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SeaWorld Warnings; Cash for Green Energy; Calculating an Earthquake's Strength
Aired March 02, 2010 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Until the day she died, Dawn Brancheau loved training orcas at SeaWorld. She knew them, tip to tail, flipper to flipper. Unfortunately, most of us now know them only as killer whales. In fact, they are in the dolphin families. They are kings of it, thanks to their size. They max out at 32 feet. I'm talking RV- sized here. A three-story building laid on its side. Their mouths are full of sharp cone-shaped teeth. They are clearly carnivores, sometimes called the wolves of the sea.
Their prey, typically sea lions, elephant seals, sharks, fish, even smaller whales. Orcas, themselves, have no natural enemies. They live in waters around the world wherever you see that dark blue water, which kind of surprised me, mostly in large groups, often led by their mothers.
The total population of whales is unknown. The first time one was captured and put on display was in 1961. Right now, there are at least 42 thought to be in captivity at parks and aquariums around the world.
Dawn Brancheau was laid to rest yesterday. Hundreds of people gathered for the funeral and burial in her hometown near Chicago.
SeaWorld Orlando calls her death a tragic accident and says Tilikum, the whale that drowned her and is blamed in two other deaths, will continue to perform.
Meantime, we now know at SeaWorld San Diego, back in 2006, another killer whale severely injured a trainer. A federal safety group quickly urged major changes to keep employees safe, but then suddenly reversed its recommendations. A lot of people now want to know why.
CNN's Randi Kaye has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Look closely. This whale trainer is in the fight of his life. A tourist took this video in November of 2006 at SeaWorld in San Diego. Veteran trainer Ken Peters gently rubbing a 5,000-pound killer whale, desperately trying to get the female Orca to release his left foot from its jaws.
Just minutes before, during a trick, the whale trapped the trainer underwater for nearly one minute. He survived with some broken bones.
The attack prompted a major health and safety agency in California to release a scathing report of SeaWorld and issue a stern warning. In 2006, OSHA investigators predicted a whale trainer would be killed by a whale at the San Diego park, concluding, "Swimming with captive Orcas is inherently dangerous. And if someone hasn't been killed already, it is only a matter of time."
Orca biologist Naomi Rose agrees with the findings.
NAOMI ROSE, ORCA BIOLOGIST: If they decide to act out, there will be nothing the trainer can do about it.
KAYE: Rose says since the 1970s at least two dozen people have been injured by killer whales, four killed.
In 2004, this trainer at SeaWorld in San Antonio nearly drowned when the whale suddenly began diving over him during a show, repeatedly forcing him under water. He eventually made it to the side of the pool.
(on camera) Back to the OSHA report. It also found trainers, quote, "recognize this risk and train not for if an attack will happen but when."
SeaWorld was furious and said the report was full of, quote, "inaccuracies and speculation." It convinced the agency to rewrite it without any predictions or warnings.
(voice-over) Remember OSHA's warning in the original report? "It's only a matter of time before a trainer is killed"? Gone. And the conclusion that trainers plan for when an attack will take place, not if? That's gone, too.
ROSE: They didn't want it to seem as if, you know, killer whales were inherently dangerous. They wanted it to seem as though working with killer whales in the water was inherently safe.
KAYE (on camera): "Keeping Them Honest," we called SeaWorld to ask why it quashed the report. A spokesman told us the OSHA employee who did it was, quote, "uninformed and reckless."
When we asked OSHA why it agreed to rewrite the report, the agency told us it was inappropriate and speculative and that scientific analysis could not support the statements.
ROSE: It's unbelievable that a commercial corporation was able to influence what should have been an objective investigation by an agency whose sole function is to protect worker safety.
KAYE: We counted. The original report was 18 pages. The revised report? Ten pages shorter. What was lost in the rewrite, Orca biologist Naomi Rose warns, could have saved a life.
Randi Kaye, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VELSHI: A fascinating story.
All right. Here's what I've got "On the Rundown" right now.
The president talks energy. It's a key plank of his administration, it's a big chunk of the stimulus, and a vital part of all of our lives. I'm going to talk to the president's point man on energy.
Plus, he has been getting into a lot of elevators lately, but Senator Jim Bunning cannot close the door on unemployed Americans. I'm going to keep putting his feet to the fire and turn up the heat on his colleagues. What are they waiting for?
Plus, do you think that the earthquake in Chile didn't affect you? Guess what? You're wrong. I'm talking to you and everyone else on the planet. You are off your axis.
But first, Cash for Clunkers, now rebates now if you make your home more efficient. President Obama unveiled the plan today in Savannah, Georgia. No word yet on the price tag or how long the rebate program will last, but estimates run as high as $6 billion. By comparison, Cash for Clunkers was about $3 billion, and it lasted about a month but then was extended.
The goal of the new plan, to create jobs by inducing Americans to invest in energy-saving home improvements. Two types of rebates.
Silver Star rebates would offer $1,000 to $15,000 (sic) for upgrades like installation duct sealing and new HVAC units. Gold Star rebates would give you $3,000 if you get a home energy audit and carrying out the recommendations.
The White House predicts between two million and three million homeowners will take part in the program, but first it has to be approved by Washington.
I want to have a conversation now about this and other matters to do with energy with the energy secretary. Energy Secretary Steven Chu joins me now from Washington.
Secretary Chu, thank you for joining us.
STEVEN CHU, U.S. ENERGY SECRETARY: Glad to be here.
VELSHI: We have certainly learned from the Cash for Clunkers, from the first-time homebuyers' credit, that these types of things seem to be influencing people a lot in these tough economic times if you promise them a rebate for something very specific that causes them to spend money.
What kind of success do you think you're going to get out of this? How are people likely to respond to this offer?
CHU: Well, we hope they respond enthusiastically. This is all about creating jobs in America, jobs that can't be outsourced because this is creating homes and businesses and buildings so they save money. It's all about saving money and it's all about creating jobs.
VELSHI: And ultimately, the jobs will be created because the people undertake certain projects in their home, and that's going to create work for hopefully out-of-work renovators and construction workers?
CHU: That's absolutely true. The construction industry is still in a recession, and it has a double effect, because when you retrofit your home, when you put in insulation, when you seal the leaky doors and windows and duct work, what that does is it creates jobs. It saves money. Even if you include the money invested, it's going to save money. That's more money into the pockets of homeowners, and they have more money to spend, which also stimulates the economy.
VELSHI: All right. Secretary Chu, this is one part of the energy equation in this country. We really have a lot more of those to talk about. So, if you wait right there, we're going to take a quick break. I'm going to come back and talk to you about the future of energy in this country.
Energy Secretary Steven Chu joining me.
Stay with me. We're coming right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: I just want to correct something. We said that the Silver Star program the president is announcing today will give you $1,000 to $15,000. It's $1,000 to $1,500. The Gold Star will give you up to $3,000 for renovations you do.
I'm here with the energy secretary, Steven Chu.
Dr. Chu, you are -- and some people may not know this, hopefully they do -- you're a scientist. You have been involved in energy all of your academic life, and you really have something of a devotion to what some of us broadly call alternative energy.
Now, many people talk about how President Obama has said much of our future, our economic prosperity, will be built on alternative energy. I'd like for you to simplify decades of academic study and all of your expertise and tell us, how will this help us to get of this recession and make America prosperous?
CHU: Well, fundamentally, in order to transition to a clean energy economy, it's not only alternative energy, but let me make it more broadly. It's going to clean energy.
So that means we can still use fossil fuel -- for example, coal -- but we have to clean it up. We have to capture the carbon dioxide and sequester it.
So, if you include all those things -- new nuclear, wind, solar, cleaner ways of using fossil fuel -- this creates a demand. The rebuilding of the American infrastructure in energy will create jobs and a demand, and it is absolutely essential for the environmental protection of our children.
VELSHI: More than half of the electricity we use in this country is still generated by coal-fired plants. And this clean coal thing always gets people going, saying that there isn't such a thing as clean coal.
When you talk about capturing carbon emissions, where are we in the process? I mean, is that something that is absolutely doable today?
CHU: Today -- so, where we are in the process is the following. There are technologies. We're going to drive down the cost of those technologies. We think perhaps in eight or 10 years, it can be driven down to the point where it can start to be deployed in the commercial sector. In the meantime, we are also investing in far bolder approaches that can further drive the costs down.
We do not want to double the energy bills in the United States. This is not our agenda. We want to keep the energy bills as low as possible, and yet drive to a cleaner energy economy.
Oh, by the way, in developing this technology, we hope that this is an exportable technology, again, going to the prosperity of the United States.
VELSHI: Let me ask you quickly -- this administration has made a decision for the first time in a very long time to issue loan guarantees for the expansion of a couple of nuclear facilities here in Georgia.
What's your view on how big a role nuclear power generation will be in the United States?
CHU: Well, we think it's a necessary part of the mix because it is carbon-free, because it's technology we know about. We think that it has to be part of the solution.
These loan guarantees are necessary to start the industry again after a hiatus of several decades to give the financial institutions comfort that these reactors can be built on time, on schedule. And once that happens, I think the hope and the expectation is that the government steps out of the business and the private sector takes over.
VELSHI: That's a hope I think that a lot of people have for a lot of things that government is in the business of doing these days, that the private sector is able to take over.
Energy Secretary Steven Chu.
Thanks for joining me today.
CHU: Thank you. VELSHI: All right. Traffic lights, they can help you save gas. I didn't know that. They can actually help us to save the environment, too. Only Tom Foreman could really explain this well, and he's up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: All right. You want to get to work faster or save on gas, change the air quality? All of the above? Well, of course you would. So just tell your city to adjust their traffic lights. It's just one simple thing.
Here's Tom Foreman.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The problem with traffic is not just that there is too much. It is that some people drive too fast, some too slow, some change lanes. Some make turns and it all creates traffic jams, wasted fuel, and pollution. But Brian Park, a researcher at the University of Virginia, says we can do much better.
BRIAN PARK, RESEARCHER, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: Our -- we just showed (ph) about 30 percent better.
FOREMAN (on camera): Thirty percent better? You can improve traffic speed by 30 percent?
PARK: If you believe in simulations and the research shows that.
FOREMAN (voice-over): The secret? The lights. Park is combing detailed studies of traffic patterns, roadway obstructions and the actual behavior of real drivers in selected areas.
PARK: Some are conservative and some are aggressive.
FOREMAN: To create computer programs to constantly adjust the traffic lights, for rush hour density, special events, weather and much more. And he says his model proves traffic stops and pollution can be pushed way down, fuel efficiency way up to save the nation's drivers a billion gallons of gas a year
(on camera): This is something that you believe could be applied on a very broad scale?
PARK: I'm hoping so, yes. Definitely.
FOREMAN (voice-over): Hold on. Haven't we been using timed lights to speed up traffic for decades? Yes, but often that's involved only crude calculations based on the number of cars and the speed limit. And at the University of Maryland's Center for Transportation Management Phillip Tarnoff (ph) says even that is not being done well.
PHILLIP TARNOFF, UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND'S CENTER FOR TRANSPORTATION MANAGEMENT: I think it's terrible.
FOREMAN: Studies have found more than a third of cities and towns have not adjusted the timing of their lights for more than ten years despite huge changes in population, housing and business demands.
(on camera): Be careful there.
FOREMAN (voice-over): And yet Tarnoff says properly timed lights could reduce traffic delays by 20 percent, slash gas consumption by 10 percent and cut emissions by 15 percent.
TARNOFF: These are not simulated benefits. They're not calculated benefits. They're actual benefits that have been measured by --
(CROSSTALK)
FOREMAN (on camera): This is existing technology. If we expand it to newer technology, who knows?
TARNOFF: That's right.
FOREMAN (voice-over): However, researchers say in too many cases various government agencies controlling traffic lights just do not cooperate with each other and political leaders seldom show less interest in mundane housekeeping.
When they do researchers say the results are resounding. Plano, Texas, retimed its roads, saving commuters more than 36 million stops at traffic lights and a million gallons of gas annually. For the economy and the environment: real savings, real simple.
Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(WEATHER REPORT)
VELSHI: I want to go "Off the Radar" with you. This is something that we do.
I just want to remind you, this is what we do with Chad, because he knows so much stuff.
And I bet you've been asked this a million times about earthquakes, because you explain it every time there's an earthquake.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I have.
VELSHI: But I don't think it gets old.
Tell us how the scale works and how big this earthquake in Chile actually was. MYERS: Well, there's a beautiful calculator on the USGS Web site.
VELSHI: Right.
MYERS: Let's start with that, earthquake.usgs.gov.
VELSHI: OK.
MYERS: You pay for it in your tax dollars. You might as well go right there to learn --
VELSHI: Got it.
MYERS: -- and look at all the things you can learn.
So, everybody was wondering, how could a 7.0 in Haiti kill so many people --
VELSHI: Right.
MYERS: -- and an 8.8 in Chile do .01 percent of that kind of damage? Well, it was where the location was, but it was also something else.
On this word (ph), go click on "How Big Was It?"
VELSHI: Right.
MYERS: You type in here, input magnitude 8.8.
VELSHI: That's Chile.
MYERS: That's number one. Then you type in any other earthquake you want to figure out. I don't care if it's in your back yard. Put it in there.
VELSHI: Right.
MYERS: There's the 7.0 from --
VELSHI: That's Haiti.
MYERS: Believe it or not, if you come down here to this number, that one in Chile was 501 times more powerful than Haiti.
VELSHI: No kidding? Five hundred times more powerful?
MYERS: Five hundred times more powerful. But earthquakes don't kill people, buildings kill people.
VELSHI: Right.
MYERS: Buildings killed those people in Haiti.
I'm going to get back to one more thing here and take you to how you measure that number. That measure comes from how much it shakes, yes, but it also comes from how big the shaking volume is.
That's here, the distance between the top shake and the bottom shake. We're going to slide you all the way in. Keep right on going, and from about 400 miles north to 400 miles south of Santiago, that's where the shaking happened with this -- go ahead, turn that off. There you go.
But up here in Haiti, it's not nearly that big. This was only a few miles across.
VELSHI: I see.
MYERS: Haiti got to be a 7.0 by violent shaking.
VELSHI: Right.
MYERS: Chile got to be an 8.8 because of the size --
VELSHI: It was big.
MYERS: -- of the moderate shaking. It's the multiplication factor.
VELSHI: Right. But that lesson about earthquakes not killing people, but buildings killing people, is a big one, too. I mean, the building code in Concepcion and those areas, very different from what we saw in Haiti, where there was no building code.
So hopefully -- and this is always tough, because once it's been devastated, it's so much harder to sit there and say, OK, now that you have to rebuild with nothing, why don't you rebuild really good, quality houses? And, of course, everybody's got nothing to start with, so --
MYERS: Or do you really rebuild right there?
VELSHI: Yes.
MYERS: Can't you rebuild somewhere a little farther away from that fault?
VELSHI: Right. It's a tough one, but as you have shown us before, all those earthquakes that go through there.
All right. Thank you, Chad. I appreciate that.
Stay with us. When we come back we'll have more for you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: About 1,400 Chilean troops have been deployed across the earthquake-devastated nation. Some are working to contain looters. Others trying to clear the way for aid in the hardest-hit areas from Saturday's massive earthquake.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (SPEAKING SPANISH)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: All right. What she is saying is that she doesn't have anything. And she's not alone, at least 795 people now confirmed dead. Chile's President Michelle Bachelet says some 2 million people have been affected, about 500,000 homes are damaged.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says U.S. help is on the way, she even dealt with an aftershock herself to hand deliver some supplies.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: I brought with me 25 of these satellite phones. We have identified 62 as the highest priority for the government's request. I had 25 on my plane loaded on and I'm going to give this one to you, Madam President.
We are ready to purchase and send electricity generators, medical supplies, and are working to identify and send portable bridges, so that some of the places that are remote that lost their bridges will be able to be reconnected to the country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Now while life is getting back to normal in Santiago and the north, the central and southern regions of Chile are facing a lack of food and water. Nearly every store in the city of Concepcion has been vandalized. In nearby Talcahuano, Karl Penhaul visited a food warehouse.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is one of the main streets in the coastal town of Talcahuano, and I want to show you what happened here. It was not just the earthquake that caused the problem, although that did, the inhabitants say, damaged the houses, but it was hit by a tsunami. Two tsunami waves, the inhabitants say, and that has brought thick sludge down into the streets, inches of the stuff.
But now, take a look at this. This is a sardine boat. The fishermen say that this weighs at least 25 to 30 tons, and it was just blown ashore, probably 600 meters from the sea on a tsunami wave of about two meters they say. It would have been pitch black, and the people that I have talked to say that at first they heard of the wave was the clattering of the ship bashing against the houses, and shipping container being washed ashore as well. They said it was completely terrifying.
Now the way that the fishermen and the other inhabitants describe just the sound of the tsunami waves was terrifying enough, but even more frightening, if you think what could have happened. Now, as soon as that earthquake struck, the inhabitants say that they ran out of their homes, but after that, they say, members of the Navy and possibly also firefighters, they say, went around with megaphones telling them to go back inside of their homes. There was no danger of a tsunami wave coming.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VELSHI: All right, President Bachelet says that looting has been contained though a curfew in Concepcion has been extended to midday.
Quakes like these have a global impact not just on the people, but actually on the globe itself. A jet propulsion scientist at NASA says that the earthquake, which, as Chad told us, was an 8.8, actually shook Earth off its axis a little bit. And the effect of that is that it has shortened the day by 1.26 microsecond. Now a microsecond is -- what is that? One millionth of a second. OK, so the day is one millionth of a second.
Take a look at the Earth, what it looks like when it's rotating on its axis. This was last week, this is how the Earth looks when it is rotating on the axis. What does it look like now? Well, Bill Nye "The Science Guy" has some answers. He is actually joining us right now live from London.
Bill, welcome to the show. Thanks for being with us.
BILL NYE "THE SCIENCE GUY," EDUCATIONAL TV HOST: All right, it's good to see you.
VELSHI: This is fascinating to me. This earthquake, Chad just told us, was 500 times more powerful. It put off 500 more energy than the one in Haiti. So much energy that I don't even understand how this works. How would that have had the effect of shifting the Earth off its axis?
NYE: Well, first, let me say that I am sorry for the tragedies in both places, the human suffering. But it is, scientifically, a fascinating thing where you have a shift in the Earth's tectonic plates so massive, that you actually wiggle the Earth's axis a little bit.
You know how the ice skater is spinning and she pulls her arms in? So when you have your mass spread out you turn more slowly, as you pull your mass in you turn faster and faster. So the Earth has effectively been squeezed in a little bit by the shifting of these enormous pieces of the Earth's crust.
So that the axis has shifted, not the main spin axis, but the axis of the mathematical shape used to describe the Earth for most intents and purposes, the geoid. The Earth's figure has been tweaked about that far. It's not very far, but it's the earth, it is an enormous thing.
VELSHI: All right, so let's talk about this. We're reducing the day by 1.26 microseconds. Now that doesn't mean that the 24-hour day is getting shorter. It means there's less -- what does it mean?
NYE: Well, actually --
VELSHI: It does?
NYE: -- the Earth will spin a little -- well, the Earth will spin a million and a quartereth of a second faster every trip around the sun. This, of course, is not easily measured, but there are people who can measure it.
And furthermore, the Earth in general is slowing down. The action of the moon and the tides and the sun and the Earth's tides are serving to drag the spin of the Earth a little bit.
But this enormous effect, so big that you can measure it with ships move 600 meters across the ocean's surface, is enough to actually speed up the day a little bit. To go against the tides, if you will.
VELSHI: I didn't think I had enough time in my day as it was, and now it is getting shorter.
NYE: Oh, yes, just like that.
VELSHI: Bill, stay right there, when we come back we're going to talk about what material effect this actually has, how any of us are going to measure that small amount of time.
Bill Nye "The Science Guy" right here with me talking about the effect of a massive earthquake on the Earth's axis, the actual spin of the Earth on the axis. Stay with us, this conversation continues in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: All right, let's get back to Bill Nye, he's standing by, he's in London, which, you know, your day is spinning a little -- your Earth is spinning a little faster as mine is right now. Bill, this is because of the earthquake in Chile. Would a big earthquake somewhere else offset this or does a big earthquake always make the day a little shorter?
NYE: Oh, no. That is an excellent question. Oh, you are an journalist.
(LAUGHTER)
NYE: Yes, it depends where the earthquake -- depends where the earthquake happens. When it is near the equator, I, shooting from the hip, would expect things to spread out, but actually, that's not what happened here. Things got a little -- the earth's diameter effectively got ever so slightly smaller. And so it is like the ice skater bringing her arms in, the Earth sped up ever so slightly.
But let me point out the remarkable thing. Right now, the people involved say it is going to be a little too hard to measure. This 1.26 microsecond shortening of the day is an estimate.
VELSHI: Sure.
NYE: But I will bet you that within five years, certainly within ten years, there will be groups of people at the National Institute of Science and Technology, formerly Bureau of Standards, places like that, will be able to measure this.
And so, we all depend on this stuff. Here is a phone with a map of London on it, right now.
VELSHI: Right.
NYE: And this is made possible, because we are able to measure time in these tiny, tiny segments. We would not be able to find our way around with sat-nav (ph) or global positioning systems without extremely accurate time measurements. And it is these time measurement that have allowed us to understand the Earth's surface using satellite data and so on to make it possible to actually figure out this tiny effect.
VELSHI: So a 24-hour day may have changed a long time ago and we just haven't been able to measure it as accurately as we can now.
NYE: Oh, yes. Oh, yes. Furthermore, in ancient dinosaur times it was about 18 modern hours. The Earth has slowed down.
VELSHI: So any practical effect to this, Bill? Like is there anything I have to worry about or plan for?
NYE: Well, the practical effect is on telecommunications. The practical effect is on the satellites that are orbiting at nominally geostationary orbits and the Earth has sped up a little bit, it means that the Earth is going to slide out from underneath them just a little bit.
It is remarkable that sat-nav, as we say in London or GPS as we say in North America, it's remarkable that those things depend on special relativity. Without understanding relativity, you would not get the right answer with those things, and relativity depends on time.
So the practical effect as it will have an effect, a tiny effect is with the telecommunications industry has to compensate for it. It is amazing. Amazing.
VELSHI: Well, I won't get too much mileage about griping about how my day just got shorter, I guess?
NYE: No, no.
VELSHI: We have to speed it up a lot more for that.
NYE: Well, furthermore, what you should do is quite complaining, because the Earth's day ultimately altogether the Earth's day is getting longer, because of the sloshing of the oceans. VELSHI: Bill, what a fascinating --
NYE: But this is reducing that a little bit.
VELSHI: Bill, what a fascinating conversation. Thank you, I hope you join us more often. It's one of those things that it's worth talking about.
NYE: It is amazing. Thank you.
VELSHI: Bill Nye "The Science Guy" joining me from London.
NYE: It is a celebration of science.
VELSHI: That's it, a celebration of science. That is what it is.
All right, let me check out some of the top stories that we're following right now on CNN.
Tiger Woods is said to be back home in Florida after a week of quote, "family counseling" in Arizona. Our Susan Candiotti reports that Woods is trying to get back into a routine of golfing and working out. As you may recall from his only public statement since his world fell apart, Woods has not set a date for a return to the Pro Tour.
It is election day in Texas. The longest-serving governor in state history is hoping to outlast two fellow republicans for the right to seek a third full term in November. This is the primaries. Rick Perry is up against Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison in the primary along with an activist named Debra Medina who is a favorite of the Tea Party crowd. By the way, this is also Texas Independence Day.
And as we always do at this time every day, we are going to the White House for our senior White House correspondent -- sorry, he is not in the White House. I was going to say, that really didn't look at all like the White House. Ed Henry is in Savannah. I have no idea what is on his head. But I promise you, it is Ed Henry, so it will be something very interesting.
"The Ed Henry Segment" on this show coming up right on the other side of this break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Excellent deejay we've got here on the show. We are singing that, because -- we are playing that because the president of the United States is in the state of Georgia right now. He is in Savannah, Georgia, what a beautiful town.
And, of course, where the president goes, our senior White House correspondent Ed Henry goes, but he does not miss his obligation to us, maybe it is because we named the segment after him. This is "The Ed Henry Segment."
What on Earth are you doing? Where are you and what is going on? ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I'm in shop class, Ali.
VELSHI: It's Ed Henry "The Science Guy."
HENRY: I was inspired by Bill Nye "The Science Guy" it was a nice segue to me. I don't know what in the world this thing is, but if you could tell me. I failed shop class. Yes, it is kind of heavy actually.
I was thinking about the vice and thinking here about Jim Bunning right now might feel like he's in the grip of a little bit of a political storm back in Washington right now. What do you think?
VELSHI: Yes. Well, I thought that we had some vibe that when the president spoke this afternoon he was going to sort of pile on and talk about Jim Bunning, who, as you are right, might feel like he is in a bit of a vice. That didn't happen.
HENRY: You are right. And this is kind of one of those behind- the-scene tidbits of how the sausage is made.
It's interesting. The president, we were getting word before the speech that while the president was on the Air Force One on the way here, their expectation was that he was going to take a little poke at Senator Bunning. This was kind of an easy one for the White House to go after him, because they feel like while he says he's standing on principle and wants the Congress to pay for these unemployment benefits, the extension of that, the White House sees this as -- look, this is an emergency, as Robert Gibbs said this morning to reporters and you have got to get this money to people who desperately need it, their unemployment benefits have expired.
But somehow on Air Force One on the way here, we're told by White House aides, the president and his top aides decided he was going to pull that line out of the speech here in Georgia. He ended up not wanting to do it. And I think when you get the back story from aides, basically, they felt like maybe it would be too partisan for the president to get into that.
And then also, they didn't want him to be dragged into what one aide called, "the Senate debate du jour." You know, let the democrats and republicans let back in Washington fight it out. The whole point for him coming to Georgia is to talk about jobs and the economy, not get mixed up in that. Let Robert Gibbs do that punching, that's not for the president.
VELSHI: All right, we always see you in the White House, so it's always fun to what happens to you , how your life goes when you are out of there. So I want you to show us some behind-the-scenes stuff, but I do want to tell you I was actually quite accomplished in shop class when I was in school. And rule number one is not to wear a loose --
HENRY: Come on.
VELSHI: No, I really was. I will show you a lamp I made on a lathe.
(CROSSTALK)
HENRY: Yes, a pinstripe suit in shop class. I could just see you doing that.
VELSHI: Well, you're allowed pinstripes, you just can't have a loose tie, because it gets caught in the machinery. If you are on a lathe and it's spinning and your tie goes in --
HENRY: You know, you're right. Or suspenders.
Well, I decided to bring a little flip-cam today, give you a little couple behind-the-scenes moments about what it's like to travel with the president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HENRY: This is the glamorous White House beat -- 4:45 a.m. wakeup call, there's even some snow on the ground still weeks after our "Snowmageddon." It's about 5:45 going to get on the road to Andrews Air Force Base. It is a little dark out.
Well, this is pretty cool. This is how they wake up here in the morning at Andrews Air Force Base, isn't it? That is pretty cool.
There is a little replica of an Air Force jet over there in the parking lot. You don't see that in most parking lots.
We have just landed in Savannah, and that's the charter that we used. A very small crew traveling today, because this is a pretty quick event for the president. We spend most of the lives on buses actually like this, waiting and waiting. We just went through the Secret Service security sweep and now we're waiting to roll to president's first event.
He has not even left Washington yet, to give you an idea of how far ahead we try to get ahead of him in order to start doing live shots and everything. And there is one of the many planes from U.S. Air Force waiting here in Savannah for the president. There is always military aircraft wherever he goes, moving cargo, moving people, moving his vehicle sometimes.
So, we are here at Savannah Technical College in the Culinary Arts Department. Normally, you see the president giving an economic speech with a really nice backdrop. What you don't see is behind the scenes where we actually were and what goes on in the back rooms. So we're going to take you in here.
This is actually the kitchen for the technical college. This is the pastry chef, Jean (ph), he helps teach people how to make pastries, how to cook, this is a technical college. (INAUDIBLE) on the other side of the kitchen, so if we need to use the restroom or get a cup of coffee, we just constantly mess up Jean's day by going through his kitchen. And the president is going to be giving his speech right out here in a really nice (INAUDIBLE). You get to see all of the flags and the blue backdrop. You would never know that just a few feet away is a kitchen and our workspace, which is back here.
And we had a couple of hours before the president even arrives to give his remarks. So what would we do to pass the time? A lot of important research led by our producer Jamie Profit (ph). Who, right now -- I think Jamie is back here checking something out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, Ali Velshi, 9,635 followers. So you still got him by about a thousand followers, so you're definitely winning the race here.
HENRY: So Jamie doing the important research and still a thousand ahead of Ali.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: I like that little -- go ahead.
HENRY: No, I am saying even here in Savannah, I still got the lead and I'm gaining on you. I am just couple of hours away from you in Georgia, I'm on the other side of the state. So I'm ready to take you on, man.
VELSHI: Yes, you're 3.5 hours away. You can get on the road --
HENRY: I'm coming in.
VELSHI: -- we'll meet.
Yes, Ed Henry, if you want to follow him on Twitter, @EdHenryCNN. If you want to follow me, @AliVelshi. Don't' worry, it's -- this is a marathon, not a sprint. Ed, as much as I feel bad for you for getting out there and having to walk to Andrew Air Force Base at quarter to four in the morning or whatever time it was ---
HENRY: Yes, and in the snow.
VELSHI: You're getting -- I'm going to eat Papa John's for dinner tonight, probably. You, you're having your dinner cooked by Paula Deen or something like that. What's going on?
HENRY: Paula Deen is from the Food Network, I honestly had not heard from her. But everybody traveling here says she is the hottest thing on the Food Network. She has a restaurant here in Savannah. She cooked for the White House Press Corp today, they catered it -- fried chicken and collard greens.
And I'll tell you a story. You won't believe that I skipped the fried chicken and went to the salad, but I did. And I got some croutons, and I went back to the lady -- not Paula Deen, but someone else working for her -- and I said, these croutons are amazing, why are these so good. And she said, we try to fry everything here in Georgia. So I think you're probably, now that you've moved here, have an idea on that. But even when you get the salad in Georgia, they put a little butter, a little frying going on in there and it was pretty darn good, I got to say.
VELSHI: Well, if you get bored tonight, you drive yourself toward Atlanta, I'll meet you halfway and we'll have some fried food.
Ed Henry in Savannah, Georgia, with "The Ed Henry Segment." He is our White House correspondent giving us stuff on this show that, by the way, you're not going to get anywhere else.
We're taking a quick break, when we come back, I'm going to give you my thoughts on what Congress needs to do to get those unemployment benefits to the people who need them most.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: OK. For the last couple of days, we have been talking a lot about Senator Jim Bunning and his decision to stop unemployment benefits and other money from going out to make the point that the government shouldn't spend more money than it has, to make the point that the government shouldn't do things that it can't pay for.
When we come back, I'm going to talk more a little more about this. Senator Bunning, you are not off of the hook, but neither are your colleagues.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Time now for "The X-Y-Z of It" and I have to come back to the million or so families whose only means of support is cut off or soon will be, because a single republican senator objects to how democrats want to do business.
The standoff between Jim Bunning and most of his colleagues in both parties started last Thursday night. Up until yesterday, the onus in was on Bunning, who you see here, to give in or become the 78- year-old poster child for obstructionism.
But this is Tuesday -- lawmakers are back in Washington, Congress is back in session, everybody claims that he or she wants a solution. Well, it is time to find one. Bunning says, and he is absolutely right, if democrats want to pass an extension of federal unemployment aid, health insurance subsidies, funding for transportation projects, Medicare reimbursement for doctors, they can do it whether he objects or not. They have the majority, they simply have to do it the usual way, starting with what's called a cloture vote to cutoff the debate. This isn't health care reform, they would win by a landslide. But under Senate rules it would take a few days to get this done. So for now, the dems are holding out for unanimous consist while they insist that they are not stalling.
And maybe they are not, and maybe the aides to Jim Bunning are working on some alternatives, as Bunning told a reporter. But in the meantime, both sides are more than happy to claim the moral high ground and call each other hypocrites and a lot of our friends and neighbors are visiting food banks instead of supermarkets and losing sleep in addition to hope.
All right, time now for the best show on TV at 3:00 p.m. Eastern, whether you measure it in meters or feet. Here's "RICK'S LIST."
