Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Southwest to Purchase AirTran; Frightening Moments on Delta Flight 4951; Israel Restarts Settlement Building in West Bank; U.S. Soldiers Charged With Murder; Afghans Build First Modern Railroad; CNN Equals Politics Update; Eatocracy and Foursquare Team Up
Aired September 27, 2010 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Drew, thanks very much. You have a good afternoon. As Drew said, I'm Ali Velshi and for the next two hours, today and every day, I'll guide you through the maze of information coming your way.
Together we will learn what is going on at home and around the world. You'll get access to the folks who can best explain what the news today means and its impact beyond today. I'll showcase the best ideas in innovation, philanthropy and public education.
My mission is to help you figure out how what is going on around the world fits into your life. So let's get started right now. We're following two major developing stories this hour.
Coming your way, backhoes and bulldozers are up and running again at Israeli settlements in the West Bank, and they're casting a dusty cloud over the peace process. Will the resumed construction talks derail -- will the resumed construction derail the peace talks?
Also two discount airlines are announcing plans to tie the knot on the same week that Continental and United become one airline. But with fares and fees already surging, what are these new unions in the sky meaning for you? I've got some people who know, and let's start with that conversation.
Once again, a familiar name in air travel is disappearing, but not really going away. AirTran, a discount carrier based in Orlando is being bought by Southwest, the Dallas-based carrier known for doing things its own way and quite successfully, too. Southwest is paying roughly $1.4 billion in cash and stock, but when you figure AirTran's debt and lease obligations into the price, it's more like $3.4 billion.
At the moment, each of those two carriers flies to 69 U.S. cities. But Southwest is quite a bit larger. Last year Southwest flew more than 100 million passengers while AirTran flew about 24 million. Now let's look at aircraft there. Southwest has about 544 aircraft. AirTran about 138 aircraft. The vast majority, by the way, are Boeing 737s. That makes it really easy to have standard maintenance.
Now if regulators and shareholders approve, this will be the third major airline consolidation in two years. United and Continental are due to close their merger days from now, this week, becoming the largest airline in America. Today that title belongs to Delta, which acquired Northwest in 2008.
Now enough with the facts and figures. What about fares and fees? Time to bring in my Q&A partner Richard Quest. He's in London. And from Dallas, Rick Seaney is the CEO of faircompare.com. Gentlemen, good to see you both.
Richard, let's start with you over in Europe. You've had a lot of experience with discount airlines. Generally speaking the merger of two airlines means, could mean -- could mean -- higher prices. That's not always the case. But in this case, what does it mean when it's two discount airlines?
RICHARD QUEST, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think the thing to remember here is why Southwest is buying AirTran. And the reason they're buying it is to buy market share. By buying this carrier, it is getting a hot roll straight into Atlanta Hartsfield, because AirTran is such a big player there.
It is also buying coverage and route coverage into the northeast United States, to Boston, to New York, to Washington. Those key routes where Southwest has had presence but has not been dominant or indeed managed to get much of a footprint. Buy AirTran and you start to make huge in-roads into the northeast corridor and the whole eastern seaboard of the United States.
VELSHI: Now, Rick Seaney, Southwest likes to cite something it calls the Southwest Effect, that when it decides to fly certain routes, it actually ends up bringing fees and prices down on the routes. Is that likely to happen?
RICK SEANEY, CEO, FAIRCOMPARE.COM: I think it's likely to happen to some degree, but I think the economy is going to dictate more than Southwest in if all things were equal in the economy, I think they would actually spur on more with their lower prices. But, I'm not so sure the next two or three years hold much in for that.
The interesting thing about this is that they pick up 100 destinations now. Legacy airlines actually go to about 200 destinations in domestic U.S. So it's still not quite as big as it might look.
VELSHI: And, Rick, just tell me, we know we've been -- you follow this very closely. Fees and fares have actually been edging up over the last few months. Is that trend likely to continue, say, until the end of the year?
SEANEY: I think it will. You know, Southwest doesn't have any bag or change fees but they have other fees. They picked up $200 million in Q2 in some other fees. You're going to see fees continue to go up. That's what the airlines want. Southwest will be the lone holdout. I assume AirTran won't have a bag fee here in about a year.
VELSHI: Rick, good to see you. Richard Quest, great to have you back. And we're going to be doing Q&A on Thursday. So, you'll be out there. Send us your questions, and we'll answer them for you live on Thursday afternoon around 2:20 p.m. eastern time. Gentlemen, good to see you both. Thanks for joining me.
And our sound effect comes from a side of air travel that nobody really likes to talk about. Delta connection flight 4951 was en route from Atlanta to White Plains, New York, late Saturday night when the flight crew noticed something wrong. Here's what the pilot told air traffic control.
DELTA PILOT: 4951.
AIR TRAFFIC CONTROLLER: Yes, 4951. This is New York approach. Go ahead.
DELTA PILOT: Yeah, we can't -- they've run it on all the checklist and talking to our maintenance at approach -- or our maintenance and dispatcher, and we have not been able to get the landing gear down. Our preference would be to proceed over to JFK and execute an emergency landing over there. And if it's not completely obvious, just want to confirm, we are declaring an emergency.
VELSHI: Not completely obvious. You got to like that about pilots and air traffic controllers. It doesn't sound all that urgent even when it is. But in case you wanted something that sounded more urgent, check out the tone of the flight attendant as the plane was about to touch down minutes later.
DELTA PILOT: Get ready for impact.
DELTA FLIGHT ATTENDANT: Heads down. Stay down. Heads down, stay down. Heads down, stay down.
PASSENGERS: Whew! [ cheers and applause ]
VELSHI: Sort of makes you appreciate what the flight attendants and pilots are there for, doesn't it? Only the right gear by the way, was stuck. So that was the right wing tip, if you saw it, was throwing sparks off as it landed. Everybody got out safely, and nobody was hurt. Congratulations to the pilot and the staff on getting that one down.
All right, bad news for the president, for President Obama's Mideast Peace Offensive. After a ten-month freeze, Israel resumes settlement construction in the West Bank. What now? Stay with me. I'll tell you on the other side.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: A setback today for the new, U.S.-brokered Mideast peace talks. Israel resume the construction of new settlements in the West Bank. The Obama Administration had urged the Israelis not to end a 10-month moratorium during talks in Washington earlier in the month.
Those talks were the first between the Israelis and the Palestinians in nearly two years. Jewish settlers in the West Bank marked the end of the construction freeze by releasing thousands of blue and white balloons, the color of the Israeli flag, into the air. They also broke ground on a new kindergarten.
The Israeli moratorium on West Bank construction came to an end at midnight Sunday. To the Palestinians, the settlements are a major obstacle to peace because they take place on land the Palestinians insist are part of their future state. In response, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas strongly urged Israel to continue the freeze for three or four months to allow time for talks about the matter. Yesterday he said that negotiations that resumed earlier this month would be a "waste of time" unless the ban on construction remained in place.
For his part, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu called on Abbas to stick with the talks. Obama Administration officials are vowing to keep the peace talks on track and repeated America's opposition to expanding the settlements.
Now it's time for a disturbing story involving U.S. troops in Afghanistan. Charges alleging that a rogue group of hashish-smoking soldiers killed Afghan civilians for sport, posed with their dead bodies, even collected human bones as souvenirs. Drew Griffin of our Special Investigations Unit has been working on this story. Hey, Drew.
GRIFFIN: Ali, most disturbing of all in this is the facts are being laid out by the soldiers involved themselves. CNN has obtained the interrogation tapes of four of those soldiers. The U.S. military has charged five with premeditated murder. Seven more are facing charges ever covering up the killings and illegal drug use, all of them U.S. soldiers, members of the 5th Combat Striker Brigade based at Ft. Lewis, Washington.
Today one of the accused scheduled to face a pre-court martial hearing there. His name is 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)
CID: So what'd he do? Explain everything.
MORLOCK: We had this guy by this compound and so Gibbs, you know, walked him out and set him in place like, "Hey, stand here."
CID: Was he -- he was fully cooperating?
MORLOCK: I mean, yes.
CID: Was he armed?
MORLOCK: No. Not that we were aware of.
CID: So you pulled him out of his place?
MORLOCK: He was -- I don't think he was inside. He was just kind of by his little hut area. And Gibbs sent in a couple of people. He sent [ bleep ] off a little ways, mostly far side of security. So I don't even know if [ bleep ] was aware what was going on.
CID: Oh, okay. I understand.
MORLOCK: And then --
CID: So he stood him -- where did you stand him? Next to the wall?
MORLOCK: Yeah, 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, popped it, throws the grenade, and then tell me and Winfield, "All right, dude. You know, wax this guy." You know, kill this guy. Kill this guy.
CID: Did you see him present any weapons or was he aggressive at you at all? Did he --
MORLOCK: No. Not at all. Nothing.
CID: Okay.
MORLOCK: He wasn't a threat.
GRIFFIN (voice-over): Michael Waddington is Corporal Jeremy Morlock's civilian attorney.
GRIFFIN: I want you to tell me that this didn't happen; that this isn't true. Can you?
MICHAEL WADDINGTON, CIVILIAN 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 -- you have the -- from what I understand -- the case file. I mean, 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 VIDEO CLIP)
GRIFFIN: Ali, the army is alleging three civilians were killed between January and May this year. Morlock's attorney says his defense will lay out a scenario where his 22-year-old client, Jeremy Morlock, 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 officer, Staff Sergeant Gibbs.
Gibbs' attorney, by the way, has not return calls, Ali, to CNN. Other soldiers charged also point to their fear of Calvin Gibbs and admit smoking else -- smoking hash laced with opium almost on a daily basis.
The Pentagon is not commenting on the case beyond the charges that has been filed, but CNN has also learned the soldiers did take photographs, described as looking like hunting trophies with their kills, and the Pentagon ordered an attorney involved in the case to return the photographs to military investigators.
Obviously they fear those getting out. Corporal Jeremy Morlock is the first to answer charges in court. Ali, his Article 32 Hearing just about to get underway out on the west coast at Fort Lewis, Washington, near Tacoma.
VELSHI: What an incredible story, Drew. We'll stay on top of that to find out what comes out of the hearing, but thanks very much for bringing that to us. Drew Griffin.
All right, $42 billion is being set aside for small business. The White House is hoping to get something in return. I'll going to tell you what straight ahead. She's back, by the way. Christine Romans. My partner in crime. She'll join me on the other side of the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Okay. In about half an hour President Obama will sign a small business tax incentive bill. The bill includes about $12 billion in tax cuts for small business and a $30 billion fund designed to give community banks more incentive to lend to those small businesses. All in the hope of creating jobs. My partner in crime, Christine Romans is back. What a treat to have you back.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Ali.
VELSHI: And you know what the treat is? It's that you walked by my desk this morning and I was trying to get my Blackberry to work. It wasn't working properly. And you were telling me --
ROMANS: I was badgering you.
VELSHI: You were excited about something.
ROMANS: I said, "Ali, put down the technology. Put down the Blackberry."
VELSHI: Yeah, you were definitely -- you're back.
ROMANS: I want to talk about small biz. I want to talk about what's in the bill.
VELSHI: Yes.
ROMANS: This is a bill that is expected -- they want to -- create half a million jobs with this. As we know, it's really hard to kind of target how many. I mean, they want to deliver half a million jobs.
VELSHI: Right.
ROMANS: What's in here? A couple of exciting things. A $30 billion lending fund that will be at the Treasury Department. This will be ultra cheap loans available for small business. You see $12 billion in tax breaks over about the course of a decade. Tax breaks for all kinds of different things including -- some of it gets kind of technical, but if you have a few years of gains, of profits, you pay income on the profits.
VELSHI: Right.
ROMANS: And then things turn south and you have a couple bad years --
VELSHI: So that is saving a company some money. Look, we know, you and I both discussed that of the stuff that's wrong with the economy, the one that would be most important to fix is jobs. And in this country, small businesses have typically, traditionally, been at the forefront of hiring, creating new jobs.
ROMANS: Yes.
VELSHI: I don't know whether this is such a different recession that that's changed. But we're hoping if you give tax breaks -- if you give small businesses a little extra, they'll use it to employ people.
ROMANS: You're hoping that but at the same time, you've got small businesses -- when I talk to them, and I know you do too, the first thing they say, well, I need a confident customer. I want the tax breaks. I would like to have cheap capital.
VELSHI: But you're not going to make more stuff and do more stuff if nobody's buying.
ROMANS: I'm not going to buy a new piece of equipment if nobody is buying my product. And you know, and these tax breaks are for buying new equipment. So you look at the latest CNN opinion research -- corporation polls you know that three quarters of Americans think -- feels like we're still in a recession.
A third of Americans say it's still a serious recession. You know, the recovery, recession, rather -- .
VELSHI: It ended 15 months ago.
ROMANS: Yes. What's going on here? Well, the small business needs a confident consumer. And Ali, this is what I was getting so excited about at Ali's desk. How do you buy a confident consumer?
VELSHI: Right.
ROMANS: Is it this particular tax bill? Is it something else we don't know about? Is it the first economic stimulus? Is it something else after that? That's what -- we can't write a bill that just corrects everything. VELSHI: Right. That tells you that we have to be confident.
ROMANS: Right.
VELSHI: It is interesting, though, because some people say businesses aren't hiring people because they haven't got consumers, and on the other side, people say businesses aren't hiring because they can't lend. They don't want to spend their money doing things if they can't get access to credit, and this bill is trying to address credit as well.
ROMANS: And some people say businesses aren't hiring people because, frankly, there's a lot of uncertainty in the regulatory environment. They're still trying to figure out health care reform. They're trying to figure out if they can cross the 50-employee threshold and things like that. And they're just kind of sitting tight after two very tough years trying to hold on.
VELSHI: Right.
ROMANS: Not necessarily grow, and there are a lot of people treading water because they feel like that's the way to go, but this money available to community banks.
VELSHI: Yes.
ROMANS: That's where the oxygen gets going through the economy. And so that's where the administration and many others are hopeful you can get money moving, it can get into the hands of the bankers and those bankers can lend. Bankers tell me they want to lend. They want to lend, and now, you've got some of the banks who have, like, the second-look person. So you've been denied a loan.
VELSHI: And somebody looks as it again.
ROMANS: There's somebody else who's looking at it again, so keep plugging away, folks.
VELSHI: So great to have you back.
ROMANS: It's nice to be back.
VELSHI: We'll see you every day, and then we'll see you on Saturday and Sunday on "Your $$$" as well.
ROMANS: Okay. You got it.
VELSHI: By the way, you can join us on Saturdays at 1:00 p.m. Eastern, Sundays 3:00 p.m. Eastern on "Your $$$" where we talk endlessly about this stuff, anything to do with money and how it affects you.
Okay, let me bring you up to speed with what's going on at CNN. We're covering some stories for you. Southwest Airlines say it is buying AirTran for $1.4 billion. The move will allow Southwest to compete with Delta at Delta's home base in Atlanta. That's the world's busiest airport and it would increase Southwest's stake in other big cities like New York and Boston. The deal still needs approval from shareholders and from government regulators.
A 120-year-old levee along the Wisconsin River is failing putting as many as 100 homes in danger of flooding. People downstream near the city of Portage have been urged to find high are ground. Officials say the sand levee began giving way last night under pressure from rising waters. The river is expected to stay above flood stage for several days.
And the leader of an Atlanta area mega church vows to fight lawsuits claiming that he coerced four young men into sexual acts. Bishop Eddie Long addressed his congregation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BISHOP EDDIE LONG: I feel like David against Goliath. But I've got five rocks and I haven't thrown one yet.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Long married and led a march against gay marriage in 2004.
You see the label all over the place. Organic. What does it mean and does it really make a difference to your health? We're launching special series. Eatocracy, mind, body and wallet, when I come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: CNN is taking a cross-country food journey all this week in our special series, Eatocracy, mind, body and wallet. Our mission, 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 by the way, just talk about the pure joy of eating. This hour we are talking organic.
According to the Organic Trade Association, in 1990 Americans spent a billion dollars on organic foods and beverages. A little over 20 years ago. Last year that number was $24 billion. Almost $25 billion. But are organic products good for you? Do they taste better or worse? John Zarrella went to Plantation, Florida for the story.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Take a look at this soil. It's rich in organic matter. It's 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 pretty key?
DAN HOWARD: Oh, very important. In fact, the world of organic farming is soil building. It's a constant effort to increase the organic matter in your soil.
ZARRELLA: 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's grown naturally without the use of chemicals, chemical fertilizers, or chemical spray inputs, and that's it in a nutshell.
ZARRELLA: Dan's beans will start showing up in supermarkets 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've got a pound and a half of beans here, and you've got 12 ounces of beans here, and these are $1.96 and these are $4.99.
SONYA ANGEL, DIETICIAN: That's right. These are -- it is. It's a big difference, and that's a limitation for a lot of people to buy organic.
ZARRELLA: We went with Sonya 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, Sonya's tip, buy spinach, blueberries, strawberries, tomatoes and other fruits and vegetables you don't peel.
ANGEL: The ones you peel, not so much important.
ZARRELLA: Like the bananas. You don't have to worry about pesticides on the bananas because you're --
ANGEL: Peeling them off.
ZARRELLA: If you're wondering about flavor, we had Publix 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 VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: I'm totally loving this Eatocracy thing. For complete coverage of Eatocracy, mind, body, wallet, head to CNN.com/eatocracy. On there you'll see a feature called 5 at 5:00, and I was on that feature a couple days ago talking about foods that make me smile and cry.
Coming up in the next half hour, we'll show you how to get your organic food as a discount.
Oliver Stone's new Wall Street movie is a big hit for him and for me. We'll talk a little bit about the movie. My big moment on the screen coming up next. My special guest, A.J. Hammer.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: In case you're wondering if I couldn't talk about the movie a little bit more, I'm actually going to. Gordon Gekko, got out of prison. He's rolling in money again. Oliver Stone's new movie. "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps" did very, very well at the box office this weekend.
A.J. Hammer, host of "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT" on our sister network, HLN, joins me now. What a great surprise. A.J.'s a good friend and it's nice to see you on the show.
The movie did pretty well?
A.J. HAMMER, HOST, "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT": Yes. How does it feel to have the number one movie at the box office, Ali?
VELSHI: I'm happy about that.
HAMMER: $19 million is what is took in, which is actually really respectable on many levels, one, because it's an adult-themed film and usually family films - and there was a new family film out though, this weekend. Usually those reign supreme at the box office. And it was mostly adults over 30, about 65 percent of the audience was an adult audience. A 50/50 male-female split.
Back when the original came out some 23 years ago, that film took in about $4 million. So, Ali, this was great. I should also point out, a personal best for director Oliver Stone. He's never had a number one opening at the box office and this is the most money any film he's ever done has opened at. So --
VELSHI: Now, you followed it pretty closely. You had a chance to talk to Oliver Stone?
HAMMER: I did talk to Oliver about many things but I really had to began our interview with the most pressing question of all.
I think we should just roll that out right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HAMMER (on camera): You cast my colleague and friend Ali Velshi in this film. One question -- what were you thinking?
OLIVER STONE, DIRECTOR: Ali was fun to work with. He's bright. He's happy. He's upbeat. He represents a very important point of view in the film but I love his argument with Anthony Scaramucci, who's also on. I liked working with Ali. I told him, you could be a star. I said, get out of Atlanta, though. Stay in New York, this is where the action is.
HAMMER: Absolutely. And I said, I'd like to quote from you this interview you did with Ali. You said, "When I saw you, I knew that bald dome was going to go all the way." STONE: You can't call Atlanta, going all the way.
HAMMER: For me, and I've known Ali for year, he was just a natural. It's not as easy to do as people think.
STONE: No, it's very hard. And he's bright. You know what it is? He's interested. At least he conveys that he's interested in the world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HAMMER: Now, Oliver Stone, Ali, said, he hopes you stay in New York, because this is where the action is. And here we are in New York, coincidence? I wonder what's going on?
VELSHI: Right, right. I want to be available for when those calls come in -- the casting calls come in.
HAMMER: Did you do a back-end deal here? I mean, you had a number one movie, can you go back in and renegotiate your contract?
VELSHI: He said maybe he's try me as a cab driver next time.
HAMMER: But the point is, and we talked about this, the fact is it is not that easy to simply be yourself in a film.
VELSHI: It was harder than I thought it would be, to be me. I thought it would be natural because I was actually doing the stuff in the movie that I was actually doing on TV, back in 2008. It was a little tougher - I was nervous. And I was a little intimidated by directors and movie sets and things like that.
HAMMER: Sure.
VELSHI: It was kind of interesting to see. But it was good fun. You've done this before so you know the business (ph).
HAMMER: I have done it before. But just to pat you on the back, because, really Ali, this is about you. And why not milk it while we can? It's the number one movie at the box office.
When the camera stopped rolling, when I was sitting down with Oli (ph) he really went on to say how good he thought you were and how much fun it was to work with you and how you did bring a great perspective because we all think about to 2008, when all that happening in Wall Street that impacted what was done in this movie. And you were iconic of that moment. It's not what you seek out to be but it was the case at the time.
VELSHI: You're right. I'll be happy if I never have to do what I did in 2008 again with reporting that news that none of us understood at that time. But, thank you for that.
Great to see you, as always. Come back and join us again.
HAMMER: Thanks. Congratulations. Number one, Ali Velshi. VELSHI: Thank you. And, by the way, always catch A.J. His show is excellent. "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT" on our sister network, HLN.
Thanks, A.J.
HAMMER: You got it.
VELSHI: All right. Fighting for its very existence against the Taliban. Afghanistan looks to its future by drawing on its past. Building its first, believe it or not, first modern railroad. We're going Globe Trekking to Afghanistan after this break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Time now for Globe Trekking. In the midst of the war against the Taliban, the Afghans are now building their first modern railroad. Now this comes as powerful neighbors struggle to gain rights to Afghanistan's vast iron, copper, and other mineral deposits.
Ivan Watson is there. He's got more on this story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A sight not seen in Afghanistan in nearly a century. A locomotive rolling down the tracks. This nearly completed railroad, a symbol of hope for a country suffering through 30 years of war.
SHAKRULLAH: This good news. And this connect Afghanistan to world. And I want to, that train, for all of Afghanistan.
WATSON: The last time Afghanistan had a railroad was in downtown Kabul in the 1920s. Today this rusty little locomotive is all that's left.
(on camera): You want to travel where?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. (INAUDIBLE) by this train.
WATSON (voice-over): A museum curiosity for visiting Afghans.
(on camera): Have you ever seen a train before?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. In Afghanistan, no. This is the first time.
WATSON (voice-over): Due to poverty, isolation and conflict, Afghanistan skipped the age of railroads. Afghans went from riding horseback to traveling by car. And relying on trucks to ship goods down a dangerous network of roads. But the 75 kilometer-long railroad in northern Afghanistan could revolutionize transport in this land- blocked country.
(on camera): This new railroad is part of an effort to build a new trade corridor from central Asia to southeast Asia, across the war- torn country of Afghanistan. If they succeed in extending the railroad it makes shipping cheaper and safer and more energy efficient than traveling by truck.
(voice-over): Investors say railroads will be essential if Afghanistan is ever to tap into vast deposits of mineral resources.
CRAIG STEFFENSAN, ASIAN DEVELOPMENT BANK: The mining sector here is potentially huge and whether it's iron ore, or copper, or coal. And there are markets across the region that are desperately seeking to import these materials from Afghanistan.
WATSON: This month as state mining companies from China signed a proposal to build a $6 to $7 billion railroad across Eastern Afghanistan. But the proposed railroad runs right through Taliban country. It may never be built, Chinese officials say, if the growing insurgency isn't stopped.
Afghanistan's newest railroad would be a juicy target for Taliban attacks. It is heavily guarded by armies of police protecting this latest train project from becoming yet another sad exhibit in Afghanistan's museum of tragic history.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
Ivan joins us now from Kabul. Ivan, good to see you. Good story.
Tell me, you sort of ended up on that whole idea that because it runs through Taliban country it may never get built. How do they address that? I guess the obvious solution is subdue the Taliban. But that's not happening as easily as everybody would like.
WATSON: No. If anything, the violence is worse than ever, Ali. I asked the head of that Chinese state mining company, you know, how are you going to protect and investment of $6 to $7 billion? He said, we signed an agreement and that will give us two years to do a feasibility study. If the security isn't better, then we're going to definitely have to reexamine whether or not to build this giant new railroad - Ali.
VELSHI: Ivan, you mentioned the Chinese. We know Iran is involved. Is the U.S. involved? Are they potential partners in this railroad?
WATSON: Well, there are a number of different projects. The U.S. State Department has been pushing this idea of building this north-south corridor through Afghanistan to link up central Asia and south Asia. So it's been sponsoring, for example, bridges between Afghanistan and former Soviet republics like Tajikistan, trying to open up trade across this war-torn country.
A lot of people will argue, if you want peace ever in this country, you need the neighbors to buy into it, for them to have a reason to have stability and peace, for them to be basically making money. So it's an interesting development to have the Chinese coming in, potentially putting down billions of dollars. And ideally you would want other countries, like Pakistan and Iran, which might be tempted to arm insurgents instead to work for disarming them and try to make money off this country instead of funding fighting here.
VELSHI: Yes. An interesting dilemma. Whether trade and commerce actually does more than the war efforts. We'll have to wait and see.
Ivan Watson, thanks very much for joining us from Kabul, Afghanistan.
Well usually the expression phoning it in is an insult. But not today in our Big I. We're going to talk about an invention that turns a Smartphone into something that could save people's eyesight.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Today's "Big I" is all about I's. An M.I.T. team has developed a cheap portable I-examination system requiring only a Smartphone and a two-dollar plastic lens attachment. Now, there's huge potential here in developing countries that lack expensive optometry equipment, but as we've learned are awash in mobile phones. As a result of that, you can use mobile phones for diagnostics that you otherwise couldn't get to people.
Nearly 700 million in the developing world have uncorrected vision impairment that affects things they have to do every day, and it ups their risk of blindness if not treated.
Now, Ramesh Rosker is an associate professor at the M.I.T. media lab. The famous M.I.T. media lab. He joins me now.
Ramesh, this is an interesting extension to this whole idea that we don't have doctors everywhere. We don't have labs everywhere. We don't have clinics everywhere, but cell phones have been able to go where people can't go all through the developing world. So, why not put a diagnostic tool for eyeglasses on to a smart phone?
RAMESH RASKAR, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR, M.I.T MEDIA LAB: Exactly. Exactly. I mean, all we have is a dollar clip-on eyepiece that goes on top of your cell phone. You look through. Click on a few buttons, hit calculate, and it gives you data for eye prescription for near sightedness, farsightedness and astigmatism.
VELSHI: And interestingly enough, it doesn't need to read your eye do to it. It's giving you something to look at, and then you are using the phone to -- the response is from you as data to the phone?
RASKAR: Exactly. I mean, the key here is that for cell phones, the resolution improved to such an extent, because people want to watch HD movies on their cell phone displays, that the pixels have gone to micrometers, which is half the width of a human hair. And at that resolution, these cell phones today can start doing tasks that could previously be done only by the highest-end scientific instruments.
VELSHI: So, tell me how it works. You put your eye up there and then you are using the - what are you telling the phone? What are you doing as you see whatever comes onto the screen? I guess it's like when I go for an eye test, I'm seeing objects and I'm determining whether they're blurrier or clearer, depending on which way I toggle on the phone?
RASKAR: Exactly. If you think about the traditional reading charts, where you had to put on some kind of foropter (ph) or tri- lenses the task is very challenging because you're to discern which line is sharpest. And this thing still costs hundreds of dollars to make it happen.
On the other hand, what we have done, as we have (INAUDIBLE) blurriness or --
VELSHI: Ramesh. Ramesh. Hang on one second. Just hold on one second. The president of the United States is at the White House. He's signing the bill we told you about earlier into law. This is the small business tax breaks. Let's just listen in while he does that.
(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I am thrilled to be here on what is an exciting day. I want to begin by recognizing the members of Congress who fought so hard to pass this bill on behalf of America's small businesses.
A lot of work was involved in this obviously, but there are a few folks who are here onstage I want to make sure to acknowledge. First of all, my dear friend and my senator from the great state of Illinois, Senator Dick Durbin.
(APPLAUSE)
OBAMA: A champion for businesses in Louisiana and around the country, Senator Mary Landrieu is here.
(APPLAUSE)
VELSHI: Okay. We'll keep one ear on that. Our producers will, to let us know if the president says anything we need to bring to your attention. For the moment, thanking a bunch of folks and then he's going to sign this into law.
Let's go back to Ramesh Rasker. He's the associate professor at the M.I.T. Media Lab. Ramesh, last I left you, you were showing us that chart on your left, my right, and saying that while that is still used, this phone is using its resolution. This technology that you've introduced uses the phone's resolution and the input of the user to determine your eye prescription in a place where you otherwise can't get access to an optometrist or an ophthalmologist?
RASKAR: Exactly. And instead of (ph) deciding which line is sharpest, when you look through this phone, we will show you a set of lines. And you goal is to simply align those lines. And when they are aligned, you just hit calculate. So, because we're converting this task into something that's more objective. I mean, anybody can align lines. The results are more accurate.
VELSHI: When is this available, and how will it be likely be available? We're used to downloading apps for a certain amount of money onto Smartphones. This is a little different. It's a hardware app?
RASKAR: Yes. So, the clip-on is extremely cheap. We can build it for a dollar or two. And our initial goal is to make it available in developing countries where, as you said, more than half a billion people have -- lack corrective vision, which leads to poverty and illiteracy.
So, our initial goal is to provide the software app for free and provide the clip-ons to NGOs. But I think we are -- this is an indication that the phones can now be used beyond pure communication or micropayment (ph), and by using the hardware of the phones, now I can imagine an era where we have hardware app store where you might by a dollar or two clip-on in the hardware app store and that will be used for your health and productivity.
VELSHI: Great way to think about it, and thank you for reminding us that part of the point of this is if you're hard of sight, it contributes to illiteracy, and that contributes to poverty. So, thank you for that. Love the work that you do at the M.I.T. Media Lab.
Ramesh Raskar is the associate professor at the M.I.T Media Lab. For more information on this, go to my blog, CNN.com/ali. What a great, great idea.
Is the recession over yet? Analysts say yes. A lot of other people say absolutely not. And that's sure to make a big difference in the upcoming election. Our "CNN Equals Politics" update, coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: It is time for a "CNN Equals Politics" update right now. CNN national political correspondent Jessica Yellin at the CNNpolitics.com desk in Washington.
Good Monday to you, Jessica. What's crossing right now?
JESSICA YELLIN, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Ali. My favorite race to watch is in California, partly because there is so much money being spent there, but also because I'm from California and you cannot get over the negative ads. It's worth going to YouTube just to check out the negative ads everyone's running against each other.
The latest polling there shows that the Democrats are actually pulling ahead in the state. Jerry Brown running for governor against Meg Whitman. You know she spent more than $119 million of her own dollars. He's up by five points in the latest L.A. Times/USC survey.
And then Barbara Boxer, Senate candidate against Carly Fiorina, up eight points. But the Republicans on both sides say, hey, hey, hey, too early to tell. They say this poll looks too heavily at Democrats. They are counting Democrats to turn out more than they expect. And it's still very early days. I'm telling you, go to YouTube, check out these ads. Here's another one, Ali. Why does everyone in Washington care so much about the census when most of us just find it annoying when they come and knock on your door? Here's why. Because a new survey found that based on the demographic results, based on how much the population is changing, it looks like so-called red states are going to pick up more votes than some so-called blue states.
So remember, we determine how many people go into the House of Representatives based on population and more red states are gaining population than blue states right now. Among those that are going to pick up some new votes, Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, South Carolina, Utah, and Washington. Some of those that look to lose some, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York. Also be losing votes in the electoral college if all of this holds up.
And then, Ali, I put in the category of you needed a poll for that?
VELSHI: Ha!
YELLIN: I don't need to tell you this, that most economists say that the recession has ended, but 74 percent of Americans in our latest survey say they don't feel like it's over.
VELSHI: Right.
YELLIN: Big news? Not really.
VELSHI: And until they do, it's the same thing going into a recession. Until they do, they don't open up their wallets and start spending. That gets us into the same pickle we're in.
Jessica, good to see you, as always. Jessica Yellin. Your next "CNN Equals Politics" update is just an hour away.
All right, save some dough and get some free food. We'll show you how after the break as we continue our special series "Eatocracy: Mind, Body, and Wallet."
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: I'm throwing a lot of digital stuff at you. Some of you all know this, some of you don't. FourSquare. It's a location-based social networking tool that among other things, lets you check in at different restaurants, shops, museums and other places around the country. It sends a location message to your friends via a digital application or through other Web sites like Facebook. Basically tells people where you're going, if you want them to know, I just walked into this restaurant or I'm going to see this movie.
As part of our special CNN series, "Eatocracy: Mind, Body and Wallet," we're teaming up with FourSquare and farmer's markets all across the country to promote healthy eating. Digital producer Derek Dodge has the details from a farmer's market in Atlanta. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) DEREK DODGE, CNN DIGITAL PRODUCER: We're at Peachtree Road Farmers Market in Atlanta, Georgia. I'm going to demonstrate for you how we're using Four Square to promote healthy eating. If you want people to get out, eat local, farm-fresh food and support your local farmers' market.
You can check in at one of over 6,000 farmers markets on your phone when you go to Four Square. You find your location. You check in and you can download the CNN healthy eater badge.
And you said these ones are a little bit spicier.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They are. They kind of -- sometimes, around the seeds there might be a little bit more heat to them.
DODGE: Seed. Let's try the (INAUDIBLE). That sounds good.
On your mobile phone, you come to a place like a farmers' market and you check in. It lets all your friends know online where you are. So what we did is, if you check in to a farmers' market like this one, you're going to get a CNN special healthy eater badge. It's a fun way for people to come out to farmers' markets.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Have you checked in on Four Square?
DODGE: I have. I've checked in. There's my Healthy Eater badge.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Excellent. And with your healthy eater badge, you get your choice of several prizes today. We have a box of whole wheat pasta, some leafy mustard greens, a pumpkin, some pesto or (INAUDIBLE).
DODGE: Thank you so much.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Absolutely.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
DODGE: Hey, Ali, so go to Foursquare.com/CNN, and follow us. And go to one of those farmers' markets, and you can download the CNN Healthy Eater badge when you check in.
VELSHI: And get free stuff. There's discounts and free food.
Derek, thanks very much for joining us. Good to see you.
