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Tarballs Spreading to Lake Pontchartrain; The Queen's Visit to New York City; Caster Semenya Back on Track

Aired July 06, 2010 - 14:00   ET

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

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN ANCHOR:--Texas today.

More on the oil disaster in a moment. But first we want to bring in Chad Myers, who has been covering this continuing heat wave.

(WEATHER REPORT)

GRIFFIN: It took 78 days, but the oil now has now reached every shore in the Gulf. Tarballs have made it to -- shown up on the shores in Texas today, Galveston, Texas, for the first time. Beaches now affected long 550 miles stretching from Texas to northern Florida.

A bit of a setback, too, in the cleanup. A huge Navy blimp was supposed to arrive in the Gulf today. It's now delayed until Friday because of bad weather. That airship will help cleanup by pinpointing pockets of oil threatening to hit the shore, and also spotting wildlife that are caught in the slick.

That massive cargo ship that is now a huge oil skimmer still being put to the test. We hope this works.

The Taiwanese owners say the ship named A Whale can skim 15,000 to 50,000 barrels of oil a day when the seas cooperate. Yesterday's test, inconclusive, because high waves. The Coast Guard has extended testing through Thursday.

I just mentioned the tarballs that are spreading to Texas. They're also spreading to Lake Pontchartrain, an inner waterway in New Orleans. And that's where Brooke Baldwin is right now.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Here in Louisiana, Lake Pontchartrain, known for its recreation, its fishing, its swimming, and now, sadly, these tarballs. Take a good look. This is what is now washing within this lake. This is significant for a number of reasons, primarily because this is the farthest inland and north we have seen now this oil reach.

Of course, the big question, how does this affect the people specifically here of Louisiana and close to New Orleans? The answer is simple. They've now shut down a third of Lake Pontchartrain to fishing. And so when you took to people who work here, for example, at this marina, one bait boy I spoke with, he's pretty much worried he's kissing his summer job good-bye.

JARRETT COCRAN, BAIT SALESMAN: We can't get live bait in. So that's pretty much where we make most of our money from, is live bait.

BALDWIN: Because they've shut down the commercial fishing?

COCRAN: Yes, from the highway, all the way back to Lake Borgne and Biloxi marsh, all the way back through Hopedale and out through the Gulf, pretty much. All that's shut down.

BALDWIN: This was Jarrett Cocran. Here now is Jeff Cocran, who told me he's been fishing in this beautiful lake for 35 years. And while it is slightly alarming to see this popping up where he's spent his boyhood fishing, he also recognizes that big oil does mean big business here on the Gulf.

JEFF COCRAN, RECREATIONAL FISHERMAN: Yes, they're around. Hopefully they'll eventually degrade. Over time, they don't seem to be that bad. There's really no oil sheen. There's no oil sheen.

The tarballs are -- whether part of the multiplication process out that BP -- that they're doing offshore. And they're getting up here because there's heavy tidal movement through the Regalese (ph) pass. And therefore, it doesn't surprise me that it's here.

BALDWIN: The president here of St. Tammany Parish told me crews actually collected 1,600 pounds of these tarballs just yesterday. Today, crews are back out laying even more boom, making sure those barges are in place to make sure this oil -- at least no more of the oil -- reaches their precious Lake Pontchartrain.

Brooke Baldwin, CNN, Slidell, Louisiana.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GRIFFIN: Brooke, thank you.

Well, we should be just about 10 minutes away from the queen landing in New York City. And our prince, of all things British at CNN, Richard Quest, is already there. He's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: Almost 60 years on the throne, but Queen Elizabeth II is making just her third trip to New York City. She's going to address the U.N. General Assembly this afternoon.

And that is where our Richard Quest is right now.

And Richard, the "palace" says this is going to be one of her most important speeches in recent years? Really?

RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. And the reason is because Her Majesty is going to be drawing on 60 years of being a world leader.

She's met every U.S. president since Eisenhower, bar Johnson. She has sat and talked to world leaders more than most can count.

So, from that point of view, it's a chance for her, maybe in the twilight of her reign, to start to pull together some strands and talk about leadership, to talk about the issues facing the United Nations. And as we heard from the ambassador, the U.N. ambassador from Japan, it's also a chance for perhaps the United Nations to listen about a different perspective.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YUKIO TAKUSU, JAPANESE AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: I very much hope that this visit this afternoon will be an opportunity that the United Kingdom shows fresh impetus, fresh commitment to the good of our issues, because since the creation of the U.N., so many things have happened. And I think it's important the U.N. has enhanced rather than diminished (ph).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

QUEST: And so from that perspective, a chance to energize some of the big issues will be on the agenda.

After that, Drew, of course the real talking point, if I may say, is how Her Majesty will put up with the very hot temperatures in New York. I asked the palace exactly that question. They laughed in my face, Drew, and reminded me Her Majesty was well used to Africa, the Gulf, the Middle East, and of course the Caribbean, where she's still head of state on many islands.

GRIFFIN: Richard, is there one -- you talk about she can bring her expertise and her experience on many global issues, but is this queen particularly involved in a single global issue that she wants to make her mark on, or is she merely just going to be a cheerleader of sorts for people to talk to each other?

QUEST: No. I think that's a very strong point, well worth emphasizing.

If there is one message of this, it will be from this speech that we've got to do it together, it can't be done apart. And it is only through bilateral and multilateral organizations like the United Nations that the intractable problems, whether it's climate change, whether it's global warming, whether it's the World Trade Organization, whatever it may be, Afghanistan, Iraq, she won't refer to them individually. But she most certainly, with a message between the lines, will be clear, is that together we can. Apart, there's no hope.

GRIFFIN: All right. It looks like she should be landing in probably another five minutes or so. She's going to be on the ground, as you told us yesterday, for 12 hours.

Her speech is 15 minutes. Correct? So what is she going to do with 11 hours and 45 minutes?

QUEST: Well, I think I was exaggerating yesterday, so forgive me for that. Actually, she'll be in New York a lot less time than that.

From here, she goes immediately to Ground Zero, where she pays her respects to those who perished in 9/11. She will see the renovations taking place, the rebuilding of the World Trade Center. After that, it is to the British Garden of Remembrance in Hanover Square, where she will meet relatives of the 67 British citizens who died in 9/11.

And then, you know, it's short, it's sweet. But it's very much on back home to the U.K., because she has to go to Scotland, where the royal calendar just continues as the queen takes up residence at (INAUDIBLE).

GRIFFIN: And real quickly, any kind of queen fever going on in New York? Are the people going to be able to see her?

QUEST: In the absolute openness of transparency of coverage, no -- there's lots of people coming in to see the queen speak. There is one gentleman over here who is determined that we hear his views that the English need to leave island (ph), and is determined to shout much abuse about Her Majesty the Queen as he possibly can.

I have to say, he's standing on his own over there. Most people are keen to enter and keen to hear what she has to say.

GRIFFIN: OK. So, not a big crowd turned out to line the sidewalks to see the queen.

QUEST: Well, I think what we don't know at this point -- because this part of it is very closed -- we don't know what it will be like from here to getting her down to the World Trade Center. But the time is so tight, it will be a motorcade that will move at speed.

They've got to get her down there. She's going to spend about 20 minutes there. And then she goes on to the British Garden.

It's also 101 degrees here, frankly. And, you know, I'm not entirely certain if duty didn't call that I would be standing out here rather than being in the cool of the air-conditioning.

GRIFFIN: Hey, we've got to wrap up quickly, but do you know her? Is she likely to stop, give you a bottle of water, wipe the brow of you sweating there, and then maybe even shoot a question to her?

QUEST: No. The one thing about the queen, no. No. No. No.

And if she does, Drew, I'll buy you dinner in any restaurant anywhere in the world.

GRIFFIN: Ooh, I'm going to shoot a note to the queen. Thank you.

Richard Quest, standing outside the United Nations.

QUEST: Thank you.

GRIFFIN: Queen Elizabeth going to make a talk there this afternoon.

Well, we heard just last hour from President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. They are down in Washington, D.C. We're going to tell you what Mr. Netanyahu had to say about reports of strained relations between the two countries.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: We have breaking news out of Arizona, though expected breaking news.

CNN now reporting the Justice Department has filed a lawsuit in Phoenix asking a federal judge to strike down that new immigration law that Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed into law in April. The law was to go into effect the end of this month, I believe, July 29th, in which police who suspect -- have suspicions that somebody is an illegal immigrant, can ask for documentation to determine if they are indeed in this country legally.

Now the U.S. Department of Justice is trying to block that law, saying it is unconstitutional and asking a federal judge in Phoenix now to make a ruling on this. So, Arizona will have a lawsuit on its hand if it wants to get this law into effect.

We will continue to follow this story. But, again, breaking news coming out of Phoenix, a federal judge being asked to strike down the new Arizona immigration law.

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: We want to update you on some breaking news coming out of Phoenix, Arizona. That is where the federal government, the Department of Justice, is now going to challenge the new immigration law that the state of Arizona passed and Governor Brewer signed back in April which would allow police officers to basically ask for immigration papers, for documentation that somebody is living in the United States, if they do have suspicion that that person is not.

The Department of Justice is going to challenge this, saying it is unconstitutional. They've asked a federal judge in Phoenix, Arizona, to make a ruling on this, challenging the constitutionality of it.

Of course, this is not unexpected. The governor, Jan Brewer, even on our air, has been asking for literally donations for the state of Arizona to be able to fight this law in court when, indeed, she expected the Department of Justice to file on this.

A contentious issue, whether or not local state police who have suspicions of a crime can also, in addition to asking for what the people are doing involved in the crime, ask for immigration papers for those they are questioning, for those who are basically traveling with people who are being questioned. A very contentious law that has been not only protested across the country, but there in Arizona. And we are continuing to follow this here as the Department of Justice now carrying through on its threat to file a lawsuit. And there you have it, the breaking news.

We'll have more as that develops.

Well, South African teenager Caster Semenya cleared to run again. This, after an 11-month ordeal of undergoing gender tests.

Do you remember this case? She won the 800 meters at the world championship in Berlin last August, and almost immediately questions surfaced about whether she was truly a she or a he.

Joining us from Johannesburg is CNN's Isha Sesay.

Isha, what happened today?

ISHA SESAY, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, what we have found out from the IAAF -- that's the International Association of Athletics Federation -- is that Caster Semenya has now been cleared to return to competition with immediate effect. But as part of the statement that was put out a short time ago, the IAAF says that the findings of those gender tests that you mentioned will not be made public. They say those findings are confidential and they will not be commenting further on the situation.

Caster Semenya, for her part, has also put out her own statement saying that she's absolutely thrilled that the situation has been concluded, that she can return to the global arena of athletics, and that she can compete with this dispute behind her.

But, Drew, still many questions remain. Back to you.

GRIFFIN: All right. Thank you, Isha.

We're going to bring in Christine Brennan, who joins us, a sports columnist for "USA Today."

Christine, 10 months to determine if this person is a man or a woman. None of the information apparently is going to be released, but she's going to compete as a woman.

Controversy?

CHRISTINE BRENNAN, SPORTS COLUMNIST, "USA TODAY": Yes, certainly, Drew. And there has been controversy, really, from the get-go on this, going back to last September -- August, September of last year.

You know, we're talking about an 18-year-old last year, 19-year- old this year, twisting in the wind. You wonder if the adults in her life could have done a better job of working this through the system privately before she exploded on the world scene and then this whole personal story exploded on the world scene. I think it gives us a window into the international Olympic world and the International Track and Field Federation that is not a pretty picture of how they deal with an issue like this.

GRIFFIN: Christine, I have got to ask you, is she so good, is she so fast, that she's going to dominate her events and therefore continue the specter of controversy that maybe they got it wrong?

BRENNAN: We'll see. I mean, she will be competing probably if not later this month in the World Junior Championships in Canada, Drew, she'll be competing in the African Championships in Kenya in late July, or, in October, the Commonwealth Games in India. Either way, we'll see her soon enough.

She's been out for about a year. It would be like an athlete being injured. So, there's no guarantee she's going to come back and immediately dominate the way she did at the world championships last year, which kicked off this whole issue.

But if she does come back, if she does win, as she did last year, heading to the London Olympics in 2012, you bet this will be a big story and there will be athletes complaining. It's the nature of the beast, I'm afraid, in terms of sports, where there are lots of questions about controversial issues like this.

GRIFFIN: All right. Christine Brennan, thanks for joining us on this case. You're with "USA Today," sports columnist.

Talking about Caster Semenya cleared to run again as a woman.

We want to get right back to our breaking news, the breaking news that the Department of Justice, the U.S. Department of Justice, has filed a lawsuit trying to block Arizona's new immigration -- illegal immigration law.

We want to bring in Bill Mears, who covers the Supreme Court for us.

Bill, what can you tell us?

BILL MEARS, CNN SUPREME COURT PRODUCER: Well, the issue we're talking about is preemption. That's the government's main argument here.

They're basically saying that federal law trumps state statutes, and that this statute is unconstitutional. The government, in its filing, basically -- and I'm quoting here -- "The nation's immigrations laws reflect a careful and considered balance of national law enforcement, foreign relations and humanitarian interests."

So they're saying their concerns at the federal government are much bigger than the specific state statute and it's got to go.

GRIFFIN: And at the heart of this is Arizona's contention that federal authorities are not doing their job, are not enforcing the laws on the book.

Is that likely to have a sway in a court of federal law? MEARS: Ultimately, I think not, because the preemption doctrine which is based in the Constitution, has been established by the Supreme Court in numerous decisions over the decades -- and many people I've been talking to say such a federal argument likely would persuade a federal judge to declare this state law unconstitutional somewhere down the road. Now, the question will be how long will this take? Could it be many months, a couple of years before this case fully works its way through the courts?

GRIFFIN: And the law was supposed to go into effect -- is going to go in effect at the moment on July 29th. We're just weeks away.

Are they likely to get a stay quickly while this does wind its way through the court?

MEARS: That's the federal government's first thing they want to do. They want to persuade a federal judge to declare a preliminary injunction that would stop a law from going into effect while this court case works its way through the system. That's likely to happen, and a judge will probably decide that in the next couple of weeks.

GRIFFIN: All right.

Bill Mears talking to us about the decision this afternoon, the filing of a lawsuit by the Department of Justice against the state of Arizona's new law trying to block its immigration law, signed into law by Governor Jan Brewer this spring.

After nearly a month of battles on the pitch, we're going down to the final four at the World Cup. The first semifinals match kicking off in moments.

We're going to go "Globe Trekking." Cape Town, right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: We're going "Globe Trekking". South Africa and "World Cup" final four. Here with me is CNN's Michael Holmes. Two games -- well, three games left. But the two semis today.

MICHAEL HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They play for third.

GRIFFIN: Nobody cares about that.

(CROSSTALK)

HOLMES: It's starting any minute now. Let's get this -- I have to go watch it. No, great game. You've got the Netherlands versus Uruguay who won the first World Cup back in 1930 that won again in 1950. And Netherlands, you could call them underachievers because they're a really good team and they got to the final in '74 and '78 but have never won.

The controversy with Uruguay was they were playing Ghana, the last African nation in the tournament. And I think we've got a still -- we'll have to call it up. This is Suarez who's normally a striker, which means he kicks the goals. And there he was, the Ghanaians headed the ball in.

And look at him. It's a blatant handball.

Turning goalkeeper. And unfortunately football does not have a goaltending rule. A lot of people think it should have some sort of rule like that. In rugby if you foul someone as they're about to get a try, you can have a penalty try -- anyway, big controversy. He's out. He can't play.

So they'll have to find someone else to goal keep if they want to do that. That's going to be a big game. Tomorrow's game, the other semi final is Spain versus Germany.

GRIFFIN: And this one has got pre-controversy because of a German octopus.

HOLMES: Oh, yes, I think we have a still video of this. This octopus in a German version of, I don't know, SeaWorld. They put out two containers with food in it. And the octopus comes in and he chooses which one -- and there's a map--a flag on the front. This octopus has been right -- is 5 for 5, including Germany's own one loss.

And he went out there yesterday and he picked Spain. He could be calimari after all this. But it's interesting, the 100% accurate Octopuses pick the other guys to win.

Going to be a big game that one Germany, Spain. I'd love to see the Netherlands and Germany in the final myself just because I think it would be a great game is.

GRIFFIN: And I asked you this before but is this World Cup living up to the hype that we only get every four years?

HOLMES: It started slowly. I was down there for the first eight days of the World Cup. It was the coldest World Cup ever. And it was the lowest number of goals for the first week of any World Cup. It's gotten better and better as it's gone along. There's been upsets.

Brazil getting beaten by the Dutch was huge for them to get knocked out. There's been controversies, the handball, the bad reffing decisions that hurt the U.S. team.

And it has it's gotten better and better as time's gone on. And this is a pretty interesting match-up. Two teams that have never won the World Cup and the two that have won it -- Germany won 20 years ago the other one won 60 years -- I think we've got the octopus now. We're being told.

There you go. And this is it. They put the food in there. He comes down. The flag's on the front. But could you imagine, he even it's not like he's attracted to the German flag just because he's a German octopus. He picked Slovakia to beat Germany which happened. And this is what happened he's on German one now but that's not how it ended up. He went over to the Spanish one and he ate it. This is very serious. GRIFFIN: I guess it is.

HOLMES: It was a great quote. It was the Liverpool Football Club manager Bill Shankly who years ago said, someone-- some people think that football is about life and death. And he said, but frankly, it's much more serious than that. And it is in some of these countries.

GIRFFIN: All right Michael Holmes, we're going to let you go to watch the rest of our show, right?

HOLMES: I think they've kicked off. See you soon.

GRIFFIN: Hey we want to tell you about an inspiring story, a small-town pastor gets his entire community to make a difference in a child's life. And now that community has made a difference in dozens of lives. Once lost in the system, these kids now have homes. It's our "Mission Possible". It's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN: We continue to follow breaking news. The department Of Justice has filed a lawsuit in Arizona against Arizona's new illegal immigration law, which was to go into effect July 29th. It still will go into effect unless a federal judge intercedes on behalf of the U.S. Justice Department. The Justice Department calling that law unconstitutional.

We will have more on this throughout the afternoon and the evening as we get reaction from both the federal government and from officials in Phoenix and in Arizona who vow to now have a court fight between the state of Arizona and the federal government with the U.S. Department of Justice.

Now we want to talk about today's "Mission Possible". you've heard the saying it takes a village to raise a child. Well, this village in Texas is taking that saying and running with it. Let me show you Possum Trot Texas, population, 700. Eastern Texas. It's also the town where one couple has sparked a movement that ended up with more than 70 children once caught up in the system, now being adopted into loving homes.

I want you to meet Bishop W.C. Martin, half of the dynamic duo responsible for all this. Joins us from Houston because we couldn't book the satellite uplink in Possum Trot, Texas I guess. I've been looking forward to this all day. Tell me how this all began. Because you are from such a small town, 700 people. Your congregation is even smaller, 200 people. But somehow you've got 76 kids adopted?

BISHOP W.C. MARTIN, BENNET CHAPEL: Yes, this is very true. It all started a few years ago when my wife's mother passed and she was very disturbed about the loss of her mother. So one of the things she was done one day after the death of her mother and after he funeralized her, she went in the backyard and said, Lord f you don't take this burden off of me about my mother, just let me die. And the Lord said, well, just give back. And the word give back meant give back the love and the nourishment that your mother gave you, give it back to those that don't have a mother and have a father.

So she and I got together and found out and got with the children protective services in Austin and they instructed us that they have here in Texas what you call pride classes. And pride classes is when they teach you how to handle yourself with children with multiple problems. So we got involved in it. And we had to drive some 120 miles round trip to take the class for 12 weeks. But for the most part, it was very rewarding, very instructional. And we was truly blessed by going to those classes. So that's how it all begun.

GRIFFIN: Yeah and Pastor Martin you adopted a child, correct?

MARTIN: Yes, we adopted a little boy named Tyler and a little girl named Mercedes. And once we carried those children to our church and members began to see them, they said, I want to do this. Various members said, I would like to do this, too. But I don't want to drive no 120 miles.

So what I did is I looked up scriptures in the bible concerning adoption and come to find out that there was more adoption made in the bible than what I ever could have realized. I didn't even know that was all in the bible. But it was a true--the bible does give the scripture on several adoptive cases where God brought a huge deliverance in their time during the bible time.

For an example, Moses was an adopted child, Esther was an adopted child. And then Jesus was an adopted child. In each case, there was a deliverance. So once we found all of that out that and I began to preach about that and tell the congregation about it, they wanted to get involved, an they did.

GRIFFIN: I can tell you're a good preacher, because you sure know how to talk, sir. So you go into the -- you're head of the Bennett Chapel right? In Possum Trot Texas. And just by living your adoption story, you've got, what, 16 other families to follow your lead? And that has blossomed into 76 children adopted?

MARTIN: Well, it's more families -- I think it's about like 23 families all told. With--that results into 76 children who has found a loving home, a rewarding home and a place that they have where -- that the love of God and the love of humanity is demonstrated in their lives.

GRIFFIN: Let me ask you this, has Possum Trot, Texas, changed as a result of this?

MARTIN: Well, I think what it has done, it has opened up doors all across the country to let the world know that it doesn't matter about what size the town or the community or the church is. If you are willing to do something to change the lives and change the attitude of young people, you can do it.

We don't have paved streets and we don't have street lights and all that stuff. But yet we've made such a huge difference in the life of a child that a lot of them don't even want to leave out from down there.

GRIFFIN: All right. Bishop W.C. Barton joining us Houston but from Possum Trot, Texas. I just love that name. Thank you so much for joining us and thank you for what you've done for these kids.

MARTIN: Praise the lord. Keep us in your prayers.

GRIFFIN: Will do it.

WELL Wall street is a bumpy road these days. We'll tell you how it's affected the 401(k). Checked lately? Wow

(COMMERICAL BREAK)

GRIFFIN We continue to follow this breaking news. We have some statements coming out of Washington, D.C., now on the federal government, the Department of Justice filing a lawsuit trying to block the implementation of Arizona's new immigration law. That law set to go into effect at the end of this month, July 29th, which would allow state and local police basically to act as immigration cops if they suspect somebody that they're pulling over or suspect of a crime is in this country illegally.

They would be, according to the Arizona law, allowed to ask for immigration papers. The Department of Justice just filed a lawsuit in Phoenix asking a federal judge to block the suit, basically saying this is not Arizona's right to do this. Here's what the Attorney General, Eric Holder, has said this afternoon, releasing a statement that says, setting immigration policy and enforcing immigration laws is a national responsibility.

Seeking to address the issue through a patchwork of state laws will only create more problems than it solves. Arizona has said that this is the federal government's problem that it won't solve and therefore Arizona has decided on its own to step in and try to enforce immigration laws that the governor there says basically the federal government has not been doing.

Also from Homeland Security, Secretary Janet Napolitano, a little broader ranging comment, we are actively working with members of Congress from both parties to comprehensively reform our immigration system at the federal level because this challenge cannot be solved by a patchwork of inconsistent state laws.

So both of them referring to that same patchwork of state laws which they are apparently trying to avoid with this lawsuit. More on this of course throughout the afternoon and evening as CNN looks into this breaking news which is the lawsuit now pitting Arizona against the department of justice.

Well, it's been back and forth on wall street, too. Another wild ride on the stock market today. This one apparently went up but who knows what's going to happen tomorrow? CNN's Allison Kosik joins us, she is live at the New York Stock Exchange. And Alison, you know I don't really get excited about good days. I look at the bad days, and they seem to add up to more. ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Oh you know what Drew you're right. And not getting too excited is not setting yourself up for a fall. We saw big gains, at the open today we saw stocks jump as far as 171 points for the Dow. But bow they've kind of disappeared.

The markets at first were following the lead of overseas markets which rallied. They were looking for an excuse to rally. It turned into a nice buying opportunity. But that rally fizzled out. Stocks right now off their best levels of the day. And some economists were smart as you are to not expect that rally to continue because we've got these ongoing concerns that the economic recovery is weakening.

We got another report today from the service sector showing that it grew in June but only with baby steps. It grew at a slower pace than the prior month. And this is just more of the same that we've been getting. We've got private sector jobs. They were added by 83,000. But that's not enough to really chip away at the unemployment rate. First quarter GDP, it grew but not as fast as the fourth quarter. The housing market took a huge hit recently. These are signs Drew of an economy that's not very healthy. Drew--

GRIFFIN: Does it mean it's not very healthy and struggling along slowly but still moving up or from there on Wall Street, are they afraid that we're actually going to be dropping back, a double dip?

KOSIK: Well it depends on who you talk to. I mean that whole talk about double dip recession, some people even say we're in it now. Others say we're going to need to see two consecutive quarters of negative growth. Some say that's really not going to happen.

I think it's more of what you said. We're taking these baby steps forward. If you put to it the bare minimum, we are growing just really slowly. One trader I talked to earlier says we're going to be in this l-shape pattern where we're going to be flat for a while. And until we see movement in the jobs sector, until we see jobs being added and people getting back to work, we're really not going to see a huge improvement in the economy. Drew--

GRIFFIN: Yes. Based on -- most of us are in the stock market in our 401(k)s and we continue to be told by the quote, unquote, experts, don't panic, don't sell, don't get crazy and drop out of the market. Is there any signs indicating that there are huge selloffs in some sectors? are people starting to give up?

KOSIK: When you talk about the jobs market, they're giving up. Let's talk about your 401(k)s for a minute where we're feeling the pinch. Heading into today, the S&P 500 was down 16 percent from their recent lows in April.

That's close to a bear market. That's when we're 20 percent off of recent highs and those once again were in April. Now many retirement investments are pegged to the S&P 500. And the index is basically unchanged from where it was 12 years ago. But here's a bit of good news for you Drew before you give up and throw out your investments altogether. The S&P 500 is up from the beginning of 2009. So just like the economy, there is a recovery, but it's slowing down drastically. Remember this, the stock market turned up several months before the economy did last year. The concern now is that the stock market weakness may be signaling an economic downturn again. But many economists will tell you -- many investors will tell you, advisers will say, don't panic, think before you go ahead and just sell the whole loop.

GRIFFIN: And basically we're waiting and waiting and waiting for jobs?

KOSIK: We are waiting for jobs. I mean you know we heard from we lost 125,000 jobs in June. That's not good. You know we need signs of improvement in the job market because it impacts many other things -- what you buy, your ability to pay your mortgage. And here's the even bigger problem, Drew. 1.2 million people, 1.2 million they want to work but they gave up looking last month. They're just discouraged. That's a record high.

They just don't think there are jobs out there. And unemployment is expected to hover around 10 percent through early next year. And this really is affects everything. It's that whole domino effect. If people aren't working, they're not going to spend. And consumer spending is really the lion's share of what makes the economy go round and round. If people aren't going to spend, we're going to be kind of be stuck in that flat line of that l that I was talking about earlier.

We are going to get some new readings out this week on unemployment claims and consumer spending. But I wouldn't set up your expectations too high. Traders are telling me since unemployment benefits, the extension was shot down, people are really going to be leery to go out there and spend at this point.

GRIFFIN: All right Allison Kosik, from they New York Stock Exchange, I'll be talking about jobs in my "XYZ" thanks Allison, appreciate that. .

KOSIK: Sure.

GRIFFIN: Next up, "Wordplay". We're going to look at a term whose meaning may vary depending on which country issued your passport.

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GRIFFIN: Those are dignitaries waiting just inside the United Nations waiting for the Queen of England to arrive. She's going to be giving a speech talking to the full assembly about her experiences and telling people to get together to solve world problems. Interestingly enough, they are meeting her inside, not outside where her motorcade is coming in because it's probably about 101 degrees outside right now in New York.

We are awaiting her arrival as she gets ready to make her -- I believe this is her third trip to New York in her 60-year reign as the queen.

I want to talk about "Wordplay" now. Time for a little "Wordplay" And today's term sounds familiar but it's used differently here in the U.S. than most of the rest of the world. Commonwealth. You may be in one right now, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Virginia all officially called commonwealths, groups of people united by a common interest rather than states.

Back when they wrote their constitutions, the term commonwealth had more of a political meeting and was a poke in the eye to the British monarchy. That brings us to the other commonwealth per it's own website, it is a voluntary association of 54 countries that is support each other and work together towards shared goals and democracy and development.

I don't know why they leave this off but it's also mostly made up of what used to be the British empire and even today, her majesty still semi in charge, Queen Elizabeth, serving as the official head of commonwealth, a symbolic position.

Straight ahead, I want to talk about another word, jobs. It's never old news. Not in my book. My "XYZ" is next.

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GRIFFIN: Going back to the United Nations, the Queen, there she is, arriving and greeting the head of the U.N.. Right there, Ban Ki- Moon, I believe, the back of his head. That's Queen Elizabeth. She'll be making a speech to the U.N. General Assembly. The palace calling it one of her more important speeches in recent years.

Our own Richard quest telling us she's going to go back on her experience of dealing with leaders of foreign countries and telling them to work together. The prince Philip with her, the queen in New York.

Today's "XYZ" in the news biz we tend to focus on what's hot at the moment, the oil spill disaster, a tremendous heat wave. A Queen in New York. News not of the moment, well, that becomes old news.

Unfortunately, for millions of Americans, the old news is they still don't have a job. Right now, a recovery from a major recession is either limply under way or perhaps even stalled. Some economists even using that word that hasn't plagued this country since the 1930s. It is becoming old news.

But for millions of unemployed Americans, it is the only news. For their sake, we should try to make sure the news is not lost, even those of us with jobs need to remember we are a much stronger people and nation when all of us who want to work can work. It is why I'm hoping the news of the unemployed, the underemployed, those who have given up trying to be employed never becomes old news to me. That's the "XYZ" for today. Time now for "RICK'S LIST" Rick Sanchez.