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BP Faces Deadline Tonight; Obama Prepares Gulf Visit; Iran Election Anniversary; Maz Jobraini Educates People on Iran; Scientist: Use Mississippi to Push Oil from Shore; Technology Gives More Coverage for World Cup
Aired June 13, 2010 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: The pressure is on. In just hours, a government deadline expires for BP to come up with a better plan to end the oil disaster or else. Will they make it? And what happens if they don't?
We watch with horror, people in Iran fighting for their freedom killed before our very eyes. One year later, we look back with the man trying to bring smiles back to Iranian faces.
So, you think you're a World Cup fan now? Well, we're going to take you to a whole new level. Your friends would be so jealous. Stick around.
(MUSIC)
LEMON: Hello, everyone.
It is day 55 and a deadline is looming. Tonight, BP has been ordered by our government to come up with a better plan and so far, they are refusing to hint if they'll even make it.
The man in charge of keeping tabs on the operation, Thad Allen -- Thad Allen says high-tech sensors have been sent down to measure exactly how much oil is flowing. That government -- that containment cap that the government put in, that BP put in, is capturing some, but not all of the oil.
You can bet managing the crisis will dominate President Obama's agenda this week. He returns to the Gulf tomorrow and Tuesday. And he is asked the television networks for 15 minutes on Tuesday night so he can update the nation from the Oval Office.
Then on Wednesday, he'll meet with senior BP officials. He's expected to pressure the company to set up a multibillion dollar escrow account to handle damage claims.
Let's go right o the ground now with CNN's Chris Lawrence.
Chris, we should finally learn just how much oil is flowing into the Gulf of Mexico. We heard about Thad Allen talk about the sensors. It's day 55.
Why are we just now hearing about these sensors? CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the sensors were really put down there as a government request. They got this flow rate group -- the government does -- that's trying to measure that, how much oil is actually coming out of there and spewing out of there. The latest range we got was anywhere from about 800,000 gallons a day all the way up to 1.7 million. It's really hard to put a face on how the containment is going when you don't know how much is coming out.
So, these sensors were put down there by remote controlled submarines today, into the actual containment cap.
But I just spoke with the BP spokesman just a few minutes ago. He said this is a very complex operation to get those properly deployed. And he said it's not like you just plug them in and get readings. He estimated at least a few days before the scientists start to get some accurate information from those sensors.
LEMON: The CEO says he has a plan. He's going to make the deadline. But are we hearing anything from them about what that plan is and when we might hear from them?
LAWRENCE: We haven't heard anything specifically about that plan. We know that BP has said that they will respond by the deadline. That deadline is tonight. It's already 5:00 in the afternoon here in New Orleans.
But they have made some hints as to things they are doing. We know that sometime this week, they're going to try to re-jigger that whole top kill procedure, remember that from a while back when they tried to push mud down in there to stop the well? Well, now they're trying to reverse that and try to suck the oil out of there.
They estimate they can capture about 400,000 gallons a day using that and they can start doing that later this week. The problem is, again, I come back to how much is coming out. You don't know whether to take that as really good news or it's just a trickle. It's hard to know without knowing the base of how much is coming out of their, Don. And that's why it's going to be really important not only with these censors but everything else, to try to narrow that gap and find out exactly how much oil is pouring into the Gulf.
LEMON: All right. Chris Lawrence down in New Orleans -- thank you very much for that, Chris.
And tomorrow, President Barack Obama makes his fourth visit to the Gulf Coast since the oil disaster started. And on Tuesday, he plans to address the nation in primetime.
CNN political -- deputy political director, Mr. Paul Steinhauser, join us live now from Washington.
Paul, is the president doing some political damage control to combat the criticism of the handling of this spill by going down again and then addressing the nation?
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: That could be one of the reasons for this trip. And, Don, it's definitely going to, you know, dominate his early week. As you mentioned, fourth trip down to the Gulf, he's going to be visiting Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida. The White House says he's going to meet with residents impacted by the oil spill. He's going to me with local officials as well.
He comes back Tuesday afternoon and then as you said, Tuesday night, he goes primetime, addressing the nation about 15 minutes in length. And then on Wednesday, for the first time since the oil spill, the president is going to meet with top BP executives at the White House.
He has faced a chorus of criticisms, mostly from Republicans, but also from some Democrats over how he and his administration had been handling this oil spill.
Don, take a listen, this is Mike Pence. He is one of the top House Republicans. He's from Indiana. He was on "STATE OF THE UNION" with our Candy Crowley.
LEMON: Hey --
STEINHAUSER: And we don't have that sound, Don. I'm sorry.
LEMON: Yes.
STEINHAUSER: But he was pretty critical, if you heard the interview earlier. He was pretty critical of how the president reacted to not only the oil spill but also not meeting with anybody from BP for 50 days.
LEMON: Yes. That was all over the Sunday talk this morning. But I have to ask you this, because the administration had indicated a couple of weeks ago that they wouldn't do anything like this primetime address, that they didn't find it was necessary. So, why the turnaround?
STEINHAUSER: Yes, that is interesting. And the White House says that the president now, after going down to the region for the next two days, he wants to come back and talk to the American public about what has been done and what needs to be done. We just found out about this a couple hours ago. It was senior White House advisor, David Axelrod, on the Sunday talk shows announcing this.
Take a look at this, don, this is interesting. This is how Americans feel about how the White House, about this administration, how they're handling this crisis. And these numbers are not too terrific, as you can see. Three national polls conducted over just over the last week and a half, and only a minority of Americans, right around four in 10, approve of how the president and his administration are handling the crisis.
And one of the things we learned, this is from our Ed Henry, our senior White House correspondent, and from Dan Lothian, also one of our White House correspondents, the president is going to talk about the oil spill in totality. But he's also going to hammer home a couple of things. He's going to talk restructuring government regulations on the oil industry, plans for containment, economic claims, and recovery.
And we are going to be down there with Ed, with Dan Lothian. In fact, I think, you'll see, Dan coming up later this evening.
LEMON: All right. Thank you very much, our deputy political director, Mr. Paul Steinhauser. We'll see you a little bit later on here on CNN.
The death toll rose to 19 today from the flash floods in Arkansas. And authorities now say there is one person who's still missing. The flash floods hit a campground early Friday, rushing in so suddenly that many people had no escape, no time to escape. This weekend, search crews have been combing the entire area. Right now, it is hard to nail down just how many people were out there.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAPT. MIKE FLETCHER, ARKANSAS STATE POLICE: We don't know how many people is missing. A lot of these numbers just gotten from people saying they had seen someone. But knowledge that we know of right now, that we know is missing, is one. There could possibly be others, though. We just don't know.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEMON: We'll update you on that story throughout our broadcast here today.
A new idea on how to push oil from that rig disaster away from the Louisiana coast, it's cheap, it's easy, it's natural, and, best of all, everything that's needed is already there. It is the Mississippi River. The man with the plan joins us live next.
Also, Maz Jobrani, the Iranian-born comedian, gives his perspective on the political uprising that's facing his home country.
And don't just sit there. Make sure you become part of the conversation. You become part of our show. Send me a message on Twitter, on Facebook, and check out my blog, CNN.com/Don.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: President Obama returns to the Gulf Coast tomorrow and he might be well advised to spend some time with residents in Hancock County, Mississippi. That includes the towns of Waveland and Bay St. Louis. People there have been trying to prepare for the oil spill.
But as CNN's Reynolds Wolf found out, no one seems to be listening.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK. BP. Your report? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think everybody in here knows that another $25 million was granted to the state of Mississippi.
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST (voice-over): In Hancock County, Mississippi, a bit of good news from BP, but the thanks didn't last long at this emergency management meeting.
LILI STAHLER, ALDERWOMAN, WAVELAND, MISS.: I greatly appreciate the commitment everybody has here. I also am sensing a great deal of frustration.
STEVE SEYMOUR, HANCOCK CO. SUPERVISOR: I guess this is a statement to BP. You all need to -- you all need to get somebody and tell them to get productive.
WOLF: It took repeated requests, but finally, the joint command has assigned a local representative to Hancock County.
COMMANDER PETE KILLNER, U.S. COAST GUARD: We're basically here to help you folks with regard to trying to get some communication going between here and the incident command post, and I commit to your local post in providing any service I can in doing that. I can't make promises with regard to the stuff I can't deliver, but I got a 110 percent commitment to help you folks, you know, in getting communication going an we'll do a better job in that.
WOLF: The oil may not be here yet, but neither are the requested supplies.
BRIAN "HOOTIE" ADAM, DIR., HANCOCK CO. EMERGENCY MGMT.: They're not planning ahead. So, you know, unfortunately, that's the -- that's the way they operate. And -- but we're going to continue to ask until they give. That's all we can do.
WOLF (on camera): How close is this oil getting to shore? We've heard a lot of different numbers.
JESSE FINERAN, HAZMAT, HANCOCK CO.: We can smell it, we can taste it. But they're telling us it's not here.
MAYOR LES FILLINGAME, BAY ST. LOUIS, MISS.: It move very quickly, and to me, that indicates that, you know, nobody's immune from having this on top us.
WOLF (voice-over): The first potential impact from oil was found this week on Hancock County shore.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is the area where the bird was.
WOLF: Jesse Fineran showed us a picture of this distressed pelican he found in Bay St. Louis. There's little doubt in his mind it's covered in oil. But official results are still pending.
ADAM: Is it oil? We think it is. But has it been confirmed? No.
WOLF: Local leaders are growing frustrated, waiting for answers.
WENDY MCDONALD, COUNCILWOMAN, BAY ST. LOUIS, MISS.: We've got an oily bird already. We've got the pre-fall stuff that they saw in Grand Isle that's in that Ziploc bag going around. How much more evidence do we need that it is time to do something?
PAM SAN FILLIPPO, BAY ST. LOUIS, MISS. FIRE DEPT.: People can deploy all the boom that you can deploy, but if it's not going to -- obviously, looking at Louisiana, we've seen that the boom did practically nothing there.
WOLF (on camera): A lot of frustrated people in this room.
ADAM: It's getting a little close for everybody's comfort. So, you know, everybody's getting a little bit weary. I wouldn't say antsy, but weary.
WOLF (voice-over): Those weary officials walk the shoreline daily, on heightened alert.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now, look where you're looking on this sand, how it doesn't stick. Look how it sticks when you walk into this. You can see the levels of coloration under it.
WOLF: They hope answers and supplies come sooner than oil.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: And our White House correspondent, Dan Lothian, will join us live. We'll do that next hour. And we'll ask him about the president's itinerary and whether Hancock County, Mississippi, is one of his stops.
Breaking news to tell you about this hour out of South America: two hostages held for 12 years are now free.
And the World Cup underway in South Africa. We have a way for you to get just a little bit more into the action. It is a lesson in the South African language. What some of the words you'll be hearing over the next couple of weeks actually mean.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: We want to check some of your top stories right now.
Colombia's president is announcing today that two top ranking police officer have been rescued from FARC guerillas. They were held captive for nearly 12 years. Military forces carried out the rescue operation deep in the Amazon Jungle.
A Red Cross official describes the ethnic violence now occupying or occurring in Kyrgyzstan as a humanitarian catastrophe. It is believed about 80,000 people had fled the fighting. More than 100 have been killed, hundreds more wounded. The conflict flared up after the government was overthrown in April. Kyrgyzstan is home to a U.S. military transport base that is vital for supplying troops in Afghanistan.
Lightning struck a gasoline tank in North Carolina early today, igniting a huge fire that shut down sections of two interstate highways. Stretches of I-40 and I-73 in Greensboro were closed for several hours. Firefighters used special foam to extinguish the blaze at the Colonial Pipeline Company. No injuries to report there.
All eyes are on South Africa now that the country is hosting the World Cup. And if you're baffled by all of the local lingo that you're hearing during the coverage, don't bother trying to find it in your dictionary. Our Josh Levs will be your translator -- Josh.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: All right. So, people from all over the world who crowded into South Africa and those of you watching anywhere in the world are hearing coverage from South Africa, you probably heard some terms that you're not familiar with. I know I am.
So, I asked to join me Nadia Bilchik, our editorial producer who is from South African, an anchor from South Africa.
You know, every piece of lingo.
NADIA BILCHIK, CNN EDITORIAL PRODUCER: And I'm so excited to teach you, Josh Levs, something.
(LAUGHTER)
BILCHIK: I mean, that's a first.
LEVS: Well, we're going to start off with the only expression that I'm actually familiar with here, all right? Take a look at this one. Howzit, help me out.
BILCHIK: Hello, how is it -- now, howzit is a great South African expression because it's really a combination of hello, how are you? And we go, hello, how is it, Josh -- which means how are you doing and it means hello, how are things going in your life.
LEVS: So, if someone said, when someone say hello, howzit, would I say I'm fine?
BILCHIK: You just say howzit, howzit.
LEVS: Just howzit, howzit is OK?
BILCHIK: And it is everything. It just says it all, and it's universal, across demographic lines and color lines -- everybody knows howzit.
LEVS: It gets a lot harder from here. Now, I have no clue what we're talking about. What's that?
BILCHIK: Eish. Eish is an expression of exclamation, which is (INAUDIBLE). So, let's say you see a great goal, you go eish! And it just means oh, my goodness. In other words, oy vey.
LEVS: Oh, oy vey.
(CROSSTALK)
LEVS: So, if it's good or it's bad, you can eish!
BILCHIK: Eish.
LEVS: All right. Let's do the next one here.
BILCHIK: Eina. It's so oh, that looks eina. Josh, you've hurt your knees, eina. If I'm in pain, I go eina, and if you're in pain, I go eina!
LEVS: Eina is a bad thing.
BILCHIK: Eina is pain, agony, sore. Eina!
LEVS: Eina.
All right. All right. Now, help me out with this one.
BILCHIK: Lekker. Now, lekker is oftentimes meant candy or sweet. So, lekker is awesome. It's awesome. It's lekker. It's amazing. It's fantastic.
LEVS: That game was lekker.
BILCHIK: That goal (ph) was lekker.
LEVS: Lekker.
BILCHIK: You look lekker with that lekker tie.
LEVS: Oh, you look lekker. Do you look lekker?
BILCHIK: And the whole world's (INAUDIBLE) a lekker experience for the whole country.
LEVS: Oh, my goodness.
All right. Now, one more which is the ultimate.
BILCHIK: Nooit. No, I can't believe it. Not possible. He did that thing? He did that, nooit!
LEVS: Like no way in a bad way.
BILCHIK: Like no way -- no way, either good or bad. You see, that's why these things nooit, I don't believe you. And I have people say, I don't believe you, nooit.
LEVS: So, help me out, nooit.
BILCHIK: Nooit. LEVS: Nooit.
BILCHIK: Nooit, my (INAUDIBLE) my buddy, my (INAUDIBLE), my friend.
LEVS: Oh, my goodness. Well, there's a list of a lot more.
BILCHIK: Next week, we have to do the South African handshake. I could teach the South African handshake.
LEVS: That's coming next week.
BILCHIK: There are things that are very universal to South Africa. South Africa (ph) and not South Africa -- South Africa.
LEVS: South Africa.
BILCHIK: South Africa.
LEVS: I can't even say the country right.
I posted a long list of lingo for you right here on my Facebook page, JoshLevsCNN. I'm also tweeting it out, JoshLevsCNN. Go ahead and let us know your favorite South African expressions.
Nadia, thank you.
BILCHIK: (INAUDIBLE)
LEVS: Oh, my goodness. I'm so lost.
Back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: Thank you, guys. That Nadia, she's perky.
All right. Ahead this hour, some of the cool new ways that the World Cup is brought to you this year. Techies, you really going to love this one.
And one year ago this weekend, protests and violence in Iran following the controversial reelection of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Also, Maz Jobrani, you recognize the name, you recognize the face. You're going to see him. He's been on CNN. We talked to him right after the disputed election last year.
The Iranian-born comedian joins me live. Look to your right. Turn to your right. There you go, that camera. No, straight ahead up. There you go. That one.
(LAUGHTER)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: It hardly seems like a year, but this weekend, Iran is marking the one-year anniversary of a controversial presidential election. This was the scene a year ago. Take a look at that, angry protesters flooded the streets and clashed with security forces. They were furious over the disputed election results that kept President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in power.
But this year is a different scene playing out there.
So, let's go to CNN's Reza Sayah. H e is following developments from Islamabad -- Reza.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REZA SAYAH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Don, on Saturday, many were eager to see if Iran's opposition movement, the so-called Green Movement, would have a repeat performance of last year. It didn't happen. We didn't see mass demonstrations.
Which brings up the question: what's happened to the Green Movement? Is it over?
We're hearing different two viewpoints on this. Some are pointing to the absence of street protests and they say, indeed, that's evidence that the Green Movement is weakening because of the brutal and sometimes deadly crackdown on the part of the government and a lack of leadership and organization on the part of the Green Movement.
But the leadership of the Green Movement says, no, this movement is not over. It's only changing, morphing into a now online and underground campaign to raise awareness about civil rights and how Iranian people would be better off without what they call this repressive regime.
Observers say one thing. This Green Movement has done over the past year is post the biggest challenge ever to the Islamic republic in its 30-year history, and expose its leadership as one that's no longer lead by the clergy but instead dominated by Iran's Revolution Guard, the elite military that has its hand in almost every sector of Iranian society. If indeed the Green Movement is going to bring change to Iran, it has to take on this increasingly militarized leadership in Iran. It shown over the past year it's willing to do just about anything to hold on to power -- Don.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: All right. Reza, thank you very much.
Maz Jobrani joins me now. He is here in Atlanta. He is a founding member of the Axis of Evil Comedy Tour. It showcases top Middle Eastern comics from around the world.
Maz was born in Tehran and raised in California. So, he's got a pretty unique perspective on Iran.
So, what's your take on what's happening? I know that you're in town. You joke about it. It's part of your routine, and you think that you can make people smile -- put some of the smile back on the faces and I guess find some, you know, common ground through comedy.
MAZ JOBRANI, MEMBER, AXIS OF EVIL COMEDY TOUR: Well, I think making fun of the some of the leadership and things that are said that come out of Iran. I would say that Iran is always in the news, like, whether it's like the nuclear issue, or the elections, or whatever, we're like the Paris Hilton of countries, you know?
So, I don't know if you heard about this, but this is true, there was a Muslim cleric in Iran who came out and said that women in short dresses can cause earthquake. So, my take on that was maybe he was mistranslated. Maybe he's trying to say that women in short dresses rock this world, you know? They just got lost in translation, you know? So, that's where you find the comedy.
LEMON: I love it. I love people -- you know, I was watching it. I saw this thing on CBS Sunday morning for the comedian Joan Rivers. And she said, you know, nothing is off limits. Nothing is off limits.
JOBRANI: Yes.
LEMON: And, you know, we find ourselves laughing about things that we never thought we'd laugh about. And it actually helps us in the process. I think Joy Behar says the same thing.
JOBRANI: Well, absolutely. And I think, one of the things is like, for me, what's off limits, I don't like to go after the underdog. I don't have to ever like make fun of the victim, or anyone who's like handicapped or anything like that. For me, they're off limit.
I think -- I think the job of a comedian a lot of times is to expose the hypocrisy or go after things that people don't think about, for example, in Times Square, that guy who tried to blowup the car bomb, the Pakistani dude, and then the Pakistani-Taliban took credit for the failed bombing. And my question was: Why would you take credit for a failed bombing, right? I mean, like -- you know, we just wanted to say, we tried, you know? It's the thought that counts. Win some, lose some, you know?
So, that's the kind of stuff you find, you know? And actually I happen to be in Times Square that night doing shows at Carolines, and I actually happen to be in Austin when the white guy flew his airplane into the building. I say white guy because of the Middle Eastern --
LEMON: You happen to be in all of these places?
JOBRANI: I happened to be in all these places, yes.
LEMON: Where's -- you have a security guard?
(CROSSTALK)
JOBRANI: I know. As a Middle Eastern man, I love showing up around these things. You start feeling guilty. I swear. I was watching CNN, I was like, am I part of this plot, you know? LEMON: So, listen, let's pull it back and talk about -- and talk about Iran. What have you learned through the comedy there and going out from city to city and club to club? Are you educating people about what's going on through your comedy?
JOBRAINI: I hope so. One of the things that I do with my standup is to show American and Westerners that not all Iranians are bad, like you would see in the news and -- well, not in the news. Sorry. You guys do a good job. Because you had Reza too. You had Reza and now you have me. You have back-to-back Iranians doing positive things.
But obviously, our image is not that good. The hostage situation to the movie "Not Without My Daughter," to all this stuff. Ahmadinejad all the time. He has offended everybody. I'm waiting for him to come out and say, unicorns are gay, just to see if you can find some unicorn lovers. I mean, he's had been, you know --
(LAUGHTER)
LEMON: Listen, there are a lot more Iranian people working at CNN than Reza and you in the building.
JOBRAINI: I know.
LEMON: We have a lot of people.
(CROSSTALK)
JOBRAINI: I know you're not hiring, but I appreciate it.
(LAUGHTER)
LEMON: One year later, is the country better off, do you think?
JOBRAINI: You know, what I think -- what I see and what I hear is that there's obviously still a movement going on and it's -- there's heart to it and there's a lot of young people that want change. And I think a lot of us agree that we don't want any more killing. We don't want any more fighting. I personally always say, evolution as opposed to revolution.
LEMON: Right.
JOBRAINI: So hopefully, the change continues to happen. I mean, the one thing that is good news that came out this weekend, nobody was killed.
LEMON: Yes.
JOBRAINI: But at the same time, we want to see more freedoms. There's reporters that have left the country because they are not allowed to report.
LEMON: And I've got to joke, too. Because I've got so much e- mail, make sure you cover Iran. Make sure you cover Iran. I just want to e-mail back and say, stop blasting my e-mail, I'm not going to cover it because --
JOBRAINI: And you're not even Iranian. You should see the stuff I get, man.
(LAUGHTER)
Maz, why are you not talking about this situation? Maz, why were you not in "The Prince of Persian"? You're Persian. I'm like I know.
LEMON: Like, OK. Of course, we're going to cover it, right?
JOBRAINI: Yes, yes, yes.
LEMON: So listen, thank you, Maz. It's good to see you. I can't wait to see -- we were talking about the documentary on Neda that's coming on HBO next week.
JOBRAINI: Yes.
LEMON: Who became the face of this movement.
JOBRAINI: Yes. It's called "For Neda." It's going to be on HBO. So I'm going to check it out, definitely.
LEMON: All right. Thank you, sir.
JOBRAINI: Thanks for having me.
LEMON: Best of luck.
JOBRAINI: All right, man.
LEMON: A new idea on how to push oil from that rig disaster away from the Louisiana coast. It's cheap. It's easy. It's natural. And best of everything, everything needed is already there. It's the Mississippi River. The man with the plan joins us next, live.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: You might have seen eye scanners used in movies to gain entrance to top secret locations. But they have a real practice in the health care field. They can eliminate errors in record keeping. Gary Tuchman explains in today's "Edge of Discovery."
(EDGE OF DISCOVERY)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: CNN is committed not only to reporting the disaster on the gulf, but also to exploring every viable idea for ending the crisis and fixing the damage. Recently, the Audubon Society proposed harnessing the power of the Mississippi River to fight the encroaching oil. The man behind that idea is Audubon coastal scientist, Mr. Paul Kemp. And he joins me now from New Orleans.
Thank you, sir. Good to see you. Your idea is to use the Mississippi to flush out the coastal wetlands? How is this supposed to work?
G. PAUL KEMP, NATIONAL AUDUBON SOCIETY COASTAL SCIENTIST: Well, we've been kind of lucky in some ways, if you can say that, about this massive oil spill, and that is that the discharge of the river behind me here increased for the first month of the spill. And so that acted to keep oil out of the marshes and into the bays where it can be more easily collected. Since June 1st, this river has decreased the discharge by a third and that means that the oil can come further in.
The biggest factor affecting how the oil gets into the marshes is really the discharge of the river and that's something that we can affect. So one of the things we're asking you Americans to do is send us your water. We need more discharge on this river. And, of course, there's a way here in Louisiana that we can add to that very quickly and --
LEMON: What do you mean "send us your water"? How do you expect people to send water? Which way?
KEMP: That's a good question. Right now, water is retained in dams in 42 states of the continental U.S. With a well-thought out, controlled releases, we can extend the high discharge period on the Mississippi River, and this is done periodically for navigation purposes. It can certainly be done in this oil spill emergency. One of the best ways to start with that is by diverting less of the water. Right now, it's 30 percent that goes down the western distributary or the mouth of the Mississippi. It's called the Atchafalaya and it goes --
LEMON: So you're trying to limit the flow into the Atchafalaya, right? So you're asking for other people's water?
KEMP: That's right.
LEMON: So what's been the official response, if any, so far?
KEMP: Most people say, hey, that sounds like a great idea. And, of course, we know it's possible because they do do it for lesser emergencies, like low water on the river for navigation. So we know that they can do it. But as far as I'm aware, I haven't heard it's in progress. It may be one of the plans that is being worked up now. But certainly, this make as lot more sense than most of the things that people have been talking about. This is a regional effort. It will have a regional effect and it is a way that the whole country can get involved.
LEMON: All right. Paul Kemp is a scientist.
Thank you so much. And let us know what happens with your idea, if it catches on and if they buy into it. OK?
KEMP: That's right. You can read more about it on the op-ed.
LEMON: Thank you very much. In tonight's "Building Up America," a shiny example for schools everywhere. Kids at risk, who are alert, attentive, and learning. How did this happen? Through teachers who are learning themselves, taking the best practices of school with high levels performance, despite high levels of poverty.
CNN's Randi Kaye reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Take a look inside this classroom. Notice what is not happening. Not a single student daydreaming or doodling.
UNIDENTIFIED TEACHER: What is the greatest of the three angles?
KAYES: This fifth grade math teacher at Rochester Prep Charter School uses dozens of techniques she says makes her students want to learn.
(CHANTING)
KAYE: That's just one of 49 techniques that Kelly Reagan learned from this former teacher and principal.
(on camera): What do you think make as successful teacher?
DOUG LEMOV, AUTHOR & FORMER TEACHER AND PRINICIPAL: I think the first thing that has to happen is the teacher has to have control of the classroom environment.
KAYE: Doug has been at this for five years. He seeks out schools with high poverty and high performance. Then asks himself, what is in the water? Why does this work? He sits in the classroom, takes notes, and records the teachers to perfect his techniques.
(voice-over): And in this seventh grade math class, students snap if a classmates' answer is right, and stomp if it's wrong:
UNIDENTIFIED TEACHER: Two snaps or two stomps on two. One, two. Nicely done.
KAYE: 80 percent of the students here come from poverty. This may be their only shot at a future.
LEMOV: 100 percent of the kids were proficient in math and in English, which out performs --
KAYE (on camera): 100 percent?
LEMOV: Every single kid.
KAYE (voice-over): Good odds for improving public education.
Randi Kaye, CNN, Rochester, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEMON: All right. Randi, thanks a lot.
Happening now, the changing landscapes of college athletes. Schools jumping from one conference to another and more could follow this week. Our sports business analysts, Mr. Rick Horrow -- he's is waving. He'll have the why, the when, and the how, and it what it all means, next.
I can see you, nobody else can, Rick. So chill out. After the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: College football is in a huge state of confusion, huge state of flux this weekend. Nebraska going to the big 10 conference. Colorado going to the PAC-10. And everyone waiting for powerhouse Texas to make a decision on whether it will also leave the big 12 conference. If it does, other teams are sure to follow.
Our sports business analyst, Rick Horrow, joins us from West Palm Beach.
Rick, good to see you. Listen, what else is behind all of this? This is very expensive, and we're not just talking about football. We're talking about a whole lot of teams. And this is going to cost a lot of money with all this flux, depending on if it happens or not.
RICK HORROW, CNN SPORTS BUSINESS ANALYST: Thank you, my friend, for referring to me as your resident expert on confusion and flux.
(LAUGHTER)
And we get it with college football, OK? There are eight conferences that may go down to four. It's all about money. $7 billion in television contracts out there with the conferences. The big 12 and the big 10's contracts and the PAC-10 all expire in a couple of years. The other conferences, 20 years. That's why it's conference musical chairs. It's all about the dollar. We don't need a rocket scientist or master's degrees to figure that one out, my friend.
LEMON: Let's talk about the southeastern conference, Rick. It had the last four national champions but it has been very quiet so far. So is it likely to add more teams?
HORROW: Well, they have $3 billion of television deals that expire in 2024. So they can afford to be a little quiet. You would be, too, with those dollars. But they don't want to get behind the curse. They can add teams. They are talking to Miami, Florida State. There are maybe some discussions about getting bigger and stealing each other's teams.
More of this stuff on CNN.com. Don, we blogged for you about this.
LEMON: I saw that. You did. Go to CNN.com/don.
HARROW: There you go, Don.
LEMON: Our blog there. Rick Horrow's blog.
Hey, listen, let's turn now to the World Cup. The U.S. surprised the soccer world by tying England, 1-1, yesterday. What kind of interest has this huge world event drawing here in the United States? I hear people that say, no, I'm not interested, and then other people who say, yes, I am interested. So I'm not sure. I can't gauge the interest here.
HORROW: Here's the way to gauge some of it. 90 million of us call ourselves soccer fans this generation. 17 million of us say we play. And there are only eight teams around the world that are qualified for five straight World Cups, and the U.S. is one of them. Now, it can be prolific, but still nowhere like the worldwide interest, 25 billion of us in this planet. Watch the World Cup in Germany over that five-week period four years ago. We may have a lot of interest here but nothing like it is the rest of the world.
LEMON: Nothing like it is. So listen, 1-1 tie against England. Everyone I know says that is a win.
HORROW: Well, it is a win because of England's soccer history. 50 years ago, there was a major upset where the U.S. scored a goal and beat them 1-nil. Let's say nil. The bottom line is the U.S. team isn't as talented individually but they may be as talented collectively. And as we all know, team work carries the day in sports and in life. How is that for that metaphor?
LEMON: Pearls of wisdom from Rick Horrow, because he is good enough. He is smart enough -- I don't know about that, but people do like him.
HORROW: Ow. Keep going.
LEMON: We will see you next week. Check out his blog at CNN.com./don
Traveling to a new city can leave you lost. You could have the solution on your phone. Ayesha Tejpar has the details in this week's "On the Go."
(ON THE GO)
LEMON: Thank you, Ayesha.
If you thought 3-D was a cool way to watch the World Cup, well, we will let you in on some other tech-savvy ways for you to watch the biggest sporting event in the world, a tech-savvy way to do that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
LEMON: Team USA survived its World Cup opener with a draw against England. Now the Americans are looking ahead to their next match against Slovenia on Friday. But there's lots of other action between now and then, and technology is taking away all your excuses for missing a match.
Katie Linendoll is a tech whiz, and joins us live from New York.
I like saying that name. What color? Red glasses today. You know, we have a bet amongst our team in the newsroom, what color glasses you are going to be wearing.
Anybody -- who won red? I'll have to figure it out. Maybe it was Tom.
KATIE LINENDOLL, TECH EXPERT: I love it.
LEMON: So let's start with TV. What is a hot way to watch this in front of the tube?
LINENDOLL: Yes, plenty of ways to stay in touch. If you are that early adopter with the 3-D TV, you are in luck, because 25 of the 64 games are going to be streaming on ESPN 3-D. So you get fully immersed technology there. another nontraditional way for TV to stay in touch, if you're somebody that's traveling, if you're somebody that's always on the go, I like to call this, Don, my new BFF.
(LAUGHTER)
It's Flow TVT. It is a portable subscription unit and it allows you to watch all those 64 matches right on this little guy right here. Pretty cool.
LEMON: Yes. I looked at that. I've seen it like at Best Buy and stuff. I'm not sure -- I want something that works on my iPhone or iPad. I haven't -- I think Sling does, but I haven't figured that out. You said if you are an early adapter of 3-D TV, then you are really cool, and probably wealthy, because it is very expensive, right?
LINENDOLL: A lot of people asking me can we go to bars and watch it in 3-D? Listen, it is $200 for the glasses. They're proprietary. They're not going to give people that are drinking a pair of $200 glasses. You are not going to be able to find it in any pub. Just get over it.
(LAUGHTER)
LEMON: Unless you have those crazy paper ones you get from the movie. OK.
LINENDOLL: Exactly.
LEMON: What about connected online to the World Cup, Katie?
LINENDOLL: A ton of ways to stay connected online. Can I say, too, it warms my heart to know that something other than Justin Bieber is trending heavily on Twitter? Thank you, World Cup. I have plenty of ways -- LEMON: Listen, I have Bieber fever. Don't talk about Bieber. I like that kid.
LINENDOLL: No, dude. That's an offline conversation.
LEMON: All right.
LINENDOLL: We will talk.
(LAUGHTER)
OK. Plenty of ways to stay in touch online. And let me tell that you ESPN3.com will be streaming 54 of the 64 matches. Also, Univision, if you know a little Spanish, they will have 64 matches online. But also, follow us too at CNN.com/Twitterbuzz. There's a compilation of all these -- all the most popular tweets, and you can click on them. You can get very interactive. And Twitter has their own World Cup site, where you can choose any team, follow the schedule, get bios and follow the live tweets as well.
It is interesting, too, Spain, Brazil, Mexico, Germany, Argentina, their coaches have banned them from social networking. So you might be saying how popular is Twitter during the World Cup? It's so popular, the players can't even access it.
LEMON: I joke about the World Cup and people send me hate e- mail. It's ridiculous.
(LAUGHTER)
By the way, do you know why I like Justin Bieber? Every time he is on a TV show, he will hit on the woman, no matter how old she is. Beyonce --
LINENDOLL: That's totally true.
LEMON: -- Barbara Walters. It's hilarious to watch him do that.
LINENDOLL: I like how our World cup segment has turned into a Justin Bieber segment.
(LAUGHTER)
LEMON: That's why we're friends.
LINENDOLL: Very classy.
LEMON: Listen, Katie, good to see you again. Hopefully see you next weekend.
(CROSSTALK)
LINENDOLL: Wait, Don, I've got show you one app.
LEMON: What is that? Is that a screen? LINENDOLL: If we have learned one thing about a World Cup, it's how annoying the horns are. So download your vuvuzelas. It's a horn. You just download this app for free. Annoy everyone in the room. Just keep hitting it.
LEMON: I was trying to look for -- I have a similar app. It's not that. It's actually -- here it is. Let's see if I can get it up. My producers are going crazy back there. I don't know if it will come up.
(LAUGHTER)
Here it is. Do we have the volume up? Can you guys hear it? You ready? Let's see. It's not doing it. Dead air, Don, let's go.
LINENDOLL: Don, the segment's at an all-time low. What are you doing over there?
LEMON: It is actually a flatulence app, similar to that that's similar to that.
(LAUGHTER)
This went off the rails a long time ago.
Bye, Katie.
LINENDOLL: Ciao.
