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Biden's Visit Iraq, Alabama Tourist Business, Hurricane Alex

Aired July 03, 2010 - 15:30   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN NEWS ANCHOR: All right, hello again, everyone. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. It is Saturday, July 3, and you're in the CNN NEWSROOM. So this is no ordinary holiday weekend in the Gulf of Mexico. Usually on the Fourth of July weekend, beaches and hotels would be crowded, packed with tourists spending money. Well, instead, it is day 75 of a massive oil clean-up. And tourists along some gulf states are simply scarce. CNN's Reynolds Wolf is in Gulf shores, Alabama, where got a couple of people back there and maybe a lifeguard there at the lifeguard post, even though no one's in the water?

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Well, the lifeguards have been kind of all over the place. We do have some of the people that have been out here trying to enjoy the sunshine. We've talked about how difficult it is for people who are trying to have business here. We talked about the residents. But of course, people who come to visit, people like Jennifer College (ph) from Kentucky, it's kind of disappointing.

We got Jennifer with us right here. Jennifer, how are you doing?

JENNIFER COLLEGE, TOURIST FROM KY: Hi, how are you?

WOLF: And this isn't the first time you've been here. You've been here a few times.

J COLLEGE: We come here every week Fourth of July week, every year.

WOLF: This year has been a little, little bit different, hasn't it?

J COLLEGE: Yes, it's been very, very disappointing.

WOLF: So, on a normal day when you come out here on the Fourth of July, what would your family be doing?

J COLLEGE: We're in the water with goggles and snorkels and boogie boards. And we can't do any of that at all this time.

WOLF: Kind of frustrating. Has be just mind-numbing?

J COLLEGE: It's very frustrating, because there's nothing to do but buckets and shoveling and they're a little too old for that, so we're a little frustrated.

WOLF: I've heard -- I guess someone got in the water, didn't they? J COLLEGE: We attempted just to get in a little bit and get their feet wet and we've been kicked out. So yes, we did try it, but it didn't work out for us.

WOLF: Not once, but also two times, right?

ISAAC COLLEGE, TOURIST FROM KY: Yes. We have been kicked out two times.

WOLF: And your name is --

I COLLEGE: Isaac.

WOLF: Isaac. Isaac. Isaac.

Can you believe that, Fred? He's been in the water two times and got yanked out. It happens.

Is it frustrating for you, Isaac?

I COLLEGE: Yes.

WOLF: Yeah, what would you like to be doing?

I COLLEGE: Pretty much on my boogie board, just getting on the waves, going right through them.

WOLF: Yeah, I'm with you, dude. I know what that's like, man. I'm with you. Well, tough times. Well, I'll tell you what, that's something kids up and doing down the coast are going to be dealing with. A lot of kids want to get out there, they can't do it. It's a holiday weekend. But you know, we've all kinds of issues, Fredricka, we've got, of course, the oil to deal with.

It's tough times in terms of the economy. You got unemployment that's high, people trying to get here trying to alleviate some of that stress they're dealing with a situation that's beyond their control. It's been tough for a lot of people. As I mentioned, tough for businesses, not just hotels, but you've got a lot of restaurants, you've got people in the souvenir industry, a lot of gas stations, all waiting for people that should be here.

But as my count, cowboy pads (ph) are in, look, check this out. A lot of the beach is completely empty. You got a few people here and there, but normally on the Fourth of July, you'd have folks all over the beach. There are still some people over here. We even have some of lifeguards and the beach patrol on this vehicle making its way towards that sand barrier. But tell you what, the action on the beach is going to be people just staring at the water, some people getting pulled out like Isaac and that's about it. Kind of a frustrating time on the nation's birthday.

WHITFIELD: I know and beautiful white sands there and that's inviting. But, you know, when you're on the beach, you want to cool off. You want to take a little dip in the water, but as we heard from Isaac, you just can't do it, safety first, so you can't even dip your feet in the water, right now.

WOLF: Absolutely. It's like being starving and you stand next to a storage for it and there's a big refrigerator with all kinds of great food and you can't take a bite.

WHITFIELD: And you can't eat it.

WOLF: That's exactly what it's like.

WHITFIELD: No fair.

WOLF: No, can't touch it.

WHITFIELD: Oh man, all right, thanks so much.

WOLF: You bet.

WHITFIELD: Reynolds Wolf in Gulf Shores, Alabama. Of course, everyone is hoping that things will turn around sometime soon.

Meantime, let's go overseas now. And U.S. troops in Iraq are getting a surprise visit this Fourth of July weekend. An unannounced visit from Vice President Joe bidden and his wife, Jill. The two will spend the fourth with the troops in Baghdad. The vice president is also scheduled to meet with Iraqi officials. The Bidens' visit comes ahead of an August 31 deadline for an American troop drawdown in Iraq.

General David Petraeus is on the ground in Afghanistan assessing the situation there. He also got some face time with Afghan President Hamid Karzai. Petraeus is replacing Stanley McChrystal as the man in charge of U.S. and international forces, there. He spoke today at a fourth of July event calling for unity of purpose.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEN DAVID PETRAEUS, CMDR U.S. FORCES, AFGHANISTAN: I'm reminded that this is an effort in which we must achieve unity of effort and common purpose, civilian and military, Afghan and international, we are part of one team with one mission. In this important endeavor, cooperation is not optional. This is a tough mission. There is nothing easy about it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: General David Petraeus there. In the meantime, June was the deadliest month yet for troops in Afghanistan, 101 were killed, 59 of those Americans.

All right, for the more than 30,000 U.S. troops injured in Iraq and Afghanistan, coming home may offer little rest for the weary. But this week's "CNN Hero" is helping rebuild their lives. Dan Wallrath spends his retirement giving injured soldiers a place to call home.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SGT ALEXANDER REYES, U.S. ARMY: Baghdad ended up being a hell of a ride. I sustained a very severe blast injury. My life just came to a complete halt.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How are you doing? How's everything? You look sharp today.

REYES: Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've been building custom homes for 30 years. One of the most important things for a family is a home.

I want you to read a sign for me.

REYES: Future home of Sergeant Alexander Reyes, United States Army.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Congratulations.

Giving these folks a new home means the world.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just thank you. That's all I can say.

DAN WALLRATH, CNN HERO OF THE WEEK: My name is Dan Wallrath. Five years ago, I had a friend of mine call me. A friend of his, his son had been injured in Iraq.

This is the day after he graduated from boot camp.

And he showed me some pictures. His son was a big strapping Marine. Then he showed me pictures of Steven in the hospital. It just broke my heart.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Steven was wheelchair-bound. We were going to have to remodel. I had no idea how I was going to pay for it. Dan just said we're going to take care of it.

WALLRATH: We remodeled that home, and I realized this is not an isolated case. So, I went back to my builder buddies and said we've got to do something.

We build homes for returning heroes from Iraq and Afghanistan. The houses are mortgage-free. It changes the whole family's life. It gives them just a new start so that they can move forward.

These young men and women are doing this for you and me. How can I not help them?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Gosh, with that million-dollar smile, too. So far Dan and his organization have completed the homes of seven injured veterans and begun instruction on five more. Each home is given completely free of charge.

So to see how Dan found his inspiration while remodeling the home of a wounded veteran or perhaps you want to nominate someone you think is changing the world, go to CNNheroes.com.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) WHITFIELD: All right, we always look forward to this, viral videos. And this has been one heck of a week for viral videos.

Josh Levs, this was a really tough job trying to, I guess, weed it down, or maybe it was a really great thing because it was so plentiful.

JOSH LEVS, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: You know what, it takes time, but it's our dessert and we love it after all the serious news, you get to play with all these hot viral videos. And I got a really good fun one we're going to be taking a look at. Meet "Vuvuzela Man." Oh, there he is.

WHITFIELD: I was saying, I should be hearing like buzz.

LEVS: There you go. He's going around cheering for absolutely everything, everywhere. I'm going to tell you about him, plus the elderly man who's schooling young folks on how to dance to Lady Gaga and what happens when a cat attacks a birthday card. All coming up next in "Viral Video Rewind."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: A look at our top stories, right now. On a visit to Poland today, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced the U.S. will donate $15 million to help preserve the site of the notorious Auschwitz concentration camp. She said the concentration, which still must be authorized by Congress, "demonstrates America's commitment to holocaust education, remembrance and research."

And a judge has ordered three members of an alleged Russian spy ring held behind bars. In court papers released yesterday, two of the suspects admitted to investigators they are Russian citizens living in the U.S. under assumed names. The judge ruled the couple, along with a third suspect, are flight risks. Their next hearing is scheduled for next week and they are among 11 suspects being held in this case.

All right, to World Cup action now, Germany beat archrival Argentina 4-zip to reach the semifinal round. Germany will next face the winner of the last quarterfinal between Spain and Paraguay, that's under way right now. The Netherlands and Uruguay have already advanced to the semifinals, as well.

All right, time for viral video. You know the music, that's the cue right there.

LEVS: That time.

WHITFIELD: When we all start kind of jiggling a little bit. Josh Levs is here right now. You have a little bit of World Cup talk in this too, right?

LEVS: Yes, we do. It plays right out of what you were just talking about with the World Cup. Because you and I have talked a lot about vuvuzelas here and the impact that they're having and everyone in the world is talking about them. So, it was inevitable there would be a viral video about vuvuzelas. But, this is really cleaver. It's from Lanline TV which creates these videos they're hoping will be viral. Take a look.

And it's Vuvuzela Man. He goes running around...

WHITFIELD: Where is he running around? In South Africa?

LEVS: You know, I didn't check on that. It's still inside of South Africa.

WHITFIELD: Because, unless you're in South Africa, nobody else is going to get this.

LEVS: Well, you know, what they are now. This is recent. This has just come out in recent days and what's happened is that now everyone is -- I think it's actually here in the U.S. and now...

WHITFIELD: I don't know of a subway system in South Africa.

LEVS: Yeah, we'll check about that. So, he's going around blowing it for everyone, right? And more and more people, you know -- at the time they didn't get it, but now it's in the Web and everyone's loving it. (INAUDIBLE) listen to this, get to the main section. There you go.

WHITFIELD: It looks like Manhattan.

LEVS: He's naming the stores and cheering (INAUDIBLE).

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Watch.

Exercise!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Oh, my gosh. He's made this his job.

LEVS: (INAUDIBLE) he got the name "Vuvuzela Man."

WHITFIELD: He is a World Cup devotee.

LEVS: I'm pretty sure he's in New York, right there.

WHITFIELD: I'm pretty sure there's alcohol involved here, but anyway.

LEVS: Another new web star that you didn't see coming is this elderly gentleman dancing to Lady Gaga who's totally schooling the younger folks. Watch this.

WHITFIELD: Oh, go, go, go pops. All right.

LEVS: So he's got some moves. He's dancing to "Poker Face." Let's skip to the next section. What you see happening in this club is these younger guys come up and try to learn his moves and watch how much better he is.

WHITFIELD: Nice, oh, yeah, he's got it down. Go!

LEVS: I love how these like new dance stars just sprout up from out of nowhere. We had the baby, before we had the (INAUDIBLE)...

WHITFIELD: The little samba baby.

LEVS: Some people are calling him Grandpa Gaga.

WHITFIELD: I like it.

LEVS: OK, now once in a while, I'll show you a prank on this, here. Now, I wouldn't show this, it is not gross, even though it's a prank and involves a toilet. Watch this, take a look at this prank.

WHITFIELD: Sounding gross.

LEVS: It sounded gross. Now watch what they do here.

WHITFIELD: Oh, my. Oh, no, no, no. Oh, that would freak me out because I do not like port-a-potties.

Just for laughs on TV (INAUDIBLE) to be funny (INAUDIBLE).

Oh my gosh. I love it! Actually they do not look frightened enough for me. Oh my gosh.

They all look fine, like when they're leaving, they all seem to think it's funny. (INAUDIBLE) My goodness.

WHITFIELD: He had locked the door, too.

LEVS: All right. We're going to continue -- there he is behind us.

WHITFIELD: That's funny.

LEVS: That's freaking me out (INAUDIBLE). We're going to keep up the comedy now -- she's loving that one (INAUDIBLE).

WHITFIELD: That's good.

LEVS: So, I look for the adorable videos involving animals because those are always really popular on-line.

WHITFIELD: Yeah, cuddly-coo.

LEVS: This was cuddly-coo. Watch this. Watch what this kitten does. This is why not to give your cat a birthday card. Listen to this.

WHITFIELD: It's a singing card.

LEVS: It's singing meow-meow and the cat is flipping out and now it attacks the card. Maybe he's just trying to play with them.

WHITFIELD: This is funny. LEVS: Poor kitty, he's like, what is going on here?

WHITFIELD: Where are my friends? Come out.

LEVS: It was the cat's birthday and they gave him a meow-meow-meow birthday card. I don't know if he's trying to attack it or if he's trying to play, but (INAUDIBLE).

WHITFIELD: I don't know, cat's looking for his friends to come out of that card. Talking to me.

LEVS: And now I'm going to (INAUDIBLE) lower my voice, time for Fred's weekly relaxation video. And this one is pretty cool. Take a look at it. Watch this. It's kind of mesmerizing.

WHITFIELD: What is that, like a look inside a sponge or something?

LEVS: Animation. It's called a mandle (ph) box which is this mathematical concept based on something called fractive geometry. It's this sort of maze that gets more detailed the further you go into.

WHITFIELD: It's a little Star Wars-ish.

LEVS: So cool to look at and they, what they did is they took this and they put this video, "Crystal Harmony" by the Ray Kelly band behind it. You can get kind of lost in this.

WHITFIELD: Yeah, I'm relaxed.

LEVS: I don't want to leave us on relaxation. I try to work us up a little at the end. I don't want viewers to fall asleep. So, I'm going to end with spotlight on a really cool talent. Another thing I love the Web.

WHITFIELD: OK.

LEVS: You know, know I love showing people's really cool talents that no one would ever know. OK, take a look at this guy and what he does, carving a watermelon and look what he does to it. So, for there he is carving a watermelon, all right, now skip to the next section of it. I want you to see what he ultimately leads to. It's a llong (INAUDIBLE). Look at that.

WHITFIELD: Wow, that's gorgeous.

LEVS: It is so impressive. And you can watch the whole thing.

WHITFIELD: Oh my goodness.

LEVS: And you see how he does all of this. You wouldn't know people have these talents but thanks to the Web, you've got tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands of people taking a look at it.

WHITFIELD: If I knew how to do that, then nobody would make fun of me when I bring the fruit salad to the party. LEVS: No one would want to eat it.

WHITFIELD: Because they'd say, OK, now this is artistry. But usually when I bring a fruit salad, no one's impressed.

LEVS: They just stand there laughing.

WHITFIELD: But if it looked like that, oh, my goodness. That was gorgeous. Who wants to eat that?

LEVS: Well, I want to see what your humorous fruit salad looks like. Maybe you can bring that in tomorrow.

WHITFIELD: Just think really simple, really simple.

LEVS: Bananas and apples.

WHITFIELD: Cut, cut, cut, slice, slice. That's it.

LEVS: And all the videos are right here. They're all at FaceBook, JoshLevsCNN also Twitter, JoshLevsCNN. Take a look there, tell us your favorites and maybe we'll share some of them on the air tomorrow at 2:00 Eastern.

WHITFIELD: Yeah, I always look forward to part two.

LEVS: Part two.

WHITFIELD: The encore.

LEVS: Encore.

WHITFIELD: Viral videos. Thank you so much, Josh, appreciate that.

LEVS: (INAUDIBLE)

WHITFIELD: A tornado is striking deep in the heart of Texas. We'll show you the damage. That's just a taste of it right there. There's more, right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. People in south Texas are trying to clean up after this destructive tornado. The twister tore through Hebbronville, Texas late yesterday afternoon. The Red Cross says the tornado damaged or destroyed the homes of at least seven families. No injuries or deaths, thankfully, are being reported.

And lot of folks are hitting the road this holiday weekend, aside from bad weather in different parts of the country. And we're hearing they could be in for a big surprise, particularly in the northeast because it's very hot. You may not have tornadoes, that kind of activity, but instead -- you know, sometimes the heat can be just as bad. It's all relative, right?

KAREN MAGINNIS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes and you know in D.C. those triple digits are very oppressive.

WHITFIELD: And that means a lot of humidity, too.

MAGINNIS: It does.

WHITFIELD: Bad hair days, sweat, you know.

MAGINNIS: I know, I don't want to go on vacation anymore.

WHITFIELD: OK.

(WEATHER REPORT)

But I want to show you something else, and that's what's happening along the Gulf Coast and look at this, this is kind of a sad story that we've been talking about for months now, but in particular because it July 4. Look at this, scattered tar balls, Panama Beach, avoid the oil areas right around Fort Walton, there are advisories across this area. This is sad, not just for Florida, but stretching all along the Gulf Coast in towards Louisiana, some areas definitely worse than others. And they were saying, Fred, that along the Gulf State Park area in Alabama, they had runners along the beach that were barefoot and that oil becomes emulsified.

WHITFIELD: Oh, sticks, yeah.

MAGINNIS: Yeah, I have been a runner and it's just not going to be a lot of fun.

WHITFIELD: That's just terrible. I love running on the beach barefoot, too, but not now.

MAGINNIS: Yeah, you've got to keep the shoes on. Dang.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks so much. I appreciate it.

All right, Karen. So hurricane Alex, well, it's come and gone. But the effects of the oil cleanup operation gives us a look at what to expect during the rest of the hurricane season. That is straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. It's become a familiar sight along the Gulf Coast. A lot of yellow in the form of booms set up to protect beaches and marsh lands, but they were no match for Hurricane Alex even though the storm was centered hundreds of miles away. CNN's senior correspondent, Allan Chernoff has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALLEN CHERNOFF, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Take a ride down the Mississippi into the Gulf of Mexico and see what hurricane Alex has delivered from BP's out of control oil well.

(on camera): We're more than 60 miles away from the oil gusher by Comfort Island which is within Saint Bernard Parish and the oil has made it over here. There is a bit of a sheen on the water and there are also what you would call tar balls. This is emulsified oil, it's been in the water for at least a week, maybe two weeks and that's the reason there is boom all around the island, it's trying to prevent this tar, this oil from getting onto the island and also into the marshlands and especially from hitting those pelicans, but unfortunately the pelicans here, they do have oil on them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All of them have oil on them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All of them?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All of them right there, yeah.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: About eight or 10 of them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah, it's not good.

CHERNOFF: This is what hurricane Alex did to some of the boom, broke it up. And that's the reason there are so many crews surrounding the island right now, bringing out replacement boom. They'll have to do it over and over through the summer as more storms come in.

(voice-over): Several hundred fishermen who now can't fish are transporting boom in Saint Bernard parish, yet some of the oil has hit land which means it has to be removed manually.

TIM THOMASSON, ST BERNARD PARISH: We use rakes, we use shovels. We find the tar balls in place, they'll shovel up the tar balls. If it's heavy and thick and stuck into some of the grassy area there, they're getting it down into the grass and into the weeds and raking through it.

CHERNOFF: St. Bernard Parish officials say they expect plenty more cleanup because after Hurricane Alex oil is heading to this part of the gulf.

(on camera): Seeing the oil out here really brings home the conflict between our need for the energy that the oil rigs out there provide and the terrible price we can pay for that oil. The price to the environment and the wildlife.

Allan Chernoff, CNN, in the Gulf of Mexico.

(END VIDEOTAPE)