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White House Briefing; Securing the Border; Self-Deporting Immigrants; Fido Goes Green
Aired July 22, 2010 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The president is committed to moving comprehensive energy legislation, understanding, though, that in the environment that we live, everything takes 60 votes in the U.S. Senate, which means there has to be partisan support and bipartisan cooperation for moving forward and getting something done.
I do know there's discussions about ensuring that increasing oil spill liability is part of legislation and dealing with some of the problems that have been presented as a result of the BP oil spill. And I think those will certainly be in whatever legislation is taken up.
QUESTION: Speaking of BP, what are you hearing today in terms of what's happening with the prospect of a tropical storm or evacuations?
GIBBS: Well, Admiral Allen is going to brief a little bit later on today, and he'll have more on this. But tropical depression warnings have gone out for the Bahamas and parts of south Florida, as the -- and the president received a briefing, as you all got the readout, in the Situation Room yesterday, both about where we are on the cap and that process, as well as the trajectory of the storm potentially leading across Florida and into the Gulf.
The protocols, Admiral Allen sent a letter to BP a day or so ago asking them for their timeline on removing equipment in the Gulf in the event that a storm heads in that area. Right now we have a trajectory that would put this storm -- the intensity with which we don't yet know -- into the Gulf.
The protocols that have generally been established by Admiral Allen are if you believe that what are considered gale-force winds, so winds in excess of 39 miles an hour, are likely at the site, that preparations should begin 120 hours prior to that event in terms of moving that equipment out of the area. Obviously the equipment is owned by different companies, and so Transocean and BP and others all will make individual decisions as companies about when they will move equipment.
I think there's no doubt that this storm has intensified, and decisions will be made probably likely later this afternoon on moving some of that equipment out of that. For instance, the DD3, which is the rig drilling the relief well that is closest to the active well right now, about five feet away from it, is -- that and the Q4000, which is the boat burning the oil recovered through the original cap, those decisions I'm told will be made about 8:00 tonight about whether or not to move those assets.
Later this afternoon, I think they will have a decision, and I would tune into Admiral Allen's briefing for more on this.
About what to do with the sealing cap during the hurricane, during the briefing yesterday, Secretary Chu and members of the scientific team that have been working on the monitoring, the seismic -- reading the seismic material on the testing, have been encouraged by what they have seen, believe that as of yesterday, that the well was stable. So he was encouraged by what he's seen in the testing that has been done using the sealing cap. I think a final decision, again, if the area is evacuated, whether to keep the sealing cap on is a decision that will be made over the course of the next several hours.
Yes, sir?
JAKE TAPPER, ABC NEWS: Secretary Gates today announced that the Obama administration was lifting a more than decade-long ban on U.S. military assistance to Indonesia's special forces unit. Human rights groups are outraged by this because the special forces unit has been accused of all sorts of serious crimes.
Can you explain why this decision was made?
GIBBS: I don't have anything on this, Jake.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Robert Gibbs, press secretary for the White House, discussing -- he started off by discussing Shirley Sherrod and her conversation with President Obama. He confirmed that the president, as we knew, had apologized to Shirley Sherrod and had offered her -- or had reiterated that she's welcome to return to the U.S. Department of Agriculture. We are still unclear as to what position, what type of job she's been offered there.
The other thing that Robert Gibbs was just talking about was the weather situation in the Gulf of Mexico and who and how decisions are made to pull vessels and workers out of the Gulf of Mexico when a storm is anticipated. And as you know, a storm is anticipated.
(WEATHER REPORT)
VELSHI: Immigration in America, another big story that we're following. Everybody's got an opinion on this, and it doesn't seem that everybody's got a solution to it. So, naturally, it's headed to the courts.
The feds versus Arizona , we'll tell you about it when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: All right. I want to tell you about a story that we're following. We're following so many stories. So much going on in the news today.
But we've got one in focus, and that is in Arizona. There are a couple of challenges to SB 1070. That's the name of the law that goes into effect one week from today. There are rallies right now, and there are two court challenges.
Casey Wian is there. He's inside the courthouse of one of the challenges. The second one is going to be this afternoon at some point, and that is the federal government's challenge.
Let me take you back to April 23rd. Governor Jan Brewer of Arizona signed SB 1070 into law, a 17-page highly controversial law. And let me boil it down to one controversial paragraph in that bill for you.
It reads like this: "For any lawful contact made by a law enforcement officer or agency of this state, where reasonable suspicion exists that the person is an alien who is unlawfully present in the United States, a reasonable attempt shall be made to determine the immigration status of the person."
Now, that's the issue, that if police, in the course of doing something else, pulling you over for some other reason, investigating for you some other reason, think that you might be illegally in the country, they are now compelled to act on it.
Take a look at these two sets of pictures. These are rallies that took place in May and June for and against this bill. On the left is the for rally. They tended to be smaller. On the right is one of the against rallies. They tended to be much larger.
But that's sort of the flavor of it. There's a rally going on right now in front of the courthouse in Arizona where -- in Phoenix. You're looking at it right now. That's the situation outside the courthouse.
Casey is in the courthouse, but before he went in, he left this report for us --
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On the issue of border security, the White House is clearly on message.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The southern border is more secure today than at anytime in the past 20 years.
JANET NAPOLITANO, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: I know that border, I think, as well as anyone.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you think it's secure?
NAPOLITANO: And I will tell you it is as secure now as it has ever been.
SHERIFF PAUL BABEU, PINAL COUNTY, ARIZONA: That's not the case. WIAN: Just north of the border in Arizona, a different message.
BABEU: We've told people come ride along with one of our deputies, and you will see the situation. The government's response was, instead of sending troops, they put up billboard-size signs that we just passed that say don't come into this area, it's dangerous, warning. And there's drugs and human smuggling.
That shouldn't be the reaction of our government.
GOV. JAN BREWER (R), ARIZONA: This is an outrage. Washington says our border is as safe as it has ever been. Does this look safe to you?
WIAN: So is the border more secure than ever or is it being overrun by increasingly violent drug and immigrant smugglers? Since 2004 the Border Patrol has doubled in size to about 20,000 agents. And it's installed billions of dollars worth of cameras, sensors and fences.
The National Guard is being redeployed temporarily to help. And there are already signs of success. The Homeland Security Department says seizures of drugs were up 15 percent last year, weapons, 30 percent.
Still, apprehensions of illegal immigrants were down 23 percent. But the government also sees that as a positive development. An indication that fewer people are trying to cross illegally. But no one knows how many are not caught.
SHERIFF LARRY DEVER, COCHISE COUNTY, ARIZONA: If you talk to Border Patrol agents on the ground, you'll get answers from -- on any given day, we might catch, you know, three out of five. On another day, we may get one out of ten. You know they just don't know.
WIAN: Immigration and Customs Enforcement deported a record 387,000 illegal immigrants last year. More than a third of them criminals. And about one million fewer illegal immigration were living in the United States at the beginning of the last year than in 2007, according to Homeland Security Department estimates.
Still 10.8 million remain, living in legal limbo. And the government has made little progress on that.
BENJAMIN JOHNSON, AMERICAN IMMIGRATION COUNCIL: The issue has become too important. It's become too divisive, it's become too destructive socially for us to be able to dodge the issue for much longer. It really is -- it's an open wound. And we can't keep rubbing it. We need to figure out how to start healing that wound.
WIAN: Meanwhile, a battle is brewing in an Arizona courtroom over a controversial state law cracking down on illegal immigrants that has only hardened both sides of the debate.
(END VIDEOTAPE) VELSHI: And that Arizona law has spawned seven lawsuits so far, but it hasn't taken effect yet. As I said, it starts a week from now, barring an injunction.
Quite a few Arizona immigrants, legal and otherwise, are not waiting to see what the effects of the law are. They are self- deporting. We're going to meet a family who's giving up on their American dream.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: All right. We've been telling you about the developments in Arizona, that law ready to go into effect one week from today, SB 1070, barring some unusual outcome which might come out of these court cases that are going on in Phoenix right now. But as I told you before the break, some families are not waiting to see what happens with that law once it gets implemented.
Let's bring in Thelma Gutierrez. She's live in -- where are you, Thelma?
THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm in Los Angeles, Ali.
VELSHI: You're in Los Angeles, but you're covering this story about people who are self-deporting, if you will.
GUTIERREZ: Yes. You know, we've spent quite a bit of time with immigrant families in Arizona, and I can tell you that just some from talking to some of them, the fear is palpable, even among legal residents.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
GUTIERREZ (voice-over): In a middle-class suburb near Mesa, Arizona, a family is packing it up, preparing to flee the state. They asked us to call them "Carlos" and "Samantha."
"CARLOS," LEAVING ARIZONA: This is the living room. This is my boy's room.
GUTIERREZ (on camera): And they're all empty.
CARLOS: Yes. I mean, everything we worked for.
GUTIERREZ (voice-over): They say they were living the American dream -- a house, two kids, a small jewelry business that catered to Latinos. But when his customers, many of whom were immigrants, started losing their jobs and leaving the state, his business collapsed. Now, he says, he, too, wants to get out before SB-1070 goes into effect.
GUTIERREZ (on camera): You love the state?
CARLOS: Arizona, yes.
GUTIERREZ: And now? CARLOS: Little by little, they're pushing us out.
GUTIERREZ (voice-over): They would say you're leaving because you want to go. You don't have to go.
CARLOS: I don't have to go, but for my family's sake.
GUTIERREZ: Your wife is undocumented?
CARLOS: Yes.
GUTIERREZ (voice-over): Carlos is a legal resident. Their children are American. But he says they can't run the risk that his wife could be arrested and deported.
(on camera): You're one family who's leaving. Do you think that there are others?
CARLOS: Oh, there's many. There are a lot of people who have left from here as soon as this started.
GUTIERREZ (voice-over): Todd Landfried agrees.
TODD LANDFRIED, ARIZONA EMPLOYERS FOR IMMIGRATION REFORM: There's an empty car dealership. This is just another strip mall in the Latino neighborhood of Mesa.
GUTIERREZ: Landfried represents a group called Arizona Employers for Immigration Reform. He drove us through Mesa, Arizona, and pointed out what he says is the fallout in the state's immigration laws and a bad economy.
LANDFRIED: Any time you start running people out of a state, you make it harder for the businesses that provide services to those people whether they're here legally or not. They're not going to be able to fill their strip malls. They're not going to be able to fill their apartment complexes.
RUSSELL PEARCE, ARIZONA STATE SENATE: What comes with that invasion of illegal aliens is an obstruction to the rule of law and a damage to the taxpayer. There's a cost to that.
GUTIERREZ: Russell Pearce is a state senator and the author of SB 1070. He also lives in Mesa, Arizona.
(on camera): Do you believe there's any correlation between those empty businesses and Russell Pearce's law?
PEARCE: I think there's a correlation, probably. I think there's a correlation to the war. I think there's a correlation to the tough economy. I don't think I'd take credit for all of that.
GUTIERREZ (voice-over): Credit, he says, for forcing people like Carlos and Samantha to self-deport.
(on camera): What do those boxes represent to you? SAMANTHA (PH), DEPORTED: A lot of memories.
GUTIERREZ: You don't want to go?
SAMANTHA: After 18 years of being here, we have to start all over again in another state.
(voice-over): Carlos says he will remember Arizona as the state that allowed him to achieve his American dream and as the state that took it away.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GUTIERREZ: Carlos and Samantha left Arizona just a couple of days ago. They say they have now settled in another state where they have purchased a brand-new house -- Ali.
VELSHI: All right. So they're still remaining in the United States?
GUTIERREZ: They are.
VELSHI: All right. And how -- you said there were other people who were doing this. Carlos was saying to you he knew other people who were doing this.
So, effectively, this law is having this chilling effect before it even goes into effect. They're not even waiting to see if there are challenges to keep this law from taking effect one week from today.
GUTIERREZ: Yes, that's correct, Ali. And that's what was so interesting to us.
I mean, we've talked to several families who were in the process of leaving Arizona, and they say that they just can't wait to see what happens. They're afraid that under that law, if they're stopped, then their loved one could be detained for a minimum of 20 days, if they're convicted, and then deported. And so they don't want to risk that separation.
VELSHI: What a story. Thelma, thanks very much. Always great to see you.
Thelma Gutierrez in L.A.
All right. Fido goes green. After the break, check out some toys that are going to help your pet lighten its carbon paw print.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: All right. I want to take you to the floor of the House of Representatives -- I don't actually know if we still have a camera -- because the vote is finished, actually.
The House has just passed the extension to unemployment benefits, allowing the application for extensions to go on until November. They just passed that 272-152.
Not a surprise there. As you know, this was passed in the Senate, there were some delays in doing that. It was always expected to pass in the House, but that means those checks that were held up are going to go through.
Also, I want to tell you in just a couple of moments, you're going to hear again from Shirley Sherrod. Our crew was with her when she spoke to President Obama. We've got that tape back and we're going to play it for you in just a moment.
But there are an estimated 77 million dog owners across the United States. And there's a way to have fun with your dogs and save the planet as well.
Listen to this. Randi Kaye has got the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Jean Chae is the daughter of a toy maker. Simply Fido is her baby. The story behind the launch of the company is a personal one.
JEAN CHAE, CO-FOUNDER, SIMPLY FIDO: About seven years ago, my mom, we discovered she had cancer. And it was a pretty serious stage. But she really changed our whole lifestyle, as well as our thinking in terms of our business style.
KAYE: In an effort to eat healthier, the family went organic and took their business along. In 2005, they launched Simply Fido, a pet toy company that gives pets the same organic options their non-furry friends have.
CHAE: We wanted to make something that's very safe and healthy for them. So even if he plays hours of -- with his toys, we don't have to worry about toxicity or what might be harmful for them.
KAYE: The toys are manufactured in Shanghai, a process that starts with organic cotton, dyed with natural ingredients. Gardenia helps to make yellow fabric and herbs for the color green. The water used during the dyeing process is filtered to remove waste before it's released back to nature to essentially make that water drinkable again.
They are shipped out from Brooklyn to stores all over the world and animal shelters like this one.
TIFFANY LACEY, DIRECTOR, ANIMAL HAVEN: We carry the brand because we believe in what Simply Fido stands for; something that's just -- it's a healthier idea for both the environment and your animal. And we love having those two things come together.
KAYE: The Kerner family recently adopted Jitterbug from Animal Haven.
IAN KERNER, DOG OWNER: I just want everything that goes into her to be healthy and wholesome. And I also have kids around, and they're constantly in her face. And so as much as we can bring healthy organic wholesome products into this house the better because everything is a point of contact.
I mean, she's in our bed. She's snuggling with us. We're kissing her. My boys are kissing her. I want everything going into her and into this family to be healthy and non-toxic.
CHAE: The toy's beautiful, and it's organic, but if it doesn't have a play value -- you know, my end customer sits right here. Here.
KAYE: Jean admits her idea was a hard sell at first. Five years later, with Simply Fido being sold globally, she now enjoys commercial success, making those who were once skeptic about going green, green with envy.
Randi Kaye, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VELSHI: I want to bring you some breaking news.
We told you earlier that we were with -- our crews were with Shirley Sherrod when she spoke to President Obama. Now, what happened is our crew and a producer, Julie O'Neil (ph), were with her. She asked us not to record the conversation, but we did -- what happened is she got a text message saying that the president had been trying to reach her.
The White House subsequently confirmed that her e-mail box was full. They tried her a couple times last night. She got a text message saying, "Please call in 10 minutes."
So, she called the president, got hold of the president. They had a conversation.
Immediately after finishing that conversation, we had a conversation with her about how it went. This is Shirley Sherrod in her own words.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHIRLEY SHERROD, FMR. DIR., GA. RURAL DEVELOPMENT, USDA: Just had the conversation with the president, and it went very, very good conversation. Well pleased with how it went. And he wanted me to know he supported me. And I've been dealing with some of the same issues he's had to deal with through, you know, especially over the last five years. It's just a good conversation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: So, a lot of conversations in the last few days. This was one with the president.
Yesterday, Tom Vilsack, the Secretary of Agriculture, the president reiterated his apology to her that was first offered by the White House.
Secretary Robert Gibbs yesterday, then Tom Vilsack apologized on behalf of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The NAACP has apologized to her as well.
They have offered her a position at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. And the president in his conversation with her did repeat that there is a place for her at the U.S. Department of Agriculture. We still don't know details as what that position is. It does not appear to be the position that she was forced to resign from. When we get that information, we'll let you know about it.
OK. One home at a time that is how one group on the Gulf Coast is "Building Up America" and victims of Hurricane Katrina couldn't be more grateful.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: "Building Up America," one home at a time. After Hurricane Katrina, a group was formed called Gulf Coast Renaissance. This group has managed to find housing for more than 500 people. Tom Foreman takes us there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Little more than a year ago, Craig and Mandie Neicase were struggling. They'd lost so much income and property in Katrina, his job with the sheriff's department could not overcome the setbacks, let alone the recession.
(on camera): Did you have at that time any hope of buying a place like this?
CRAIG NEICASE, HOMEOWNER: No.
MANDIE NEICASE, HOMEOWNER: No, not at all.
FOREMAN: And this wasn't just you. This was everybody.
M. NEICASE: I mean, everybody on the street, everybody in the neighborhood. I mean, everybody last everything.
FOREMAN (voice-over): The situation was driving desperately needed workers away even before the catastrophic oil spill.
(on camera): Everyone knew the community had to get out of that trouble and that is where this place came in.
(voice-over): Business leaders and civic workers raised $12 million to start a nonprofit Gulf Coast Renaissance Corporation to help house those families. The state gave money, too. And when Renaissance opened the doors, CEO Kim Larosa saw an immediate response.
KIM LAROSA, GULF COAST RENAISSANCE CORPORATION: Boy, did the people respond. We had people coming out of the woodwork.
FOREMAN: It worked like this. If a worker with a family of four making $50,000 or less, needed a leg up to buy a home, the corporation and the employer together would provide the down payment. The Neicases got $30,000 from the sheriff's department, $10,000 from Renaissance, and in return, they pledged to stay and help rebuild as they repay the loans.
C. NEICASE: It keeps employee base down here. It keeps tax base down here.
FOREMAN (on camera): This stabilizes this community.
M. NEICASE: Yes.
C. NEICASE: Yes, sir.
FOREMAN (voice-over): Banks have now joined the program, too. Almost 600 families have been put into houses.
(on camera): And you're requiring these people to go to classes, to know how to be good homeowners, to manage their budget, to stay in these houses.
LAROSA: Yes. We did want to set them up to fail. And we had had no one to date fail. No foreclosure.
FOREMAN: Not one?
LAROSA: Not one.
UNIDENTIFIED KID: Six cartwheels.
M. NEICASE: Six cartwheels.
FOREMAN (voice-over): Call it an investment in the heart of the town, in people who can fight the storms, can fight the oil spill and who will because this is truly still home.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOREMAN: They truly do think this is a solution to, not only for the hurricane recovery which goes on and on and on, but for all this oil out here, this worry about what it might do to their community. The notion that they can keep people here invested, Ali, they will keep fighting and that will make things better for everyone in this community and maybe a lot further beyond.
VELSHI: And that's a big theme across the country, in communities that are constantly hard hit, or economically challenged, or where so much has been lost. There seems to be an unnatural attachment in the Gulf of Mexico to people who would like it to be fixed and would like to stay there and feel it important that, you know, their subsequent generations stay there. It does seem to be an interesting attachment to the place.
FOREMAN: Yes, there is a strong attachment. But I think it's really true of a lot of different places. This is a very beautiful place. It's a lovely place for people to be.
I will mention this, though, Ali, and you'll understand this from your background, for sure, better than I do, frankly. One of the notions that came up when I was discussing with them, this idea of these partnerships between banks and individuals, and businesses -- they're saying that this plan here could actually be a big solution for communities all over this country, trying to build up from the mortgage crisis.
VELSHI: Yes.
FOREMAN: They think other communities should be looking at their plan and saying, maybe this could work.
VELSHI: That is an interesting idea and that's actually, it's those ideas that you're out there picking up with "Building Up America," going out there and saying what kind of solutions are there to these things, because we've been reporting on problems for so long, particularly in the economy.
Always a pleasure to see you and that beautiful bus behind you. Tom Foreman in Mississippi once again.
All right. Here's a great story for you. An 11-year-old grows a 40-pound cabbage. Do I even need to say more? A 40-pound cabbage -- if that's another no a story in and of itself. It inspires her to feed the hungry and the homeless. She is our "Mission Impossible (ph)," the girl with the humongous cabbage.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: All right. Chad, we're both getting information on this right now, a plane coming into Atlanta airport, a Delta 737 with a blown tire?
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Right, it blew a tire on takeoff. It flew all the way to Memphis, turned around, kind of flew over Mississippi for a while. And here, this would be about Huntsville, Alabama, did a bunch of loops around Huntsville as it did that, burning off oil. They're burning off fuel.
VELSHI: Right.
MYERS: And then eventually bringing itself in.
Now, this is not a big deal. Honestly, because this is a redundancy system. It's the reason why there's more than one tire on an airplane.
VELSHI: Right.
MYERS: If it's the nose tire that's blown, it's a little bit of a bigger deal.
VELSHI: We've also seen because they flare nicely when they land and then they just touchdown.
MYERS: Exactly. That's why when you see the landing gear of a big jet, you can tires -- there are 12 tires on each side. Not to this one. But -- so, this plane will come in. Right now, it's at 5,000 feet to 191 knots coming into Atlanta, (INAUDIBLE), Delta flight 1457. It was going to Portland, Oregon, turned around and now, it will be landing.
VELSHI: All right.
MYERS: They'll fix the tire and they'll get the people back up.
VELSHI: Very good, Chad. Thank you very much. Boy, you're a busy guy these days. Always good to see you.
All right. You're going to want to listen to this story, Chad. It's a fantastic story. There's a girl -- this is our "Mission Possible," by the way. I think I'm going to change the segment to "mission impossible" because that's the way I say it every day. But this is our "Mission Possible," somebody who does something interesting and inspirational.
Her name is Katie Stagliano. She is ripe old 11-years of age right now. And she is the founder of something called Katie's Krops with a K.
Listen to Katie's story. It's quite remarkable. She started gardening at the age of 9. She grew a cabbage. And the cabbage kept on growing until it was 40 pounds. And I think her mother must have said to her, "Katie, what are we going to do with a 40-pound cabbage?" So, they took it to a local soup kitchen where it fed lots and lots of people.
She's now entering the sixth grade. This was two years ago. She now manages six gardens where the food goes to food shelters and homeless people, and she started her own nonprofit called Katie's Krops.
Katie, what have I missed? Welcome to the show. Congratulations. And what was up with the 40-pound cabbage?
KATIE STAGLIANO, FOUNDER, KATIE'S KROPS: Thank you very having me. Well, the 40-pound cabbage started off as a tiny seedling and just kept growing and grow, and I was amazed when it grew to 40 pounds.
VELSHI: And did it just -- I mean, at what point did you know that it was time to take this cabbage and do something with it? Did it -- was it just going to keep on growing and your mom said let's do something with this cabbage?
STAGLIANO: Eventually, it got to be too hot for the cabbage and we had to take it out.
VELSHI: All right. So, it didn't occur to you to make salad for the rest of your life or something, or soup for the rest of your life. You took this over to a local, what was it? A pantry? A food -- a soup kitchen type of thing?
STAGLIANO: Yes. It was a soup kitchen.
VELSHI: And what happened? What did they say?
STAGLIANO: They were amazed at how big the cabbage was. They could not believe that I brought them a 40-point cabbage and they cooked up a lot of food with that.
VELSHI: And they got you involved in that. You were a little bit surprised. You really hadn't been that familiar with the people who used soup kitchens before that?
STAGLIANO: I had never been to a soup kitchen before or seen anybody in a soup kitchen until that point. And it was just heartbreaking at how many people were there.
VELSHI: One of the things that I've seen from your -- I'm not sure where you wrote it, I guess it was on your blog, Katie, but I just want to read this to the audience.
You said, "I don't know what I used to think homelessness looked like, but I now know what I didn't think it looked like. I didn't think that homeless people -- homelessness looked like families just like mine, but it does. I know homeless people. They're my friends and my supporters."
It sort of opened your eyes to this and you decided to do even more than you had done just by growing this cabbage.
STAGLIANO: Yes. It definitely opened my eyes. And I definitely got to see more and more homeless people and they became my friends. And I would see them all the time. And they were just like any of my other friends.
VELSHI: What did you do after that? You decided to keep on going after this. How did you -- what did you do next?
STAGLIANO: After that, I went to my school and asked if I could start a garden there. And they gave me a plot of land the size of a football field. I was amazed. I got some of my classmates and rounded them up and we started planting a garden -- and before I knew it, it just got bigger and bigger from there.
VELSHI: You thought they were going to give you a little scratch of land to grow on and they gave you this thing that was a lot bigger. And now, you've expanded. You got a whole lot more. And one of the interesting stories about what you've done has got something to do with the Palmetto House. Tell me about that.
STAGLIANO: The Palmetto House is a soup kitchen and homeless shelter where there's 14 kids living there right now, which is very sad. But they asked me to start a garden there, and so, I started a garden and the garden looks amazing. The people at the homeless shelter living there tend to it and it just looks amazing.
VELSHI: And -- I mean, your name is Katie and you grew this 40-pound cabbage. The minute I heard of this story I thought to myself, oh, my God, there's a story, there's a book in here somewhere. And you have written one?
STAGLIANO: Yes, I have written a book called "Katie's Cabbage." And my hopes are to inspire other kids to start gardening and donating the produce by reading this book to think, well, I can do something like this, too.
VELSHI: I don't know if they'll be as successful growing a 40- pound cabbage, but they can certainly have the influence that you've had and have the impact that you've had. What a fantastic story, Katie. Thank you so much for being our "Mission Possible" today.
STAGLIANO: Thank you for having me.
VELSHI: My pleasure.
All right. To read Katie's blog, which is really interesting, or to learn more about Katie's Krops and how you can help her mission or do something like that yourself, go to www.katieskrops.com. That's crops with a K, www.katieskrops.com.
OK. A story we've been following for the last few days. Former U.S. Department of Agriculture official Shirley Sherrod phones the White House and CNN is there to witness it. We'll update this breaking story as Sherrod reacts to her conversation with President Obama, our senior White House correspondent who's been in the mix the entire time at the White House is standing by with the stakeout. We'll go right there after this break.
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VELSHI: OK. Every day at this time, a little bit earlier than this time, we go to the White House, we talk to our CNN's senior congressional -- senior White House correspondent, I'm sorry, about, you know, something he wants to talk about.
But today, we had to delay that a little bit, Ed, because I don't know if you just saw me talking to Katie of the 40-pound cabbage.
ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: It was a great interview.
VELSHI: Yes. You don't mind that we pushed you back a little bit, right?
HENRY: No, that's cool, especially because, you know, I'm wearing the tie you sent me for I don't know -- why did you send it me? I think just to be a nice guy. It's got a little FIFA symbol down there at the bottom.
VELSHI: Yes, that's a World Cup tie.
HENRY: You brought it all the way back from South -- I got it last night. It's got a little cuff links that came with it. I'm showing it of just for you, man.
VELSHI: That is very nice.
HENRY: It's really sweet.
VELSHI: Oh, there you go.
HENRY: It was nice of you.
VELSHI: Evidence that I actually gave you a gift.
HENRY: You know, I sent you several gifts over the last few months. I brought some to Atlanta. When you were on Capitol Hill, I gave you some gifts. So it's nice for you to catch up.
VELSHI: I've worn the cuff links. I've worn the tie you've given me. You brought me soap and toilet paper. I'm not entirely sure about that but, yes --
HENRY: I don't even want to know.
VELSHI: Yes.
HENRY: You know, the White House really wants this story to be over. I mean, they are so tired of this Shirley Sherrod, I have to tell you.
And that's why, in some way, I was surprised that the president called her because when I was talking to senior officials yesterday, they were basically like, we don't want to give any more oxygen to this. But I think, the bottom line is, they finally made the calculation that he had to do it, try to get this thing finally behind the White House. And move on. He apologized.
And you just noted that CNN exclusively was there with Shirley Sherrod, got her reaction right after the call. I think we got a little bit of that one. We'll take a listen.
VELSHI: Yes, listen to her.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHERROD: Just had the conversation with the president, and it went very, very good conversation. Well pleased with how it went. And he wanted me to know he supported me. And I've been dealing with some of the same issues he's had to deal with through, you know, especially over the last five years. It's just a good conversation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HENRY: You know, and Robert Gibbs sort of filled in the blanks a little bit a couple of moments ago by saying that in this about seven-minute phone conversation, the president was talking about his own personal experience, some of the things he wrote about in his books, the autobiographies about perhaps discrimination, some issues he's faced.
Robert Gibbs didn't go into detail, but everyone remembers some of the anecdotes and trying to talk a little about Sherrod's experiences because the president encouraged her to take a look at this job that she was offered by Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack because the president thinks she has a lot to offer to this whole conversation obviously.
VELSHI: Ed, Shirley Sherrod is directing this conversation now. She went from being a victim of something on Monday night and feeling sort of her lowest point, to the fact that last night she was saying on TV she wanted to talk to the president, and I think that changed the direction of this conversation. I guess what remains to be seen on a number of levels, is what happens to Shirley Sherrod, what happens in the decision-making around the Department of Agriculture that caused them to jump on this and what happens at the White House to get out from under this cloud, because as you said, it's very clear they want to get away from this.
HENRY: It does. You know, I was talking to one of the president's senior advisers yesterday who was basically saying that, you know, here's a week where they wanted so desperately to get some credit for the Wall Street reform bill the president signed into law yesterday. And now, they' gotten this victory on extending unemployment benefits. And so, they feel nobody is covering that. And you have to wonder if maybe their rush to sort of get this story out of there at the beginning of the week may have played into dragging it out a little bit longer.
VELSHI: You look fantastic in that tie, I have to tell you.
HENRY: You're just saying -- it's a new suit, too. Do you like the suit?
VELSHI: I love the suit. It complements the tie very nicely. I can't believe you went out and got a suit just because you got a new tie.
HENRY: That's what I do. I go out to buy a new suit to complement a new tie, you know?
VELSHI: Good to see you did.
HENRY: I ordered this a while ago. It finally came just in time for your neckties.
VELSHI: Very good. Wear it in good health, my friend. I'll see you soon.
Ed Henry, every day at this hour, with the stake house unless there's a cute little kid who grew a big cabbage.
All right. We're going to take a big -- we're going to take a break. Some "Wordplay" next. And today's term has been hiding in plain sight for thousands of years. We're going to clear up this monumental mystery in one second.
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VELSHI: Today's "Wordplay" is usually used as part of a bigger word, a name actually, "henge," as in Stonehenge. Who knew there were other henges? It turns out a henge is a type of earth work monument from the Neolithic period thousands and thousands of years ago.
It's a circular area surrounded by a ditch and a bank of earth, often but not always with some kind of pillars. Those famous slabs of Stonehenge are totally optional. Henges are the mystery of the monument world. But we're sure that they were used for rituals or to mark astronomical events or maybe both.
Stonehenge is actually an oddball instead of the earth bank surrounded by the ditch, it's reversed. Scientists have actually just discovered a wooden henge about half a mile away. They say it's the biggest find in the sight in 50 years.
OK. A prom is for everyone, no matter who your date is. I'm going to tell you more about it in my "XYZ" -- coming up.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Time now for the "XYZ" of it. An update to a story we brought you several months ago. A Mississippi school district will pay $35,000 in damages to a recent high school graduate barred from attending her school prom because she's a lesbian. And the Itawamba school district will adopt a policy prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation.
This ends the lawsuit brought by the ACLU on behalf of Constance McMillen, the teen who was told that she and her girlfriend would be ejected if they attended the school-sponsored prom back in April. A month before that, the federal judge had ruled that the school district violated McMillen's First Amendment rights. The prom was eventually cancelled by the school board who had previously said they reached their decision based on, quote, "the education, safety and wellbeing of its students," end quote.
Someday, someone will explain to me how a gay couple going to a program affects the education, safety and wellbeing of students. But for now, consider this: only 12 states and the District of Columbia require school districts to have policies recognizing sexual orientation and gender identity.
The ACLU says it has represented other students in similar cases involving issues of sexuality around the country but none garnered as much attention as Contessa (ph) McMillen's legal battle. McMillen says she thinks the case resonated with so many people because the prom is a common theme and everyone knows how it feels to want to go to the prom.
Gay or not gay, there are certain rights of passage in a young person's life that they should be allowed to have. And I'm willing to bet, in a time when budgets for school books, teachers and salaries and after school programs are being stretched, that $35,000 could have gone a long way.
That's my "XYZ."
Time now for "RICK'S LIST."
