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Palin's Bus Tour Itinerary Being Kept in Secret; Obama's Approval Ratings Up; Egypt Under Fire for Virginity Tests; Home Prices Down 4.2 Percent in First Quarter; NYPD: Former Bank Exec Assaulted Maid; Romney to Announce This Week; Weiner Claims it's a Twitter Prank; The Dangers of Pill Mills; FIFA Under Fire for Corruption Allegations
Aired May 31, 2011 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: It is 9:00 a.m. on the East Coast, 6:00 a.m. out West. I'm Carol Costello, sitting in for Kyra Phillips. Good morning to you.
Sarah Palin, day two of her One Nation bus tour. We'll tell you where she is, what she's saying and what she's keeping secret.
For the second time this month, a banking figure is accused of sexually assaulting a hotel made. New York police say the 74-year-old Egyptian attacked the woman when she delivered items to his room.
And in Libya, embattled leader Moammar Gadhafi is apparently ready for a ceasefire. That's according to the South African president who's trying to broker a truce but Gadhafi is not promising to step down, which is the main demand of the rebels.
Sarah Palin's One Nation bus tour is in Gettysburg, finally. There are times Palin sounds like a would-be presidential candidate but she still isn't ready to call her tour anything but a campaign for America's Constitution.
The tour started in Washington, D.C. where she and her family visited some historical landmarks. And then it continued on to Pennsylvania. There was some confusion about where exactly her bus was headed at times since she refuses to tell the so-called mainstream media exactly where she is going except, of course, for FOX News, her employer.
Her co-worker, Greta Van Susteren was invited on the bus. Palin told Van Susteren, despite how things look, her One Nation tour is not political.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SARAH PALIN (R), FORMER ALASKA GOVERNOR: It's not about me. It's not a publicity-seeking tour. It's about highlighting the great things about America and the media can figure out where we're going if they do their investigative work or they're going to keep kind of -- as you put it, going crazy trying to figure out what we're doing here.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Our Jim Acosta is in Gettysburg.
So, Jim said, did you do your investigative homework? Have you figured it out? Where is the bus?
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we've been doing a little bit of digging this morning, Carol. And I can tell you that she has given us the slip again.
Her bus is parked at the hotel right now but we understand from talking to our CNN political reporter Peter Hamby that she gave all of us the slip getting into a different vehicle that is in her entourage earlier this morning and she is now somewhere on the battlefield site here at Gettysburg, seeing the park with her family.
So she's done it to us again. This has been the pattern of her over the last 48 hours, sort of a game of cat and mouse. Catch me if you can, if you will. And this -- some of this is by design. I mean obviously, she wants to generate a certain amount of buzz. And what better way to generate buzz about your non-campaign than to sort of give the media the slip here and there.
But she did stop yesterday evening to talk to reporters in a sort of brief question-and-answer session. We threw a lot of different questions at her. Obviously, we asked her again whether or not she's running for president. That's been done over and over again.
And just to give you a nature of how -- you know, sort of fly by the seat of the pants that we're operating on right now, I grabbed my flip cam last night and asked her my own question about what she would do to help the ailing economy. And here's what she had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: With the economy such a big issue, do you have any thoughts on how to fix the economy? Any big ideas you'd like to see out there?
PALIN: The big ideas are for big tax cuts for the job creators to be able to keep more of what they are earning and producing and reinvesting in the businesses instead of government taking it and then doling out the dollars according to a politician's priorities.
That doesn't work. You know that's what -- that leads you towards socialism and look at the other countries that have based their economy on that socialism. It doesn't work so --
ACOSTA: Sounds like somebody who wants to run.
PALIN: I want a strong economy, that's for doggone sure.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
ACOSTA: Now we understand she's headed to Philadelphia later today. But all of those details are of course being kept very close to the vest. And reporters are only finding out about this at the last minute. We understand that yesterday reporters were literally chasing her up Interstate 95 as she was traveling to Baltimore and then along state highways out here to Gettysburg yesterday.
That is how unconventional and impromptu all of this is, Carol. You know it's literally a game of catch me if you can.
COSTELLO: I wonder what would happen if we stopped chasing the bus. Anyway, I have this question for you.
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: Tim Pawlenty, a Republican who is running for president, recently told MSNBC, "We need to quit worrying about polls and bus tours and get on to the issue of how we are going to fix the country."
Sounds like he is a little annoyed by this. What are other Republican candidates saying?
ACOSTA: We -- they're all doing interviews. Mitt Romney and Michele Bachmann also did interviews with various networks in the last 24 hours. And they're all being asked the Palin question and they're all sort of deflecting it in the usual politician way, which is, well, I'm focused on what I'm doing now.
Mitt Romney is announcing he's running for president on Thursday up in New Hampshire. But let's face it, right now, Sarah Palin, because of who she is, because of what she brings to the field, this unpredictable, unconventional, nontraditional campaign, it is going to suck the oxygen out of this field, out of this campaign for the next several days or so.
But the trick for Sarah Palin is to come up with a second act. She can only do this for so long. Eventually, she's going to have to answer questions about what she might do if she is going to run for president. What her platform might be if she puts together a presidential campaign.
I would look for that in the next day or so. That is why I started asking those questions last night, because at some point we have to get away from the cat and mouse and towards real substance. And I think that's probably the next chapter in this unfolding drama -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Well, thank god for your flip cam, Jim Acosta.
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: We appreciate it.
ACOSTA: I'll do what I can.
COSTELLO: OK. We'll get back to you next hour.
ACOSTA: You bet. COSTELLO: Now to the man who currently sits in the White House, that would be President Barack Obama. He's feeling a bit more love at least when it comes to all things international.
The latest CNN Opinion Research poll shows President Obama's approval rating stands at 54 percent. That's six points higher than in early April.
Ed Henry is at the White House with a closer look at this poll.
So, Ed, how much of this bounce comes out of the raid that killed Osama bin Laden?
ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, I think that's a big part of it. And frankly, we know exactly where the president is. He is in the White House right now. He probably would like to hear the good news from these phone numbers because I think you're right.
The bin Laden raid clearly had something to do with it because the president's numbers in terms of handling terrorism, for example, have shot up. That's a big part of it. He's got an approval rating of 65 percent on terrorism, only 34 percent disapproving.
And even look at taxes. Traditionally a good Republican issue. Forty-six percent approve of the way the president is handling taxes, 53 percent disapprove. And in fact the big lift he's getting here as well is that his numbers -- approval rating among Republicans has shot up 12 points in recent weeks.
That is probably due in large part to -- again, terrorism traditionally has been a bit more favorable for Republicans. The president takes out Osama bin Laden. Suddenly, Republicans, Democrats, independents, see him with a bit more stature as commander and chief -- Carol.
COSTELLO: So, Ed, I know there are some weak points in this poll, too. Tell us about those.
HENRY: Well, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that the jobs picture is still complicated for a lot of Americans. Economy, gas prices, and look at the president's number on those.
In terms of the handling of the economy, he's got an approval rating of 41 percent, disapproval of 58 percent. Gas prices, approval, 25 percent, disapproval, 73 percent. I mean, frankly, I'm surprised 25 percent, that it's that high. I mean how can you even find 25 percent of the country thinking that gas prices are anywhere acceptable right now?
People are very frustrated. So those are certainly challenges for this president once the Republicans pick their nominee. Those are areas where he's going to be vulnerable.
COSTELLO: Ed Henry, live at the White House. A disturbing story coming out of Egypt and those demonstrations this spring. Listen to this. A senior Egyptian general is admitting that some of the 17 women arrested at this March 19th demonstration were checked to determine if they were virgins.
Our Zain Verjee joins us live from London.
Zain, to many of us here in the United States, this sounds -- well, it just sounds awful.
ZAIN VERJEE, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's awful. And to many people in the Arab world, it's horrifying as well. These 17 women were subjected to some pretty brutal things here.
What some of them say is this, they say after they were detained, they were beaten, they were given electric shocks, they were strip- searched, they were threatened with prostitution charges, and then they were forced to have these virginity tests.
Just listen to what one woman had to say, Carol.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SALWA HOSSEINI, SAYS SHE UNDERWENT "VIRGINITY CHECK" (Through Translator): They made us sign statements declaring where or not we are virgins. During the test, no one was standing except for a woman and a male doctor. Six soldiers were standing behind us watching the back side of the bed. I think they were there to be witnesses.
(END OF VIDEO CLIP)
VERJEE: Listen to the army's logic here, Carol. They said that they did these virginity tests to make sure that these 17 women were virgins, because then that way, the army says that they couldn't be accused of sexual assault. And that's the reason they say they did it.
Anyway, it turned out that none of these women were virgins. And so then the army said, well, you're all prostitutes, and wanted to put them in jail and then they freed them. And one view that came out was that's because some of them held university degrees. So they couldn't possibly be prostitutes.
It's an awful situation for these women. And the army is really --
COSTELLO: OK, so --
VERJEE: -- doing something horrifying.
COSTELLO: So supposedly it's a new Egypt, under new leadership. Will anything happen?
VERJEE: Well, it's really unclear right now because the army is running the show and the country, they are the powerhouse. Now it's likely -- it's possible that these women could seek some kind of legal action. But the problem is, is that in Egypt right now, the army is operating pretty much as a military dictatorship.
That's what people are afraid of. That they're going to hang on for a much longer time and not quickly get to the elections that have been promised. There's been a lot of criticism of the military by many Egyptians that are really unhappy and that's why you see a lot of people fill out on the streets like these women.
COSTELLO: Zain Verjee, live in London, thank you.
More NATO attacks today on forces loyal to Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi. They come a day after South African President Jacob Zuma presented Gadhafi with an African Union ceasefire plan. Zuma says Gadhafi may be ready for a ceasefire.
And in Rome, eight high-ranking Libyan army officers held a news conference to talk about their defection along with more than 100 soldiers. The officers include five generals.
In New York, a foreign banking figure is accused of assaulting a hotel maid. No, it's not the story you've heard about all month. This is a different case altogether.
Deb Feyerick will have details for you.
And look what turned up on the beaches in Brevard County or Brevard County, Florida. Jellyfish stings turned out to be a real holiday danger for beachgoers. We'll also have more on that story just ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: I wish I didn't have to talk about this. But there are new housing numbers we just got in to CNN and you're not going to like them. The price of an existing home continues to sink perhaps to an all-time low.
Chief business correspondent Ali Velshi joins us now.
Oh, this hurts.
ALI VELSHI, CNN SENIOR BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it does hurt, because housing is so much of some people's assets. And, you know, we kind of need the housing prices to solidify a little bit.
We're getting this news from the S&P's Case-Shiller Review. It's a study of 20 major metropolitan areas. A fairly thorough study. And what they're saying is that from last March to this March, housing prices in the U.S., existing homes, the price dropped 4.2 percent in the -- in this first quarter.
And that is much lower than we had expected. It confirmed some people's view of a possible double-dip in housing.
And I just want to temper that a little bit, Carol, by telling you there are some real reasons why we are seeing home prices lower now that we did a year ago. One of them is: a year ago, we had that first-time home buyer's credit. That stimulated a lot of buying. Number two, we continue to have foreclosures. Until we are done with these large numbers of foreclosures, it's going to keep downward pressure on houses. There's a lot of houses out there.
So, for some people, what this means, Carol, is that housing has become more affordable. Between sub 5 percent mortgage rates and continuing decreases in housing prices, there are some people that couldn't have afforded a house five years ago in America, who can now. But for people who are stuck in their homes, having trouble making payments, unemployed and trying to sell a house, this is not good news. This is the S&P Case-Shiller report confirming that home prices are down 4.2 percent in the first quarter of this year. A further drop, bringing them to lows that we haven't seen since the recession.
COSTELLO: Well, Ali, even if you -- even if you get a bargain on a house -- I mean, if the housing market hasn't bottomed out yet, should you even buy now?
VELSHI: Yes. Yes, absolutely, because you're not -- while you will see home prices increase over time, our problem with houses is that there's too much inventory out there. That will disappear. What also is going to disappear are those 30-year fixed mortgage rates that are under 5 percent. That's the issue.
If your home price might drop another 10 percent, if you see interest rates go up 1 percent to 2 percent to 6 percent or 7 percent, which is more likely than seeing house prices drop another 20, if you take a mortgage over 15 or 30 years, Carol, it still makes it a better deal to buy a house now. If you are buying with cash, that's a different story altogether. But if you are taking a long mortgage, like Americans do, it's still a good buyer's market right now.
The problem is if you are a seller trying to unload a house. This is where this is very bad news for you.
COSTELLO: Yes, I hear you on that score.
VELSHI: And there are a lot of those.
COSTELLO: Yes, there are. Ali Velshi, many thanks, live in New York.
Checking stories cross-country now.
In Brevard County, Florida, Memorial Day turned into a war against jellyfish. Brevard County Ocean Rescue says more than 800 people were stung from Cocoa Beach to Cape Canaveral.
Maricopa County, Arizona, the man that built himself as America's toughest sheriff may run for the Senate, for U.S. Senate that is. Joe Arpaio says he's raised $5 million without even trying. That's a quote from him. The sheriff says he might run for senator, Jon Kyl's seat in 2012. Kyl is retiring.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHERIFF JOE ARPAIO, MARICOPA COUNTY, ARIZONA: It's something I'm looking at. And it comes up all the time. So, I'm not going to make my decision yet. I'll make it pretty soon. I don't have to be a U.S. senator to get a little press in Washington, D.C.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: No, he really doesn't.
And the royal newlyweds will spend three days in Los Angeles as part of their first North American tour. Will and Kate, the duke and duchess of Cambridge, will spend eight days touring Canada before ending their visit in L.A. July 8th, 9th and 10th.
A palace spokesman calls it a working visit. They will be raising money for charity.
In New York, police have arrested another rich and prominent businessman accused of sexually abusing a hotel maid. The 74-year-old Egyptian man is the former chairman of a major bank there. It is second such case this month of a foreign banking figure accused of preying on a powerless hotel worker.
Deb Feyerick is in New York with the details of this latest alleged assault -- Deb.
DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Carol, this one appears to have happened at the Pierre Hotel, which is a very posh hotel diagonally across from the plaza. According to police, the woman was called to room 1027 at about 6:00 Sunday evening. She was asked to deliver a box of tissues.
Well, once inside the gentlemen's room, apparently, he locked the door. And that's when she says she was sexually abused.
Now, according to police, the guest is Mahmoud Abdel Salam Omar. He is a 74-year-old businessman who served as the head of the Bank of Alexandria for more than 15 years. Unlike Dominique Strauss-Kahn, he was not considered a political candidate. Also a difference in the case is that the housekeeper waited more than 17 hours to report to the alleged assault.
Still, police found her story credible. And they charged Mr. Omar with sexual abuse, unlawful imprisonment, forcibly touching and harassment. The Pierre Hotel is cooperating, as this case is under investigation.
We do not know who Mr. Omar is being represented by. We have calls to find out. So, we hope to bring you more details a little later on, Carol.
COSTELLO: All right. Deb Feyerick, reporting live from New York.
Mitt Romney leads most of the GOP presidential polls right now. So, why is everybody talking about Sarah Palin instead of Mitt Romney? And why are Republicans going out of their way to persuade a lesser- known man who says he's not going to run to get into the race? We'll dig deeper, next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: So, we've already talked a lot about what Sarah Palin is up to, but she hasn't announced she is running for president. Mitt Romney is making it official this week in New Hampshire.
And take a look at how he's doing among Republican and Republican- leaning voters. He is the preferred choice for 17 percent. He's got the name recognition. He's got the money.
So, why are others even this close to him?
David Frum is a former speechwriter for President George W. Bush.
Welcome, David.
DAVID FRUM, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Hey. Thank you.
COSTELLO: Why isn't the GOP establishment saying Mitt is our guy?
FRUM: The GOP establishment is saying he's our guy. He is raising money on a huge scale. He has been in first or second place in the polls since 2009. Second -- when he is second, he has been behind Mike Huckabee. He's not in the race anymore. He's now very consistently in first place.
I think the problem is less he has a problem with the establishment, more is the problem with the press. He just thinks -- we don't want this to be 1996 all over again with Bob Dole and boring first place all the way through and boringly winning the nomination. We want a little more drama.
COSTELLO: Yes. But in previous races, the front-runner had a higher percentage than what Mitt Romney does now, isn't that true?
FRUM: That's true. Look, like all candidates, Mitt Romney comes with a lot of negatives. And Mitt Romney has a very unusual kind of negative. Mitt Romney is the candidate who implemented in Massachusetts the health care reform that the Republican Party has been advocating since the 1990s, backed during the fight over Hillary Clinton's health care plan. The party pushed that in 1993. Romney actually did it in the middle 2000s.
But, now, Republicans say, wait a moment, we don't like that plan anymore. And we blame you for having executed our plan in your state.
COSTELLO: OK. So, is that part of the reason why some Iowa Republicans and I'm talking about Iowa Republicans with money, they are flying to New Jersey today to try to persuade Chris Christie, the governor there to run. They say they need an alpha politician. So --
FRUM: Right.
COSTELLO: So, is there some sense that there is fear that Romney cannot beat President Obama? FRUM: Well, I don't know that that's what people are responding to. I think it's more this -- the Republican mood over the past few years has been very intense, very angry, sometimes apocalyptic. They think they're oftentimes -- and I speak as a Republican here but I don't understand this mood -- living through the end of the American experiment, the end of the Constitution.
What a lot of people want is somebody who has that talk radio style, that angry mood, that confrontational approach. Well, Chris Christie is your guy. He's very confrontational.
But Americans don't vote for angry voters. Romney has problems as a vote-getter. He has trouble connecting with Americans who are affluent and less educated. That's a problem. But you don't make that problem better by taking somebody who has the same problem, but also adds to it a really confrontational, angry style that we know voters don't really respond to, especially not women voters.
COSTELLO: David, thanks for joining us this morning.
FRUM: Thank you.
COSTELLO: We appreciate it.
FRUM: You can read David Frum's full column online. Yes, he wrote a column about this. The address, CNN.com/Politics.
Congressman Anthony Weiner is talking about a naughty picture supposedly sent from his -- actually, it was sent from his Twitter account.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ANTHONY WEINER (D), NEW YORK: This is a prank, not a terribly creative one and it's a distraction.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Weiner says he was hacked. It happens. CNN has his explanation, next. We will also find out what the woman who received the picture is saying.
Controversy rocks the soccer world. But the head of FIFA insists there is no crisis. We'll take a closer look at the corruption allegations. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: New York Congresswoman Anthony Weiner says he was hacked and that's how a 21-year-old woman in Seattle got a lewd picture from his Twitter account.
Dana Bash has this CNN exclusive interview.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It came from Congressman Anthony Weiner's Twitter account over the weekend, a photo of an anonymous man's bulging underwear. The lewd picture immediately deleted from his account was sent to this 21-year- old Seattle college student, but also available to the public to view on Twitter.
Outside his New York home, Monday, Weiner, an outspoken liberal Democrat, insisted to CNN it was the work of a hacker.
WEINER: I was hacked. It happens to people. You move on.
BASH: It's not clear who sent it. Weiner tried to brush it off as a prank and a distraction.
WEINER: This is a prank, not a terribly creative one. And it's a distraction.
Look, you know, you got the Republicans who are playing games with the debt limit. You got a Supreme Court justice who is refusing to recues himself despite conflicts of interest. You have health care act that is under siege. You know, this is -- this is a distraction.
BASH: Gennette Cordova is the Seattle college student the tweet was alleged addressed to. The 21-year-old issued a lengthy statement to "The New York Daily News" admitting Weiner did follow her on Twitter, but insisting that she never met him.
"There have never been any inappropriate exchanges between Anthony Weiner and myself, including the tweet/picture in question, which apparently been deleted before it reached me," said Cordova (ph). She blamed an anonymous person for harassing her, quote, "many times after the Congressman followed me on twitter a month or so ago?"
After she sent the tweet saying, quote, "I wonder what my boyfriend @RepWeiner is up to."
As for the Twitter account Weiner said was hacked, he's still using it. He tried to downplay the swirling story with Tweets like this, "More Wiener jokes for all my guests #hacked."
Trademark Weiner humor.
WEINER: I use, vote for Weiner, he'll be frank. Vote for Weiner, he's on a roll. Vote for Weiner, he'll relish your vote.
BASH: But questions surrounding the lewd photo quickly became the subject of a serious internet war between liberal blogs suggesting it's a right wing conspiracy and conservative blogs questioning Weiner's hacking claim.
Andrew Breitbart, a conservative blogger who's biggovernment.com first reported the story suggested to CNN there should be a quote, "forensic analysis to determine the veracity of Congressman Weiner's hacking allegation, which certainly bears criminal implications."
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Dana Bash joins us from Capitol Hill.
So is there any sort of investigation underway?
BASH: Carol, not that we know of. Spokesman for both the capital police and the FBI tell us they are not investigating it. We don't know for sure because we haven't gotten an answer back from Congressman Weiner's office if he has asked for it, but it certainly doesn't seem that way because his spokesman told us yesterday that he has hired a lawyer to look at -- to explore proper next steps and advise what criminal or civil action may be taken.
But he also said that they are loathed to treat it as anything more than a prank. They're really, really trying to downplay this as you can imagine, Carol.
COSTELLO: I can imagine. The other question I have, why was Weiner following this woman on Twitter anyway?
BASH: It's another question that I had and one of the many questions that I tried to get answered by e-mail and by phone from Weiner's office all day yesterday. Did not get an answer.
And it really is important to underscore that that is the strategy that Weiner's office has now, aside from the very carefully crafted statements we got yesterday and on Sunday talking about the fact that this is a prank. And, of course, that exclusive interview that our rock star producer in New York, Karen Khalid (ph), got from Anthony Wiener, we haven't heard very much at all. Any kind of conversations to try to fill in some of the blanks, just not happening.
COSTELLO: I'm sure you'll stay on this story, though.
Dana Bash, many thanks. Live on Capitol Hill.
BASH: Thank you.
COSTELLO: Quick look at some of the top stories now.
Sarah Palin's "One Nation" bus tour pulled into Gettysburg, Pennsylvania late yesterday. Hundreds of people waited for a glimpse of the potential presidential candidate but she was a no-show at the historic battlefield and she isn't saying if she's running for office either.
For the second time this month, a banking figure is accused of sexually assaulting a hotel maid. New York Police say the 74-year-old Egyptian attacked the woman when she delivered items to his room.
Take a look at these water spouts near Sydney, Australia. Isn't that amazing? They measured 2000 feet high. They fizzled out when they got close to shore.
The world's soccer governing body is under fire due to corruption allegations. And while the head of FIFA denies wrongdoing, the World Cup's two biggest sponsors are expressing concern.
CNN's Zain Verjee is following the story from London.
And, I'm not a big soccer fan, because I did call it FIFA instead of FIFA, I admit it, OK? So tell me why I should care about this story.
VERJEE: Carol!
OK, well listen. Imagine the NBA wrapped up in scandal with allegations of bribery and corruption at the highest level. And at stake, the prestige, sponsorship and the fans are hopping mad. They are furious. Well that is pretty much what is going on when it comes to the world of soccer. It is in a major crisis mode. Let me just break it down for you, OK?
What's happened is, is that soccer's governing body's executive is in total turmoil. They've suspended two people for allegations of bribery and corruption. And then you have its president, Sepp Blatter who is standing for an election tomorrow. And guess what? Nobody is opposing him. He's been there 13 years. People say he needs to go.
And Lastly, the big question is also, did Qatar buy the world cup for 2022? That's a really big deal, because there are allegations that a lot of money changed hands. Qatar is saying that didn't happen. And the reason the U.S. should care is because they put in a bid for 2022 to host the soccer World Cup and they didn't get it. It went to Qatar.
So it really is a huge deal if you are into football or soccer. It's a big deal in this part of the world, Carol.
I hope that helps.
COSTELLO: I know. I shouldn't even say that because I'm sure there are many soccer fans out there who deeply, deeply care.
Thank you, Zain.
On to the sports I care about, though. Back here in the United States, not all of baseball's Memorial Day excitement took place on the field. The games included tributes to servicemen and women.
And a moment at Kansas city Kauffman Stadium that no one will soon forget. A young woman was told her soldier boyfriend would be calling from overseas but then, as you see, he surprised her by showing up and then on top of the Royals' dugout, he asked her to marry him, and she said -- she said yes.
There were on field highlights, too, from the parks, including more homeruns than any day this year. We'll show you two impressive blasts in 20 minutes.
Also, sexism and flat out lies. That's one CNN.com opinion writer is hearing from your law makers. He will explain next.
And they're called pill mills -- doctor's offices that hand out painkillers almost without question and they're putting people's lives at risk. Coming up, we'll take an in depth look at the problem.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: This week, we are going in depth on medication nation. Americans have been led to believe by doctors and advertisers in the pharmaceutical industry that there's a pill to cure just about everything. CNN networks looked into the politics and the pills.
Today, John Zarrella reports on Florida's pill mill problem.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On the side of a busy Hollywood, Florida road, a memorial. Rene Doyle comes here once a week.
RENE DOYLE, SON DIED WHILE ON PRESCRIPTION DRUGS: And he was laying on the road covered. I didn't know it was him.
ZARRELLA: A couple of years ago on a December evening, Rene's son, Blaine, out of his mind with pain pills, she says, walked into traffic, was hit and killed. Rene is a nurse. She is not sure when her son's addiction began. Ultimately, he was hooked on a prescription drug cocktail.
DOYLE: The combination of oxycodone with methadone and Xanax.
ZARRELLA: In Florida, satisfying his habit was easy. He would doctor shop, going from one pill mill to the next where no one asked questions.
DOYLE: The amounts are ridiculous. They would give him 240 of 30 milligram Oxies (ph) and an additional 120 of 15 milligrams of Oxy at one visit.
ZARRELLA (on camera): So you're talking 360 pills?
DOYLE: Yes. And 90 Xanax and go on to another pill mills.
ZARRELLA (voice-over): Broward County was the epicenter for painkiller pill mills. There were 27 just in one city, Oakland Park. Police conducted raids. As soon as was one shut down, another would open. People from across the southeastern United States came here for pills. Florida became known as the Oxycontin Express.
PAM RONDI, FLORIDA ATTORNEY GENERAL: In a six month time frame alone, in two counties in Florida, Broward and Palm Beach, over nine million oxycodone pills were dispensed.
ZARRELLA: Rondi, Florida's newly elected attorney general made it her mission to get legislation passed that would shut down the pill mills.
RONDI: Mike DeWine the attorney general in Ohio called me and said, Pam, they're flying down from Ohio to Florida. Help us. You've got to stop this problem. ZARRELLA: A pill mill bill passed in the Florida legislature. It stops doctors from dispensing painkillers in their offices or clinics. Surgeons and hospices are exempt. It establishes a drug-monitoring database where pharmacies will enter information on painkiller prescriptions aimed at stopping doctor shopping.
(on camera): The majority of the 50 states now have a database. And on the federal level a bill has been introduced that doubles from 10 to 20 years the prison sentence for anyone convicted of running a pill mill. And it imposes a $3 million fine.
(voice-over): On a side street in Ft. Lauderdale across in a pain clinic, people gather. Many are mothers who meet once a month outside a different pain clinic. Rene Doyle is among them. The signs they hold up carry pictures of sons or daughters who died from an overdose. They blame the doctors who made it so easy.
DOYLE: As far as I'm concerned, they're murders. They're truly murders. These doctors have no conscience.
ZARRELLA: The mothers vow to continue their monthly rallies until not a single pill mill remains.
John Zarrella, CNN, Hollywood Florida.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: More of our in depth coverage throughout the day.
At 11:00 Eastern, many patients end up taking one drug after another each treating different symptoms. But experts say too many pills can be a prescription for disaster. Our senior medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen has one woman's story.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: LZ Granderson says he should be listening more closely to what lawmakers are saying about a woman's right to have an abortion because he's hearing sexism and flat-out lies.
On today's CNN.com Opinion page, he writes, "The notion that women are Jezebels who entice men into becoming rapists or that they lie about an attack happening in order to have their insurance company pay for an abortion reeks of misogyny."
LZ, welcome.
LZ GRANDERSON, CNN.COM CONTRIBUTOR: Carol thank you.
COSTELLO: So your article did catch my attention. So let's get this out of the way first. You are pro-choice?
GRANDERSON: I am pro-choice and prolife. I don't see those things as being mutually exclusive. I -- if someone were to come and ask my advice, more often than not, I would support trying to go through with the pregnancy but I don't believe that anyone has a right to take away that choice from anyone particular if someone like a male telling a female what to do with her body.
COSTELLO: You know, this is an emotional issue. And that's a tough thing to talk about in the morning. So you know, as I'm reading your column, I'm seeing that your column is not so much about the abortion debate itself but how the battle is being waged.
GRANDERSON: Absolutely. I don't really want to tell someone where their morality should lie with this conversation. But what I do think is that it's is important that we pay attention to the language that is being used.
There is a senator in Iowa who introduced a bill and basically said that a woman being raped may be the hand of God at work.
There was another senator who compared a woman being prepared for her rape and actually said that it was correlated to him having a flat tire or having life insurance.
So I mean --
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: Actually LZ, we -- we have that argument on -- on a graphic. And I just like to read it to people so they understand what we're talking about. This happened in Kansas. These are state lawmakers. So Kansas state lawmaker, Pete DeGraaf and Barbara Bollier another state lawmaker we're debating the idea of women having to carry separate health care policies for abortion.
When Bollier asked about women who become pregnant after rape or incest, DeGraaf answered. "We do need to plan ahead, don't we in life?"
Bollier said, "And so women need to plan ahead for issues they have no control over with pregnancy?"
His answer, "I have a spare tire on my car. I have a lot of things that I plan ahead for."
Now, you could argue that this is an extreme argument, that arguments in state legislatures across America don't normally play out like this. Do they?
GRANDERSON: No, they don't normally play out like this. But I think that if we turn our back to when they do come up, we're allowing these lawmakers to nudge the conversation more and more to extreme case.
I mean, if you think about again what I talked about with the lawmaker who introduced a similar bill in Iowa, he basically said that it was the hand of God. So at which point do we start paying attention and even on a state level start holding these politicians more accountable for the language that they are using. Because it's completely misogynist.
COSTELLO: LZ Granderson, it's an interesting column. And you can read the full column online; the address, CNN.com/opinion. And of course there are places you can also respond to LZ. LZ, thank you. As normally, we usual, we always enjoy having you.
GRANDERSON: Thank you.
COSTELLO: Let's take a look ahead and see what's making news later today.
In Washington, House members hold a hearing at 2:00 Eastern, actually they hold a hearing at 2:00 Eastern on the global perspectives on autism. The subcommittee on Africa, global health, and human rights is meeting in the Rayburn House Office building. You got that?
School district of Philadelphia votes at 5:00 Eastern on a budget that includes cuts and staff. The district is facing a $629 million short fall.
And at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the space shuttle, "Atlantis" will begin moving to its launch pad. Beginning at 8:00 Eastern. "Atlantis's" last flight is set for July 8th.
In Miami, the Heat and the Dallas Mavericks begin the best of seven series on the road to the NBA championship. The tip-off, 9:00 Eastern.
A long wait between wins for a Toronto Blue Jays pitcher. We're talking three years but the streak finally ended and in convincing fashion. You will see how in sports.
And help for cleanup weary people in Joplin, Missouri, came from an unusual form. Take a look, we'll show you how these circus elephants threw their weight into the problem.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Checking stories cross country now.
In Amarillo, Texas, a couple of wildfires have destroyed a dozen homes. Firefighters say those fires are now under control, but others still burn. And so far, they've destroyed nearly three million acres across the state of Texas since November.
Rough weather too in Hastings, Nebraska; hail pelted parts of the state. Some of it as large as baseballs, the National Weather Service also reports tornado sightings near Atkinson.
And in tornado-ravaged Joplin, Missouri, elephants are helping remove heavy debris. The Piccadilly Circus came to town and offered these huge animals to drag away everything from huge beams to mangled cars.
We're following lots of developments in the next hour in the CNN NEWSROOM. Let's check in it with Jim Acosta in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
ACOSTA: Hi, Carol. We are following the Sarah Palin bus tour, which has become a game of cat-and-mouse, but who is the cat, and who is the mouse? I'll explain in the story coming up. CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: I'm Chris Lawrence at the Pentagon, where we're looking into what happens if the U.S. gets hit by a cyber-attack. And now the very real possibility that the U.S. could respond with a military reaction.
ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm Alison Kosik at the New York Stock Exchange; the company that makes the ever so popular video game franchise "Call of Duty" wants to offer players some few extras for a monthly fee, of course. The story is coming up next in the next hour -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Thanks to all of you.
Also ahead, Ohio State's Football coach resigns after admitting he knew his players were selling memorabilia. A "Sports Illustrated" writer did a great investigative report on this. He'll join us about the fallout.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Baseball could be facing a new performance-enhancing controversy. Jeff Fischel from HLN Sports is here. And it looks like an old timer's drinking from the fountain of youth, and now baseball wants to know why.
JEFF FISCHEL, HLN SPORTS ANCHOR: Exactly. Right now you'd have to say Bartolo Colon is one of the best pitchers in the American league. He hasn't been this good for six years. Yesterday he was absolutely dominant. Colon threw a four-hit shutout for the New York Yankees against the Oakland A's. Colon missed all of last season after having an experimental surgery. Doctors injected stem cells from his bone marrow into his elbow and shoulder to repair all the damage he had over the years.
Voila. He was throwing 95 miles per hour in the ninth inning yesterday. Major League baseball is investigating the surgery. You can bet there will be a long line at that doctor's office if baseball officials say all is well and good because Colon looks great.
A big sigh of relief for Blue Jays pitcher Jojo Reyes, he finally won a game for the first time in three years. Going into yesterday's game against the Indians, he was tied for the Major League record with 28 straight starts without a win. The Blue Jays is giving him some runs to work with. If you can't get it right away, get it right the 29th time. Reyes threw a complete game.
A total of 46 home runs were hit in Major League parks on Memorial Day, the most of any day this season. It's really been a year for the pitchers. But the Cardinals Albert Pujols -- he blasted one for the Cardinals yesterday. It marked the fifth straight year Pujols has homered on May 30th. He's going to want to remember what Memorial Day every year. St. Louis did lose to the Giants 7-3.
The hottest team in baseball is the Arizona Diamondbacks. Justin Upton, he is hot right now, making Mike Dunn wish his parents had never been in the same room, a titanic home run reaches the upper deck in left field. In fact, I think it made it all the way up to the restaurant, right, the TGI Friday's. Waiter, there's a ball in my soup.
That is the Upton, five for five in the game and that ties a clear high; the D-Backs fried the fish 15-4, their seventh straight win. That's right the Diamondbacks are on top in the N.L. West.
Ok, Hot Wheels -- they're for adults too, check out this Hot Wheels stunt. Driver Tanner Faust.
COSTELLO: Oh come on.
FISCHEL: There he goes, down a ramp maximum speed.
COSTELLO: It's even orange.
FISCHEL: And exactly. Just like the kids do, right? It launches 332 feet landing safely. The people of Mattel -- of course Mattel -- says that broke a world record. The crowd went nuts at Indy. The Hot Wheels track modeled on the toy was set up at the infield during the Indy 500, before the race actually.
COSTELLO: That actually looks kind of fun.
FISCHEL: You know, as long as there were good shocks, everybody's happy.
COSTELLO: And there's actually a driver in there and everything.
FISCHEL: Yes.
COSTELLO: I'd like to try it actually.
FISCHEL: Who's next?
COSTELLO: I'm next. Thanks, Jeff.
FISCHEL: Ok Carol.
