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Obama to Address Congress on Health Care; White House Adviser Quits; Obama's Classroom Speech Sparks Fury; "Pink Ribbon" Parade for Jaycee Dugard; Reporting the Guards Gone Wild
Aired September 06, 2009 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RICHARD LUI, CNN ANCHOR: Under heavy fire by conservatives. One of President Obama's advisers quits.
Nudity, drunkenness and sexual hazing. Now, the man who blew the whistle on these contractors in Afghanistan speaks to CNN.
Eighteen years after she vanished, South Lake Tahoe celebrates the good news about Jaycee Dugard.
And, swim at your own risk. Several great white sharks spotted near a popular beach. We'll take you there.
I'm Richard Lui, in for Don Lemon this day.
All the talk, all the debates, and all of the town hall shouting have come down this -- a primetime presidential address to Congress with President Obama's signature issue on the line here. Health care reform could be decided this week after Wednesday's speech and the reaction it gets from the Republicans. Well, the president's aides, allies and opponents had a lot to say on the Sunday talk shows.
Our Kate Bolduan has the very latest. She's been watching all those for us from Washington.
Hey, Kate.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Richard.
Well, lawmakers and the American public are looking for detail from President Obama. And this week's speech is about selling health care reform, it may also be about pitching the message, "Let's take what we can get right now."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BOLDUAN (voice-over): President Obama returns from vacation to face a crucial week ahead in the health care debate. Top White House aides insist the president will spell out his specifics for reform when he speaks Wednesday to a joint session of Congress.
ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: They'll leave that speech knowing exactly where the president stands, exactly what he thinks we have to do to get health care done.
BOLDUAN: At the same time, CNN has learned that the White House is quietly talking about drafting their own health care bill, a kind of contingency legislation, and is leaning toward a plan to trigger a public insurance option only if health care reforms fail to meet certain goals.
White House officials dodged questions Sunday about whether the president would sign a bill that doesn't include a public option.
DAVID AXELROD, WHITE HOUSE SENIOR ADVISOR: He believes the public option is a good tool. Now, it shouldn't define the whole health care debate, however.
BOLDUAN: It's a contentious issue that has the White House squeezed from the right and the left.
REP. MAXINE WATERS (D), CALIFORNIA: We need credible, comprehensive universal health care with a good robust public option now.
GOV. TIM PAWLENTY (R), MINNESOTA: I think if the Democrats embrace the public option, even in the form of the trigger, they are going to shoot themselves in the foot.
BOLDUAN: And political analysts say there's a lot riding on the president's short visit this week to Capitol Hill.
STU ROTHENBERG, POLITICAL ANALYST: He can talk about, you know, various alternatives and ideas, but at the end of the speech, it seems to be folks on Capitol Hill and around the country have to have a much clearer idea what kind of a bill he feels he needs to sign.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BOLDUAN: And recent numbers show that the president may have some hard work ahead there. According to a CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll, a majority of Americans say they feel more secure under the current health care system than with the president's proposals -- Richard?
LUI: All right. Kate Bolduan at the White House, thank you so much.
Let's drilldown a bit more on the numbers that Kate was alluding to there. We'll now speak with our deputy political director, Paul Steinhauser.
Paul, Congress is back this week, right? And what do folks across the United States want from lawmakers when it comes to health care reform?
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Well, that poll which we conducted about a week ago and released over the last couple of days, it suggests that a slight majority wants Congress, Richard, to keep working on those current bills that are out there, but with some changes. About one in four say, you know what, it's time to hit that reset button, it's time to start from scratch when it comes to the health care debate. And, Richard, about one in five say, we don't want any changes whatsoever. Let's stop working. We like the way we have the insurance system right now.
LUI: OK. And it shows that most folks are pretty much split over the president's health care reform plan. Is there any one group of voters here that are more opposed than others when it comes to Mr. Obama's proposals here?
STEINHAUSER: Yes, this is really interesting. Our poll suggests that seniors are pretty opposed to the president's plan. Take a look at these numbers again from the CNN/Opinion Research Corporation, this is a national poll. Look at the bottom there -- 65 and older, 60 percent of those people say they oppose the president's health care plan. If you look at the top, younger Americans, the opposition to the plan is much smaller, Richard.
LUI: And why that's a concern? Obviously, at 65 and older, and 50 to 64, that's the group that normally votes, right?
STEINHAUSER: They vote in great numbers. And one of the reasons they maybe concerned is because of possible changes to Medicare, Richard.
LUI: OK. What about much talk about public option? Where do folks across the United States stand on that?
STEINHAUSER: This has been the thing we've been talking about for months now, you know, the controversial public option.
LUI: Yes.
STEINHAUSER: So, we asked and we describe it as a government -- as a health insurance plan administered by the government that would compete with private insurers. A slight majority say they are OK with that, though, also, a slight majority say that they think, eventually, the president wants the government to take over health care.
LUI: You know, it's pretty tough to actually miss any of those town hall protests, those that are in the streets as well against what is happening with the health care reform. How did all those attention change peoples' minds if at all?
STEINHAUSER: This is really interesting. Our poll suggests that all that coverage, and there was a lot of it, a lot of the protests...
LUI: Yes.
STEINHAUSER: ... a lot of those protests, of course, against the president's plan -- about six in 10 in our poll say that it hasn't changed their mind when it comes to the issue of health care. About one in five say it's made them more likely to approve what the president is doing and another one in five said it made them more likely to oppose what the president is proposing on health care, Richard.
LUI: A lot of back story to all those numbers.
Paul Steinhauser, thank you so much for that. STEINHAUSER: Thank you.
LUI: And a quick reminder. CNN will carry the president's health care reform address to Congress live Wednesday night at 8:00 Eastern.
A 9/11 petition signature and some strong opinions about Republicans seemed to have cost an outspoken White House adviser his job. Word came in the middle of the night in the middle of a holiday weekend that green jobs czar, Van Jones, was quitting. Jones accuses his critics of mounting a smear campaign against him.
Our Mary Snow shed some light on how this all reached a boiling point.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Van Jones, a special adviser for green jobs, was thrust to the forefront over questions surrounding this 2004 petition he signed on the 911Truth.org Web site, demanding, quote, "A call for immediate inquiry into evidence that suggests high level government officials may have deliberately allowed the September 11th attacks to occur." Van Jones is listed as "Signer 46."
Asked why his name is on it, an administration source tells CNN that Jones did not carefully review the language in the petition. And in a statement issued Friday, Jones said, "I do not agree with this statement and it certainly does not reflect my views now or ever."
White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs was asked about Jones' name appearing on the petition, responding, "It's not something the president agrees with."
Jones has also gained attention for comments he made before his White House job, including this one now on YouTube when he was talking about the Republicans.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How are the Republicans able to put things through when they have less than 60 senators, but somehow we can't?
VAN JONES, FMR. PRESIDENTIAL ADVISOR: Well, the answer to that is they are (BLEEP)holes.
(LAUGHTER)
JONES: That's a technical political science term.
(LAUGHTER)
JONES: And Barack Obama is not an (BLEEP).
SNOW: In 2005, he was quoted in "The East Bay Express," saying, "By August, I was a communist." When explaining about his radicalization following the acquittals in the police beating case of Rodney King in 1992, Jones said, "If I have offended anyone with statements I made in the past, I apologize."
The green jobs guru came under scrutiny by conservatives, notably, FOX TV host Glenn Beck. Defenders of Jones say Beck targeted him because Jones was formerly with a group now working to get advertisers to boycott Beck's show. The boycott came after the FOX host called President Obama a racist.
Before this, Jones was primarily known for his environmental work, including the best-seller book "The Green Collar Economy." Back in May, in comments on the "San Francisco Chronicle's" Web site, Jones even won the praise of former eBay CEO, Meg Whitman, now a Republican candidate for governor in California.
MEG WHITMAN, FMR. EBAY CEO: I am a big fan of him. He's done a marvelous job.
SNOW: On Friday, Whitman said she did not know Jones well and distanced herself, saying, it's clear he holds views she entirely rejects.
Mary Snow, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LUI: All right. Let's bring back Kate Bolduan.
You know, Kate, the White House says it did not order Van Jones to step down in this case, but, you know, no one came running to his defense, either. Do you think the administration gave in to the right on this one?
BOLDUAN: It's pretty interesting. Looking at -- they definitely did not, as you just said, come out to defend Van Jones today. If we just take a look at the statements from White House officials just this morning, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs asked if it was a smear campaign on ABC "This Week," he says, "What Van Jones was decided was that the agenda of this president was bigger than any one individual." Then, David Axelrod, a White House senior adviser makes a point to say, just as you also mentioned, this is Van Jones' own decision.
It does seem that the White House, the administration is giving into the pressure and giving into the criticism on this one. It just really seems they do not want the president and the White House associated with some of his remarks and some of the things that he's been associated with and signed on to, specifically, that 9/11 conspiracy petition where they just -- they may have just been too far out there for them to be able to defend, and to be able to deal with right now.
LUI: And you covered our top story, obviously, it is health care right now.
BOLDUAN: Right.
LUI: This is a distraction, isn't it -- certainly as the president tries to get out his message to prepare for this week? BOLDUAN: They are definitely trying to make sure it is not a distraction. Note the timing -- and you did a little earlier -- note the timing of this announcement. This resignation announcement comes basically in the middle of the night, in the middle of a holiday weekend. The White House and past -- and administration's past have used these opportunities to try to bury bad news. The White House does not need anything stealing the focus from this very big week on health care ahead, and they also, when they get bad news, if there is bad news, out of the way before this big week comes because they want everyone focused -- the press, the public, the lawmakers -- everyone focused on what they are trying to talk about right now, which is health care reform.
I mean, bottom line, Richard...
LUI: Right.
BOLDUAN: ... the green jobs czar is an important position and an important issue for this administration, but it just seem that the president and the White House, really, they just couldn't sign on to some of the things -- well, definitely, worth signing on -- but they just couldn't deal with some of the things he said. They were just too far out there for them to have to deal with.
LUI: Twelve-thirty in the morning is when it came out. That's right. Kate Bolduan...
BOLDUAN: You and I were waiting for...
(CROSSTALK)
LUI: All right. Great stuff. Kate Bolduan at the White House for us on this Sunday.
BOLDUAN: Thanks, Richard.
LUI: Hey, you know, another big test for the White House, other than what Kate was telling us, quieting the fury over President Obama's planned speech to the nation's school kids. Now, some parents say Tuesday's address will amount to indoctrination, not education.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JENNIFER SEITER, TEA PARTY PROTESTER: I'm not happy about it. They are totally disregarding what the parents have the right to do with their children should be seeing, and it's totally cutting the parent out of the picture.
JULIA FARMER, TEA PARTY PROTESTER: This is crossing a line. I'm going to use an ugly word right now, but I believe a fascist line that the president has no right whatsoever to go into the pre-K to sixth grade children and try to somehow sell his agenda.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LUI: But Education Secretary Arne Duncan is calling those complaints, quote, "silly." Today, he admitted the original lesson plan was flawed when it called for students to write the president about how to meet his educational goal. That section has been changed and Secretary Duncan says parents can decide if they want their kids to take part.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARNE DUNCAN, EDUCATION SECRETARY: The president's whole speech is about asking students to take personal responsibility for their education and really challenge them to work hard every day, to set goals, to have a strong work ethic. And I think this is a really important message. It is absolutely voluntary. No one is mandating this. Folks can watch it in school. They can watch it that night at home with their families. They can watch it in two months from now, or they can never watch it -- whatever they want to do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LUI: Let's bring back CNN deputy political director Paul Steinhauser.
You know, Paul, this is going to be an 18 minutes speech when the president is expected to tell students just to buckle down and get serious at school. Why has this hit such a big nerve?
STEINHAUSER: Well, things have seemed pretty benign to many of us, don't to those on the right or the left, and passions are raised and we are seeing it in this case as well. When the lesson planner came out on the line, the story hit talk radio and it's been a big, big talker and a big controversy ever since.
You know, a lot of people -- for some people feel that this administration is trying to extend the federal government into all parts of our daily lives, and for them, the president speaking to their children is ringing alarm bells, Richard.
LUI: And this isn't the first time it's been done, right? As we've been saying, previous presidents have addressed children in the classroom setting.
STEINHAUSER: Yes. You go back to the 1980, Ronald Reagan did it. George Herbert Walker Bush did it in 1991. One thing this administration says is that tomorrow, they will release what the president will say. They'll put it up online and let parents judge whether they want their students -- their children to listen to the president, Richard.
LUI: And with all these -- all these other issues coming up, very difficult for the president to certainly keep the message on health care reform based on what Kate was telling us and now, we're talking about this speech coming up.
STEINHAUSER: These are distractions, but the big -- the big story will be Wednesday night and what the president says in primetime on health care.
LUI: Gearing up for that. Paul Steinhauser, thank you.
STEINHAUSER: Thank you.
LUI: You don't have to be in school to catch the president's speech, by the way, to the kids. Just tune in to CNN and we plan to carry it live at noon Eastern on Tuesday. So, be around for that.
Joy over the return of Jaycee Dugard, South Lake Tahoe celebrates with a parade.
And great white sharks off the coast of Cape Cod give a boost to local businesses.
Plus, later, you know it's going to be a bad day when a car not only crashes into your house but then takes out the whole second floor.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LUI: Big trouble for pro-football star Shawn Merriman of the San Diego Chargers. His girlfriend, reality TV star Tila Tequila claims Merriman choked and physically restrained her from living his San Diego home before dawn this morning. Police arrested the 25-year-old line backer and he was booked into jail on one count of battery and one count of false imprisonment. Tequila stars in an MTV reality dating show.
A coroner in Pennsylvania says more tests are needed to determine what killed a 4-year-old boy found dead in a septic tank. The body of Wyatt Smitsky was discovered yesterday on a neighbor's property in Beaver County, Pennsylvania. Volunteers have been searching for him after he wandered away from his home Friday night. Today's autopsy was inconclusive. Nevertheless, police are treating the case as a homicide, saying the septic tank cover was too heavy for the boy to lift by himself.
For 18 years, the town of South Lake Tahoe, California, wondered what happened to Jaycee Dugard. Most people assumed that she was dead. Now, the discovery that she was alive and well and now reunited with her family has engulfed the community today in shades of joyful pink.
CNN's Kara Finnstrom was there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KARA FINNSTROM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Richard, the small mountain community turned pink today. More than 1,000 of Jaycee Dugard's former classmates, friends and neighbors came out ands marched to celebrate her safe return to her family. They came out wearing pink t-shirts, carrying signs, having pink ribbons.
And many of them said that this was very familiar. It was eight years ago that they were out here marching on this exact, same parade route marking the 10th anniversary of her disappearance. At that time, they were coming together in prayer and as a community hoping for her safe return. Today, they say it was very different. There was emotions of joy out here and excitement.
And, Richard, we should also say, that this was much needed closure for this community because this community -- which never used to look over its shoulder or lock its doors -- has really been holding its children tighter since Jaycee's disappearance. And they say they are just overjoyed to know that she is now back home safely with her family.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LUI: Kara Finnstrom, thank you so much, in South Lake Tahoe, with that.
Drivers in the Bay Area might have a tough commute on Tuesday morning. A major crack was discovered on the heavily traveled San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. Some 300,000 cars or so cross that each and every day. It was found as crews were swapping out a span of the bridge which is shown in this time lapse video for you.
Engineers say they don't yet know how long it will take to fix this crack, but it's possible the bridge will not reopen Tuesday as planned. A lot of drivers hoping it will, though.
And then the massive blaze burning above Los Angeles is now more than 50 percent contained. It was 5 percent at the start of last week. Over the past 11 days, the huge fire has blackened more than 250 miles and cost about $40 million. Two firefighters have died battling this inferno. Nearly 80 homes have been lost.
The beaches of Massachusetts are quieter than usual this Labor Day weekend. It's not the weather, it's the recent number of great white shark sightings off Cape Cod.
Amalia Barreda of CNN affiliate WCVB TV has the latest for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
AMALIA BARREDA, WCVB TV REPORTER (voice-over): Environmental police had a busy day in the waters off Chatham, patrolling the area where sparks have been spotted since Thursday. The state's top shark experts had what he called one of the best days in his career, tagging two great white sharks with a modified harpoon dart, the first ever tagged in the Atlantic. Greg Skomal says the tags that used satellite-based technology will reveal crucial information in the coming months.
GREG SKOMAL, MASS. SHARK RESEARCH PROGRAM: The behavior and the ecology of these sharks is information we need in order to adequately manage them, conserve them, set up rules and regulations as a fishery's agency.
BARREDA: One of the great whites was tagged within 75 yards of a popular Chatham beach, prompting town officials to close all beaches.
IAN BOWLES, MASS. ENERGY & ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS SECY.: It is a common occurrence for these sharks to be in our waters. Swimmers should be aware of that and they should use appropriate caution.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What did you do?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A shark!
(LAUGHTER)
BARREDA: Throughout the cape meanwhile, there's been no shortage of shark jokes.
(on camera): Do you know how dangerous it is to be wearing that cap in shark-infested waters in Massachusetts?
BRIAN PATRICK FAGIN, TOURIST: Well, we have sharks in New Jersey, too, but the ones that can really hurt you are the loan sharks.
BARREDA: The sightings have even helped businesses like Monomoy Island Excursions out of Harwich Port. The captain says people are calling, asking not only about seeing seals which are a favorite shark meal, but about being taken to the area where the sharks have benne spotted.
PETER SPALT, BOAT CAPTAIN: Shark sightings have helped our business. More people are asking about it and they do come out to see if they can see a great white.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LUI: Jacqui Jeras joins us right now at the weather center.
Jacqui, we were reporting this story yesterday as well. And, it's -- you don't have to go to Universal Studios, I guess, if you are up in Massachusetts. They are right there in the water.
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, you know, would you get in water, Richard?
LUI: No, ma'am. No, ma'am. I would definitely stay onshore.
JERAS: On a regular day?
LUI: On a regular day, I would. But not with those floating around.
JERAS: Yes.
LUI: Speaking of which, how's weather doing? You had some great news for us yesterday. Now, we are kind of gearing up for Labor Day.
JERAS: Yes. You know, still ultimately, we are looking at great weather overall. But even if you wanted to get in the water, by the way, the water temperatures themselves are pretty chilly, still in the 60s here. Not to mention that the temperatures in the northeast, they are a little bit cool. We are still looking at some 60s and some low 70s. So, it's not exactly, you know, roasting hot across the northeastern corridor.
We do have some showers and thundershowers to talk about across the country, too. And this is certainly impacting some people's barbecues. We've got some stuff starting to pop up a little bit around the Delmarva area. We've had some heavier showers along the coastal areas here into the Carolinas. So, not prime beach weather here today, though most of the heavy stuff has been offshore.
Our sea breeze front starts to make its way across central parts of Florida. And some heavier showers and thunderstorms here from Mobile, and up towards Montgomery, into southern Mississippi, even into the New Orleans area. We'll head a little farther up to the north because where there are some nasty thunderstorms just west of Nashville. Take a look at this line that's starting to push in from your west. This is going to be a washout for you, unfortunately.
Now, overall, if you've been traveling by the air ways, delays have been pretty much nonexistent. Just one right now to report at JFK, and that's a 30-minute delay just due to some of those stronger winds.
Tomorrow's forecast is showing that the thunderstorms are a little more prevalent across the Ohio River Valley. So, Indianapolis toward Cincinnati into Pittsburgh, Nashville and Memphis again are getting into on the action. And then just some pop up storm across the Rockies. The Pacific Northwest, the worst weather in the country, Richard, with rain in Seattle and Portland, much cooler temperatures in the low 60s and gusty conditions to last your Labor Day.
LUI: So, for the most part, go out and do it.
JERAS: Yes.
LUI: Just have fun. All right. Thank you, Jacqui Jeras.
JERAS: Sure.
LUI: He blew the whistle on the outrageous behavior of the contractors in Kabul and now he's out of a job.
And, high stakes for the president and for Congress in the health care debate, and what can we learn from other countries.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LUI: Election officials in Afghanistan say ballots from nearly 450 polling stations will not be counted from last month's presidential election. And this election commission did not say though why it was tossing out the ballots, but it has been fielding thousands of allegations of voter tampering and fraud since the polls closed. Now, so far, about three-quarters of the country's votes have been counted there and President Karzai is closing in on the 50 percent minimum needed to win reelection. His closest challenger here, Abdullah Abdullah, has tallied slightly more than 30 percent of the votes so far. Sex parties, binge drinking, hazing -- some of the guards in charge of protecting the U.S. embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan are accused of running their base camp like a ruckus fraternity. Now, the alleged ring leaders lost their jobs, but they were not the only ones here.
International security correspondent Paula Newton tracked down one of the whistleblowers in this exclusive report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Fresh off a plane from Afghanistan, Terry Pearson says he's back home in Britain much sooner than he wanted to be, after blowing the whistle on behavior he says was shocking and undignified.
TERRY PEARSON, FORMER CONTRACT WORKER IN AFGHANISTAN: It was just downward stupid some of the things they would do and insensitive.
NEWTON: Pearson was a contractor working as an operation supervisor at Camp Sullivan in Afghanistan, housing quarters for U.S. embassy guards on contract.
The camp is now under a U.S. State Department investigation for inappropriate conduct stemming from charges and explicit photographs involving U.S. embassy guards -- images of nudity, alcohol abuse, and what appears to be sexual hazing.
Pearson says he sought for himself a couple of months ago, was disgusted, and said no one should have tolerated it.
PEARSON: You would not try to enforce a sexual deviant way of thinking on someone. You may have a lot of joking and do something, drop your trousers just for a laugh, but when you start encouraging people to drink alcohol, and running off somebody's body parts, you know, a bit over the top.
NEWTON: Pearson says he wrote e-mails to his employer, R.A. International, and complained to supervisors of Armor Group, contractor that shared the camp and employed the guards featured in the pictures.
PEARSON: And his answer to it was, they're just letting off steam. I think that's what the way they looked at some of the incidents at hand.
NEWTON: But the incidents were investigated by the watchdog group Project on Government Oversight, and reported to the State Department. Several guards have now been fired or resigned. Management is being replaced.
But as a whistleblower, Pearson said he wasn't after mass firings, just a change in behavior. He says back at Camp Sullivan, he was made to feel he had done something wrong, and so he resigned a few days ago, only to ask for his job back just hours later. It was too late. He was on a plane home within hours. His employer, R.A. International, says Pearson resigned of his own free will and, quote, "Although we are now aware of the alleged events at Camp Sullivan, the employee's resignation was not associated with this matter."
(on camera): How much does it bother you right now? You are the whistleblower. You're the person who said this is not right. And now you are out of a job.
PEARSON: If I could turn back the clock and have a chance to do something different, I don't think I would. I think I'll still end up doing exactly the same thing, because I think people's dignity, dignity at work and respect at work is more important than having a job yourself.
NEWTON (voice-over): Pearson says he will continue to help with the State Department investigation, but he is still stunned that doing the right thing could have such dire consequences in his own life.
Paula Newton, CNN, Liverpool, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LUI: Questions about universal health care programs -- chances are you heard about them, but how much do you really know about it? And what's the reality behind all the rhetoric you've been hearing. We are digging deeper.
And this...
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was shocked. How could you do this? What were you thinking? How fast were you going? He was doing a "Dukes of Hazard."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LUI: Well, but I don't remember Bo and Luke Duke ever doing this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LUI: President Obama is taking his health care reform message to primetime, looking to change the debate in his favor by speaking directly to Congress, and you, the American people, Wednesday night. Now, will there be offers of compromise here? Not negotiable demands? White House aids are not offering any details about what the president is going to say here, but they do insist he'll offer up straight talk.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: They will leave that speech knowing exactly where the president stands, exactly what he thinks we have to do to get health care done -- health care reform done this year, and he intends...
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: And what he won't accept as well?
GIBBS: Well, we prefer to outline the positive rather than the negative, but I'm sure he'll draw some lines in the sand.
UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: But how...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LUI: Well, the August recess was supposed to be a chance for members of Congress to talk to voters directly about health care, and they did. But they also got an earful from people who considered some of the proposals equal to a government takeover.
That anger has spilled over to some of the people drawn to the Tea Party Express bus tour that began in California and wraps up in the nation's capital September the 12th.
CNN All-Platform Journalist, Jim Spellman, caught up with the group in San Antonio for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you ready for a tea party?
CROWD: Yeah!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I see the things in the Obama administration and the Democratic Congress is doing that is really threatening the future of the country.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I believe he is trouncing the Constitution.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I question everything the government is doing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's something happening. We don't know quite what it is, but it is happening. People, who ordinarily wouldn't normally turn out to the streets to protest, are turning out to the streets to protest.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're the sleeping giant that has been awakened.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Afro-Leninism, coming to you on a silver platter. Barack Hussein Obama! He ain't my president, people!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How dare they give tens of thousands of trillion dollars to the banks and the people who caused the trouble.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It feels very grass roots to me. And I love that quality.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Some are feeling that they're loosing control of the government, that the government is taking over control and that we are headed toward socialism.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think want this to be a communist- socialist nation. That's what our troops died for, so we would not be enslaved by the Nazis or the Communists.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have the right for the government not to control my health care and my...
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I have the right to disagree with you, sir.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm, like, the person, they're going to say, take a pill and go die.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mr. President, Mr. Reid and Ms. Pelosi, support our troops in the United States military. (APPLAUSE).
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was singing it all night long, you ain't nothing but a humbug dog, Obama, telling us all these lies.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LUI: There's another nationwide bus tour riding out there riding in support of the Obama administration's health care reform plans. This group is backed by an arm of the Democratic National Committee. It has attracted supporters such as Dr. Tanisha Richmond, a podiatrist, who says she can't afford health insurance.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. TANISHA RICHMOND, PODIATRIST CAN'T AFFORD HEALTH CARE: I opted out because I couldn't afford to pay for my medications, my doctor visits and also pay the premiums for the health insurance.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LUI: The pro-health care reform tour just began in Phoenix and wrapped up its first leg in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Some supporters of a government option for health care point to Canada as a good example of what can happen when everyone has access to quality health coverage. But critics point to Canada as well for completely opposite reasons.
CNN's Dana Bash has more on health care north of the border.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SHONA HOLMES, HAS TUMOR: Do you want to feed the fish?
DANA BASH, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: For Shona Holmes, simple pleasures of playing with her dog and walking with her garden are a difficult gift. Four years ago she was told she had a brain tumor, told if it wasn't removed, she could go blind or die.
HOLMES: I realized after the surgery how bad my vision was. BASH: Shona is Canadian, but for her surgery, she went to the U.S. because it would have taken four to six months just to see specialists in Canada's government-run health care system, the only option here.
HOLMES: All my life I have lived in this country with public health insurance, and I always thought that I would be OK, that everything would be fine. So this is basically all of the surgery.
So this is basically all of the surgery.
BASH: Shona's bills at the Mayo Clinic where she was treated totaled $100,000. She borrowed from family and friends.
HOLMES: And that is tragic, having dinner with my friends, and I know how much money I owe them.
BASH: Republicans in Washington are seething on Shona's story and other accounts from Canada to warn about government-involved health care.
Dr. David Zelt is chief of staff at the Ontario's Kingston General Hospital. GOP Senate leader, Mitch McConnell, singled out Kingston as "Exhibit A" of staggering delays in Canadian health care.
He played Zelt's speech:
SEN. MITCH MCCONELL, SENATE MINORITY LEADER: Knee replacements. Well, at Kingston General, the average wait is about 340 days.
BASH: Zelt's response, McConnell is exaggerating.
DR. DAVID ZELT, CANADA'S KINGTON GENERAL HOSPITAL: Average time to get a knee replacement here is 91 days.
BASH: But he does admit, in Canada's system where the government covers everyone, there are limits and shortages. Some patients do have to wait.
ZELT: I'm not going to say we don't have issues, but if you take the other side of the coin, these patients have access.
BASH: Despite Shona Holmes' horror story, Canadian officials insist most people with life-threatening illnesses are treated quickly.
Doug Wright can attribute to that. He has cancer, a tumor on his leg. He has the money to get care in the U.S. but says there's no reason.
DOUG WRIGHT, CANADIAN CANCER PATIENT: I have not had to wait. I have seen some of the best specialists in the country.
BASH: And though taxes are high here, he and others remind us Canadian health care, available to all, is free.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LUI: That was CNN's Dana Bash reporting. She points out there's no U.S. proposal that mirrors the Canadian plan. She also notes that, while Canada ensures 33 million of its people, there are 47 million uninsured people in the United States.
There's also been a lot of talk about the health care model in the U.K. We'll check out the pros and cons of that. And in New Zealand, health care goes high-tech to cut costs in a very big way. We'll explain for you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LUI: This hour we are continuing our conversation on health care, specifically to what is working and where. This brings us to Great Britain and universal health care there.
Our Zain Verjee is live with the latest from there.
ZANE BERGIE, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: The number of patients that use the National Health Service here is mind boggling. We are talking about eight people a second. The government pays for everything. But people here also pay much higher taxes, so it is really not free. On average, a person is paying more than $3,400 a year. So what they can do is walk into a hospital like this or some kind of health care center, have the tests, and they don't have to pay for it.
What you really have to understand is that this is a post-code lottery. It all really depends on where you live. The quality of health care is not consistent everywhere. Waiting is an issue. Minor things aren't a big deal. But major things, like operations or hip replacements, really can take a lot of time, sometimes even months. Things, too, like the latest cancer treatments, fertility tests, aren't really made available by the health services here. So what a lot of people are doing is that they're going private clinics that are better, faster, cleaner, more comfortable to get their help.
LUI: OK. And that's the look there from London.
Then we take you to the southern hemisphere in New Zealand. Its health care model is similar to those seen in other countries, with one major distinction, electronic elections.
Our Kate Baldwin (ph) breaks down what the difference adds up to in dollars and cents.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): New Zealand, a country of more than four million people and a land known for its extraordinary beauty. It is here on this island country in the Pacific Ocean that health care meets high-tech.
Bruce Pollack heads a business that arranges trade and study meetings for senior U.S. health care representatives. He says New Zealand has one of the most impressive health care systems he has ever seen. BRUCE POLLACK, ACADEMY FOR INTERNATIONAL HEALTH STUDIES: New Zealand is far ahead of most countries in terms of its use in application of technology. 99 percent of primary care physicians have an automated patient record. The hospital care is all automated and all the ancillary results are automated.
BALDWIN: New Zealand offers universal health care to all citizens. The extensive use of technology has helped keep health care costs down. New Zealand spends $2,510 per person versus $2,290 in the U.S. And health care consumes 9.2 percent of GDP versus 16 percent in the U.S.
The health care system is financed through general tax revenue, while care in a public hospital and a visit to a specialist is free of charge, New Zealanders do pay approximately $50 to see a primary care physician.
Not exactly small change, says this Professor Steve Ullmann, who teaches health care management and economics at the University of Miami.
PROF. STEVEN ULLMANN, UNIVERSITY OF MIAMI: You have an interesting incentive structure, because a $15-co-pay is not an insignificant amount for primary care. So you might have patients that are going to be thinking twice before they see their primary care doctor. Probably only going to see the doctor when things are a little more serious.
BALDWIN: New Zealand has fewer doctors than most developed countries, including the U.S., one for every 434 people versus one for every 416 in the United States. Doctors used to be paid on a fee-for- service basis, but the payment structure was changed about six years ago. Now it is based upon the number of patients.
ULLMANN: With a fee for service structure, you tend to have an implicit incentive to do more to a patient rather than to do what is necessarily best for the patient.
BALDWIN: As is common with universal health care systems, access to care for elective procedures can involve a long wait. About a third of New Zealanders purchase private insurance policy for elective procedures. This insurance reduces waiting time, gives access to private facilities and enables patients to pick their own surgeon and hospital.
Brooke Baldwin, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LUI: That was Brooke Baldwin reporting for us. A look, rounding out three different countries that we overviewed health care systems and how they might compare to what the debate is that's happening here, in the United Stats, for you.
A single glove, a few crystals, what would you pay for that glove? And check this out. We have heard of people totaling their car, but totaling a house? You have to see this one to believe it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LUI: This just into us. Jacquie Jeras is at the CNN Severe Weather center.
We were hoping for a calm weekend, but I see that you have something with regard to a tornado to tell us about.
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yeah. Warning has just been issued. This is in Tennessee just north of the Nashville area. It's for Davison, Cheetah and Robertson Counties. This is a Doppler radar- indicated tornado, and it's near the town of Ashland City, and it's moving eastward at ten miles an hour. Right now, Nashville proper, not under the warning, but watch out into these northern suburbs for that potential. If we get any ground truth on this, we'll let you know.
There are no watches in the area right now, so it's an isolated storm, but I do want you to know that there are some other thunderstorms which have been developing south and west of here. So all this is going to be blowing through the next couple of hours. Anything we get on this, of course, Richard, we'll bring back to you.
Thanks, Jacquie.
Jacquie will be back with more weather later for us.
Michael Jackson's infamous crystal-clad spandex glove is now the property of the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. The glove went for $49,000 at an auction house in Sydney, Australia. Here's some background for you. In 1996 Jackson was in Sydney during his history tour. At the end of his show, Jackson allegedly tossed the glove to a fan, who had since died. His mother put the glove up for auction recently, and the rest, well, is history.
A house, a car, and what police say was way too much to drink. That sparked a series of unfortunate events for a homeowner in upstate New York.
Shari Einhorn with CNN affiliate News 12, Long Island, weaves it all together for us.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN SARLI, HOME DESTROYED: I was shocked. Why would you do this? You know, what were you thinking? How fast were you going?
SHARI EINHORN, NEWS 12, LONG ISLAND (voice-over): Those are all really good questions that John Sarli wants to ask the 20-year-old alleged drunk driver, whose SUV ended up inside John's home on the second floor.
SARLI: She was doing a "Dukes of Hazard." EINHORN: John and his neighbors were woken up with what they thought was an explosion.
JENNIFER JORGENSEN, NEIGHBOR: We kept hearing crash, crash, crash, glass breaking, and then a big crash, lots of glass.
Suffolk police say Adam Clark, also from East Mariches (ph), was drunk and speeding when he blew through a stop sign, hit this birm, and went flying through the air.
SARLI: Hit the birm here, took down two or three trees, and he was airborne for over 100 feet.
EINHORN (on camera): So he is on this kind of an angle, goes through your picture window and lands in your second-story ceiling?
SARLI: Window, ceiling.
EINHORN: Now, as for the damage, well, there's a lot of it. Take a look for yourself. It's completely overwhelming.
(voice-over): The sheet rock is shattered. The wooden beams splintered. Parts of the SUV are scattered throughout the house. And the dirt from the outside, well, it's everywhere.
John didn't even want to guess at the dollar amount of the damage. And, believe it or not, he just put the house on the market.
SARLI: I don't think I'm going to be selling the house soon.
EINHORN: As for the 20-year-old alleged drunk driver...
SARLI: He's got a along life ahead of him to learn from his mistakes. I hope he learns.
EINHORN: In east Mariches (ph), I'm Shari Einhorn, News 12, Long Island.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LUI: Unbelievable picture, right there.
They were the first front in last spring's H1N1 outbreak. Now, the students at St. Francis Prep are heading back to class. But is the school ready? And what lessons did other schools learn from their experiences?
But first for you, an inspired artist using a few thousand balloons and lung power is creating sculptures you have it see to believe.
Gary Tuchman has this story on the "Edge of Discovery."
(EDGE OF DISCOVERY)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) LUI: Exceeding expectations and breaking barriers. As a student, Hilda Solis, President Obama's secretary of labor and Latina pioneer, had to set her own standards to reach her goals.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIANA KEILAR, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: When you were a young person, when you were in high school and someone was telling you, why don't you be a secretary, did you ever think that you would be a secretary, but the secretary of labor?
HILDA SOLIS, SECRETARY OF LABOR: No, would I probably have said no, it couldn't happen. But, you know, it's amazing what the American dream can be for people that don't have maybe the same experience, experiences or background or opportunities, but there's so much opportunity in this country. And I think that's what's so important for people to understand that there's still that hope.
And I think that our president, Barack Obama, continually says that, too, that even a child -- he was father of an immigrant. His father was born in another country, and first African-American, and he came from a very humble family. Single-headed household, his mother raised him, went to school on scholarships and financial aid.
My story, you know, you can see where there's possibilities here for so many other people, especially for Latinos.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LUI: You can see Briana Keilar's entire discussion with Hilda Solis next hour in our new special series, "Pioneros, Latino Firsts."
The next hour in the NEWSROOM begins right now.
