again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KAYE: America is honoring its servicemen and women who gave their lives for their country. Arlington National Cemetery is all set for the president to lay a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns tomorrow.
Plus, rolling thunder roared through the Washington area this weekend. The bikers loudly reminding us not to forget the servicemen and women who were lost or taken captive in all previous U.S. wars.
And the family of Marine Corps Gunnery Sergeant Enrique Valdez will return to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial this weekend. His four adult children petitioned to have his name added to the wall after he died from wounds he received in Vietnam.
Also this Memorial Day -- a special gathering in Washington of children who lost their fathers as a result of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. They're part of a good grief camp, a program held by TAPS, the Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors.
CNN's Kate Bolduan talked with some of the children about their dads.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These are the courageous faces and the most heart-breaking legacies of war. Young people brought together in Washington for Memorial Day to honor and to heal.
PAUL SYVERSON, SON OF DECEASED SOLDIER: I try not to think about the sad stuff.
BOLDUAN: Meet 12-year-old Paul Syverson.
SYVERSON: I just try to remember him as an awesome guy and what a great dad he was.
BOLDUAN: His dad, Army Major Paul Syverson III, fought in Afghanistan and Iraq. He died in combat in 2004. This is the Syverson's only family photo, little Amy was just a newborn. The memories and the pain still raw.
(on camera): How do you want people to remember your husband and what he fought for?
JACKIE SYVERSON, WIFE OF DECEASED SOLDIER: I'd like him -- and he, I know, would've liked to have been remembered as a great husband, a great father, and a great soldier. He loved being in the military. He loved his job, but he also loved to come home at night and be with his kids.
BOLDUAN (on camera): Joey and Billy Ruocco share a similar loss. Their dad, Marine Corps Major John Ruocco, flew 75 helicopter missions in Iraq.
JOEY RUOCCO, SON OF DECEASED SOLDIER: No one could ever replace my dad, but it helps a lot to have so much support.
BOLDUAN: Then in 2005, just before returning to Iraq for a second tour of duty, John Ruocco killed himself.
(on camera): The nature of your husband's death. Does it add another layer of difficulty?
KIM RUOCCO, WIFE OF DECEASED SOLDIER: Absolutely. One of the first things I said, why couldn't he have died in a covert. It would have been so much easier. It would have been so cut and dry you could fall back and say, he died doing what he loved. The fact that someone can come back from war and make it through and survive and then kill himself, take his own life, is very confusing.
BOLDUAN (voice-over): Along with the Ruocco's and Syversons, about 1,000 family members of fallen soldiers are here in Washington this weekend, helped by an organization calls TAPS, Tragedy Assistance Program for Survivors.
BONNIE CARROLL, FOUNDER, TAPES: A good grief camp is the chance for all those who have lost a loved one in military service to come together, find each other, find hope and peace and comfort and support. And to become, once again, part of that military family on Memorial Day.
BOLDUAN: It's also a chance to let loose, enjoy the monuments, spend time with newfound friends. Every kid assigned their own mentor like Matt Thibodeau.
MATT THIBODEAU, TAPS MENTOR: You want to get a picture to send to your mom?
BOLDUAN: A soldier himself.
THIBODEAU: I thought if I were to have children and I were to go and pass away that I would want somebody to do the same for me.
RUOCCO: It's about remembering the love, remembering the memories that you have with that person, and not just focusing on the death. There's a lot of joy here along with the grief.
UNIDENTIFIED SOLDIER: How do I look? How do I look?
BOLDUAN: Although the pain never seems to be far away, at least this weekend...
JOEY RUOCCO, SON OF DECEASED SOLDIER: After one, that's when you let go.
BOLDUAN: ... kids like Paul, Amy, Billy, and Joey...
JOEY RUOCCO: Dear dad, baseball season starts soon.
BOLDUAN: ... can let go, healing together.
JOEY RUOCCO: Don't feel bad about what happened.
BOLDUAN: ... carrying on the stories ...
JOEY RUOCCO: I can't imagine what you were going through.
BOLDUAN: ... and the legacies of their fathers.
JOEY RUOCCO: I miss you. Love, Joey.
CROWD: Three, two, one -- blast off.
BOLDUAN: Kate Bolduan, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAYE: A lot of you are tweeting with us today. A lot to say on so many of the stories we're covering.
Here's one from dustyroads325. He writes, "Any who serve our country are heroes and deserve our praise."
Lordofking says, "Grief camp is nice, but does anyone have a plan for kids whose parents are deployed? This coming from a Marine and now a military spouse."
Log on to Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, iReport.com, tell us what you're thinking. You can Twitter with me at RandiKayeCNN. I would love to hear what's on your mind.
Notice anything strange happening at the gas pump? Like the prices going up? Makes you wonder how that search for domestic oil is going. We're taking you exploring out in the Gulf of Mexico.
But first, service men and women send Memorial Day wishes to their families back home.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAJ. JEFFREY O'DONNELL, U.S. ARMY, BAGHDAD: Hi, my name is Major Jeff O'Donnell. I'm stationed down here in Minsticki (ph) in Baghdad. I'd like to give a shout out to my wife and kids in Germany for Memorial Day. And I'd also like to wish my wife an early 10th anniversary. I love you and miss you all. Take care.
SPEC. ANDY ARTHUR, U.S. ARMY, BAGHDAD: Specialist Andy Arthur from 118 in Baghdad. I wanted to say happy Memorial Day to my lovely wife Stephanie Arthur and my loving daughter Evelyn Arthur. I hope you guys have a great Memorial Day. I love you, and I hope to see you soon.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: This just into CNN, another swine flu death, apparently in New York City. CNN has confirmed, the New York City Health Department telling us a woman in her 50s is the second confirmed death linked to swine flu in New York City. She says the woman did have underlying health conditions.
You may recall that just about a week ago, an assistant school principal, Mitchell Weiner, also died from the swine flu. There have been a few other scares also with underlying health conditions. And now about 20 schools, actually, more than 20 schools in the New York City area are closed due to the swine flu. So once again, a second death confirmed by CNN related to swine flu in New York City. A woman in her 50s apparently died over the weekend.
Now to other news. New Yorkers are preparing for a car-free Broadway. At least parts of it. Cars will soon be banned on stretches of Broadway at Time Square and Herald Square. It's an attempt to make the city that never sleeps more livable. Pedestrian malls are also opening at the same thoroughfares. The city wants to cut pollution, cut down on pedestrian accidents and, of course, improve traffic.
Two days from now, we should have a pretty good idea whether General Motors will file for bankruptcy. G.M. bondholders face a Tuesday deadline to agree to a restructuring deal. If they can't reach a deal, bankruptcy is the next likely step. Chrysler hit the same road block a month ago with some of its bondholders. G.M. faces a June 1st deadline to restructure its debt. But the company is not expressing much optimism it can even avoid bankruptcy.
If you've driven your car lately, you've probably seen the price of gas rising before your eyes.
CNN's Sean Callebs reports on the connection between the price at the pump and the cost of offshore oil exploration.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): 130 miles off the coast of Louisiana, over the last decade and a half, tremendous advances in technology have allowed oil companies like Marathon to venture nearly two miles into deep gulf water in search of crude. It's not cheap, but drilling chiefly limited to the western part of the Gulf of Mexico is the best alternative according to Marathon Oil.
WOODY PACE, GULF ASSET MANAGER: MARATHON OIL: Over 60 percent of our oil is from foreign sources. And if we stop doing that, we do not look for -- explore for more oil and gas here at home, then we're not going to be able to decrease our dependence on foreign oil.
CALLEBS: The price of gas has spiked this past month. And many fear gas at $3, $4, or even $5 a gallon could be just around the corner.
(on camera): There are a lot of factors the reason gasoline is going up in price. Not in any small part because it is expensive to look for this stuff. Marathon Oil will spend about $1 million a day just in exploration. They've spent $230 million so far and haven't even gotten a drop of oil.
(voice-over): Still, spending that much money at just this field, (INAUDIBLE), Marathon believes eventually will pay off in a big way. But get this, in just three years, the company expects to have drained all of the oil from this one reserve.
PACE: We're always fighting the natural decline of oil and gas. You've got a container that you're producing this oil and gas from. It's sort of anomalous to drinking soda out of a can with a straw. There's only so much there. And once it's gone, it's gone.
CALLEBS: On a different site, a production rig, a half hour away by helicopter. This is what everyone is after. This oil is straight from beneath the ocean floor, unfiltered, untreated. Instead of running high crude through thousands of feet of water far out in the gulf and then through miles and miles of earth, the industry has its eyes on low-hanging fruit, cheaper and easier to access.
CATHY LANDRY, AMERICAN PETROLEUM INSTITUTE: We have untapped oil and natural gas off the Atlantic coast, Pacific coast, and even some places onshore.
CALLEBS: Drilling in untapped areas is a politically sensitive issue. Environmentalists and many politicians have been fighting back and pushing for alternative forms of energy.
The industry says only one in five expensive operations in deep water actually produces oil. But in a nation so dependent on petroleum, these companies can simply pass along their costs to the consumer.
Sean Callebs, CNN, in the Gulf of Mexico.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAYE: Seeing double, a Japanese scientist builds a robot twin. Believe me, this story is sure to freak you out.
And I guess it's true that money can buy just about anything, even unauthorized access to Buckingham Palace. Yes, someone's in trouble.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: Surprise, the British singing sensation Susan Boyle has done it again.
(SINGING)
KAYE: There she is belting it out again. Boyle made a return to the show "Britain's Got Talent" and wowed the audience with her rendition of "Memory" from the musical "Cats." The shy church volunteer refused to compromise her signature frumpy look which has made her an Internet sensation. Boyle been voted the best of eight performers, which means she will return Saturday in the show's finale.
There is a royal-sized scandal at Buckingham Palace over the queen's chauffeur, now suspended after the release of this video. It was reportedly shot by two tabloid journalists, who alleged they bribed the queen's driver for access to the palace and the royal garage. The price? $1,000 pounds, about $1,600 American. The chauffeur, who is yet to be identified, has been suspended pending an investigation.
Well, we all wish we could be in two places at once, right? Well, the reality of that could be closer than you might think. Kyung Lah is seeing double on tonight's "Edge of Discovery," and you will too.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) KYUNG LAH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): You are not seeing double. Well, sort of. This is the Geminoid, an android version of its inventor, Hiroshi Ishiguro, a professor of robotics at Osaka University.
(on camera): Blinks like you.
DR. HIROSHI ISHIGURO, ATR INTELLIGENT ROBOTICS: And the hair is also mine. This is the same as a twins.
LAH (voice-over): But not quite. An operator using multiple cameras and infrared detectors for lip movement runs the Geminoid from another room. Dr. Ishiguro steps behind the curtain and we continue our talk from here.
ISHIGURO: I can have another personality or another presence. I can be control of this robot from anywhere.
LAH: The ability to be in two places at once, say roboting into the office while you work from home. After a few minutes I even forget that the Geminoid is separate from Dr. Ishiguro.
(on camera): Did it feel like I was touching you?
ISHIGURO: You know, I can feel something.
LAH: Professor, are you studying humans or androids?
ISHIGURO: Both. By developing an android, I am studying a human.
LAH (voice-over): Dr. Ishiguro has been developing robots like this for years but they didn't look human. He believes this machine looks so much like a man it can be used to study human behavior.
ISHIGURO: If we replace all human functions with technology then we can understand what is human.
LAH: Trying to understand the human soul by building from the outside, in.
Kyung Lah, CNN, Kyoto, Japan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAYE: That's cool.
She's too young to drive a car, but she can sure drive a golf ball. No surprise here she's being called the next Tiger Woods.
And he is one of the sexiest men in the world and he's an African-American first.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: Notes from the Brick Yard now. Helio Castroneve is this year's winner of the Indianapolis 500.
Larry Smith is going to tell me in a minute if I said the name right. Did I?
LARRY SMITH, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Castroneve. Close.
KAYE: Castroneve, OK. All right, sorry.
Sorry, Helio. It's the Brazilian's third win at the venerable track and it comes two months after he was acquitted of tax evasion charges. Castroneve also took the checkered flag -- see, it just takes two times to get it right -- at the 2001-2002 races. He beat 2005 winner, Dan Weldon by more than five seconds. Danica Patrick placed third, the best ever by a female driver at Indy.
She's only 15 years old and she's already being compared to the world's most famous golfer. Mariah Stackhouse now holds the Georgia Girls, Georgia Women's Amateur and the Georgia high school AAAA state championships.
CNN's Larry Smith joins us live with her amazing story.
I got her name right?
SMITH: You got her name right. A little bit easier, to answer your question.
But Mariah is really special. It's hard to believe it's been 12 years since Tiger Woods made that dramatic victory at the Masters at age 21 to break onto the golf scene. And ever since then, the game of golf has been looking for the next young superstar, and more specifically the next African-American star. Some think Mariah Stackhouse could fit that bill.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SMITH (voice-over): She's been called the next Tiger Woods.
MARIAH STACKHOUSE, HIGH SCHOOL GOLFER: I think of it as a compliment.
SMITH: But this golf prodigy strives to be someone else.
STACKHOUSE: It shows I'm developing pretty well, people think of me in that sense. But I just want to kind of develop my own game and kind of just focus on being Mariah.
SMITH: The 15-year-old high school freshman speaks well beyond her years and has a game to match. All at once, Mariah is the Georgia Girls champion, the Georgia Women's Amateur champion and AAAA high school champ.
With her dad as her primary coach, she's a nationally ranked top- 30 golfer who has no problem staying humble.
KEN STACKHOUSE, MARIAH'S FATHER: She doesn't see herself as anything different than the person that she's playing with. And I tell her all the time really I admire that.
RALPH BOSTON, MARIAH'S MENTOR: Mariah is a special young lady. She has talent. She is one of the nicest, one of the best human beings I've ever known. And if I had a daughter, I would love for her to be just like Mariah.
SMITH: Three-time Olympic medalist and avid golfer, Ralph Boston, spotted Mariah at a local tournament in 2005 and convinced a club owner to give her access to his courses for free.
JOE GUERRA, CANNONGATE GOLF CEO: She sets as great example and yet she draws no attention to herself. She just goes out there and pounds the crap out of everybody. (LAUGHTER). It's ridiculous how good she is.
SMITH: Mariah is a straight-A student who looks forward to college and dreams of a pro career after that while avoiding the pressures of becoming golf's next young superstar.
KEN STACKHOUSE: I tell her all time just do the best you can. And if you perform to the very best of your ability, you've done everything that you can do and you don't have to concern yourself about anything.
GUERRA: I have to doubt in my mind that she'll compete at a preeminent level. But even if she didn't, it wouldn't matter because she's a winner and she's going to he said up going on to do great things.
STACKHOUSE: Golf has given me so much and I'd love to be able to give back to it some day.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SMITH: All right, Stackhouse very special. She is so dedicated. She practices five days a week, three hours at a time. It's an hour- drive round trip. And says she's still a normal teenager, loves to iPod and text and play with her friends and everything else, but she's got a special gift.
SMITH: I notice you didn't take her on.
SMITH: No, Ralph Boston said he's played with her twice and he won't play with her any more. That's all I need to know because Ralph is a good friend of mine. He's a very good golfer. No, thanks. I'll just watch.
KAYE: Don't want to go there.
(LAUGHTER)
All right. Larry Smith, thanks so much.
An actor and an inspiration. Don Lemon goes one-on-one with Tyson Beckford, the first male African-American super model to rule the runway. It's tonight's "Up from a Past." (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KAYE: He's the face of Ralph Lauren, an actor and entrepreneur, and tonight he's part of our continuing series, "Up from a Past, African-American Firsts." Don Lemon spent the day with the first African-American male super model Tyson Beckford. They met at the Stone Rose Restaurant in New York and, as you'll see, Tyson is much more than just a cover boy.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Polo model Tyson Beckford is not just a pretty face. There's also the rest of him, 6'2" and one of "People" magazines sexiest men alive.
Women love him. Men secretly or openly want to be him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, thanks a lot.
TYSON BECKFORD, SUPER MODEL: Nice to meet you.
LEMON: Not a bad thing considering what Tyson has accomplished at just 38 years old. One of the most recognizable faces and bodies on the planet.
(SINGING)
LEMON: He can sell anything from Polo to Sprite. Tyson has done it all about.
BECKFORD: I've been around the world pretty much, from Africa to Asia to even the Middle East.
LEMON: Breaking barriers and making history along the way, Tyson Beckford is the first black male super model ever.
(on camera): You were out at the time when it was Naomi, Kate Moss and Linda Vangeleessa (ph).
BECKFORD: Yeah, Cindy Crawford. I'd be on set with these women and there was no men around. It was myself and Marcus Shankenberg (ph), Mark Vandaloo (ph). You know, there was only a few of us. But they were all the white guys and here I was the one black guy.
LEMON (voice-over): Not bad for a poor kid of American, Jamaican and Asian decent who grew up in Rochester, New York, and never thought he was attractive.
Neither did his young classmates.
BECKFORD: Coming from Jamaica -- my parents came up from Jamaica, I had the Jamaican accent. I had this huge afro. I had these Asian eyes, because my grandmother's Chinese.
LEMON (on camera): So they would make fun of you?
BECKFORD: Yeah, they would make fun of me.
LEMON: What did they call you?
BECKFORD: They would call me China boy...
LEMON: Squinty eyes?
BECKFORD: Squinty eyes. Yeah, just everything.
LEMON (voice-over): But the exotic mixture would eventually pay off when two people from a fashion magazine spotted him in a New York City park.
BECKFORD: I noticed this had guy and this girl kept staring at me. Then they finally came over. And I'm thinking in my head what do these two want. But we got to talking and they explained what they were doing and the next thing you know, I'm in the business of fashion.
LEMON (on camera): That fast?
BECKFORD: Well, pretty much that fast.
LEMON (voice-over): The next day, he modeled for a magazine. And a year later, he became the face of Ralph Lauren's iconic Polo line.
BECKFORD: Never did I think of fashion.
LEMON: But the fashion industry was mesmerized by Tyson's powerful, dark masculine image, and so was the rest of the world. For the first time, black men saw themselves as part of an industry where they had once been almost invisible.
BECKFORD: It seemed like I was by myself, and then the next minute, I had an army of young black men saying, hey, you make that look good, I want to do that, you know. And you didn't have the guy say I want to be in the NFL. Man, I want to be a model. It just started building and building and building. And then it was like, you know, I was creating my own army of young black man with positive image, you know. And it was great.
LEMON: Tyson parlayed fashion into acting on the big screen in "Biker Boys" and "Zoolander," in videos with Britney and 50 Cent. And now on the small screen with his own show on Bravo called "Make Me a Supermodel."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BECKFORD: We cannot make you super models.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: The model, actor, reality host, and even race car driver is aiming everyone higher, modeling himself after those who inspired him as a child, Sidney Poitier, Red Foxx and Richard Roundtree. BECKFORD: That's what I felt, by watching them, that's what I wanted to do. I wanted to come on screen and come alive.
LEMON: From cover boy to leading man, Tyson Beckford, an "African-American First."
Don Lemon, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KAYE: Hello, everyone. I'm Randi Kaye, in for Don Lemon.
Every family has its feuds, but this one is playing out in front of the entire country. Republicans, out of the White House and out of power on Capital Hill have some decisions to make, move...
