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California State of Emergency, President Obama Town Hall Meetings, Taliban Suicide Bomber Voter Intimidation; America's National Treasures in Need of Repair
Aired August 15, 2009 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MELISSA LONG, CNN GUEST ANCHOR: I'm in today for Fredricka Whitfield, nice to see you. We begin with dangerous wildfires and thick black smoke threatening parts of the state of California. Thousands have been forced from their homes by the wildfires in the northern part of the state and they may be dealing with even more trouble. Officials are concerned that strong winds may start new fires and force even more evacuations.
The governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger is preparing to visit the zone this afternoon. A state of emergency went into effect Friday for Santa Cruz County where the communities of Bonny Doon and Swanton is being threatened.
A thousand homes and buildings are in danger. So far, no injuries have been reported. The cause of the fire, that is still being investigated today. Find out a little bit more about the weather conditions, whether or not they're going to help the firefighters, for that, let me bring in meteorologist Reynolds Wolf.
Hi Reynolds.
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hey, looks like out there they're not going to have too many issues in terms of, well, with the fires today, they're certainly going to have some issue with those. They're going to have the strong winds that are rally going to build up into the afternoon. So they certainly have their work cut out for them.
In terms of getting any assistance in terms of showers, that's certainly not going to be in the mix. You get very warm conditions on much of the West coast, at the same time period, dry conditions this time of the year. So the Chaparral, a lot of the tall grasses, your California Oaks, those are going to burn rather quickly and with the wind really picking up into the afternoon hours, you'd see those fires spread quite a bit. Back to you.
LONG: Don't forget, I want to find out a little more about the system that's been developing out in the Atlantic -- Ana.
WOLF: Absolutely. We're going to touch on that very briefly right now, but we're going to come back and give you a much more detailed forecast, going to give you a better idea of where these storms are headed. We're watching two of these, first foremost is Ana. You see that right here on the screen. What we do anticipate with this storm is actually gaining strength, going to become a tropical system, a tropical storm and it's going to continue to make its way back towards the windward, leeward islands and then just move just north of Puerto Rico. We're going to give you a better detailed look at that again, coming up later in the hour.
The second system is a disturbance you see farther back out towards the east. This one is actually forecast in the National Hurricane Center to become something a stronger. What we're talking about is the potential of seeing this become maybe even a Category 1 or two hurricanes as we get to the latter half of this week. But at that point, the forecast bring it just near the Leeward Islands. Again, we're going to have this forecast paths for you coming up very soon. So just sit tight. Let's send it back to you.
LONG: All right, Reynolds, talk to you soon, thank you.
In what could be a make or break month for health care reform, the president is hitting the road with one town hall after another town hall meeting, today. The president is in Grand Junction, Colorado. His meetings just like the one in Montana, have been a lot tamer than some of what we've seen. Also in his weekly address, the president urging Americans to turn down the temperature and listen more.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA (D), UNITED STATES PRESIDENT: I know there's plenty of real concern and skepticism out there. I know that in a time of economic upheaval, the idea of change can be unsettling, and I know that there are some folks who believe that government should have no role at all in solving our problems. These are legitimate differences, worthy of the real discussion that America deserves.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LONG: Now, the first family is traveling along on this road trip, seeing the sights like Yellowstone National Park. But, why is the president focusing on these traditional red states? Our senior White House correspondent, Ed Henry, takes us the health care fight.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED HENRY, CNN SR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sure, Montana is a nice place to visit this time of year, but the president had more on his mind than just fly fishing. He also came for urgent business, buttering up the state's senior senator and chairman of the Finance Committee Max Baucus who could hold the fate of health reform in his hands.
OBAMA: First of all the man who is working tirelessly to make sure that the American people get a fair deal when it comes to health care in America, please give Max Baucus a big round of applause.
HENRY: In private, top presidential advisors acknowledge the fight has reached a critical stage, because the opposition has gained some steam, capitalizing on anger over federal bailouts and debt at many Congressional town hall meetings.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where does that state that government has these powers to take over health care?
HENRY: By comparison, the President's town hall here was pretty tame. Though, he did get one pointed question that reflected the strong opposition he's facing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We keep getting the bull. That's all we get is bull. You can't tell us how you're going to pay for this. The only way you're going to get that money is to raise our taxes. You said you wouldn't.
OBAMA: Look, you are absolutely right that I can't cover another 46 million people for free.
HENRY: But the president did not shrink from the challenge and vowed again he will not raise taxes on the middle class to pay for the difference.
OBAMA: When I was campaigning I made a promise that I would not raise your taxes if you made $250,000 a year or less. That's what I said, but I said that for people like myself who make more than that, there's nothing wrong with me paying a little bit more in order to help people who got a little bit less.
HENRY: But, many agree that's easier said than done. And so that leaves it to Baucus to figure out the pesky details of how to pay for reform.
White House aides privately acknowledge his panel is the last best hope of getting a bipartisan deal. The weeks of negotiations in Washington have thus far come up empty.
(on camera): And White House aides acknowledge that when Congress returns to work in September the window on reaching a deal will be closing fast if they hope to meet the president's deadline of the end of the year.
Ed Henry, CNN, Big Sky, Montana
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LONG: Today, we heard from Senator Orrin Hatch giving the weekly Republican address saying that bigger government is not the answer to health care reform. He also defends the people who have been speaking out at town halls.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN ORRIN HATCH (R), UTAH: I am disappointed about the attempts to characterize the behavior of Americans expressing their concerns as, "un-American." Although I strongly encourage the use of respectful debate in these town halls, we should not be stifling these discussions. There is nothing un-American about disagreements. In fact, our great nation was founded on speaking our minds. Families are voicing their concerns because they feel like they are not being heard in Washington.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LONG: Now, recently we've all seen the town hall meetings on this topic get quite rowdy. Several more are happening today. Democratic Congressman Pete Stark is holding three in California, in Alameda, in Fremont and San Leandro. Also in Grand Junction, Colorado. We mentioned this, President Obama is holding his own town hall forum. And we also have Democratic Congressman Danny Davis scheduled too, today in Chicago.
Also Democratic Congressman David Scott is going to be holding a health fair in Jonesboro, Georgia. Opponents of the current reform proposals will hold a rally in Atlanta with former Republican congressman Dick Armey.
And we want you to send your questions for our 4:00 p.m. Eastern hour. It's going to be dedicated to getting you solid answers about health care reform. You can send us your comments to Fredricka Whitfield's Facebook fan page or you can also go to CNN.com/Fredricka and reach us that way, as well.
Now, looking for more of what you've seen here on CNN television? Well, go online once again to CNN.com/healthcare, you can find out all about these town hall meetings and the ones that are happening closest to you. We'll introduce you to the key players in the debate, the different plans and, of course, the controversial sticking points to each plan.
Some may call it voter intimidation of the most deadly kind. Five days before Afghanistan's presidential election, a suicide bomber self-detonates in front of NATO headquarters in Kabul. Seven were killed in the blast, nearly 100 more injured and now the Taliban is taking responsibility. CNN's Atia Abawi is live for us in Kabul.
And Atia, tell us about where this happened because this area is supposed to be secure.
ATIA ABAWI, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: It is supposed to be a secure area, the capital of Kabul is supposed to be a secure area in all of Afghanistan. It actually occurred right outside of ISAF headquarters, that's the International Security Assistance Force. These are coalition troops, including U.S. troops, it also occurred in the vicinity of the U.S. embassy.
And we have heard of several ISAF service members that injured because of the explosion, but seven Afghans were killed and over 90 injured. And it is voter intimidation by the Taliban.
The Taliban proving their point that they can disrupt these elections that are just five days away. We spoke to a young girl at the hospital who was injured because of this blast. She's only 21 years old, this was going to be the first time that she was going to go out and vote, she had her voter registration card, and then she told me that this blast made the decision for her and she will not head to the polls -- Melissa.
LONG: I'm sure you're meeting a lot of people frightened about exercising their right to vote. What precautions are being taken so that people do feel safe going to vote in just less than a week?
ABAWI: Melissa, you and I have been talking about this all summer. Thousands of U.S. Marines flooding into Afghanistan, thousands of coalition troops hoping to secure village, towns and districts that have been under strict Taliban control. And they have secured many of those districts, many of those towns, many of those villages to bring in polling stations. But Afghanistan is a very insecure place. There's no way of securing the entire country. And today's attack proved that the heart of Afghanistan, the capital city that has been under tight security can also be infiltrated by anyone who has the means and the desire and the ideology to actually do so -- Melissa.
LONG: Live from Afghanistan, Atia Abawi. Atia, thank you.
Now, to really understand what's going on in Afghanistan and why we're there, we want to you watch Christiane Amanpour's documentary this evening starting at 8:00 p.m. Eastern, the title of it, "Generation Islam." You can also find more about her special online at CNN.com.
A lost people have been sharing their concerns about health care reform in the president's town halls. We're going to be taking you to the heartland to see what residents are saying there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LONG: It is a make or break month, as lawmakers are in recess. The debate over health care reform taking center stage in Grand Junction, Colorado, today. President Obama is holding his third town hall meeting. Ali Velshi is there listening to what the residents have to say.
Ali, you there? You connecting with me?
ALI VELSHI, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: I am right here.
LONG: There's so much excitement, there. It's a state fair, he's in Des Moines, that I thought you were going to blow me off.
VELSHI: I have to tell you, it's hard to sort of concentrate and think of this as a working day. I don't know if you've ever been to the Iowa State Fair, but it really is the granddaddy of all state fairs. It's just incredible. There's all sorts of -- health care being the focus is a little distracting today given that there's more fried food here than I've ever encountered in my entire life.
But, we are trying to give it a little bit of a money focus, which is why my producer Ian and I went out to the games and got this little bear. LONG: Did you win that for me?
VELSHI: That has $20 bills.
LONG: Did you win that for me?
VELSHI: You know, we did -- I had you in mind when I was playing to win it, but I have to say I didn't win anything. Ian actually ended up getting this, so I've got to give it back to him, right now. He's making it clear that it's not mine to give away.
LONG: That's quite a shirt. That's quite a little money shirt, there.
VELSHI: it is very nice. I'm going to have to wear it after all the fried food I'm eating.
That said, there is a lot of concerns, health care has been the topic all week. And while people are here having a good time today at the fair, we are able to talk to people and get some sense of what they're thinking about these health care proposals and these town halls.
Through the course of the week, we've been on the CNN Express. We started on Monday in Atlanta, drove through Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, southern Illinois, Missouri, Kansas and now into Iowa. And we've stopped at each town and talked to people. I'm just going to give you a very small flavor of the fact that there are disagreements in this country about where health care reform should go. Listen to this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HEATHER RYAN, UNEMPLOYED MOTHER: If I get sick today, were do you think I'm going? I'm going to the emergency room. Who's that costing? That's costing us, the taxpayers. So, if it's going to cost my bottom line, if they have to tax me more in order to get health care, tax me. Tax me, tax me, tax me. I am willing to pay.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're talking about what you get when you are sick. I just think that to rush through this it's the wrong thing. I know that there's something that has to be done.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Now, the first woman we spoke to had run for Congress, she was a Democratic candidate in 2008 and lost that election. She was in Paducah, Kentucky. The gentleman you heard from was at a dinner party that we got a few people together in Kansas City, Kansas, and we had a conversation with him.
We've had differences of opinion all along in the week, and we still continue to. But the tenor of those conversations tends to be very civil, tends to be very respectful, and we're encouraging more of that. So, if anybody's here at the Iowa State Fair, they can come see us, the CNN Express is right outside at the grand stand. You can Tweet me at Ali Velshi or at CNN Express. But, we can keep talking about this because the more we talk to people, Melissa, the more we understand what their concerns are about health care and the questions they want answered. And so we can bring them here to CNN and hopefully people who have the answers to these things can start to share with our viewers -- Melissa.
LONG: Forty-six million Americans uninsured. It seems that a lot of people agree something needs to be done but they just don't want it rushed through the halls of Congress.
VELSHI: That's definitely a theme that we've picked up on. Now, I think there are two perspectives on that. If you're one every time uninsured or under insured or newly unemployed who has to pay high prices for COBRA, for instance, the urgency of this matter is there. People think they really are very happy that the president is saying he wants to do this and he wants to do this in 2009.
But for many other people they're very concerned about the cost, the implications to their taxes, and they're saying, all right, we understand something has to be done, but can we research this for longer. I ask how long to a lot of people, and they said 18 months or two years, can we really, really flesh this out so that all Americans understand what this is about.
I've run into very few people, although there are some, who think nothing should be done. There's no need to change health care, that people abuse it and that anybody who doesn't have health care just doesn't have it because they don't feel like paying for it. But, I think that's a minority. Most people agree something needs to be done, there's just a lot of disagreement, Melissa, about how to do it and how Long to take to do it.
LONG: All right, Ali Velshi, thanks so much. Hope you get a break and enjoy some fried dough. Have a piece for me, love that stuff. We'll talking to you again in just a couple of hours. Thanks, Ali.
Ali's going to be looking at some of the town hall meetings that are happening around the country. He's going to bring you all sides in their own words, that's TOWN HALL RAW happing at 2:00 p.m. Eastern, right here on CNN. Ali once again will join us live from the state fair in Des Moines.
Now, a pharmacy raided, homes searched. The painstaking work of investigating Michael Jackson death in determining whether criminal charges will be filed. Our legal guys are ready to discuss this one.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LONG: We are turning our attention to some of the top legal stories making headlines this week and for this we turn to our legal guys, Avery Friedman, a civil rights attorney and law professor.
Good afternoon to you. Thanks for joining us.
AVERY FRIEDMAN, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTY: Hi, Melissa. LONG: Hello.
And New York criminal defense attorney and law professor, Richard Herman, who's joining us by phone, today. Thank you very much, Richard, nice to see you, as well.
RICHARD HERMAN, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTY: Nice to see you, Melissa.
LONG: All right, let's first talk about Michael Jackson, the ongoing investigation. We know that this week the L.A. County coroner completed an investigation, but they're not releasing the information right now. They're trying to determine whether or not someone will be charged. Gentlemen, when we're talking about medical malpractice cases, how difficult are these to actually prosecute? How difficult are they just in general? First we'll go to Richard for this one.
HERMAN: Melissa, they are -- well, first of all, medical malpractice is not what's going to be prosecuted in this case. The government must prove gross negligence that the doctor just went off the wall here in administering certain medical treatment for Michael Jackson.
FRIEDMAN: Well, yeah. Yeah. I mean...
HERMAN: It's very, very difficult to prove that particular portion of the case. Avery, you know it's very, very difficult. The defense brings in a witness to say that the doctor acted appropriately, and there's reasonable doubt, right there.
FRIEDMAN: And here's what we have, here. The question of medical malpractice, Melissa, is a civil claim by, let's say, an estate, Michael Jackson's estate. What the real concern here is, is will LAPD charge Dr. Murray -- Charles Murray, on whether or not his behavior was so reckless as to constitute a crime. And right now, LAPD is saying to the coroner's office, please don't release the tox report -- frankly, I think it should be released -- but they're trying to connect the dots and we're getting close on this. We really are.
LONG: Well, we heard from Dr. Conrad Murray's attorney this week saying when he accepted the job, meaning Dr. Murray, he was not aware of any specific requirements regarding medications that Michael Jackson was taking or any additions that he was suffering from.
What type of responsibility does a medical doctor have to make sure he or she knows exactly what their patient, their client is taking?
FRIEDMAN: Well, think about this, Melissa, what would you expect Dr. Murray's lawyer to say? I mean, that's spin. The truth is, though, the question was a reasonable standard. In other words, what we don't know is when the relationship started, when Dr. Murray started getting paid his $150,000 a month. What he does say is that he learned in May that there were issues, of course, Michael Jackson was gone in June. So again, we're connecting the dots. It's a tough case to prove criminally and I think that's really where the focus of law enforcement is right now.
HERMAN: But, Melissa, the reason the attorney is saying that is because if Dr. Murray had an understanding that Michael Jackson was addicted to narcotics and was receiving drugs from other doctors, he had to factor that into his treatment of Michael Jackson. What he's saying is Michael Jackson never told his client that, he had no knowledge of that, and, you know, this Diprivan is going to be the main issue here, whether or not Dr. Murray administered it.
FRIEDMAN: Richard, you'd have to agree that it would be awfully difficult not to determine that Michael Jackson wasn't a drug addict. I mean, I think it was more than obvious. The question is, are there fine points where the doctor says, look, I just had no way of knowing. I think that's a very difficult defense.
LONG: All right, gentlemen, let's move on. We have several cases we need to get to, and of course we have two segments for our conversation. But I want to move on to a story that I know is near and dear to Avery's heart. You're an alum of the University of Louisville?
FRIEDMAN: Oh, yeah, yeah. Boy, this is a tough one. Holy smokes.
LONG: OK, so this week we've learned that the university's legendary basketball coach has found himself facing extortion charges, even possible dismissal from his long-time university. This is a case, though, going back to 2003. And you really need to get the basics on this one. So Avery, I know you're passionate about it, so let's get to the basics.
FRIEDMAN: Well, very simply stated, Coach Rick and Karen Sypher had a relationship. He's married, she got pregnant, he gave her $3,000 to have her an abortion. He thought that was the end of it. Oh, no. She comes back and asks for $10 million. Well, as a result of that, Karen has now been indicted and she's facing federal extortion charges. So, the question right now is, should the University of Louisville keep Coach Rick, and there's a morals clause in the contract. So the debate is, do we keep the -- the president, James Ramsey said, "Oh well, it was a mistake, we're going to keep him."
LONG: OK. And we heard from the school president saying, that it was time to move on, that the coach is our guy. What do you think, Richard? What about the moral issue, the ethics side of this story, considering how prominent this gentleman is at the university and how closely he worked with the students?
HERMAN: You introduced him as the "legendary coach of Louisville." He's going nowhere. The guy's one of the greatest college coaches in the game today. There's no way that the University of Louisville is going to let this guy go. They're going to spin it in his direction and want to move on from the story, here.
But look, he's been shaken down by this woman. He went to the feds, they interviewed her, she lied to the feds, they pressed charges against her for lying to the feds. And, you know, he's going to deal with his family and his children and...
FRIEDMAN: Well, you know, the irony, the real irony is that next month, Richard and Melissa, he's giving a speech and he's giving a speech on the importance of morality and religion, and religion in leadership. Oh, my god. I wonder who is going to be in the audience.
LONG: I don't mean to cut you off, but I need to cut you off, one more case to get to right now, and that is about a student at Georgia Tech which is in Atlanta, Georgia. He was convicted on terrorism-related charges this week. But the defendant represented himself. Tell us about this case -- Richard.
HERMAN: This guy, he's a Georgia man who was convicted Wednesday on four counts of supporting terrorists and a foreign terrorist organization, faces up to 60 years in prison, sentencing will be October 15. They indicted him with others. They had surveillance information on him, they had e-mails on him, they had friends of his pictured with bombs -- bomb belts...
FRIEDMAN: Well, they also had a number of very important so- called casing videos, Melissa, which really did him in. But bottom line...
LONG: Of U.S. landmarks. Right.
FRIEDMAN: Yeah, I mean, you're dealing with felony charges in federal court and you represent yourself, is this a surprise ending? I don't think so.
LONG: What did he say in his closing argument?
FRIEDMAN: Well, this isn't exactly -- "It's a lot harder than 'Law and Order,' he says to the jury." Now he's looking at 60 years.
LONG: Sixty years. The informant looking at 15 years. All right, Avery and Richard, stay with us, we're going to take a break and we're going to come back and talk about three more legal cases making headlines this week. Thanks gentlemen.
Now, they are some of the most beautiful sites in the country, but will fixing them up really help end the recession? We're going to take a look at how national parks are using the stimulus funds.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LONG: Good afternoon, good morning to you depending on where you are. Half past the hour, let's look at our top stories on this Saturday. Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, is denouncing a deadly suicide bomb attack this morning in Kabul. Seven people were killed, more than 90 people injured. The Taliban is claiming responsibility as militants vow to disrupt the nation's upcoming presidential election, five days from now.
President Obama reiterating his pitch for health care reform. The president's holding another town hall-style meeting set for a little later today in Grand Junction, Colorado, and we will bring it to you live here on CNN. Our coverage begins at 6:00 p.m. Eastern.
Remember how all the stimulus money was supposed to be used to create new jobs? Well, a good chunk of it is going to spruce up national parks around the country. Some people are wondering how that qualifies as stimulating the economy and so did our Kate Bolduan, so here's what she found out.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From Shenandoah, to the Grand Canyon, America's national treasures in need of some serious repair?
ROCKY SCHROEDER, PARK RANGER: As you come around the back of the cabin, you'll see that the siding is all rotted along the ground. Which means the dirt has come up to here and moisture has gotten here and has rotted all this wood.
BOLDUAN: Rocky Schroeder is a park ranger at Prince William Forest Park, about 35 miles outside of Washington, where more than a dozen historic cabins are slated for repair, one of 250 national parks getting spruced up, thanks to the economic stimulus.
SCHROEDER: The stimulus will help keep our visitors here, keep them happy and keep them coming back.
BOLDUAN: The park service estimates national parks across the country face a $9 billion backlog of work. The stimulus is supposed to contribute $750 million to that. So far, about 10 percent is in the pipeline.
DAN WENK, ACTING DIRECTOR, NATIONAL PARK SERVICE: It's campgrounds, it's camp sites. It's amphitheaters for evening programs, it's the bathrooms. It's literally everything that we have to make our visits enjoyable.
BOLDUAN: Nearly $56 million is going to repair Washington landmarks. More than $14.5 million to Mesa Verde National Park, and nearly $11 million to the Grand Canyon, to name a few. But when it comes to this money, you to ask.
(on camera): How is money for national parks stimulus?
WENK: It's stimulus because we are putting people to work. We're putting -- we will be putting people to work for the next two years. But it's also stimulus because we are creating a better place and increasing the visitor experience.
BOLDUAN (voice-over): Some Republican lawmakers aren't buying it.
REP. JEB HENSARLING, (R-TX): Well, clearly we need to improve our national parks, but nobody should confuse that with economic stimulus. I mean, frankly that's just false advertising.
BOLDUAN: The Interior Department estimates this stimulus target will create about 8,000 jobs over two years. Many will be temporary jobs, but this park ranger is confident it's a worthwhile investment.
SCHROEDER: The national parks are our past, our history. Preserve that that's where we've come from. It'll give an idea of where we're going.
BOLDUAN (on camera): Here at this Virginia park, they're hoping to start putting hammer to nail in the next month and park officials say they've had overwhelming interest. For projects like these, they need to hire about six additional people. They've received nearly 200 applications.
Kate Bolduan, CNN, Prince William Forest Park.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LONG: The more the nation battles over health care, and health care reform, the more claims we hear, especially from people that are attending the town hall meetings from coast to coast.
Josh Levs with the CNN Truth Squad is now checking the facts. And Josh, I know one question a lot of people have is about coverage. Who will be covered under this health care reform? Will it include illegal immigrants?
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Exactly. We're hearing that more and more. We heard it at one town hall the other day. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why is it fair for an illegal immigrant to be eligible for health care over an older American that has paid taxes their whole life?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: That was just one example. We are seeing it more and more.
Let me start off with this because I want to give you one big point straight off the top on a graphic here. You know, there's a lot -- there are various bills working their way through Congress. But the one everyone keeps looking at is this House bill that's 1,000 pages long. The House bill restricts coverage to citizens and legal residents.
In fact, I want to show you the bill itself on the screen behind me. Let's zoom in here on this screen. This is the House health care bill and you can see some keywords right here. No federal payment for undocumented aliens, and it goes on to say basically that this will not provide coverage to those who are not lawfully present in the United States. So, that is in this House bill.
Now, let me show you another screen, though, because it is important to understand that it's not going to solve the problem we have now with a lot of people who are undocumented, who are illegal immigrants going to hospitals for example and getting health coverage that -- or getting health care that way.
Experts are saying, look, this will not erase the current problem, but they're not seeing in this legislation, it's not there, anything that says, OK, now people who are illegally in the nation will be covered. So, our verdict on this one is right there. You can see it on the next screen. Our verdict at the CNN Truth Squad is false.
And you can see everything we've done at the CNN Truth Squad at the new CNN.com/healthcare. Melissa, you and I were just talking about this, this main new page right here, CNN.com/healthcare. There's a link right there, brings you to all of our latest fact checks. So, we encourage everyone, you hear something, check that out.
LONG: And speaking of the fact checks, we are going to be delving into the topic at 4:00 p.m. Eastern today. We're going to be answering a plethora of questions.
LEVS: Yes. I've actually been looking through a lot of those questions already. Let me show everyone where you can send them in. I got a graphic for you here of that, of where to reach me. I'll tell you, that's CNN.com/josh, which is part of our NEWSROOM blog. I already have more than 500 there we're looking through. Also, Facebook and Twitter. In both cases, it's /JoshLevsCNN.
And we're following all these different routes. So, gather your questions, we're going to be doing fact checking for the whole hour. Have someone from Politifact with us as well. We're going to bang through it, try to make sure that you're getting the facts, not the fiction.
LONG: You have 500? I know this is a very -- a topic that so many people are passionate about. I didn't know you were so popular, Josh.
LEVS: Oh, it's not about me. No, that's just happens to be how you quickly get there, that's all.
LONG: Oh, OK.
LEVS: Nothing to do with me.
LONG: All right, Josh. Looking forward to getting more answers from the Truth Squad. Thanks, Josh.
LEVS: Thank you.
LONG: Well, as we have seen, as we've been showing you, emotions are running high at a lot of these town hall meetings and forums. And today, we're going to bring you more town halls, all sides in their own words. That's coming up at 2:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN. It's town hall raw.
We have, did you know our first-named storm of the Atlantic hurricane Season? Meteorologist Reynolds Wolf is going to introduce us to this latest tropical storm. And we're starting with the beginning of the alphabet as we always do with A. What's the new storm's name?
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: This is Ana. Not Anna, but Ana. But I'm sure either flavor you choose will be just fine. Let's -- well, we may have a little bit of a discussion as to what her name might be. But let me show you where she is, no denying that. There she is right there, it continues to spin, not a very large storm for this time, but it's still packing quite a punch with maxist (ph) sustained winds at 40, gusting to 50 miles per hour. That's the first storm.
The second one is a little bit farther off towards the east. This next storm is a tropical depression, but may become Tropical Storm Bill. So, you have your A, you have your B and both of them are not going to remain stationary. They are going to be moving. The question is where are they going to go? That's a great question.
Hopefully, we can provide an idea with a look at the forecast path from the National Hurricane Center, and as we mentioned with Ana, winds are currently at 40, gusting to about 50. But maximum sustained winds expected to increase to 50 miles per hour into Sunday. By Monday, 65, a strong tropical storm. And then, should retain that power as we get into Tuesday and into Wednesday.
But keep in mind, if you look at the cone of probability, there's a chance the storm could move a bit father to the north, maybe a bit more to the south. If it goes a bit more to the south, it runs over some of the lands, a few of the islands, say possibly over towards the Dominican Republic or maybe even to -- some of the -- say the U.S. Virgin Islands. It could lose a little bit of its power because when these storms drop into land, they tend to weaken a bit.
OK, that's the first storm. The second one is farther back out towards the east. Again, as I mentioned, it's not a storm as of yet, still a tropical depression. But the forecast brings this one also to the west. Also has it strengthening as it moves into a very favorable environment for these storms to develop. As we get into Monday, then into Tuesday, then into Wednesday, becoming a category one storm into Wednesday. Then by Thursday, the forecast brings it with winds of 105 miles per hour sustained. That's a category 2 storm.
Keep in mind, there's a lot that can happen with these systems over the next 12 to 24 to 36 hours and you can guarantee we're going to watch it for you very carefully. Jacqui Jeras is going to be with you through the rest of the afternoon and into the evening. She's going to watch this with eagle eyes so you'll be up to speed.
Back to you.
LONG: All right, all right. You're signing off, you're saying good-bye for the day?
WOLF: No, I'm always watching.
LONG: Oh, OK. WOLF: But Jacqui is going to take over.
LONG: We're always connected. Anyway ...
WOLF: You bet.
LONG: ...have a great day for the rest of your Saturday. See you in the morning. Thanks, Reynolds.
Days after Typhoon Morakot's deadly assault, it is not getting any easier for the survivors of that monster storm in Taiwan. More than 100 confirmed deaths now, hundreds more missing, thousands of homes destroyed. Bridges and the infrastructure washed out, making the rescue, the recovery so much more difficult.
CNN's senior international correspondent John Vause reports for the very latest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN VAUSE, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Even before Typhoon Morakot hit, getting to Taiwan's remote mountain villages was tough. But now, it's nearly impossible. Major roads are blocked by mudslides and debris. Some are partly washed away.
And then, there's this bridge, it's simply gone, brought down during the storm, completely cutting off the village of Shinkai (ph). The river below is still swollen and rapid. A few who tried to cross there were swept away, plucked to safety by rescue crews.
So, the only way in and out is by this harness.
(on camera): This is how they were getting villagers out of Shinkai So far, more than 100 people. So, they say it's pretty safe.
(voice-over): But it's still a long way down.
(on camera): Probably about a 200 foot drop straight down on to the rocks down there. This water is moving pretty quickly. All that's really holding me right now is this one hook there, which is connected to these three cleats. OK, oh. OK.
(voice-over): The sign reads SOS, 32 people died here, and a local official coming out of Shinkai says bodies have been left rotting for days. Walking into the village, the road has collapsed in places, power lines are down. There's been no electricity or running water for a week. But there is mud. Lots of it. Just getting across is not easy.
(on camera): It really is just like walking through quicksand.
(voice-over): This village has been all but abandoned except for one family refusing to leave. Everyone else, almost 300 people have made that perilous journey to safety.
"I'm not sure I'll go back," says this young man. "We'll wait until the roads are clear and try and clean up."
(on camera): What do you think?
(voice-over): But by day's end, getting out was not so easy.
WEN-CHUN FAN, CNN PRODUCER: OK. So, basically they said that the cable is sagging and it's not safe.
VAUSE: So, the safest way they said was across the river, the same river where others had earlier been swept away.
(on camera): Thank you.
When they said that the rope was starting to sag and that if we tried it, both cables could snap, right then I realized we had no choice but to do this. But it seemed worse from up there than it did down here.
(voice-over): And this is now life here for so many villagers and houses cut off by mudslides and debris. It will be a long time before the people of Shinkai will ever be able to go home again.
John Vause, CNN, Shinkai, Taiwan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LONG: Sick and no health insurance. How do people in that situation cope? We're going to be hearing from a family dealing with a preexisting condition and mounting medical bills.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LONG: Getting health insurance with a preexisting illness. Again, if you can get it, the premiums can be outrageous. CNN photojournalist Eddie Cortes gives us a look at some of the challenges facing families with preexisting conditions.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SANDY NEUENSCHWANDER, HAS CROHN'S DISEASE: About nine years ago, I was diagnosed with Crohn's disease. Without my medication, it gets bad.
DAVID NEUENSCHWANDER, WIFE HAS CROHN'S DISEASE: She's very hard to live with when this Crohn's is flared up.
S. NEUENSCHWANDER: I can't eat, I don't sleep, my weight starts to drop.
D. NEUENSCHWANDER: Even the kids, when it would flare up, they would -- can we go somewhere? You know, we just need to get away from mom for a little while.
S. NEUENSCHWANDER: I'm without medical insurance. I cannot even get prescriptions that I'm supposed to take every single day. I've got doctors orders right now for different tests that I can't do because there's no way to cover it.
You know, we're making ourselves here with the business trying to just stay above float, and it's like the water's at the nose, that's how close it is. So, we don't know where to turn. We don't know what to do.
400 milligrams each. These are $450 to $500 a month, depending on where you go. None less than $450 anywhere, except for Canada. I'm supposed to take 12 a day. And this keeps my Crohn's under control.
D. NEUENSCHWANDER: With her having Crohn's disease, it does make it impossible for us to buy insurance that covers anything.
S. NEUENSCHWANDER: It's voodoo. It's like Crohn's is voodoo. They don't want to touch it, pre-existing. When I called to get a quote, they say OK, we won't cover Crohn's. But once they find out you have Crohn's, even though they don't cover it, they rate the policy extremely high because you do have a disease.
It's the one thing we need coverage on, and it's the one thing that we can't get. It's just a vicious cycle. It's like a merry go- round that you never get off of.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LONG: And that was again by one of our CNN photojournalists, Eddie Cortes.
We're going to introduce you to a man who just kept saying, I don't have any kids. And after spending a year in jail for not paying child support, turns out he was telling the truth. He didn't have any kids.
Our legal guys are going to take on this story out of Georgia.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LONG: We're back with more of our legal top stories making headlines this week. Avery Friedman is a civil rights attorney and a law professor. And New York criminal defense attorney and law professor Richard Herman also joining us by phone today.
Gentlemen, thanks again.
FRIEDMAN: Sure. We're ready to go.
LONG: We appreciate your time. Want to first talk about the story out of Georgia of a man who is now 50 years of age who spent 13 months in jail for being a deadbeat dad. But he insisted he didn't have any children. Can you explain why DNA evidence proved in 2000 that this man did not have children, and yet he was paying -- yet he was paying child support? Avery?
FRIEDMAN: Yes, this is a really sick example of a law being turned upside down, Melissa. In 2000, DNA proved that Frank Hadley (ph) was not the father of the children that he was ordered to pay child -- or a child, to pay child support. In 2001, Judge Dan Perkins found that he was responsible for paying it.
Well, since that time, he lost a job, he was homeless and Charles had -- Charles -- the prosecutor actually filed a motion, Charles Reddick (ph) to put him in jail, hold him in contempt. No lawyer, he was not told of his right to have a lawyer. And you know, finally after 13 months, he was cleared. But I think there's a claim against the lawyer that put him in jail.
LONG: Well, Frank Hadley is the 50-year-old man who lives here ...
FRIEDMAN: Right.
LONG: ...in Georgia again, who served his time. Two things I understand are yet to be cleared up for him as well. I guess he has a child support hold on his driver's license and his income tax.
FRIEDMAN: Right.
LONG: And he also -- what about the $6,000 in payments he has made since 2000? Richard?
HERMAN: It's outrageous, Melissa, what's going on here. Not only the prosecutor, but the judge also should be prosecuted in this case. They put this guy away in prison, all he did was reimburse the system in Georgia because she went on welfare and she received benefits, so he then had an obligation to pay. Child protective services and child support made him sign an agreement so that he could afford to make these payments.
Well, he then became homeless, he couldn't make the payments anymore. Some outrageous, moronic judge there put him in prison, it was later proved he wasn't the father and now, they're trying to continue to bind him to the agreement that he signed with child support. It's outrageous.
LONG: And for a child that is not his.
FRIEDMAN: It's time to haul these officials into a federal courtroom to get some justice.
LONG: Gentlemen, we're almost out of time. I want to highlight one other story. It takes our viewers to Corpus Christi, Texas, for ...
FRIEDMAN: Yes.
LONG: ...a school for the developmentally disabled. We had ...
HERMAN: Terrible.
LONG: ...the first story this week, the first conviction in this fight club case. Six other employees for the state school will still face charges. This man also testifying in his own defense, and during the penalty phase and it's all about cell phone video, that is what's incriminating in this case.
FRIEDMAN: Absolutely.
HERMAN: That's technology. That's where we're at, Melissa, today. I mean, everything's caught on video, by phones, by cameras. This guy was goading disabled patients into fighting. You thought Michael Vick was bad with the animals, this is people who are disabled individuals, are being forced to fight by the people who are watching, caused to watch over them. It's outrageous.
FRIEDMAN: And the good news -- you're right, you're right. The good news is that it's caught on video, Melissa. They're going to be more that will have take the -- have to wind up going to jail for all this. This is horrific. But again, without technology, we'd have never caught these officials doing that.
HERMAN: He's facing one count, two to 10 years. He's probably going to get the low end on it because his prior history. And you look at -- juxtapose this to Michael Vick, who by the way signed to play with the Eagles this week. It's just unbelievable.
LONG: And that's one count causing injury to a disabled person, two to 10 years.
FRIEDMAN: Exactly right, yes. And more to come, Melissa, more to come.
LONG: Avery Friedman and Richard Herman, thank you so much as always for joining us on Saturday for the Legal Guys segment.
FRIEDMAN: Sure.
LONG: Appreciate your expertise and your perspective.
FRIEDMAN: See you later. Take care.
HERMAN: Have a great weekend, Melissa.
LONG: You too.
Now, maybe you, maybe one of your loved ones is looking to break into showbiz. Never mind "American Idol" or buying a ticket to "Tinseltown" because fame could be just a click away.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LONG: Checking our top stories on this Saturday, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is on his way out now to check on the wildfires in his state. About 2,400 residents of the Santa Cruz Mountains have been evacuated, more than 5,000 acres charred.
And President Obama is taking the push for health care reform to some of the mountain states today. Montana yesterday, Colorado today. CNN will take you to his town hall in Grand Junction, Colorado in a few hours. They are calling it the wave of the future in entertainment, movies made for the internet. Ted Rowlands looks at one group of filmmakers carving a nation in cyberspace.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TED ROWLANDS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Fade in, an average strip mall on the outskirts of Los Angeles.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you get the skateboard from my car?
ROWLANDS: Inside, a trio of young filmmakers gets their actor, camera and skateboard ready to roll.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Rolling. Action.
ROWLANDS: It looks like a group of friends shooting home movies. But would you believe their films get millions of web hits and have thousands of devoted fans?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh my God!
ROWLANDS: Who are they? Wesley Chan, Ted Fu and Phil Wang, and their little company that could is called Wong Fu Productions.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hair and makeup. Wardrobe -- oh, we don't have any of those.
ROWLANDS: The trio started making short films in college in San Diego. The buzz they received inspired them to form Wong Fu in 2007. It's really taken off since then, thanks to their core audience -- young Asian Americans who often can't find accurate depictions of themselves in mainstream media.
JANICE JANN, WONG FU FAN: Wong Fu's stories are things that happen to you and me, kind of. It's not like kung fu all the time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Man, why are all the white guys taking our girls?
ROWLANDS: Wong Fu's use of new media to tell their community's stories and build a business is the wave of the future, say digital media experts like USC's David Werthheimer.
DAVID WERTHEIMER, DIGITAL MEDIA EXPERT: If you have a message, a cultural massage for example that you think is being overlooked in mainstream media, you can find a way to get it out to the world by doing really compelling, content creation to story telling like these guys are doing.
ROWLANDS: Since the movies are posted for free on their Web site and YouTube, Wong Fu makes its money on merchandise, college speaking tours and by directing music videos for up and coming Asian American acts, like Far East Movement.
You too can be a master of Wong Fu, all you need is the internet. PHIL WANG, WONG FU PRODUCTIONS: It's really leveling the playing field so that every day people like us, you know, we're just normal guys, can get huge fan bases and huge followings just based solely on their talent and their personalities.
ROWLANDS: In Hollywood, I'm Ted Rowlands.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LONG: A reminder, during our 4:00 p.m. hour, we're answering your questions. We're dedicating the entire hour to getting answers to your thoughts on health care reform. You can send in comments right now to Fredricka's Facebook page. I'm in for Fredricka today.
And do stay with CNN throughout the day for the latest breaking news.
"YOUR MONEY" starts right now.
