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12 Dead in Arkansas Flooding, Oil Flow Rate Doubled, Tracking the Tar Balls, World Cup Kicks Off, Women Prevail in Primaries; World Cup Fever Takes Hold
Aired June 11, 2010 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Guys, thank you very much. Here's what I've got on the "Rundown," here's where we're going today.
The Gulf of Mexico, Day 53 looks like the oil disaster is bigger than we thought it was. As for the tar balls washing up on the beaches, you might be surprised were some of them are coming from.
OK, Port-au-Prince, Haiti, we're going to take you there. More than a million people in that quake-ravaged city are still homeless. And that makes what I'm about to say even more unbelievable. One of the more state-of-the-art tent cities in Port-au-Prince is empty. It's been empty for weeks. We're going to find out why.
In Johannesburg, South Africa, imagine a month's worth of Super Bowl. That's what we're in for with today's kickoff of the world's biggest sporting event. Veteran World Cup goalie Tony Meola is my co- anchor today. He'll be joining me to tell us what you've got to look forward to.
We've got a lot to cover. We want to begin with breaking news that Tony was just talking about with Chad. At least a dozen people have been killed in western Arkansas after flash floods swamped a campground. Right now an urgent search is going on for people still stranded in the rugged area.
Chad Myers is tracking it all in the CNN Weather Center. He was just describing to Tony what was going on. Chad, just rewind a little bit because in case somebody didn't get. Tell me what happened here.
CHAD MEYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: The storms parked themselves over one area and it's called a training effect. When you talk about a train, let's just get rid of this for a second because I can do this just for a second. A train has one car. And then in front of it is another car and in front of it another car and there are tracks that those trains go over. Right?
That's the train -- a choo-choo train. Well, when storms do the same thing and literally they trans -- they go over the same area because there's almost like on a track, then you all of a sudden have excessive rainfall amounts. That's what we had last night.
Here's Little Rock, here's where the flooding is right through here. This is a big place for a rafting area. I'm assuming that a lot of the people that were camping literally were rafters. The topography of the Ouachita National Forest, water runs down the hill here, runs down the hill here, and it ran into the valleys.
It ran into basically the campground because you don't camp on the higher elevations. You camp very close to the water.
VELSHI: Right.
MEYERS: You listen to the water rush.
VELSHI: Sure.
MEYERS: But the water went from three feet deep to 20 feet deep in less than 12 hours.
VELSHI: Wow.
MEYERS: At night.
VELSHI: The search continues over there, and we are staying on top of this. Chad will bring us up to date with more and we will as well. Thank you, Chad.
MEYERS: Sure.
VELSHI: We're following that story. The other one we're following, obviously Day 53 in the Gulf of Mexico. The oil continues to flow into the Gulf. Let's just talk a little about this, bring you up to speed.
So far BP says it's spent $1.43 billion on the clean-up. The U.S. has spent $140 million. But as you know the U.S. plans to continue to bill BP for its expenses. Let's talk about how much oil is flowing. This is a big development in the last 48 hours or so.
That's the camera under the water. Now, before this new cap was put on on June 3rd, the flow prior to that was believed to be 20,000 barrels today at the low end to maybe as high as 40,000 barrels a day. These are the latest figures from a federal scientist. Now, on June 10th, which was yesterday, 15,400 barrels were collected.
You can see how that's ramped up since June 4th. Every day a little bit more oil has been collected. Although, it's down since June 9th, 15,800. Scientists want BP to allow more accurate flow measurement equipment underground to the leak site when the company changes the containment cap or the top hat that it's got on top of that oil well.
They're going to change it to one that is apparently more effective and better sealed, but they want better measurement equipment. Current estimates are made by visually studying those videos that we were just showing you from the site and the live cameras.
Now, BP is also testing a second rig-based system that will catch all the oil. They're going to test it or catch more of the oil. They're going to try and test it this weekend. This isn't brand new, just that it's being tested this weekend. That's the aerial shot of all the ships that are above that well conducting missions to try and stop it.
This extra rig would catch an extra $10,000 a day, allowing BP to recover about 28,000 barrels a day which would get close to the high estimate of how much oil is flowing out of that well.
Now, on the part of what people are doing, advocacy groups are setting up a nationwide vigil this month, and we will bring you up to speed with exactly where those vigils are going to be held as soon as we get that information.
Now, you also know that while we can't cap this well immediately, the result, the end result is going to be relief wells that are dug around it. So the well is the one in the middle. The relief wells are the ones on the side. They're digging two of them. The one that is furthest ahead is the one on the right at 13,978 feet.
There's another one, a second one being drilled on the -- the one on the left of your screen -- it's at 8,576 feet. Now, the most important development in the last 48 hours has been the new numbers of how much oil is actually flowing out. Actually it's not even 48 hours. Last 24 hours.
Josh Levs has been study that fairly closely. What has happened? We have new estimates, Josh, of how much oil is coming out of that well and they are substantially higher than the previous estimates we had.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, I mean, look, throughout this entire crisis one thing we have learned is that any time we hear the numbers, we have to take them with a truck full of salt because there are so many variables all the time, so many things that are unknown.
Let's go straight to the current pictures right now of what's going on underwater, and I will use that to explain what's been going on. Folks, you know because I've been right here showing you every day this smoke that's coming forward from that area where the blowout preventer is. Not everything is able to get inside but basically a tube that's going up to the ship.
Well, what has been happening throughout this crisis is that some experts have been looking at them and trying to figure out how much oil it is. You might think, well look at it and figure out how much oil it is. But you can't because what happens is when oil leaks out, it instantly mixes with water and chemicals and you get black smoke. But you can't be sure how much of it is oil.
What has happened is that there is a team that is tasked with really trying to break this down everywhere they can, and the new numbers they have are striking. They're now saying up to 40,000 barrels.
That's a 1.7 million gallons a day may have escaped for weeks. And as Ali is saying, that's twice what was currently believed, twice an estimate earlier on which means the disaster could be even worse.
Now this is the high resolution video. You know what, we've been talking about this for a few days. A high resolution video has just been made available. This should help scientists determine how much oil it is. But guess what? These latest numbers are not even based on this yet. So we are expecting even more numbers to come out as scientists look at this high resolution video. Ali, that's what's next in this all of this crisis.
VELSHI: All right, Josh, thanks for staying on top of that for us. That's a big difference in the amount of oil that we thought was going into the Gulf of Mexico. We will keep on that with you. Josh Levs helping us break that down.
Now, those tar balls that are washing up on the Gulf coast, everybody has been reporting on the tar balls. If you think they're all from BP you're in for a surprise. We're going to do a little bit of "CSI" on those tar balls when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: So you know all those tar balls that are washing up on the Gulf coast beaches. They're not all from the BP oil disaster. This is something Chad was telling us right from the beginning, that tar balls are relatively common. But it took "CSI"-type work to figure that out. Our own Barbara Starr has a look at inside a Connecticut Coast Guard lab.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARBARA STARR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hundreds of miles away from the deepwater Gulf oil spill in Connecticut, a detective story is unfolding at the Coast Guard's only forensic laboratory. We start behind this heavily locked door.
WAYNE GRONLUND, MANAGER, COAST GUARD MARINE SAFETY LAB: It is evidence, it's secured, that's why you were signed in before you came into this space.
STARR: Years of oil spill samples are here preserved at a chilly 38 degrees. Even remnants of the 1989 "Exxon Valdez" disaster. I am immediately overwhelmed with the smell of the oil.
GRONLUND: There are 20,000 oil samples in there.
STARR: But all attention is on this, oil from the Gulf of Mexico.
GRONLUND: This black container is actually some samples that we just got from the BP folks that they took on-site at the spill source.
STARR: The lab is chemically analyzing the oil and matching it against other oil turned up on Gulf coast beaches. There's just one problem, there is oil not from the BP a catastrophe.
GRONLUND: We've done over 75 tar balls from Florida and Texas. So far none of which match.
STARR: The lab workload has tripled to cope with the crisis. Why are you, as you say, fingerprinting the oil to determine if it's from the deepwater spill?
GRONLUND: Ultimately there has to be a liability established for the cleanup and any penalties assessed. And so we are identifying the oil as it makes impact with the shoreline to see if in fact it does match the Deepwater Horizon or not.
STARR: New tar balls and other samples arrive almost daily.
GRONLUND: The newest samples we have. These are actually some bird feathers, pelican feathers that were collected in the Corpus Christie, Texas area.
STARR: You say that you have analyzed a number of tar balls from Florida beaches that you chemically analyzed it and it does not match Deepwater?
GRONLUND: Correct.
STARR: What's going on?
GRONLUND: There was another source. There is some other spill occurring in the Florida area, possibly a passing ship. Or analysis indicates that it's heavy fuel oil. It is not crude oil, and it does not match the Deepwater Horizon.
STARR: Is it the case that freighters, cargo ships, take advantage of an environmental situation and -- it.
GRONLUND: Would seem so. I'm not sure we can prove that but it would seem so.
STARR: What strikes me is you're the CSI of oil spills.
GRONLUND: Yes, we are. That's what we do.
STARR: Coast Guard forensic experts who work here say they will be analyzing oil samples from the Gulf for months to come. Barbara Starr, CNN, New London, Connecticut.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: One of the other stories we're following for you now is breaking news out of Arkansas where at least 12 people have died on a flash flood of a campground. I want to go to right to our affiliate reporter, KARK Reporter Courtney Collins who is on the ground near Glenwood, Arkansas. It's about as close as you can get and still get cell service. This is a remote area that doesn't have cell service.
Courtney, are you there?
COURTNEY COLLINS, KARK REPORTER (via telephone): Hey, I'm here. How are you?
VELSHI: Good. Bring us up to speed with what's going on. What we know at least 12 people have been killed. What else do we know about this?
COLLINS: Well, I actually just got finished up with a press conference with state police on the ground at the staging area near the flooded campsite. He actually confirmed 14 people have been killed, and he also said children are absolutely among the dead, which is just devastating to hear.
Also they're far from finished with this operation. Many people have been injured and there are many people still missing. So at this point they have a major rescue and recovery effort going on. We know that the aerovac team is up in the in the air. They told us they're going to be looking 10 to 15 miles south of the flooded campground and also another 10 miles north just to make sure that no bodies have washed that far downstream or upstream.
Also, they said people could be stranded in trees if they did manage to pull themselves out of the Little Missouri River. What basically happened is just really simple. There was too much rain that fell in too short of time into too small an area, and it all rushed to the river which we're told rose about 10 feet in 40 minutes.
So people in tents, people in cabins, people in campers were all in essence just washed away. We know cabins were actually taken off their foundation. So it was that severe.
VELSHI: Courtney, tell me this. The 14 people dead that you just heard, where was that from, who was the source on that?
COLLINS: That's from the state police on the ground at the staging area.
VELSHI: OK. How many people do they -- do they have any sense of how many people are missing? Was there any accounting of who was that area?
COLLINS: They don't have a number. They said it's a very popular camping area and there's many different quadrants, so they don't have a number of how many could be missing. The only absolute was the number of confirmed dead. And the man I talked to with aerovac says he thinks at least ten have been injured and taken to the hospital, but he expects many more will follow.
One thing interesting to note, he was up in the air in the chopper and remarked that it looked like the river was moving at about a 100 miles an hour.
VELSHI: Wow.
COLLINS: So it's just incredible how fast the rain came in and just took over.
VELSHI: All right, Courtney Collins from KARK, thank you for that. We'll keep in touch with you. Courtney is nearby the scene where this flash flooding took place. We have 12 confirmed dead. Courtney is saying that state police is now saying 14 people dead. All right, straight ahead, we are covering the world's biggest sporting event kicked off in South Africa today. That means World Cup fever might have a lot of people calling out sick believe it or not. We'll kick off that conversation after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Okay. This is one of the best parts about being here in New York. I'm right next to Christine. I can touch her. My co- anchor on "Your $$$." Hey, you can't but have World Cup fever. I know there's a lot of money matters going on in the world --
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Right.
VELSHI: -- but this is actually a big money thing. This is the most watched sporting event -- and collection of sporting events --
ROMANS: Oh yes.
VELSHI: -- in the world by a lot.
ROMANS: And you're going to have bars all over this country opening up early. So I think you're going to see some economic activity on that front.
VELSHI: Right.
ROMANS: But in terms of -- you know, all around the world, we did all the research, Ali. All around the countries are trying to figure out how much lost productivity they're going to have at the workplace because of the World Cup, and there's no such estimate for the United States because we just don't watch it like other people watch it.
VELSHI: This is huge, right? Some 715 million people.
ROMANS: -- Million viewers in 2006.
VELSHI: In 2006 watched the final.
ROMANS: Right.
VELSHI: Right?
ROMANS: How many Americans? 17 million.
VELSHI: 715 million in the world, 10 percent? 75 million?
ROMANS: 17 million.
VELSHI: 17 million?
ROMANS: I'm pretty sure unless I got that backwards.
VELSHI: No, I think that's about -- yes. Wow. ROMANS: It wasn't as many. It really wasn't as many. Now, listen. One of the things about productivity is when you talk about -- the first March Madness. This is the number one productivity suck at the workplace, March Madness, and this goes on over a long period of time, right? Then comes Fantasy Football. This one kills me.
VELSHI: Because it's not even really a sport.
ROMANS: It's not even real. I mean I'm going to get all these terrible e-mails from people.
VELSHI: Is says fantasy in it.
ROMANS: I mean it's not even a real like sporting event that people are looking around watching it. It's fantasy football. Then the Super Bowl, but the Super Bowl is on a Sunday.
VELSHI: Right, so that's not a productivity suck but the day after is.
ROMANS: The day after, because people are apparently still so excited from the Super Bowl or hung over from the Super Bowl. And then comes World Cup Soccer in this country. So the rest of the world is sort of soccer mad or football mad, I guess.
VELSHI: Football mad, yes.
ROMANS: In the United States you've got a few other things that top the list before it.
VELSHI: But you forwarded me in the early hours this morning --
ROMANS: I know.
VELSHI: -- two reports from major investment banks --
ROMANS: Right.
VELSHI: -- that are being conducted on the economic effects.
ROMANS: Oh, big thick reports --
VELSHI: Yes.
ROMANS: From JP Morgan, one from Goldman Sachs, also where they take their quantitative models. There's a secret sauce that they boil down with all their brains and all their computers to figure out what stocks to pick, what investments to make and they apply it to the World Cup. And it's fascinating how much attention is -- I think global banking is probably the biggest international kind of business there is.
So a lot of these people are really into it. And then this morning I got the morning currency note from HSBC. You know, I read it --
VELSHI: Yes.
ROMANS: -- so I know what's happening with the dollar. And the first thing, you know, all of these things happening in the world and the first thing is World Cup trivia. So I mean just so you know where there will be perhaps some productivity that's diverted toward World Cup, I would say banking might be one of those places.
VELSHI: Well, yes, and those numbers from 2006 I think we can probably expect more Americans are going to be watching this year.
ROMANS: I think so. I think so. But I think we've got a whole generation now --
VELSHI: Yes.
ROMANS: -- of people who grew up as little kids who -- you have to watch "Your $$$" this weekend folks, because we have this fascinating conversation with Max Kellerman who thinks that you know, basketball is the end all be all.
VELSHI: Right.
ROMANS: And the reason why soccer isn't so popular here is because we've got better sports that that.
VELSHI: Matt Taibbi, who we often talk to, wrote an excellent article --
ROMANS: "Men's Health"
VELSHI: -- about why he doesn't care about soccer and the line that stood out to both of us is how nobody -- moms like it because nobody actually gets hurt really seriously in soccer.
ROMANS: He said this.
VELSHI: But the thing about soccer is if anybody so much as breathes on anybody else you go down and you writhe in pain like you've been shot.
ROMANS: Right. A multi-millionaire European soccer star writhing in pain because someone breaths on him wrong. And in the U.S., you know it's the full contact sports that are the real sports.
VELSHI: I'm going to enjoy watching it one way or the other. But yes, we've got a lot on "Your $$$" this weekend. So tune into that. Saturday at 1:00 p.m. eastern and Sunday at 3:00 p.m. eastern -- talking about the money of the World Cup.
All right. It's been a big week in politics especially if you are a republican woman. A republican woman who is not a career politician. Very interesting week. I'm going talk to about that when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) VELSHI: I was just saying before the break it's been a big week if you are a republican woman who is not a career politician. I've actually got one with me right here. She's not here. Leslie Sanchez, my good friend Leslie Sanchez is in Atlanta this week.
LESLIE SANCHEZ, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: I came all of the way to Atlanta for you.
VELSHI: I was supposed to be there -- I know.
SANCHEZ: And, you know.
VELSHI: It's crazy. Leslie and I spent a lovely afternoon, if you recall, in North Carolina a few weeks ago.
SANCHEZ: At Maya Angelou's.
VELSHI: At Maya Angelou, right, right.
SANCHEZ: Just hanging out.
VELSHI: Just for context, yes. We didn't just go to meet in the afternoon -- at Maya Angelou's birthday party. And Leslie said she was coming to Atlanta. I said you've got to come on the show with me. Here she is and here I am. But great to have you on.
What a week, Leslie, for republican women who are not career politicians. We're talking about Meg Whitman. We're talking about Carly Fiorina in California winning their primaries to run for governor and for senator. Tell me your thoughts on this.
SANCHEZ: There is no doubt it's been a very exciting week for the republican party, very exciting week for these women, and these candidates. It basically shows a couple of things.
One, let's not discount democratic women who did incredibly well. This has been an important election because you have so many qualified candidates. A lot of open seats and you're seeing women step up to the plate to take advantage of them.
We're excited about the powerhouse, the titans of business you see in California. It's a unique model even for the republican party to see women that can self-finance at that level and these are going to be some of the most expensive campaigns in history to win these races. So --
VELSHI: These two women were very -- they put a lot of money in. I want to ask you this because I get frustrated when I hear questions like this asked on TV but I'm going to ask you one. It's simplistic. What was it? Was it that they were outsiders? Was it that they were businesspeople? Or that they were women?
SANCHEZ: Well, let me be clear. What it was not is the fact that they were women. These are qualified candidates offering a great solution to help their individual states and districts. They're not running as women candidates. They're not running on a platform of women's issues.
They're talking about fiscal responsibility, cutting and tightening their budgets, growing jobs in their community. And an interesting argument was to kind of end this one-party rule in Washington that people want to hear there. A lot of people feel their voice is not being listened to.
These women are saying I can speak for you, I'm listening. Let's take our thoughts, our innovative ideas to Washington and show them. Or what we can do on the state level which we feel is the incubator of ideas. That's a very important step for these women.
VELSHI: What do you think of -- Carly Fiorina was CEO of Hewlett-Packard, Meg Whitman of EBay. Carly Fiorina had an open microphone on the other day and she made a comment about Barbara Boxer's hair and about Meg Whitman doing an interview. What's going on there?
SANCHEZ: I think it's an open mike. It's an experience every candidate has. You know, I don't think there was necessarily that much. People want to make a lot of it. You know, it's interesting you always hear these things about cattiness or people talking about people's hair or any types of those things.
I think the bottom line, she ran a very good race. She's got a very tough general election against Barbara Boxer, and this is going to be a match to watch. Two fundamentally different women, one a little bit more modern, new ideas, and innovative in her thinking, has business experience against a traditional Washington insider you know, who brings a lot back to the state. It's going to be a very fair match-up.
VELSHI: Tell me about your book, by the way. You've got a book out.
SANCHEZ: Yes, I've got a book called "You've Come A Long Way Maybe. Sarah, Michelle, Hillary, and the Shaping of the American Women." It basically talks about women in politics, how far we've come. I think this election is a great example of that.
2008 was a launching pad for many candidates because it was an important indicator women could match the money test. They could raise money in significant amounts. They used online media to do that in many cases. People started taking these candidates seriously. The other interesting thing these women knew they had to come from a position of an elected official or some sort of public sector experience.
They're not trying to jump ahead of the crowd. They're basically on the upward ascension, bringing their own ideas and getting -- showing they have the medal for these races. That's a very strong advancement. I think for all women.
VELSHI: Why are you in Atlanta?
SANCHEZ: I am speaking at the League of Women Voters. It is their 90th Anniversary. Their convention is here, and I'm excited to be part of their effort.
VELSHI: I'm hoping the next time you're there, I'm actually there. Leslie, great to see you.
SANCHEZ: There you go. Thanks so much.
VELSHI: Leslie Sanchez is a republican strategist and analyst joining us from where I normally am at CNN Center. OK, back to oil. BP has been able to collect and siphon some of the oil leaking out of the wellhead and that hull could decrease dramatically after this weekend. The latest developments in the Gulf oil disaster are coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: I want to bring you up to speed on the latest developments in the oil crisis. I want to apologize to you by the way for this coughing that's been going on for a long time. Every morning I wake up and think that the cough is gone and it's not. But that's because I don't talk at night. But we'll get through it together.
BP has collected another 15,000 plus barrels of leaking oil, bringing the total since the cap was put in place a week ago to 88, 720 barrels of oil. Over the weekend the company plans to start testing a second system that could collect an extra 10,000 barrels a day.
Now the national incident commander, Admiral Thad Allen, says the U.S. government has put $140 million into this disaster so far. He says the fed will keep, quote, pouring in assets as long as it takes. BP says it's now spent more than $1.4 billion.
President Obama plans to return to the Gulf next week. This time for a two-day visit to Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. When he gets back to Washington he'll meet with BP chairman, Carl Henrich- Svanberg, his first face-to-face contact with any BP official since the Deepwater Horizon exploded.
By the way I will also be in the Gulf coast all next week starting with the Monday with the CNN express visiting communities and people who've been affected by the oil spill. I'll keep you posted on Facebook and on Twitter and right here on the show to tell you where we're heading next with CNN express.
If you see us, stop us, come and talk to us.
All right, in Haiti, nearly five months after the devastating earthquake thousands of desperate people still in need of shelter. But one well executed tent city remains empty. And the reason may shock you. It's our "Globe Trekking" destination right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: All right. Time to go "Globe Trekking". Our stop today is Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Now nearly five months since the country was hit by a deadly and devastating earthquake, about a million people remain homeless. And they're scraping by as best they can. Incredibly one state-of-the-art tent city actually remains empty. CNN's Gary Tuchman is in Atlanta to tell us about this disturbing development -- Gary.
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Oh this is incredible story. I've been to Haiti four times since the earthquake. On the third visit in April we saw the huge area with hundreds of tents and they were all empty.
They were told oh they're about to fill them up. So we just kind of ignored the situation which was a mistake. We assumed everything was okay and journalism as in life, you should not assume. We went back to Haiti in May, they were still empty.
And we wanted to find out some answers. And the answers we found out were infuriating.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TUCHMAN (voice-over): This appears to be one of the nicest tent cities in earthquake decimated Port-au-prince. More than 500 roomy state-of-the-art tents, showers and bathrooms, and it's all very clean.
(on-camera): All these tents say USAID, from the American people. So if you're one of the American people, you can be proud. But after you hear what I'm about to tell you, you also might be incredulous because while these tents have been here for weeks, nobody lives here.
These tents are empty.
(voice-over): There are more than 1 million homeless people in Haiti. Yet this camp is not yet open for business.
It's hard to believe, but right across the street from the elaborately planned tent city is an unsanitary over-crowded hodgepodge of hastily built shanties, thousands of people.
Marlane Boston (ph) wishes she lived in the new tents.
MARLANE BOSTON , EARTHQUAKE SURVIVOR (through translator): Because when it rains here, we have garbage and animals flowing through the streets and ditches.
TUCHMAN: So why aren't people living here in this camp run by Haiti's ministry of the interior? We asked a ministry employee in charge of making sure no squatters occupy the tents.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): There is a plan to have people come in here, but we're not done with the fence around the camp. And also, the bathrooms don't have a pump yet.
TUCHMAN: That's all true, but certainly a lame excuse in such a desperate time. So we went higher up. One of the Haitian president's top aides tells us the camp was originally designed for the thousands of homeless people who live near the presidential palace.
And refused to come here because they thought the new camp was in an unsafe area. When we tried to move the people to the new tents, says a member of the Haitian Commission For Redevelopment, they did not accept because those people were concerned about security.
So the plan now, according to the government, is to get rid of the tents and construct more permanent shelters to make those particular people feel safer.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (INAUDIBLE)
TUCHMAN: But right across the street this boy rapping about the earthquake, his family and hundreds if not thousands of other people, would have been ecstatic to move into the tents weeks ago.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): When the tents came, there was never a question. Nobody had any plans for us. We're from one of the poorest parts of town.
TUCHMAN: The government admits that people in this camp were not invited to move into the tents. But says it's not a class issue.
However, it's certainly a bungled issue. And this city with so many people desperate for decent shelter.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TUCHMAN: So now the tents are being torn down, more permanent structures are going up but it's absolutely anybody's guess how long it will before people actually move in to those structures. Ali--
VELSHI: How do you explain something like that happening with so many homeless people in Port-au-Prince?
TUCHMAN: It's mind boggling. It's bureaucratic bungling. We just don't know the answer to that, to be frank with you. I think what's amazing, Ali, is USAID is a great organization, the people at USAID give money and food and tents to people who need help all over the world and it's paid for by U.S. taxpayers.
So that's an amazing fact that all over the United States taxpayers have paid money for tents that will never be used.
VELSHI: Wow, Gary all right, I'm sorry I missed you in Atlanta. But we run into each other a whole lot. Good to see you.
All right stepping--stopping that oil gusher in the Gulf once and for all. People talk about it on the front lines and around their dinner tables.
All sorts of folks are coming up with possible fixes. And CNN is trying to share those with you. Stay with us and we'll tell you about some of them.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) VELSHI: Everyday, CNN introduces five ways that might purge oil from the Gulf of Mexico. There are ideas from scientists, inventors, and viewers. BP hasn't tried them yet, but maybe they should. Until something works, we're going to demonstrate five ideas a day. This hour we have two ideas from viewers like you, people with simple solutions to big problems.
First one is from iReporter Joseph Berto (ph) of Medford, Oregon. Berto is an inventor who thinks BP should install a modified milling machine on the side of the blowout preventer so that it cuts into the side of the well and pinches off the flow from the well. He says even if it only prevented a percentage of it from leaking, it would still be an effective solution. Berto says he also consulted his father, who was an engineer for Chevron and was involved with an oil spill clean-up in San Francisco in the '70s.
Next idea is from an iReporter, Rick Davidson. Davidson is a mechanic and a business owner from Colorado. He posted two iReports demonstrating his solution to help clean up the oil. His idea involves a steel wheel that rotates and picks up the oil but leaves the water behind.
Both seemingly crude solutions, but let's face it. The high-tech fixes from BP haven't worked yet. So, BP, let's maybe look into simple solutions.
If you would like to submit your idea, just head to iReport.com.
The World Cup is under way. We want to make sure you have all the tools available to you to enjoy it. I'll take you through some of the finer points with a three-time member from the U.S. World Cup team, live with me when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: About 30 years after some 30 victims lost their lives, the Atlanta Child Murders still haven't been settled for some folks. CNN's sledded O'Brien took a hard look at the investigation, interviewing the man convicted of two deaths and widely blamed for the rest.
After her special report premiered last night, a lot of you guys went to CNN.com to weigh the case against Wayne Williams. Unscientific, of course, but here's how the jury came back. Sixty- eight percent said guilty. Five percent said innocent. And after seeing all the evidence, 27 percent feel the case against Wayne Williams was not proven.
If you missed it, Soledad's special airs both tomorrow and Sunday night at 8:00 and 11:00 Eastern. Then you can be the jury. Cast your verdict at CNN.com/atlantachildmurders.
OK. Soccer not the only thing going on in Johannesburg right now. Even folks not interested in the actual matches are still having a ball. We have a live update from CNN eyes. Isha Sesay. And three- time member of the U.S. World Cup team Tony Meola. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: All right, World Cup is underway. It started Mexico drawing with South Africa in the opening match. Thirty-two teams are fighting it out in the world's most popular sport. It's kind of like the Olympics, every four year it leaves the defending champion.
Joining me now is former U.S. national team goalkeeper Tony Meola. Tony, good to see you.
TONY MEOLA, FORMER U.S. NATIONAL SOCCER TEAM GOALKEEPER: Hey, thanks for having me.
VELSHI: You've been in two World Cups, am I right?
MEOLA: Three World Cups.
VELSHI: Three World Cups.
MEOLA: But two or three World Cups, what's the difference?
VELSHI: No, but these are -- these are the biggest thing.
OK, got to tell you about Tony. One thing about Tony that's interesting, is he's not just a remarkable soccer player.
You were drafted by the Yankees. You were on the farm team. You're a great baseball player.
MEOLA: Actually, I didn't go. I was drafted out of high school and I went to play college, but I played soccer and baseball in college. I had a dual scholarship.
VELSHI: You had a scholarship for UVA. You are an athlete and that actually brings us to something about all of these people playing soccer. This is an athletic sport.
MEOLA: You'll see great athletes, no question. About this time, a month from now, every four years, I hear people that never watched soccer, they can't believe the physical fitness of these athletes. And these guys right now are as fit as they will ever be for the rest of their life. And you work your entire life, just think from when you're of six years old to the time you can remember kicking your first soccer ball to be part of this.
VELSHI: What does it feel like if you're on the American team and you're in South Africa, you're playing England tomorrow, and how does it feel? I mean, are you a world contender team? Are you tired of people at home saying this isn't their sport?
MEOLA: Well, how do you feel, you start to get the jitters the minute South Africa and Mexico kick off, because now you know it's here. You're sitting in the hotel room. You're watching it as a group, and you start to -- you start, I'm here, you know, that's what you tell yourself. There's obviously anticipation.
VELSHI: Sure.
MEOLA: The most difficult part about this period is -- and I tell everyone. You have to trust yourself. Right. You've done the physical work. You've done the mental preparation for years and years. As a group, you're cohesive right now. You got to believe in the people around you. You got to believe in the game plan. There's only one thing left to do, that's get on the field and play soccer.
VELSHI: Play.
MEOLA: And that's it. It's a very difficult time right now.
VELSHI: What's the American team good at?
MEOLA: I think we're best -- we saw in the Confederation Cup last year, when we started to play a possession game, it didn't start well for us. We're a counterattacking team.
We have some great athletes on the team. I think you will see a lot out of Landon Donovan, Edson Buddle, Jozy Altirdore -- these are the names I think you're going to hear a lot of. Steal the ball and get at people and get at people 100 miles an hour.
VELSHI: Landon Donovan, he's been playing since he was 5 years old.
MEOLA: I think he played his first World Cup when he was six.
VELSHI: Were you a young player?
MEOLA: I was. I was 21 when I played my first World Cup. And I was in the World Cup with Landon when he played his first World Cup and it's no surprise to me that Landon Donovan is in this position right now.
VELSHI: And there's 3 million kids play soccer in the U.S. right now, is that right?
MEOLA: Well, there's 4.5 million registered kids, but there's about 20 million that play.
VELSHI: Right, OK. So, that's bigger than other kids' sports.
MEOLA: Oh, yes, I think we're second most out of youth sports right now, and that has continued to grow. And obviously, the women's side of thing has helped and their success as a women's national team, you know. But -- but for us, what we're trying to do, see, when I started this was a young sport. There were no -- I look at it at the youth level. I coach at the youth level right now.
VELSHI: Yes.
MEOLA: I coach my kids' team, the youth-13 boys. But when I started playing, I was one of the lucky ones. I had a knowledgeable coach, but most of the coaches on the sidelines were dads and moms were filling in. VELSHI: May not have been soccer players themselves.
MEOLA: They were not soccer players. Now you go out on the field and I compete in tournaments with my group. Every guy I coach against has played in high school, has played in college. I've coached against professional coaches that I played against in the league, that type of thing. And that's where the big evolution of the sport is going to happen.
VELSHI: OK, you're going to stick around with me, because there's all sorts of things we want to talk about. Stay right there.
I want to -- Kelly, is Isha there? Can we talk to Isha?
Let's go to Johannesburg, South Africa, Isha Sesay our colleague from CNN, my good friend, she's there. I'll be there on July 11th at Soccer City behind you, the brand-new stadium or the newly renovated stadium for the final game. But there's 30 days in between.
ISHA SESAY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Oh, my goodness, Ali, they are 30 days in between, and this -- there's something quite unique about this tournament, this World Cup.
As you pointed out in your chat with Tony, yes, the World Cup happens every four years, but this is the first time it's happening on the African continent and it is filled with a very unique energy and charm. The South Africans have gone football crazy. They are blowing these trumpets, I don't know whether you've seen them, the vuvuzelas.
So one thing you're guaranteed when you make it to that match on July 11th, is some fantastic atmosphere, which we really experienced firsthand during the concert. The World Cup kickoff concert happened last night. We were there, the tremendous acts that took the stage -- the Black-Eyed Peas, Alicia Keys, Shakira, they were all out there to rev up the energy and the atmosphere ahead of the tournament kicking off a short time ago on this Friday.
And, you know, Ali, we got to speak to John Legend, and I don't know whether we can play that sound. He really gave us some sense of the magnitude of this occasion.
Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN LEGEND, PERFORMER: It was certainly great tonight, based on everyone filled with excitement for the World Cup, bringing some pride, you know, for South Africa being able to show the world what they're able to do here and, you know, I'm excited just to be a part of it. I'm honored to be here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SESAY: You know, Ali, when you speak to people here on the continent, you know, they're so used to the negative images of Africa going out to the world. This is a time when they're basking in the glow of the fact that the continent's being shown in a whole new light through football. The atmosphere is incredible, Ali.
VELSHI: Isha, I'm going to ask Tony, where did you play? Where were your three World Cups?
MEOLA: I played in Italy the first one, in the United States and in South Korea and Japan.
VELSHI: What is the place -- what role does the place that you're playing have to do with how successful this World Cup is and the psyche of the players?
MEOLA: You can't have the biggest sporting event in a world in a country that doesn't embrace it. I hear Isha talking about being in South Africa. Just think about what this country's been through for the last 25 years. If you'd have walked into South Africa 15 years ago and said you're going to host the biggest sporting event in the world, they would have looked at you like you're crazy.
I watched the game this morning, the Mexico/South Africa game, I don't want to be in New York anymore. I want to be in South Africa.
VELSHI: And, Isha, how is that feeling down there? I mean, this is a big deal, it goes well beyond -- you sort of touched on it -- the images that we normally see of Africa versus what this represents. But to South Africa in particular, a place with segregated sports, a place that was shunned from major competitions in the world because of apartheid, I mean, there's a -- there's a different symbolism to having it in South Africa.
SESAY: Oh, absolutely, Ali. I want to share a great story with you that I heard today.
You know, these vuvuzelas, these trumpets are being blown at all hours of the day and many on the CNN crew are frankly tired of hearing them. But a South African woman said, the vuvuzelas are being blown as a sign of celebration. They're being blown by black and white people. They're a moment of people coming together and blowing them in unity and rejoicing, so she said to me, let them blow them loud and proud. That gives you some sense of how people are indeed coming together.
And, you know, at that concert yesterday, you know, everyone was there singing together waving their flags together and you cannot underestimate what an important moment this is nor South Africa after everything they've been through, Ali.
VELSHI: Tony, I want to ask you, for people who are not -- you can't not get into the spirit, as you said. There are people that have no interest in soccer but then they start watching the games and people start talking about them and they watch them on TV. We see it in the office people that are not interested in soccer end up watching them for the end.
For someone that doesn't have a trained eye, the first serious look at watching a soccer game, what are you looking for? If you are a basketball fan, you are used to a high-scoring game, soccer is not. MEOLA: You have to appreciate that about the game and appreciate the fact that in this game one goal changes everything.
VELSHI: That's right.
MEOLA: Not only does it change a game, it changes the spirit of a country in a lot of ways, right. You go to Argentina and you lose your first game, right, and the country's in a shambles. This is what the World Cup is. If you are the untrained eye, just look at the passion the people have. There's a reason they have this passion. They live this game. They breathe this game. We try and bring a little bit of that to the United States. We did that in 1994, and it translated into major league soccer, our own domestic league, and that's what's helped the players grow. That's what helped the fan base grow.
VELSHI: Let's take a look at a picture from when you were playing. I don't know if you can identify when this is.
MEOLA: Yes. This is, I think --
VELSHI: In '90?
MEOLA: This is 1993.
VELSHI: '94, I think, right?
MEOLA: This is in '94 here, we're in Dallas stadium.
VELSHI: You are the top left?
MEOLA: I am the upper left with a lot of hair.
VELSHI: A lot of hair.
MEOLA: The hair's changed.
VELSHI: Goalkeeper, what is the -- give us the comparison in the role that they play, particularly in tough games.
MEOLA: Right.
VELSHI: And they're all tough games, like you say, often very low-scoring games. What -- is that the pitcher? Is that the -- is it the importance of the pitcher?
MEOLA: Everyone talks about the goalkeeper and the best translation we have in America is an NHL goalkeeper. In the NHL, a goalkeeper can win a game for you. In this, I try and break it down, right? The really simple explanation I I've given myself for my entire life, the goalkeeper has to make all the saves they're supposed to make and one of the saves they're not supposed to make. After that it's a bonus. You cannot ask your goalkeeper in this game to keep you in for 90 minutes for three games. It's impossible in soccer. This is not the NHL. And what it can do is lift your spirit. You know, just when you think a team's going to score a goal -- I looked at that South Africa game today, and if that goalkeeper makes the save, which is a savable shot, not his fault, but one of those ones that you shouldn't have made, then it changes the entire look of the country.
VELSHI: You'll be with us.
MEOLA: Yes.
VELSHI: Stay with us.
Tony was in three different World Cups.
