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The Future of Iraq; American Idiot on Broadway
Aired April 20, 2010 - 09:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Picture-perfect landing for Discovery; we brought it to you last hour; the space shuttle touching down in Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Discovery was up there for 15 days. That's one more than planned. Weather forced them to cancel yesterday's landing attempt and there're now only three shuttle missions left.
A day of mourning for quake victims in China. The government saying all public entertainment will be canceled tomorrow out of respect for the more than 2,000 people killed in last week's major earthquake. 195 people still missing and just yesterday we did bring you the remarkable stories of two survivors pulled from that rubble.
The volcano in Iceland may be winding down, but the danger from the ash cloud isn't. Thousands of flights have been cancelled and even the U.S. military is changing routes. Wounded soldiers from Afghanistan can't get to Germany for treatment, so they're taking a detour to Iraq, landing in Balad, home to a big military hospital. We're going to have more on the travel problems caused by that ash just a little later this hour.
In Iraq, these could be the most touted deaths since the execution of Saddam Hussein. U.S. and Iraqi forces have killed the top two leaders of Al Qaeda in Iraq. Here they are Abu Al-Masri. He was the leader, the military leader of the insurgent group. He was considered Iraq's primary connection to Osama Bin Laden.
Also killed in that rocket attack, Abu Omar Al Baghdadi, he was the leader of an umbrella group that included Al Qaeda in Iraq. The U.S. military says that the killings are not just symbolic, they will deal with very real, strategic blow to the power of Al Qaeda. And the commander of U.S. forces in Iraq say that joint operation has already proved one thing, that Iraqi troops are ready to step up as U.S. forces draw down.
Earlier this morning I had a chance to speak with General Ray Odierno.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Really put in perspective, are these guys ready if you guys pull out come August in a large force?
GEN. RAYMOND ODIERNO, COMMANDER, MULTI-NATIONAL FORCES-IRAQ: Well, Kyra, the bottom line is they are. They've been over time. This is something that happened slowly over time and since the beginning of 2009 we have slowly been turning more and more responsibility over to them, and we've done it -- we've called it thinning the lines.
So we were in charge. We were to give them a little bit more responsibility and now today they are in charge across the country and they are conducting security operations. We no longer conduct large- scale operations in Iraq. The Iraqis do it and we support them and it is now appropriate and the right time for them to take over full responsibility, and that's why I think it's the time for us to get down to 50,000. I think they've proven that they can do this. We still have a significance force on the ground and that force that remains on the ground will continue to train, advise and assist them, will continue to conduct partner counter-terrorism operations and will continue to allow them to move forward as a country until the end of 2011. I think it is time for us to do that.
PHILLIPS: The five million pound gorilla in the room, Iran. As you know, General David Petraeus has come forward even recently and said this is what keeps him up at night. Can the Iraqis deal with Iran and the support Iran has with Al Qaeda, with the terrorists in Iraq and you can't deny the level of impact the Iranian interference has had even on Iraqi deliberations over the new government.
ODIERNO: Well, again, Iran is right now -- they continue to play a role inside of Iraq and some of it is maligned. And they want to do what they believe is in their best interests. What gives me -- what I believe is helpful is that the Iraqis are nationalists. The Iraqis understand. They want Iraq first and they will not allow Iran to continue to have undue influence inside of Iraq. I see it every single day. We run polls about this.
Eighty percent of Iraqis believe that Iran is conducting maligned activity in Iraq and they are doing more and more every day to protect their boarders and they're doing more and more every day to protect their institutions and we'll be here for another 20 months or so to help them to continue to develop this capacity. So when we leave in 2011, they can stand up to those who don't respect Iraq's sovereignty, who don't respect what they should be able to do internally, and I think they're going to be able to do that.
PHILLIPS: Is there one thing that maybe frustrates you the most that you know when it's time to go, it won't be the one thing you really wanted to achieve or do you feel good about leaving that you've done what you've wanted to do?
ODIERNO: Well, first, Kyra, I don't know when I'm leaving yet so we'll see, but to answer your question. The bottom line is Iraq is going to take five to 10 more years to become what I consider to be a real stable country. So what I worry about is we have to stay committed to them and I don't mean we stay committed militarily.
I mean that the United States stays committed to Iraq across political, economic, cultural and educational lines and we build a strong partnership. That's our strategy and it's going to take five to 10 more years in order for them to build themselves up to a spot where they can completely stabilize and really start to develop as a country, and I just hope we have the patience to continue to help them.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: Now just to repeat, you heard him right. General Odierno says that he believes that Iraq will not be a truly stable country for another five to 10 years.
Now, another angle to the Iraq war, its influence on a punk band. Green Day used to write songs about boredom, smoke and weed and man caves, but the Iraq war inspired something pithier and more serious in the band but no less personal.
AMERICAN MORNING's John Roberts takes us there next hour.
Plenty of business stories. The Goldman Sachs alleged securities fraud case amid their latest earning report out, not to mention the country's two biggest economic head honchos, Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke and U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner. They go before a congressional committee with some explaining to do. With so many loose ends shall we say, we call upon our chief business correspondent Ali Velshi to put it all together for us.
ALI VELSHI, CNN, SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes.
PHILLIPS: Should we start?
VELSHI: Yes, it's easy to get these two together. It's complicated.
PHILLIPS: I thought only crooks kept two books.
VELSHI: Well, this is the problem. You know, we found this out with Enron. We found it out with Lehman Brothers. So it's not science. I mean, for a while there during the economic collapse we thought that the economy was just bad. These people had bet on mortgagees and it had just gone bad, but there was more to it and that's what we keep on learning.
Now Geithner and Bernanke are testifying because they were in those rooms when the decisions were made to bail out one company versus let another one fail and in hindsight a lot of people think they shouldn't have let Lehman Brothers fail and it happened on September 14th, 2008 and you remember, right after that, that's when the credit crisis ground in and AIG failed, all of that happened and it affects all of us because and when we can't get loans it's because they messed up the financial system.
So that explains what they have to do.
PHILLIPS: It involves us because as you pointed out, it nearly crushed the economy.
VELSHI: Right. These jobs that have been lost. I mean, some of this was a recession that was going to happen anyway, but some of it was egged on. Now, Friday we found out about this SEC charge around Goldman Sachs.
(CROSSTALK)
PHILLIPS: You said they got Toyotaed.
VELSHI: They got Toyotaed. Goldman Sachs was the gold standard of investment banks. They had stayed above the fray the whole time like Toyota and now even their clients wonder whether they can be trusted because they were dealing one client against the other.
How does that affect you? The people that got duped with Goldman were two banks, two big European banks but they have investors. They have depositors. They have people who lose as well at the bottom end. The bottom line, how do I tie this together? Whether it's Goldman or Lehman, we need a system where the government can keep a close eye on what is going on Wall Street in real time and we don't have a financial regulatory system that can do that.
PHILLIPS: We're going backwards then. We're going backwards on financial reform.
VELSHI: The last time we fixed financial reform was 1930.
PHILLIPS: See this is what gives the tea party protesters all their fodder. All the tea partiers, this is all the fodder. I mean, we put so much money into saving all these guys --
VELSHI: Right. And we haven't fixed the system.
PHILLIPS: And it's blowing up in our face.
VELSHI: So the president is pushing that this week. Here's something interesting. The Pew study yesterday that showed eight in 10 Americans have some level of distrust for government. Americans are anti-regulation right now except for in financial services. Two to one Americans want the financial services regulated. People will tell you it's bad for business, it's not, Kyra. It's just plain fair. We just need some rules that fit today's (INAUDIBLE).
PHILLIPS: When it comes to cash, it's never playing fair.
VELSHI: Now, we're going to see s big push for it. We'll talk about it a lot this week.
PHILLIPS: All right. Sounds good. Thanks, Ali.
VELSHI: Good to see you.
PHILLIPS: All right.
A few daily flights for a handful of passengers costing taxpayers millions of dollars. How to manufacture magic numbers for federal funding that you'll find outrageous. That's coming up next.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Watching the ash cloud from Iceland to the U.K. still grounding flights at least below 20,000 feet and the weather is beginning to get more active at the states with severe weather possibly later this week and we'll talk about that later in the program.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Over the past several years our special investigations unit correspondent Drew Griffin has gone around the country in search of the creative ways that your tax money gets spent. Like you know, the bridge to nowhere. Well, he's got another one. Millions of bucks going to the sprawling Metro Airport in Bridgeport, West Virginia. Population, 8,000. So Drew actually took a little short flight to show you your money is being well spent and we do mean short flight.
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS UNIT: It's the shortest flight I've ever been on except for an aborted takeoff, right?
PHILLIPS: There you go.
GRIFFIN: You know, I shouldn't complain I'm making a living doing this government waste stuff, but I wish, Kyra, everybody when they're watching this story that I'm about to show you will take up. Those of you that pay federal taxes, take out your W-2, look at your statement and now watch this story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GRIFFIN (voice-over): This airport near Clarksburg, West Virginia, boasts quick check-ins, free accessible parking and convenient baggage claim which is not surprising because the planes don't exactly cue up at North Central West Virginia Airport.
(on camera): You can park here for free. You can park right next to the terminal. You can park all day and watch and you may not see a single plane.
(voice-over): And if you did stay all day you'd catch just three commercial departures carrying on average six passengers. But still, the federal government pours money into this airport 30 million to lengthen the runway in 1999. Last year 1.6 million in stimulus cash and for the last two years an extra million dollars, money given to this and any small airport that can show it gets at least 10,000 passengers in a single year.
Get just one passenger less than that magic 10,000 and you'll get a measly $150,000. It's an all or nearly nothing program that government waste watchdog Senator Tom Coburn says can only be devised in one place.
SEN. TOM COBURN (R), OKLAHOMA: Congress did. We created the incentives to kind of weasel on it so you can make more money and it's exacerbated now because of the economic downturn.
GRIFFIN: Weaseling because of tiny airports across the country like North Central West Virginia, airport managers do just about anything they can to hit the jackpot of 10,000 passengers and get the government's money and that includes free flights.
SUZANNE PIERSON, TOOK FREE FLIGHT: It was just a little -- free flight it is. They're trying to meet their quota and they were, like, 300 passengers short of the --
GRIFFIN (on camera): So literally a free flight?
PIERSON: Yes. It was awesome.
GRIFFIN (voice-over): Last December, Susan Pierson saw an ad in the local paper for a free sightseeing flight.
PIERSON: This was quite a thrill.
GRIFFIN: The local news was there, too, catching her, her grandson, Donovan and hundreds of others flying a chartered 757 above Bridgeport and Clarksburg.
(on camera): Where did the flight go?
PIERSON: It went everywhere.
GRIFFIN (voice-over): Actually it went nowhere, just up and down. Susan and her grandson became part of the airport's 10,000 passenger a year count. Dozens of airports have been chasing that number as well, in Kearney, Nebraska, residents paid $15 for aerial tours of the city's Christmas lights. In Altoona, Pennsylvania, they offered free 10-minute flights.
Back in Clarksburg, airport director Rick Rock even gets money to fly school students to Washington, D.C., for the day to bump up his passenger count.
(on camera): How was that paid for?
RICK ROCK, AIRPORT DIRECTOR: It was through contributions to the board of education.
This is the restaurant. It looks like it's closed.
GRIFFIN: Busy airport.
(voice-over): The airport just got a separate $150,000 grant from the FAA to, well, you guessed it, to promote itself.
No planes, no restaurant.
Now consider this, those three scheduled departures a day, they do go to Washington, but all stop in Morgantown, 35 miles away.
(on camera): How are you doing?
(voice-over): I took the flight myself.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE) A quick 10-minute flight and cruising altitude of 5,000 feet. GRIFFIN: And no sooner we were reaching altitude that we were preparing to land.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Morgantown. Your local time is approximately 10:20.
GRIFFIN (on camera): Every single person who leaves Clarksburg has to take that 10-minute flight.
(voice-over): The man who runs the Clarksburg Airport says he's proud of what it's done to get as much money as possible.
ROCK: We got an economic benefit analysis study done that says the economic impact of this community regionally is 395 million, so I definitely think that there's no question that we need this airport.
GRIFFIN (on camera): But how can you say that when you got three flights a day, you can go to Morgantown, right? You can go to Pittsburgh, most people do and obviously the community is not flocking in here.
ROCK: Well, I think I see that they have in the past and I'm an optimistic person that thinks they will in the future.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: I would just say as we were watching that, you feel for the guys working hard, but still --
GRIFFIN: I know.
PHILLIPS: You see something like this and it's, like, what?
GRIFFIN: And he is working hard. That guy is also the EMS director, right? He's doing it all. He's playing by the rules set up by Congress. Hello?
PHILLIPS: So here's my next question. How many other airports are out there like this?
GRIFFIN: See, nobody really knows because there's all of this gaming of the system and weaseling going on. So Coburn thinks there are dozens of these airports that are doing this kind of, you know, (INAUDIBLE) to get this limit. What he has done is he has actually slipped an amendment into one of these bills that nobody reads.
Thank goodness for him. Because he's going to get an accounting. He's going to find out just what is happening at these airports and how much money is going to these airports and the multiple different programs there are to find out if there's anything that can be done.
PHILLIPS: You did something and I remember on an airport in Wisconsin.
GRIFFIN: (INAUDIBLE) Wisconsin earmarked to extend the runway for one corporate plane. PHILLIPS: Right.
GRIFFIN: And there was -- another thing that was hilarious. So one corporate plane, there were no scheduled flights, right? The only thing scheduled in there was a UPS flight and they had this 10-foot fence around the airport. And I say, who paid for that? Homeland Security.
PHILLIPS: Oh, geez.
GRIFFIN: Homeland Security grant.
PHILLIPS: It just gets better. We laugh, but it's kind of comical --
GRIFFIN: They're throwing away money in this country.
PHILLIPS: We are tossing money away.
GRIFFIN: It's ridiculous.
PHILLIPS: And then, yes, we've got people homeless on the streets --
GRIFFIN: Right.
PHILLIPS: And we could keep going. I look forward to you continuing your coverage. Thank you, Drew. You'll be busy for the next 40 years of your life.
GRIFFIN: Yes.
PHILLIPS: All right.
Well, something else we've been talking a lot about, very annoying and very frustrating. Rob Marciano, has been this volcanic ash that has shut down flights across the country, frustrating a lot of people as much as not spending out tax dollars wisely.
MARCIANO: Yes. this is creating an economic impact that's not good. It's not creating black numbers as far as profits for a lot of people. And Iceland, it's own economic woes has plenty of -- well, the northern part of the country has plenty of ice and glaciers and snow fields and the southern part is pretty lush, actually. And that's where this volcano as you see the ash plume there, sneaking down pretty much north to south trajectory. And that is sending towards the U.K..
So that has been the problem today. We had it settled down a little bit and it kind of perked back up. The plume itself is only ejecting about 10 to 15,000 feet. So basically, the air above 20,000 feet is safe to fly, so that's where the air space is open but below -- so if you have to take off anywhere near the plume, you're grounded and that's what we're seeing across northern Europe and the U.K..
All right. Closer to home, we got rain from Nashville and Knoxville to Atlanta (INAUDIBLE). For the most part welcome because it's been pretty dry over the southeast in the past couple of weeks. Fabulous spring, the pollen has been high as well. So this all knocked down that and maybe it will moisten up the soil content of water just a little bit.
San Francisco up to Seattle, this is a pretty potent system rolling in to the Pacific northwest and northern California. Actually some of that rain will get to southern California. So pretty strong for this time of year rolling into the i-5 corridor, high elevations, of course, getting a little bit in the way of snow and it will be cool in San Francisco and 64 in Los Angeles. 69 in New York, nice there 70 in D.C. and 72 degrees expected in Kansas City.
This storm is coming through the west coast and once it gets through the Rockies over the next day or two. It will eject into the plains and this is going tap some moisture from the Gulf of Mexico, pretty good pulse of energy at the mid and upper levels of the atmosphere as well. So there should be enough twist and lift and juice to get this into severe weather category to Thursday, Friday, maybe even into Saturday and we haven't really seen much of this.
As a matter of fact, the storm prediction center is telling us that they haven't issued a moderate risk at all this year and that's the latest that they've had a way to actually hit you and they still haven't done so meaning lowest low, moderate and then high, high being the worst meaning that they think that for sure there will be multiple tornadoes touchdown and we haven't even seen a moderate risk yet and we're well into the severe weather season. So on a plus side, Kyra, it's been pretty quiet.
PHILLIPS: All right. That's good to hear. Thanks, Rob.
MARCIANO: All right.
PHILLIPS: Sarah Palin's going to the mountains of east Tennessee and while some of you are saying yahoo! Well, not Sarah. She's trying to convict her alleged e-mail hacker.
First let's check the big board. The stock's up just a bit this hour. Stephanie Elam joining us to break it down. Actually it just went down. I take that back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: More accusations of sexual assault being made against a Delaware pediatrician, Dr. Earl Bradley has already been charged with raping and abusing 103 children, all, but one of them little girls. He faces 471 counts in those cases but now a grand jury has added 58 more counts after interviews with patients and parents. We want to get more on this disturbing story in a live report in just a few minutes.
Jury selection begins this morning in Knoxville, Tennessee, for a former college student accused of computer crimes against former Republican vice president candidate, Sarah Palin. 22-year-old David Cornell, right of your screen there, faces a bunch of felony charges which includes accessing Palin's e-mail account. He pleaded not guilty.
More trouble of one of the teenagers facing charges in connection with the bullying death of a Massachusetts teen, Phoebe Prince. 18-year- old Austin Renaud goes before the judge this morning facing arraignment on drunk driving charges following his arrest Sunday. He's pleaded not guilty in the charges in the Phoebe Prince suicide case.
Back in the Vietnam war days, the baby boomers had hair, the Iraq and Afghan war generation, well, they've got American idiot.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: After 9/11, there was a sense that there was an opportunity for us to sort of join the world a little bit more and I think what have ended up happening, you know, for the next seven to eight years is that we ended up becoming more alienated just by sort of the remarks and the things that the policies and going to war.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Green Day's 2004 CD now a musical on Broadway. A musical with a pretty heavy message.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Remember "American Idiot?" Green Day put that CD out six years ago. At the time the Iraq war was the band's inspiration. Now "American Idiot" is on Broadway. Its theme is still fresh and still controversial and for the band, personal.
CNN's John Roberts talks with the players who moved punk to the great White way.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From multi- platinum recording to rehearsals to the great white way, "American Idiot" brings to the stage Green Day lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong's anger and frustration in a post-9/11 world.
BILLIE JOE ARMSTRONG, GREEN DAY VOCALIST/GUITARIST: After 9/11 there was a sense that there was an opportunity for us to sort of join the world a little bit more and what I think what ended up happening, you know, for the next seven, eight years is that we ended up becoming more alienated just by sort of by the remarks and the things that the policies and the going to war.
ROBERTS: That outrage was the underpinning for the "American Idiot" CD that sold 13 million copies.
From the moment that he heard it, Tony-award winning director Michael Mayer wanted to take it to Broadway.
MICHAEL MAYER, DIRECTOR "AMERICAN IDIOT": It's about a response to the culture at large and it's about not wanting to be the "American Idiot" who just sits in front of his or her television set accepting everything that comes in.
ROBERTS: The story focuses around Johnny, the so-called Jesus of Suburbia, a small town lay about with big-time dreams who travels to the city only to find his soul torn between an evil drug dealer d the woman who loves him.
ARMSTRONG: I think it's about someone seeking a new thrill and a new sense of adventure and I think he ends up feeling lost on the way and somehow trying to find some sort of meaning through the journey.
ROBERTS: Tony award-winning lead actor John Gallagher, Jr., knows the music and the sentiment well. Down and out of work in the winter of 2004, his sister gave him the CD as a Christmas present.
JOHN GALLAGHER, JR., ACTOR "AMERICAN IDIOT": I loved the energy of it. I loved the message of it. I love the desperation and the loneliness, and I just remember driving around and listening to that record on repeat. So it's always had such a special place in my heart, all that music.
Roberts (on camera): It really spoke to you, did it?
GALLAGHER: Absolutely. Yes, totally.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
ROBERTS: People have called this the "Hair" of the post-punk generation.
MAYER: I'll take that. I'll take it. I love "Hair." What was great about "Hair" to me was that it was like "American Idiot," a direct response to where the country was at and it felt like at the time it was the voice of a whole generation of Americans.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This next song's a big (INAUDIBLE) to all the politicians.
ROBERTS (voice-over): If Green Day is the new voice of the generation of Americans it is a brash, aggressive and uncompromising one. It has also been misunderstood.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
ROBERTS: They may be critical of the policies that took the nation to war in Iraq but they insist they are not anti-American or anti-military. In fact, drummer Tre Cool is immensely proud of his father who flew helicopters in the Vietnam War.
TRE COOL, DRUMMER, GREEN DAY: I consider myself a proud American. You know my dad is a veteran of -- you know, the Army. And, you know, for us to travel around the world and to be viewed as idiots and (EXPLETIVE DELETED) because we are Americans kind of bummed us out.
MAYER: To me, "American Idiot" is one of the most pro-American albums I have ever heard because it's all about how can we be a better country and a better population. And that -- what could be more American than wanting to be the best.?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
PHILLIPS: And if you want to see it, Green Day's musical "American Idiot" opens tonight.
From Green Day to a greener tomorrow, CNN's Poppy Harlow talked to the head of Ford Motor Company about his big secret.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: I read once that a board told you, you can't associate with those environmentalists. Did that really happen?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It really happened. Yes, I was told to stop associating with any known or suspected environmentalists.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Known or suspected environmentalists? Makes them sound like criminals, doesn't it? Good thing Mr. Ford didn't really listen.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ANNOUNCER: Live in the CNN NEWSROOM, Kyra Phillips.
PHILLIPS: Goldman Sachs making headline every day since it was charged fraud -- or charged with fraud, rather -- last Friday, and today it's no different. The Wall Street firm says it made $3.5 billion last quarter.
Stephanie Elam in New York with the details. Stephanie, how is Wall Street reacting to Goldman's earnings, or are investors pretty focussed on the SEC's fraud charges?
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Oh, I think it's definitely in there, kKyra. Initially, the stock popped after the earnings came out. After all, $3.5 million is nearly double it what Goldman made in the first quarter of 2009, but Goldman just can't shake the stigma that goes along with those fraud charges. And Wall Street wants to know how far this is going to go, but right now it's too soon to say.
We've seen some nervousness and doing a little flat-line dancing. The Goldman shares right now are lowered by just about 1.75 percent. Overall, those fears are being offset by strong earnings by Coke, IBM and other companies as well. So, the Dow off there four points there, 1,187. The NASDAQ up about three points 2,482, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: All right. Goldman Sachs was one of the many companies that received a bailout from us, the taxpayer. And today, there's this new report out on that exactly. So where do we stand in terms of the T.A.R.P. money, and are we still losing a big chunk of our investment? ELAM: Yes, you know, that T.A.R.P. Money started out at $700 billion, and today, the T.A.R.P. Watchdog says we're likely to get most of it back, but we're still going to lose $127 billion of it. That's actually less than what we're expecting to lose.
So, where are we making this money back from? The financial companies like Goldman. They paid back their bailouts with interest. But where we're losing is from companies like AIG and automakers because the government is forgiving some of their bailouts.
And another big issue, the report says the government's foreclosure prevention programs are costing a lot. But as we've been talking a lot over the past couple of weeks, Kyra, they're not working as well as expected and that's part of the issue with this one as well when you look at T.A.R.P.
PHILLIPS: All right. We'll keep tracking it. Of course, it's frustrated a lot of taxpayers. Thanks, Steph.
It's the only one of the Big Three, actually, that didn't take a government bailout. Ford says it's fully committed to fuel efficiency from the biggest trucks to the smallest cars. And that's where CNNmoney.com's Poppy Harlow comes in. She actually sat down with the company's chairman, the great-grandson of the company's founder, Henry Ford. So, Poppy, is this Ford really committed to being green?
HARLOW: It's a great question, right? We hear so much about green washing. The companies saying they're green. Last week when I wasn't talking to you, I was in California covering the Fortune Brainstorm and Green Conference. You have a lot of big businesses there saying how green they are and how to green the economy.
But we sat down with Bill Ford and what I learned, Kyra, turns out he's been an environmentalist for quite a while, going back a few decades, even when it wasn't popular at all with corporate America. Take a listen to part of our conversation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW (on camera): What gave you this environmental kick? I read once that a board told you you can't associate with those environmentalists. Did that really happen?
BILL FORD, CHAIRMAN, FORD: It really happened. Yes, I was told to stop associating with any known or suspected environmentalists.
HARLOW: The Ford board told you this?
FORD: Mm-hmm. Not the whole board, but a couple of members, back in the late 1980s when I joined the board.
It's something that first of all, I've always felt personally when I was in college, but importantly as it related to Ford. I never wanted us to be the kind of company where young people wouldn't want to work and they would have to apologize to their family and friends for working there. And I felt unless we got on the right side of this environmental issue that that was exactly what was going to happen. Any company is only as good as its people, and if we didn't get the best and the brightest, then we weren't going to be a great company.
HARLOW: Do you think looking at Ford and more broadly at big business, is big business really, Bill, committed to this environmental revolution?
FORD: That's a really good question, I don't know. I don't know what other businesses -- there is a lot of lip service given to it. A lot of people are falling all over themselves to be green now. In fact, you know, five or six years ago, it was pretty lonely.
I think the awareness is way up. I think companies understand that unless we get on the right side of it, customers will turn away from them. But, you know, and this is -- it's early baby steps on a long journey. We've got big issues as a society in front of us.
HARLOW: Is there a time that you foresee that maybe Ford says we'll just stop making gas guzzlers? We just won't do it?
FORD: Well, yes. And that's right now because we'll still make a full line of vehicles up through the trucks. But we've committed to making every single vehicle that we make the best in its segment in fuel economy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HARLOW: And you know, Kyra, I have to say looking at Ford over the last two years as its competitors have floundered, they've done quite well. Going green for them has helped them a lot.
But I asked Bill Ford about electric cars, because we hear about them and talk about them all of the time. He said the issue there, they're popular, but we don't have the national infrastructure, Kyra. We don't have the charging stations where people can plug in, and that's a big barrier to many of the buyers.
So, a lot of interesting things he had to say about talking to "known or suspected" environmentalists. I thought that was great to hear him on that, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: Point well made. Poppy, thanks so much.
Interviews with parents and patients uncover more seedy details in the disturbing case of a Delaware pediatrician. He's already accused of abusing more than 100 young girls. Now, there's more.
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PHILLIPS: We put so much trust in our doctors. And when you hear the story of how one doctor took advantage of that trust, it's an absolute outrage. Fifty-eight more count of rape and sexual abuse. That's what a grand jury handed down for a Delaware pediatrician, this pediatrician. It's a story that just makes your skin crawl. Dr.Earl Bradley is his name, and he was already accused of raping and abusing 103 kids. We're even talking about babies.
Joining me now on the phone, Chris Barrish. He's been following this story for "The News Journal" in Wilmington, Delaware and doing an incredible job. Chris, do the new counts mean that there are new victims?
CHRIS BARRISH, REPORTER, "THE NEWS JOURNAL": Yes, it does. There are 103 victims already identified from recordings that the doctor himself made, and they've added 24 victims to that number based on interviews with patients and parents. Some of those girls are in the 103, but they're just not sure yet because they haven't been able to identify all of the children on tape. So, there's more victims. We're just not sure if it's 24 more or 20 more or 18 more.
PHILLIPS: Chris, just to remind our viewers, you know, these videotapes that were found were absolutely appalling. Remind our viewers about what law enforcement came across and why this story became such an outrage.
BARRISH: Well, what they found on videotaped recordings in his office when they searched it in December. They found recordings where he was having intercourse, oral sex forced with these young children, as young as three months old. Some screaming and trying to run away. At least five of the children appeared to lose consciousness during the attacks, and the police have said it's the worst they've ever seen, you know, in their careers.
PHILLIPS: And it's those law enforcement officers, it's journalists like you and me and reporters that have to cover this, it's the families and friends. It's just the general public that is so outraged and just, basically, want to see the worst possible thing happen to this doctor with regard to being held accountable. What could he face and what could we see as this moves forward, Chris?
BARRISH: He clearly could face life in prison for each count of rape. So, theoretically, 500 and some life terms, but he's -- he will probably pursue a mental illness defense, which if that's successful, he would spend his sentence in a jail in the Delaware psychiatric center, and if he would get better, then he would go to jail. The prosecutors will fight that and just argue that he should go straight to jail for these crimes.
But what's made this more appalling to a lot of people around here is that we're finding out now that the hospital where he worked in Lewis, Delaware, on the beaches of Delaware, investigated him 14 years ago for peculiar practices with vaginal exams and hugging and kissing girls. And they cleared him of any wrongdoing. They say it wasn't a sexual complaint, it was a clinical complaint.
And they say now that the Pennsylvania authorities where he came from investigated him in 1994 for a complaint of a sexual nature. We're still trying to draw those details from Pennsylvania authorities. So, now we know he was investigated four separate times before he was arrested: 1994, 1996, 2005 and 2008. All the while he was abusing children and it appears his attacks were becoming more brazen and bold as the years went on.
PHILLIPS: Well, that is an outrage, just as horrible as what we're seeing come on these videotapes.
Chris Barrish, we appreciate you calling in and following this story for us. It's something we definitiely don't want to lose sight out -- sight of. There's a very important message to parents as to how we deal with our doctors, and we need to stay close to our children, that's for sure, any time we go see one.
Chris Barrish, appreciate it so much. Reporter for "The News Journal" in Wilmington.
Top stories now. Is animal cruelty a First Amendment right? A Supreme Court ruling on that question moments ago. Animal cruelty is illegal, no real question about that. But what about taking pictures or video of it?
Robert Stephens was convicted for selling videos for showing a pit bull attacking pigs. He got 37 months in prison. Another court ruled that the law banning the sale or even the production of animal cruelty videos was unconstitutional. Just moments ago, the Supreme Court ruled that those videos do equate to free speech, 8 to 1, throwing out that conviction.
Are you here legally? That could soon be a standard question for police officers in Arizona. It's part of a new, strong immigration bill passed by the state Senate. The governor is expected to sign it. It says immigrants much have their alien registration with them at all times and takes a stronger stand against anyone who hires undocumented workers.
Who says basketball isn't physical? Just one Chinese player. He met the business end of a roundhouse right, courtesy of an American import.
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PHILLIPS: Talk about a sore loser. Check this out. It's the Chinese pro-basketball championship series in game two ended with a bang or a thud. That's American Charles Gains (ph) decking a Chinese player from the winning team.
Oh, all right, so he took a little head butt from the other guy, but come on, a roundhouse right to the temple? Is that appropriate? Maybe that's why he didn't make it to the NBA. Fans are pretty P.O.ed about the K.O. Throwing bottles. And police had to escort Gains to the team bus.
You won't believe what some soldier families are having to endure right now. I'm going to tell you about some prank calls that have got to stop. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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PHILLIPS: It's too late, all right. More than 220 years too late. The New York Society Library has called out a reader who checked out two books and hasn't returned them. Chances are he won't -- not in person, anyway. The library ledger shows one George Washington checked them out and was supposed to bring them back on November 2, 1789. Yes, the librarian's still waiting.
Maybe the father of our country was shushed one too many times and didn't want to go back. No, the books weren't about wooden tree care and cherry tree planting. One was actually called "Law of Nations" and the other, a book of debates from Britain's House of Commons.
So, don't soldier families have enough to deal with? Long deployments, the fear and hope that they'll get home safely? PTSD, rising suicide rates and red tape with nightmares with the Veterans Administration. Their plates are full of stress as it is without some dirt-bag prank calling their families, telling them their loved ones have been hurt overseas.
The Vermont National Guard is warning soldier relatives right now that that is happening. Some woman apparently will call late at night when the ringing phone makes your heart jump out of your chest, and then she says she's sorry to hear that so-and-so has been hurt. It's sick. She's got no conscience. Whoever is behind this has no conscience.
Hopefully caller I.D. or some other technology will lead to who's responsible for this. Maybe they'll get a good jail sentence and a heart.
All right. Deep breath, sorry for flying off the handle, but flying off the handle can cause all kind of problems, right? Especially when you're talking about a huge, sharp saw blade.
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PHILLIPS: Coming up at the top of the hour, ash continues to rain down from Iceland. Flights are still grounded, thousands of people stranded. When will it end? The latest in just a few minutes.
That volcano has just about everybody talking, as you might expect. It's giving the late-night comics new material to spew.
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JAY LENO, HOST, "THE TONIGHT SHOW": Unbelievable story. The volcanic ash from Iceland continues to disrupt air travel all over Europe. Everything, commercial flights and private jets. The only things still flying, Toyotas.
(LAUGHTER) DAVE LETTERMAN, HOST, "LATE NIGHT WITH DAVID LETTERMAN": The big Icelandic volcano, it's called eye phi --
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, you forgot your yogurt!
LETTERMAN: It blew up in Iceland, and the big volcanic cloud is drifting to New York. Were you aware of that? Coming to New York City, and they say that actually, the air quality of the city is improving.
JIMMY KIMMEL, HOST, "THE JIMMY KIMMEL SHOW": As you probably know, a volcano on the tiny island of Iceland has shut down air travel all across Europe. Apparently -- I guess they dumped too much baking soda and vinegar into the thing, and it just won't stop erupting.
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Sixty-three thousand flights have been cancelled, and an estimated 80,000 Americans are stuck in Europe because of the ash cloud. President Obama had to cancel his trip to Poland. This morning, he said he hopes the volcano will stop smoking soon, and the volcano said the same thing about him.
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PHILLIPS: Curiosity has been long blamed for killing the cat. But it helped solve a neighborhood mystery near Cleveland. This is slow-motion surveillance video just outside James and Rachel Gayheart's home, catching a runaway blade that got detached from a saw.
Second look for you. Look at this. The video actually shows why the street work has yet to be finished and explains how a three-foot gash turned up at the house across the street. City officials say the contractor neglected to tell them about the saw mishap. It's on YouTube, so mystery solved.
T.J. Holmes in for Tony Harris. Today. Yes?
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Did anybody get hurt? Who got hurt?
PHILLIPS: I know. You kind of wonder, who was on the other end of the runaway blade? No, believe it or not, nobody got hurt, and it eventually stopped.
HOLMES: OK. You started by saying curiosity killed the cat, and I thought there was a dead cat at the end of the blade.
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PHILLIPS: Oh, are you kidding me? I don't want PETA calling me, upset about you know, any thrashed cats. So far, it's all good. HOLMES: All right. Thank you for clearing that up for me, at least, Kyra. Thanks so much.
