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Is it Possible to Clean Coal?; Confederate History Without Slavery?; Going Green 101

Aired April 08, 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: OK. This hour we heard from mine safety officials in West Virginia. They say they can't go back into the Upper Big Branch mine before 6:00 p.m. Eastern.

Searchers made it inside very early this morning, only to have to turn back because the air quality was getting too bad. And by that, I mean it was combustible. It's not just breathing quality. It's the fact that it could catch fire and explode.

Four miners remain unaccounted for after Monday's explosion. Twenty-five miners died in that blast, two of them remain hospitalized.

Now, searchers hope that the missing miners made it to an airtight rescue chamber. If they didn't, there's very little hope that they're still alive. But if they did, it has food, air and water for about four days.

We're going to continue our breakdown on coal production.

Yesterday, we told you about how it was made and used. Now I want to talk about how to clean it.

This is my lump of coal. This is always a sensitive topic. Coal is dirty and it's bad for the environment. Those aren't my words. Those are direct from the government.

When coal is burned, chemicals -- and by the way, scientists -- this part isn't disagreed about. When coal is burned to create electricity usually in this country -- but it can be used just to power a plant or something. Let's say it's burned to create electricity. There's particles, there's chemicals in here that are emitted. They mix with moisture and air in the rain, and they come back down in the form of what we used to call acid rain.

We call these CO2 emissions, or carbon dioxide emissions, but the issue is that they become clouds and they rain down, and they pollute the water supply and they create pollution. Again, this is -- this part is not the part that's in dispute. There are things that I'm going to say that might be disputable. This part's clean.

There are methods in place to try to clean coal. We had Michele Bachmann on, the representative from Minnesota, and she talked about clean coal.

Let's talk about whether you can clean coal.

The first thing you can do is you can wash it. It's dirty. It comes from the ground. It's the same stuff that oil is made of and diamonds are made of, so you can clean it. This removes unwanted minerals by -- and you mix it -- you mix it up.

Now, there's something called wet scrubbing, which what happens is this emission is washed, basically. It mixes other materials with this emission.

So, let's say you captured it. It didn't go into the air, you captured it. You kind of cleaned it up. And it tries to controlled sulfur dioxide emissions that come out when coal is burned. Sulfur dioxide, by the way, is the problem in coal and carbon dioxide.

The next coal-cleaning method I want to talk to you about is called gasification. It basically converts the coal into a gas by blasting it with steam and oxygen. So coal is a solid, and you're making it into a gas.

With coal in gas form, it's actually easier to filter out the byproducts that are bad for the environment. And then this is the most -- this is one that a lot of people talk about. The president even talks about this one. Carbon capture and sequestration.

You know what sequestration means. It's separating something and holding it.

Let me put it in layman's terms.

Basically, you capture the carbon dioxide. So here's the carbon dioxide normally comes out, right? It's smoke from a factory.

Let's say you capture it and you send all of the carbon dioxide down here, you pipe it underground and you bury it. According to the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Utah, there are more than 150 projects under way in the United States that involve carbon sequestration.

There are issue with this as well, though. A lot of people saying what's the point of just putting all of this into the ground? We don't know what the impact of that is. Won't it be polluting down here as well? There are others who say that is the best-case scenario.

Like anything else, there are pros and cons to all of these cleaning methods. There are tons of Web sites out there for and against coal, and explaining clean coal and whether there is such a thing.

I invite you to read up on it. I am not trying to take a position on this. I'm trying to let you know that this is where more than half of the energy, the electricity in this country that we use comes from. And frankly, in most countries, much of it comes from coal. So, whether you like it or not, it is important to us, you need to understand what role it's got in our future. OK, new hour, new "Rundown." Let me show you what I've got.

You've heard of Black History Month. You've heard of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. What about Confederate History Month?

April has been declared Confederate History Month in at least one state, and that is sending ripples across the nation.

Plus, it's going to be hours before rescuers can re-enter an exploded mine in West Virginia and search for four missing miners. We heard from mine safety officials just last hour. We'll tell you what they've got to say and we'll go live to the scene for an update.

And the collapse of Enron. Remember that? Would you consider that entertainment? Well, it is. It's on Broadway now.

Some people aren't clapping for "Enron" the play.

Let's get to our top story.

The governor of Virginia declared April Confederate History Month, and that reopened some very deep wounds over Civil War history and how it should be remembered in this country. Now, you see, Republican Governor Bob McDonnell failed to mention slavery, the word "slavery," in his proclamation earlier this week.

Now he said -- and I quote this -- "That was a major omission." That is not quieting the firestorm.

Now, we're going to be digging deep into this with the first African-American governor in the United States who, by the way, happened to serve in Virginia.

But first, Kate Bolduan brings us up to speed on the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Virginia, known for its Civil War battlefields. Its capital, Richmond, was the capital of the confederacy. Now a new battle over that legacy.

Virginia Republican Governor Bob McDonnell has declared April Confederate History Month "... to understand the sacrifices of the confederate leaders, soldiers and citizens."

GOV. ROBERT MCDONNELL (R), VIRGINIA: I thought that just having people look at the history, learning from the mistakes of the history, but understanding Virginia's role in the battlefields, et cetera, would be helpful for economic development. And so that's why I signed it up.

BOLDUAN: But the governor is now apologizing for what he calls a major omission, failing to make any mention of slavery, and is amending the proclamation to include it. Civil rights activists had accused the governor of trying to "whitewash history." BEN JEALOUS, NAACP: To, you know, not take even a second to acknowledge that the Civil War -- the main purpose of it, the main reason for the -- you know, for that fire that burned across this country was the south's refusal to let go of slavery, which is a deep and abiding crime against humanity. It does suggest that he lacks courage.

BOLDUAN (on camera): For better or worse, Virginia is steeped in confederate history. Monuments like this one can be found throughout the state. Governor McDonnell, in the proclamation, suggested that the move was meant to help boost tourism ahead of next year's 150th anniversary of the start of the Civil War.

(voice-over): The governor says he issued the proclamation at the request of the group Sons of Confederate Veterans. They say the outcry is politically motivated.

BRAGG BOWLIN, SONS OF CONFEDERATE VETERANS: What Governor McDonnell is doing is trying to help educate people. And the people who are complaining refused to look at anything. They're one-sided. They're the people that need confederate history education more than anybody.

BOLDUAN: Earlier, McDonnell gave this explanation for leaving slavery out --

MCDONNELL: Slavery was an absolute abomination on this nation. It was a vile and horrific practice that I'm delighted is wiped off the face of this country. And so I didn't mention it solely because I was trying to keep the focus on really the war aspects of it.

BOLDUAN (on camera): Governor McDonnell says he's now adding language to the proclamation to include saying, "It is important for all Virginians to understand that the institution of slavery led to the Civil War and was an evil and inhumane practice.

Kate Bolduan, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VELSHI: I want to show you what we call a word bubble. You've probably seen these before.

It's a way of drawing a statement that someone has made, a speech or a proclamation, and showing you which words were used more and which ones were used less based on the size of the word. The bigger the word is that appears in our word bubble, the more that it's used, and the smaller it is, the less it's used.

I'm going to bring that up for a second. I'm going to show you the governor's proclamation before and after, and you can judge yourself.

But first, I want to bring in Douglas Wilder. He's a former Virginia governor.

First -- do you know what? I'm going to do that after the break.

We're going to take a break. We're going to come back in a minute and talk with Douglas Wilder about his view on the whole thing. He's standing by right there. He had some things to say about this, and I think you're going to want to hear what he's got to say.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: OK. Let's talk about this Confederate History Month Controversy.

By the way, this isn't a new thing in Virginia. It was first introduced by Governor George Allen back in 1997. It was continued in 1998. Then in 2002 it was stopped.

2006, Governor Tim Kaine was asked to bring it back. He didn't. And then, of course, it was re-proclaimed this week.

Let's show you the word bubble I was telling you about.

In Governor McDonnell's proclamation, we've just adjusted things a lot. The biggest words used, "whereas" -- I guess that happens a lot in proclamations -- "confederate," "history," "Virginians," "Virginia," "period," "wartime," "people."

The issue to a lot of people was that Confederate History Month is proclaimed and the word "slavery" is not in there at all, which gave some people the impression that Confederate History Month was meant to be about something that doesn't recognize slavery.

Take a look at the new proclamation. I had to blow this up to show you where "slavery" is in the new proclamation. It's one of the smallest words in there, which means it wasn't used all that much, which means Confederate History Month, according to the governor, wasn't really supposed to include a big part of slavery.

I don't want to heat this conversation up any more than it's heated up, which is why I want to talk to former Virginia governor Douglas Wilder, who has been sitting patiently with us. He was one of those people who took exception to the way this was being proclaimed.

But let's just be clear on this, Governor. Thank you for being with us.

Are you taking exception to Confederate History Month, or are you taking exception to Confederate History Month without slavery? Tell me what you think of this.

DOUGLAS WILDER, FMR. VIRGINIA GOVERNOR: Well, I listened to what you said in terms of the history of this thing taking place. George Allen, my successor, he proclaimed it a celebration month, as well as his successor, Jim Gilmore. Their successors, with Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, issued nothing during that month. I was governor both those two guys -- those four guys. I issued a certificate of recognition, and I called my certificate -- and yours is the first media that I've ever had the occasion to bring this fully to attention. I called it a certificate of recognition for the final chapter of the Civil War.

And I spoke about how Robert E. Lee determined that his nation would be reunited and should not suffer through generations of bitter, partisan conflict. And whereas General and future President Grant, Ulysses S. Grant, countered by offering the most magnanimous terms in history of a vanquished foe, thereby sacrificing and setting the stage toward reconciliation and reconstruction.

And I pointed out further that Abraham Lincoln stayed the course through the bloodiest years of our nation. And giving assistance and fighting to preserve a union, shortly thereafter having been killed by an assassin's bullet. Now, surely we are pleased to join in remembering those who sacrificed in this great struggle and reflecting on a period when Civil War divided nations and families, and now, to the extent that we recognize that that period is over.

I likewise point out this, when I was elected, the people of Virginia said we are finished the Civil War. That period is over with. We're uniting.

Wilder, who is a grandson of slaves, is sufficiently entitled to be elected the governor of this commonwealth. To that I think we should pay homage. To the extent that the people of Virginia have moved past that period, they're not hidebound to the past. You learn from the past, not live in it.

VELSHI: Well, then, how do you learn, Governor -- how do you learn about the past, about confederate history? Part of that is a particular culture that had white people as masters and black people as slaves, but it was an important part of this country's history, it was a formative part of this country's history.

How do you learn from history without appearing to honor the victor or the vanquished unfairly?

WILDER: Oh, it's very easy to do it by teaching the truth. This was one of the reasons I had fought and struggled -- and still am trying -- to establish the national U.S. Slavery Museum in Fredericksburg, Virginia, to teach about what this nation's history is about, how we as slaves came to build the nation's capital where the president spoke just last year, where he was inaugurated upon the stones fitted by slaves, to the extent that these people have brought families back from disuniting, bringing hope to those who had been left out at a time when some said hope unborn was dead.

And so you teach it by teaching the truth. You teach it in the public schools.

VELSHI: You said this, Governor.

WILDER: You teach it to the kids. VELSHI: You said of the current governor you accepted -- when he rephrased this and added "slavery" to his proclamation about Confederate History Month, you felt that that was a conciliatory move. Others have not accepted that.

WILDER: Well, I've said I think he should be commended for recognizing, first, that he made a mistake. And, secondly, that he should have not so lightly regarded what he was doing in terms of acting as if slavery was not a part. I agree with the person who previously was on the show who said the whole purpose of the Civil War was over slavery. Make no mistake about that.

VELSHI: Governor, it's a pleasure to have you on this show. Thanks very much. And you'll come back again, I'm sure.

WILDER: Thank you. Always good, Ali. Look forward to it.

VELSHI: All right.

Governor Douglas Wilder, he was the first African-American governor in the United States, former governor of Virginia.

All right. Some college kids are cashing in while turning their campus into an eco-friendly environment. We're going to see how green they are after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Well, sometimes it's not easy being green and more eco- friendly, but lightening your carbon footprint -- in other words, leaving less of a trace of the fact that you were around -- has become a way of life on one college campus. Students have even found a way to make some money while saving the planet.

All-platform journalist Jim Spellman takes us to Colorado, where one simple thing is making one big difference.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM SPELLMAN, CNN ALL-PLATFORM JOURNALIST (voice-over): At the University of Colorado, Boulder, even the trash has gone green.

KAT STUART, COLORADO UNIVERSITY COMPOST GOALIE: My name is Kat, and I'm a compost goalie. I tell people what is and isn't compostable.

And that's how you do it.

SPELLMAN: The campus is so focussed on the environment, that the school has topped the Sierra Club's Cool Schools rating. Football games are now zero waste. Everything is either recycled or composted.

Bicycles rule on campus. There's 10,000 of them, one for every three students.

Campus buses run on biodiesel. And the school chancellor tools around campus in a plug-in hybrid while solar power heats his university-provided home. Solar panels help power the campus, and water bottle refill stations cut down on waste.

DAVE NEWPORT, CU ENVIRONMENTAL CENTER: As you can see, this one, just since January, has refilled 24,000 times. So, that's 24,000 16- ounce plastic water bottles that we are not sending to the landfill.

SPELLMAN (on camera): So how long has the environmental center been around?

NEWPORT: Forty years on Earth Day.

SPELLMAN (voice-over): Dave Newport runs the campus environmental center.

NEWPORT: The center is governed by students and funded by students 100 percent, so the students here have voted with their wallets for 40 years.

SPELLMAN: The recycling effort has actually turned into a profit center for the university. It's turning trash into cash.

EDWARD VON BLEICHERT, ENVIRONMENTAL OPERATIONS MANAGER: It's about a $15 per ton net benefit. So, this particular model's working really well for us.

SPELLMAN: And the students aren't afraid to do the dirty work.

MUSA, CU STUDENT: Because at the end of the day, I feel like I've done something by recycling this paper. You know? This is like a symbol of how we could create an impact in the world.

SPELLMAN: Behind all these efforts, there's one simple thing -- create students whose impact on the planet will grow after they graduate.

PHILIP DESTEFANO, CHANCELLOR, CU BOULDER: And when they leave, I believe that they're going to be the leaders of the next generation from the standpoint of preserving this environment.

MUSA: And not only when I leave here, this college. I think that when I leave this shift, I'm going to take what I learned away with me, outside, into wherever I'm at right now.

SCOT WOOLEY, CU STUDENT: I think it comes -- it boils down to personal behavioral choices, how you see the needs that you have, how you pursue them.

CHRISTINE AALTO, CU STUDENT: It's not only something for those granola hippies in Boulder, but it's really something that should just be part of everyday life. And you don't even think twice about it.

SPELLMAN: Students with a lesson for us all.

Jim Spellman, CNN, Boulder, Colorado.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VELSHI: Bringing you up to speed on some stories we're following right now.

In West Virginia, mine safety officials say rescuers can't go back into an exploded mine until about this evening, maybe around 7:00 p.m. Eastern. Searchers made it inside earlier today. They had to turn back because the air quality was too bad and there was a danger of combustion explosion. Crews are working to get more ventilation right now. Four miners remain missing after

Monday's explosion, the worst in a quarter century in the United States. Twenty-five miners were killed.

Several terminals at Los Angeles International Airport shut down for almost two hours this morning after a bag flagged for secondary TSA screening walked away. The owner, for some reason, picked it up and left the security area before TSA officials could get a look. The owner was found, re-screened, and everything was OK.

And a diplomat from Qatar has been freed from U.S. custody today after he allegedly sparked a disturbance on a United Airlines' flight from Washington to Denver. Initial reports mentioned a possible attempt to set off a shoe bomb. Now a federal source says the man might have been trying to sneak a cigarette in the bathroom. He's not going to face charges.

Instant death for dozens of people near Rio de Janeiro when mudslides take out everything in their path. Chad Myers is taking a closer look at the devastation when we go "Off the Radar" in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

VELSHI: Listen, we're staying on top of the situation in that West Virginia mine, the Big Branch mine.

A major setback. Rescue workers were able to get in, and they had to be turned back because the air quality was so dangerous, it was so combustible.

We're going right back there to find out what the latest is when we come back.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Another hurry up-and-wait situation for rescuers in West Virginia. It will be hours more before they can go back into a coal mine where four miners may still be trapped after an explosion on Monday. Our Brooke Baldwin is live in Naoma, West Virginia.

Brooke, we were together talking when Governor Manchin held a surprise press conference, he was not expected to say anything. And basically he was saying this whole operation is going to be delayed now because they got to do more work, test more air and then make a decision as to whether or not these workers can go in.

What's the latest that you're hearing?

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right, so we heard that the earliest these rescue members may be moving into this mine again is somewhere between the 7:00 and the 8:00 hour Eastern time tonight.

As for right now, just kind of doing the math calculations, you can pretty much assume, based upon what they were saying about an hour ago, that that second drill hole should by now have penetrated 1,100 feet down into the earth, down into the mine. And then what they're doing is taking the gigantic exhaust fans and placing it over this hole to essentially take out the bad air and push good air in.

The COO of Massey Energy kind of better explained what that fan really does. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS ADKINS, COO, MASSEY ENERGY: It will take us about an hour to set a small fan on the hole that's already sitting there but we have to plummet into that hole. At that point in time, we anticipate it will take us three hours to four hours to pump from that hole to get the atmosphere back down to a level that would allow us to take our mine rescue teams in.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: And then, like I said, hopefully 7:00, 8:00 Eastern, that's when that rescue team can move back in to the Upper Big Branch Mine, Ali.

VELSHI: All right. Give us a sense of where these rescue chambers, which we keep talking about, for anybody that doesn't know much about them, where in the mine are they -- is the one we're probably concentrating on, where's it is located? How do these rescuers get there? Some of going to be on a transportation device, and then some of it they're going to have to walk.

BALDWIN: Right, you got it. I mean, it's kind of tricky, because from the entrance to this rescue chamber that we're talking about, it's about 5,000 feet. So, that's kind of simple if you're riding on one of these mobile devices that these coal miners ride on. It's called a "man trip." So they can ride, the rescue workers can take a ride in the mine on that thing. But still -- they still have to hop out, schlep around in their gear another mile and a half to where they think this rescue chamber is.

Now, at least sort of a silver lining, if you will, is when this -- when these crews, these 32 men, went in this morning, they got pretty far. They're 1,000 feet shy of that rescue chamber and because when they had to turn around, at least they dropped all that equipment. So this second go-round should be much more efficient and hopefully, much easier for these rescue crews.

VELSHI: Brooke, what's going on with the families right now? This has got to be incredibly agonizing for those, the families of the four. It's got to be agonizing for the 25 who they know have died, but the families of these four.

BALDWIN: Yes, you can imagine the anguish is palpable. They have been told right before we were briefed, Ali, last hour, the families were briefed and said basically, look, please go home. Take a shower, get something to eat. Get a nap in, if you can, because, really, they won't and we won't get any substantial information as far as any rescue effort until about 7:00 tonight.

So, they're still, watching, waiting, and hoping and hopefully sleeping as well, Ali.

VELSHI: All right, Brooke, we'll check in with you again.

Brooke Baldwin in Naoma, West Virginia, following the developments very closely. We'll break in with any news if anything develops.

All right, Toyota officials are back in the hot seat. Some internal documents and e-mails about the sudden acceleration problem. Well, it looks to some people like a smoking gun. Maybe Toyota knew more than they've admitted.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Some new details coming to light about Toyota's timeline in dealing with its acceleration issues. Those details are coming from Toyota's own internal documents. Deb Feyerick has been looking through some of them. Some people saying that there's something of a smoking gun in there -- Deb.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know what it is? It's e-mails, and it's e-mails that really show the thinking of Toyota officials, not only here in the U.S., but in Toyota in Japan. Pretty strong words coming from inside Toyota as the company really, in January, scrambled to figure out the best way to deal with this major accelerator problem.

And we have an e-mail now that basically goes over the genesis of this. One of Toyota's top public affairs executives warns the company that they really need to come clean about the sticking pedals, that they're not doing enough to protect customers by keeping quiet about this. And in the e-mail, by the recently retired U.S. Vice President Irv Miller he writes, quote, "We have a tendency for mechanical failure in accelerator problems," and he says that "the time to hide on this is over."

And what's so interesting about this, Ali, he was responding to another executive who was in the company saying, you know, we really shouldn't mention the mechanical failure, because it could just cause uneasiness in the American public. And that's when Mr. Miller responds saying, I hate to break it to you, but we have a tendency for mechanical failure in the accelerator. So this happened days before Toyota's massive recall.

What's more, Toyota had failed to alert U.S. regulators that even though the automaker was busy addressing the same sticky pedal problem in more than 30 European countries, Toyota's new chief executive officer said there was a disconnect. That information never really made it to officials here in the U.S.

Here's what he had to say.

VELSHI: All right. We don't -- we don't seem to have that.

But here's the thing, Deb, this is -- this is where a smoking gun becomes a bit doubtful, right? So, we've got this e-mail from one executive to another, but we don't have a chain that shows that this went anywhere else, and we did reach out to Irv Miller, did we not?

FEYERICK: We did. And he said that he has absolutely no comment -- comment on this. He recently retired. We don't what kind of restrictions he's under in terms of how he left the company.

But, again, you know, what's so interesting is that it does seem that there was a lot of conversation in Toyota. The question is, was Toyota Japan talking to Toyota Europe talking to Toyota U.S.? That's the whole disconnect. That's when the information gets really convoluted.

But really, to see these e-mails for one executive to say, look, hey, I hate to break it to you, but we can't tell the American public that we don't have a mechanical problem because we have a history of it.

VELSHI: Yes, interesting point. It's also an interesting point that when it's a safety problem you have those people saying, and this happens a lot, don't alarm people, don't say it because it's going to alarm people. Interesting. I mean, that's -- there's much more to come on this and Deb will be on it for us. Thanks very much for joining us again, Deb.

Deb Feyerick in New York.

Let me give you a check of the top stories that we're working on right now.

The U.S. military is furious about a Taliban video purportedly showing a captured American soldier. In the video Private Bowe Bergdahl addresses the camera and he does some exercises apparently to show his good health. He disappeared last June in southern Afghanistan. We don't know when or where this video was shot. The military denounced it as cruel propaganda made under duress.

There's been a setback for rescue crews working at the West Virginia mine. We heard from officials at a news conference last hour that the crews won't be able to get back in and look for four missing miners until sometime tonight. They had to pull back after the air quality deteriorated, posing a risk of an explosion.

And at the White House, one of the Obama administration's top spokespeople on health care is leaving her post. CNN has learned Linda Douglass is resigning after nearly two years, saying in a statement that she wants to spend more time with her husband. Douglass is a former ABC News correspondent who joined the Obama campaign in 2008. She says she'll be, quote, "Cheering with pride as the health care reform act goes into effect."

When we come back, where is he? Where is he? There he is, Ed Henry, our senior White House correspondent. Taking a break from the White House, he is in Prague.

ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: I put a tie on.

VELSHI: I was going to say, he put a tie on for us. Standby, we're going to find out what the occasion is that caused Ed Henry to get dressed up in Prague.

HENRY: I've got a surprise.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: There he is in Prague in the Czech Republic, Ed Henry.

Something special must be happening today, because yesterday you were in some kind of a pullover and an open shirt. Now you're back in your tie. What's going on?

HENRY: I was trying to do a euro look and maybe it didn't work, you know, but it was casual, care free, no necktie. But, you know, it didn't work for you I guess.

VELSHI: Do you know what, it may have something to do with the fact that the president is going to show up or is there.

HENRY: You're right. I tend to do that, a little more casual when he's not around. Once the president is around, you kind of got to put on the tie, you got to wear the uniform.

It was a big day. I mean, this START Treaty is something in a way some White House aides look at it a little bit as what happened on the domestic side with health care where people were counting the president out, saying he was spending too much time on it. This START Treaty, the last one expired at the end of last year, there were a lot of skeptics around the world saying the president's not making headway. He stuck to it, he had about 15 consultations with his Russian counterpart, you know, ten phone calls, five one-on-one meetings.

And they feel, at the end of the day, while a year ago he was in Prague and here he laid out this vision of a nuclear-free world, shortly thereafter won the Nobel Peace Prize and a lot of people were saying he doesn't have any foreign policy accomplishments, this is hollow, et cetera, they now feel like he has a pretty good foreign policy victory under his belt now, Ali. VELSHI: All right, busy, long hours for you there, obviously whenever things are on a different schedule. Long hours for the White House staff as well. Robert Gibbs, you would think he could get some sleep on the fancy plane all the way over to the Czech Republic, but apparently he didn't get much shut-eye.

HENRY: He didn't. You've seen the movie "Air Force One" and it seems pretty plush on there, it's pretty nice. And normally on these trans-Atlantic flights, the White House staffers, some of the media, we get at least a few hours of sleep. But Robert Gibbs told me today he only got one hour of sleep because -- I don't know if you heard this thing late last night where there was this a scare about someone who allegedly was potentially a shoe bomber on this flight --

VELSHI: Yes.

HENRY: -- from Washington to Denver. Air Force One was flying across the ocean, they get this report that maybe there's a shoe bomber. It turned out that it wasn't. It was this diplomat who was smoking in the bathroom, made a joke about shoe bombing -- which is obviously not a good idea, he's now in a little bit of hot water.

But basically, Robert Gibbs was getting the SOS messages like something bad had gone on. White House aides all of a sudden brought up the secure videoconference to Air Force One, which is one of the interesting things they can do wherever the president's flying around the world, so that they could brief top aides like Robert Gibbs on the plane, and then they brief the president on what was going on.

Thankfully in this situation it was not a repeat of either the shoe bomber or the underwear bomber that we saw on Christmas Day, Ali.

VELSHI: But I can guess when you're there -- you and I -- I was working hard in New York reporting that story, as I recall, you were in a Hawaiian shirt in Hawaii, but we won't bring that up.

HENRY: Yes, I didn't have a necktie on then either.

VELSHI: No, you didn't have a necktie on.

A lot of people talk about our friendship, and some people have used the word bromance, which doesn't really mean a romance at all, just so everybody is clear on that. It's a guy friendship kind of thing, right? Which is really just my way of saying I hope you're bringing me back nice souvenirs.

HENRY: Hold on, I'm in the middle of a live shot here.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We've got breaking news going on at the castle. We've got to bring this in.

HENRY: Well, we're trying to talk about bromances right now, and I'm talking to a real important anchor names Ali Velshi.

ROBERTSON: Ali -- ?

HENRY: Velshi. The necktie guy.

ROBERTSON: Oh, that's why you said wear this?

HENRY: Yes, the vest -- you know, he wears vest. Yes, he's an important guy. You don't know who he is? Nic Robertson --

VELSHI: Nic, how are you?

(CROSSTALK)

VELSHI: Nic probably can't hear me.

ROBERTSON: -- but I don't know about this bromance thing.

HENRY: He's got -- can hear you, he's got it on and he's got a pretty nice necktie too.

VELSHI: Nic, it's nice to see you.

ROBERTSON: What's this bromance thing?

VELSHI: You remember, Nic and I -- you and Nic and I when we used to do a show in Washington, we used to tape that together, we'd have a nice time there. So we don't want Nic feeling left out of this whole thing. I'm feeling a little excluded from the whole operation, but you know, get me something nice from both of you.

HENRY: Well, that's what I'm saying. You're asking about bromances and, you know, I've gotten to know Nic and he's doing a good job and, you know, I don't want you to be jealous, Ali,

ROBERTSON: Ali, let me tell you, you don't have to worry. I'm English and we're kind of reserved about that kind of behavior. I'm not even sure we know that word where I come from. Certainly don't have the emotions to express it.

VELSHI: You guys enjoy yourselves. Once you are finished with your TV work, grab a nice beer on me. They've got nice beers in Prague. Send me the bill. Both you guys enjoy yourself.

ROBERTSON: We'll do that, Ali.

VELSHI: Nic, come and visit us in Atlanta.

ROBERTSON: A special guest here on the segment.

VELSHI: I like that, "The Ed Henry Segment" with Nic Robertson. What a pleasure to have you both on. You guys have a good evening in Prague.

When we come back -- oh you know what, we're not going to be able to come back. Let's go to Chad. I want to talk to talk about this right now.

Chad, do we have a tornado touchdown? CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Had one on the ground right on the I-10 corridor south of Quincy, Florida, and that's not that far from Tallahassee, although Tallahassee not in the tornado warning right now. It did go across I-10 with some trees down, up toward Shady Rest right now in Havana, although a lot of the circulation has really slowed down with the storm, kind of what we call keeled itself, it's gusted itself out. But there are many more storms that could still rotate again today across the southeast. We'll keep you advised on it, Ali.

VELSHI: OK, you've been warning about it, you're staying on top of it.

Now we'll take a break. Listen, does this sound like entertainment to you?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, MISFIT FILMS)

PERFORMERS: Enron!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: That's Enron, one of the most devastating corporate collapses in history becomes fodder for Broadway. Enron's swan song hits the stage. Let's find out about it on the other side.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: It was a corporate collapse that rocked the American economy and sent shockwaves across the world. The fall of Enron wrecked countless lives and erased countless live life savings. Now, that's not entertainment as far as I can see, but it is now. Our Carter Evans got a front row seat for "Enron: The Play." He joins us live now from the stock exchange.

Hey, Carter.

CARTER EVANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Ali.

So when I first heard about this play, I think I had the same reaction that probably everyone else done. One, I was a little shocked that someone was doing this; and second, I thought this is going to be a pretty dry play about finance.

But not the case with this play. It's a huge success in London. The cast somehow managed to capture the energy of the trading floor and reproduce it on stage.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CARTER (voice-over): Turning dollars and cents into drama, the blue chips meet Broadway. But there's a twist in this modern-day tragedy.

PERFORMERS: Enron!

EVANS: Yes, Enron is now entertainment.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When we tell you this story, you'll see it could never be exactly what happened, but we're going to put it together and sell it to you as the truth.

EVANS: The London production of "Enron: The Play" opened to rave reviews. It even extended its run.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I believe in God, I believe in democracy, and I believe in the company.

EVANS: Now Ken Lay and his cast of capitalist characters are preparing for their Broadway debut, in a sense back at the scene of the crime.

LUCY PREBBLE, PLAYWRIGHT: I think that we'll be ready, just as we do in Britain. It's not really a matter of if, it's like now it's time.

EVANS (on camera): But just because Enron was a huge success across the pond, doesn't necessarily mean it will play well with audiences here in America. Enron still brings back a lot of bad memories, and here on Broadway they may be singing a different tune.

SUSAN MARTIN, HOUSTON-AREA RESIDENT: I thought it was really surprising that it would be of interest up here.

EVANS (voice-over): Susan and Robert Martin live outside of Houston, Texas -- Enron territory. So, imagine their surprise when on their visit to New York, they saw this marquee on the great white way. She's intrigued and wants to see the play, but the couple knows people who lost everything because of Enron.

MARTIN: They're mad. They're still mad. They're very mad. They feel betrayed.

EVANS (on camera): A lot of people got hurt by the guy you're playing.

NORBERT LEO BUTZ, ACTOR, "JEFFREY SKILLING": Yes, I know.

EVANS (voice-over): Norbert Leo Butts He's Jeff Skilling in the Broadway production. He made the mistake of wearing a shirt with the Enron logo in the streets of New York.

BUTZ: A security guy came up to me and said, you better be careful wearing that t-shirt around. I don't think -- we can't underestimate the fact that it hits very close to the bone for a lot of people.

EVANS: For now, Enron is banking on Broadway to turn this fiscal fiasco into a new revenue stream. If the audience packs the house to relive this true story of false profits, it may not be curtains for Enron after all.

(on camera): Do you think people are ready to laugh at this yet, though?

GREGORY ITZIN, ACTOR, "KENNETH LAY": Yes, I think Americans are ready to laugh at almost anything right now, absolutely.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

EVANS: So, you know, I was talking to the playwright about this, and she says the time is right for a play like "Enron." She says, we need to learn to not be so complacent. "Enron" opens tonight on Broadway. How the audience react? That remains to be seen.

Ali, I know you have a special interest in finance. Really, with all the plays out there, is this something you'd want to see on Broadway?

VELSHI: I'd have to say, Carter, I covered Enron from the first day of bankruptcy all the way to the last day of the trial and Ken Lay's death, and I was in Houston for it, I wasn't even affected by it as a shareholder and employee, and it seems like too recent history for me. I wonder. But yes, you're right, out of interest, I'll probably go see it.

EVANS: And when you think about it, you think of everything that's going on here in the U.S. in the last couple of years, you know, they pointed out in a sense, it's kind of like history repeating itself.

VELSHI: Yes, good point.

EVANS: So maybe it's a good time to see something like this.

VELSHI: Good to see you, Carter. Thanks very much for joining us.

Carter Evans at the New York Stock Exchange.

VELSHI: Those who don't remember the past are condemned to repeat it, and then there are those folks who selectively remember. Today's "X-Y-Z" is history. It's coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Time now for "The X-Y-Z of It."

One hundred and forty-nine years ago next week the Civil War erupted, ripping America into two halves, the United States and the confederate states. It was an atrocious war. It pitted brother against brother and neighbor against neighbor. There were a variety of causes. Sure states' rights, economic power, political power, but I bet if you asked most Americans to name the cause of the civil war, they would answer with a single painful word -- slavery.

So, when the governor of Virginia proclaimed April Confederate History Month without so much as a mention of slavery, I wasn't just shocked, I was horrified. Governor McDonnell went back to fix the proclamation to include slavery, but he explained his first draft saying that he was focused on those issues that he thought were, quote, "most significant for Virginia."

Governor, slavery is it. We can't pick and choose which parts of history we teach. We can't forget our darkest moments. Slavery is a sensitive issue, so it must be dealt with in a sensitive manner. Omission is never an option.

You know, Abraham Lincoln is often referred to as "The Great Emancipator" for leading the U.S. through the bloody four years. And it would be easy to leave you his wise words about a nation divided or about all men being created equal, but instead I'm going to leave you with one of his lesser-known quotes. Abraham Lincoln said, quote, "I am a firm believer in the people. If given the truth, they can be depended upon to meet any national crisis. The great point is to bring them the real facts," end quote.

That's my "X-Y-Z."

Here's "RICK'S LIST."