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Needles Found In Food On Delta Flights; No Sign Of Missing Iowa Girls; Obama Looks To Texas For Big Cash; Romney Accuses Obama Of Cronyism; Bernanke Warning Of A "Fiscal Cliff"; Navy Ship Kills One, Wounds Three More; ACLU Files "Right To Read" Lawsuit; New Crew Arrives At Space Station; U.S. Drug Agents Unload Major Haul; New Jersey Law: Treatment Instead Of Jail; Hookers & Treasury Department Misconduct; The Story Behind "Dear White People"; Eat Foods That Make Your Skin Glow
Aired July 17, 2012 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you. Welcome to the NEWSROOM. I'm Carol Costello.
Just ahead, big drug busts. Two continents, three tons of cocaine, 200 pounds of marijuana, a major historical haul by the coast guard and the navy and it's happening right now. CNN will take you on board the Coast Guard ship.
Flight scare, sewing needles, needles found in turkey sandwiches on four separate Delta planes flying into the United States. One passenger hurt. This morning, find out what the airline is doing about it.
Plus this --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Forget Hollywood and forget Tyler Perry.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We get a movie with, you know, characters in them instead of stereotypes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: And it's not even a movie yet, only a film trailer, but it has social media buzzing from YouTube to Twitter. The man behind the satire "Dear White People." He'll join me live this hour to talk about race and identity.
But we begin this morning with a food safety scare at 30,000 feet. We're talking about sewing needles found in turkey sandwiches served on four separate Delta flights.
The planes were heading from Amsterdam to Minneapolis and Seattle, and also on two flights into Atlanta. One passenger on the Minneapolis flight bit down on the needle, he was hurt by the needle.
Luckily, he did not need medical attention, but the other passengers were -- they were understandably scared and upset. Is this coincidence or is it something more?
CNN's Sandra Endo is in Washington. Good morning.
SANDRA ENDO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning, Carol. That's certainly what authorities are trying to find out right now. The FBI and local authorities in the Netherlands are trying to figure out how these needles got into these turkey sandwiches.
Two of the needles were found by passengers and one was discovered by an air marshal. When Delta found out about the needles in the food, the airline says it notified all 18 flights from Amsterdam to stop serving the sandwiches.
Here's what one passenger who got one of the contaminated sandwiches said when he spoke with station KSTP.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. JACK DROGT, FOUND NEEDLE ON FLIGHT: I bit down on it so that I wasn't biting down on the sharp side, but on the flat side. It could have been, you know, a bad injury orally. But had I taken a big swallow and swallowed that down, I would have a needle inside and that would be very concerning to me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ENDO: Gate Gourmet is the company, which provided the sandwiches to Delta and a spokesman for that company says the sandwiches were prepared in Amsterdam and in a statement she goes on to say, that this is a terribly upsetting situation.
First and foremost, is the safety of the traveling public. There's nothing more important to us at all than the safety of the passengers and crews.
Now the Transportation Security Administration says it's also closely monitoring the investigation into what happened, as well as the security protocols being conducted by the air carrier and the airport authority -- Carol.
COSTELLO: So this company that makes these sandwiches, it also provides food to other airlines. I realize that these sandwiches were made in Amsterdam, but is there a concern about the food on other flights?
ENDO: Yes. That's a good question. Gate Gourmet says it's fully cooperating with the FBI and local authorities in the Netherlands and it's even conducting its own full-scale investigation. And the company says it does provide food to other airlines, but has not yet received any reports or any other complaints.
COSTELLO: Sandra Endo live in Washington.
Also this morning, still no sign of two missing Iowa girls. One family member says it's as though they disappeared into thin air in broad daylight.
The 8-year-old Elizabeth Collins and 10-year-old Lyric Cook are cousins. They have not been seen since going on a bike ride Friday. The bicycles were found by a lake, but the mother of one of the girls doubts those girls would have gone there on their own.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's not an area that they frequented. They didn't go far from home either of the girls. They mainly stayed around the Evansdale area that my sister lives in. It's just not kind of like them to go that far.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Definitely out of their character.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: CNN's Jim Spellman is covering the search in Evansdale, Iowa. Good morning, Jim.
JIM SPELLMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you, Carol. They're really approaching this case from two different fronts. One, they're draining this lake right here, the girls' bicycles were found on the other side of this lake. They've examined this lake for a couple days.
Now they don't think they're going to find anything, but to be totally sure, they're draining this lake as we speak. The other approach is from a law enforcement approach. The FBI has been brought in.
And we now know that they've brought two scent dogs to assist in this investigation. And yesterday, they were able to take scents from pairs of the girls' shoes and we do know that they were able to pick up some sort of trail.
We don't know where that trail led or ultimately how useful it is to the investigation. They're going at this from all fronts, but Carol, I spoke to an investigator an hour or so ago who told me it's like the girls evaporated, very frustrating for investigators and, of course, for their family as well.
COSTELLO: I know that the bike trail ends at that lake. It goes through some woods and ends at the lake, but on the other side of the woods is a highway. What does that say to investigators?
SPELLMAN: Yes. Take a look -- take a look at this. This is really baffling to investigators. This lake here on this side of the lake, people live here. Their backyards are right back up to this lake.
On the other side, there's a trail that goes between the bank and the interstate. This wooded section where they were found, where you can see some people are manning this operation here to drain the lake.
Where they were found is just about the least likely spot for any kind of abduction scenario. It's a 10-minute walk at least to get from this corner to any kind of road to get out of here.
Even though it's right next to the freeway, it's unlikely that you could somehow get over this fence and get away with two girls. That's what investigator out there at that location today where the bikes were found told me, really baffling to them.
They're trying to expand not only the geographic search, but how they're approaching the case. That's why they brought in those dogs to try to get any kind of traction to help find these girls -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Jim Spellman reporting live from Evansdale, Iowa this morning.
President Obama is looking to big money donors in Texas today to help bolster his re-election war chest. He's scheduled to visit two cities.
His first stop will be San Antonio where he'll attend two separate events including a fundraiser hosted by the actress, Eva Longoria, and the city's mayor.
Then later Mr. Obama heads to Austin to pick up more campaign cash at another pair of events. Sources close to the president say the total haul could set a new record as the Obama camp continues to turn up the heat against Republican rival Mitt Romney in a new ad.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tax havens, offshore account, carried interest. Mitt Romney has used every trick in the book. Romney admits that over the last two years he's paid less than 15 percent in taxes on $43 million in income.
Makes you wonder if some years he paid any taxes at all. We don't know because Romney has released just one full year of his tax returns and won't release anything before 2010.
MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You know what, I've put out as much as we're going to put out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What is Mitt Romney hiding?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Last hour, I talked to one of Romney's representatives about his campaign's new line of attack against President Obama. About the tax returns, she told me that Mr. Romney's firm only two years of tax returns are going to be released and then she accused President Obama of capital cronyism.
Accusing him of handing out political favors to big money donors and even appointing them into this administration so just how would Romney do things differently if he were elected?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BARBARA COMSTOCK, VA. CO-CHAIR, ROMNEY FOR PRESIDENT: The policy of this president is to have his bundlers in charge of handing out tax dollars to other bundlers and cronies and friends.
We will have a policy nothing like that. We will do nothing of the sort. That's outrageous to be giving our tax dollars out to friends and family. No, we will have nothing like that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Romney turned up the heat on Obama's record after a week of bitter back and forth over the Republican's departure from Bain Capital.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is in the spotlight on Capitol Hill right now. He's beginning two days of testimony from lawmakers about the state of the economy.
These are live pictures into that hearing. A Senate panel are grilling Bernanke. Now part of this will focus on whether the economy is nearing a fiscal cliff due to pending major tax hikes and spending cuts.
Some Democrats are threatening to walk off this cliff, rather than renew Bush era tax cuts for the wealthy as Republicans want.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SENATOR PATTY MURRAY (D), WASHINGTON: If we can't get a good deal, a balanced deal that calls on the wealthy to pay their fair share then I will absolutely continue this debate into 2013, rather than lock in a long-term deal this year that throws middle-class families under the bus.
SENATOR MITCH MCCONNELL (R), KENTUCKY: What the Democrats are proposing today is an entirely avoidable, high stakes game of chicken. With the single-minded goal of taking more money from those who earn it for government to waste.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Our chief business correspondent Ali Velshi is here to take the politics out of this and tell us how all of this -- I know, is that possible? But I do want to know how this all affects, you know, all of us.
ALI VELSHI, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes.
COSTELLO: So if the Democrats are serious, Ali, without legislative action, we will fall off this fiscal cliff. That means tax increases, large domestic and military spending cuts and the expiration of the payroll tax cut, unemployment benefit wills go away, all of this takes effect January 1st. So what will do this to the economy?
VELSHI: I have a better chance of growing hair than taking the politics out of it. But I wish I could because the danger here, Carol, is that we're on a knife's edge in this economy month to month, the consumers' perception of what's going on in this economy changes.
You saw in June when gas prices started high and then went low, people changed their whole opinion about whether the economy looks good or bad. How tight are we that a 25-cent change in a gallon of gas affect yours outlook. That's where we are.
We have a massive recession in Europe. We've got slowdowns in India and China. It has to hit us eventually and these are entirely avoidable pieces of nonsense that Congress is engaging in.
Bottom line right now is what we need more than a tax cut is certainty. There are lots of opinions on whether or not we should have a tax cut or not. Fareed Zakaria of the camp that says no tax cut for anybody right now, pay down the debt.
Republicans tend to be of the view that everybody should get a tax cut. The bottom line here, probably a tax cut is useful because it gives you a little certainty while gas prices are high and you're not quite sure where jobs are going.
But what is worse than not having a tax cut is this nonsense that will go right down to the wire about that fiscal cliff. If we go into January of 2013, with that uncertainty, with those what they call sequestration, Carol.
Those across-the-board cuts because they couldn't agree on a debt ceiling limit, that will happen December 31st, we could put our economy into a recession and that is something that at this point is possibly avoidable.
So I will tell you, I will be screaming from the rooftops if we end up in a recession six months from now because of nonsense coming out of Congress.
COSTELLO: Well, Dick Cheney is on the Hill this morning. He's talking strategy with Republicans because if Senator Patty Murray carries through with her threat, roughly $110 billion in Pentagon and nondefense spending cuts will take effect.
VELSHI: Right.
COSTELLO: So you have to wonder what will that do to our national security.
VELSHI: Well, so think about it this way. It's not just -- OK. That's great point, Carol, national security. That's a very valid point. It's also a point that where do you think this money goes?
It is people's jobs. So we can't afford the estimates have been anywhere from a million or more jobs that will be lost. Some people say 3 million jobs. We have 16 million officially unemployed.
We can't pop that up to $19 million. That will put us into a depression. Now there are lots of good arguments about how you handle these things. We have too much debt. We should handle it long term.
But it is this immaturity of taking extreme positions. That is not what we elect Congress to do that is going to put us into recession. Normally, Carol, you and me can both sit back and say Congress can be irrelevant in most people's lives.
Right now, they are not irrelevant so this is very dangerous. You're going to see Ben Bernanke on the Hill today as well as testifying to Congress. They're going to be tough on him asking him if he's prepared to put stimulus, Federal Reserve stimulus into the economy.
I think he's going to look right back at them and say why don't you do your part, why don't you not make things worse and I'll do my part and together we can try to muddle through this. We don't have a great, strong economy, but Congress could make this a lot worse.
And if those cuts that Dick Cheney is talking about do happen, that's serious. But what a world we're in, where there's all this unemployment and we're worried about defense contractors because it actually matters to us.
COSTELLO: Yes, it's pathetic, isn't it?
VELSHI: Did that sound like that was a bit of a rant? I didn't mean to take two minutes of your show.
COSTELLO: I enjoy when a rant. I do.
VELSHI: Good to see you, Carol.
COSTELLO: Thank you, Ali.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan says some students in the states are not being taught to read. Now the ACLU is suing to help those kids fight for the education it says they deserve.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: It is 16 minutes past the hour. Checking our top stories now.
U.S. officials are expressing condolences this morning after a Navy fuel supply ship fired, opened fire, on a small boat in the Persian Gulf killing one person and wounding three others.
The United Arab Emirates said the dead were Indian fishermen. The U.S. military says at least one warning shot was fired before other shots disabled the boat, which was described as a small white pleasure craft.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan suing the state, its Education Department and one Detroit area school district accusing them of failing to teach students to read at an appropriate grade level. Spokeswoman for the governor responded to the class-action lawsuit saying the state is working to improve the situation. In money news, Marissa Mayer is now the new CEO at Yahoo! She's leaving as one of Google's top executives to replace interim boss Ross Levinsohn. This makes her Yahoo!'s fourth chief executive in less than four years.
The newest crew of the International Space Station is checking out their new home this morning. Just a few hours ago, a Russian spacecraft docked with the orbiting station. The three crew members include an American astronaut named Sunny Williams. They'll work at the International Space Station until November.
American drug agents are calling it a victory, a major haul, thanks to a joint operation involving the U.S. Coast Guard and the Navy. These are new images of three tons of confiscated cocaine and 240 pounds of pot. These drugs were bound for the United States.
They were seized and they're being -- they were seized in the waters off the coast of Florida. They are now being unloaded right now in Jacksonville, Florida. The drugs were confiscated aboard ships coming from Nicaragua and Colombia.
It's part of the Obama's administration so-called balanced approach in the war on drugs. Although many critics say it's not enough to win that war.
Consider this, in 2009, the federal government spent $31 billion on drug control, but only one third of that money on drug treatment and our prisons, well, bears that out.
In 2011, more than half of the inmates in federal prisons were serving time for drug offenses. Critics say those figures mean defeat. The big question remains, though, how do you win the war on drugs?
So let's talk about that. Kevin Sabet is an assistant professor at the University of Florida and a former senior drug policy adviser for the Obama administration.
And Ethan Nadelmann is the executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance. That's an organization that promotes alternatives to the war on drugs. Welcome to both of you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, Carol.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thanks, Carol.
COSTELLO: The Republican governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie, calls the war on drugs a failure. Is he right, Ethan?
ETHAN NADELMANN, FOUNDER AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, DRUG POLICY ALLIANCE: Well, he's clearly right. I mean, if you look at a trillion dollars this country has spent over the last 40 years and we still have significant levels of drug abuse, overdose fatalities are at an all time high.
The seizure, you mentioned, Carol, is really just a blip. It's going to have no impact in domestic drug markets. What's significant about Governor Christie saying what he's saying, he's really the first major Republican figure nationally.
He's a current and future leader in the Republican Party who is saying this sort of stuff and he's also been supportive of reducing the prison population in New Jersey. He supported the state's medical marijuana program.
His Health Department is supporting needle exchange programs to reduce HIV and Hepatitis C. So we're beginning to see some sort of bipartisan consensus that this war on drugs has failed.
And we need to dramatically shift resources from interdiction enforcement to treatment, prevention, helping people, focusing on reducing the harms of drugs rather than locking up millions of Americans.
COSTELLO: So it's kind of starting at a state level. In fact, New Jersey just passed a law that institutes a year of mandatory treatment instead of jail time. So Kevin, why not suggest federal legislation requiring the same thing?
KEVIN SABET, FORMER SENIOR DRUG POLICY ADVISER FOR OBAMA ADMINISTRATION: Well, we've had federal legislation mandating treatment instead of jail for a long time in the form of things like drug courts, which actually use the power of the criminal justice system to get people to treatment.
And if they successfully complete treatment, they don't end up going to jail or having a criminal record. We also see this in Hawaii with projects like "Project Hope," which is working with protein base system.
I mean, focusing on the federal level may not be the best place since most drug offenses happen on the state level and you're seeing state innovations from Texas to Washington to Hawaii, which are all about reducing incarceration.
But also protecting public safety and reducing drug use. So I agree with Ethan that we need to focus on prevention and treatment and rehabilitation, but going towards legalization probably isn't the way to do it.
COSTELLO: There's $31 billion spent on fighting drugs in this country, only a third of that federal money is used for treatment programs.
So why not use more of the money to treat drug abusers instead of spending it so much on these big hauls of drugs that don't seem to make a dent in the drug war?
SABET: Well, actually, there has been a recent shift over the last few years to a public health balanced approach. Again, most dollars you're looking at federal budgets, but most treatment and prevention dollars are actually spent at the state and local levels. So we need to be also careful what statistics we're looking at. I'm all in favor of treating this like a disease, looking at addiction as a health issue, but going towards legalization isn't the way to do it.
Chris Christie is right. The war on drugs is a horrible analogy. It's actually an analogy the government hasn't used for years. I think the last thing Governor Christie would want is legalization, however.
Because we see prescription drugs today are legal and they're available, alcohol is legal, available and so is tobacco and we're doing a pretty bad job of preventing and treating those three legal drugs.
They're available and they're promoted and they're commercialized. I think that's the last thing we want to see for any other drug.
COSTELLO: Ethan, I know you're in favor of legalizing marijuana and it seems like that is catching on although not in a big way. Fifteen states have passed laws decriminalizing pot, but would this help us win the war on drugs?
NADELMANN: Well, I'll tell you, Carol. I mean, it is moving very rapidly. According to the Gallup polls, the percent of Americans who favor legalizing marijuana, regulating it, taxing it, more or less like alcohol, has jumped from 36 percent to six years ago to 50 percent now.
So the country is basically evenly divided on this issue and opinions are changing very quickly, but clearly it would help. I mean, the marijuana arrests do not account for the majority of people behind bars.
But account for half of all the drug arrests in the United States, over 800,000 arrested a year just for possessing a little bit of marijuana.
If we were to tax, control and regulate marijuana like alcohol instead of insisting with this policy, state, federal and local governments would save 10, 20, maybe more billion dollars a year.
We take in $10 billion to $20 billion a year. And quite frankly, in terms of the risks, given how widely available marijuana is already, I think the risks of moving in that direction are dramatically less than the benefits.
COSTELLO: Kevin, would you -- although I read the Obama administration's drug policy and this is what it says about marijuana use.
Month to month it's going up, marijuana use among teenagers. It says marijuana is very much a gateway drug because the perception of marijuana these days, it's not a dangerous drug so you smoke marijuana and move on to harder stuff. Actually I'll let Ethan address that.
NADELMANN: Yes, I mean, quite frankly, I would say that the gateway theory about marijuana is an ounce of truth embedded in a pound of bull. I mean, on the one hand the large -- most people who use heroin and cocaine use marijuana first.
The vast majority of people who use marijuana do not go on to use harder drugs. They don't even go on to become regular marijuana users. If you look at the Netherlands, you know, they more or less legalized marijuana 30 years ago.
They did not see any dramatic jump in marijuana use. In fact, their rates of marijuana use are less than in the United States. Meanwhile, there's almost no had heroin addiction left in the Netherlands.
So there is not really that much of a relationship between marijuana use and the other drugs.
COSTELLO: Kevin, last word.
SABET: You know, Carol, I don't -- yes, I don't necessarily disagree with the first part of what Ethan said, but the Netherlands, that country is totally reversing their policy because they have seen increases in marijuana use among their kids.
We know that when drugs are legal, they're cheaper, they're more available and then promoted as we've seen for alcohol. So I think alcohol would be the last model we would want to look at for marijuana.
In fact, more people are arrested for alcohol offenses every year than all drugs combined because more people use alcohol and it's much more prevalent. So I'm not saying we need to arrest and jail marijuana users for long amounts of time.
But having some kind of stigma on the use itself while also getting treatment and intervening on early use and by the way, getting medical professionals involved.
The number one drug problem today is overdoses due to prescription drugs. We need to educate the medical profession, have them intervene early so we prevent, treat this and truly treat this like a public health issue.
NADELANN: We shouldn't be arresting marijuana users at all, Kevin.
COSTELLO: OK, we're going to have to leave it there, but I have enjoyed this discussion. I'm sorry we have to leave it there. Kevin Sabet and Ethan Nadelmann, thanks so much for joining us this morning.
We most definitely want to know what you think about this. What is the best way to win the war on drugs? Legalizing marijuana? Facebook.com/carolcnn.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Now is your chance to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. The question for you this morning, what's the best way to win the war on drugs?
Here's a pop quiz for you. What is the longest war America has ever waged? It's not Iraq. Afghanistan, nope? It would be the drug war. For 40 years America has spent hundreds of billions of dollars fighting illegal drugs.
The Obama administration believes in a balance approach to fighting drugs, working on prevention and treatment, but also partnering with countries like Mexico to stem the flow.
Yet, in 2009, of the $31 billion spent fighting the drug war, only one third of that money went to drug treatment. The bulk of the money is spent on things like patrols, confiscation and closing drug tunnels.
Some like New Jersey's Governor Chris Christie says the real focus should be on the users and the addicts.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOVERNOR CHRIS CHRISTIE, NEW JERSEY: The war on drugs, while well intentioned, has been a failure. And we're warehousing addicted people every day in state prison in New Jersey, giving them no treatment, sending them back out on the street after their incarceration. And wondering why recidivism goes up and why they commit crimes again, commit crimes to support their addiction.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Many think we're wasting money prosecuting people caught with small amounts of drugs. Already 14 states and cities have decriminalized possession of small amounts of marijuana.
And some experts on addiction say the relentless focus on illegal drugs ignores another rapidly growing epidemic, the abuse of prescription painkillers.
Of course, this all leads to our very tough question this morning, what's the best way to win the war on drugs? Facebook.com/CarolCNN, Facebook.com/CarolCNN. Your responses later this hour.
It is 30 minutes past the hour. Good morning to you. I'm Carol Costello. "Top Stories" we're following in the NEWSROOM.
The FBI is investigating a dangerous surprise on four Delta Airline flights from Amsterdam into the United States. Four sewing needles were found in Turkey sandwiches served on flights headed to Minneapolis, Seattle and Atlanta. One passenger on the Minneapolis- bound flight was injured but he declined medical treatment.
Police searching right now for a man accused of shooting 17 people early this morning at a bar in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. One person critically injured, three others in serious condition. Police released this security footage of the shooting rampage. It shows a man wearing a cap in a parking lot and carrying a gun.
A Penn State student group says it is time to return focus to the team and that's why they have renamed Paternoville to Nittanyville, the name is for an area just outside Beaver Stadium where students hope to score better tickets to Penn State football games.
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COSTELLO: A bomb shell to tell you about this morning involving the Obama administration. Treasury Department employees have been cited for soliciting prostitutes, accepting gifts from corporate -- from corporate executives and other unethical and possibly criminal behavior. We're getting a rare look of the results of an internal government investigation.
Here's CNN's Lisa Sylvester.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LISA SYLVESTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In August of 2010 a Treasury Department employee accessed the Web site Craigslist to arrange sexual encounters with prostitutes. He used a government- issued computer to set up the trysts and later used his government- issued travel credit card to purchase hotel rooms.
That employee worked at Department's Office of Thrift Supervision. After being confronted with the allegations, he retired. The 80-plus pages were released by the Treasury Department's Office of Inspector General after a freedom of information request by a government watchdog group. GovernmentAddict.org.
Among the other allegations, one employee allegedly provided information on government contracts to her husband's business. Another, a national bank examiner in the office of the Comptroller of the Currency accepted golf fees and meals from the very bank he was reviewing.
MICHAEL SMALLBERG, PROJECT ON GOVERNMENT OVERSIGHT: It raises deeper questions about a cultural problem within the agency when folks wonder why the regulators didn't do a better job of stopping the problems that led to the financial crisis or they are wondering why OCC didn't spot the huge trading loss at JP Morgan earlier this year. I think part of the issue is that the examiners were just too close to the folks they were supposed to be examining.
SYLVESTER: There are 11 reports of investigations conducted in the last three years by the Inspector General's office. Six of them were substantiated.
A Treasury spokesman says the cases involve only a handful of individuals in a department with more than 100,000 employees saying, quote, "Treasury has a strong ethics policy that we expect all of our employees to follow and the overwhelming majority of them do. As with any large organization, issues of misconduct occasionally arise. When that happens at Treasury, we act promptly and decisively to address them."
Melanie Sloan with the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington says, "While embarrassing, the documents show the IG's office took immediate action.
MELANIE SLOAN, CITIZENS FOR RESPONSIBILITY AND ETHICS: They're going to be people who break the rules and do terrible things. There are always bad apples. And the big question is what does Treasury do about it did they handle it as they should, did they aggressively target this kind of ethical conduct and in this case at least seems they did.
SYLVESTER (on camera): Most of the incidents were brought to the Inspector General's attention from Bureau Management. In some instances like the prostitution, that case was referred to authorities and the golfing incident the matter was referred for possible administrative action.
Lisa Sylvester, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: There is a battle brewing between comedian George Lopez and Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Lopez makes fun of Arpaio on his HBO show and now the sheriff has invited the comedian to come say it to his face.
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COSTELLO: Comedian George Lopez, he has ticked off Arizona's most controversial sheriff Joe Arpaio and now the sheriff is firing back. "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT's" A.J. Hammer joins us to explain the controversy.
A.J. HAMMER, HLN HOST: Carol, the comedian is clearly not a fan of the sheriff's policy on immigration and he's never been one to hold back his feelings. Lopez launched into a profanity-laced rant on Arpaio in his new HBO special which premiered on Saturday night. In fact, the whole rant was pretty much all swearing, so I can't play it for you here. The crowd ate it up but the sheriff saw it and was not amused.
You have to watch the challenge that the sheriff threw out to Lopez during a local TV interview.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHERIFF JOE ARPAIO, MARICOPA COUNTY SHERIFF: Get some guts, come down here and meet me face to face. Let's see how you act then.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HAMMER: Well, we reached out to Lopez to see if he had any response for Arpaio's invitation. All his rep would tell us was "No comment." Sheriff Arpaio may be 80 years old, Carol, but he always seems pretty willing to mix it up with his critics. COSTELLO: He's a tough guy. It's true.
Let's talk about something fun. "Saturday Night Live's" church lady, I love the church lady. And I love Dana Carvey who played the church lady. He has some -- well, I guess, impersonations of Mitt Romney and Obama.
HAMMER: Yes. Well, Dana was on "The Tonight Show" and he talked politics. He actually called Obama a Zen master of speaking and he said he thought Romney was sincere but a little jumpy. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DANA CARVEY, COMEDIAN: I like to set people on fire. What? I mean I like to fire people. Don't provide me services. Ok. That's the thing about Obama. Romney is -- and Obama knows how to punt (ph). He knows how to let things settle down. And if someone tries to interrupt him, he's like "no, no, no, let, let, let" --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HAMMER: Well, as usual Carvey was pretty funny to watch. He did run through his impressions of all the living presidents. I still think he is the master of both President Bushes. He even did a little Regis Philbin, Carol, and I'm thinking maybe we can reach out to him to help you with your Larry King impression.
COSTELLO: I need a lot of help. I'll never do that again on the air or even in private. A.J., thanks so much.
HAMMER: You got it.
COSTELLO: Want information on everything breaking in the entertainment world? Check out "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT" at 11:00 Eastern on HLN.
What's it like to be a black person at a predominantly white university? One filmmaker is trying to bring that story to life and if social media is any indicator his project could turn out to be a blockbuster. I'll talk to the man behind "Dear White People".
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COSTELLO: 45 minutes past the hour. Checking our top stories now.
Discouraging news for job seekers: Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke just a few minutes ago on Capitol Hill said that jobs recovery is still frustratingly slow. In his semi-annual monetary policy report to Congress, he says the Federal Reserve is forecasting the unemployment rate will stay at 7 percent or higher through 2014.
Two Americans kidnapped in Egypt have been reunited with their families. The reunion took place a few hours ago in northern Israel. The Americans were abducted Friday in the Sinai region where kidnappings and armed robberies have spiked since former President Hosni Mubarak was overthrown.
In "Money News", actor Charlie sheen is helping out injured U.S. military personnel and their families. Sheen says he'll donate one percent of the profits from his TV show "Anger Management" to the USO and he guarantees the donation will be at least $1 million.
And watch closely. You will see what some people in New York are calling an incredible save. A seven-year-old girl dancing on an air conditioning unit outside -- look at her falling. Oh. That was from the third floor. She lost her balance. Steve St. Bernard -- yes the same name as the rescue dog -- he was there to catch her.
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STEVE ST. BERNARD, CAUGHT FALLING GIRL: I ran over there hoping that she wouldn't fall and when I got there she was still standing there. I just like positioned myself, hopefully I would catch her.
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COSTELLO: So calm. Little girl was not hurt. St. Bernard who says he's no hero, did suffer an arm injury in breaking her fall. He says he's going to be a-ok.
"Dear White People", have you heard of it yet? It is trending high on social media sites with more than 713,000 hits on "YouTube alone. This satire explores the issue of race and identity from the viewpoints of four black students at a fictitious predominantly-white school. Here's a clip.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Dear white people, breaking news. The amount of black friends required to not seem racist has now been raised to two. Sorry, your (inaudible) man, Tyrone does not count.
Dear white people please stop touching my hair. Does this look like a petting zoo to you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Your hair is so cute. Is it weaved?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Dear white people, listening to Flo Rida does not make you practically black.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What are you doing here?
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COSTELLO: I wish you could see the whole thing. It was really good. I'm joined now by Justin Simien, the man behind "Dear White People". Welcome.
JUSTIN SIMIEN, "DEAR WHITE PEOPLE": Hi. Thank you so much for having me.
COSTELLO: 713,000 views on YouTube. Did you ever think? SIMIEN: I did not think. I mean, I remember sending an e-mail saying do you think we'll ever get to 100,000. There was a time when I -- I mean, the fact that so many people have watched it and so many people have donated to our campaign is -- it blows me away. It's amazing but I can't --
COSTELLO: Let's talk about your campaign. You set out to raise $25,000 because you want to bring this film to the theaters. You exceeded your goal in three days. In the process, you've created a lot of buzz. What are you trying to say?
SIMIEN: Well, I'm trying to bring, you know, a new story to the screen. I'm trying to say something new about the black experience that I don't think is really out there. And, you know, I think it's important. I think it's important for the culture to bring new stories, so yes, that's what I'm doing, hopefully.
COSTELLO: Ok. So Tyler Perry has a new movie coming out. Do you think he's bringing the right kind of story to American theaters?
SIMIEN: You know, I think that Tyler Perry has a completely valid voice. I think he is bringing stories to the screen that lots of people want to see.
I don't have a personal problem with Tyler Perry. I don't know Tyler Perry. But I do kind of have a problem with the system where only one kind of depiction of black people is out there. I think that we have a lot of stories to tell and I think our point of view is actually interesting and can be universal.
COSTELLO: Well, let's talk about Tyler Perry because in the trailer, you kind of poke fun at Tyler Perry. What view is Tyler Perry bringing of black America to the masses?
SIMIEN: I think that Tyler Perry is bringing a very broad comedic view that appeals to a lot of people. Unfortunately, when I see a Tyler Perry movie, I don't necessarily see myself on the screen, which was, you know, a major impetus for making this film for me.
COSTELLO: When I was watching your trailer --
SIMIEN: I grew up with movies like -- oh sorry.
COSTELLO: That's ok. Go ahead.
SIMIEN: I was saying I grew up with movies like "School Days" and "Do the Right Thing" and "Hollywood Shuffle". And you know, that was kind of like the heyday for me. You know, hopefully this film can be a part of bringing that back.
COSTELLO: I was just going to say when I was watching the trailer it sort of reminded me of do the right thing because you have the deejay-type person and she's broadcasting thoughts out there and then the movie takes place around that.
Why name it "Dear White People"? Because at first glance, maybe some white people would be kind of insulted.
SIMIEN: Well, you know the point of a movie title is to get butts in seats, right. It's supposed to be provocative. It's supposed to be exciting. The character, Sam White, who starts the radio show "Dear White People" in the film, she causes quite a stir on her campus. And so, you know, because that is one of the main conflicts that fuels the movie, I just felt it was a great title.
COSTELLO: Ok. So you're well on your way to raising this money. How much of a chance do you think that this film will end up in theaters nationwide?
SIMIEN: I have to say, it's been so validating to me to read the comments on our Indie Go Go page as well as on our YouTube account, the Twitter, the Facebook, all those places, I feel super confident that we're going to get this movie to theaters. There's obviously an audience for it. And I always suspected that to be true, but I really feel like it is.
COSTELLO: Justin Simien, thanks so much for being here this morning.
SIMIEN: Thank you so much. Really appreciate it.
COSTELLO: Sure.
We'll be right back.
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COSTELLO: No doubt your mom told you carrots are good for your eyes and spinach will make you stronger. Bud did you know, some food can actually make you look younger. For today's "Daily Dose", here's Dr. Nicolas Perricone with his three-day face lift in a fridge plan.
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DR. NICOLAS PERRICONE, DERMATOLOGIST: Did you know that we can actually get a beautiful radiance without going in the sun and it's as simple as with the foods that we can eat and not eat.
I'm recommending salmon. Make it any way you like, poach it, broil it. I want you to have it twice a day. With that salmon, I want you to have a green salad with olive oil and lemon and for dessert, look for berries, blueberries, strawberries and raspberries. More color means greater radiance. Your breakfast like an egg white omelet with some slow-cooked oatmeal.
I do not want you to have sugar. Sugar is a bad guy. It will make your skin dull, your pores large and will rapidly age you.
Try the three-day face lift in a fridge. It always works unless you're cheating.
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COSTELLO: "Talk Back" question this morning, what's the best way to win the war on drugs?
This from Lourdes, "America's unquenchable thirst for illegal drugs needs to be addressed through education, prevention and rehabilitation."
This from Lee, "Legalize drugs across the board and replace the persecution attitude with treatment and education. The cost would be less than we spend now on the drug war and we would save lives as well.
And this from Mike, "Stop faking it. Stop acting like this is a war. If it is, then go in and take out the cartels. If they can find bin Laden then you know where these guys are. Stop pretending. Just do it."
Keep the conversation going, facebook.com/carolcnn. Thanks as always for your comments.
And thanks for joining me this morning. "CNN NEWSROOM" continues right now with Kyra Phillips.
