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BP Replacing Leaky Cap; Immigration Debate Heats Up; High-Tech Gadgets for Travel; "Barefoot Bandit" Arrested; Playing for the Title; World Cup Finals, Politics: A Busy Week Ahead; "Foxy Brown" Star Opens Up

Aired July 11, 2010 - 14:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: The Barefoot Bandit busted, caught in the Bahamas after two years on the run. We're live with more on how he was finally captured.

And talk about lucky, one woman just cashed in her fourth winning lottery ticket. That's in our 4:00 P.M. Eastern hour.

And coming up at 5:00 Eastern, the iPhone Doc. If you're not ready to give up on the earlier generations, just give him a call. He makes house calls.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

Two huge developments that we're following today in the gulf. BP is working around the clock to get a new, better-fitting cap on their runaway oil well, and a giant boat is actually moving into place that could start collecting oil sometime this afternoon.

It's all pretty difficult and very complex, but here to help us better understand exactly what's going on both above and below the surface, we've got CNN Producer Vivian Kuo, who's just back from the Gulf area, and meteorologist Jacqui Jeras. Both of you have been studying this procedure very closely, watching every little incremental change here.

Vivian, you first. What is taking place today, exactly?

VIVIAN KUO, CNN PRODUCER: Like you said, today is a very crucial juncture, so maybe more immediately we're going to see a large recovery vessel try and begin to process some of the oil today. This is called the helix producer. This is a larger vessel than some of the others - other ones that we've seen, and BP has been working all week to get it hooked up. That could be on line today.

The second big development that we're seeing is the first part of the brand new permanent cap is being lowered sub-sea for placement early or mid-week.

WHITFIELD: 5,000 feet below surface. A mile down.

KUO: Exactly.

WHITFIELD: So the images that we're about to see here, let's just look at that one more time. The old containment cap was removed yesterday, and to put - you know, to replace it, it's going to take a little bit of time today as they put this new cap in place. They've got to bolt it down.

We're kind of seeing some images right here from the robotic cameras. Can you help us kind of make out what we're seeing? Those holes right there, that's where those bolts would come down, correct?

KUO: That's exactly it. So what BP is calling it is a flange transition spool. We'll just call it a spool. It's a - it's a - it's a huge structure. It's 12 feet tall. It weighs more than 15,000 to 16,000.

They're going to try and put it in place, and, like you said, they're going to have to after that bolt it down.

WHITFIELD: And what's fascinating, you'd mentioned earlier, each bolt - there are six bolts, right? Each bolt weighs over 50 pounds?

KUO: Yes.

WHITFIELD: That's extraordinary.

KUO: Yes. And try to go to Home Depot for that.

WHITFIELD: Right. Right. And it's an incredible undertaking, Jacqui. Everything has to be in place. Obviously, the weather has to cooperate.

JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes.

WHITFIELD: But these are incredible dynamics at play because, you know, you're - you're performing surgery, you know, a mile, you know, down below the surface and relying on the visibility of the cameras, the - the ability of these robotics to do their job.

JERAS: Right. Yes, nobody can go down there because the pressure is so - so strong there, so it's dark out, it's hard to see, the oil is gushing and that also limits the visibility. But weather has been really, really critical in this.

You know, a week and two weeks ago, we had terrible conditions. We had Alex, we had another tropical depression, and that really churned up the seas and prevented them from doing this process at that time and it also start - stopped some of the containment efforts.

Now, the weather has turned on a dime. This weekend, it literally couldn't be better. The seas are very, very calm. The skimming operations are going on and that's what's allowing them to do these procedures.

WHITFIELD: So, Vivian, the elements are in place. It seems picture perfect. What's the timeline here?

KUO: Well, you say picture perfect, but just be aware, we've seen a lot of bumps and snags along the way.

WHITFIELD: Oh, yes.

KUO: So, if all things remain equal, so this - this replacement progress began yesterday, and BP has said it could take as little as four days. So by Wednesday, possibly, and again, as Jacqui said, if the weather stays - stays the way it has been, calm seas, less wind, we could see it in place as early as Wednesday.

WHITFIELD: So by Wednesday, the new containment cap in place, bolted down, it's secure, and of course people want to celebrate and think potentially this means that the oil would no longer be gushing out because right now, you know, thousands of barrels of oil will be gushing out as they put the new containment cap in place.

But that's not necessarily the case. This is not a permanent fix there, right?

KUO: Well -

WHITFIELD: A permanent fix to the problem.

KUO: That's exactly right. That distinction is important. It is a permanent cap in that this is the final seal. It is expected to seal the well.

Now, eventually, BP is going to run a test of what they call shut-in tests. They're going to try and completely seal this well up. But, as you said or alluded to, the eventual fix will be this relief well effort.

WHITFIELD: Yes, and that relief well effort, Jacqui, is hugely important here.

JERAS: Right.

WHITFIELD: It's a critical component.

JERAS: It is, and it's still ongoing. And, as we heard from Admiral Thad Allen, that they're actually making a lot of progress here. They may be done before that August deadline that they were talking about, so this is something that could happen in the next couple of weeks.

They've been drilling those two relief wells, one on either side -

WHITFIELD: And this is a graphic, their animation of how that would work and what it is. It is hard to kind of envision all of this unless you see some kind of visual to help you.

JERAS: Yes. It really does make a difference because it really is very technical. And, by the way, if you're really, really interested in this, on BP's web site, there's a really good explanation from tent wells about all of these processes and procedures. It's about a six, seven-minute video, if you want to take a look there.

WHITFIELD: Perfect. I love these smart ladies, helping us understand what is a very complicated process still underway. It's delicate. I mean, this - this really is surgery. KUO: I mean, it really is. If you - we're going to see a whole, tremendous amount of activity sub-sea with these cool, underwater cameras, and it's all robotics. They're moving around, like we talked about, this huge gulf (ph) -

WHITFIELD: (INAUDIBLE).

KUO: It's cold, and I think we were talking earlier that the entire capping stock itself is going to be more than 30 feet tall. It's going to weigh more than 160,000 pounds, I mean, just to give you an idea of the scope, and all that has to go into this.

WHITFIELD: It's big.

All right, Vivian Kuo, thanks so much, CNN producer. Jacqui Jeras, meteorologist. Of course, we'll see you again later on. We'll see both of you, actually, throughout the day. Thanks so much. Appreciate it.

All right. Well, BP may be in talks to sell up to $12 billion of its assets, including its big stake in Alaska's Prudhoe Bay oil field. That's according to "The Sunday Times" of London.

The newspaper says that BP is talking with the Houston-based Apache Corporation. Apache tells CNN that it has no comment on any potential sale talks at this time. A sale, however, may be a way for BP to actually raise money to pay for all that's taking place in this gulf spill.

Meantime, Arizona's controversial immigration law has Republicans and Democrats locking horns. In a matter of weeks, the new law is said to take effect, and the finger-pointing continues as to who is to blame for the failure to get immigration reform done in Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CANDY CROWLEY, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: What is the president doing to promote an immigration bill this year?

DAVID AXELROD, WHITE HOUSE SENIOR ADVISER: This is something we all agree on, the people of Arizona are saying, hey, we want the federal government to live up to its responsibilities, and - and we are calling on those folks on the other side of the aisle who said in the past that they thought this was an important issue to solve, to join us. And when they're willing, then we'll be able to move forward.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So more - for more on this divisive debate, let's go to our Sandra Endo who is in the nation's capital, keeping a close watch on all of it - Sandra.

SANDRA ENDO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, what you heard there is basically a challenge to Republicans from White House Senior Adviser David Axelrod on "STATE OF THE UNION" this morning with Candy Crowley. He's saying the only way to get immigration reform done is if Republicans step up to the table, but the reality is that's unlikely this year. The topic is far too politically risky given the mid-term elections this fall.

Now, just take a look at what's going on in Arizona for a snapshot of how polarizing the issue is. This past week, the Justice Department filed a lawsuit to try to stop the controversial Arizona immigration law from taking effect, which is set for July 29. But Arizona Republican Congressman Trent Franks is coming down on the administration, saying the state was forced to take immigration matters into its own hands.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. TRENT FRANKS (R), ARIZONA: What they're saying here is that, yes, they're saying it's racial profiling, but what they're actually suing on is that somehow that Arizona is preempting the federal government's responsibility. And the irony of that is that that's - that was the whole predicate. Arizona had to do this simply because the federal government wasn't doing it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ENDO: Now, on the other hand, Attorney General Eric Holder argues immigration policy should not be made by a patchwork of state laws.

Now, an Arizona judge will hear the Justice Department's case on July 22nd and then decide whether or not the law will take effect - Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, Sandra. Meantime, you are just back from Arizona. Did you get the sense that this law, this very debate is as polarizing there as it is in Washington?

ENDO: You bet, Fred. Everyone there has an opinion. Whether they're in favor of the law, saying that something needs to be done to really combat illegal immigration. Or whether you're on the other side in terms of saying, hey, this law goes too far. It may infringe on people's civil rights. Or people even down the middle saying, yes. There needs to be a solution to the problem, but maybe this isn't the one. But basically everyone we spoke to definitely had an opinion.

WHITFIELD: All right, Sandra Endo, thanks so much, in Washington.

All right, something that can appeal to everybody, high-tech gadgets that can make your summer vacation just a little bit more memorable and comfortable. That's coming up right after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: OK, so if you plan to travel this summer, you'll want to know about several high-tech gadgets that can simply make your life easier and a lot more fun while you're on the road.

Joining us now by Skype for today's "Tech Time", syndicated technology writer, Mark Saltzman. Good to see you, Mark.

MARK SALTZMAN, SYNDICATED TECHNOLOGY WRITER: Likewise, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right, great. So you're in your car, you're relying on your GPS and something different and a little bit more hip about what's available these days.

SALTZMAN: Absolutely.

Well, you can spice up that summer road trip by downloading celebrity voices to your TomTom navigation GPS unit. So from the likes of Homer Simpson and John Cleese to Mr. T, or, more recently, Star Wars characters. You can have a lot of fun with that turn by turn direction. So now you can download Darth Vader, Yoda, C-3PO, and beginning next month, Hans Solo.

So I think we have a fun clip here of Darth Vader. This is what you might hear if the Sith Lord is on your dashboard and you're trying to find a friend's cottage. Have a listen.

WHITFIELD: OK.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

VOICE OF YODA FROM STAR WARS: At the end of the road, turn left. Then, the third right you must take.

VOICE OF DARTH VADER FROM STAR WARS: Turn around when possible. I find your lack of faith disturbing. Then, take the third left. Sense your way.

VOICE OF C-3PO FROM STAR WARS: After precisely 500 yards, turn right. Then, take the third left. It may be our only hope.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Oh, that is very fun. I like that.

SALTZMAN: So there you go. That was obviously Yoda, Darth and then C-3PO. So a lot of fun. They're about $12.95 per pack, so - per voice pack, and you can download them from TomTom.com.

WHITFIELD: That's cool. And so if you got your iPhone, of course, you know, who doesn't these days? You're traveling, and it runs out of juice. There is yet a new solution for you, right?

SALTZMAN: Sure. So there have been many battery packs on the market that could even double the - the life of the battery for the iPhone. But what I like about this product here from Novothink called the Surge is that it's the first Apple-certified solar powered case.

So you can charge it up through the USB connection on a - on a computer or in the wall, but what I liked about it is that it has a solar panel on the back. So you can leave that, you know, under a sunroof or on the dashboard or even clip it to a purse or backpack and use the sun's rays to keep your iPhone or iPod Touch powered as you're out and about this summer.

WHITFIELD: Oh, my gosh.

SALTZMAN: About 2 hours of direct sunlight yields about 60 minutes of talk time.

WHITFIELD: That's amazing. All these accessories that go with the iPhone, that's - that's a big old money maker right there. What a smart, smart thing and invention.

SALTZMAN: It's a good one.

WHITFIELD: Yes. OK.

SALTZMAN: And the price, by the way, is about $70 for the iPod Touch version and $80 for the iPhone version.

WHITFIELD: Oh, OK. Well, it's not cheap, either. But I guess ultimately it will save you, right? It will save you in the long run.

SALTZMAN: Well, it will save aggravation, anyway.

WHITFIELD: Right. Exactly. And sometimes time is money.

All right, let's talk about destinations. Of course, a lot of us, you know, it involves the pool or the beach or something, and that means you want a waterproof camera to capture all the memories.

SALTZMAN: Yes. So there are a few waterproof cameras on the market. It's a very trendy category this year.

This is a new one from Sony called the TX-5. It's billed as the world's smallest adventure-proof camera. They say adventure-proof because it's not just waterproof as deep as 10 feet or about 3 meters, but it's also freeze-proof. If you live in the northern states and you leave your phone, or camera, rather, in the car on a cold day, it could - could break it. In this case, it wouldn't.

It's also dust-proof and shockproof, so if you drop it at about a couple - a couple of feet, you're OK. You're not going to - so if you're - let's call it klutz-proof there. This is small --

WHITFIELD: Then that is for me.

SALTZMAN: This is only three-quarters inches thick. It's available in multiple colors, and it's fully waterproof, so you don't need that big, bulky and ugly plastic case that wraps around the -

WHITFIELD: Yes, with the housing -

SALTZMAN: It is fully waterproof.

WHITFIELD: Wow. Those divers will really like that one.

SALTZMAN: Yes.

WHITFIELD: OK, now - now what about capturing some of these images underwater via video? SALTZMAN: Sure. So that camera, by the way, is $329, and it will shoot video, but if you want something truly high-definition, for $149, this is the Kodak PlaySport. This is one of those flip-style video cameras, so they're pocket sized, and they shoot - this shoots 1080p or top of the line HD video onto those postage stamp-sized memory cards, which are sold separately.

But this is the first waterproof pocket-style cam that can be brought, again, 10 feet underwater, so more ideal for, say, snorkeling opposed to scuba diving. But it is fully encased and waterproof. It can withstand the pressure in the water, and then when you're done you connect it to your TV with an HDMI cable that it comes with for high- definition viewing, or it comes with a USB cable to copy that video to your computer to upload to Facebook or YouTube or what have you.

WHITFIELD: Wow. And that's Kodak, you said? Kodak --

SALTZMAN: Yes. Kodak. The PlaySport. Yes. It's a - it's a neat little one, available in black, purple or white. So I've got the white one here, and I use this with my kids in the pool or at the lake. It's a lot of fun, and the quality is just amazing.

And for $150, I remember just a couple of years ago having those big camcorders with tapes and cables.

WHITFIELD: Right.

SALTZMAN: That was easily five times that amount.

WHITFIELD: Oh, very portable. Very great.

All right, Mark Saltzman, thanks so much. I understand you're about to hit the road, go on vacation yourself, so bon voyage. Have a good one.

SALTZMAN: Thank you. Nice talking to you, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much.

OK, well his alleged misdeeds - not Mark's - and exploits have created a cult following on Facebook, but now police say the alleged teen fugitive known as the Barefoot Bandit has been caught. A live report on his daring capture.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, checking our top stories right now.

Police say charges will not be filed in the fatal shooting of a California toddler. The two-year-old was accidentally shot by his nine-year-old brother yesterday. Police say the boy was playing with a gun he found in his house when the gun went off.

And Israel is warning an aid ship not to break its blockade of Gaza. The ship, backed by a charity group connected to Libyan leader Moammar Kadafi, left Greece yesterday. Organizers say it is carrying 2,000 tons of aid and could reach Gaza in three days.

Israel calls the project a provocation. It comes more than a month after a deadly raid by Israel's military against another aid ship.

And BP is using robots to slowly position a new containment cap in place over that ruptured well head in the gulf. It is expected to take several days before the massive new cap is secured. Meanwhile, crude oil is gushing freely into the gulf. BP says the new cap will contain most, if not all, of the oil flowing from that well.

The Barefoot Bandit's days of eluding police are at an end. Police say 19-year-old Colton Harris-Moore is behind bars in the Bahamas. He was arrested early this morning after a dramatic high-speed boat chase.

Our Susan Candiotti is in New York with details on the capture.

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fredricka.

As you said, he's been on the run for about two years, and even his film rights have supposedly been sold to 20th Century Fox, so we're going to be hearing a lot more about this in the days and weeks and months to come. But this is Colton Harris-Moore. He is only 19 years old, as you said, the Barefoot Bandit, and he has been on the run, crisscrossing at least five states that we can think of, winding up in the Bahamas.

Apparently, what happened last night in the Bahamas, and you're seeing file tape of him now, he, according to police and others who were - saw this happen, stole a boat - stole two boats, and wound up on this high-speed foot chase and then it got onto water as well, and finally they - they had him trapped. He ran his boat aground, and in fact they shut out the engines of the boat.

According to police and others, at one point he put a gun to his head, but it turns out, I am told, that the gun was not loaded, threatened to kill himself, and eventually police did take him into custody. So it's been a wild ride for this young man.

His saga started, as we said, almost two years ago. He was - pleaded guilty of three counts of burglary. He was sent to a juvenile detention center but managed to escape. And then he stole a plane at one point in Idaho, flew to Washington, then he escaped, as I said, from this group home and then made his way across the country, even is indicted on a federal charge of stealing a plane in Indiana.

And then, last week, authorities say that he took this plane, flew it to the Bahamas and they were able to track him there because of a - a beacon that was on the stolen plane, and the U.S. Coast Guard traced it, tracked it to the Bahamas where you saw and heard about the rest of it unfolding.

So it's been quite a time. We took - talked with someone earlier today who told us that it was his little 32-foot boat that was stolen by this young man, that they shot out the engines and that's when they were finally able to put the cuffs on him. What happens next? Well, he will be arraigned in the Bahamas, and we did speak earlier. There was a press conference earlier, with the Bahamas National Police, and here's what they said, summing up the arrest.

OK, we don't have that after all, but they did say that they caught him without too much of an incident. He was not injured. They said he is in good health. He will be arraigned later this week, and eventually, at some point, is expected to be extradited to the United States.

I talked with the assistant agent in charge at the FBI Seattle office where this whole thing began, and I asked him for his reaction to the arrest as well as the fact that 58,000 people have signed up to be fans of his, followers of his, on Facebook, and he said he really found that to be pitiful, that he's been made a hero in the eyes of so many people who think that he's done a great thing by managing to elude the police for all this time. But not anymore. He's in jail.

WHITFIELD: Wow. So Susan, what does his family have to say?

CANDIOTTI: Well, we tried to reach out to the mother. I don't believe that we have talked with her yet, but one of our CNN affiliates has, and she said that she was proud of her son, actually. That is what the quote is, coming to us from our CNN affiliate in Seattle.

WHITFIELD: Wow. What an incredible story. Susan Candiotti, in New York, thanks so much.

All right, meantime, halfway across the world, the World Cup final game is just moments away, and fans are simply going crazy. We'll take you live to Amsterdam and Madrid because those are the two teams that are - two teams that are in the quest in Johannesburg.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, the world's most popular game is about to crown its grand champion. We're talking about the World Cup, of course. Spain and the Netherlands are squaring off in just moments in the final of the more than four-week-long tournament.

Game is are underway, so, of course, everybody is there, except us.

But we do have a lot of folks who are watching from around the world, particularly in Amsterdam as well as in Madrid, so Diana Magnay is in Amsterdam with the orange army, as you see right there, with the nice, orange topper, and Don Riddell is watching the game with fans there from Madrid.

So, Don, let's go to you first.

DON RIDDELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thank you very much. The game has initially just kicked off in the last few seconds. The atmosphere here for the last six or seven hours have been building up and it's been pretty much deafening all day. This is the main boulevard that runs through the center of Madrid. They've completely closed the whole place off to put up four giant screens. I don't think there's anybody in Madrid does not turned out here to watch the game.

The young and old, people have brought their pets. Everybody is draped in the national colors, the red and yellow of the flag, and these fans absolutely expect their team to win the World Cup. They played the most striking football anywhere in the world in the last few years and they are the favorites for this game.

WHITFIELD: Fantastic. Glad to know they're the favorites. I know it's very noisy. Perhaps you can still hear me. Well, is there a giant screen that everyone is watching or many giant screens there in the crowd?

Something tells me it's just too noisy for Don Riddell to be able to hear me there in Madrid. Let's see, is Diana able to hear me there in Amsterdam? No. We're going to try to work out some technical issues.

Of course, there are thousands of people who have descended on those two big cities, all watching what's transpiring there in Johannesburg. We'll try to get back to Diana in Amsterdam momentarily. We'll have much more from the NEWSROOM after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: A look at our top stories right now, oil is gushing full force again in the Gulf of Mexico as BP works to replace the containment cap on the leaking well. Robots are doing the work about a mile underneath the water. BP says the process is proceeding as planned and it could be finished three to six days from now.

And sometime today another recovery vessel, the Helix Producer, is expected to begin collecting oil from the ruptured well. Authorities hope it will reach full collection capacity within three days. That's 1.5 million gallons of oil per day.

And in the Bahamas, the so-called "Barefoot Bandit," is in custody, 19-year-old Colton Harris Moore, was captured today after a high-speed boat chase. He was suspected of flying a stolen plane to the Bahamas. Harris Moore has been on the run since 2008 when he escaped from a juvenile halfway house in Washington State, and he had been sentenced to three years in prison for burglary charges at the time.

All right, Congress is back this week after the July 4th holiday break, and it has a lot of unfinished business on its plate. Most of the action will take place in the Senate where several high-profile items are staring senators right in the face. Here to put it all in perspective for us is CNN Deputy Political Director Paul Steinhauser.

Good to see you, Paul. All right, so they're back after a long break. What exactly is on the agenda?

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: They've got a lot. Fred, you're absolutely right. They've got to do it all before three or four weeks before they break again in August for their summer vacation, summer break.

So what's on their plate as you mentioned in the Senate. Take a look, first of, Democrats are all looking going to try to come together on extending unemployment benefits for the vast -- a lot of Americans who are out of work right now.

Also up, financial reform bill. Democrats are close to getting this passed but they're not there yet. They're trying to get a couple Republicans on board. This Wall Street and financial reform bill and then of course, Elena Kagan confirmation vote. First in the Senate Judiciary Committee and then the White House is hoping the full Senate will vote on Elena Kagan's confirmation before they break.

WHITFIELD: All right, interesting the Senate is down one member, so what might change for them this week?

STEINHAUSER: Yes, this is crucial because it was about two weeks ago that the late Senator Byrd passed away, Senator Byrd, of course, the longest serving U.S. senator in American history from West Virginia.

Without that seat, the Democrats can really use that vote, so they're going to be looking towards West Virginia Governor Joe Mansion this week to see if he names a temporary replacement for Byrd in the Senate, and then Mansion himself, Fred, he may announce this week that he may run for Byrd's seat if they have a special election in November. So a lot of eyes will be looking towards West Virginia this week.

WHITFIELD: He's pretty popular too, isn't he?

STEINHAUSER: Very popular two-term governor out there, yes, a full Democrat.

WHITFIELD: Yes, OK. All right, in the meantime, Senator John McCain, he has been popular for a long time, too, except that now he's actually facing a tough race.

STEINHAUSER: Yes, he's got a tough reelection battle. He faces a primary challenge from the right and so later this week, Senator McCain will be debating his opponent for the first time.

The primary is in late August, and that opponent is former radio talk show host and former Congressman J.D. Hayward. So we're going to keep our eyes on that debate. It should be a pretty - pretty volatile debate because that campaign so far has been pretty tough and pretty rough out there in Arizona, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Yes, and speaking of campaigns before I let you go, Harry Reid got maybe a little shot in the arm from President Obama last week. We know the president over the next few weeks is going to be very busy trying to campaign for other Democrats, particularly incumbents, who want to hold onto their seats come November.

STEINHAUSER: Yes, a lot of stakes here for the White House. Of course, they want to keep a Democratic majority in the House and in the Senate so they can get more of their agenda passed so that's you saw the president in Nevada and also in Missouri all last week. I think you're going to see him a lot more on the campaign trail helping out fellow Democrats between now and election day, which is now less than four months away.

WHITFIELD: I wonder if there is any kind of reticence on that - on the White House's part given his approval ratings have dipped quite a bit. Might he be more of a burden than he would be an asset for some of these Democrats who need some help in fundraising?

STEINHAUSER: Yes, that's a big question mark, would he hurt rather than help in some states where it's more conservative to moderate electric, but overall he's still helps big time with the campaign fundraising.

WHITFIELD: All right, as presidents traditionally do - sitting presidents says they do. All right, thanks so much. Paul Steinhauser, good to see you this lovely Sunday. Have a good week.

All right, action hero, icon and queen of black exploitation films, who are we talking about? Pam Grier. She's been called them all and now she can add this title to her resume, author. Grier's new memoir documents her life, loves and those unforgettable movie roles.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So then how about if I have you read a portion where you kind of describe what black exploitation was all about. You talk about, you know, the plot, kind of black's exploitation.

PAM GRIER: You mean, when I stepped in the room that you hear waca, waca, you know it's me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Face to face with Pam Grier straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, the World Cup final is underway right now. The Netherlands are taking on Spain, and so far, the score, zip-zip. Who knows what could happen in the next few minutes or hours.

The Dutch, by the way, though, have won every game at this World Cup so far. They're the only team to actually do that.

CNN's Diana Magnay is in Amsterdam where fans have gathered to watch their team win. At least they're hoping they will win that they are on a roll.

DIANA MAGNAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Fredricka, they are on a roll, but so far in this game and it's the 30 minutes, it hasn't (INAUDIBLE) and the ball has mostly been inside and they're playing a very, very aggressive, attacking game.

I know that in America, soccer isn't too much loved, but these games are very, very exciting and these fans are so excited about the possibility of winning a World Cup trophy. You know, they've been in the finals twice before and they have never won.

So that's why they're hoping that 32 years was the last time they were in the finals and this time around, they might just be able to clinch a victory because if they don't, Fredricka, they would be the only team to be three times in the finals and never to have won. You can imagine how exciting that is for them.

WHITFIELD: They're hoping the third time is the charm, then. We'll give an idea, just I asked Don Riddell who is in Madrid, how are the people there, thousands who have turned out? How are they watching it by jumbo screens or what?

MAGNAY: Fredricka, if you're talking to me, I can't really tell because it's so loud. I'm going to give you a quick pan of the fans. They've been out here for the last eight hours. There are around 150,000 fans here, we think and they love the color orange. These fans went crazy.

I've seen fake orange eyelashes, I've seen wigs, I've seen the most fantastic outfits and they've been partying for the last four hours like they've won the World Cup already. For that you have to hope that they do. An amazing spectacle behind me and amazing atmosphere amongst these fans and we'll just have to see for the next 90 minutes.

WHITFIELD: All right, Diana Magnay, thanks so much in the thick of it there in Amsterdam where they're hoping the third time is definitely a charm. I'm not going to ask any more questions when you get big crowds like that because it's obvious, they can't hear us. We can see folks are out there enjoying themselves nonetheless.

OK, well, it's not often you get to have a face-to-face conversation with a true icon of the '70s, but I did get a chance to sit down with one of the first female action heroes, Pam Grier. She's probably best known for her role as Foxy Brown in 1974, but her career spans four decades.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Pam Grier, Foxy, my life in three acts. Three acts, but there seems to be this continuum, this thread, that really says you've been a survivor from the very beginning.

PAM GRIER, ACTRESS/AUTHOR: They will see that. I can share my intimacies and hope that others will learn from them, but I can give them that great gift of life. And being a cancer survivor, tomorrow is not guaranteed. I'm a gift that I'm here and you'll read about intense pain and struggle and abandonment.

WHITFIELD: People look at Pam Grier, they think of Foxy Brown, Coffee, and they think they know Pam Grier. They think those characters are you.

This strong woman, take no prisoners, I'm not going to take anything from anyone, but little do people know until they read this memoir that the pain that you experienced, you mentioned your childhood, at the early age of six as a rape victim, and it's repeated again when you're 18.

GRIER: What I realize is that even -- there was the first event, the molestation, rape, and the third one was the one where I fought, and I could trigger something in this man that he could take my life. I had an instinct for survival.

And throughout these instances, the third time changed me into this I'm going to risk my life to save my life. Now, I have already suffered pain. I've already been there. And it was not easy or effortless to portray those characters in the films again, but I had already suffered the pain so it wouldn't be so bad.

WHITFIELD: How did you make it look so effortless? Because I think people who watched you thought you are that woman, that little effortless.

GRIER: Not at all. I was frightened underneath.

WHITFIELD: The black exploitation, there was a lot of different connotations that came with that. Sometimes it was very liberating and there were people who felt very uncomfortable with it.

GRIER: How do we get people into the seats to see these messages? The movement was miniskirts and burning of bras and Woodstock, and free love, love, love, and that was one of the messages.

Then we had the Black Panther message, which was very empowering to learn how to fish for yourself. They didn't want affirmative action. They didn't want to be given to, another message.

And then you had several films before mine done, shot with male leads. They were, you know, sports figures, quite a few were done, but they weren't called black exploitation until a woman steps into the men's shoes, and she's posturing like a man negatively.

WHITFIELD: Did you feel comfortable with it?

GRIER: I said, OK, everybody let's dialogue, let's talk, let's get in here.

WHITFIELD: So then how about if I have you read a portion where you kind of describe what black exploitation is all about. You talk about, you know, the plot, kind of what --

GRIER: You mean when I step into a room and you hear waca, waca, waca, you know it's me?

WHITFIELD: Here she comes, Pam Grier.

GRIER: The Black characters were widely colorful, hood garb and the plot is nearly always resemble the old Warner Brothers mellow dramas with dashes of MGM fashion glamour via the street thrown in.

It is common to create a female character angry and less conflicted that her male counterpart to destroy a white male power structure that caused pain and harm to herself and her family. WHITFIELD: So then why did being in that for you feel good, feel powerful?

GRIER: It didn't feel good. But it made people feel uncomfortable if you show the problem as opposed to ignore it and keep it under the rug then you can heal. You can say, it's time to stop.

Look what we're doing. We're in a land of abundance, the civil rights movement. We should be celebrating all of the rights won and we're still going through that. The hypocrisy I've seen in my kitchen.

WHITFIELD: Do you think people got that message or did they mostly get the message?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, later Pam Grier opens up about the men in her life Kareem Abdul Jabar, Freddie Prince and Richard Pryor.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GRIER: Richard starts spouting off dialogue from "Foxy Brown." Hi, how are you.

WHITFIELD: That would be me.

GRIER: He knew the dialogue. He says, you do know this blank, blank, beep beep.

WHITFIELD: All affectionately, of course.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Face to face with Pam Grier at 4:00 and 5:00 Eastern today.

In the meantime, a rare solar eclipse today that you can see only in a very remote part of the world. We've got a preview coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: He's become a relic, so to speak. There's only one doctor left in New York City who still makes house calls, and he's got plenty of patients, people suffering from serious iPhone withdrawal.

Poppy Harlow has more on the man who is reviving broken iPhones, iPads and Macs.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We do everything from, you know, from iPhones, iPads, the iTouch.

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM (voice-over): He is known around town as Dr. Brendan. If your iPhone looks like this or this, he can bring it back to life. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Aside from liquid damage, there's not -- you know, generally not an iPhone I can't fix.

HARLOW: If it is crushed, busted, broken, 28-year-old Brendan Mcelroy knows how to fix it and he says he will do it for less than half of what Apple charges.

(on camera): Would you consider yourself a tech geek?

BRENDAN MCELROY, IPHONE FIXER: I'm a bit of a tech geek. I'm not a full line tech geek.

HARLOW (voice-over): After dropping his own iPhone while bartending last year, he surfed the web and taught himself how to fix it.

MCELROY: I will be honest, I butchered it a bit.

HARLOW: He is not a real doctor, but self-proclaimed tinker who zips from customer to customer on his motorcycle.

MCELROY: This is my fourth house call of the day.

HARLOW: This emergency call is at the hospital.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There is this problem with the LCD screen where there is a stripe in the middle.

HARLOW: Ten minutes, 75 bucks, and it is done. There's one catch. Having your iPhone fixed outside of Apple could void your warranty.

(on camera): Why Dr. Brendan?

DR. SEETAL MEWAR, CUSTOMER: Apple is a total hassle to me. The one time I went in there you have to schedule the appointment, you wait, tell you they can't fix it.

HARLOW (voice-over): Next stop, back home to more customers.

MCELROY: So what's up with your phone?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I dropped it.

MCELROY: No.

HARLOW: It is a story he hears over and over again.

MCELROY: Were you very upset?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.

MCELROY: No, you weren't? Some people break down and cry.

HARLOW: The fix just takes a tiny screwdriver, razor blade and of course, the screen.

MCELROY: Courtesy of China. That is a new iPhone screen there. (END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Wow, that's pretty fascinating stuff. Amazingly, Dr. Brendan hasn't spent a single dollar on advertising and now boasts customers from as far away as Greece.

He's opening up a store actually this fall and says he's hiring those businesses down with an iPhone just released, meaning there haven't been a whole lot of problems that people are complaining about. Fewer people are actually fixing their phone (INAUDIBLE) instead of brand new one.

He says, the new iPhone is constructed better so it just might break less. I wonder if that means it will put him out of business, then.

Right now in that South Pacific, thousands of tourists and scientists are on Chile's Easter Island. They're hoping to catch a glimpse of a rare total solar eclipse.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD (voice-over): This is a video of a previous eclipse. Today's will only be visible over several parts of Chile and Argentina and on some islands in the Pacific. A total solar eclipse happens when the moon passes directly between the sun and the earth, really beautiful.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: I haven't seen it live and in person, but every time I see it on video, really beautiful.

JACQUI JERAS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: You have to wear those special glasses because, yes, you can certainly damage your eyes and it's a really a very small area, Fredricka, that's going to be able to see it. The best viewing actually was Easter Island and there was this huge following where people do this like as a tourism thing.

They'll do this for their vacation and plan it with the timing of the solar eclipse. The next total eclipse, by the way, doesn't happen until 2012 in November. So you've got a ways to go. If you're planning your next vacation, you may want to take that into account perhaps.

All right, what's happen around here today? Well, we've got stormy conditions across parts of the Midwest and there you can see some watches in effect. Our little sliver of a tornado watch from about Kansas City extending to the St. Louis area, a couple thunderstorms, two of them that are severe and they're producing some damaging winds and probably some good hail with this one, too.

We've seen a little weakening of this storm reach towards Clinton, but you still need to stay indoors and wait for these storms to pass. This will be ongoing into your early evening hours before that threat diminishes. You can see the severe weather threat stretching from the upper Midwest, from Minnesota through Wisconsin all the way down into parts of Oklahoma and Arkansas as well.

Take a look at what's going on across the northeast. What a bummer of a day that you had yesterday that cold front passing now through. We're looking at improving conditions, but there still a few lingering rain showers in this area, Massachusetts, the Boston area as well as Summerville had some major flooding yesterday. Much dryer weather back into picture.

The good thing about that cold front though is it's been cooling temperatures in the northeast, but we're still dealing with very hot stuff across parts of the south. There you can see heat advisory in effect for New Orleans over towards Biloxi. It's going to be feeling like 100 degrees to 105 degrees at times this afternoon.

Temperatures tomorrow continue to stay warm across the south and you're going to be back into across much of the 90s into the northeastern quarter. A quick look at your back to work forecast tomorrow. I know, the weekend is over almost for you, Monday, reality, right?

There you can see the Ohio Valley and Tennessee Valley, that's where the severe weather, most of the wet weather will happen across the east. Really nice conditions across though, Fredricka, across much of the west.

WHITFIELD: All right, very good. They deserve it. Why not? Somebody does, right? All right, Jacqui Jeras, thanks so much. And I'll be back with you at 4:00 Eastern time when we'll actually meet a woman who says, she spent a year without sex and it's actually made her life better than ever. I'm Fredricka Whitfied. Right now, time for "Your Money."