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Army Medic Records Texas Shooting; Ryan Campaigns In Colorado; Air Force Goes Hypersonic; Car Plunges Into Alabama Bay; Biden: "Put You All Back In Chains"; Curiosity On Mars; Girls Are Good At Math Too; Tanker Crashes Into Condo Complex

Aired August 14, 2012 - 14:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Suzanne, thank you so much.

I'm Brooke Baldwin. Let's roll on, shall we?

Any moment now, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta is expected to address members of the media and the focus may turn to the urgent situation inside Syria, including the potential that the U.S. spearheads a no-fly zone as the Syrian government has been continuously targeting its own people. We are monitoring that for you.

But first, really, just amazing new video here shedding some light on that gun battle that left three people dead near the Texas A&M University. An Army medic captured these images on his smartphone. And what you're going to see if this Afghanistan veteran waiting to jump into action and help out. Watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You got an ambulance here yet? I'm a medic.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's coming.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can I get to him?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: We are told Constable Brian Bachmann served the gunman, 35-year-old Thomas Caffall, an eviction notice. Bachmamn, along with a civilian bystander, were shot. College Station Police, they arrived. They exchanged gunfire with the suspect for several minutes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF JEFF CAPPS, COLLEGE STATION, TEXAS, POLICE: Our officers were contacted and they were arriving to the scene. On their initial arrival, they started taking gunfire, shots at them. They returned fire. And that went on for several minutes back and forth. And then the officers were able to actually shot the suspect and stop -- stop the threat.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BALDWIN: That was Police Chief Jeff Capps. That was a news conference today. And now I want you to watch what happened when his officers rushed this house in which the suspect was holed up.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Put your hands where I can see them!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stand by, we're in the middle of this (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hands where I can see them! (INAUDIBLE). Do not move! Do not move! Do not move! If you move, you are dead! Do not move! Do not move!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Rigo Cisneros is the Army medic you hear talking with the police in the video you just saw, crouched down in the grass. He stood by as police rushed this house waiting to help the downed officer. Take a listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Killing me to wait.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 10-4. I got a medic over here if we need help. Hey, hey, hey, wait till it's clear. Wait till it's clear.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm trying to get his attention.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We don't know if the house is empty.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on. Every minute -- he's been down for like 20 (EXPLETIVE DELETED) minutes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Settle down. Andy (ph), is that house clear? All right. Go. House is clear.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: And he continues toward the house. Rigo Cisneros joins me live by phone from College Station, Texas.

And, Rigo, all of this was happening right around this time yesterday. Take me back. You're home. You hear the shots. Instead of keeping cover, here you are creeping across the street toward this fire. Why?

RIGO CISNEROS, ARMY MEDIC AND WITNESS (via telephone): Well, shortly after -- actually I figured out that they were actually real gunshot, not construction noises. I could actually see the College Station Police officer crouched behind a car taking fire. Once that happened and I informed 911, I went back to see if there was anything I could do. And then I saw the downed constable. So, I had to see if I could help. But the gunfire kept exchanging, so I couldn't get out there.

BALDWIN: Let me begin with this constable. Because we hear in the exchange, you do ask permission to approach. You eventually get that permission. You crawl toward that one constable police officer who had been shot. How bad had he been hit?

CISNEROS: When I approached him, one of his -- one of the fellow officers that raided the house was trying to talk to him and he was nonresponsive. I tried to take vitals, but I found none. And so we immediately started to do two man CPR.

BALDWIN: And were there --

CISNEROS: He -- he --

BALDWIN: Were there any signs of life?

CISNEROS: Well, all we could identify was a single gunshot to his chest.

BALDWIN: Oh. And we now later learned he passed away in the hospital. All of this happening, we should point out, you know, you've been to Afghanistan. As we said, you are a medic. You know exactly what you're doing. So not only, Rigo, do you approach this down officer, you then decide to approach the shooter, who could have been playing dead, Rigo. Why do that? Why take the risk?

CISNEROS: That's not really what happened. What happened is, I was first on the scene. So before the ambulances could arrive to do their job, I was working on the constable. Once they arrived, they took over and started working on the constable and the suspect needed attention. That's when I started working on the (INAUDIBLE) until the rest of the paramedics showed up to start giving their level of care on the suspect. He was handcuffed and he was brought out by the police. They wouldn't let me approach him until they had cleared him.

BALDWIN: So he was handcuffed. You approach him. And I understand he told you something. That he wanted you to relay a message to that officer. What did he tell you?

CISNEROS: Right. He did ask me to apologize to the officer he had shot.

BALDWIN: He wanted you to apologize to the officer that was shot, who later died. What did you say back to him?

CISNEROS: I said nothing. I continued to -- we were looking for a wound and making sure he wasn't bleeding out with something we weren't watching. Continued to do our jobs.

BALDWIN: You sound so cool, calm and collected now. Was your heart just thumping yesterday?

CISNEROS: You know, we -- this goes out to all the first responders who were at College Station. I have been -- I've never seen a higher level of professionalism in those guys there. Everyone was completely focused. There was no -- there was a downed officer there and they treated the suspect in every level of professionalism and everyone did their job so well. It's not just about one person and everyone just focuses on their job. And that was what everyone did there.

BALDWIN: Absolutely. Kudos to the officers for responding.

Final question, Rigo. Why record the whole thing on your smartphone?

CISNEROS: I didn't know how it was going to end. I mean, I didn't know what was really happening. That's what the initial impulse was to record it. It could have been a school (ph) shooting that had a much different ending, or it could have been something that the police could actually use. And as it is, even though there were several police eye witnesses, they can follow along with the -- they got all the raw video and pictures, so they can follow along with the picture that they saw themselves.

BALDWIN: Rigo Cisneros on the phone with me from College Station, Texas.

Rigo, what a story. Thank you so much.

CISNEROS: Thank you.

BALDWIN: And a deadly day in Afghanistan. Multiple suicide attacks and bombings have killed more than 40 people and injured more than 100. Most of the blast happening in Zaranj. Hitting a gas station. Hitting a hospital. In the northeast, the Taliban killed a district police officer and three officers in an ambush. Officials say it is the bloodiest day so far this year.

And more news developing right now. Roll it.

He is the man of the moment. And as Paul Ryan reintroduces himself to Americans, I'll speak live with someone who knows what inspired these political beliefs that have everyone talking.

I'm Brooke Baldwin. The news is now.

Danger in the everglades. A monster python discovered in Florida sets a record.

Plus, a mom sees herself on porn sites after shooting an instructional video on breast-feeding. Now she's suing and she joins me live.

And --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And he's saying you want to go back and drive fast through the intersection because there's a sniper.

(END VIDEO CLIP) BALDWIN: CNN's Ben Wedeman avoiding snipers in Syria. You'll see this fascinating behind the scenes look inside the war zone.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Four candidate, four states. These are the heavy hitters, folks. Take a look at the map we're about to show you. You see these four states. They are up for grabs in the November presidential election. You see the president. He is spending day number two in Iowa. And let's listen in as he tweets Mitt Romney on the topic of wind energy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: That's what he said about wind power. You can't drive car with a wind mill on it. Now, I don't know if he's actually tried that. I know he's had other things on his car. But if he wants to learn something about wind, all he's got to do is pay attention to what you've been doing here in Iowa.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Governor Romney also touching today on America's energy future. Romney appeared just a short time ago with some pretty burly coal miners behind him there. He said the president's turned his back on coal, which is there right now for the taking. He is telling these miners he needs their votes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MITT ROMNEY (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: So I want you to find one person to convince to vote for our ticket. Maybe you can do that once a week or once a month. And I want you to make sure they get to the polls. I want you to commit you'll also get to the polls. I make that commitment to keep America strong. You make the commitment to make sure I win. And together we're going to take back this country and keep it the hope of the earth.

Thank you so very much. Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: That is Mitt Romney.

Here is his newly minted running mate, Paul Ryan. He is talking energy as well, just a short time ago in Denver.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PAUL RYAN (R), VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Last week, when I was filling my truck up -- which something tells me I'm not going to be putting gas in my truck for any time soon -- but last week when I was filling my truck up, it cost $100. And the only reason it cost $100 is because the cut -- the pump cut me off at $100. I didn't even fill the gas tank. Enough.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Again, Paul Ryan in Colorado.

And now no Joe Biden. Here he is walking on stage. This is southern Virginia. His first of two days in that swing state. Biden says putting Ryan on the ticket shows that Romney wants to take America to a place where it doesn't want to go.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There is no real distinction, no distinction, between what the Republican Congress is proposing and what Governor Romney plans to do. And the American people have already had a glimpse of the Ryan Republican congressional budget and they have rejected it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Now, Biden may have gone a little rogue when he was speaking there in southern Virginia. We're going to hit on that a little later. But I first just want to bring in CNN's Peter Hamby. He is at the Paul Ryan event in Denver, Colorado.

And, Peter, we talked about this yesterday. It sounds like, once again, I'm kind of -- I'm feeling the energy here. It sounds like the Republican base very much so responding to Paul Ryan.

PETER HAMBY, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER: Yes, Brooke, we knew "The Wall Street Journal" editorial board and, you know, the "National Review" and sort of Beltway conservative crowd really liked Paul Ryan. But we're seeing anecdotally out here on the road that Ryan is really energizing the Republican base.

Yesterday in Iowa, he pulled several thousand people up to the soap box at the Iowa State Fair. Getting a bigger crowd than Mitt Romney, Rick Perry and Michele Bachmann did last summer when they were running in Iowa caucuses. Today here in Colorado, in Lakewood, a suburb of Denver, he had at least 2,000 people in a high school gym, maybe more, and they really, really responded when he was hitting all of his lines in the early stages of this stump speech that we're starting to hear.

Yes, we are seeing some big crowd reactions. We haven't seen any great polling yet on how the Republican base is reacting to Ryan, but superficially it looks like they are, Brooke.

BALDWIN: OK. So, big crowds. And I hate to rain on the parade here, Peter Hamby, but between the Ryan plan and the Romney plan, there seems to be a bit of confusion. Does that make the Republican ticket open, perhaps, to being defined by Democrats, which I'm sure the Democrats are very hard to do right now?

HAMBY: Yes, that's what Democrats want. Look, the Romney campaign knew by picking Paul Ryan they were going to have to confront Medicare questions head on because of the budget plan that he put together in the House. Paul Ryan, out on the road in Colorado, hasn't really talked about Medicare that much, but the Romney campaign, when they're out there on television, today, for example, one of their senior advisors on CNN said Romney and Ryan are 100 percent on the same page when it comes to Medicare vouchers, for example.

But the day that Paul Ryan was selected, the Romney campaign circulated talking points to their allies and campaign surrogates saying, hey, we're not going to adopt the Ryan plan. We admire it, but Romney's going to have his own plan.

So while Republicans are sort of figuring out how to talk about Medicare, Democrats are mostly on the same page. And it's having an impact down ballot. Remember, Republicans are trying to take back the Senate. And this is going to be a big issue in five or six key Senate battleground states. Places like Virginia and Nevada it's already becoming an issue. Think about somewhere like Ohio. Republican Senate candidate Josh Mandel is a young guy, really trying to connect with older voters. This might be a problem for him if the Obama campaign and his rival Sherrod Brown out there in Ohio can made Medicare an issue. Democrats are mostly on the same page, while Republicans are still kind of feeling out how to approach this issue several days in.

Brooke.

BALDWIN: OK. I know we'll watch and see how it is they figure out that issue. How they want to sort of, I guess, clarify that this -- these different plans.

But we have to talk about a piece you just put up on cnn.com because I know we talked a lot about Santorum and we talked about those sweater vests, Peter Hamby. So now it sounds like we're talking about Paul Ryan and turtlenecks?

HAMBY: Turtlenecks. The '90s, big time, yes. Paul Ryan was in a fraternity at Miami University in Ohio called Delta Tau Delta. CNN actually got our hands on yearbook photos from Ryan from his fraternity days. We posted them on cnn.com just now. This is kind of the fun part of getting to know these national candidates. This was in 1989, '90, '92. And if you look at the pictures, Paul Ryan definitely rocking the turtleneck in some of these pictures. But kind of an interesting glimpse of Ryan in his college days. He's only 42. This wasn't that long ago. But I actually did some research on Twitter the other day and some current frat brothers at Miami were really excited that the same guy who was, quote, "raging" in their frat house 20 years ago is now the vice presidential candidate for the Republicans.

Brooke.

BALDWIN: Raging to a little rage and Led Zeppelin from what I understand. Very interesting. Glad you could dig up those very important photos, Peter Hamby. We appreciate you there in Colorado for us.

HAMBY: Thanks, Brooke.

BALDWIN: And some great news for you. Really for me as well. I get to anchor this show live from Tampa, where Republicans will be holding their national convention in two weeks. That kicks off August 27th. Can't wait to be there. Join me then right here on CNN.

And now this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And he's saying you want to go back and drive fast through the intersection because there's a sniper.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: What a story this is. That's Ben Wedeman. He's on the streets of Syria, where this scene, this scene is daily life. You are about to see this really breathtaking behind the scenes look at the hell inside the war zone and how we cover it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: There is really no letup in the misery for people in Syria. Opposition groups say at least 70 people have been killed today in the violence that has been consuming that country. Watch this.

(VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Activists say the relentless shelling of rebel strongholds in recent days has made the growing humanitarian crisis even worse. A top United Nations official has arrived in Damascus in an effort to draw more attention to the plight of civilians effected by this endless violence. Valerie Amos is the U.N.'s emergency relief coordinator. Syrian TV reports she met with Syria's prime minister. And the U.N. says two million people are affected by this upheaval.

Right now Defense Secretary Leon Panetta and joint chiefs chairman Martin Dempsey, here they are. They are addressing reporters. They are expected to talk about the U.S. response to the Syrian crisis. Obviously we have eyes and ears on this. And as soon as they address it, we'll turn that around for you there, speaking.

Meantime, Syria's former prime minister, who fled the country just last week, has now made his first public appearance since he defected. Riyad Hijab held a news conference in Jordan where he insisted that the Syrian regime is close to collapse.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RIYAD HIJAB, FORMER SYRIAN PRIME MINISTER (through translator): I can confirm to you, given my experience and the position I had, that the regime's morale, economy and military has completely collapsed and is only in control of no more than 30 percent of Syrian lands.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: The U.S. government has lifted economic sanctions against Hijab. The sanctions were imposed last month on more than two dozen top Syrian leaders. Meantime, CNN's senior international correspondent Ben Wedeman and his crew recently returned from Aleppo. We have talked so much about the fighting there. It's the largest city. Very much so at the center of this intense fighting.

And I just want to play this. Just a stunning behind the scenes look at how our crew dodged snipers to enter the city and get their story.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We made it. We left our safe house at 11:00 in the morning. And it's 10 minutes past 10 at night. We finally made it to Aleppo.

ON SCREEN TEXT: The next day.

WEDEMAN: All right. We're now going in the direction of Salahuddin (ph), where, of course, all the fighting has taken place. What we're going to do is go to the Mush Hud (ph) neighborhood, which is adjacent to Salahuddin. There we'll get out and make our way slowly and cautiously toward Salahuddin, which the rebels say they've largely retaken, but, you know, if you have to take everything they say -- everyone says with a great big sack of salt.

He's saying at the intersection, go faster. OK. We're going through an interest where he says to drive fast. So, kind of get on the gear.

(SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

WEDEMAN: And we're just going through this intersection.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Keep going.

WEDEMAN: OK. Now we're good. We're good. It was just that road here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

WEDEMAN: OK. He's saying -- they're saying here there's a sniper that's shooting.

(SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

WEDEMAN: OK. And he's saying you want to go back and drive fast through the intersection because there's a sniper.

(SPEAKING IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

WEDEMAN: He said get down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get down. Get down. (INAUDIBLE) pictures (ph).

WEDEMAN: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a sniper.

WEDEMAN: Get down. Get down. Get down.

(CROSS TALK)

WEDEMAN: That's all right. You're fine.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come down.

WEDEMAN: Just come down. Just get down. OK. Even if it's uncomfortable, just get down.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not because uncomfortable. How you going to do this?

WEDEMAN: All right. OK, we made it past that one. OK. Well, maybe now's a good time to get out, get our bearings.

What are you doing, Karim (ph)? OK, he's going to take us between the buildings. Probably we'll park the car there and (INAUDIBLE).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Ben Wedeman. And that was one intersection to get the story here on CNN. Our thanks to Ben and our crew. Unbelievable.

New York to L.A., 40 minutes. New York to London, an hour. The military testing out this hyper sonic jet that is so fast it literally rides the shockwaves it creates. So what would this new technology mean for say the future of war and possibly air travel?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: OK. Let me tell you a little something about this X-51A wave rider. This is what the Air Force is testing. It's this new hypersonic aircraft. Take a look at these pictures. It's kind of cool. It's not manned. And it launches from a modified B-52 bomber.

So just to help us sort of understand this a little bit. So for example, let's say New York to Los Angeles. This thing will reach more than 4,500 miles per hour. So that will basically take you from New York to Los Angeles in a cool 40 minutes.

It's called wave rider because it literally ride the shock waves created by traveling so fast. So here is what this would actually do. This is where it would take off from in California and attached to a B-52, which would then take off just off the coast.

Then in terms of this flight here, the aircraft will then launch and hopefully fly for about 300 seconds during the 5 minutes will travel about 370 miles and dive there somewhere off into the Pacific.

So let me talk to Chris Lawrence. He can explain how this whole thing really works. He is at the Pentagon for us. And first Chris, how the heck can this thing potentially fly so fast? CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's just the thing, Brooke. It may not. The previous test, it's never gone beyond about 150 seconds. So believe me if this flies for 5 minutes, the Air Force is going to be thrilled at this test.

That tells you how long we got to go. But, yes, projected out, dream big. You can imagine Paris to Tokyo in two and a half hours. It's always been a dream to shrink the world, so to speak and move at a faster rate. The Pentagon spent a lot of money on this technology.

BALDWIN: How much money?

LAWRENCE: About $2 billion over the last 10 years. At this point not a whole lot to show for it, but they have been making some incremental progress. The goal, the ultimately sort of holy grail out there is to be able to have that capability to strike just about anywhere until the world within an hour without using the only available means we have right now, which is a hydrogen bomb, which has all sorts of repercussions with retaliation.

BALDWIN: So obviously they're looking at speed that's the whole point. If we need to get up and out somewhere, anywhere in the world, they can just do this.

Again, this is unmanned. If and when that works, and I know I'm jumping ahead of myself, but I can't help it. I'm curious. Would this be something that they could look at putting someone in?

LAWRENCE: Maybe our grand children. Well, could maybe look at that. I think you and I will be long, long gone by the time they get to that point. The problem they had is the bigger you make it, the worst it works.

So, you know, when talk about making it big enough to carry passengers and cargo, that's going to be a problem. But again, it's a small step along the way at this point.

BALDWIN: All right, well, good to know our grand babies will be able to get to Europe in a snap.

LAWRENCE: Hopefully.

BALDWIN: Hopefully. Chris Lawrence, thank you so much. We'll check in and see if this thing goes anywhere.

Now one woman's routine drive turns into an emergency.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's when my air bag deployed and it knocked me out. I lost consciousness. The next thing I know is I'm in the water.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Look at this picture. Her terrifying tale of survival is next.

Plus police go underground to uncover nearly 750 pounds of pot.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Talk about a driver's worst nightmare. I mean, imagine one minute, you're driving across a bridge and then the next minute, you're trying to escape a death trap as your car is filling up with water.

That's precisely what happened to one woman in Alabama. She clipped the guardrail and sent flying into Mobile Bay. Thank goodness she lived to tell her story.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MELISSA MORRIS, CAR ENDED UP IN MOBILE BAY (via telephone): I remember swerving to miss the car in front of me and lost control of my vehicle. Witnesses say that's when I hit the side. That's when my air bag deployed and it knocked me out. I lost consciousness. The next thing I know is I'm in the water.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: And then somehow she wound up on the roof of her car when rescue crews arrived.

A sprawling marijuana farm found growing under the streets of Rome. I'm talking about nearly 750 pounds of pot discovered in a secret greenhouse hidden in an abandon subway, get this, in a tunnel built by Mussolini. Pot has a market value of more than $3 million. Authorities believe the facility might be part of larger international drug ring.

Vice President Joe Biden telling a crowd today Mitt Romney's version of Wall Street will, quote, "put you back in chains." Back in chains, that comment sparking immediate reaction from the Romney camp. I'm going to speak live with one of the Republican's advisors, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Back to the race for the White House. Joining me now from Walker Minnesota, former Republican Congressman Vin Weber. He is also an advisor to Mitt Romney. He is a friend of Paul Ryan and a mentor to a lot of House Republicans of Paul Ryan's generation.

So Congressman Weber, welcome to you. And I just want to start off some wonky sort of stuff, but we've just gotten this. I just want your reaction first to this.

I want your reaction to something that Vice President Joe Biden said just this morning in Danville, Virginia. Here he was.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Romney he said in the first 100 days he's going to let the big banks once again write their own rules. Unchain Wall Street, going to put you all back in chains.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: I just want to make sure everyone caught that. The vice president, Joe Biden, said Romney wants to unchain Wall Street. Then he said he's going to put you all back in chains. Congressman Weber, your reaction.

VIN WEBER (R), FORMER CONGRESSMAN (via telephone): That's ridiculous. I mean, what he is referring to is this ridiculous piece of legislation that they ran through in the first two years when the Democrats ran everything called Dodd-Frank. The main thing you need to know about that Dodd-Frank is it's so complex, so complicate, so convoluted and a so ill thought through that the regulations implementing it haven't been issued yet.

They're behind schedule. It's taking years and years just for the regulators to figure out what the heck Dodd-Frank even means. So what Governor Romney had said is we know we need to encourage banks to lend businesses to invest and we've got regulatory burdens that are preventing them from doing so.

Let's eliminate that uncertainly and in this case, it's beyond certainty of this horribly complex set of regulations yet to come and give the banks the encouragement to lend and invest.

BALDWIN: OK, just so I'm clear, Congressman, that comment was just commenting on policy and politics?

WEBER: Right. I think so. I think -- we're not talking about undoing most of the regulations that have been sensibly put in place over years. We're talking about not implementing a piece of legislation that clearly is not capable of being properly implemented.

BALDWIN: Now let me just jump in because when I hear him talk about cutting the national debt and cutting the deficit here, we have to wonder whether selling fiscal discipline is really winning political issue. What do you think?

WEBER: Well, I think that you're right. In the past, we've had a real problem and that was just selling pain and now although we have to ask the question, this is really part of the fundamental choice the country has to face right now.

Do we believe that the looming debt that our country faces is a detriment through economic growth going forward? There have been times in the past I will concede when you'd say, you know, a little more spending might boost the economy a little bit.

But now we're seeing the debt to GDP ratio, debt is in relationship to the size of our national economy rise so rapidly that it's getting to the point where investors and the bond market are questioning whether or not the United States is going to go the path of European countries and some cities and counties and states in this nation and the unable to pay its debt.

That may be a greater detriment to economic growth than the austerity that it would take to actually undo that long term indebtedness.

BALDWIN: So it's a choice whether you want the Obama-Biden ticket or whether you want the Romney-Ryan ticket. Congressman Ryan has really become one of the faces of the House of Representatives over the last couple of years.

We know the House in particular is historically unpopular among the public and Democrats very much so seizing upon that. I want you to listen to the man who actually introduced Vice President Biden today. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM PERRIELLO (D), FORMER U.S. REPRESENTATIVE: I think it's possible that Mitt Romney is the only person in America who looked at the way this Congress is behaving and said I want the brains behind that operation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: You hear the big laugh that comment garnered. Congressman Weber, will voters see Congressman Ryan and think of him as really the face of a very unpopular House of Representatives?

WEBER: Well, I don't think ultimately that's going to happen. First of all, we still have this phenomenon that when people are asked about the Congress, they don't like the Congress, but they do like their own congressman because they know who he is.

They're now going to know Paul Ryan not just as part of the nameless, faceless group of people called members of Congress. They are going to know him as a person and hear his explanation of what he actually wants to do.

BALDWIN: Do you think that's going to be easy for him though to change that image?

WEBER: I think it's tough in this environment to convince people. The underlying reality here is you got polls out even just today that show by a two to one margin people think the country is on the wrong track.

They don't really have confidence in anybody. They don't have confidence in the Congress, but they threw out the Democratic Congress.

BALDWIN: Those approval ratings for Congress aren't so hot either, Congressman. So how exactly does Paul Ryan change that image?

WEBER: I'm agreeing with you. People have no confidence in the Congress, but two years ago they threw out the Democratic Congress. So we're living in an era where people have little confidence in our institution.

They're going to look at these people that are running for office in the fall and make a judgment about which of them from a political class that they don't have a lot of confidence and say who can better turn around the country.

I think when they look at him and make that determination, Paul Ryan and Governor Romney have an excellent chance of convincing people what has been happening the last four years has only made things worse and they need to give the new team a chance.

BALDWIN: It's a choice just as you say. Congressman Vin Weber, thank you for calling in very much.

WEBER: Thank you. Great to be with you.

BALDWIN: Capable and confident despite doing math. You know her as Winnie from "The Wonder Years." Actress and mathematician Danica McKellar, she wants more girls to feel this way. She's going to join me live next to share why smart is sexy.

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BALDWIN: On Mars, the rover "Curiosity" software is updated and running, and so far everything is a go. Mission scientists and engineers held a teleconference just hour ago to go over some of that stunning images that are still coming back to us from Mars.

In fact, take a look at this. This is an image that was taken from a NASA satellite orbiting Mars. It shows you can see the terrain, the rocky terrain, really "Curiosity's " landing site there in the gale crater.

And you can also see the blast pattern from the rover's dissent onto Mars. Also we have -- looking at these pictures from the camera shows the rock littered surface. The rover will explore first before heading toward Mt. Sharp, which is about, you know, four or five miles away.

Now among the key placers on NASA's "Curiosity" rover team are Joy Crisp and Grace Tanwang. I want to point them out just because there's this myth that needs to be busted today that girls aren't good at math or science.

It just isn't true. Studies over the last four or five years show girls closing the math gap with boys both score about the same on standardized math test. More women getting their PhDs in math, 30 percent of those degrees go to women.

Folks that is compared to five percent that was just about 60 years ago and I like to think that is really thanks in part to women like Joy Crisp and Grace Tanwang and also thanks to one of my personal heroes, Sally Ride who recently passed away.

The first American woman in space making math accessible to even more girls is a mission as well for any my guest. Most of us know her as Winnie Cooper, the girl next door on hit TV show "The Wonder Years."

But Danica McKellar is also a certified math wiz who writes math books geared toward girls. Her latest book is "Girls Get Curves, Geometry Take Shape."

So Danica, welcome back. We've had you on before. We wanted to get you back. We've got this book. It's awesome.

DANICA MCKELLAR, AUTHOR, "GIRLS GET CURVES: GEOMETRY TAKES SHAPE": Thank you.

BALDWIN: I just first want to ask you how did you become a mathematician? What inspired you? Who inspired you?

MCKELLAR: Well, I was actually pretty afraid of math in middle school. I had a pretty rough -- where I used to come home and cry because I was afraid of my math homework.

One teacher came in and made a huge difference. I realized then that math is about the presentation of it. So math is a foreign language.

If it's translated properly, if it's presented properly, it doesn't have to big and scary and something you cry about. It can actually be really fun and relevant to your life.

BALDWIN: I love how you bring up your teacher. It's amazing how one teacher can change your line of thinking when it comes to certain subjects.

So right now among researchers that the thought is that, you know, it's our culture. It's not that girls lack smarts that keeps out the whole girls are good at math stereotype alive.

I mean, how many people along the way after you're crying over your math homework, how many people along the way before you get your degree with highest honors from UCLA said you can't do this?

MCKELLAR: You know I didn't have too many people say that to me actually.

BALDWIN: Good.

MCKELLAR: But the thing is the world we live in tells girls that the most important thing they have to offer is through how cute they are and their appearance. That's what they have to really give the world. That's their value. That's what they're going to be valued for.

When I was a math major, I realized how many women would say I can't do math. I just wasn't good at it. I had this one teacher told me I was no good and that was it I never looked back. I never tried it again.

And this happens again and I was like what's going on. Why is this happening? Like you said in the study that you talked about before, women, girls, scored just as well as boys on average in math tests.

The difference is that girls' confidence in math is so much lower. So what happens is when they hit a stumbling block, unlike boys who are more likely to see it as a temporary stumbling block, girls are more likely to see it as evidence of what they have known all along, which is that they can't do math. So this gets stuck in our head from all the things we see around us, billboards, magazines, TV shows that says girls don't have to be so good at math. Don't you worry about that.

BALDWIN: We want it to be unstuck, right? So part of that they love the cover of your book because you're looking fabulous, by the way.

MCKELLAR: Thank you.

BALDWIN: But on the book, you know, it says girls got curves. It's almost like the cover of some teen magazine that you'd grab at the store. You talk about the perfect dress and lounge chairs, and pizza to introduce these different math concepts.

You talk about how geometry helps you approach, you know, a bunch of problems in a logical manner. You talk about logic. Were you just given writing this book, where you ever attempted to become a teacher yourself? Just curios.

MCKELLAR: Well, I sort of am a teacher through the books, I guess. This is my fourth book now ranging from "Math Doesn't Suck," which is the first one from age 9 to 11 all up through high school geometry now.

You're right. The books look more like teen magazines and math books. Why? Because girls are -- they get the stereotype stuck in their head thinking I either need to be like the cute popular girl or the smart nerdy girl.

No, you don't have to choose. You can be all of the above, any of the above. You know, it doesn't have to hold you back. In fact, studying math, getting good at overcoming challenges and that logical problem solving stuff that you use every day in life, that make you more fabulous.

So math, yes, makes you more fabulous. So that's kind of one of the messages of my books is that yes, and math is for you girls. You can tell because look at this book. This book is clearly made for you.

BALDWIN: I did have calculus myself, but I tell you I took physics and I said I don't think so. Just good for you, brains and beauty it shows you truly. Danica McKellar again, your book is girls get curves. Thanks for coming on. I appreciate it. Awesome seeing you.

MCKELLAR: Thank you.

BALDWIN: Coming up next, a horrifying reality of war. Reports of rape being used as a weapon inside of Syria, I'm about to speak with a woman shedding light on this. Stay right there.

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BALDWIN: Got some video just into us here. This is just outside of Baltimore. If you're familiar with the area, this is Port Deposit, Maryland. You can see here what looks to be a number of firefighters hazmat crews on the scene.

This is a semitruck. It's a semitruck carrying propane. It slammed into this condo complex. The driver we're told is alert and told officials he was unable to maintain the turn. He couldn't hit the brakes.

Therefore, he slammed into this building and obviously, the workers now are trying to get the driver out of the truck. Apparently he is still stuck inside.

They have gotten everyone who was inside the condo complex out for now. They have evacuated part of this downtown area. Trains in the area also have been halted. So just a heads up, if you are in Port Deposit. We'll keep an eye on this. Again, live pictures from WBAL.