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Missouri Levee Near Collapse; Understanding the Federal Reserve; President Obama Hosts United Arab Emirates Prince; Risk High For Severe Storms; The Help Desk; Talk Back Question; Protesting During Pledge
Aired April 26, 2011 - 12:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Top of the hour. I'm Suzanne Malveaux. I'd like to get you up to speed.
Days of pounding rain have flooded the Black River in southeastern Missouri. So much water, a battered levee in Poplar Bluff could collapse at any moment. Several neighborhoods could go under in a flash. Hundreds of people have been forced now to evacuate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ED STERENFEL, BUTLER COUNTY COMMISSIONER: This could be very imminent danger within minutes. If the levee was to break, you will have a very, very short time to get out of the way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: People in northeastern Texas and Arkansas need to keep a close eye on the weather today. The risk of tornadoes is extremely high across the region. Violent thunderstorms and flash floods have already killed seven people in Arkansas. Arkansas's governor, Mike Beebe, is getting a look at property damage today.
And fire conditions across west Texas are extremely critical today. Temperatures are going to top out in the 90s. Humidity is low, and 45-mile-an-hour winds will fan those wildfires.
I spoke with Steve Pollock a short time ago. He is with the Texas Forest Service.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEVE POLLOCK, ASSISTANT CHIEF, TEXAS FOREST SERVICE: We've got 23 new fires burning, and we lost about just under 13,000 acres. At least six of these are large fires, which are going to bring some concern to us in six different counties.
So, with the weather we have got coming in today, carrying over from yesterday, you know, we're at a really critical stage with extreme fire weather and fire behavior probably today. So we'll have to see.
The good thing was yesterday, we didn't lose any homes or structures. We just lost some acreage.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Want to bring in our own Jacqui Jeras, who joins us.
(WEATHER REPORT)
MALVEAUX: We've got breaking news from Boulder, Colorado. Police arrested Earl Albert Moore today and turned him over to the FBI.
Moore is suspected in the attempting bombing at Littleton, Colorado's shopping mall that happened on April 20th. That was the anniversary of the attack on Columbine High School. He was paroled from federal prison earlier this month.
U.N. diplomats plan to look at human rights abuses as Syria cracks down on anti-government demonstrators.
(GUNFIRE)
MALVEAUX: Witnesses say Syrian security forces have been firing indiscriminately at protesters. Hundreds of people have been killed or arrested in the crackdown.
People in Afghanistan say 65 dangerous escapees are now back in custody. NATO says they were among the 470 or so inmates who tunneled their way out of a Kandahar prison. The Taliban says it took five months to dig that tunnel.
NFL teams open their facilities to players today. Technically, the NFL owners' lockout is over after a federal judge invalidated it. But owners are asking for a stay while they appeal. The judge gave NFL players until tomorrow morning to respond.
Right now, all eyes are on a levee in Poplar Bluff, Missouri. It stands between a bulging Black River and a city. And police are saying a section of it has failed.
On the phone with us is Wendul Hagler. He is chief of staff with the Missouri National Guard.
Thank you, Mr. Hagler, for joining us here.
Tell us what is taking place. Is there a real danger here that this levee could completely fail?
WENDUL HAGLER, CHIEF OF STAFF, MISSOURI NATIONAL GUARD: Well, you know, Suzanne, down in the southern part of Butler County, south of Poplar Bluff, there was a breach in the levee about 5:00 a.m. this morning. It's anticipated that that breach will take some pressure off of the Poplar Bluff city area itself, but it leaves vulnerable a good portion of southern Butler County. And so we're focusing our efforts in that direction at this point.
MALVEAUX: And the governor sent the National Guard yesterday. How many troops are there on the ground? What kind of resources do you have, and what can they do?
HAGLER: Well, we have 200 soldiers on the ground right there, right now. Most of those soldiers arrived last evening, into the early morning hours.
Now, the capability that they have, they're from military police units, transportation units, and we're building engineer capacity, as well. So we can participate in security operations, evacuation support, commodities distribution, health and wellness checks, and some engineering along the levee itself. But again, now that a good portion of that levee has failed south of Poplar Bluff, we'll be focusing mainly on evacuation support, security, and that health and wellness effort there.
MALVEAUX: What do you tell the residents of that area? What kind of danger are they in?
HAGLER: Well, fortunately, right now, the conditions are somewhat clear. We have a good amount of daylight to work with.
The local officials have been working very, very well with residents in the county. And that, in and of itself, helps mitigate some of the risk, just because we have some decent conditions to work with. Now, of course, that will all change come evening, and additional heavy downpours are expected.
MALVEAUX: Wendul Hagler, thank you so much. We wish you the very best in that effort. We certainly hope that the worst has not happened, but certainly a dangerous situation that people are keeping a very close eye on there, the possible breach of that levee.
Here's your chance to "Talk Back" on one of the big stories of the day.
In just a few hours, Texas Republican Congressman Ron Paul is going to take a step closer to the 2012 presidential race. He's going to announce that he's forming an exploratory committee.
And that has inspired our Carol Costello to ask the question -- because he does create a lot of attention and controversy when he jumps into the case.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I know. And if he does it this time around, it will be his third time running for president.
But what is it about Ron Paul? The Texas congressman is head of a budding political dynasty, charming, likeable, popular with young people, with unorthodox views like abolish income taxes, investigate the Fed.
In interview after interview, Ron Paul pounds away.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. RON PAUL (R), TEXAS: There is a law on the books that says that you're not allowed to counterfeit. And the biggest counterfeiters in the world is the Federal Reserve. They just print money, trillions of dollars, and they give it out to their friends.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: That doesn't exactly sound mainstream. Take a look at his legislative record.
According to GovTrack.us, Ron Paul has not accomplished much in Congress. Of the 404 bills he has sponsored since 1997, only one has passed. Four hundred and one never made it out of committee.
Ron Paul himself told Politico, "I'm not a good legislator." But he is a great presidential candidate.
Last time around, Ron Paul got virtually no publicity, and he still had a big impact. At one point his campaign was raising $3,000 a second online.
People liked his antiwar message and his fiscal conservatism, and they felt he influenced other political candidates to talk about these things. But, still, he lost the Republican nomination by a landslide. And now he's probably running for president for a third time, maybe becoming a perennial presidential candidate, you know, like Ralph Nader, the spoiler many Democrats blame for Al Gore's defeat in 2000. George W. Bush won that year, 2001.
So, "Talk Back" today: Do long shot candidates like Ron Paul play a vital role in presidential politics?
Facebook.com/CarolCNN. I'll read your comments later this hour.
MALVEAUX: Carol, covering the last presidential campaign, one thing, he had a lot of money and he had a lot of signs everywhere. Even when he dropped out of the race, there were signs everywhere. And there was always a Ron Paul supporter wherever we went, when he was long gone.
COSTELLO: And there are all different kinds of supporters. Remember -- you probably don't remember, but I did cover Ron Paul for a time. And there was one supporter in a famous YouTube video, and she, like, whipped off her T-shirt and she had "Ron Paul for President."
(LAUGHTER)
MALVEAUX: I remember that one.
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: And he embraced them all.
MALVEAUX: Yes. And he sparked a lot of debate, too. So it will be very interesting to see this go-round how he impacts his supporters.
COSTELLO: Yes, we'll see what our viewers think.
MALVEAUX: And they'll keep their shirts on this time. I don't know.
COSTELLO: It was funny.
MALVEAUX: All right. Thanks, Carol.
Here's what we have ahead "On the Rundown."
Breaking down the Federal Reserve, simply fascinating, because we're going beyond the headlines with your Fed Reserve 101.
Plus --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GARY TUCHMAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: As a Republican member of the last Republican governor of Hawaii, Linda Lingle's cabinet, do you have any doubt that Barack Obama was born in the United States?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Absolutely not. I have no doubt.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: The argument that just won't go away. We're going to try to settle that once and for all.
Also, the president meeting with the Crown Prince of the United Arab Emirates, one of only two Arab states to send warplanes into Libya.
Plus, sniff and run. Why is a flower that smells like rotting meat -- ugh -- such a big hit? And we can tell you now that flower is not making it into Westminster Abbey. We'll tell you that.
We're also dishing on another secret. We know who's baking the royal wedding cake.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: A huge SUV recalled to tell you about, and it involves 21 states. Nissan is recalling nearly 200,000 Pathfinders and Infiniti QX4s. The Pathfinders were manufactured between 1997 and 2003. The Infiniti QX4 models were made between 1996 and 2004.
They say problems with rust, corrosion could affect the steering and cause accidents. Nissan says it will make repairs now for free.
Well, he's one of the most important people in this country, but nobody says that Ben Bernanke's job is easy. Tomorrow, the Fed chair is going before reporters to explain what's worked and what hasn't in his attempt to steer the economy out of this great recession. But just how is the Fed supposed to get us out of this mess?
Our Carl Azuz is here to go beyond the headlines.
Carl, good to have you back.
AZUZ: Thank you.
MALVEAUX: Obviously, this is a very important question. Some people think that the Fed chair is more important than the president of the United States.
Very simply, tell us, what does the Fed do?
AZUZ: In a nutshell, the Fed, once known as the Federal Reserve, has one major job. It's to control the direction of the U.S. economy.
The big question, how is it supposed to do this? Well, essentially, by raising or lowering the interest rate, the rate at which we can borrow money.
This manipulation helps control inflation, employment rates, and productivity. The Fed also controls and regulates financial institutions and acts as a bank for the U.S. government and other banks, but it's that control of the interest rate that's really key here.
MALVEAUX: So what do we think they're going to be discussing in these two-day meetings?
AZUZ: There are a number of things that Chairman Bernanke is expected to be grilled on, Suzanne.
First, the jobs market, the big one. Right now, the unemployment rate, 8.8 percent. That's down from a high of 10.1 percent in October of '09, but it's hardly cause for celebration. Many economists think the decrease is based on unemployed people simply giving up, not actively seeking jobs.
We're also dealing with long-term unemployment now. More than six million Americans have been out of work for more than half a year.
Bernanke will also be talking about the housing market. He has a lot to do with what you pay for your mortgage.
The Fed has kept its main interest rate at historic lows, near zero, since December of 2008. And that in turn has kept our mortgage rates at attractive levels, and for homebuyers. But it's gotten a lot harder to get a loan from a bank since the housing bubble burst. And even the record-low rates have not been enough to attract buyers and get the housing market moving again. You also have foreclosures still dragging down home prices.
And talking about the stock market. In 2010, the Fed bought up $600 billion worth of treasury bonds to bolster the stock market, and looking at the market since then, the plan seems to have worked. Stock market indexes are up somewhat, but the gains have not really trickled down to Main Street yet.
Now, there are other metrics or measuring sticks here. Consumer prices are up 2.7 percent over the last year. And food and gas prices, those have been surging even higher.
So, long story short, the Fed has not led us out of the woods yet.
MALVEAUX: So what do we think would have happened if Bernanke had not made the moves that he had made? Do we have any sense of where we would be in the economy today?
AZUZ: That is an excellent question that I would absolutely hate to answer. And it's the sort of question that Chairman Bernanke is going to be pressed for in these hearings. In short, I can tell you, it's a difficult time to be chairman of the Fed, and he is going to have some tough questions for him at this press conference, Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: I'm looking forward to see how he answers some of those tough questions. A lot of people want to know whether or not the economy is going to get any better.
AZUZ: With good reason.
MALVEAUX: And whether or not he can do anything about it.
All right, Carl. Thanks for breaking it down for us, beyond the headlines.
AZUZ: Thank you, Suzanne. I appreciate it.
MALVEAUX: A reminder to vote in today's "Choose the News." Tell us which story you'd like to see by texting 22360.
First, new apps are released every day, yes? But few as controversial as this one. It is called Dog Wars, and the game simulates dog fighting. As you can imagine, animal rights groups are outraged, saying it promoting cruelty, but the app designer says it does exactly the opposite.
Second, it is something that most of us did every day when school started. You stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. Well, two Texas students are taking a stand by sitting during the pledge. They argue that the school rule requiring them to rise is not fair.
Plus, the royal wedding price tag. From the flowers to security, the food, the clothing, a closer look at just how much Friday's royal celebration is going to cost.
Vote by texting 22360. Text 1 for "Dog Fighting App"; 2 for "Sitting for Pledge"; or 3 for "Royal Wedding Cost."
The winning story will air later this hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: The Syrian government's crackdown against protesters is growing bloodier.
(GUNFIRE)
Human rights groups say more than 400 people have been killed across several weeks. This is amateur video taken over the weekend, but CNN cannot confirm because our reporters are not allowed into the country. Meanwhile, the U.S. is preparing new sanctions against members of the Syrian regime.
And in Libya, government forces launch more strikes on the embattled city of Misrata as rebels seek Gadhafi's ouster. Hundreds have been killed in the city under siege for seven weeks now. The U.N. says people have been hiding in their homes for two months, just waiting for a lull in the fighting.
With all the tension in the Middle East, President Obama is set to meet next hour with the Crown Prince of the United Arab Emirates.
Our CNN White House correspondent Brianna Keilar joins us from the White House.
Brianna, good to see you.
Tell us why the two are meeting, why this critical time, and what they hope to accomplish.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly one of the reasons they're meeting is because the UAE is pretty significant, playing a role as an ally as we see all of this unrest in the Middle East. The UAE, one of just a few Arab nations to lend its support in the NATO-led mission in Libya. But overall, Suzanne, the White House is being pretty tight-lipped about what President Obama and the Crown Prince are going to discuss.
Here is what White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAY CARNEY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: They'll be discussing regional security issues, as you would expect. The UAE has been a very helpful partner with the coalition in dealing with Libya. And, you know -- but I think they'll talk about broader issues, as well as specifically Libya.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Now, I'm also told that this will be a chance, perhaps, for President Obama to thank the UAE for their involvement. But again, Suzanne, very few specifics here.
MALVEAUX: And Brianna, do you think they'll discuss human rights? There are some activists who have been detained there just very recently.
KEILAR: That's right. Human Rights Watch bringing this to light here in the last couple of days, five activists who have been detained by the UAE for, among other reasons, opposing the government and insulting top officials, including the Crown Prince, who will be here today. Human Rights Watch saying that this is a serious setback for human rights in the UAE. Would this be an area of tension that will be discussed? We're not sure. We're obviously not in the meeting. In fact, we have still photographs that we'll be getting of the meeting. We haven't been allowed to have video cameras even at the top of the meeting, Suzanne.
We'll be getting a readout from the White House. It's really up to them if they're going to highlight areas of tension. And I suspect we won't be hearing that.
MALVEAUX: OK.
Brianna Keilar from the White House.
Thank you very much, Brianna.
While workers frantically try to contain the nuclear crisis in Japan, today marks a dark anniversary for the world's worst nuclear power disaster. It has been 25 years since the explosion at Chernobyl.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX (voice-over): The numbers from that disaster are staggering. According to the World Health Organization, 240,000 cleanup workers received high levels of exposure in their attempts to contain the radioactive debris. Twenty-eight of them died that year. And public health experts believe that as many as 4,000 of those exposed to the disaster died later of cancers linked to Chernobyl.
Children were also impacted. Five thousand cases of thyroid cancer were diagnosed among Ukraine's youngest victims exposed to the leak.
In all, nearly 350,000 people were forced to abandon their homes as a radioactive cloud blew over Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: Twenty-five years later, there are still serious safety concerns about the threat of radiation from the site. The area around that power plant remains a virtual ghost town.
Well, debunking the birthers. CNN's Gary Tuchman travels to Hawaii to prove that the president was born there. He shows us what it takes for someone to get documentation of their birth.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TUCHMAN (voice-over): We wanted to see what you get when you ask for your Hawaii birth certificate.
(on camera): Next door, birth, death, marriage. That works for us.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): We met 49-year-old Stig Vitalick (ph) and told him we would pay $7 for a new berth certificate for him. (on camera): I'm Gary Tuchman from CNN. We're here to get a birth certificate for Stig (ph).
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: Ahead "On the Rundown," closing the case on the birther investigation. Was the president born in Hawaii or not? Well, the results of our CNN investigation.
Plus, tornadoes lighting up radar screens across parts of the country. We're tracking them for you. We're going to tell what you to expect.
Also, let them eat cake. And they certainly will. We're going to tell you who is baking the most talked about cake this year.
It is the story that just will not go away, Donald Trump and his questions about whether President Obama was born here in the United States. Well, Trump's latest claim is that the president's birth certificate now is missing, but he offered no evidence to support that claim when he was challenged by CNN's Anderson Cooper last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON COOPER, HOST, "ANDERSON COOPER 360": We've interviewed the former director of the Hawaii Department of Health, a Republican, one of two state officials who has actually seen the original birth certificate that you're talking about in the Department of Health vault. She says she hasn't been contacted by your people.
I mean, isn't that somebody they should talk to if they're there?
DONALD TRUMP, ENTREPRENEUR: Well, I've been told very recently, Anderson, that the birth certificate is missing. I've been told that it's not there and it doesn't exist. And if that's the case --
COOPER: Who told you that?
TRUMP: -- that's a big problem. I just heard that two days ago from somebody.
COOPER: From your investigators or --
TRUMP: I don't want to say who, but I've been told that the birth certificate is not there, it's missing.
COOPER: Can you name even one person who your investigators have talked to, just one?
TRUMP: I don't want to do that. It's not appropriate right now.
COOPER: You can't say anybody who they talked to?
TRUMP: Well, it's just not appropriate, Anderson. You wouldn't want to do that either if I asked you that same question. I mean, it just right now would not be appropriate. It's too soon.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Well, some people refuse to believe that President Obama was born in the United States no matter what. But what's the real story? And what does the evidence say?
Well, our CNN's national correspondent, Gary Tuchman, he traveled to the president's birthplace to investigate, and he found that claims by the so-called birthers have no merit.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TUCHMAN (voice-over): "The Honolulu Star-Bulletin" newspaper in August, 1961, declares, "Mr. and Mrs. Barack H. Obama have given birth to a son," a simple birth announcement that has become part of a complex web of conspiracy theories, with one question looming above all others.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I was born in Hawaii.
TUCHMAN: Was President Obama really born in the United States? The answer? Yes.
(on camera): Have you seen Barack Obama's original birth certificate?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Dr. Chiyome Fukino is the former director of the Hawaii Department of Health and a devoted Republican. Until now she had not talked on camera about this topic.
(on camera): As a Republican member of the last Republican governor of Hawaii, Linda Lingle's cabinet, do you have any doubt that Barack Obama was born in the United States?
DR. CHIYOME FUKINO, FMR. DIRECTOR, HAWAII STATE DEPT. OF HEALTH: Absolutely not. I have no doubt.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): Dr. Fukino says she was asked last year by the governor's press secretary to make a statement about the birth certificate controversy. Under state law a public official can look at someone else's certificate if there is a quote, "direct and tangible interest." She indeed felt she had that interest because of the statement she had to make.
So she found the original Obama birth certificate, stored in a vault in the Department of Health building.
(on camera): And what did it tell you? Was it authentic? Was he born here in the state of Hawaii?
FUKINO: It was absolutely authentic. He was absolutely born here in the state of Hawaii. TUCHMAN (voice-over): But Dr. Fukino says even if she hadn't seen the original certificate this document, the President's computer- generated certificate, which was made public three years ago, had already proven he was born in Hawaii.
(on camera): There's quite a bit of irony over this original birth certificate debate. And that is the original documents are no longer even certified by the state. The Health Department says President Obama or any other Hawaiian could still go through the process of getting one, but either way they're no longer supposed to be used for official purposes. Only the computer-generated ones will do.
(voice-over): We wanted to see what you get when you ask for your Hawaii birth certificate.
(on camera): Next door. Birth, death, marriage. Birth for us.
STIG VITALIC: Ok.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): We met 49-year-old Stig Vitalic and told him we'd pay $7 for a new birth certificate for him.
(on camera): I'm Gary Tuchman with CNN. We're here to get a birth certificate for Stig.
(voice-over): We asked Stig because we also saw his birth announcement in the Honolulu newspaper. In the same article, four names down, another newborn, born 13 hours earlier. Barack Obama.
(on camera): And do you give him his original certificate or the electronic copy?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a computerized birth certificate.
TUCHMAN: So this is Stig's certificate of live birth. It's the same form Barack Obama has. The very same form every Hawaiian now gets when they request their birth certificate. Has his name on it, his birth date, August 5th, 1961, the day after the President. It says it was filed August 8th, 1961. This is a raised seal to show its authenticity.
And on the bottom perhaps the most important line, "This copy serves as prima facie evidence of the fact of birth in any court proceeding."
(voice-over): Nobody we talked to doubts Stig's citizenship. But a CNN poll shows 25 percent of Americans doubt President Obama's.
Another part of the conspiracy theory is that the birth announcement in the paper is a fake, planted by his family or someone else who wanted to trick the world into believing the future president was born in the U.S.
Dan Nakaso is a long-time newspaper reporter in Honolulu. (on camera): There are a number of people who believe that Barack Obama wasn't born in the United States, that his mother or grandmother called the newspaper and gave false information that he was born in the United States.
DAN NAKASO, ADVERTISER, "HONOLULU STAR": Right.
TUCHMAN: Is it possible that could have gotten in the newspaper like that?
NAKASO: No. That's not possible. Under the -- under the system that existed back then there was no avenue for people to submit information that way.
TUCHMAN: So how did the information get in the paper?
NAKASO: Information came directly from the State Department of Health.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): We confirmed that fact with the Health Department too. All birth announcements printed in the paper came directly from the birth records of the hospital.
(on camera): So why won't President Obama just release a copy of his original birth certificate? Well, there are some who say he won't do it because the word "Muslim" is on it. But we've taken a look at the original vault birth certificate of another man, and while there are extra spaces on it for hospital and for ages of the parents and for the occupation of the father, there is no space whatsoever for religion.
And the former director of the Health Department, who has seen Barack Obama's original birth certificate, confirms there is no mention whatsoever of religion. The White House says in part no matter what Barack Obama says or does there are many doubters who will still doubt.
(voice-over): Barack Obama not only has the same proof of birth as millions of other Hawaiians, he also has the current Hawaii governor's memories of him as a baby.
(on camera): You saw him when he was an infant?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, sure. Of course.
TUCHMAN (voice-over): In part two of our investigation, the people who don't need to see birth certificates to know the president was born in Hawaii.
Gary Tuchman, CNN, Honolulu.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: Want to bring in our CNN senior legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin, who joins us by phone. And Jeffrey, thanks for being with us here. You know, I challenged Donald trump on his birther claims. Anderson did, Gary did, Candy did. We've all did the same. CNN has thoroughly debunked his theories now.
But the president could file a freedom of information act to have the original birth certificate, which is stored in this vault in the department of health be released to the public, or at least photocopied. Wouldn't doing that, if he did that, resolve this matter once and for all?
JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST (on the phone): Not at all. Because most of the people who are pushing this birther issue are out of their minds. And the fact that President Obama addresses the conspiracy theory will only add to the conspiracy theory. This is an impossible problem to address, because the people who are pushing it are either bigots or insane or, like Donald Trump, just using it for political advantage.
MALVEUAX: Is there any reason why these original birth certificates, the state of Hawaii, puts them in a vault in the first place? Why aren't they made public?
TOOBIN: A lot of states have done similar things. I mean, as you can tell from Gary's piece, it's now very easy to get a certificate of live birth, which a lot of people need for passports or other purposes. It can now be computer-generated. And it can be done in a variety of places. If there is only one birth certificate on file, it's a lot easier for the state to use a computer system that allows people to get access very quickly to these documents for seven dollars and not a lot of trouble.
MALVEAUX: You've mentioned before, there really is no legal reason to produce this original birth certificate. Would there be any political advantage the president could have if he, in fact, made that public? Or your feeling is it just wouldn't convince the people who are not going to be convinced?
TOOBIN: I mean, if there are serious people out there who think that Obama's family planted a newspaper announcement almost 50 years ago on the theory that this baby might become president, these are not people who can be reasoned with.
Also, I mean, I think there may be a political reason for Obama to keep this controversy going. This is what a lot of Republicans are talking about or even obsessed about. It makes them look crazy. That is not a problem for Barack Obama. That's a party for -- that's a problem for the Republican party. And sane Republicans, like Karl Rove, are encouraging their fellow Republicans to say, get off this craziness and get on to the issues.
MALVEAUX: We have heard the same from Michele Bachmann as well as Governor Jan Brewer, as well, saying, look, this is not something the Republicans want to continue to embrace.
Jeffrey Toobin, thank you so much for your insights. Both legal and political. Thanks, Jeff.
A reminder to vote for which story you would like to see later this hour. You can vote by texting 22360. Vote 1 for dog fighting app. It's a new app that allows users to simulate a dog fight. Animal rights activists are outraged, but the creator says it's going to help protect animals. Vote 2 for sitting for pledge. Some would argue, it is patriotic to rise to the pledge of allegiance, but two Texas high school students, they stayed seated and drew national attention. Vote 3 for royal wedding costs. This is a breakdown of how much Friday's big event is going to cost.
Well, every bride deserves a bouquet made for a queen. But Kate Middleton, she's really getting one. What royal flowers will adorn the wedding? That up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEUAX: After months of anticipation, just two more days before Kate and William will be wed. This is a live picture of Buckingham Palace where soon the guests will eat royal cake. Our CNN's Max Foster found out the sweet details of the couple's just desserts.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's nice.
MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Fiona Cairns is famous for her fruit cakes, and has a famous client list to match. Bono and Paul McCartney amongst them. But what was it like to get a call from the palace?
FIONA CAIRNS, ROYAL WEDDING CAKE MAKER: It was terribly exciting. I was overwhelmed. I felt privileged, excited, and daunted all at the same time.
FOSTER: Kate, it seems, knew exactly what she wanted.
CAIRNS: She chooses her mood board. She has quite a few ideas and has led us as to how she would like her wedding cake to be. So, quite traditional but a bit of modern twist.
FOSTER: The main royal wedding cake will be a classic design. No color, just cream and white, with carefully considered floral decorations, each with a meaning.
CAIRNS: I've been learning very much from her. But she has selected these flowers. For example, the bridal rose symbolizes happiness. The oak and acorn symbolizes strength and endurance. And we have a long list. A lot of these are actually within the architecture of Buckingham Palace. And Sweet William, oh, we haven't met Sweet William yet. But we will be.
FOSTER (on camera): But William, he's actually been working on his own cake as well. In a break from tradition here at Buckingham Palace, he's actually going to have a groom's cake. Guess what? It's made of chocolate cookies.
(voice-over): McVitie's "Rich Tea" mixed with chocolate into a cake mix that William has grown up with.
PAUL COURTNEY, CAKE HEAD CHEF, MCVITIE'S: It's once-in-a- lifetime opportunity. Absolutely delighted.
We were asked by the palace if we would make a cake that was one of Prince William's favorite cakes. It is the palace's recipe and they swore me to secrecy. It's going to be literally covered in chocolate decorations. It's going to look absolutely beautiful.
FOSTER: Both wedding cakes will have multiple tiers, and they'll be big enough for the 600 guests to have a slice of each.
As to what they'll look like --
CAIRNS: Well, that's a surprise really.
FOSTER: Max Foster, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: And another tightly held royal wedding secret now revealed. The flowers. Buckingham Palace says that Kate and William chose azaleas, rhododendrons, wisteria and lilac. The palace also says these are seasonal and organic flowers, and they're from growers around England as well as the royal estates.
And check out this story. A flower that doesn't smell so sweet. Not even close. It's blooming, and it is stinky. In all its stinky glory, iReporter Andy Wolf from Columbus, Ohio, sent us this time lapse of the so-called corpse flower. It only blooms every ten years, and, boy, it does not smell good, to say the least. The more it opens up, the stinkier it gets. Andy says thousands lined up to smell it at Ohio State University. Yuck.
Thunder, lightning and a high risk of tornadoes. Who is now in the bull's eye? Our Chad Myers is taking a look in just a matter of minutes.
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MALVEAUX: Our own Chad Myers looking into severe storms and who's at risk.
Chad, hey.
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: A lot of people are going to say uncle after today, I think. It's just in the same spot again. Another round of severe weather will fire up from Dallas through Memphis. About three or four times a year, maybe five at the outside, we get something called a high-risk day. There are categories. It's kind of -- it's government.
Anyway, high-risk days. What does it mean? It means that there's a potential for big-time weather, including tornadoes, hail and also wind damage. This is the biggest threat we get of the year. There will be many watches, there will be many warnings. Get your NOAA weather radio on right now, central plains.
MALVEAUX: All right, Chad, thanks. Thanks for the warning. MYERS: Sure.
MALVEAUX: You're sounding off on our "Talk Back" question, do long-shot candidates like Ron Paul play a vital role in presidential politics? Well, Christopher Butterworth says, "long shot candidates only nab meaningless, small votes from the surefire winners." Some of your responses, just moments away, including yours, Justin.
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STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Time now for "The Help Desk. This is where we get answers to your financial questions. With me this hour, Gary Schatsky. He's the president of objectiveadvice.com. And Ryan Mack is the president of Optimum Capital Management.
Thanks, guys, for being here. The first question comes to us from Jessica who writes in, "I would like to start saving for retirement and was wondering if investing was the best way and how to start. I am a single parent with fairly low income, self-employed, and would like to keep my taxes down as much as possible." She sounds like a good American. I think a lot of us feel that way, Gary.
GARY SCHATSKY, PRESIDENT, OBJECTIVEADVICE.COM: Absolutely. Look, investing is the right way. The first thing, though, you should look at is paying down debt, if you have high-interest debt, because for many people paying down debt is the best investment they can make.
After that, if you're talking about retirement, putting things away, whether it's a Roth IRA. If you're in a relatively low tax bracket, a Roth IRA is not tax deductible but it grows tax-free for the rest of your life. It's an amazing opportunity. And as a self- employed person, they can open a simplified employee pension which will allow you to put away a lot of money on a tax deductible basis.
ELAM: Just love that she's thinking about it.
All right, our next question comes from a viewer in Tarrytown, New York, who writes, "how do I pay off non-defaulted, private/public student loans in a lump sum? If paying all at once, can I negotiate a lower payoff?"
What's the answer, Ryan.
RYAN MACK, PRESIDENT, OPTIMUM CAPITAL MANAGEMENT: Well, the answer -- I always like -- my grandmother used to say, a closed mouth doesn't get fed. So I always like to always at least ask. But, generally, federal loans are usually non-negotiable and they're usually pretty hard to negotiate those down. You might be able to get some sort of temporary relief if you have deferment for a medical hardship. But as far as relates to private loans with institutions, you might be able to get those -- negotiate those down. Again, they're in it for the business, and if you're not -- on non-default and you haven't been late at all yet, they're not in it for the business to loan out 5,000 just to get back 4,000. So they wouldn't be open that long. So, again, but the biggest question here again, liquidity. Do you want to use all your emergency fund in order to pay down all your student loans without -- and mitigate the risk that you might lose your job, get sick or something of that nature? I wouldn't want to be liquidity deficient in this market of credit crunch.
ELAM: And it is student loans, so it's a good kind of debt.
MACK: Exactly. Exactly.
ELAM: So thank you for the maternal says. Thank you to you both for your advice here.
And if you have a question that you would like to get answered, send us an e-mail any time, cnnhelpdesk@cnn.com.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
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MALVEAUX: You've been weighing in on our "Talk Back" question of the day. It's about Congressman Ron Paul and his expected announcement of forming a presidential exploratory committee. Our Carol Costello with your responses.
Carol, what did they say?
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we're doing this story because Ron -- this will be his third presidential run. He's never won.
MALVEAUX: Right.
COSTELLO: He's becoming a perennial candidate, like Ralph Nader. So the question today, do long-shot candidates like Ron Paul play a vital role in presidential politics?
This from Carlos. "His impact and supporters do nothing more than hurt and essentially a speed bump, just like Nader. A bump that could steal important votes that will sway the vote one way or the other."
This from Justin. "Although the electoral college and primary votes tend to erase these long-shot candidates from the election, they do make an impact on the people. I would like to see Ron Paul give Trump and Obama a run for their money, but I would vote for Barney Frank or Ralph Nader if given the choice."
This from Laura. "Their presence in the national discussion is a reminder that even at times when the political system appears broken and fractured, that everyone who wants a voice can have one. No it matter how far out there they may actually be."
And this from Jason. "Ron Paul shouldn't be a long-shot candidate. He should get the Republican ticket and he'd beat Obama because Paul would actually change some things, whereas Obama is still full of empty promises." See, Ron Paul has plenty of support out there.
Facebook.com/carolcnn. Please continue the conversation. And, as always, thank you for your comments.
MALVEAUX: All right, thank you, Carol.
And also want to mention as well that Congressman Ron Paul, he's going to be on CNN this evening at 8:00 p.m. on "In The Arena." It's going to be interesting to see if he's going to possibly run for president and whether or not he's going to mix it all up a little bit.
COSTELLO: Oh, he will.
MALVEAUX: Yes, it will be fun to cover.
All right, thanks, Carol.
COSTELLO: Sure.
MALVEAUX: You told us what story that you wanted to see. Your "Choose The News" story just moments away.
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MALVEAUX: You told us which story you wanted to see. Here's your "Choose the News" winner. Two Texas high school students take a stand by sitting during the Pledge of Allegiance. Their protest forces an entire school district to change a rule that most didn't even know existed. Our Christi Myers from our affiliate KTRK reports.
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CHRISTI MYERS, KTRK REPORTER (voice-over): In Sweeny, Texas, there are a few things never questioned. The American flags that line main street, the 4-H club's bake sale, and standing for the Pledge of Allegiance every morning at school. That is, until two students at the high school decided not to stand up.
TYLER COSSEY, CLASSMATE: If you had to pick somebody that would do this out of the school, like you would not pick them. Like it's like shocking because they're not -- they're not bad students. They're actually both really nice, really smart, honor roll.
MYERS: Tyler Cossey knows both students. She says their decision not to follow school rules and stand during the pledge shocked everyone. Even catching the superintendent off guard.
RANDY MIKSCH, SWEENY SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT: You know, I didn't think it was that big of a deal, you know, because we've -- I don't know that -- I always thought it was out of respect for the flag and the country and that you just did that.
MYERS: But when pressed, the two seniors took their case to the ACLU, which requested the school to look into the matter. And after consulting with attorneys, the district this week changed its policy, no longer requiring students to stand.
CLARISSA PETTEWAY-SMITH, SWEENY SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER: Even though we don't agree with the law all the time, we have to obey and follow the law. And, no, I don't think the kids should be punished for it.
MYERS: In a statement, the ACLU of Texas said, quote, "our Bill of Rights and American tradition protect dissenters and the majority just the same, and the right to express disagreements is a patriotic value that all Texans should fight for."
Students we talked to say they're surprised by the amount of controversy this has generated in one small town. And Cossey says she hopes her classmates are not vilified for being teenagers.
COSSEY: I don't think they're against America at all. I think it's really just a rebellion thing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: If your choice did not win or you just want to check out the runners up, I'll have links to them on my page at facebook.com/suzannecnn. CNN NEWSROOM continues right now with Randi Kaye, who's in for Ali Velshi.
Hey, Randi.
