Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Space Program's Future; Volcano Cancels Flights; Toyota's New Safety Concerns; Tax Day Tea Parties; Third Grader Maybe Gave Out Heroin; Choir Singer Retires After 85 Years

Aired April 15, 2010 - 09:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, guys. Have a lovely day.

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: It's tax day, and we are talking about suspensions. Three different kinds actually. Toyota suspends sales of a Lexus SUV.

Rollover fears. Now the company is testing a bunch of other models for the same problem. I'll tell you what, for Toyota, when it rains, it pours.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You have no idea. You don't even know the anger that my husband and I feel towards what this woman has done.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Russia suspended adoptions by American families. You're looking at the face of heartbreak. This woman got so close to bringing her new son and daughter home. And then that Tennessee woman sent her son back to Russia with a note.

And the third kind of suspension? Travel. An angry, messy and busy volcano between North America and Europe will definitely do that.

But we begin with the acronym. We all know it. NASA. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. But the meaning, far more powerful. Exploration, innovation and inspiration.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN F. KENNEDY, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: It was a promise. And a challenge. President Kennedy set that goal that we all wanted to reach.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEIL ARMSTRONG, ASTRONAUT: It's one small step for man. One giant leap for mankind.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: And then it happened. Apollo 11, the first men on the moon. The day we reached for the stars and we got them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: T-minus ten, nine, eight, seven, six -- we have main engine starts -- four, three, two, one. And liftoff. Liftoff of the 25th space shuttle mission and it has cleared the tower.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Control.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Rock and roll, Challenger.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Program confirmed. Challenger now heading downrange.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: And we also remember the dangers and the sacrifices Apollo 1, the Challenger, and Columbia.

Those are all moments that have burned into our collective memories. The pages of NASA's past. Today, President Obama unveils the future, the ideas, a new focus, and a lot of people wondering where it all fits in.

CNN's John Zarrella live at Kennedy Space Station there in Florida. This afternoon President Obama will be there, John, to talk about his vision for the future of the space program, and there's been a lot of criticism.

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, there sure has, Kyra. And you know what you were saying there about NASA, a lot of people will tell you that NASA is at its best when the space agency has a direction and a goal like going to the moon, like building the space shuttle program.

Well, when the president first unveiled his vision for the future a couple of months back, the criticism was, well, there is no goal. No one knew where they were going in the future. Was it to Mars? Was it to the moon?

They were canceling the constellation program that was going to be the follow on to the space shuttle program.

So a lot of criticism. So the president is coming down here today in about 4 1/2 hours to restate his policy and there are changes from what it was two months ago. They are going to decide in the next few years on a heavy-lift vehicle that will take humans perhaps to Mars to asteroids.

They're not going to completely abandon the Orion capsule. Rather they're going to do a downsized capsule that will be used as an escape vehicle from the International Space Station in case that's ever needed.

They're going to pour $40 million into the Kennedy Space Center to use as retraining money for workers here who are displaced by the changes. But a lot of people here are still wondering exactly what it means to them, exactly what their futures hold. And those answers still haven't come for those people.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFF LAKASZCYCK, UNITED SPACE ALLIANCE: I should have a plan B but I don't have a good plan B yet. I could go back to being an aircraft mechanic or maybe I'll stick around here and I'll drive a truck. I don't know.

ROBERT WRIGHT, UNITED SPACE ALLIANCE: There's just kind of a cliff out there, and we're not sure what's on the other side of that cliff.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

ZARRELLA: Now, Apollo astronauts Neil Armstrong, Eugene Cernan, and Jim Lovell wrote an open letter and that open letter really criticized the president's policy saying, look, cancellation of the constellation program is a mistake. That shouldn't happen. We should be going back to the moon.

And in part, the letter reads, "For the United States, the leading space faring nation for nearly half a century to be without carriage to lower earth orbit and with no human exploration capability to go beyond earth orbit for an indeterminate time into the future, destines our nation to become one of second or third-rate stature."

So those former Apollo astronauts, those (INAUDIBLE), did not mince any words. It is not clear at this point whether that letter ever reached the White House, but clearly they are not happy about it.

And one thing we've learned today, Kyra, is that when the president gets here, arriving on the plane with the president will be Apollo astronaut Buzz Aldrin who is not critical of the president but very supportive of the president's plan for the future -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Yes, it's interesting when you see what Buzz Aldrin is saying and then what Neil Armstrong is saying. The opposite, and how these two were together at the very beginning, and now look at steps apart.

Well, we're going to follow it all day with you, John Zarrella. Thanks so much.

We've got a lot more ahead on the future of spaceflight and NASA's legacy. We're going to talk with an astronaut who's been there a number of times. He's going to tell us what it feels like.

Also, we're going to look at the next steps that will be taken and could it be Mars?

That brings to us to today's blog question. What are some of your favorite moments from the space program? Go to CNN/Kyra, post your thoughts and I'll read some of them on the air a little later in the hour.

Forget about getting in or out of the UK today because airports are falling like dominos shutting down flights. Here's the cause. It's a volcano in Iceland. Plumes of smoke and ash have already clogged the air. And it's not just safe to fly.

Ayesha Durgahee is live at London's Heathrow Airport. The third busiest airport in the world. She's seeing the effects firsthand. Ayesha?

AYESHA DURGAHEE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there. Well, this morning I went down to Heathrow terminal three, and walking into the terminal, it seemed like a normal day with the terminal crowded with passengers waiting to check in.

And then there was one woman who made an announcement that everyone needs to vacate the terminal. That flights have been canceled. And the airport will be shut down and that they would need to contact their airlines and tour operators to make alternative arrangements, and hopefully, fly tomorrow.

But there was a moment of silence, and then suddenly everyone in the terminal started getting on the phones and walking around, looking very lost about what they should do next. Whether or not go home. To stay near the airport.

So a lot of chaos there. But, I mean, it's not just London. And there's been mass disruption across Europe.

And let me just give you an update on the airports if you are planning to fly today. In Paris, Charles de Gaulle, if you're flying to Iceland, Sweden or Norway, all those flights are being canceled.

The UK airspace and the Swedish airspace has been closed. So there won't be any flights taking off today.

PHILLIPS: OK, Ayesha, we will follow, obviously, this development, something that pilots rarely see and have to deal with. And we're going to talk more about the science behind what we're seeing here a little later on in the hour.

Also, we're talking about the problems that just don't stop for Toyota. The newest safety concern. The threat of SUV rollovers. Now Toyota is testing all of its SUVs after it suspended sales of the Lexus GX460 for the same problem.

CNN's Kyung Lah is in Tokyo.

Kyung, walk us through the latest on the suspension of production right now. KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the very latest that we've learned, Kyra, is that Toyota has announced that it will be stopping production of the Lexus GX460.

There's only one plant in the world that makes it. It's here in Japan. And that production line will stop tomorrow and it will not begin until after April 28th.

Toyota public relations is saying that because they're not selling this vehicle worldwide, it simply makes sense for them to not to produce it. Toyota is saying that in the meantime, they're going to continue to test the Lexus SUV to make sure that it's safe.

It's also continuing to test all of these SUVs. The reason why is because of this video that you're seeing here from "Consumer Reports." The "Consumer Reports" magazine, the magazine of record for consumers said that this particular vehicle should not be purchased by consumers because of the risk of rollovers.

So Toyota is saying that they are taking this extraordinary step by testing all of its SUVs, by stopping its production line, trying to reassure consumers that they are taking this very seriously.

But, Kyra, no matter which way they spin it, certainly this is a problem that the automaker certainly did not need. They had certainly hoped that the problems were behind them -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: At the same time, Toyota still seeing strong sales in the U.S.

LAH: You're right. And what you can point to, though, is the incentives. I mean if you go to any Toyota dealership in your neighborhood, you're going to see some incredible deals. So analysts will say, sure, Toyota numbers are doing OK. January, February, were not as bad as expected. But are they selling the deal? Or are they selling the Toyota brand?

And the concern here is that even if you have these sorts of problems with the "Consumer Reports" article, even though we're only talking about 5,000, 6,000 vehicles worldwide, it still affects the brand. And in the long term, that's going to hurt more than the last few months' of numbers that we've seen -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. We'll definitely be tracking it. Thanks so much, Kyung.

And you took a shower this morning, right? So did the Midwest. A meteor shower, from Milwaukee, Wisconsin to Howard County, Iowa.

Big and bright then gone -- Rob?

ROB MARCIANO, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Amazing stuff. Meteors, volcanoes, earthquakes. What is this 2012? My goodness. Rest assured, though, fairly quiet weather across the U.S. That will change as well. We'll talk weather in just a few minutes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, I hate to bum you out, but your taxes are due today. And while many of you are gritting your teeth to do the paperwork to make that deadline, most of you won't be happy about it.

At least that's according to a new CNN poll that shows that 40 percent of Americans are angry about their taxes. That's up 13 percent from 1985. Thirty-six percent say they're satisfied down from 25 years ago when nearly half were feeling that way.

You can bet that tax anger will hit full boil because the Tea Party will be out in full effect. Hundreds of rallies going on nationwide today and our Jim Acosta is in Washington where the biggest rally actually gets going later today.

Hey, Jim.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Kyra. Good morning. In about a few hours from now, we're going to see a lot of Tea Party activists out here, sounding off on everything from President Obama to the new health care law that was passed to government bailouts.

And one of the things that you'll hear in some of these Tea Party crowds these days, there is some talk about whether or not this very new movement should merge with the Republican Party. And that kind of merger would have big implications in the elections this fall.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARAH PALIN (R), FORMER VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Boston, if anyone knows how to throw a Tea Party, it is you.

ACOSTA (voice-over): At the stop along the Tea Party Express bus tour in Boston, Sarah Palin called for a political revolution. She wants Americans to party like it's 1776 and send the Democrats packing in 2010.

PALIN: Come November, that big government, big debt, Obama/Pelosi/Reid spending spree, that their little children, we're here to take care of you -- that agenda is over. We're voting them out. We're going to tell them you're fired.

ACOSTA: In other words, vote Republican in upcoming congressional elections. Other conservative leaders are going further, touting the benefits of merging the Tea Party with the GOP.

REP. MICHELE BACHMANN (R), MINNESOTA: It's really merging into one single, solitary unit.

ACOSTA: Some Tea Party organizers say that's fine, so long as they first cleanse the GOP of its moderates. What some conservatives call RINOS, or Republicans in name only.

MARK WILLIAMS, TEA PARTY EXPRESS CHAIRMAN: The Republican Party is in place as the party of the people. After we're done chasing the RINOS out of the -- out of the party, it will again be the party of the people. And if that's what people mean by merging with the Republican Party, great. I'll take that.

ACOSTA: CNN political contributor, John Avlon, points out that many tea partiers are conservatives who felt abandoned by Republicans under George W. Bush.

JOHN AVLON, CNN POLITICAL CONTRIBUTOR: Right now I think it's important to understand that the tea partiers are (INAUDIBLE) and always was the Republican Party. They form a conservative populous protest wing. They are trying to move the Republican Party to the right.

ACOSTA: But for some tea partiers, a merger would be too much too fast.

MIKE GASKE, NATIONAL CAPITAL TEA PARTY PATRIOTS: If any one person thinks that they're going to get control of this whole movement, I don't think they really understand.

ACOSTA: Even along the Tea Party bus tour, there were skeptics.

ROBERT BRAVO, TEA PARTY SUPPORTER: The whole point of this is to -- that we are Americans. Republicans, Democrats, independents.

ACOSTA: Still, a new CNN poll finds nearly 80 percent of tea partiers plan to vote Republican in fall. Democrats insist they are not sweating it. Check out this Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Web site mocking upcoming Republican primaries as "Palin Primaries."

REP. CHRIS VAN HOLLEN (D), MARYLAND: To the extent that the Republican candidates move way far to the right in these primaries to try and capture the more extreme elements of the Tea Party support, they're going to lose the support of independent/moderate voters.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ACOSTA: Now, Democrats, they say they're going to focus on the issues. Issues like Wall Street reform which they hope will drive a wedge between Republicans which may oppose new legislation on Wall Street. And the tea partiers who not only dislike the banks, Kyra, they really hate the bailouts.

And to just set the stage here as to what's happening behind me, they're just setting up some of the scaffolding. Setting up some of the staging that will be used in about two hours from now when a lot of these Tea Party activists start listening to some speakers.

Then later on at the mall, this evening, there will be an even bigger celebration with some of those Tea Party favorites, folks like Ron Paul, Jim DeMint. They'll be firing up this Tea Party activists later on today -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: We'll be tracking it. And talking with Jim Avalon, too, more about Tea Party movement. Jim, thanks.

Rob Marciano, I'll tell you what, we got some pretty cool stuff coming out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

MARCIANO: Yes. You know, shooting stars, kind of a romantic thing. Especially in the summertime when it's nice and warm.

PHILLIPS: Indeed.

MARCIANO: In August, you've got meteor showers that happened.

Check out this coming out of Iowa, in Madison. Madison, Wisconsin. They say Iowa's Sheriff Department. And this fireball just streaking across the sky.

PHILLIPS: Is that just surveillance video that -- you know how they have cameras up there around? Is that what captured this?

MARCIANO: I think this is just a dashboard cam.

PHILLIPS: Oh, dashboard cam.

MARCIANO: I think the guys are just, you know, hanging out in the neighborhood, and making sure that there's no creepy crawler guys, you know, sneaking the windows.

PHILLIPS: Fighting crime.

MARCIANO: Yes. Fighting crime. Exactly. And this two fireballs creep across the site. This is -- kind of an obscure meteor shower. The Gamma Virginids, it's smaller in intensity than the bigger ones like the Perseids and the Leonids. But nonetheless, it lit up the sky last night across western Great Lakes.

Good stuff there through our stargazer. Hope you thought that. There'll still be a chance for seeing more of that tonight and then tomorrow night. It's peaking right now. But that was pretty rare to see those two big ones roll across the sky.

(WEATHER REPORT)

MARCIANO: But you mentioned this earlier in the program that this ash cloud that's emanating from that volcano across Iceland has made its way all the way down into the UK and they're shutting down airspace and shutting down airports because of it.

So if you're traveling there, certainly be aware of that and call ahead if you're going overseas. Check out this infrared satellite picture showing -- it's measuring the temperature now.

In this particular case, the black is where temperatures are a little bit warmer than the clouds around it. And you can see it coming out of the volcano right here, and it's making its way, following those upper level winds. So this is a problem for jet airplanes, Kyra. So they're not taking any chances certainly across parts of the UK, and I'm told now it's getting into parts of western Spain. So it's going to be an ongoing problem for aviation until that eruption begins to settle down just a little bit.

PHILLIPS: All right, so -- and I think we've got some other video. Is this the same one? Oh, here we go, this is the other shot -- look at this -- of the meteor shower in Milwaukee caught by another -- do we know -- how was this captured? This video?

MARCIANO: Probably it's, you know, security -- or maybe it's an affiliate tower camera that was rolling on.

PHILLIPS: Tower cam somewhere from one of the affiliates?

MARCIANO: But nonetheless, it's great resolution. It's not one of those things --

PHILLIPS: Isn't that cool?

MARCIANO: Yes, it's fantastic. I don't know. It's kind of spooky. I think I'd be -- at the very least --

PHILLIPS: Yes, but you're a stargazer so you know it's kind of cool stuff, and you know it all makes sense.

MARCIANO: It does.

PHILLIPS: From a scientific standpoint.

MARCIANO: It does. But I forgot about his obscure meteor showers. So I would have probably looked up in the sky and go -- who's coming?

PHILLIPS: Yes, exactly. Who's the space alien?

MARCIANO: The visitors.

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: Thanks, Rob.

MARCIANO: See you in a bit.

PHILLIPS: Well, everybody in town wants to talk about 15-year- old Phoebe Prince. Remember her? She was bullied and then died by suicide. So why didn't anyone mention her name at the school meeting?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: We've talked about 15-year-old Phoebe Prince. She was bullied and died by suicide. The community was outraged because they said no one spoke up for this teen. Silence continues this time at her school district's public meeting last night when her name wasn't even mentioned. That was one of the rules actually set up by the committee. But things got heated anyway.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BOB CRACK, SOUTH HADLEY, MASS. RESIDENT: I don't know what -- who you guys are -- why you're trying to cover up this, everybody knows --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Cover up -- cover up what?

CRACK: You know they dropped the ball. They blew it. And everybody knows they blew it. All right? You've got to get rid of them. All they are is just a noose on the neck of this town.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hold on. Hold on. You're done.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Six school mates face charges linked to that bullying of Prince. No teachers or staff members face charges, though many in the community feel they should be held accountable.

Russia say for now no more adoptions for American families, not until Moscow and Washington can figure out what went wrong with the family in Shelbyville, Tennessee and how to prevent any repeats.

Remember a woman who put her adopted son on a plane, sent him back to Russia, and set off an international controversy? Well, she claimed the 7-year-old was unstable, psychotic, and that the Russian orphanage workers lied to her.

Moscow has suspended adoptions by American families until both nations can agree on some rules. One idea is to allow monitoring of children after they brought -- after they've been brought, rather, to the U.S.

How do I know it's April 15th? Because the line at Starbucks is so long and I said forget it. And I drank all that sludge in the break room coffee pot.

Well, tax day means that free coffee, free cupcakes, free ice cream might have to be taken advantage of today. That's usually what happens today. You get freebies for all that money you've already given.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: All right. Wall Street coming off pretty good right now with the rally. The Dow held about 11000 yesterday. S&P 500 topped 1200. Actually for the first time in a year and a half.

Felicia Taylor from the New York Stock Exchange.

You hear the hooping and the hollering.

(LAUGHTER) FELICIA TAYLOR, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Everybody gets excited at the open, Kyra, why not. We've had five straight days of gains over 11,000, and now we're expecting now, unfortunately, a lower open partly because of a week labor report. New jobless claims unexpectedly jumped to 484,000 last week. That is an increase of 24,000; however, the government analysts say that it's not due to an increasing layoffs necessarily, instead, they're blaming this lag in claims related to the Easter holiday and also Cesar Chavez Day. That's a holiday that is mostly celebrated in the west, such as California and celebrates the life of a Mexican labor leader.

Now, corporate earnings do contain to be strong, though. UPS says that first quarter profits jumped more than 30 percent. Shipping volume grew here in the U.S. for the first time in two years, and it was also quite strong overseas. UPS shares right now are up almost 5 percent.

Although, we've got more problems for Toyota, the automaker is suspending sales and temporarily halting production of the Lexus X-460 that will be as of tomorrow. This comes just days after "Consumer Reports" issued a rare, quote, "don't buy warning on the SUV. Toyota, by the way, is now also doing safety tests on all of its SUVs. Let's take a look at the early numbers just settling in. The Dow Industrials are off about 22 points, that, like I said, riding a five- session winning streak. And the S&P is off just a fractionally -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: OK. We'll keep track and hopefully the ongoing progress. Thanks, Felicia.

TAYLOR: OK.

PHILLIPS: If you're fumbling with forms or, you know, still on hold with your accountant, I don't have to tell you it's Tax Day, but hold on, don't stressed out too much. There might be some good news here. Congress did cut your federal taxes for this year by about $173 billion but don't expect the good time to keep rolling because former President Bush's tax cuts expire in January and the health care overhaul includes future increases.

So, you think you're overtaxed? I know, silly question, but let's take a closer look with how you stack up with others in the same position. Stephanie Elam is here to separate a little fact from fiction. Hey, Steph.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kyra, yes, it's true. And a lot of people are thinking about it today of all days, but when you take a look at the numbers, you might be surprised to see what you find out. So, let's take a look at how the U.S. compares as far as taxes being a part of GDP. It actually turns out that of the federal state and local taxes, about 27 percent of that makes up the U.S. GDP. If you compare that to the other 30 richest countries, their GDP average is about 36 percent that is coming from taxes.

So, we are actually on the lower end there. But Americans do pay far more in individual taxes, but if you go to these other countries, you'll notice they pay a lot more in sales taxes than we do. So, that's one of the differences there. Also, where does the fed get all of its tax revenue? Mainly, income taxes. Individual income taxes make a 45 percent, payroll taxes 36 percent, and then corporate income taxes 12 percent and other 4 percent, and we can also see there for that last little bit, excise taxes, which makes up 3 percent. So, if you take a look at it, a lot of it has to come from definitely to know what we're paying out there in our individual income taxes -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Yes, and you know, I think that there's a perception that the poor and the rich don't pay any taxes.

ELAM: Yes, I think there's a huge perception about that. Well, take a listen to this, 45 percent of people will not owe any federal income taxes. There's half of them who will earn too little, and the other half, they're probably taking advantage of some of those credits that out there and that's the reason why they don't owe. But everybody pays some kind of taxes like we're just saying the sales taxes, the taxes on gasoline, all sort of things, right?

Seventy-five percent will pay some federal taxes. And millionaires, millionaires, they give up 27 percent of their earnings to taxes. The average taxpayer gives up 18 percent of their earnings. One thing that's really interesting to point out, though, Kyra, 99.7 percent of millionaires pay their taxes. And I'm probably thinking because if you don't pay your federal taxes, the IRS is likely to come after you especially if you have more money in your coffers there.

PHILLIPS: Yes, you think so?

ELAM: Just a small guess.

PHILLIPS: Just as yes -- slight.

ELAM: Yes, so the rich are paying their taxes.

PHILLIPS: Thank you, Steph.

The Tea Party is staging hundreds of rallies on this Tax Day. In just a span of a year, the Tea Party has evolved from a small group of activists angry of big government spending to pretty powerful movement to be reckoned with. We're going to take you to Washington, D.C. where our Jim Acosta is and thousands of people are starting to gather. We're expected to attend that rally at Freedom Plaza. It's the last stop on a "Just Vote Them" out tour. As you know in the past few weeks, that tour area (ph) is represented by Democrats unshaky ground and the rock star in all of this, Sarah Palin. Here she is in Boston.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SARAH PALIN, FORMER VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Is this what their change is all about? I want to tell them, no, you know, we'll keep clinging to our constitution and our guns and religion, and you can keep the change.

(END VIDEO CLIP) PHILLIPS: So, what is it about the tea parties that's caught fire and sparked so much growth and power? Let's talk about it with CNN contributor, John Avlon. He's also a political columnist with the Dailybeast.com.

I just watched her speak and she's always got the one-liners, doesn't she, John, that catches everybody's attention.

JOHN AVLON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: She sure does, and you know, the people who love her, love her. She may be polarized broadly, but her base is there for her. You know, it's interesting. It's important to remember that one year ago, April 15th, was really the first massive start of the Tea Party movement. Over 800 protests drawing some 300,000 people across the country. And if you look at the Tea Party movement in context, it begins as a principal fiscal conservative protest amid bailout backlash angered on president and the government deficit spending. But over the summer, certainly, Obama has become a primary issue for many folks who got a dose of Obama derangement syndrome that's gotten baked in that cake.

So on the Tax Day in particular, it's the time to remember the roots of the Tea Party movement, to focus on that spending, on taxes as well, on the idea that remembering that fundamentally, it's our money, and government needs to be accountable to that.

PHILLIPS: So, John, if we were to try, because at the very beginning we were, you know, seeing kind of a random group of people, I guess, if you will. And we saw these protests. We saw a lot of folks just kind of showing up, screaming, yelling, bringing their signs. But now, as it started to grow, we're see more definition here.

Is it possible to even define what the Tea Party is now? I mean, is it Republican voters that don't want to be associated with the Republican brand because they're frustrated, you know, with what it stands for now. Combined with independence, I mean, is there even a way to say what the majority of these voters are right now?

AVLON: I think the best way to think of the Tea Party protesters is to understand them as conservative populists. They are to the right of the Republican Party on fiscal issues primarily, but also, in many cases, on social issues. They want, the Republican Party, to return to its roots of fiscal conservatism they feel were abandoned under the Bush and the late Congress during the last decade. So, it may have some appeal to some conservative Democrats, some independents.

Fiscal conservatism is a foundation for many folks in the political spectrum. But the real question is, can they translate that appeal to movement? Primary conservative candidates in the Republican primary, try to move that kind of change forward without being distracted by the occasional outburst of Obama derangement syndrome that we see that only alienate independent voters and folks in the center and stop it from really mainstreaming as a movement.

PHILLIPS: OK. And you know, when you think of a Republican, you know, agenda items, one thing that you're not hearing, any of these speakers, basically, go off on, that's the religious right agenda. It's very much a secular message, yes?

AVLON: You know, this is not primarily about social movements. If you look at, for example, the Tea Party federations which attempted to bring some of these parties together, the only even nod to social issues they give is talk about constitutional and limited government. Now, a great deal can come underneath that concept. But the leaders of this fundamentally decentralized movement are trying to keep the focus on spending.

They're trying to keep it on the growth of government and a movement counter to that. So, the social issues have been sort of pushed aside. Now, a lot of the populous figures leading the movement like Sarah Palin are both very fiscally conservative and socially conservative. So, there's a bit of disconnected.

PHILLIPS: Yes, it disconnects. There you go. The Republicans, basically, bailed out Wall Street. And the whole message here at the Tea Party is anti-spending, anti-Wall Street. It's very confusing, John.

AVLON: This is where, you know, there's a lot of situational ethics in politics. And so often, our political (ph) debates are becoming increasingly dishonest because partisan's been infuses almost everything. Of course, the bailouts began under Bush. The surplus turned into a deficit under Bush. And a lot of the conservative populists are becoming angry at the Republican Party when the pork barrel spending went out increased.

Yesterday, Citizens Against Government Waste put out its annual pork book release project showing that pork barrel projects are on the decline under the democratic Congress. And in fact, the federal tax burden is on decline this year as well. It'll go up next year. So, there all sorts of disconnects. And I think what we need to do is, you know, remember that we need to bring this political and tax debate back to reality, rather than kind of partisan echo chamber that points so (ph) frequently gets taken into.

PHILLIPS: Thanks so much.

I mentioned that hundreds of Tea Party rallies are planned all across the country today. To find out where there might be one taking place next to you. Just logon to www.teapartypatriots.org. Putting your zip code, they'll get your information.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Some sad news to pass on about a civil rights leader. Benjamin Hooks died early this morning after a long illness. He was 85. You may remember that Hooks led the NAACP for 15 years boosting enrollments by hundreds of thousands of members. He's also created a program that expanded job opportunities for African-Americans in baseball. Hooks received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2007.

When he first started singing, Calvin Coolidge was in the White House, and radio was the cool new technology. Well, 85 years later, he's putting on his choir robe for the very last time.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: So what does NASA, the President of the United States and carry-on baggage all have in common? Jimmy Fallon's sense of humor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY FALLON, NBC HOST, "LATE NIGHT WITH JIMMY FALLON": Did you read about this, President Obama is launching a new $6 billion space policy that will ultimately take astronauts to Mars. Of course -- of course it's $6 billion and $45 if the astronauts have a carry-on.

Obama says the new $6 billion program will let us engage in deeper space exploration, while Biden says this will let us engage in open dialogue with Alf.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Rob Marciano, that's the beauty of going up in space. There is no carry-on baggage.

MARCIANO: You're wearing it, right?

PHILLIPS: Exactly. You're not bringing anything but the space suit you're wearing.

MARCIANO: And I have a feeling if you were to try to sneak a carry-on up there they'd probably charge you more than that $45 --

PHILLIPS: It would float away.

MARCIANO: That, too, yes.

Hey, Kyra, we're looking at unusually warm spring so far especially across parts of the Midwest and the heartland, places like Iowa, Illinois, Missouri, even back through Arkansas. We've seen some temperatures that we typically don't see, at least for this long of a stretch, until -- until later into May or even June.

So the warm air continues, this big blue "h" is kind of blocking weather systems that are trying to get east. At times, they run into it and then just kind of bop up and over the top of the ridge. And that trend is going to continue. Some of them will sneak down into the Northeast and we're starting to see that now.

So everything kind of -- just kind of arcing over the top of this ridge and some showers are trying to get down into the New York City area. Right now, some showers across parts of Minneapolis and the western Great Lakes.

This will begin to fill in not so much today, but as we get towards the weekend. And there may be cold enough air in place at least at the high elevations across upstate New York and northern New England where we might see a little bit of snow. So even though it's been an unusually warm spring in many spots east of the Rockies, winter doesn't want to leave just yet.

All right, this plume of moisture coming in off the Great Lakes, that really is going to create maybe some flooding from the Rio Grande up to West Texas, Waco -- or not Waco but up through, say, Lubbock and North of I-10. Some of this could be heavy at times. You see it's not really moving all that much. So that's our main concern with this particular system.

But everywhere from Memphis to Atlanta it's going to be dry, temps will be in the lower 80s, 71 degrees expected in New York. Our friends out back into the West, 61 degrees in San Francisco and 70 degrees in Los Angeles. Maybe some cross-winds at the metro airports today may slow you down.

But I don't expect a tremendous amount of problems there, but if you are traveling over the ocean. The Atlantic Ocean, the pond, as we've been reporting all morning long, Kyra, much of that airspace in the larger airports if not seeing flight delays and cancellations, the airport is flat out shut down because of this volcano that continues to spew ash in the air disrupting air travel across parts of Europe -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Thanks Rob.

MARCIANO: OK. See you.

PHILLIPS: San Francisco, happy birthday. On this date in 1850, San Fran was incorporated; the population, 21,000. Today -- more than 800,000.

And in 1912, the unsinkable sank on its maiden voyage. The "Titanic" went down after hitting an iceberg in the North Atlantic; 1,500 people died, 700 survived.

And in 1947, one of the most important moment in baseball and of course, American history. Our man, Jackie Robinson took the field as a member of the Brooklyn Dodgers, the first African-American in the sport. He started at first base, went 0 for 3. But that's not what we remember about that day. We remember exactly what he represented that moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, it's the show and tell from hell. Police in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania, that's right near Pittsburgh, say that they confiscated what they think is heroin, up to 60 small bags of it. Well, that's bad enough on its own, right? But it gets worse. They took the drugs from a third grader they say was passing them out at school. A third grader -- heroin.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They say, trust me -- on the little thing. It looked like it was (INAUDIBLE). UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And what was he doing with that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was, when he was passing them out he was smelling them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Now, police say it could take a month to confirm if it were heroin in those bags. It's unclear when or if the boy will be suspended from school, but the big question now is how the heck did he get his hands on that stuff?

There's a lot going on this morning. CNN crews in place to bring you all the latest developments. Let's go ahead and check in with our correspondents beginning with Stephanie Elam in New York -- Steph.

ELAM: Oh, Kyra, for all those people out there who may say you know what? I haven't done my taxes yet. It's a scary situation, but don't bury your head in the sand. We've actually got some last-minute help for you if you really just need some help. Back to you.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hundreds of events today could involve hundreds of thousands, maybe even millions of people. What can we expect from the Tea Party rallies?

I'm Josh Levs. I'll have that at the top of the hour.

ZARRELLA: I'm John Zarrella at the Kennedy Space Center. In just a few hours the President will be here to outline his vision for the nation's future in space. I'll have that story coming up at the top of the hour.

PHILLIPS: Thanks, guys. We're going to continue our look at the future of the space program next hour as well and talk to one astronaut who racked up nearly 8 million miles in space.

What does she think is taking shape now and how will these decisions affect generations to come?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: He's a man so passionate about singing he's been in a choir for 85 years. It's only now for health reasons that Don Stenabaugh of Georgia is stepping away.

You've got to think, God understands. CNN writer Karen Waygood has his story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KAREN WAYGOOD, CNN WRITER: Don Stenabaugh is rehearsing with his church's choir in Doraville, Georgia for the last time.

DON STENABAUGH, TENOR: My mother was a junior choir director and played the piano. So when I was 5 years old I was drafted and so I've been singing in choirs ever since. WAYGOOD: Don turns 90 this month. That's 85 years of singing. And not just here at Winters Chapel United Methodist Church. Don says he's sung with choirs in all 50 states, the four he's lived in and the rest he traveled to with his wife Virginia who passed away seven years ago.

Don says if they didn't find a choir rehearsal to sit in on --

STENABAUGH: I would just sit in the congregation and sing the harmony of whatever hymns we were singing and people around me would join me and come around and say oh, you ought to sing in the choir.

WAYGOOD: Music minister Thom Suddreth calls Don a gentle soul and a great teacher of patience, of perseverance and of not taking yourself too seriously.

THOM SUDDRETH, MUSIC MINISTER: He comes in, contributes what he can and lets that be enough. And I think that's a great lesson.

STENABAUGH: I don't sing the notes that are written, but I make up my own harmony sometimes, and I know Thom hears it, but he just smiles at me.

WAYGOOD: You've been in so many choirs. What do you get out of singing?

STENABAUGH: Just the joy and the satisfaction of singing along. I just enjoy -- you know, I've been in -- like I said, I've been church all my life, and I just -- it's I guess my way of praising God for a wonderful life.

WAYGOOD: At 90, it's a little harder now for Don to get around. He decided a few months back that Easter Cantata would be his final performance and he liked the Winter's Chapel choir to know this.

STENABAUGH: I'm going to miss them. Yes. Yes.

WAYGOOD: One piece of advice you'd give them?

STENABAUGH: Keep singing. Keep singing.

WAYGOOD: Karen Waygood, CNN, Doraville, Georgia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)