Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Pakistan's Growing Desperation; Real Skills for the Real World; Studies Revive Gulf Oil Fears; The Face of Disaster: Why Isn't Pakistan Getting the Same Coverage?; Opryland Sings Again; The Stakeout: President in Seattle; Wordplay: Cancer; XYZ: Quit Smoking, Help the World?

Aired August 17, 2010 - 14:00   ET

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

ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: All right. It's a new hour, a new "Rundown."

This might be too good to be true. Imagine schools that have a 90 percent graduation rate, where four out of five students go to college. Well, they're out there, hundreds of them, actually.

Plus, even though that ruptured oil well in the Gulf of Mexico has been capped, the danger might be far from over. Researchers say that most of the oil that gushes out has not been recovered and it remains a big threat.

Also, imagine getting a Twitter message from space. The people of Earth are about to get one.

It's getting worse by the day, and with no end in sight. That's the situation right now in flood-ravaged Pakistan.

We've been telling you about this disaster ever since it started three weeks ago. Now we're going to try to help you comprehend just how bad it is.

This map that I'm about to show you clearly shows the vastness of the flooding. The areas shaded in red are the most severely affected. Those in orange or yellow are more moderately affected.

Now, consider this -- one-fifth of the country is under water. Now, Pakistan, if you reshaped it, would look a lot like Texas in square miles. Pakistan is actually a little bit bigger than Texas. So, imagine one-fifth of Texas under water right now.

Unfortunately, that river that's flooding goes right from the top to the bottom of Pakistan, splitting it in two. That's what people in Pakistan are facing right now.

Take a look at the pictures. They tell only part of this heart- wrenching story. The death and destruction are overwhelming. Some 20 million people are affected. More than 1,400 have been killed.

Look at this child that I'm going to show you in this picture, just one of millions now at high risk for diseases like typhoid, dysentery, hepatitis, and cholera because of the lack of clean water. Entire families and villages are wiped out. Tens of thousands of people marooned. They're clutching to mere spots of land that is surrounded by water. They're in desperate need of food and clean water.

And then add to that millions of acres of farmland washed away. Look at it there. And along with it, livelihoods of people who were dirt poor even before this flooding started weeks ago.

And now there's cries of outrage about the government for not responding faster. The United Nations is warning that Pakistan is not getting enough money for emergency supplies to prevent this disaster from growing even larger in the aftermath.

Joining us now from the Pakistani capital of Islamabad, CNN's Kyung Lah.

Kyung, you spoke a short while ago with the prime minister. What did he say about the aid that is getting there? Is it enough, not enough?

KYUNG LAH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I can boil it down to two words. He says more aid. They need more aid into Pakistan.

There is certainly more pledging that we've heard today, more promise of money. But promising the money means we're still many steps away before that translates into a bottle of water or a bag of rice here on the ground in Pakistan.

And so that aid needs to come more quickly, and it needs to get to the people more quickly. But there are a number of challenges.

The flood zone is so vast, as you were showing us on that map. Just trying to get there, there are no roads or bridges, so you have to use boats or choppers.

The U.S. military has already sent 11 to this region. They're pledging to send a total of 19. That's going to be a significant help because thousands of people are still cut off, they're still completely surrounded by water and not able to get any food or water.

So we followed the prime minister of Pakistan as he went to one of these remote areas, an area that now has tents, the water is still scarce. He says there needs to be more aid and it needs to come here on the ground more quickly.

Here's what he said --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAH: What do you need from the international community in light of this growing humanitarian crisis?

YOUSAF RAZA GILLANI, PAKISTANI PRIME MINISTER: I appeal to the international community that this is one of the worst disasters in the world. And I appeal to the world that they should come up in a big way for our humanitarian crisis. LAH: If the international donates funds, will the funds be transparent?

GILLANI: Certainly yes. Certainly yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAH: Now, we were there with the prime minister for just a short time at that refugee camp. But even in just that short time, I did see a boy pumping some water out of a well, and there were a number of children playing in it.

When I asked the prime minister's office, "Is that water clean?" the official said, "Probably not." And that's the problem. They need to get clean water to these children.

The United Nations, Ali, is saying that some 3.5 million children are at risk of contracting some waterborne disease -- Ali.

VELSHI: OK, Kyung. We're going to have more on this conversation a little later about how people can be part of the rescue mission.

We'll have much more on whether the international community has been fast enough reacting to the flood in Pakistan. That's coming up when we go "Globe Trekking" later on in the show.

Down to South Carolina, 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 out of the Edisto River yesterday with the bodies of two little boys inside, both strapped into car seats. The children's mother initially told investigators the car went into the water after she lost control and ran off the road, but 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 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 were 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 arraigned on murder charges tomorrow.

Well, getting down to the nuts and bolts of teaching, a unique program aimed at helping kids master skills that they can use in the real world. And believe me, it is working.

"Chalk Talk" is back, and we'll do it when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Time for "Chalk Talk," where we look at new ways to improve public education in this country.

Imagine a school that has a 90 percent high school graduation rate, four out of five students go to college, 52 percent earn a bachelor's degree in four years.

Sounds too good to be true? Well, this school really exists. In fact, there are 500 of these schools in 41 states and D.C. And most of these schools are in urban areas.

I'm talking about the National Academy Foundation, a network of high school career-based academies.

Joining us to talk more about this is the president, JD Hoye.

JD, good to see you. Thank you for joining us.

JD HOYE, PRESIDENT, NATIONAL ACADEMY FOUNDATION: My pleasure.

VELSHI: JD, tell me what you do differently, what the answer is to getting that degree of graduation rate, that many people going off to college and graduating?

HOYE: Well, I think it's a combination of things, but primarily it is really answering the fundamental question most high school questions have, which is, why do I need to know this and how am I going to use it? And in order to respond to those questions, we partner with industry to make sure that the curriculum that we bring to the classroom isn't just about academic preparation, but also about application and focus on what they want to do with the rest of their life.

VELSHI: I want to talk about some of the things that they do focus on, or that you do focus on, the career-focused themes that you have -- financial, IT, engineering, hospitality and tourism. These are all areas where we know there will likely be growth in the next few years in terms of the number of people who are going to be hired.

What do you give up by teaching these career-oriented themes?

HOYE: You don't give up anything. You actually enhance what is already being offered in the basic courses offered in high school.

We align these to make sure that we're bringing to life those core academic courses that we've traditionally looked at as college- based, college-going courses, and suggest that students actually reach for higher ambition, excel more if it's in the context of what they want to use it for. So, for example, in financial services, which is our oldest academy started in the early '80s, in one school in Brooklyn, New York, focusing algebra and making it come to life and making it relevant for what they're going to use it for aspires and causes students to want to take more of those courses.

VELSHI: What kind of things -- I mean, you've got 500 of these schools. What do you do now? Are you likely to expand to more schools? Are you -- how does that work next?

HOYE: Right. We actually have over 500 academies. There may be multiple academies at a given high school. So we have close to 400 actual schools and about 219 school districts, 41 states, District of Columbia, and the Virgin Islands. And we grow at between 40 and 70 schools a year that aspire to bring some of these academies into their buildings and make learning more relevant for students.

Our focus is on college and careers. We don't see it as a choice. We see it as both, and believe that giving that career awareness and that relevance changes young people's perception in terms of why academics is so important.

VELSHI: Right. I want to remind our viewers that 52 percent of the graduates go on to earn bachelor's degrees in four years, compared to 32 percent nationally.

About half of your schools are in urban areas. We talk so much about public education, the way it's sort of disintegrated in so many urban areas.

What are you able to do that is different from those stories that we keep hearing? Why are you able to succeed in urban areas where others have not been able to?

HOYE: A couple of -- and this is built on research. This is not new to us, but it brings it together in one package.

Obviously, we know that many young people in urban high schools that are large get lost. And by forming an academy, we have a smaller learning community where young people stay together, are known by their teachers, are supported by their teachers. By bringing business advisory boards as partners to the school, we provide mentorships, expand the student's network, and actually change their horizon in terms of what they want to do and their belief in what they can do.

Many of our young people, we expect them to have internship experiences where they take their learning from high school and actually go into the workplace and begin to apply it. And they do a couple of things in that process.

Not only do they build a network of adults other than those that they may be around regularly, but teachers also develop partnerships with these industries as well. And the industry helps them frame the curriculum, the instruction to make sure that the problems that are being solved in the classroom are real today, which brings it to life. It makes it more relevant, more real for the young person.

The other piece that's really quite important in the process is the connection between the academics and actual problems or projects that students work on in the classroom. I suspect you and I both had the math problem about the two trains from New York to Chicago and when they would pass. Those are hypothetical problems. Turning those around and making them real problems, real struggles that engineering firms are having, brings it to a different level of importance in young people's minds.

VELSHI: How do you engage -- you said something that really interested me. You engage industry in these career areas that you're focusing on. In what way?

HOYE: Correct. Several ways.

First of all, the curriculum that we provide, the instructional units of instruction that we offer to schools, are actually reviewed by industry leaders to make sure that they are current today, and the primary areas of focus that the industry is focused on not 10 years ago, but currently. So they take a look at the curriculum that we present and offer to schools.

They also form advisory boards as an advisory structure for the school. And in so doing, offer job shadowing opportunities, often go into the classrooms and help teachers in terms of problem-solving on real problems from industry. They offer internships that move the students in the summer and after school into the workplace so that they can show how the learning that they're doing in school is relevant and meaningful to what's happening in the workplace.

They are champions for these students and for these schools. Many encourage the college-bound activity. Many of our industry partners have helped us form partnerships with universities to make sure that there's a connection between our schools and our academies and post-secondary institutions that are looking to recruit students who have diverse backgrounds but have excelled at their interest in a given area.

VELSHI: You've hit on a lot of points that we're all very interested in here. We'll keep watching what you do with great interest.

I'm sorry for mispronouncing your name.

JD Hoye is the president --

HOYE: That's OK.

VELSHI: -- of the National Academy Foundation, joining me from San Francisco.

What a pleasure to talk to you. Thank you very much.

HOYE: My pleasure. Thank you.

VELSHI: Please send your comments over to my Facebook page, CNN.com -- let's do it this way -- let's go to Facebook.com/Ali about this conversation we just had.

By the way, fantastic input from all of you about the issue of why you think Pakistan is not attracting the attention and the aid. Keep those conversations coming, because we're going to have more of a discussion in a little while on the aid going to Pakistan with Molly Kinder (ph), as we did last hour.

So please keep those comments coming.

The well in the Gulf of Mexico is capped, but the danger still flows. New discoveries in the Gulf of Mexico are reviving fears.

We'll have an exclusive interview.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Two new reports are casting doubt on government claims that most of the oil from the BP spill has dispersed. Researchers from the University of Georgia and Georgia Sea Grant say 70 percent to 79 percent of the oil has not been recovered and remains a threat to the ecosystem. The other report is from the University of South Florida.

Ed Lavandera has that story. He joins us from St. Petersburg -- Ed.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ali, this is a rather interesting mission that scientists from the University of South Florida have just returned from. They spent 10 days on the water, and they say for the first time, they found toxic levels in the water that was doing damage to some of the very basis of the food chain in the Gulf of Mexico.

I'm sorry, Ali. I thought we were going to have the story there.

But the scientists just returned late last night from that mission, 10 days, as I mentioned. And they went through an area that was north-northeast of where the Deepwater Horizon spill site is.

And one of the things that they found, three things in particular that they say stood out to them. One being that they found oil micro droplets all along the bottom of the ocean in the Gulf of Mexico. They say this is significant. When they put UV light up against it, it just sprang up. So that was one of the things.

And I'm told now that we have the piece. And as you watch it, you'll see what that oil looks like when it kind of comes to life on the floor of the ocean.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LAVANDERA: This is the Weather Bird II, a research vessel that has been used by the University of South Florida for the last 10 days investigating the oil spill. Some 13 scientists have been on board and they're just now coming home to St. Petersburg.

So what's in these containers right here?

DAVE HOLLANDER, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA CHEMICAL OCEANOGRAPHER: Water in here has been -- was collected from 50 meters.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): David Hollander was one of the lead researchers on the mission.

(on camera): Did you feel like you were kind of on the verge of really getting a better understanding of what's going on underneath the water?

PROF. JOHN PAUL, UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH FLORIDA MARINE MICROBIOLOGIST: I think we're adding to the puzzle. We're adding to the pieces of the puzzle.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): Hollander and another expert on the journey, John Paul, sat down with CNN for an exclusive review of their findings. The USF scientists say they found toxic levels of oil and dispersants infecting marine organisms just 40 miles south of Panama City, Florida. The organisms and other microscopic bacteria in the ocean are the foundation of the food chain.

PAUL: What feeds and fuels the ecology of the ocean, and if those guys are in trouble, then the ocean is in trouble.

LAVANDERA: So far, federal government scientists have downplayed the impact of microscopic oil making its way up the food chain. This is what the head of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said earlier this month.

DR. JANE LUBCHENCO, NOAA ADMINISTRATOR: Fish will degrade that oil and process it naturally. And so it doesn't bio-accumulate. So it's not a situation where we need to be concerned about that. Over time it will be broken down.

LAVANDERA: USF scientists tell CNN that's a short-sighted view of the danger. NOAA officials haven't responded to these latest scientific findings.

The ten-day mission in the Gulf of Mexico was a rocky voyage. Scientists were battered with 12-foot seas and strong storms, taking them within 25 miles of the deepwater horizon spill site. All along the way they found microscopic droplets of oil all along the ocean floor.

HOLLANDER: Here is a sedimentary record from an area 1,500 meters water depth adjacent to the Deepwater Horizon.

LAVANDERA: Using UV light on the sediment, the microscopic oil stands out easily.

HOLLANDER: You can see it all spread out all over. There is no reflections. This is all speckled, and when you turn off the light completely it looks like the southern sky.

LAVANDERA (on camera): It looks like a constellation of stars.

HOLLANDER: Looks like a constellation of stars. LAVANDERA (voice-over): But most troubling to David Hollander is evidence that the submerged oil is making its way through a region of the Gulf of Mexico known as the Desoto Canyon. The canyon stretches just east from the Deepwater Horizon spill site to an area south of Panama City.

(on camera): So the concern is not only that you found the droplets of oil widespread but where you found it.

HOLLANDER: Yes, it's coming now into niece areas that are critical marine protected areas, critical habitats for commercial and recreational fish.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAVANDERA: BP officials haven't commented on the specifics of these latest findings with these scientists, but they do tell us that they want to know everything, that everyone wants to know about the conditions of the Gulf waters. They also say they've committed some $500 million to ongoing research to find out the long-term impacts of this study.

Right now those scientists are back here on the University of South Florida campus, kind of going over more testing and more analysis of that data. They will continue to do that for the weeks to come -- Ali.

VELSHI: Well, that's a relief, to know that that kind of research is going to continue now that the oil has stopped flowing and the urgency has gone to that story. We do have to know what the long- term effects of such a major oil spill are, so thanks for that story, Ed. Good to see you.

LAVANDERA: You got it. Thank you.

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: So I've talked about this story before. I want to go "Off the Radar" with Chad.

NASA has made this robot that's going up into space, and then it's going to tweet back to us. But that's not the only Twitter stuff up NASA's sleeve.

Chad's all about Twitter right now in "Off the Radar."

Hey, Chad.

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, it's called a tweet-up, which means that some of you, 150 of you that decide to get on to NASA's Web site, be a fan of NASA, can actually go to watch the next space shuttle with a private showing from NASA. How about that? Now, they won't pay for your travel, but they'll get you into the site.

Now, this is Robonaut -- AstroRobonaut 2. He is the new robot. He will be tweeting from outer space. The good news is --

VELSHI: What do you mean he's going to be tweeting? Does he think? What's he going to tweet?

MYERS: He's 300 pounds, which makes me feel good about my weight.

VELSHI: Yes, I was going to say --

MYERS: Because NASA couldn't make a light robot, right?

VELSHI: He makes you look very slim, Chad.

MYERS: Thanks, man. I need that.

He will be thinking, he will be telling people back down on Earth that the NASA Web site, the tweet, the NASA Web site, what they're doing, what he's feeling, how hot it is, how cold it is, all kinds of things.

VELSHI: OK. That makes sense.

MYERS: AstroRobonaut 2. There he is. He's made by GM and NASA. They put all this together.

VELSHI: Have you ever been to a tweet-up, by the way?

MYERS: Am I going to tweet-up?

VELSHI: Have you ever been to a tweet-up?

MYERS: No. Have you?

VELSHI: I have, yes. Somebody posts something that's going on, and then you show up. So that's kind of what NASA is doing. Right?

MYERS: Now, if H&H Bagels were having a tweet-up --

VELSHI: I'd be there.

MYERS: -- then maybe I'd come to New York to go get some bagels. Then maybe.

VELSHI: Exactly right.

MYERS: Exactly.

But go to www.nasa.gov/tweetup, and you could be -- and you have to sign up to be a fan -- and you could actually be one of 150 people that if you sign up -- you have to sign up from a certain date to a certain date -- you could be down on Kennedy Space Center for the next shuttle which will be -- I think it's Discovery going up. And it is going to be private for these 150 people, and it's going to be a big NASA event for Twitter followers.

I could never understand if I'm supposed to tweet or twit or whatever I'm supposed to do, but it's tweeting.

VELSHI: Yes. It's going to De discovery. And I think that will be fun. I would like that.

MYERS: I will go but you if you bring bagels.

VELSHI: I will bring bagels and we'll go up in space together.

(LAUGHTER)

VELSHI: Chad, great to see you, as always. Thank you.

MYERS: Take care, my friend.

VELSHI: That's "Off the Radar" with Chad.

Millions of people in Pakistan are fighting for basic needs as they face a flooding disaster. But enough aid just isn't coming.

Why? Why isn't enough aid coming? Why is this not on the top of everyone's agenda?

We'll show you why after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: You have given such a fantastic response on my Facebook page, Facebook.com/alivelshiCNN, to the question that I posed to you. And that is that we talk about Pakistan every day, what is your interest level in knowing what's going on in Pakistan and why is this aid not coming to Pakistan in light of this recent flooding that we show you pictures of every single day?

Let me give you the numbers -- 15.4 million people are affected by the flooding which is basically from the north of the country to the south of the country, almost 3,000 miles; 1,400 people dead; more than 2,000 injured.

Lots of people getting sick or likely to get sick because of the inability to access clean water. Here's what they need. Obviously they need clean water, shelter because entire villages and towns have been wiped out, other places are surrounded by water. They need food and they medicine. According to the United Nations, they need $460 million worth of it. They've received $148 million worth of aid.

I've had a lot of responses on Facebook and I want them to continue, but I pulled one out in particular. It's from Sid on Facebook, and he said, "Ali, I have a problem caring about Pakistan because the people there hate Americans. I see them as part of the problem where terrorism is concerned. I definitely don't want American or U.N. soldiers giving aid to the Swat Valley."

That's just one. I have many saying, keep going with the coverage that you've got. You know, a lot of people wondering whether or not the aid will get there effectively. It's a great discussion going on there, so if you want to have that discussion and state your points, go to Facebook and do that.

I want to bring in Molly Kinder, she's a senior policy analyst at the Center for Development , live from the D.C. bureau, because we are curious, given how much we cover Pakistan, why it doesn't have the face of other disasters that we've seen, namely Haiti and the earthquake.

And one of the things you said to me earlier, Molly, is that earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, things like that have a sudden, news feeling to it, this was more gradual. Maybe that's got something to do with it?

MOLLY KINDER, SENIOR POLICY ANALYZER, CENTER FOR GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT: Yes, I think so. I think when we think about some of these really catastrophic disasters that were in imminent moments like the tsunami and the earthquake, I think American can picture that, we can understand that, we can wrap our minds around that.

And I really think that the pace of this flooding, the scale of it, you know, it's a map of the world that we don't quite even have a good sense of. So I think it's -- we're slowly waking up to just how enormous this disaster is.

VELSHI: The international bodies, the aid agencies, the governments, they're not to be sort of subject to these whims of how this is portrayed on the media or what someone way may feel. How have they responded to this catastrophe?

KINDER: You know, that's a great question.

When we look at the individual donor countries, the United States has the largest commitment. We're -- the most recent numbers from USAD put the United States at about $90 million, and the United Kingdom is behind that.

But really, there's a lot -- there's very small numbers coming from a lot of the other countries around the world. The World Bank, for its part, has just announced $900 million in shuffling a bit of their current lending in new money. So that's a pretty major commitment.

But really even the United States and the U.K., which are giving the most and are doing really good work, even we have the capacity to do a whole lot more than what we're seeing. So I really think we need to see at least double the numbers we're seeing right now.

VELSHI: One of the things that we're -- a lot of this flooding is in areas that are -- were hard to get to if there wasn't flooding, but really this is affecting a big swath of Pakistan from the top to the bottom.

If people were to donate money, are we fairly certain it can get to the places that need the help? And I ask you this because -- were you in Pakistan after the earthquake the last time -- ?

KINDER: I was. VELSHI: You have some sense of it.

KINDER: Right. You know, and there was also huge challenges in 2005. We're talking in 2005 earthquake of a really mountainous train in the Himalayas that was quite difficult to reach as well.

And I think you raise a really good point which is because of the destruction we've seen with roads washed out and bridges down, it is difficult for aid workers to reach some of these remote areas. And I've seen stories of donkeys being used and sort of creative ways to reach these places. But I think it just underscores the need for more giving, I mean more helicopters, more boats.

What we've seen, for example, from the United States is really impressive. They've done a really good job.

But there should be more of it. So I think we really would love to see more commitments from individuals, but certainly from countries like the United States as well.

VELSHI: How would you ascribe this issue that I read, the Facebook thing that I read about some people associating Pakistan as maybe not being -- in the last several -- in the last couple of couple of months, we've discussed, is Pakistan an ally? Is it working against the U.S. in Afghanistan? The truth might be a bit of both.

The idea that we've been talking about Pakistan in reference to other things, so people hear Pakistan and Afghanistan and Iraq every day on the news. How much of it is fatigue with the name and the topic and how much of it this concern that I can't help somebody who I think might be working against me?

KINDER: You know, I think that's a good point.

My first response is that we're talking about human beings and we're talking about close to 20 million of them. So even if Pakistan has some, you know, associations with a small percent of the population having links with extremist groups, we're really talking about human beings on a large scale.

Separate from that, I actually think this is a really good point. I actually think one of the reasons why we should be doing more is because of the security concerns associated with Pakistan.

I mean, the quote that you discussed from Facebook was referring to the Swat Valley. One year ago, we had a Pakistan Taliban insurgency 70 miles from Islamabad. That does not serve U.S. interest. An unstable Pakistan with growing insurgency in a country with nuclear weapons, this is bad news for the United States.

So I actually think the fact that Pakistan is so important to our security at home is just one more reason on top of the humanitarian scale that the United States and U.K. and the international community should be doing even more than it's doing.

VELSHI: Yes, and I think it's important for us to remember -- us, just regular people -- that these are fellow humans. Not everybody can be ascribed to a political move or a party.

Thanks so much, Molly. Good to talk to you.

Molly Kinder is senior policy analyst at the Center for Global Development in D.C.

To get more information -- for those of you who do want to help, if you want to get more information on ways to make a difference and help provide relief for the flood victims in Pakistan, visit our "Impact Your World" page at CNN.com/impact.

For those of you who don't, that's OK. You're welcome to continue the discussion that's is going on on my Facebook page, Facebook.com/alivelshicnn. Tell me why you don't want to or why you don't think Pakistan is getting the attention it might get.

A Tennessee tourist landmark proves that anything is possible. That's today's "Mission Possible" coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Let me bring you up to speed on some of the stories that we're following here on CNN.

A suicide bomb attack has killed at least 48 people in Baghdad, at least 129 others were injured. The blast took place in central Baghdad outside an army recruiting center. The U.S. is scheduled to end all combat operations in Iraq in just two weeks.

A new CNN Opinion Research Corporation poll show that two-thirds of Americans agree to pull most U.S. combat troops out of Iraq. CNN polling also shows that 62 percent of Americans oppose U.S. military involvement in the war in Afghanistan.

Two states are holding political 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.

Today's "Mission Possible," remarkable comeback after a devastating natural disaster. It's been three months, you'll recall, since Tennessee's Cumberland River flooded and turned much of downtown Nashville into a muddy lake.

Well, 28 people died in the flash flooding that caught the city completely off guard. One of the hardest hit spots was one of the city's -- well, it's historic spot, the Gaylord Opryland Resort. The luxury resort hotel was under 10 feet of water.

But the resort is making a full comeback. Starting this week, the Gaylord is hiring back the 1,700 employees laid off soon after the floods hit in early May. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETER WEIEN, GENERAL MANAGER, GAYLORD OPRYLAND RESORT: We really started planning this rehire event right after that because we knew that day would be coming very soon.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Never doubted that they wouldn't be back bigger and better than ever.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: All this week, employees are coming in to fill out paperwork, get new IDs and get fitted for new uniforms. Not only are they hiring back all 1,700 workers who lost their jobs, they're hiring an additional 300 employees to boot. The goal is to get up to speed in time for the Annual Country Christmas starting in November.

The mission, nearly accomplished and it's proof -- well, that's proof to me that anything is possible.

There he is, the president is on a West Coast swing and our Ed Henry standing by in Seattle with "The Stakeout." I'll talk to him when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Time now for "The Stakeout." Running a few minutes late, but never too late for Ed Henry who has made his way to the West Coast with the president who was in Los Angeles, he's now landed in Seattle.

Ed, good to see you. This is part of the president's continued push on the economy, is it?

ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it is. And bottom line is last night he had a big fundraiser at the home of the Hollywood man, John Wells of "ER" and "West Wing" fame. The president was pretty aggressive in saying, the next few months I'm going to be focused on pushing back on the republican attacks.

And he basically said he's going to be going to bat -- this was a fundraiser for House democrats last night, he's doing some for Patty Murray today here in Seattle. But he says he's going to help democrats who cast some tough votes on behalf of his agenda.

But interesting to me that while all that is playing out in Washington, that basically Republicans saying he's moving too far to the left, you'll probably hear this commotion behind me. There's a whole bunch of protesters from the left protesting the president on immigration mostly but also on jobs. One sign over there saying "Obama, Warmonger 2.0" upset about escalation of the war in Afghanistan.

So it gives you an idea of the swirl around the modern presidency that on one hand he's been facing these allegations he's way too far to the left and needs to move to the middle. He's got a vocal number of people out here in Seattle basically saying he's too far to the right, too far to the middle and that they're not happy, he's not moving quick enough on issues like immigration reform, Ali.

VELSHI: Have they met with any success in getting the whole mosque issue off the table for them?

HENRY: Well, I mean, I think in the short term, since the president hasn't weighed in again since the weekend, they feel probably like mission accomplished there. They don't want to pour more gasoline on this fire.

There's been this flurry of reports out of New York City that maybe the Muslim leaders there involved in the potential construction of this mosque and community center will end up pulling out, that they see that this is not going to be workable.

But as you know, CNN has now spoken to Governor Paterson's office. And they're saying the governor is trying to broker a deal here. He's trying to meet with these Muslim leaders, but it appears that there's really not a full meeting set and no sense yet whether those Muslim leaders really will pull out.

So as long as this stays out there, it's still a bit of a distraction for the president. But he wants to stay focused on jobs, he talked a lot about that last night. And in fact, in the next few moments, we're expected to hear from him at a bakery here in Seattle where he's going to talk specifically about small businesses and trying to help them.

So he's trying to do his part to stay on message. Last thing they want to do is talk any more about the mosque, especially when you've got people like Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid yesterday breaking with the president yesterday and saying he's against this mosque being built there near Ground Zero, Ali.

VELSHI: You're a guy who understands this pretty well. You've worked in Congress for a while, then you've done the White House beat. When Harry Reid comes out against the president -- and it was pretty clear -- has that got to do with Harry Reid thinks or has got to do with the fact that he's being challenged by Sharron Angle, a conservative with Tea Party backing? Cause what I guess we're trying to figure out is what should happen with the mosque and what do people really think and what does the Constitution say versus how much of this is politics?

HENRY: Right, you put your finger on it. It's probably a combination of both. If you asked Harry Reid, he would tell you and he has spoken in the last 24 hours in saying this is what he believes. But the fact of the matter is, he's in deep trouble in Nevada and Sharron Angle is giving him a stiff challenge. He's been down for a long time in terms of his disapproval ratings in his home state.

We all know that Tom Daschle, a sitting Senate democratic leader, went down in 2004 back home in South Dakota where people felt like he had drifted away from what they wanted and had gotten too enmeshed in Washington. Harry Reid facing the same allegations, now he's pushing back on it, of course, but the political race back there has to play a major role here.

Interesting the reaction from the White House today, White House spokesman Bill Burton basically telling reporters that they're fine with this. But it shows how independent Harry Reid is, that he's going to go his own way sometimes.

Fact of the matter is Harry Reid's gone his own way a very few times with this president. That's one of the allegations he's faced from Sharron Angle and the republicans. In fact, he has been marching in lock step with the president on many things, has made no bones about that, whether it's health care reform, Wall Street reform, various thing that Republicans have tried to block, Ali.

VELSHI: Ed, are you going on a real vacation any time soon?

HENRY: Yes, in fact, I hope you like that I wore a tie. You seemed kind of cranky yesterday that I wasn't wearing a tie even though I've seen you out on the election express out on the road not wearing a tie. You seemed kind of cranky, so I wore one for you. But I am going on vacation, so I think I'm going to take it easy, if you don't mind.

(CROSSTALK)

VELSHI: Am I going to have to do the same thing again?

(CROSSTALK)

HENRY: You might as well. I still have to file something for Wolf, but this is pretty much it.

VELSHI: You're looking all Seattle now. You can do it, I can do it.

HENRY: Yes, this is more Seattle.

VELSHI: Two can play at this game.

HENRY: But I'll be back next week, I'll be back in the latter part of next week. I'll have a little surprise for everybody late next week. I don't want to reveal it just yet, but you and I are going to have a little announcement.

VELSHI: All right, I'm waiting to see what that is, but I'm sure it's going to be fun.

HENRY: You know about it.

VELSHI: Ed, good to see you. Have yourself a good vacation.

I don't really.

When are you going on vacation? Are you here for the rest of the week?

HENRY: No, I'm here for the rest of the day, but pretty much after today.

VELSHI: Who starts their vacation on a Tuesday?

HENRY: I know. Well, I was trying to get some work in here. It was an important trip. Take a few days off. We'll be back next week.

VELSHI: All right, we appreciate it. I'll hold the fort down till you get back. Ed, good to see you.

Ed Henry, "The Stakeout" with the president in Seattle.

OK, I talked about this earlier, it costs us nearly $1 trillion a year globally, and this disease is the focus of today's "Wordplay" coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Last hour I was telling you about a new study on the staggering global economic costs of cancer. We thought we'd focus on the disease in today's "Wordplay."

Everyone has heard of cancer, not everyone can define it though. Put very simply, cancer is a disease involving an invasive growth or tumor. Invasive because of abnormal, uncontrolled cell division.

It's kicked into gear by abnormalities in the cell's genes. What causes those? Both external and internal factors, everything from tobacco smoke and radiation to inherited DNA.

If unchecked, cancer cells can spread to other parts of the body via our blood and lymph systems, and that's where the radiation and chemotherapy come in.

I have more to say about this disease and it might not be the easiest thing to hear, but a lot of us need to hear it. My "XYZ" is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Time now for the "XYZ" of it.

Earlier I talked about a new study the American Cancer Society just released that says cancer is costing the world nearly $1 trillion a year, making it the costliest of all causes of death.

That trillion-dollar price is the economic cost, it doesn't include the health care costs that we shell out day in and day out to treat and kill this killer. We are talking strictly about the economic strain that cancer puts on the world because it takes people out of the workforce prematurely or disables them.

So imagine with me for a moment that we found a cure for cancer tomorrow, not only would all the lives be saves and all the grief be preserved but all the money could be put back into the global economy. People would earn it and they would spend it. We're talking about close to a trillion dollars here. We're talking about money that could feed hungry countries, resources that could help house the homeless, better educate our kids or just give us a better life.

Got a newsflash for you, I have a cure for at least one form of cancer. A cure that can deeply cut into this killer disease that's now become an economic disease. Are you ready for this? Good sense.

Here's what I mean, the single costliest type of cancer are respiratory cancers -- lung, bronchial and tracheal cancers. The study said that those are the most costly, accounting for $180 billion of that total tally.

Well, the main causes for these types of cancers are smoking and the use of chewing tobacco. So think about it, I'm not here to force a stop smoking campaign down your throat. It does fascinate me how many people still do it, though.

I'm just trying to give you something to chew on. Maybe if saving your own life isn't good enough, maybe the idea of saving the world from economic strain will do the trick.

That's my "XYZ" now. Time now for "RICK'S LIST."