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Flooded Pakistan in Need of Aid; Cancer Costs More Than Other Diseases; Wal-Mart Earnings a Mixed Bag
Aired August 17, 2010 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: OK, good stuff. Got to go, got to go. CNN NEWSROOM continues right now with Ali Velshi in New York City -- Doctor.
ALI VELSHI, HOST: Good to see you, my friend. Have a great afternoon, Tony.
As Tony said, I'm Ali Velshi, with you for the next two hours today and every weekday. Here's what I've got on the rundown. A global killer and now it costs the global economy more money than any other cause of death. We'll reveal a devastating new report.
Plus, from the streets of New York, to the White House, to Capitol Hill and beyond. The battle over a planned Islamic center near Ground Zero is only getting more heated.
Also, what's cursive, who's Dirty Harry and how do you use a wristwatch? Wisconsin researchers say if you ask those question to incoming college freshmen these days, you might get some blank stares.
It's getting worse by the day with no end in sight. That's the situation right now in flood-ravaged Pakistan. We've been telling you about this disaster every since it started weeks ago. Now we're going to try to help you at least a little comprehend just how bad it is.
Take a look at this map. It clearly shows the vastness of the flooding. The areas shaded in red are the most severely affected. But you can see it goes right from the top to the bottom of that country, almost 3,000 miles.
The areas in the orange or yellow, depending on how it shows on your screen, are those moderately affected. One-fifth of the country of Pakistan is under water.
Now look at this map of Pakistan and Texas. OK? Texas on your left, Pakistan on the right. In square miles, Pakistan is lightly bigger than Texas. So imagine one fifth of Texas under water right now. That might help you understand just what Pakistanis are facing right now.
Let me take a look at these pictures. They only tell part of this heart-wrenching story. The death and destruction are overwhelming. Some 1,500 people are affected. More than 1,400 have been killed. There's a child in a picture that I want to show you, this child. Just one of millions now at high-risk for diseases like typhoid, dysentery, hepatitis and cholera because of the condition of that water.
After weeks of flooding, the nation is in shock. Entire villages and towns have been wiped out. Tens of thousands of people marooned, clutching to spots of land that are surrounded by water, and they're in desperate need of food and clean water.
Adding to the pain, millions of acres of farmland have been washed away; along with it the livelihoods of people who were dirt poor before the flooding started weeks ago.
The cry often heard now is one of outrage at the government of Pakistan for not responding faster. The United Nations is now warning that Pakistan is not getting enough aid money or emergency supplies to prevent this disaster from growing even larger.
Joining us now from the Pakistani capital of Islamabad -- we saw that on the map at the north part of Pakistan -- is CNN's Kyung Lah.
Kyung, good to see you. You spoke a while ago with the prime minister of Pakistan. What did he say about the flow of international aid? Are they getting enough? Are they not getting enough?
KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The aid is definitely not getting here quickly enough. And that's what anyone will tell you, whether they are an aid worker or a Pakistani government worker or someone in the U.S. military who was here trying to help.
The aid talk is ratcheting up. But that translating into a bag of rice or a bottle of water, it is simply happening too slow. It is taking too long to get to the flood-ravaged areas, in part because the scope of this is so huge.
We're talking about so many millions of people being affected. You were showing us the scope of that. There are millions of people being affected by this, Ali. Just trying to get there. There are areas that are still cut off. Thousands of people still with no road access. No bridge access. So trying to get there, you have to use choppers or donkeys. We've heard reports of donkeys trying to bring aid in there.
So there are a number of problems trying to get there, just to get them the help. As far as what the Pakistani prime minister said, he said that he wants the international aid to beef up, that this international cry to get louder, because it is so sorely needed here. Here's what he told us.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LAH: What do you need from the international community, in light of this growing crisis?
YOUSAF RAZA GILLANI, PAKISTANI PRIME MINISTER: I need the international community to know that this is one of the worst sort of disasters in the world. And I appeal to the world that they should come out in a big way for a humanitarian way.
LAH: If the international community donates funds, will the funds be transparent?
GILLANI: Yes. Totally, yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LAH: And that's what we're hearing, Ali, from the Pakistani government. That, if the aid can get here, if it goes beyond pledges and actually turns into cash -- something that takes a while -- is that it will be used. That's a promise from the Pakistani government.
If you want to try to donate, though, directly, you should try to donate to a source you trust, an agency that you trust. And Ali, a sign that things are getting a little more desperate here on the ground, we are now starting to hear U.N. Reports of -- and these are not widespread, but we are hearing some reports of clashes between some of the locals and the police. There is simply frustration and a desperation now here on the streets.
VELSHI: All right, Kyung. We'll continue to follow that story. Kyung Lah with our "Two at the Top" on the news in Pakistan. And if you do want to find a way that you can help, go to CNN.com/impact. That's our "Impact Your World" site. It's got links to charities that are doing work there. As Kyung said, charities that can be trusted to get -- get the money that you donate or whatever you donate to the source of the problem.
We'll have much more on the question of whether the international community has been slow to react to the flooding in Pakistan. That's coming up when we go globe trekking later on in the show.
Now to South Carolina where the more we learn about the death of two toddlers, the more tragic the story gets. Here's how if started. A car was pulled after the -- out of the Edistro River yesterday, where the more we learn about the death of two toddlers, the more tragic the story gets.
Here's how it started. A car was pulled after the Edisto -- out of the Edisto River yesterday, the bodies of two little boys inside, both strapped in car seats. The children's mother initially told investigators the car went into the water after she lost control and ran off the ground. Her story quickly unraveled. Today's "Sound Effect" is the sheriff's chilling account of what he says really happened.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHERIFF LARRY WILLIAMS, ORANGEBURG COUNTY, SOUTH CAROLINA: At the conclusion of our lengthy evening on -- last night, the determination or the statement was made by the mother that she had suffocated the children, and, of course, the children were dead when they was placed into the water. (END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: The boys were 1- and 2-year-olds. The sheriff says their mother, 29-year-old Shaquan Duley, was unemployed and had no means of taking care of her children. She also has a little girl. The sheriff says Duley will be arranged -- arraigned on murder charges tomorrow.
We all know that cancer is a deadly disease worldwide. But the effects on the global economy are shocking. We're going to go beyond the numbers and have a real conversation about the cost of cancer after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: For the first time ever, research shows that cancer has the most devastating economic impact of any cause of death in the world. Take a look at the numbers.
We're talking about $895 billion -- pardon me, $895 billion a year worldwide in economic losses from premature death and disability related to cancer. That is nearly 20 percent higher than heart disease, which is the second leading cause of economic loss. That's $753 billion a year.
Now, the study goes further and says that lung, bronchial and tracheal cancers are the most costly, accounting for $180 billion of that total world tally. These types of respiratory cancers are on track to kill 8 million people annually by 2030.
And get this. The study does not include direct medical costs. These are not the medical costs of treating these diseases. These are the economic costs outside of that. If you add the medical costs, those numbers would increase, if not double the total economic burden caused by cancer. The study was conducted by the American Cancer Society and Livestrong.
Joining me now is one of the researchers, Hana Ross, from the American Cancer Society.
Hana, thank you for joining us. These numbers are shocking when you realize it doesn't include the cost of treating the disease. So what does it include? What did you -- what did you calculate?
HANA ROSS, AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY: We basically calculated the economic loss that is related to productivity, loss due to cancer. And we took the cost of illness approach, where we separated the indirect and direct cost of cancer. The direct costs are related to medical costs, and those are available only for some high-income countries.
And because we wanted to calculate the cost of cancer for -- for the whole world, we focused on the costs related to labor productivity, for which the figures and data are much more readily available. VELSHI: So basically, you take the time lost that someone is not working, or I guess the people around them who are not working, and you multiply that, and that's how you come to this cost.
ROSS: Yes.
VELSHI: I don't mean to oversimplify it. I know you -- obviously, there is a lot more work in that, but is that one way of expressing how you came to the cost?
ROSS: Yes, basically, it is one way to express it and also includes not only for people who die prematurely, but also for people who die -- who live with cancer and have reduced quality of life, and therefore reduced productivity. So this cost actually includes both premature mortality and morbidity costs.
VELSHI: Did you -- were you surprised by anything that came out of this research?
ROSS: Yes. I think the surprising estimate was, that when we compared the health burden of all these different diseases, and these still -- in 2008, it's still heart disease still presented more burden in terms of public health.
But when we looked at the estimate -- economic estimate of costs of these diseases, the cancer was more expensive than the heart disease. And the reason is that basically cancer is affecting people much earlier in their life, and therefore, people who get cancer lose many more years of their potential productivity. And therefore, cancer, when we look at the cost related to labor productivity, is more expensive.
VELSHI: Tell me what we make of the -- the revelation here that these respiratory types of cancers -- lung, bronchial and tracheal -- are such a large proportion. Is that because more people get them, or are they actually more expensive to get for the economy?
ROSS: I think it's -- it's actually both, you know. It is because these types of cancers are related to tobacco use. And we have, you know, as we know, the tobacco -- number of smokers and tobacco users globally is increasing.
We also have probably much better statistics related to this type of cancer than other types of cancer. And also, people who are smokers, usually half of them die because of their tobacco use. And half of those who die, die in their most productive years. So therefore, these people lose a lot of time, a lot of years, from their productive lives.
VELSHI: Can you get to the point where you drew conclusions about this about what can be done?
ROSS: What we know, you know, WHO already recommends a series of measures that can be done to reduce the cost of non-communicable diseases. Basically, we know that prevention is very effective, primarily for -- when it comes to tobacco control. But there are also important ways to introduce systems of early detection and treatment of some of these cancers, because we have by now -- we have some effective treatments that can be implemented globally that are not very high costs.
VELSHI: Hana, good to talk to you. Thanks for bringing light to this study.
Hana Ross is the strategic director of the International Tobacco Control research part of the American Cancer Society, one of the co- authors of the study we were discussing.
Thanks for being with us.
If you want to learn more about matters relating to your money, we do it every weekend on CNN's "YOUR $$$$$" at 1 p.m. Eastern on Saturday and 3 p.m. Eastern on Sunday.
Wal-Mart says it's making more money than it expected. Is that good news? Well, it's where that money came from that might worry anyone watching the economy. I'll explain.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Seems to be mounting evidence that the U.S. economy is on shakier ground than it seemed like it was a few months ago. We've got some news from Wal-Mart today that might bolster that argument.
Overall, the company said its profit was on track. It actually rose $3.6 billion in the second quarter. But the way it got there is what is worrisome.
Let me first tell you that normally, you want a company to make more money, because it got more customers. It had more money spent at its stores. That's not what happened at Wal-Mart. It actually saw sales drop a little bit, as consumers worried about this economy curbed spending. It got a higher profit by cutting costs, and that, while it's good that they did it, the bottom line is you can only cut so much before you start to run into problems. So that's a bit of a concern.
Now, when you look at the rest of Wal-Mart, the international division, wow, sales were up 11 percent in that quarter, compared to the same three months the year before. There are lots of strong sales in Mexico, Brazil and China. So Wal-Mart is doing well outside of the United States.
By the way, Wal-Mart averages about 100 million customers a week, which means it's a good barometer of how things are going in the economy.
Let me tell but another company we often use as a barometer, and that's the Home Depot. Home Depot, its profit was up a little bit, as well, for the quarter.
The big news is that it's raising its forecast for how much money it's going to make. And that's interesting, because Home Depot and its competitor, Lowe's, they're a barometer, because they see people who are doing repairs to their houses. So maybe if you're not selling your house any time soon, you want to spruce it up.
They're also seeing people coming in and buying new appliances that are more energy-efficient as people worry about the cost of energy. Maybe you need a new appliance. You might as well get one that saves money.
So these two companies, both with mixed news, and something to tell you about, how the economy is doing, as if you didn't already know.
But if you want more discussion about your money, Saturdays at 1 p.m. Eastern and Sundays at 3 p.m. We have an entire show devoted to it. So tune in and take a look.
Let me bring you up to speed with many some of the stories that we're following here at CNN.
Same-sex couples who had hoped to start getting married in California this week are cancelling their plans for now. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a ruling yesterday, temporary -- temporarily blocking a federal judge's decision to allow gay marriages to go through. That federal judge's ruling would have permitted same- sex weddings to have resumed as early as the 18th of August. That is tomorrow. But the appeals court wants to hear broader arguments about the constitutionality of those sorts of marriages.
In Texas today, a shooting at the Central Park campus of Collins College in McKinney, Texas. That's north of Dallas. Few details so far. Police say the gunman was killed, but no students or faculty was hurt. The college's emergency alert system notified students of the trouble and put campus -- they put the campus into a lockdown.
In Baghdad, at least 48 people were killed and scores were wounded in a suicide bombing today. Iraq's interior ministry says the bomber struck as men were lining up at an Army recruiting center. The Iraqi government has been struggling to boost security ahead of the U.S. troop drawdown.
Well, the last remnants of last week's tropical depression may be causing heavy rains this week, especially in the south. We're taking you to the severe weather center for an update, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: For once, Chad...
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes.
VELSHI: I may have outsmarted the weather. For once.
MYERS: You speak too soon.
VELSHI: Yes, no doubt. But I'm in New York, and you are going to get storms in the south.
MYERS: Yes. In fact, we got our first flood warning just now issued for north of Atlanta up near Chattanooga where the showers have just been pouring all day long. But what it is, it's the old remnants of what was Tropical Depression No. 5. Ali, it never became Danielle, which it could have, because that would have been the "D" storm, the fourth storm, so now the next tropical depression will be Tropical Depression No. 6, and it has the potential to be Danielle. It is way off. It is almost literally in Africa right now. I'll show you in a second.
But we're talking about the moisture that's coming up in the Mississippi and Alabama and then all the way up even toward Chattanooga north of Atlanta, Georgia, at this point in time, and the spin continues to bring in the Gulf of Mexico moisture. And even though this radar doesn't look that impressive right now, it will fill in as the heat of the day really starts to warm things up, and the showers and thunderstorms continue to get stronger and stronger.
So we're talking about a couple of areas of low pressure. One here. Here's the Gulf of Mexico, Florida, so on. There's Texas. One there that we're talking about now -- that's TD No. 5 -- never made it.
Another area of low pressure kind of here in the parts just south of Jamaica, and that would be Puerto Rico. Its forecasts still go to the west. And then another big area of cloud cover coming off the African coast. And when that happens, they call these Cape Verde or African storms, and they can actually stay to the south, and that picks up some speed. And it's forecasted on a couple of models to become a pretty decent-sized hurricane. Maybe toward the Leeward Islands.
The big story, I think, today is you have good weather here, 86 in New York City. We're not bad, even with a shower or two, cloud cover 85 down here. So we're still 1 degree cooler than you are.
VELSHI: So I didn't game the system, basically, is what you're telling me.
MYERS: We'll see.
VELSHI: All right, Chad, good to see you as always. Thanks so much. We'll check in with Chad as anything on the weather front develops.
Seems like every day another politician is taking New York's big controversy on as their own. I'm talking, of course, about the proposed Islamic center and mosque in downtown Manhattan near, not at, near the World Trade Center site. We're going to tackle this with Michael Daly of the "New York Daily News." Maybe you saw his very personal column on the weekend. I'll talk to him about it when we get back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) VELSHI: We have spoken a lot on this show and on this network, and pretty much everywhere in the news, about this Islamic center and mosque that is operating and going to be developed near Ground Zero. Different flavor, depending on where you go in the country, but obviously having arrived in New York this week, it is -- it's really all that people are talking about, other than sports.
Michael Daly is a columnist with the "New York Daily News," and he joins me now, because he's written a column about this, which struck me as having a little different take. So the take we're hearing about, Michael, a lot is they've got every right to build it there versus no, it's insensitive and they shouldn't. You have a different approach to this. Tell me what your thoughts are.
MICHAEL DALY, "NEW YORK DAILY NEWS": My feeling, I mean, it's just -- particularly given since we're at war, I mean, screaming about the mosque and saying they can't build a mosque is exactly what Osama bin Laden would most want to hear.
I mean, they've got -- al Qaeda is a few hundred murderous losers, and all we keep doing is glorifying them. We don't call them criminals; we call them combatants. We -- their whole object is not just to hijack airplanes, it's to hijack Islam.
VELSHI: Right. Based on this debate, like, they've made some headway.
DALY: They have. I mean, you know...
VELSHI: About -- about Islam and whether we want Islam in our midst.
DALY: If you go back November 2001, Osama bin Laden was trapped in a cave. He was so far gone, he was writing his own will, and all of a sudden, he's still out there all these years later, and we just keep playing into his hands.
VELSHI: You can't even break this down by party lines. In fact, I want to play you something from Senator Harry Reid, the Democratic majority leader, who's in bit of a fight for his own political life against somebody who's got a great deal of vacuum from the Tea Party.
Listen to what Harry Reid had to say about -- about what the president had said about this mosque. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. HARRY REID (D-NV), MAJORITY LEADER: Constitution gives us freedom of religion. I think that it's very obvious that the mosque should be built someplace else.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: So Michael, here's the Senate majority leader saying it's very obvious that the mosque should be built somewhere else. Now, just give people who aren't from here a sense of the geography. It is an operating mosque. There is an operating mosque as close, and it's not the finest part of town. There's a lot of stuff in there that -- that...
DALY: It's not the worst. I mean, to me, it's the finest part of town, because there some unbelievably decent people were murdered there. To me there is no more finer part of town.
But at the same time, you know, all these people who talk as if they're great patriots, they keep doubting the basic American institutions, the Constitution being one of them.
And Senator Reid, with all due respect, you ought to forget the political fight back home and worry about the war we're in right now.
VELSHI: You -- you wrote what basically amounted to an open letter to a friend, a former 9/11 survivor, Tom Brown. Tell me -- Tim Brown. I'm sorry. Tell me about what that was about.
DALY: Well, there were a group of us who -- there was a great fireman named John Drennan (ph) 15 years ago who fought for 40 days to live and didn't make it. And there were a group of us who used to get together regularly, and there were five of us -- six of us. And four of them were killed on 9/11. And Tim Brown was the only survivor, the fireman. And I was the only newspaper guy to begin with.
And so -- Tim has become one of the leading opponents of the mosque. And it's -- it's very hard for me to be in disagreement with Tim Brown. I -- you know, I love the guy.
VELSHI: So where has that gone? You wrote this letter to him.
DALY: Well, I didn't really write a letter to him.
VELSHI: You wrote a column.
DALY: I wrote a column, and I was really just trying to say that I was down at the site of this mosque, and what I remembered was, you know, all the laughter at that table before 9/11. And all these wonderful guys that got lost, and then I was thinking the only guy left is Timmy.
And I would love to agree with Timmy about everything, because I love him like a brother, but I can't help but feel that if we try to say that religious freedom ends two blocks from ground zero, we're only playing into Osama bin Laden's hands. And I've got to tell you, I don't hate many people, but I hate the guys that murdered my friends.
VELSHI: Tell me about what you think -- you stated your view. Others have stated their view that the mosque shouldn't be there. Others have said, like Harry Reid has, they probably have the right to be there, but it would be better if they moved. What -- how do we move forward from this discussion? what logically happens next that allows us to get beyond this? DALY: What logically happens next is we honor the Constitution of United States. There's beautiful young people dying now in the name of this Constitution. The least we can do back here, as we sit in safety, is honor that Constitution.
VELSHI: Do you feel something for people like Tim, and others --
DALY: Absolutely --
VELSHI: -- who legitimately say, or believe legitimately that this is insensitive to those --
DALY: It is insensitive. I mean, it is insensitive. The proof it's insensitive, you see how many people are upset. I mean, these are people who lost their loved ones in the most horrible conditions. Many never got anything back, so that's essentially a graveyard for them.
And it's unbelievably insensitive. But unfortunately, the Constitution of the United States says that they can be insensitive. Doesn't make it right. But it makes it legal.
VELSHI: Would you, if you -- if it were your decision, would you think the mosque should be there? Should -- not has a right to.
DALY: Well, I mean, it has -- do I ideally think it should be there? No, because look at the people it upset. But, you know, if they want to do it, they have that right to do it. And rights don't come with "but."
VELSHI: Right.
DALY: You know, you don't say, well, you know, you have the right to vote, but. You have the right to vote.
VELSHI: Are we - are we -- have we gone too far in associating Islam, as you pointed out that Osama bin Laden and his group are trying to hijack Islam, by saying that we don't want a mosque there. Haven't we accepted that Islam and Osama bin Laden and terrorism are jumbled up enough --
DALY: That's why you make him so happy. I mean, there's a few hundred guys. I mean, when KCM, the dreaded Khalid Shaikeh Mohammed - when he was trying to recruit a guy who was working in the garment center down in Karachi, he met him alone in an ice cream parlor. When Khalid Shaikeh Mohammed got locked up, he got locked up just like a murderer in Brooklyn. He was in his underwear in bed all alone.
This is not thousands of guys. The new number two guy, when he met the subway bombers, he met them directly. He didn't have, like, a chain of command. I mean --
VELSHI: So, you think this is playing right into the hands --
DALY: Of course. VELSHI: Michael, thanks for being on our show. We appreciate talking to you. Michael Daly, a columnist with the "New York Daily News."
Well, millions in Pakistan are fighting for a basic need as they face a flooding disaster. Just enough aid is not making it to the places it needs to go. We'll show you why right after this break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Okay. We do this story -- we do this show for you. And if you don't watch, there really is no point in doing this. So every morning -- and I mean it, every single morning -- we have a discussion about Pakistan. For weeks ago, it used to be about the relationship between Pakistan and Afghanistan and the Taliban and all that kind of stuff. And then it became about this flood. Every day we talk about Pakistan.
And we wonder whether we're serving you by bringing you new pictures and new sound about what's going on there. Do you care, are you getting tired of it? And I would be interested in knowing what you feel. Bottom line is, people are dying and there is a disaster there, so we think it's important. But I want to know what you think. So, go to my Facebook page, facebook.com/ali and tell me what you do know, what you would like to see more or see less of.
The problem we've got right now is the aid. There are -- about 1,400 people who have died. Many, many more homeless. 15.4 million people are affected by this in some way or another, 2,024 are injured. But as you know, whenever there is a water problem, whenever there is flooding in the developing world, it's only afterwards that we start to see the effect of diseases. Typhoid, dysentery, cholera, diarrhea. Fresh water is needed, food is needed. People are trapped by water around them. This thing goes - it split the country in half. It goes from the top of Pakistan right to the bottom of it.
Let me tell you what we know is needed in Pakistan. Obviously -- it's really the obvious stuff. There's nothing all that surprising. People need water. People need shelter, because towns and villages have been destroyed. People need food, and they need medical help.
Now, how much has Pakistan got versus how much do they need? According to the United Nations, Pakistan needs about $460 million in aid. And they've received about $148 million. So, you can see there's a lot more.
So, all these questions. When money has to go somewhere, there are always questions about how much do they need, who is giving it, is it going to get to go where it needs to go? Can it be distributed effectively? I have had had people asking me personally, where can I give money? Where can I donate?
And I'm going to tell you again, I'll keep telling you, you go to CNN.com/impact. That's Impact Your World. It will link you to sites which tell you about charities that are doing work there. But I want to bring in Molly Kinder. She's a senior policy analyst for the Center for Global Development joining me from D.C. Molly, thank you for being on the show with us. What's the issue with Pakistan? Why are we need seeing international singers and rock stars and movie stars and high-profile people talking about this issue in Pakistan?
MOLLY KINDER, SENIOR POLICY ANALYST, CENTER FOR GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT: You know, I think you've hit on a really important point. There is no question that the international community has been really asleep at the wheel in the face of one of the worst human catastrophes we have seen in recent times. And you really aren't seeing this sort of international outpouring of support, of rock stars, of fundraisers and appeals being made to the degree we saw in Haiti and other recent disasters. And I think that's for several reasons.
First, I think the point you made earlier. Pakistan is always in the news, and it's usually a bad story. So, I think there might be some bit of Pakistan fatigue. I think the scale of this flooding is something people are having a hard time wrapping their minds around. I mean, most people don't really have a clear image of Pakistan in their head, to begin with, without a flood, let alone trying to picture a map and these swollen rivers and what that means.
And then I think the third thing is, there is some degree of fatigue on emergencies, given how many we have seen. But none of these justify, I think, this very anemic response we have seen.
VELSHI: Right. We don't really as a human race have a -- have the privilege of getting fatigued by emergencies and catastrophes. But I guess we don't see Pakistan the way we see Haiti. When we saw Haiti, we talked about the poorest country the in the Western Hemisphere and lacking in infrastructure and all of that.
Pakistan, we think of, as a fairly modern country that has those kind of things, and we have tried to give people a sense of the fact that the -- the river is like the Mississippi River. It's almost, you know, 2,300 miles long. That the number of -- the size of Pakistan is like Texas.
What -- what makes a disaster interesting and compelling to people to want to give of their time and money?
KINDER: You know, I think that's a great question. My sense is that -- I worked on the 2005 earthquake in Pakistan. And you know, my sense was there was an immediate response to that. Because when you think of a moment with an earthquake or tsunami, it's this imminent moment of destruction and that really terrifies us to think about that.
And it's hard for us to think about a flood that's taken two weeks to snake through this country. So, we -- I also think that the images -- it's hard to convey in an image the scale of this. So I don't think we're seeing the same sort of impact on our hearts and souls the way we do with other disasters. But when you think about the numbers of people -- I'm from Buffalo, New York. That's more than 20 Buffalos that have been affected by this flood. It's hard to wrap your mind around that.
VELSHI: Yes, I think you're right. There is a suddenness if we're reporting on a hurricane or tsunami or earthquake. You're following the news, and then everything else is aftermath. But you've got some sense around what happened. Here we kept telling you flooding was happening, then it happened and then it was really big and really serious.
What -- what about the distribution of aid? Is there some sense -- and I've been reading things to the contrary, is there some sense that if our viewers want to make a donation to this or flooding in China or things like that, that they can trust that their money will be used in a way that will really help people?
KINDER: You know, I think so. I mean, my sense is that the major players who are involved until relief efforts right now are some of the most reputable international organizations we know. It's the Save the Children, the Oxfans (ph) the U.N. agencies, the Red Cross. The same players we have seen in other disasters and that I have trusted personally with my own money.
I think a lot of -- there's some question of, you know, are we nervous about giving money to Pakistan because we don't trust their government? And my response to that is in the immediate aftermath of this disaster, you can trust, I think, as much as in any other disaster that these wonderful partners we have always worked with are very reputable.
VELSHI: And that we'll talk a little bit more about later on, because we have had a lot of people very interested. One thing about CNN viewers in particular, have shown a history of responding to natural disasters and things that get people where people need help. So, I want to talk a little more in detail about that in the next hour. You'll join me again.
Molly Kinder is the senior policy analyst with the Center for Global Development in D.C. To get more information on ways you can make a difference and help provide relief for the flood victims in Pakistan, visit our Impact Your World page at CNN.com/impact.
Okay. Busted for DUI. The next thing you know, your mug shot is on Facebook. Police are taking social media in a whole new direction. We've got it covered after the break.
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VELSHI: Let me have a look at some of the top stories we're following here on CNN, starting with politics. Two more states are holding primaries today, Washington and Wyoming. In Washington, incumbent Democratic senator Patty Murray is expected to win renomination today. Republican Dino Rossi is expected to emerge as her challenger. In Wyoming, the incumbent Democratic governor is leaving office. Five candidates are seeking the Democratic nomination to succeed him. Seven candidates are seeking the Republican nomination.
Alaskans are paying their final respects to former senator Ted Stevens today. Stevens and four other people died in a plane crash in southern Alaska last week. His body is in repose at an Anchorage church today. His funeral will be tomorrow.
All right. A story that we've been following a story for the past few days -- police -- this isn't brand-new. It's new here in the New York area; there is a police force in New Jersey doing it. But it's time now for "Crime and Consequence."
Police turning to social media, Facebook, places like that, to put out pictures, mug shots, things like that, video surveillance -- video, as they try to find people. They try and catch the bad guys.
Is this a good development? Seems neat. Great way to get information out there. Are people responding to it? Is it working? And what are the pitfalls here?
Well, we turn to our guy who knows more about tech than we do. Shelly Palmer is the host of "Digital Life with Shelly Palmer," which I was just on. I taped with you, and it's going to be on tonight. Love talking to you. You know so much about this.
Tell me about this, the provenance of this idea of using social media to catch the bad guys. We know police have been on the Internet and chat pages and things like that, posing as, you know -- to try and trap pedophiles and things like that. But this is different.
SHELLY PALMER, HOST, "DIGITAL LIFE WITH SHELLY PALMER": This is a little different, because basically Facebook has a little over 500 million profiles that are active. And it's either the third or fourth largest virtual country in the world --
VELSHI: Right.
PALMER: So if you think back 100 years, where would you put wanted posters, where would you put -
VELSHI: In the intersection.
PALMER: Or in the post office where everybody seemed to go. People are virtually congregating at Facebook right now, so it makes all the sense in the world to put pictures up on Facebook.
The question is, right, they can't ever be erased, because once they're up there, they're free for anyone to take down. So, it's not so much they're putting mug shots on Facebook, that's all cool. But what happens if maybe the deal is that the record is going to be sealed after the case?
VELSHI: Right. PALMER: That's -- it's -- nothing can be unsaid and nothing can be unpublished ,so we've got pictures out there of someone accused of something -- and remember they're not just posting wanted posters, they're posting arrest records. Here is a mug shot. We arrested this person for DWUI. Maybe they weren't DWUI. Maybe that record gets sealed. Who knows what?
So, in a world where nothing can be unsaid, I think this is a teaching moment, Ali. I think this is a time where we have to sit back and say we're now living in a meta world or virtual world that describes the real world we live in. We've got to be ready for that.
VELSHI: I'm trying -- as you're saying to this to me, I'm trying to think of how you would deal with that. I don't know how you would, because that picture is up there and someone could copy it and put it somewhere else.
PALMER: Absolutely. But remember, Tiger Woods didn't really know he was making a digital audio recording with that voicemail. Eliot Spitzer didn't know he was making an electronic transaction with no way to erase it with that funds transfer. We live in a world where technology is so beautifully woven in the fabric of the way we live that it becomes invisible to us.
But it's not invisible. We live in a new world now, and you're right. You couldn't take those pictures down. Question isn't can you or can't you. You can't.
How will we act as a society when tools empower new behaviors, and the new behavior is "I'm going to text, I'm going to sext, I'm going to chext (ph). I saw this the other night, and it knocked me the out. You have someone who's introduced to somebody, they start flirting via text messages across a table. It's called "chexting" because they're cheating on their spouses while sitting next to their spouses. C'mon, silly.
But technology empowers new behaviors. These police mug shots are just really the tip of the little iceberg about what's coming.
VELSHI: Do we -- do you think that's good, bad, or do you just don't have a position on it?
PALMER: It doesn't matter whether I think it's good or not, because it is. And we are living in a world that's part of information age, and you and I and everyone listening needs to start to think about how do we look online, how do we look offline, and do the two in any way resemble one another?
VELSHI: Do you have any sense of the effectiveness of these programs, and putting aside that danger, is it working?
PALMER: Usually effective. Usually effective. Because the number one thing that people do on Facebook is look at other people's pictures. So, if you're going to post a picture, and you want someone to know something about it, that's a great place to put it. And social media is incredibly powerful. You tweet every day about the news items and things important to you. You've got a set of followers. They have trust circles, people they trust. And this becomes a very powerful of network.
And it's huge, right? It instantly scales. So, we find ourselves in a very new place, and, of course, law enforcement is going to use it. By the way, criminals are going to use it. Right? This is not just in the power and providence of the police or us as individuals. The bad guys are thinking about it, too.
VELSHI: All right, Shelly, always great to talk to you. Thanks so much. Shelly Palmer is host of "Digital Life With Shelly Palmer" and knows all about these things. Good to see you in person.
PALMER: Great to see you.
VELSHI: It's a microscopic invention, but could prove to be huge. And a young inventor wants to use it to boost health care for millions of people. That's why it is our "Big I," and it's coming up after the break.
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VELSHI: Today's "Big I" is a cheaper, more portable microscope that could improve medical care for millions of people in developing countries. It was invented by a Rice University senior last year in just four months. The inventor, there he is, Andrew Miller, now works in the San Francisco area. Joins us live.
And joining us from Houston is professor Rebecca Richards Cordum, the founding director of Rice University's 360 Institute for Global Health Technologies. Miller's adviser on the project.
We love when this happens, we love when there are universities that somehow create an incentive for people to invent things that will make a better world. And maybe they actually do.
Let's start with you, Andrew. Tell us what this is. I don't know anything about it. Sounds like it's a better microscope.
ANDREW MILLER, BIOENGINEERING GRADUATE, RICE UNIVERSITY: Well, thank you very much, first of all, for having me on air. I actually brought it with me. This is the global focus microscope.
VELSHI: Hold it up a little higher.
MILLER: There you go. It's a small portable, durable, low-coast bright field and fluorescence microscope that takes the capability of a research- or a laboratory-grade microscope and puts it in a small enough package that can go out into the field in developing countries and be used right alongside the patient diagnose diseases such as tuberculosis or malaria. Very exciting technology.
VELSHI: You said something about fluorescent light. What does that do? Why is that an improvement? MILLER: Sure. So, regular bright field microscopy is the gold standard in developing countries for diagnostic tests. But fluorescence microscopy has recently been shown to be faster to use, more sensitive or better has finding T.B. and actually easier to use. And the difference is, bright field microscopy, you get an image that's multicolored and you have to really go through an image to find a disease or pathogen, whereas flourescence microscopy, it's a black image. When you have a positive result, you actually get bright glowing dots therefrom the tuberculosis (INAUDIBLE) or the disease in question. So, you know right away that's what you're looking at. It's faster and easier.
And it's actually a very sophisticated technology that I was able to miniaturize and do it low cost with the off-the-shelf components such as this blue L.E.D. flashlight that pops right in.
VELSHI: It's like an "as seen on TV" ad. You buy this now, you get this free microscope with it. Professor, tell me what the improvement to the world - I mean, I love the fact that it's low-cost -- tell me what we are going to do with a microscope like this.
REBECCA RICHARDS-KORTUM, BIOENGINEERING PROFESSOR, RICE UNIVERSITY: Well, what Andy's been able to do is eliminate the need for electrical power by using a battery-powered flashlight. And he's been able to dramatically reduce the cost of the microscope.
Today, clinical laboratory microscopes can run between $20,000 and $40,000. And they're really not rugged enough to be taken to developing world settings. He's managed to come up with a rugged, lightweight, portable, battery-powered microscope that reduces the cost from this $20,000 price point down to the $200 range. It's really a remarkable engineering achievement.
VELSHI: This so fits what we want to do on this "Big I" segment. I want you to tell me this, Professor. If this is deployed and if it works the way it's shown to work, what is the advance that we'll be talking about in five years?
RICHARDS-KORTUM: Well, I think the major advance is the ability to more effectively diagnose what diseases patients are suffering from. And that's really the first step in making sure they get effective treatment. With tuberculosis, for example, we have therapies that are affordable, and diagnosis is often the problem. So, Andy's microscope really provides the ability to make that diagnosis right where the patients are.
VELSHI: Thank you both for being here. Professor Rebecca Richards-Kortum, professor of bioengineering at Rice University, where this was developed by Andy Miller. He's the inventor of the Global Focus Fluorescent Microscope, and he's in San Francisco. And Andy, thanks for holding it up so nicely so that our viewers can actually get a sense of it. Congratulations to you and we hope to learn more about this microscope.
If you, our viewer, wants to learn more about the microscope and about Rice University's 360 Institute for Global Health Technologies, go to CNN.com/ali, my blog. We'll link you to all the necessary information.
This year's crop of college freshmen would flunk at writing in cursive. Can this really be true? Do they even know what cursive is? The annual Mindset List is out. Might make you feel a little bit old.
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VELSHI: Every year, Beloit College puts out something called the Mindset List is put out. It looks at the lives - the mindset basically of the nation's incoming college freshmen. We're talking about the class of 2014 right now. Most of the class of 2014 was born in 1992, a quarter of them have at least one immigrant parent. And as a result, the word alien brings to mind little green men, not immigration reform.
Most of them cannot write in cursive. I don't even understand that. Why can't they write in cursive? What have they been writing? Have all been printing? And by the way, the word Czechoslovakia never existed in their lifetime except in history books, so they wouldn't be able to write that in cursive, either.
Fergie is not the British redhead former princess. She is the singer. And Woody and Soon-Yi are the only couple they've known, not Mia.
This part is a little depressing. Nirvana is considered classic rock, something that you play on an oldies station.
You can read all about the class of 2014 and feel even older at beloit.edu/mindset.
