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Killing for Sport; Southwest to Buy AirTran; 'A Soldier's Story'; Lazio Drops Out; Dubai's Zero-Carbon City; Rating Healthy Foods
Aired September 27, 2010 - 11:57 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Drew Griffin in for Tony Harris. Top of the hour now in CNN NEWSROOM where anything can happen. Here are some of the people behind today's top stories.
Residents in Wisconsin being told to leave their homes after a levee fails. We're going to have the latest on the conditions there developing.
Another airline merger in the works. What will it mean for you the next time you want to book a flight? We're talking about AirTran and Southwest.
And you're online now right now and we are, too. Josh following what's hot -- Josh?
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Drew, the owner of Segway died in an apparent accident in a Segway vehicle. We have all the details for you right here on CNN.com.
GRIFFIN: All right. Let's get started though with our lead story. It is a disturbing story. It involves U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Charges alleging a rogue group of hashish smoking U.S. soldiers killed Afghan civilians for sport, posed with their dead bodies, even collected human bones as souvenirs.
Most disturbing of all, the facts laid out by the soldiers themselves. CNN has obtained the interrogation tapes of four of the soldiers involved. The U.S. Military has charged five soldiers with premeditated murder. Seven more face charges of cover-up in the killings and illegal drug use. All of them members of the 5th combat Stryker Brigade based at Ft. Louis, Washington. Today, one of the accused scheduled to face his Article 32 pre-court-martial hearing. His name, Corporal Jeremy Morlock.
And on the tape you're about to see and hear, Jeremy Morlock details how on patrol earlier this year and under command of Staff Sergeant Calvin Gibbs, also accused, he and others took an Afghan man from his home, stood him up and killed him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEREMY MORLOCK, CHARGED WITH MURDER OF THREE AFGHAN CIVILIANS: We had this guy by his compound. So Gibbs walked him out and set him in place, OK, stand here. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So he was fully cooperating?
MORLOCK: I mean, yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Was he armed?
MORLOCK: No. Not that we were aware of.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So you pulled him out of his place?
MORLOCK: I don't think he was inside. He was just kind of by his little area. He said (EXPLETIVE DELETED) --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, that's -- OK. I understand.
MORLOCK: And then --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where'd you stand him? Next to a wall?
MORLOCK: Yes, it was kind of next to a wall. It was where Gibbs could get behind cover after the grenade went off. And then he kind of placed me and Winfield off over here where we had a clean line of sight for this guy.
And, you know, he pulled out one of his grenades, American grenade. You know, popped it, throws the grenade, and then tells me and Winfield, "All right, dude," you know, "wax this guy." "Kill this guy, kill this guy."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And did you see him present any weapons, or was he aggressive with you at all? Did he --
MORLOCK: No, not at all. Nothing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: OK.
MORLOCK: He wasn't a threat.
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Michael Waddington is Corporal Jeremy Morlock's civilian attorney.
(on camera): I want you to tell me that this didn't happen, that this isn't true. Can you?
MICHAEL WADDINGTON, SOLDIER'S ATTORNEY: That three people were not killed?
GRIFFIN: That members of the U.S. military didn't go out and three Afghan civilians were killed for sport.
WADDINGTON: You have the -- from what I understand, the case file. You know what the witnesses in that file say, and what they say in their videos, but I -- that's what it sounds like.
(END VIDEOTAPE) GRIFFIN: What the Army says happened, according to the filing papers, three civilians were killed between January and May of this year. Morlock's attorney says his defense will lay out a scenario where his 22-year-old client was brain damaged from prior IED attacks, was heavily using prescription drugs, and smoking hash, and was under the influence and even feared his commanding staff sergeant, Staff Sergeant Gibbs. Gibbs' attorney has not returned calls to CNN.
Other soldiers involved and charged also pointed their fear of Calvin Gibbs and admit something else -- smoking hash laced with opium almost on a daily basis. For example, this interrogation tape you're about to see, Corporal Emmitt Quintal, charged with trying to interfere with a military investigation and drug abuse.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How long did the drug use continue?
CORP. EMMITT QUINTAL: The smoking hashish?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hashish, yes.
QUINTAL: Probably up until about a week and a half ago.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All the way from the beginning of the deployment until now?
QUINTAL: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Prominently? Was it around consistently, or what?
QUINTAL: Bad days, stressful days, days that we just needed an escape.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRIFFIN: The Pentagon will not comment on this case beyond the charges filed against these soldiers, but CNN has also learned the soldiers took photographs described to us as looking like hunting trophies with their kills. And the Pentagon has ordered any attorney involved in this case to return those photographs to military investigators.
As we told you, Corporal Jeremy Morlock will be the first to answer these charges in a court setting. His Article 32 hearing just about to get under way in Fort Lewis, Washington. CNN Special Investigations Unit producer Courtney Yager is monitoring this case and joins us from Fort Lewis.
Courtney, what is happening?
COURTNEY YAGER, CNN SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS UNIT PRODUCER: Hi, Drew.
Today's hearing is going it look at evidence related to the charges against Corporal Jeremy Morlock. He's accused in the deaths of three Afghan civilians.
The hearing is known as an Article 32 hearing, which is similar to a grand jury investigation. An investigating officer is going to look at the evidence and recommend whether this case should go to court-martial. This hearing is scheduled to last just one day.
GRIFFIN: All right. Courtney Yager with us from Fort Lewis, Washington.
Thanks, Courtney.
Jeremy Morlock's attorney says there is a much bigger story to tell here, a story he says of how higher-ups in Afghanistan had no idea this group of soldiers in the 5th Stryker Combat Brigade was smoking hash almost daily, and even bragging about the killings they were conducting on patrol, without any superior officers knowing about this. We will continue to follow this story both today and throughout the coming weeks.
Well, a levee failure along the Wisconsin River. An entire neighborhood in the town of Portage cut off by floodwaters. Many more homes downstream could be in danger if that levee gives way. It started crumbling late yesterday, and officials urged everyone living nearby to get out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOW PASTERSKI, HOMEOWNER: Right now it's up to be floorboards in there. And water is knee deep right now, and it's getting higher.
PAT DIXON, HOMEOWNER: We'll talk it over, my wife and I. Even though where we're standing here is plenty high, we wouldn't be able to get in and out for days on end, and we'd have to float in and out, and I'm not ready to get my boats out yet.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
GRIFFIN: Of course, all this depends on the weather. Chad Myers checking that.
(WEATHER REPORT)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRIFFIN: For real? A 19-second plane ride, it makes our record books and our "Random Moment of the Day."
The pilot provides the power by pedaling in the cockpit. Yes, but here's the novel part -- this airline flaps its wings, something Leonard da Vinci could only dream about, and draw about, of course.
A Ph.D. student at the University of Toronto built the contraption and did get it up in the air. And that was a random 19- second moment for this Monday.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) GRIFFIN: Southwest Airlines buying AirTran Airways. The deal valued at $3.4 billion. The CEO of Southwest says the merger is going to allow his airline to expand in major hubs that he's been kept out of, really: Atlanta, Washington, Boston and Mew York.
The deal has already been approved by the board of directors of each company. Now it awaits the approval of the regulators and, of course, AirTran's stockholders.
Both of the airlines are low-cost carriers serving domestic markets. So how is this going to affect us?
Tom Parsons, CEO of BestFares.com, joins me from Fort Worth, Texas.
You know, I want to ask you just a beginning question, Tom, because I thought a lot of these towns had successfully tried to keep Southwest out of their airports. Do they face any battles in getting these municipalities to open up, or is it a done deal?
TOM PARSONS, CEO, BESTFARES.COM: Oh, no. If there's anything, there's always been a waiting list to get Southwest in their cities. It just brings low fares to everybody.
As a matter of fact, when I first heard about the acquisition, the only three letter I could think of was "wow," and it probably couldn't have happened at a better time for America for one of the best low-cost airlines in the world to expand and add almost 50 percent more cities to their network. When we look back over the last 10 years, you've seen US Airways and America West, you've seen American take up TWA, you've seen Delta and Northwest, and now Continental and United.
Now this gives Southwest the opportunity to go to over 100 U.S. cities. It also the opportunity to expand to Mexico and the Caribbean and give us lower fares there. And I think America is going to be very happy that now they can fly coast to coast, from between 100 U.S. cities, and make the legacy airlines be more competitive with the style of Southwest and their low fees.
GRIFFIN: You've already got your vacation shirt on, ready to go. So this looks like it could be good news for consumers.
How will the big carriers, though, see this? Because a lot of times they've been able to compete with these low-costers because they don't have as many connections and cities. Right?
PARSONS: Well, Southwest -- actually, some people look at Southwest as a small airline. Until Delta and Northwest did their merger, Southwest was the biggest U.S. airline. They carried more U.S. passengers than any of the legacy airlines, and with this acquisition now they'll still be the king and queen of traveling more U.S. passengers than the new Continental and United or the Delta- Northwest. They are a force to be reckoned with, and if there's anything I think the legacy airlines did on the way to work this morning, is they emptied it their suitcase and filled them up with Excedrin, because they're going to have a major headache dealing with this new Southwest-AirTran acquisition.
GRIFFIN: Do you anticipate problems from federal regulators or anybody who's going to challenge this saying that we're reducing the competition in the market?
PARSONS: Well, you know, when you look at Southwest today, they probably compete more on routes served by the legacy airlines than they do with AirTran. I think AirTran is probably one of the smaller airlines that they don't overlap.
There is some problems like maybe in Baltimore, or Southwest doesn't go to Atlanta. They do go to Florida. But overall, I think Southwest is super strong from the Midwest to the western part of the United States, and they've just started going in large airports like New York and Boston.
But they couldn't get the gate space. With this acquisition, now they'll go to another controlled airport, Washington National. They'll also be able to go to New York LaGuardia. They're also expanding into Newark and Boston.
This is going to be -- I really don't see where the government's going to have too many problems with this airline acquisition, especially after merging Northwest and Delta and the Continental- United. This is probably a no-brainer for them.
GRIFFIN: All right. Tom Parsons, CEO of BestFares.com.
Thanks, Tom. Love the shirt, by the way.
Now let's go to Wall Street to see how investors are reacting to this deal. Alison Kosik at the New York Stock Exchange.
Alison, what are the traders say about this deal between Southwest and AirTran?
ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: You know, Drew, traders love this. Investors love this deal. And remember, call it coincidence -- Southwest's ticker symbol here at the NYSE is LUV.
AirTran shares right now are surging 60 percent, because for shareholders, this is a money-making opportunity for them. They're going to get a 69 percent premium over Friday's closing price. Not a bad deal.
Southwest shares, they're up 10 percent. That's because the company says this deal is going to be adding to its earnings, because what it's going to be doing is, it's going to be expanding its service from 69 cities to 100.
It's going to gain access to some smaller cities as well -- the Caribbean and Mexico. So it's going to be flying in many more places than it is now.
It's also going to be saving $400 billion a year by 2013. You know, bottom line with this deal, Southwest could really become an even bigger challenger to the mainline carriers because Southwest is considered a discount carrier. It already carries -- as Southwest says, it already carries more U.S. travelers than any other airline, Drew.
Now, overall for the market, Wall Street seems to be taking a bit of a pause, a little bit of a break after a big run-up this month. September, though, could be the Dow's best month in a year, and we're on track to have the best September since 1939. Remember, Drew, September's usually, traditionally a really tough month here on Wall Street.
Right now we're watching the Dow Jones Industrials fall 22 points. The Nasdaq is off about 7 -- Drew.
GRIFFIN: Alison Kosik.
Thanks for that update from the Stock Exchange, Alison.
KOSIK: Sure.
GRIFFIN: Returning to war now. In "A Soldier's Story," we're going to follow Sergeant Randy Shorter as he makes his way back to Afghanistan for the third time.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRIFFIN: You know, for the past year our Jason Carroll has followed a number of soldiers on their journey from civilian to military life, from enlistment to boot camp to battlefield. But recently, Sergeant Randy Shorter returned to Afghanistan for a third tour of duty.
Jason was with him every step of the way. Take a look.
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Drew, I think that there are a lot of civilians out there that might assume when a soldier is deployed their unit goes straight from the United States to the assignment overseas. But now that the troop surge is under way, it can really be a drawn-out process, one that begins with "Goodbye."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SGT. RANDY SHORTER, U.S. ARMY: Hey, sweetie.
CARROLL (voice-over): It's Sergeant First Class Randy Shorter's last night at home.
SHORTER: All right. Hey, this is the last time in the states.
CARROLL: But his daughters Maylanie and Arianna (ph) aren't ready to say goodbye before dad leaves on his third deployment to Afghanistan.
SHORTER: I know it's really difficult for you.
MAYLANIE SHORTER, DAUGHTER: I just don't want you to go. SHERYLL SHORTER, WIFE: Say, "Cheese."
CARROLL: The next morning --
S. SHORTER: You can't explain the emotions, you know. You can't convey the feelings we're going through. It's hard to explain it. You can't put it in words.
R. SHORTER: Whether it's one week, one day, it doesn't matter. Saying goodbye is hard.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What you go through here, you're going to pick up your stuff.
CARROLL (on camera): What's happening right now is the first aids are checked it. All the soldiers that you see here have an SRP packet in their hands, a soldier's readiness package. Medical, dental records, paperwork to make sure their will is in order.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you're scared, and you should be, so trust your training. Trust yourselves. Trust your buddy next to you.
CARROLL: So basically right now, everyone is boarding the flight. It's a chartered plane that's usually what the military does in these situations. Does it feel more real now when you're boarding or when you finally get there?
R. SHORTER: Now.
CARROLL: Now.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hello, welcome aboard.
CARROLL (voice-over): The flight takes us from Fort Campbell, Kentucky, to Shannon, Ireland for refueling.
R. SHORTER: Long, drawn out.
CARROLL: Hours later, more refueling. Next stop, Manas Transit Center, Kyrgyzstan.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good morning. Welcome to Manas.
R. SHORTER: Getting settled in, finding out where we're going to sleep.
CARROLL (on camera): From the sort of psychological point of view, where do you think you and the rest of the men are at this point?
R. SHORTER: Right now, we're kind of still got the feel of home. But in a few hours these guys, you know, they'll actually put their game faces on. Once they get that uniform on, then the reality kind of sinks in. Now it's time to do business.
CARROLL (voice-over): On day four, since leaving the states, we board a C-17 military aircraft to Bagram airfield, Afghanistan.
(on camera): Everyone's packed in pretty tight. Everyone's tired, but we're finally on our way.
(voice-over): Heavy fighting in the region stops the fifth leg of the trip. Our flight to Sharana in Eastern Afghanistan aborted midair.
R. SHORTER: We're never leaving this place.
CARROLL: The last wave of the troop surge to Afghanistan creates a bottleneck on flights.
(on camera): Waiting like this for someone like you on your first deployment. Does that help with your nerves? Does it make you more --
SPC. ADAM BOYETTE, U.S. ARMY: It makes me almost a little more nervous. I mean, like I said, you've got to get psyched up. And it's hard to keep psyching and psyching yourself up.
R. SHORTER: The longer they stay here, the more stories they hear about what's going on. And then that just builds more -- you know, it just makes them more nervous only because they don't know what to expect. CARROLL (voice-over): Finally, a flight opens. On to our final destination.
(on camera): Just a few minutes ago, we arrived here at Sharana, finally. So at this point, Sergeant Shorter is checking his men in, making sure that all the paperwork is squared away. Then they can finally get on with their mission.
R. SHORTER: It's probably good to get here. I'm tired of waiting.
CARROLL (voice-over): The wait would not be much longer. Shorter's mission would soon take his platoon outside the base to confront the threat of IEDs.
R. SHORTER: Praying that nothing happened down there. But you know, the word is, some children got injured.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CARROLL: Well, we thought that Sharana was Shorter's final stop, but then, Drew, his orders were changed. He was then moved to another forward-operating base, a much smaller one called FOB Rushmore located just a few miles away.
No matter where he goes, Drew, we'll be following him every step of the way -- Drew.
GRIFFIN: Jason, thanks. Glad you're back.
The big food debate -- is organic better? And why does it cost so much? We've got results from a taste test to tell you about. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRIFFIN: Hey, CNN is taking a cross country food journey. All week, we've sent reporting teams to every corner of America and beyond. Why? Well, our mission is to get fresh answers about how our food is grown, how the choices we make impact our health, our state of mind, our budgets and the pure joy of eating.
We've teamed up with the new CNN.com food destination, eatocracy.com to bring you "Eatocracy: Mind, Body, Wallet." More of us making a bee line to the organic food section these days, but how does organic food stack up against the more conventional kind? Our John Zarrella took a taste test and has this detailed report.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Take a look at this soil. It's rich in organic matter. Perfect for growing organic products and that's exactly what Dan Howard is doing back there. He's putting in his first crop of green beans. Howard has seven acres here. He'll get about 1,400 bushels of beans.
I imagine when you're farming organically, soil preparation is key.
DAN HOWARD, HOMESTEAD ORGANIC FARMS: Oh very important. In fact, the world of organic farming is soil building, the constant effort to increase the organic matter in your soil.
ZARRELLA (voice-over): Before beans, this field was for decades an orange grove. It's filled, Howard says, with left behind organic matter, but it takes more than just good soil to label a product organic.
HOWARD: They're getting a crop that is grown naturally without the use of chemicals, chemical fertilizers or chemical spray inputs. That's it in a nutshell.
ZARRELLA (on camera): Dan's beans will start showing up just in time for Thanksgiving. Because of higher labor costs from hand weeding and restrictions on what Dan can use to control pests, his beans will cost a lot more.
You got a pound and a half of beans here and you have 12 ounces here and these are $1.96 and these are $4.99.
SONIA ANGEL, MEMORIAL HOSPITAL PEMBROKE: That's right.
ZARRELLA: That's a big difference.
ANGEL: It is, big difference. And that's the limitation for a lot of people to buy organic.
ZARRELLA (voice-over): We went with Sonia Angel, a licensed dietician to a local public supermarket. ANGEL: Now, in terms of nutrients, there isn't really a significant difference between the nutrients of buying organic or non- organic, but it's the fact that these are safer because they don't have the pesticides in them. That's the big difference.
ZARRELLA: If you want organic, but budget is a limiting factor, Sonia's tip, buy spinach, blueberries, strawberries, tomatoes and other fruits and vegetables you don't peel.
ANGEL: The ones that you peel, not so much important.
ZARRELLA (on camera): Like the bananas. I mean --
ANGEL: Like the bananas.
ZARRELLA: You don't have to worry about so much pesticides on the bananas because you're peeling the skin.
ANGEL: You're peeling them up, correct.
ZARRELLA (voice-over): If you're wondering about flavor, we had chef Bill Mitchell saute organic beans and conventionally-grown beans. You should try a taste test, too. I'll keep my opinion to myself.
John Zarrella, CNN, Plantation, Florida.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GRIFFIN: And remember go to CNN.com/eatocracy now for more stories on healthy eating. It's also where you can learn more about the how to unlock the CNN Healthy Eater Badge on Foursquare. Is somebody going to tell me what that means?
Taking control of your health, Elizabeth Cohen introduces us to parents who trusted their gut and saved their daughter's life.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRIFFIN: Our top stories now.
The Wisconsin River could peak a second time tomorrow. That's putting more pressure on a 120-year-old levee that's already failing or beginning to fail. We heard from the mayor. About 100 families have been warned to evacuate there.
A merger between Southwest Airlines and AirTran is on. The deal could bring Southwest to major hubs like Atlanta, Washington, Boston and New York. Pending approval by regulators and stockholders.
And Pope Benedict still has faith in the director of the Vatican Bank, despite an ongoing money laundering investigation. This is the first time the Vatican has had it's bank's frozen in history. Earlier today, the pope says he trusts and appreciates the work going on by the director.
Patients taking control of their heath care. We call it the Empowered Patient, and it can save lives. Here's senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen. The first of four powerful lessons.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Drew, as a parent you can appreciate that this is every parent's nightmare. You know that your child is seriously ill, but the folks at the emergency room aren't taking you seriously, and they tell you to bring your child home.
Well, this happened to a family in Ohio but they fought back. We teamed up with the animation folks at Turner Studios to bring you their story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COHEN (voice-over): One spring evening, Don McCracken was playing ball with his kids in the front yard. He meant to hit a fly ball to his son, Matthew, but instead, it socked his 7-year-old daughter, Morgan, on the head. She knelt to the ground in pain.
Morgan had quite a bump on her head. Her parents iced it down and she seemed fine.
Two nights later, something changed.
CONNIE MCCRACKEN, MORGAN'S MOTHER: She started crying.
COHEN (on camera): Tell me what you heard.
C. MCCRACKEN: She's, "My head. It's hurting. She was holding it, saying, "My head's hurting. My head's hurting.
COHEN (voice-over): The McCrackens rushed Morgan to the emergency room.
(on camera): When the doctor showed up, what did he say?
C. MCCRACKEN: I'm sorry (ph). It's late. She's tired. She probably has a touch of the flu.
COHEN (voice-over): Connie and Don say the doctor told them to take Morgan home and put her to bed, but they knew better. Their instincts told them this was no flu virus. They pushed the doctor for a CT scan of Morgan's brain.
COHEN (on camera): What did you think the results of that CAT scan were going to be?
C. MCCRACKEN: There was something definitely wrong. You feel it in your gut.
DON MCCRACKEN, MORGAN'S FATHER: In my heart, I thought I knew there was a problem.
C. MCCRACKEN: They came back and said, "I was surprised." He says, "I'm surprised. There's something there." D. MCCRACKEN: There was a leakage of blood into her skull.
COHEN (voice-over): Medics rushed Morgan by helicopter to nearby Rainbow Babies and Children's Hospital in Cleveland, Ohio.
DR. ALAN COHEN, RAINBOW BABIES AND CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL: This is a big blot clot inside the skull, outside the brain called an epidural hematoma. That's what we had to remove to take out the blood clot and stop the bleeding.
COHEN: Today, Morgan's just fine.
COHEN (on camera): Do you feel like a lucky girl?
MORGAN MCCRACKEN, INITIALLY MISDIAGNOSED IN THE HOSPITAL: Yes.
COHEN (voice-over): Lucky because her parents followed their instincts.
COHEN (on camera): In the emergency room, the doctor said she had a virus and she just needed to get some rest. If you had listened to that advice and brought her home to go to bed and rest, what would have happened?
D. MCCRACKEN: She probably wouldn't have woken up the next morning, and we would have lost her.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
GRIFFIN: What a lesson for parents. And a lesson that you and I know as parents. These doctors, you go into the emergency room. They look at your kid two minutes, and they think they know everything about them. No. We do. Right? Trust your gut.
COHEN: Exactly. The surgeon who was in that piece, he said what they teach medical students is mother knows best, or father knows best. Parents know their kid best. So, if you feel like they're not making the right call, you say something, and you fight back like these parents did.
GRIFFIN: How do you do that delicately so you don't offend these doctors who, face it, a lot of them think they're way smarter than the parents are. But you want to encourage them to do what's right for your child?
COHEN: Right. One of the things you can say -- there are two things you can say. One is, we think it's this, because of this reason. We think that this is much more serious than you think it is. That might make them a little nervous and might make them pay attention.
The other thing is you can ask this really important question that I write about in my book, "The Empowered Patient," which is "Doctor, what else could this be?". Make them open their eyes and realize it could be the flu. But you know what? It could also be something else. And that one question, doctors tell me, can help they rejitter their thinking, having a busy day and sort of going about their business. It can make them rethink their conclusions.
GRIFFIN: Great stuff. Good story. Thanks.
And a friendly program reminder here. "Taking Control of Your Health Care." CNN's senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen, a great report on this. It airs this Saturday and Sunday at 7:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.
And topping our "CNN Equals Politics" update, Rick Lazio out of the race for New York governor. We're going to go live to the CNN Political Desk.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
GRIFFIN: Time for your "CNN Equals Politics" update. CNN deputy political director Paul Steinhauser with The Best Political Team on Television joins us live from Washington. Paul, what is crossing right now?
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTRO: Hey, brand new stuff, Drew. Just happened in the last half hour. Let's talk about the New York governor's race.
Rick Lazio, a Republican, former congressman, just announced he was dropping his bid for governor. Now, he got beat pretty soundly in the primary back on September 14th by Carl Paladino, who was backed by many in the Tea Party movement.
But guess what? Lazio -- he was also on the Conservative Party ticket and he won that nomination. So he could have run, but he just announced he will not run for governor. But he did not -- he did not -- endorse Paladino, which was interesting. Now it's basically a two- man battle between Paladino and Andrew Cuomo, the New York state attorney general, the former (SIC) son of Mario Cuomo, who is the Democratic nominee. We're going to keep our eyes on New York state. Interesting stuff.
Let's talk about the vice president, Joe Biden. He is in New Hampshire as we speak right now. He was talking about the economy at an event, and soon he's going to be -- going to be kind of the main attraction at a fund-raiser for two top Democrats up there, Congressman Paul Hodes, who's running for the open Senate seat, and for Carol Shea-Porter, who's running for reelection in Congress. Now, listen, Democrats have had good achievements in 2005 and '08 in New Hampshire, but in 2010, polls suggest that they could have a very tough time.
Let's talk about 2012. And check this out on the "CNN Political Ticker." A brand-new poll out this morning from Politico and -- Politico indicates that maybe a majority of people may not vote for Barack Obama in 2012, if he decides to run for reelection. Similar results from a CNN Opinion Research Corporation national poll back in August, as well. So I know we're all talking about 2010,, but we're also keeping our eyes on 2012.
Drew, it's going to an interesting battle for the Republican presidential nomination, and interesting it could be interesting for Barack Obama if he chooses to run for reelection, which we assume he will -- Drew.
GRIFFIN: I was just going to ask you, Paul, have you guys been hearing any wind that he's not?
(LAUGHTER)
STEINHAUSER: No. You know, obviously, he hasn't declared anything yet. It's pretty early. So you've always got to say these polls are hypothetical right now...
GRIFFIN: Yes.
STEINHAUSER: ... when we look forward to 2012. But you know, his approval rating, obviously, in the 40s, troubling for the president if he decides, and we assume he will, to run for re-election next time around, Drew.
GRIFFIN: All right, Paul, thanks. Your the next political update coming up in an hour. For the latest political news any time, day or night, CNNpolitics.com.
Well, a zero-carbon city rising out of a desert in Dubai. And what on earth could have been so funny at a parliamentary meeting in Switzerland? Josh Levs is going to tell us all about it. It's hot on the Internet.
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GRIFFIN: We like to keep you informed of what's hot, especially on the Internet. That's why we have Josh Levs.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We are going to talk about the world's first zero-carbon city. And you know (INAUDIBLE) term gets thrown around a lot. Can that ever be the case, where you're basically pulling in as much energy as you're using? Well, apparently, it's actually happened.
Take a look at these pictures. It's going up now. And you know, there's been talk about it for a long time in Dubai, and we've followed the story here at CNN. But what we're finding now is that some people are actually starting to move into the world's first zero- carbon city. And what they do is, they have this massive solar system set up, and they're hoping that when it's ultimately done, about 90 percent of the solar power -- of the power that's used there will be solar.
There's also this wind tower that's being designed to try to help cool the area, as well. And they say by facing certain directions and setting (ph) things a certain size, they're able to maximize the shade, as well, and they're hoping that they can take all these different strategies that they're putting together and ultimately get seriously zero-carbon, so it pulls in energy and it uses energy and it comes out even. And they're also saying that they hope that it will ultimately feel 80 degrees cooler there than in the desert. It can feel like 150 degrees in Dubai. But they're saying if they do all this stuff, it might feel 70 degrees cooler overall, which would put it at 80, which is a big improvement there.
So look, it's an experiment and we don't know what it'll ultimately turn into. Oh, we got a good skeptic right here! But we'll see. I mean, it might -- it might -- it might ultimately be a wave of the future, so we'll keep an eye (INAUDIBLE)
GRIFFIN: Lots of money.
LEVS: Yes. All right. Let's take a look at the next cool thing. This is the -- everyone's talking about this on line. All right, look at this guy, the giggling politician.
He's trying to get through a conversation about meat imports. This is a Swiss politician who is now the hottest thing on line, Hans Rudolf Mertz (ph). And our translators listened to it for me. He's speaking German. It involves meat, but they can't quite get what's so hilarious about it! But everyone, even having no idea what he's talking about, is laughing along with this guy.
GRIFFIN: Sounds like my uncle telling a bad joke and he just can't spit it out.
LEVS: This is a fun (INAUDIBLE) I love this guy. Anyway, you never know what's going to be hot on line. Today, it's that particular politician, Swiss politician, who is making the world laugh, so unintentionally doing something great for the world. Thanks for that.
GRIFFIN: All right, thank you. Thank you, Josh.
LEVS: You got it.
GRIFFIN: Thank you, Dubai, for neutral carbon cities.
Well, light, low-fat, sugar-free -- how do you know for sure? We're going to tell you about a new on-line nutrition check, part our series "Eatocracy."
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GRIFFIN: CNN taking a cross-country food journey all this week. We have sent reporting teams to every corner of the U.S. and beyond, and our mission is to get fresh answers about how our food is grown, how the choices we make impact our health, our state of mind, our budgets, and of course, the pure joy of eating. We've teamed up with the new CNN.com food destination Eatocracy.com to bring you "Eatocracy: Mind, Body and Wallet."
You know, food companies spend big bucks marketing their products as healthy, but how are consumers supposed to know whether those claims are true? CNNmoney.com's Poppy Harlow shows us a new rating system.
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POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM(voice-over): Food companies inundate us with healthy-sounding slogans -- reduced fat, whole grain, no sugar added. That means healthier, right? Not necessarily.
DAVID KATZ, NUVAL FOUNDER: The packages all have claims. The claims are often misleading and deceptive.
HARLOW: Yale scientist Dr. David Katz created NuVal. It's a nutrition rating system he claims cuts through the food industry's marketing machine.
KATZ: The higher the number, the more nutritious the food. It's GPS for the food supply.
HARLOW: NuVal ranks food 1 to 100, using a complex algorithm, weighing unhealthy things like transfats against nutrients like fiber.
KATZ: Almost everything in the produce aisle -- almost everything -- will above 90, between 90 and 100.
We have reduced-fat Jiff peanut butter. It gets a 7. And the regular Jiff peanut butter gets a 20.
HARLOW (on camera): So higher fat is actually better for you here, according to NuVal.
KATZ: Well -- well, no, not because it's higher fat. The reduced-fat version is considerably higher in sodium. It's also higher in sugar.
HARLOW: Let's try raisin bran.
KATZ: Raisin bran's pretty good, yes.
HARLOW: This is the one I ate growing up.
KATZ: Sure. OK.
HARLOW: It's 26.
KATZ: Yes.
HARLOW: That's what this has. No, wait! Look at this. This Neapolitan ice cream says it's a 91.
LISA SASSON, NYU NUTRITION AND FOOD STUDIES: To me, that is the flaw of the system. Something such as the ice cream, which is all probably chemicals and all these additives, I don't think really adds to the diet, and people shouldn't be getting their nutrients through that ice cream. In something like raisin bran, yes, the raisins may be sugar-coated, but at least it's a good source of fiber.
HARLOW (voice-over): Dr. Katz says the real value isn't to compare ice cream to cereal but to see how similar products stack up against one another.
KATZ: OK. So let's find Cheerios and Froot Loops.
HARLOW: None of the major food companies we contacted would go on camera to discuss NuVal, but in a statement, Pepsi told us, quote, "Consumers can make more informed choices through fact-based front-of- package labeling." General Mills said, quote, "Criteria for NuVal are not available to the public, making any informed discussion of it very difficult."
(on camera): Why do you think it is that there seems to be this pushback from the big food manufacturers?
KATZ: Not everybody making and selling food really wants people to know the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. NuVal tells that truth.
HARLOW: Junk food is big business for these big American food companies. If the NuVal system is adopted all across the nation, will it be the end of salty, fatty snack food?
KATZ: You know, I certainly hope it would be the end of junk food but...
HARLOW: That's billions in revenues for these companies.
KATZ: Well, but it could be billions in revenue by making better versions of these same foods.
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HARLOW: And you know what? What's really interesting about this, Drew, learning about this program, shopping according to those NuVal scores, is you see what a threat this could be to the junk food industry. It is a $26 billion business every year in this country, all of that snack food that we all consume. And it could really threaten the future of that industry, if this catches on.
Right now, it's sort of in its beginning stages, about 70,000 different food products have been graded, if you will, and about 750 grocery stores across the country. And I'll tell you, shopping with this program works to an extent. You see fruits and vegetables getting near 100, near the highest score.
But when you compare something like ice cream that's getting above 90 with a Raisin Bran getting 26, that's where you see the big problem in this, is that food manufacturers can just say, Hey, we're going to add fiber, we're going to add calcium to this, just as additives. And then the score goes up because it's all just a mathematical algorithm. It's not necessarily based on exactly how healthy something is, Drew.
GRIFFIN: Oh, Poppy, I just anticipate my kids asking for ice cream for breakfast, instead of Raisin Bran! But it does sound good. Thanks a lot.
CNN NEWSROOM continues right now with Ali Velshi.
