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Oil Hits Every Gulf State; Admiral Thad Allen: Last Assignment; Admiral Thad Allen Interview: The Last Assignment; Power Outage in Philadelphia
Aired July 06, 2010 - 09:58 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT PATTINSON, ACTOR: If you ever touch her against her will again --
KRISTEN STEWART, ACTRESS: Don't do this.
TAYLOR LAUTNER, ACTOR: She's not sure what she wants.
PATTINSON: Let me give you a clue. Wait for her to say the words.
LAUTNER: Fine. She will.
STEWART: Jacob, just go. OK.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Well, the phrase "bite me" used to be an insult but no longer thanks to "Twilight's" Robert Pattinson and a crop of other A- list vampires steaming up big screens and small screens alike.
Bite me, now a term of endearment for teens in Texas. That's right. They're foregoing the hickeys and sporting bite marks instead.
All right. We had to get used to the piercing, the tattoos, sexting -- what's next? Using easy bake ovens as meth labs? No it's biting. That's the latest craze.
Kids apparently sinking their teeth into a chomping trend that parents and educators understandably are not thrilled about.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MISSY WALL, DIRECTOR, TEENCONTACT: What I have seen, too, is on the cheek or on some of the body parts that are visible, and almost like you would think like a hickey, it becomes a contest of who has the bite mark. That means somebody cares about you or you're in a relationship or you've been chosen.
CINDY HUGHES, MOTHER: It's just another one of those things that you just send your children to school and hope they come back safe and sound and not too affected by negative peers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: Negative peers. That's one way to put it. What do you think? Parents, viewers, weigh in.
Or maybe students if you're home on break. We want to hear from you. Is teen biting an odd way to show someone that you care or is it hip? Sound off on my blog at CNN.com/Kyra.
Let's check our top stories. Another day of triple digit temps ahead for the northeast. Humanity rising and making conditions feel even harsher. Advisories going out for people to stay indoors and check on the elderly.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets President Obama today. The president hoping to lay the groundwork for direct Middle East peace talks. Right now, the Israelis and the Palestinian authority are talking only through U.S. envoy George Mitchell.
And Britain's Queen Elizabeth speaks at the U.N. today. it's her first speech before the general assembly since 1957. This is also the queen's first visit to New York in more than 30 years. The queen is the head of the state for the United Kingdom and 15 other U.N. member states.
78 disastrous days in the gulf. Still gushing and still growing. Oil from the Deepwater Horizon site has not hit every state on the gulf coast. Tar balls found their way into the Galveston, Texas area over the weekend. Nearly 500 miles of coast from Texas to Florida now affected.
Today, a blimp, kind of like the Goodyear blimp, should arrive on the gulf coast and will help find oil on the water and point skimmers to it and hopefully find wildlife that's in trouble. Those blimps can stay up longer than helicopters and can actually survey a bigger area.
BP's Chief Operating Officer Doug Suttles will be back in Alabama today. The curator at Fort Morgan on Mobile Bay says that crews are busy trying to protect the water and the shore. That it's hard to see any progress because the oil just keeps coming.
Workers had been trying to keep oil out of Lake Pontchartrain near New Orleans since the disaster started. Tar balls have gotten into the lake and now parts of Pontchartrain are closed to fisherman. Winds and waves have made protecting that lake a real challenge. CNN's Brooke Baldwin has been following that story for us. She's at Slidell, just east of New Orleans. Hey, Brooke.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Kyra. Yes, greetings from, now, a very wet Slidell, Louisiana, and unfortunately because of all this rain, I don't know if you can tell, a lot of these clean-up efforts that were supposed to be under way today and also in effect to help skim the water and get some of these tar balls out of there, that is on standby for right now.
But let mow just show you what these tar balls look like. And this is what started popping up here in Lake Pontchartrain yesterday. Just kind of a glob of oily mess here on my hand. They don't smell. They're just sticky, but this is what people started finding yesterday.
And you know, in terms of the size of some of these oil and the tar balls, it's estimated, just about 100 barrels or so, so it's not alarming when you think about the potential ecological ramifications, but when you think about the fisherman - and one young man, in particular, I met who called himself a bait boy. He's hoping it's his summer job out here, basically bringing some of the live bait, some of the shrimp, so that the fishermen can get out and fish.
Well, a third now of Lake Pontchartrain now totally closed to fishing, so he's pretty much worrying. He's kissing his summer job good-bye. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN (on camera): Right now, there are tar balls in the lake. How may that affect your job?
JARRETT COCRAN, BAIT SALESMAN: I can't get live bait in. So that's where we make most of our money from live bait.
BALDWIN: Because they shut down the commercial fishing?
COCRAN: Yes, from the highway down all the way back to Lake (INAUDIBLE) and Biloxi all the way back to Hopedale and through the gulf pretty much. All shut down.
JEFF COCRAN, RECREATIONAL FISHERMAN: Yes, they're around. Hopefully they'll eventually degrade over time. They don't seem to be that bad. There is really no oil sheen. The tar balls, whether it's part of the emulsification process that BP is doing off shore and they're getting up here because there's heavy tidal movement through the (INAUDIBLE) pass, and, therefore, it doesn't surprise me that it's here.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: So, hopefully some of these clean-up crews, Kyra, will be able to get out and do their job. There goes one right now. They're hoping to get out there and lay some of those booms not just out in the gulf in the outer areas, but also here in Lake Pontchartrain and one other issue they are working with in addition to the rain is they're hoping to get some of the barges out and the barges will essentially function as walls also to keep some of the oil out of this lake, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: We'll keep talking. That's for sure. Brooke Baldwin, thanks so much.
Well, Admiral Thad Allen was this close to retirement, nearly 40 years in the Coast Guard. And then in April, the worst man-made disaster in American history hits and the president comes calling. Admiral Allen, we need you one more time. This last assignment is also his toughest. The farewell crucible, the one history might judge him by.
The admiral has taken on this crisis like he has so many others, with the same cool, calm, humble sense of duty as he showed in 2001, when he headed up the Coast Guard response to 9/11. And we can't forget 1999 when he helped saved a little Cuban boy, off the Florida coast. That boy was Elian Gonzalez. And he was the go-to guy for the historic natural disaster, Hurricane Katrina in 2005 that left people stranded on their rooftops.
And he was in charge of the Coast Guard's response to the devastating earthquake in Haiti earlier this year. Admiral Allen has been our guardian at sea, the man who charges head first into crisis for many years and it's our honor to have the admiral with us, the national incident commander for the gulf oil disaster right here this morning on a stop on his way to meet actually with BP in Houston. So, some retirement.
ADM. THAD ALLEN, NATIONAL INCIDENT COMMANDER: Good morning.
PHILLIPS: In part, I guess in many ways, you're saying your career has just begun.
ALLEN: Pretty challenging time.
PHILLIPS: So you are on your way to Houston. What for and what's the latest today?
ALLEN: Very consequential seven to 10 days coming up with another production vessel coming on line. The "Helix Producer" will allow us to go to 53,000 barrels a day hopefully to contain -
PHILLIPS: The "Helix Producer," not everybody is up on that. We talked a little bit about it earlier this morning.
ALLEN: It's a floating production platform that will offload to a dynamically positioned tanker, that can hold a million barrels, million gallons of oil. And then it will be shuttled off. This will allow them to stay on scene, flexible cuppling right on to the seas better and increase the production.
PHILLIPS: All right. So, I mean, do you expect today to be complicated? I guess nothing's easy going in this situation. But you've got to go to Houston, obviously to have one on one time with those within BP. What's the strategy?
ALLEN: Well, we are also looking, at a new containment cap that would allow us to get to a capture rate of 80,000 barrels a day. Those decisions will be forthcoming. A lot of technical details associated with that, and that's best done face to face on understanding exactly what the proposal is and what we are going to need to act on.
PHILLIPS: All right. Something else that we've been reading about is this 178 foot long blimp, known as the "MZ3A." Tell me the advantage of this? I mean, when we think of the blimp, we (INAUDIBLE) the Goodyear blimp but when I think surveillance, I think P-3 aircraft, tell me the advantage of it.
ALLEN: Persistent surveillance. Helicopters and fixed wing are limited in how long they can stay in the air. This will give us 24- hour surveillance and allow us to hook up our vessels of opportunity and the skimming equipment we have with actual patches of oil and be able to reduce the cycle time from when we see oil to when we put skimmers on it.
PHILLIPS: And not only - it was also talking about it - it will be able to take better pictures of wildlife and sea life? Is that correct?
ALLEN: Well, we'll have imagery capability, we'll have a lot more photographic support and imagery support. We get a lot of them via satellite right now but having something at a low altitude that can stay on scene a very long time, is extremely valuable. We are anxious to see how it works.
PHILLIPS: Yes, I was looking at the pictures of you in Marine One. No - was it Marine - was it the Oval Office but also we got a picture, I believe, you were flying with the president in his airplane, is that right? No, I think it was Marine One, and the intensity - here it is. This actually, we've got it up on the screen. We'll bring it up in a minute. There it is right there. Can we bring that one up, Scotty (ph). That is Marine One? It's hard for me to tell if it's the back of the plane or the helicopter?
ALLEN: It's Marine One.
PHILLIPS: OK. Very good. Tell me what's going on here. I mean, did you think that you would be at this point in your career, where you will be coming face to face with the president, not just a yearly check-in but on a regular basis, having to update him on a disaster like we have never seen?
ALLEN: Well, the president is very involved in this entire operation, very sensitive to what's going on down there and the plight of the people on the gulf coast. In the helicopter, in transit allows to us take a look from the air at what's going on, talk about the different strategies, kind of explain how the booming systems work, talk about skimming capability. He has a lot of questions and needs a lot of answers, and that's my job.
PHILLIPS: Is there ever a moment where you leave his presence and you think, oh, my god, what have I taken on? I was just close to retirement, and this is something that I never imagined as I was coming to the end of my Coast Guard career?
ALLEN: Well, I think everybody has those moments from time to time, but the opportunity here to ameliorate the impact and help the people of the gulf coast, which I have an affinity towards with the Hurricane Katrina experience and so this is more of an opportunity, a challenge and it's all very large and complex but one I willingly take.
PHILLIPS: All right. The "A Whale," this massive oil skimming vessel. It was halted yesterday. We actually were talking about it as it come on with developing news that the test results were inconclusive. Can we have faith in this?
ALLEN: Well, there's been a lot of talk like using super tankers to skim the oil. This spill presents challenges for that type of technology, and we like to see a proof of concept to see if it can work, but the time and the area that it takes for a large ship to maneuver is an issue. And we have a lot of ships right around the well head, doing different types of oil. But the oil is dispersed in patches across over a very wide area. So we are trying to see whether or not if this can be an effective way to actually skim the oil off. But it's inconclusive at this point.
PHILLIPS: OK. Well - so we're keeping our fingers crossed then. You are very careful with your words. I noticed that. All right. We will pay close attention to that. Before we move on and we're going to talk more at the half hour, international support.
There was a lot of back and forth. Countries trying to help us, not trying to help us. Accepting support, not accepting support. I mean, looking now at these countries, Belgium, Canada, China, France, Germany, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Spain, United Kingdom, Tunisia, I don't think we realized that this many countries are helping us out, yet it's costing us.
You know from being in the military, you spend your whole career helping other countries out. Why do we have to pay for this help?
ALLEN: Well, some of them we do and some of them we don't. Some are government offers and some of them are just sources of supply from private industries in those countries. We are turning down no legitimate offer of support. There are some very critical sources that we can use, no matter what. That's boom, fire retardant boom and skimming capability. And we're acquiring that ourselves right now so we can but that from a foreign country, and increase our supply. That's OK. No legitimate offer is declined.
PHILLIPS: All right. The update on the oil. But coming up in just about 15 minutes, we're going to talk a little bit about those 40 years in the Coast Guard. You will stick around and talk with us about that?
ALLEN: Happy too.
PHILLIPS: Fantastic, appreciate it. Thanks so much, Admiral Thad Allen.
All right a heat wave is sizzling the northeast. That's another top story that we've been talking about. Triple digit day on tap. It's more than just uncomfortable. It's pretty darn dangerous. And we're tracking it for you.
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PHILLIPS: All right. Get ready to crank the AC, roll down the windows, whatever you can do to get some relief. It's going to be a scorcher out there for much of the northeast. From D.C. to Philly to New York City, millions of people suffering through a blistering heat wave. The mercury hovering near the 100 degree mark ready to shoot up.
Joseph Bruno, commissioner of New York City Office of Emergency Management urging people to use extreme caution right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOSEPH BRUNO, COMMISSIONER, NYC OFFICE OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT: We are opening up cooling centers. We opened it up yesterday, about 100. Today we have over 500 cooling centers operating in the city and we're suggesting to people that if you need to go to one, call 311 and check your location, they'll tell you where to go and you should go there and enjoy it. It will be open until at least 7:00 this evening and much later.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: And Jim Acosta is braving the elements on the National Mall. Once again, I ask, Jim, how are you holding up?
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, I'm doing all right. Actually I wouldn't do bad with a bag of golf clubs over my shoulder right now. It's not too bad right now, around 90 degrees. It's going to get worse though and you can just look behind me and tell that people have gotten the message about this heat.
The National Mall this time of year, Kyra, is usually crawling with people, joggers going up and down going past the beautiful monuments but right now people are staying indoors. They are heeding those warnings, but some people quite frankly they don't have a choice. They have to be outside. We have some video to show you of construction workers in Manhattan. They're dealing with this intense heat.
Today, forecasters say we're going to be possibly breaking some records today from Richmond, Virginia, all the way up to New York City. We could go into triple digits and bust a bunch of records up and down the Eastern seaboard, and because of that, that gentleman that you just mentioned there from the New York Department of Emergency Management is quite right.
Folks need to go to cooling centers if they do believe that they are getting too hot out there. But up and down the East Coast, folks are hitting the beach and they're going to the pools. And there are other ways to beat the heat. You can also go get some ice cream.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DARLENE SEFTNER, STORMVILLE RESIDENT: It's getting extreme. First thing in the morning I'm getting hot enough to eat an ice cream cone. It's like 11:00 in the morning.
PHOEBE WELLS, THE PINK ROOF ICE CREAM PARLOR: It's really good for business. We get a lot of people, a lot of people ordering water, surprisingly, too, because it's really hot.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: Yes, not a bad idea. Ordering water on a day like this is certainly a good idea, and if you want to consider this the National Weather Service has issued heat advisories up and down the East Coast today. That's because not only do you have this high heat but some pretty oppressive humidity is starting to build up down here in the nation's capital, Kyra. So really the best thing at this point for folks to do is to stay inside, drink plenty of fluids and don't come out here unless you need to. It's going to be a hot one today.
PHILLIPS: All right. Jim Acosta, good advice. Now you can play golf after your five million live shots.
Jacqui Jeras is tracking the temps for us. What do you think, when one of these scorching temperatures going to back off?
JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I think he's crazy. Golf on a day like today (INAUDIBLE) It's never a bad day for golf. It's what people like Kyra likes to say.
Record heat today, guys. This is really brutal. This is serious stuff. This is going to be the hottest day of the year and in fact, it very well could be the hottest day in nearly a decade. If New York City tops 100 degrees, you will do that. Last time you had 100 degrees was August of 2001.
Here's a look at some of the forecast temperatures compared to the record. In Boston, we don't think you'll quite get there. 95 today, the record 101. New York, we think will tie it at Central Park, 101. Philadelphia, we think you'll break it. 101 is your forecast. The record is now 98 degrees. And check out Washington D.C., forecast 102, record 103. So it's going to be a close call there. But either way, you almost want to add about five degrees on top of what the thermometer says because the humidity is really on the increase today.
We got high pressure dominating the east. You might be asking why is it hotter in New York and Boston today than say it is in Atlanta? Well, the high pressure is more focused and this is where the core of the heating is today. We have descending air, and when air descends into the atmosphere, it compresses. And when it compresses, it heats up.
So today will be the worst of it. A low area of low pressure is going to try to sneak in here tomorrow and we'll start to cool you down just a little bit but the real heat relief will come in place, we think, by Thursday.
All right. Let's take a look at the advisories. You heard Jim Acosta mention them. They are all in the light orange areas, so it covers the entire megalopolis from Washington, D.C. up through Boston even into parts of New Hampshire and Vermont. We also have an advisory way over there, to Detroit, where temperatures are going to be feeling like mid to upper 90s. So this is very widespread, Kyra. Temperatures dropping maybe five degrees tomorrow but more significant as we head into Thursday.
PHILLIPS: All right. Jacqui, thanks. When you think of camping you probably think of roughing it in the great outdoors, you know, a couple of tents, campfire, limited indoor plumbing. Well, luxury accommodations definitely don't come to mind, complete with kitchens, billiards rooms and trampolines for kids.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE ROUMAS, CAMPER: You got a little kitchen at, so you know, refrigerator, microwave, stove to do some of your own cooking. A bathroom, a shower, running water, a sink.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: A campground in Petaluma, California says they just want to accommodate all campers, no matter the budget and they say their luxury units are shooting up in popularity.
Well, there have been 22,000 drug war deaths in Mexico since the disputed presidential election four years ago and now the losing party from that vote is making big a gains at the polls.
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PHILLIPS: Checking top stories.
Jury deliberations resume today in the BART shooting trial. A former Bay Area Rapid Transit officer is accused of murder. The victim, a 22-year-old unarmed man shot in the back as he laid prone on a rail platform. The New Year's day 2009 incident triggered protests and riot in and around Oakland and this week Oakland's police chief and mayor are telling people to keep the peace, saying we will not tolerate destruction or violence.
And the New York Muslim religious leader who pleaded guilty to lying about an alleged terror plot has left the country. Imam Ahmed (INAUDIBLE) departure was part of his plea deal with federal prosecutors. He pleaded guilty to a charge of lying about whether he tipped off another man accused of planning to set off explosives in New York's subway system.
Mexico's opposition party is close to taking most of the country's 12 governors races. Such results would be a big blow to the country's ruling party and its efforts to curb the drug war.
There have been 22,000 drug war death since the disputed presidential vote four years ago.
And if you are wondering how to get your kid to pay better attention in school come fall, how about a later start date for school. A new study says that may be the ticket.
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PHILLIPS: That daily dose chart here with so many genes in a person's body, this has to be amazing. New research at the University of Wisconsin, Madison has found that only one gene controls the development of the brain in humans. Researchers say they found the gene called Pac-6, controls the earliest steps of brain development. Makes you think, doesn't?
Well, you want to know how to get your young ones to pay attention in school? How about starting the school day 30 minutes later. The "Journal of the American Medical Association reports that pushing back the start of school but just half an hour can actually improve a students' alertness, mood and health. The study was done by the director of the Pediatric Sleep Disorder Center at Hasbro Children's Hospital in Providence, Rhode Island.
And if you are headed to the beach, how do you know when it's time to reapply that sun screen protection? Well, as they say, there's an app for that. Actually, there is really one. One app actually brings you data on the sun's ultraviolet rays exactly where you are and then calculates the time that you can say you will be exposed to the sun is even one that will give you the UV forecast in any location that you want.
More from the CNN NEWSROOM straight ahead.
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PHILLIPS: Well, Admiral Thad Allen, when bad things happen, when crisis hit, he's the guy that the president sends in to definitely make things right. In 1999, he led the Coast Guard's effort to save a little Cuban boy off the Florida coast. That boy was Elian Gonzalez.
He headed up the Coast Guard's response to 9/11, we'll never forget that day. And he was the go-to guy for the historic natural disaster, Hurricane Katrina that left people stranded on their rooftops and that's where I got to see firsthand how he handles crisis with that calm and humble sense of duty.
He was in charge of the Coast Guard's response to the devastating earthquake in Haiti earlier this year and now his final assignment, his last and toughest crisis, the historic Gulf oil disaster. The president leaning on him to make things right.
Admiral, probably the longest and busiest retirement ever but it is, it's final. You are no longer officially Coast Guard. You are head of the response for this manmade disaster in the Gulf. Quite a switch.
ADMIRAL THAD ALLEN, NATIONAL INCIDENT COMMANDER: Quite a switch, and a wardrobe upgrade.
(LAUGHTER)
PHILLIPS: If you don't mind, I want to take a minute -- we talk to you so much about this oil disaster and we sort of, I think, forgotten about the past 40 years of your life because we've been so wrapped up in what you're doing now. I wanted to have a chance to sort of have that, I guess, exit interview, as we say in the business, to take a look back on your career in the Coast Guard because I know it's something that means so much to you and you don't want to lose sight of that, you're family doesn't want to lose sight of that, your grandkids certainly don't want to lose of that.
So I want to take folks back to when I first got to know you a decade ago, and that's a decade ago. You were the seventh district commander and you were the one that made the decision to bring a little boy named Elian Gonzalez to the shore. What do you remember about that that moment?
T. ALLEN: Well, it was Thanksgiving Day in 1999. Actually, I think I was watching a football game, having a turkey sandwich. And got a call from the command center that said a boat from station from Ft. Lauderdale had run into two fisherman that had found a 5-year-old boy in an innertube. And, of course, it was incredulous. I just couldn't believe that it had happened.
We did know that a boat was missing with Cuban migrants. We had an exhaustive search up to that. They said he was cold, didn't speak English, and I thought he needed to bring him in and let him be seen by doctor.
PHILLIPS: And do you remember this video? I mean, there he is being carried away on a stretcher. I mean, he captivated all of us. I remember because it happened on my shift. Did you ever think would turn out to be such political drama?
T. ALLEN: Had no idea. No idea.
PHILLIPS: Yes, what was -- as you watched it unfold, and your job was over, you just need to save this little boy, but as you watched everything unfold months and months afterward, what went through your mind?
T. ALLEN: Well, that was a very difficult time in Miami and I had been stationed there several times in my career. I feel very much at home there, it's part of the community that I live in across the United States. And it was really a divisive time in the community and a very, very tough time in Miami, but I think the wounds have been healed largely.
PHILLIPS: He's a grown up, very mature, handsome young man now, that's for sure.
9/11, crisis number two that I remember your name and the action that you took. Coast Guard Operational Response, that's what you were in charge of. You were the commander of the Atlantic area. What will you never forget about that day and about your involvement in 9/11?
T. ALLEN: Well, I was actually having a physical, they were drawing blood and there was a television across the hallway and I saw the first plane hit the tower. Then I stopped everyone --
PHILLIPS: Did your blood pressure go up?
T. ALLEN: They didn't have a cuff on me, probably a good thing. I went back and this really ended up being a maritime event for the Coast Guard. We had well over a million people trapped in Manhattan, it's probably one of the largest boat lifts in the history of the United States. We closed New York Harbor, we closed Boston Harbor, we closed the Potomac River.
Nobody knew what was going on. It was a very, very tense few days, as you know. But getting the people off lower Manhattan was the large effort of that day for us.
PHILLIPS: And it's interesting because we thought so much was happening by air, and it was and there was a lot of response from the air, but in the waters, and especially for days, months, years, after, that was a huge concern, our ports and protecting our ports, and you were involved in that as well.
T. ALLEN: Well, it certainly marked a change in the Coast Guard's mission mix and our focus on maritime security and port security and really kind of redefined our presence on the ports and it's been evolving ever since then.
PHILLIPS: Katrina, this was the first time that I actually was able to be embedded with you. And boy, I thought you could multitask then now I saw what you do during the oil disaster, my goodness.
But looking back at Katrina, what was the biggest lesson that you learned then that has been able to maybe help you, guide you, push you forward with what you're dealing with now? Biggest lesson learned during Katrina.
T. ALLEN: I'm a big believer in something that are called middle models, how do you create a framework in your mind on how you're going to deal with it. And I don't think that early on in Katrina we really understood what had happened. It was no longer a hurricane when the levees were breached.
What we had was a weapon of mass effect used on the city of New Orleans without criminality, and you need to focus quite differently if that's what you're thinking about in terms of catastrophe. Absent the levees breaking, ground zero's base St. Louis away in (ph) Mississippi, but when the levees collapsed, it wasn't an entirely new set of circumstances, required a different type of thinking.
PHILLIPS: Can I tell you what was so remarkable with regard to the U.S. Coast Guard during Katrina, and we're looking at video of it now? Those helicopter rescues, absolutely incredible. I remember you telling me the numbers and how many people you were saving and how many rooftops that you were hovering over.
I mean, wasn't that remarkable for to you see your men and women carrying out the rescues?
T. ALLEN: Well, the rescues were remarkable. I think what was remarkable is we went through the operation and there was not even a near midair collision. We did not have any major engineering casualties. Our folks over at Mobile at our airbase said that we are supporting this operation in New Orleans, did remarkable things to keep those helicopters in air, keep them running and being safe. It was extraordinary.
PHILLIPS: Then came Haiti. Now I remember waking up in the morning and Hillary Clinton was live on CNN saying, thank God for the U.S. Coast Guard. They were the first ones there. It was a shout out to you and your men and women.
The most memorable part of Haiti for you?
T. ALLEN: There was a picture that I've kept on my desk of one of our corps men running with a small child trying to get that child to an evacuation spot very early on. Our cutters were first on scene, they went ashore and basically they started doing first aid nonstop, 24 to 48 hours. We actually delivered a baby on the flight deck of a Coast Guard cutter. Just an extraordinary outpouring of dedication and commitment from our people.
PHILLIPS: Was that the picture? Was that the birth right there? Because we had a number of pictures and it went so quickly, but I remember that moment and you talking about that. What was that like? What was the chatter around that?
T. ALLEN: Well, they were trying to MEDEVAC the woman at the time who was about to give birth and they were on the flight deck and the baby wouldn't wait, so we were there and took care of business.
PHILLIPS: You have definitely done it all, but there's was one photo also that was very special to you from Haiti and that was with the Haitian Coast Guard, and I love this photo. We're going to bring it up in just a second, but it's with all of the members of the Haitian Coast Guard in their uniforms standing around you -- there it is right there. That is another picture that you said is one of your favorites. Why?
T. ALLEN: I first went to Haiti in 1973 when I was a search and rescue controller in San Juan and have been back many times since then. We have a very special, unique relationship with the Haitian Coast Guard.
In my view, it's one of the most enduring civil institutions in an island that's had a troubled past. But we have been able to crossover that and help that country out and sustain their Coast Guard for many, many years, and we're very proud to be involved with the Haitian Coast Guard.
PHILLIPS: Well, you definitely have a remarkable career in the U.S. Coast Guard. But before we go, we have talked a lot about Thad Allen's nearly 40-year career and I just want to take a moment to go back just a little bit further.
You might say that the Coast Guard is definitely in his blood. It's the family business, actually. Admiral Allen's father, Bill, was also in the Coast Guard, a chief petty officer; handsome devil, too. In fact, he was actually on the boat out to sea when he found out that Thad was born in 1949. Did we get that right, 1949?
T. ALLEN: You got it right.
PHILLIPS: There he is, cigars for everyone. You got to love the picture.
It's our honor to have Bill Allen on the phone with us from Tucson, Arizona.
Can you hear me, Bill?
BILL ALLEN, ADMIRAL THAD ALLEN'S FATHER (via telephone): Yes, I can hear you.
PHILLIPS: Were you able to follow the past 40 years with us there in that segment? Did I hit the highlights of the your son's career?
B. ALLEN: I think you did a very good job.
PHILLIPS: OK, excellent.
Bill, you were telling me you that remember the day that you were at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy and there was your son graduating. How did that make you feel?
B. ALLEN: It was one of the probably greatest day of my life because being a retired or ex-serviceman, you are able to give your son his commission. As the others walked by, at the time Admiral Bennett was handing them out, he stepped aside and I give Thad his commission and it was a great day for me.
PHILLIPS: Now you told me, Bill, that Thad or as you call him, Tadpole was a bit of a hellion he was growing up. Did you imagine he would become the head of the U.S. Coast Guard?
B. ALLEN: No, I didn't because he was always getting into stuff. He work, schoolwork, anything like that, he'd finish it up and then he'd get in trouble.
(LAUGHTER)
PHILLIPS: Well, he's definitely stayed out of trouble at least the past few years.
B. ALLEN: Yes. He hasn't had a chance. They've kept him busy.
(LAUGHTER)
PHILLIPS: He's been way too busy.
Now, Bill, you come from humble beginnings, nine kids in your family and you know what it took, hard work and what family values meant. And as you look back on the 40 years of your son's career -- we're looking at a picture of Thad when he was younger and son Perry that I know you think about often. You guys lost him a number of years ago, and then, of course, your daughter Wanda. Three amazing kids.
As you look back on 40 years of your son's career, what do you think you're the most proud of?
B. ALLEN: I think I'm the most proud of all three of them. Thad got promoted and moved a little higher up, but while we were back at the academy, our daughter married Tom Muriad (ph) who was cadet a year behind Thad and he served 30 years and retired out of the Coast Guard, spent a lot of time in the Bering Sea, and Wanda did a lot of family work and has got several high awards from Washington.
So you put them all together, we're sure proud of our kids.
PHILLIPS: I know you are.
B. ALLEN: Oh, yes. Wait a minute. Our daughter-in-law, too, Thad's wife.
(LAUGHTER)
PHILLIPS: Don't forget Pam. Pam's that amazing woman behind the man here, right, Bill? You know about that with your wife, Wilma. It always takes a stronger woman to help a strong man.
B. ALLEN: Yes. That's right. We have been a team and we have got so much support from all of them. And it's made a good retirement career for me.
PHILLIPS: As we wrap up, Bill, you were sharing with me -- you are, as I have learned through the family, an amazing poet and you write songs and music a part of your life. You actually taught your son the love of music, as well.
I understand you're a pretty good piano player, Admiral.
And I know you've been working on a poem for your son. You wanted to read it as change of command. You kind of got halfway through, then you had to have hip surgery, bless your heart, but you wanted to share a little bit of that poem that you've been working on for your son, right, Bill?
B. ALLEN: That's right. It's -- I was going to have it finished for his retirement, but my busted hip changed that. But I have half of it here, so I'd like to read that and if it goes to long, cut me off.
PHILLIPS: OK, you read what you have.
B. ALLEN: OK.
As you know, when he was little, his name was Tadpole. Nickname. So I start out --
From an active tadpole to a wise old toad, you have come a long ways down life's winding road. From Los Angeles General Hospital to the Coast Guard Commandant and along the way you have dealt with five presidents.
Your first school in Alaska gave you a good start. The teachers you had played a very good part.
In Portland, you dillydallied and had a Mohawk haircut. Teacher says get out of here, you some kind of a nut?
Living was great on a flower farm in Clackamas, our landlord, people and school was very good to us.
In Richmond, you had many friends of color. Your nickname was "Whitey" and some called you "Brother."
In Elsa Brandi (ph), you were a member of the band, you marched in the Rose Parade as a tuba man.
At Palo Verde High School, you did excel. You earned four scholarships and really did well.
You studied them over and they offered many things, but you chose the one on the banks of the Thames.
Your first year at the academy was sometimes rough. Your studies was easier, but you couldn't eat enough.
The second year you were on your way. Mom and dad were there for Parents' Day -- and that's as far as I got. I'll get you the rest of it one of these days.
T. ALLEN: Don't ever give him a microphone.
(LAUGHTER)
PHILLIPS: I'll tell you what, he's got the gift right there. Clyde Bill Allen, what a pleasure to have you join us? Thank you so very much.
B. ALLEN: It's sure been a pleasure here, too.
PHILLIPS: It's been our honor, and we see now why now you have such a humble and strong son.
Admiral Thad Allen, just wanted to do something special for you after so many years of watching you in your career.
T. ALLEN: Thank you.
PHILLIPS: I know you are not finished yet. You may be finished with the Coast Guard, but we're counting on you to lead us through this response to the oil disaster and we know you're the man to do it. Thank you so much for being with us.
T. ALLEN: My pleasure. Thank, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: You bet.
Well, we're watching the markets closely after a long losing streak. The Dow popped actually right about at the open today, but it could be a one-hit wonder as the talk still focuses on a double-dip recession. There's the number right there, up 144 points.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: Traders on Wall Street back to work today, they're getting a lot of orders to buy stocks. In just a few -- well, just in the first minute, actually, of trading, the Dow actually jumped by triple digits.
Alison Kosik live at the New York Stock Exchange with details. All right, that's good. It just needs to keep jumping, right?
ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Well, let me put it to you this way, we kind of got a mixed picture with the latest report that we got. We learned that the service sector in June, it grew but the pace of its growth was slower than in May.
Now we watch the service sector data because what it does, it's the biggest part of the economy, it accounts for 80 percent of employment. These are people who work at restaurants, at hotels and in the retail sector. And when we see growth in the service sector, it means we could see consumer spending picking up because then there is more hiring, more people going, there's more of a demand.
But the problem is we're kind of seeing a slowing in this area. It's really a good report but not a great report. It shows that the recovery is slowing, Kyra.
PHILLIPS: There is also a new report on the economy -- right? -- that's coming out, showing that things are getting -- no. The Dow was up 100 points, so why the disconnect?
KOSIK: Well, I mean, the problem is that investors have been getting this slew of reports, they're kind of lackluster reports. We've got the GDP, it grew in the first quarter, but at a slow pace. We had private sector employers, they added jobs but not enough. And those reports wound up sending the S&P 500 down 16 percent. And we're still kind of treading close to bear market territory, that's when the market drops about 20 percent from recent highs, the recent highs were in April.
So the bottom line here is that we've got stocks kind of at these discount levels. There's a lot of buying today, but the problem is this buying may not last throughout the date or even throughout the week because the problem is that our signs in the economy are still where they were last week.
But at this point, hey, we have a night rally. Let's, I guess, be positive, right, Kyra?
PHILLIPS: Absolutely. Definitely stay positive. Thanks, Alison. Well, vampire romance hot on the big screen, but how about in high school? Kids biting each other to show affection, it's a teen trend with teeth coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
PHILLIPS: For those of you that live in Philadelphia, a number of you might be experiencing a power outage right now. Apparently, 1,900 homes were out of power and now it looks like about 400 of you there in Philly in the metro area out of power. Want to let you know we're following this story for you. The heat there 93 degrees, but apparently it's going to keep rising and we are being told that those power outages are due to that heat that we've been feeling in our part of your country. So we're going to follow this story and bring you more information. We are being told power crews out there trying to work this but could get worse, so get ready.
Also what we're talking about almost as we reach the top of the hour, the suspected Russian spry Vicky Palaez could be released from jail today. She's a U.S.-based columnist for a Spanish-language newspaper. Palaez's bail was set at $250,000, she's been ordered to wear an electronic monitoring band.
And the New York Muslim religious leader who pleaded guilty to lying about a alleged terrorist plot has left the country. Imam Ahmed Azzawi departure was part of his plea deal with federal prosecutors. He pleaded guilty to a charge of lying about whether he tipped off another man accused of planning to set off explosives in New York's subway system.
President Obama meets with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu today. The meeting comes at a time when U.S.-Israeli relations are a bit touchy. The May meeting was postponed after Israeli forces boarded a Gaza bound ship in international waters. The two leaders will discuss the long-stalled Middle East peace process.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROBERT PATTINSON, ACTOR: If you ever touch her against her will again --
KRISTEN STEWART, ACTRESS: Don't do this.
TAYLOR LAUTNER, ACTOR: She's not sure what she wants.
PATTINSON: Let me give you a clue. Wait for her to say the words.
LAUTNER: Fine. She will.
STEWART: Jacob, just go. OK.
(END VIDEO CLIP) PHILLIPS: OK, well, there was actually -- you see the bite marks. The phrase "bite me" used to be an insult. No longer, to "Twilight's" Robert Pattison and a crop of other A-list vampires steaming up the big screens and the small screens alike. Bite me now a term of endearment for teens in Texas. That's right, they are foregoing the hickeys and sporting bite marks instead.
All right, first we had to get used to piercings, then the tattoos, then the sexting, what's next? Using easy bake ovens as meth labs? No, it's biting. That's the latest craze. Kids apparently sinking their teeth into a chomping trend that parents and educators understandably aren't too thrilled about.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MISSY WALL, DIRECTOR, TEENCONTACT: What I've seen, too, is on the cheek or on some of the body parts that are visible, and almost like you would think, like a hickey. It becomes a contest of who has the bite mark. That means, you know, somebody cares about you or you are in a relationship or you have been chosen.
CINDY HUGHES, MOTHER: It's just another one of those things that you send your children to school and hope they come back safe and sound and not, you know, too affected by negative peers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PHILLIPS: All right. Big trouble or just a trend? We asked you what you think about this story. We'll sample from our blog.
This came from Conan, "How hard is it to understand that you are NOT a vampire, nor will you become one if you bite someone else or if you get bitten? I wish these teens would seriously take a second to actually think about what they're doing..."
Mary says, "I think this is a disgusting way to so affection, not to mention very unsanitary. Do they realize that the human mouth is one of the dirtiest parts on the human body?"
And this came from Helter -- yes, Tony, you're going to weigh in in two seconds. Helter said, "Let the kids bite each other, as long as they do not cause harm in the process. Better biting that than using drugs."
All right, remember, we love hearing from you. Just logon to CNN.com/Kyra to share your comments.
Tony Harris, your comment?
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Look, I'm locking my daughter up until she's 35 years old. I'm her dad, I have that authority, I can make that happen.
PHILLIPS: I'm more worried about you than your daughter.
HARRIS: Will you stop? Have a great day, Kyra! Be careful. It's hot outside.
PHILLIPS: I won't say bite me.
HARRIS: Pretty steamy in here, too.
