Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Gas Prices Rise; Exodus From Swat Valley; The Next Supreme Court Justice; North Korea's Nuclear Claim; Creating Green Jobs; Interactive Memorial Day; 6th Grade How To Kill Cartoon; Memorial Day Sun & Rain; Drill Baby Drill

Aired May 25, 2009 - 12:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: From the Vietnam Memorial to the Tomb of the Unknowns at Arlington, in parades and ceremonies across the country, Americans pause to pay tribute to the fallen men and women in uniform. In remarks leading up to this Memorial Day, President Obama said America's fighting men and women embody what is best in America. Last hour, the president took part in a solemn tradition, the wreath laying ceremony at Arlington National Cemetery.

CNN's Jill Dougherty joining us live from Washington.

And Jill, if you would, tell us how the president spent his first Memorial Day morning as commander in chief.

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tony, you know, every president, every year delivers a Memorial Day address. And many times the themes are really the same, but this president has a particularly difficult burden on this May morning. He has a war in Iraq, he has a war in Afghanistan, there is terrorism in Pakistan. And just this morning before he set off for Arlington, he was talking about a nuclear threat from North Korea.

So the president laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns, and then in his speech, he pledged to keep the country safe.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I am humbled to be the commander in chief of the finest fighting force in the history of the world. I know that there is nothing...

(APPLAUSE)

I know that there is nothing I will not do to keep our country safe, even as I face no harder decision than sending our men and women to war, and no moment more difficult than writing a letter to the families of the fallen.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DOUGHERTY: And Mr. Obama asked Americans at 3:00 today to say a silent prayer or perhaps a silent thanks to the people who have served - Tony.

HARRIS: Hey, Jill, you know, President Obama, as candidate Obama, and later as nominee Obama, opposed the war in Iraq. But, you know, will he end up as a wartime president?

JILL DOUGHERTY, CNN FOREIGN AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: That's a very good question, Tony, because, really, when you think of it, it is notable that this president is dealing with so many conflicts around the world. And this war in Afghanistan is not clear exactly where that will be going. It could be something that he will deal with for a very long time, even as he plans to wind down Iraq.

HARRIS: All right. Jill Dougherty for us.

Jill, appreciate it. Thank you.

I want to change gears just a bit here. You know, we've been talking about the widespread storms that actually could impact your Memorial Day plans. We certainly were talking about all of the difficult weather in Florida most of last week.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: Gas prices have shot up nearly 40 cents in four weeks. Did you hear me? Yes, 40 cents in four weeks. I can hear the moans out there. A lot of you are asking, are we heading to another summer of four-bucks-a-gallon gas?

Christine Romans is part of our money team.

Christine, the economy isn't doing all that well. We all know that. How come we are seeing these prices rise? You alluded to it a bit last hour, didn't you?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, the markets. The markets here, I mean, we don't have prices that are set by the government for what gas prices are and what oil prices are. Oil prices are set by the market. A lot of different things that go into that ultimate price, and the price of oil is now at the highest since November, at least reached that last week.

You don't have demand up, though. You're looking at a little supply disruptions here and there, but really no big deal overall. And still, the price of oil keeps moving up.

It's simply because so many people who are participants in this market are expecting the economy to turn around eventually, or at least they expect that the worst of the economic crisis is behind us. And so oil prices are drifting, bubbling higher, I would say, because the highest in six months here.

Now, last week, Tony, I talked to an awful lot of experts on the gas front, and they all said that, oh, don't worry, we're almost to the peak. No big deal. It's been ugly, it's felt bad, but we've seen most of us.

And look, today's gas prices 12 cents higher than the peak that the government expected for the whole summer. So, up here at $2.42.

It's a bigger surge than a lot of people had expected. And compare that with last month. It has been, over the past 25 years, kind of an unprecedented spring run-up. But compare it with last year, $3.93, gosh, it really felt a lot worse last year.

But this is an economy that's still on the ropes, really. So, watching to see how much more of the gas prices are going to move up. And you know what that does to consumer sentiment and to consumer behavior. But demand is not up for gas...

HARRIS: Thank you.

ROMANS: ... even though you're paying more for it. Demand is not up for gasoline.

HARRIS: All right, Christine. Appreciate it. Thank you.

ROMANS: Sure.

HARRIS: The search for that black gold is costly. We will hear about that later this hour when our Sean Callebs visits a Gulf Coast oil rig.

North Korea is drawing condemnation from all corners of the globe right now. The government there claims it detonated an underground nuclear test today, more powerful, it says, than its first test in 2006.

President Obama says North Korea is recklessly challenging the international community. Joint Chiefs Chairman Mike Mullen told CNN North Korea will be a grave threat to the U.S. if it continues to develop nuclear weapons.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: From a military standpoint, what is your reaction that North Korea did indeed test-fire a nuclear bomb?

ADM. MIKE MULLEN, CHAIRMAN, JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF: Well, we weren't surprised because of recent statements by North Korean leadership that they intended to do this. As you know, they also recently launched -- unsuccessfully launched a potentially intercontinental ballistic missile.

So they grow increasingly belligerent. I believe they increasingly isolate themselves from the international community. And while it will take us a couple days to verify this test, certainly there's no indication that it wasn't as they say.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: CNN's Chief International Correspondent Christiane Amanpour will be along later this hour. She visited North Korea's primary nuclear facility early last summer, and she will share her insights.

Pakistan says it has intensified its military offensive against Taliban fighters in Mingora, the largest city in Swat Valley. Street- by-street fighting has triggered an exodus doubling or even tripling the number of those in refugee camps.

CNN's Dan Rivers tells us about the harsh realities facing those on the move.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is an exodus of people on an almost biblical scale, a mosaic of plastic and canvas that's now home to more than 93,000 people, and more are arriving each day.

This is Jalozai camp near Peshawar. Suddenly, almost a city in its own right.

Food is available. Fruit traders plying the avenues of tents. But these people can't afford to buy much. They make bread with flour handed out by the U.N. but say it's not enough.

"We get flour from the UNHCR," this man says, but it's very difficult. There's lots of jostling. When we get it, it's very poor quality. Even the cows won't eat it," he says.

Sarbadi Hahn (ph) arrived here 15 days ago with his three children and wife. He says the fighting forced them to leave, and they walked almost 100 kilometers, about 60 miles, to escape but had to leave his father behind.

There are eight field hospitals in this camp. Just in the morning while we were filming, 380 new patients registered for treatment. Most of them women and children suffering from diarrhea, heat stroke and some have signs of mental trauma.

PROFESSOR ABID FAROOQI, PAKISTAN INSTITUTE OF MEDICAL SCIENCES: They are complaining of fear, phobias, palpitations and all symptoms seem to have started since they arrived in this camp. So yes, there is a lot of stress around.

RIVERS: Pakistan's interior minister underlined the seriousness of the situation in which such a huge number of fleeing the Pakistan army's offensive against the Taliban, less than a day's drive from the capital.

REHAMN MALIK, PAKISTANI INTERIOR MINISTER: I feel that this is even worse than the earthquake in Kashmir. And you know the weather is very bad. The people who have come down, they are from a cold area. So the facilities to counter this harsh weather, they are not much, but we are making all possible arrangements to counter it.

RIVERS: The water tankers provide a lifeline here in this stifling heat.

(on camera): You get a real sense of the sheer scale of these camps here on the grounds, and also a sense of the sheer scale of this exodus. It's estimated this is the biggest movement of people since the formation of Pakistan in 1947. It's now thought that perhaps up to 1.8 million people have been forced to leave their homes. (voice-over): And on the edge of Jalozai camp, they are clearing ground for more tents. There is no sign of this massive influx of people ending anytime soon.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

RIVERS: We're getting some very vivid accounts of people who fled the fighting in just the last 24 hours. Let me just read you what one man told us. He said, "All of Swat is like a battlefield. It seems as if death is lurking everywhere."

He says, "The army has been bombing civilian areas from jets and helicopters, there's continuous round-the-clock shelling." He says, "The Taliban are using locals as human shields. They can infiltrate the civilian population and shoot from their midst." And he says, "In retaliation, the army fires back without differentiating between militants and noncombatants."

So you get an idea of the sheer hell that people are going through there, and that's why they're fleeing in such large numbers.

HARRIS: CNN's Dan Rivers for us in Islamabad, Pakistan.

Dan, thank you.

And read more about the Pakistan refugee camps -- can you believe the size of those camps?-- online at CNN.com/impactyourworld. Plus, you can find out ways to help.

Choosing the next Supreme Court justice, a big test for President Obama. He talks about the pressure of his first choice.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: The apparent North Korea nuclear test got President Obama's week off to a busier than expected start. Here's what's scheduled for the rest of his week.

On Tuesday, the president heads to Las Vegas. There, he will attend a fund-raiser for Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid. That's followed by another fund-raiser in Los Angeles Wednesday.

Thursday, the president will be back in the White House for talks with Palestinian President Abbas.

Somewhere in all that the president could reveal his nominee to replace Justice David Souter on the Supreme Court. We're hearing a decision could come as early as tomorrow, Tuesday.

Our Elaine Quijano has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (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.

BARACK H. OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think it's safe to say that 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.

Elaine Quijano, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Big changes could be ahead at the State Department. Several sources confirm to CNN that a draft version e-mail from Secretary of State Clinton says the partners of gay diplomats should get the same benefits as spouses of heterosexual employees. A senior administration official not authorized to speak publicly says the proposed policy change is far from being a done deal. California is bracing for a major court decision. The state Supreme Court is scheduled to speak tomorrow on whether a voter- approved ban on same-sex marriage is legal. It is the same court that legalized same-sex marriages in California last year by a 4-3 vote.

After that ruling, an estimated 18,000 gay couples got married. In November, California voters passed Proposition 8, a constitutional amendment that overturned the ruling. Gay rights advocates say the results of that vote should be thrown out on procedural grounds. They say Prop 8 needed legislative approval before it went to voters.

A lot happening on this Memorial Day. And a lot of tributes, including three young men who recently made a special trip to say one final good-bye to a fallen comrade.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: At veterans cemeteries all across the nation, it is a sea of red, white and blue. Flags honoring America's war dead are flying today. In Rock Island, Illinois, volunteers stepped up to place some 26,000 flags in neat rows upon graves representing history, service and sacrifice.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a great message, remembering them. And, you know, a lot of them don't realize the sacrifice that they did make. And people appreciate it.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They (ph) gave everything for us. This is what little we think we can do for you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Private 1st Class Brandon Titus was killed in action in 2004 while serving in Iraq. His buddies weren't able to attend the funeral in Idaho, but they recently came together to honor their fallen friend.

Here's Paul Fredericks of CNN affiliate KBCI in Boise.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL FREDERICKS, REPORTER, KBCI (voice-over): The group of guys came here not knowing what to expect. But it was easy to see they felt at ease. They came from three corners of the country.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody around there is going, "Wait, wait. He's going to eat it. He's going to eat it."

FREDERICKS: Will Byrne (ph) is the New York native. Jon Hoffman flew in from San Diego. And the big guy, Matt Bradford (ph), he came from Texas.

TOM TITUS, FATHER: I'm just jacked that they were able to make it out. FREDERICKS: And this is Tom Titus. The guys came to see his son Brandon. They all served together in Iraq.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I like to mess around with people. He would always egg me on, like, "He's not doing anything. Go get him. Go get him." And he'd pull out a video camera.

FREDERICKS: And you may remember Brandon. We were with him one Christmas when he was home on leave.

BRANDON TITUS, DIED IN IRAQ: I'm very fortunate to have the relationship I have with my father. Some people don't have that.

T. TITUS: I tried to be the best dad I can.

FREDERICKS: The guys brought this home video for Brandon's dad as a gift.

T. TITUS: Hey, who was in charge of the camera?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Brandon.

FREDERICKS: Tom Titus says he's been anxiously waiting for this day, too.

T. TITUS: Because I want to know who Brandon served with. You know, I want to know who he had fun with. I want to know who he got drunk with.

FREDERICKS: But the guys didn't travel all this way to watch videos and tell stories.

JON HOFFMAN, SERVED WITH FALLEN SOLDIER: Well, it's something I had to do personally. I had to come and I had to come and see him. You know?

FREDERICKS: They came here to see Brandon. They came here because of the one day they'll never be able to forget.

HOFFMAN: It was an explosion, yes. There was dust everywhere. You don't even know what's going on. I don't know about you guys, but I'll never forget the smell. And then they called out, you know, "Man down!"

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a weird thing about war, especially the Iraq War, is every time somebody died, it's like they got taken away and they were gone.

FREDERICKS: This is their first time visiting Brandon. He was just 20 years old when he was killed by a roadside bomb in 2004.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wish we could have been here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, that would have been pretty cool.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wish we could have gone to a lot of those funerals.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, he's one of those good guys. You don't meet a lot of them, but he was one.

FREDERICKS: For a father, seeing how much his boy meant to others, well, it may not bring closure, but it helps.

T. TITUS: Because it helps me. It helps me realize that maybe, and just maybe in some little way, I played an important part in raising him. And maybe in some little way, I see myself in him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think of these guys (ph) every day.

FREDERICKS: For the guys who drank together, played together and fought in war together...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, any time you have to say good-bye to someone, it's never going to be easy, you know? Especially when it's the final good-bye. You know?

FREDERICKS: But saying good-bye is something they say they had to do.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: A footnote to this story -- Brandon's father Tom Titus is a Vietnam War veteran. Brandon was his only son.

On this Memorial Day, we take you to an area of Arlington National Cemetery called the saddest acre in America.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Live pictures now from Arlington National Cemetery this Memorial Day. Nowhere is the sacrifice of American servicemen and women more evident.

Last hour, President Obama laid a wreath at the Tomb of the Unknowns. And our Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr, visited the part of the cemetery known as the saddest acre in America: Section 60.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Captain Marissa Alexander brings Avery (ph) and his twin sister Aaliyah (ph) here to visit the father they never knew. Staff Sergeant Leroy Alexander was killed before they were born.

This is Section 60 of Arlington National Cemetery. It's been called the "saddest acre in America." More than 500 troops killed in Iraq and Afghanistan are here.

CAPT. MARISSA ALEXANDER, WIFE OF FALLEN SOLDIER: They need to know what their father was about, have that connection with him.

STARR: Marissa is trying to make Section 60 part of her children's lives.

ALEXANDER: Myself and the children came here, and we released balloons to him. And we explained the story of how he passed.

STARR: Families, buddies, friends come here. They mark their visits, leaving stones, notes, pictures. Some items, reminders of memories we do not know.

ANGIE CAPRA, WIFE OF FALLEN SOLDIER: You put the blue rock there?

STARR: Angie Capra, widowed with five children, is visiting husband Tech Sergeant Tony Capra's grave.

CAPRA: I got the news that day. I had talked to him about 12:30 my time, and by 3:30 my time, they were knocking on the door.

STARR: Today, a drawing and Yoda has been left. Tony was a "Star Wars" fan. With her youngest, Adriana (ph), Angie is now part of the Section 60 family.

CAPRA: Other widows will come by and put something on for me. If they don't see me out there, they'll put something. It's kind of a community.

STARR: Lieutenant General Benjamin Freakley just attended a funeral for a fallen soldier. He has other men buried here.

LT. GEN. BENJAMIN FREAKLEY, U.S. ARMY: They're still standing shoulder-to-shoulder with their brothers and sisters at ranks.

STARR: A place of grieving, but a place for young children to learn of parents they never knew.

ALEXANDER: Knowing that this place gives them a happy remembrance of their father, rather than something that's so tragic and so sad that they feel very comfortable to come here and be able to have that time with him and his memories.

STARR: Barbara Starr, CNN, Section 60, Arlington National Cemetery.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Want to show you a new interactive map from Google. It honors those who have died in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The dots represent fallen troops in their hometowns. Click on one of them, and a box pops up with a picture and information on how they died. The number you see in the corner, that is the number of U.S. and coalition forces who have died in those wars as of March. And you can get this map at mapthefallen.org.

Join Lou Dobbs tonight as he salutes our heroes. All the men and women serving this country in uniform. That's "LOU DOBBS TONIGHT" at 7:00 Eastern. President Obama is using strong language to call out North Korea. The regime claims it carried out its second underground nuclear test today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: North Korea's nuclear and ballistic missile programs pose a grave threat to the peace and security of the world, and I strongly condemn their reckless action. North Korea's actions endanger the people of northeast Asia, they are a blatant violation of international law, and they contradict North Korea's own prior commitments.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: The apparent nuclear test took place on the northern end of the Korean peninsula. U.S. scientists recorded a seismic jolt equivalent to a small earthquake in the region. It was just seven weeks ago, you'll recall, North Korea defied the world and launched a long range missile. Many in the west see this missile as a step toward a military weapon that could one day hit the western United States.

Our chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour took us to North Korea's primary nuclear facility last summer. Her visit just after the North destroyed the plant's cooling towers. Christiane is in New York today. And Christiane is on the phone with us.

Christiane, good to talk to you, as always.

Were you surprised to hear the news of this test?

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, indeed North Korea, Pyongyang, has been threatening to do this for the last several weeks following their test of that missile, as you say, about seven weeks ago and after which there was condemnation from the U.N. Security Council. North Korea started to say that it would do exactly what it has just done.

We were in Pyongyang, or rather at Yongbyon, the nuclear power plant or the nuclear plant last year in June when, in fact, they did blow up their cooling tower. And this was at a time when North Korea was in negotiations with the State Department about disabling and dismantling Yongbyon. We also had seen how the nuclear plant had been mostly disabled or rather shut down and was in the process of being dismantled.

Obviously things have ratcheted up in the interim in this last year. What the Russians are saying, their defense ministry, is that this test overnight was potentially 10 to 20 times more powerful than the previous nuclear device they tested back in 2006, which by general assumption among analysts and experts was mostly a failure. So this does put North Korea a step ahead of, obviously, where it was. And other security analysts are saying, tough, that they still do not have the ballistic capability to deliver this device or any such device. They don't have the ability yet to create a warhead and put it on a missile that's capable of delivering it long range.

So while this is a troubling development, according to analysts, what's needed is to find a way of diplomatically and politically trying to solve this because people have pretty much ruled out any military confrontation with North Korea.

HARRIS: Sure. Well, Christiane, help me here in trying to understand the motives of North Korea. If you're North Korea, maybe you test because you don't have a full nuclear capability yet and you want one. Maybe you test because you want to send a message to the world, don't ignore us, take us seriously. Maybe you test because you want to show your people internally that you are a strong and capable nation. Again, you just mentioned it, you reported from the country. Can you give us any kind of an idea as to the point of this test?

AMANPOUR: Well, of course, it's always very difficult to put yourself in the head of such a regime or any regime, frankly. But what analysts are saying, who I've spoken to today, that it could be a number of things. One, to try to say to the Obama administration, we're here, we want a different way of going forward, we want to talk directly to you about the future, about our capabilities and about how we're going to proceed in the future. The other potentially is that it could be part of the succession struggle that analysts say is underway in Pyongyang following the last year sort of stroke, they say, that Kim Jong-Il, the leader of North Korea had. So it could be part of that.

Certainly to when we were there, the only thing I can tell you for sure is having met the chief nuclear negotiator from North Korea last year tell us that they were committed to disabling, dismantling, basically nuclear disarmament as the Bush administration had wanted and all administrations want. They say they were committed to doing it, but that it would be in tandem with the U.S. That it had to be a win/win situation.

And then, of course, the U.S. did, after it blew up its cooling tower in June, the U.S. took North Korea off its list of states who sponsor terrorism, removed some of the unilateral U.S. sanctions, and then demanded a top regime of inspection to make sure that North Korea would come up with accounting for all its nuclear capabilities, whether it's the plutonium they've already develop and processed into weapons grade material, or whether it's any other kind of nuclear capability they had.

And North Korea faulted that. And that's when things started to go downhill. And it's simply been ratcheted up ever since.

HARRIS: All right. Our chief international correspondent Christiane Amanpour on the phone with us from New York.

Christiane, as always, appreciate it. Thank you.

Coming up in the NEWSROOM, a cartoon that teaches an eerie lesson, how to kill a classmate in six different ways. You have to hear the story behind this. It's unbelievable. It's, frankly, pretty scary stuff. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Jobs and energy. Two of the hottest topics and our agenda. Well, the organizers of a global business summit on climate change say millions of new jobs would be created in the United States be relying on renewable and low carbon sources of electricity. Let's sort this out a bit. Stephanie Elam is with us on Memorial Day with our "Energy Fix" from New York.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Tony.

HARRIS: Good to see you, Miss Stephanie.

ELAM: Good to be here. Good to be here.

Let me tell you a little bit about this study. It's by the Copenhagen Climate Council and it says that if electricity use actually grows by 0.5 percent each year and if the U.S. generates a quarter (ph) of its electricity from wind energy and other plain (ph) sources, the U.S. would gain 2 million new jobs.

Now specific emphasis on wind energy and the success wind has had in creating new jobs in Europe is part of the issue here. The U.S. Department of Energy has set a target of 20 percent wind energy by 2030.

Now, this do that, the DOE estimates that a need for 260,000 jobs a year would be here. Many of those jobs would be created where they are need most. As you can see, you got the green states there, Texas, California, Michigan, Ohio. They could all see over 30,000 jobs created a year, Tony. That would be huge.

HARRIS: Wow, that would be. So we're talking about a lot of potential jobs here. What is it about renewable energy that makes it such a potential gold mine for employment?

ELAM: Yes, well the idea here is that more jobs would be need because most green technologies involve building new infrastructure. And then, you know, you hear about the term wind farm but obviously wind turbines, they don't sprout out of the ground. They take some time to be built up. I was in a wind turbine in Rhode Island not too long ago. It takes a lot of work, a lot of technicians there. So the study says more jobs per unit of energy delivered are created from growth in renewable technologies than in fossil fuels.

Now critics of this study and other green job studies say you're not really creating jobs, you're just shifting these positions that already exists. You're just moving it around. For example, Texas is a leader in fossil fuels. In that industry, those jobs lead. So, obviously, you'll just be shifting over here to wind energy. Critics also say the new technologies are expensive and could cause job losses in other parts of the economy. But the United States is already losing hundreds of thousands of jobs in the areas where these green jobs would be created.

So in April, nearly half of all jobs lost were in manufacturing and construction. So as you can see, we really need to find a way to get more jobs in this country and this is one way that some people say you could do it.

Tony.

HARRIS: Well, if it works out, great.

All right, Stephanie, appreciate it. Thank you.

ELAM: Sure.

HARRIS: Yes, that's that young guy that the teens, the young people seem to like so much. The Grammy winning rapper, T.I. Well, here's a story. He reports to -- isn't that Timberlake? He reports to federal prison tomorrow in Arkansas. Now, you'll recall in March he admitted to trying to buy machine guns and silencers, which he said he needed for protection. His sentence, a year and a day. Last night he gave home town fans a thank you and a good-bye concert here in Atlanta.

I don't know what he's saying there. I guess I don't know about that. That's that young rapper T.I.

Miami Dolphins defensive end Randy Starks under arrest. Police say Starks used a truck he was driving to hit a police officer who was trying to stop the vehicle. It happened early Sunday morning in South Beach. Police also say the truck was packed with 13 people. It's only meant to hold four. Starks is charged with aggravated battery.

Help for those who serve. We've got your comments and a list of websites for veterans and family members of troops who've made the ultimate sacrifice.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SPC. ANDY ARTHUR (ph), U.S. MILITARY: The is Specialist Andy Arthur from 118 in Baghdad. I just want to say happy Memorial Day to my lovely wife, Stephanie Arthur (ph), and my loving daughter, Evelyn Arthur (ph). I hope you guys have a great Memorial Day. I love you and I hope to see you soon.

HARRIS: A Memorial Day Parade in Middleboro, Massachusetts, canceled this morning because of this fire along the parade route. Take a look at the flames here. Officials say they're worried the steeple of the 100-year-old church could actually collapse. The fire started in the back of a church near the kitchen. Still no word on the exact cause.

Since the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq began, the Army reports more than 4,300 troops have died in Iraq. More than 3,400 troops died in hostile situations. Eight hundred fifty-nine were killed in non- hostile conditions. The Army also reports 601 service members have died so far in Afghanistan.

On this Memorial Day, you may be wondering how you can help the families of the fallen. In this guide to an interactive Memorial Day, Josh Levs looks at ways you can impact their lives.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, on this Memorial Day, Impact Your World is here to help hook you up to organizations that will allow you to help families of fallen heroes and also veterans in the United States.

Let's zoom in. I want to show you some of what's here. It's at cnn.com/impact. And when you look at the main page there, you'll see numerous organizations that you can visit. This is one, for example. Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America. Over here, Veterans of Foreign Wars. Over here, Fisher House. Any one of these or several others can allow you to help in any way you want.

Now we're also hearing from a lot of you on this Memorial Day weekend and one way that you're getting in touch with us is through iReport. We actually got this iReport from a veteran.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONNELL NICHOLS, CNN IREPORTER: I loved coming home. I love sleeping (ph). But I would love more to come home to a veterans office that helped me get a job or helped me readjust, helped me deal with the stress, the things that I had to see, the friends that I lost, Michael King (ph), Scott Halverson (ph), to name some. Those are the things that are most important.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: We also heard from Jean Lindsey who looked back at the era just after the Vietnam War.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEAN LINDSAY, : The Memorial Day Parade, I've gone to it every year since I was a kid. It took 10 years before the crowd along the street clapped just loudly for these men and welcomed them home. I want to say thank you to the Vietnam vets for all they lived through over there, but what they lived through when they came home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: And we're also hearing from you at the CNN NEWSROOM blog. Take a look. We'll zoom back in. Cnn.com/newsroom. A lot of people talking about that. For example, James saying "it looks as though it will take much more than rhetoric to cure the VA."

Let's show you a graphic quickly. You can get in touch with us here at the blog. You can also reach us through my Facebook page, Joshlevscnn or there at Twitter.com/joshlevscnn and let us know your thoughts about veterans and about fallen heroes on this Memorial Day.

Josh Levs, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE) HARRIS: Another story we want to give you a quick update on. A second person in New York has died after getting sick with swine flu. Officials say the victim was in her 50s and had an underlying medical condition. This is the 11th flu related death in the nation. The World Health Organization says it is just a small fraction of the number of total cases. According to the latest estimate, more than 12,000 people around the world have come down with the H1N1 virus, half of them in the United States.

Now to a story that takes bullying to a whole new level. A group of grade school girls have created a cartoon of themselves killing a classmate in a half dozen ways. Elisa Hahn of our Seattle affiliate, KING, has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ELISA HAHN, KING-TV 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 by it. 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. I mean, it really, really hurt my feelings. I mean if somebody could hate me that much to make a video about me like that, it makes me feel like really bad.

HAHN: Piper's mother contacted the parents of the girls who made the video. Some were shocked. Other were dismissive.

B. SMITH: One guy blew it off and said he was making dinner. Yes, he was 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)

HARRIS: Piper Smith and her mother, Beth, will have more to say tomorrow on CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING." That comes your way beginning at 6:00 a.m. Eastern, 3:00 Pacific.

Notice anything strange happening at the gas pump? Like the prices keep going up? Makes you wonder how that search for domestic oil is going. We're taking you exploring out in the gulf of Mexico.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Let me bring in Chad Myers on this.

Chad, you know, I always forget when this happens every year, but I'm always happy when I see it. Can you see it, Chad.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: There goes the cheese.

HARRIS: And there go the bodies. Oh, their goes an ACL. Oh, my goodness. There goes an Achilles. Snap, pop, gone. You know, the cheese always makes it down the hill first, doesn't it?

MYERS: Yes. The cheese always wins. You know what you win? It's not like you're going down there to win money. You're going down there to get the piece of cheese. That's what you get.

HARRIS: Oh, give me one more.

MYERS: Well, it's eight pounds.

HARRIS: Is it? Is that what it is?

MYERS: I guess.

HARRIS: All right. That was good fun.

MYERS: It started in 1826. And they're still doing it.

HARRIS: This will be on every local and national newscast today, right?

MYERS: It's crazy.

HARRIS: We love it.

MYERS: They say, the words are, some people win, some people lose and some people are injured. That's what they show you on the website (ph). I guess that's what you get.

HARRIS: Oh, that's good stuff.

MYERS: Always good to watch that, Tony.

We're watching the radar here across parts of Florida. Don't need any more rainfall here. I don't think we're probably going to get it. There will be a couple of showers in just the typical summer fashion. Most of the rain will be in the Midwest. It's going to be fairly wet across all the way from the quad cities back towards Cincinnati. That's the bulk of the area. That's not going to move away. We are seeing a few scattered showers in New Orleans right now, but they should be gone, I'd say, in a couple of hour.

Here's the airport situation. Fifty-six hundred airplanes in the skies. So if you're at work, you're not the only one. And Atlanta is delayed because, well, you should be able to see the top of that building, Tony. That's the Bank of America building. You can't see it, so the planes are a little bit more spaced out today. A 30-minute delay.

HARRIS: All right, Chad, that's good fun.

All right. Thanks, Chad.

MYERS: Sure.

HARRIS: Four or more dollars per gallon or at least the fear of it could put offshore drilling back in the spotlight. Cheaper gas comes with a price, you know. Just looking for crude oil is costing one oil company about $1 million a day. CNN's Sean Callebs reports from the Gulf of Mexico.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): One hundred and thirty 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 cheaply limited to the western part of the Gulf of Mexico is the best alternative according to Marathon Oil.

WOODY PACE, MARATHON OIL GULF ASSET MANAGER: Over 60 percent of our oil is from foreign sources. And if we stop doing that, we do not look for, explore more for 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 even $5 could be just around the corner.

CALLEBS (on camera): There are a lot of factors and reasons (ph) 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 got a drop of oil.

CALLEBS (voice-over): Still, spending that much money at just this field, Idop Dropski (ph), Marathon believes eventually will pay off in a big way. But get this, in just three years, the company expects to have drained all 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 is sort 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 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, the Pacific Coast, and even some places on shore.

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 cost to the consumer.

Sean Callebs, CNN, in the Gulf of Mexico.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Memorial Day 2009. We are pushing forward now with the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM with Alina Cho.