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CNN Live Saturday
Indonesia Issues Alert for Possible Mount Merapi Eruption; Will General Hayden's CIA Nomination Withstand Controversy Surrounding NSA?; President Bush Will Address Nation About Immigration Reform Monday Night; Companies Cashing in on Hurricane Preparation
Aired May 13, 2006 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Making news now, an Indonesian volcano may erupt at any moment. Thousands of people are being evacuated. 12 years ago 66 people died when that volcano erupted.
This morning Zacarias Moussaoui began serving his sentence of life without parole. The Al Qaeda conspirator arrived at a maximum security prison in Colorado.
And it's another deadly weekend in Iraq. Two Iraqi soldiers were killed in battle today and an American soldier died when his vehicle hit a roadside bomb in Baghdad. His death brings the U.S. death toll in Iraq to 2,435.
Abigail and Isabel Carlton are in separate beds for the first time. Doctors at the Mayo Clinic separated the 5-month old conjoined twins yesterday. A team of 30 people including 18 surgeons participated in the operation.
Welcome to CNN LIVE SATURDAY I'm Brianna Keilar, it's May 13th. Ahead this hour President Bush is gearing up for a prime time effort to convince American voters that laws for illegal immigrants need to be changed. We'll show you what he has planned. And is your phone company been helping the government track your phone calls? Find out what our legal team has to say about the issue. But first, our top story.
Indonesia's Mount Merapi is ready to blow its top and that could be deadly. The volcano is convulsing violently spewing burning ash, rock and molten lava. Thousands of people are being evacuated right now. CNN's Anand Naidoo has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANAND NAIDOO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Thousands of people live and work in the shadow of the volcano. Many of them villagers who have so far refused to heed warning signs from the notorious volcano. Experts now say an eruption appears imminent and officials are not taking any chances calling for mandatory evacuations. Women, children and the elderly are being moved to shelters in schools and government buildings elsewhere in the province of Yogyakarta.
SRI SULTAN HAMENGKU BUWONO X, GOVERNOR OF YOGYAKARTA (translation): I have ordered the people who live within six kilometers away from Mount Merapi to be evacuated.
NAIDOO: But many thousands of people remain in harms way and some of them say they'll never leave their land and livestock. Merapi has been relatively quiet in recent years. Last time it erupted some 12 years ago at least 66 people were killed, many of them died after coming into contact with scorching volcanic gases. About a month ago Merapi began rumbling and bouncing out smoke. But scientists didn't raise the alert status to its highest level until they noticed the formation of a lava dome and increasing tremors. Signs that the crater is about to blow. Anand Naidoo, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KEILAR: In the White House and on Capitol Hill supporters of Michael Hayden are talking up the air force general's qualifications for CIA chief. President Bush made his own personal pitch today but will Hayden's connection to a controversial surveillance program at the NSA doom his nomination? Let's go live to Washington and CNN White House correspondent Elaine Quijano.
ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good afternoon to you Brianna. President Bush is calling on the senate to move quickly to confirm his nominee for the top CIA post Air Force General Michael Hayden. In his weekly radio address the president called Hayden supremely qualified to lead the organization.
Now Hayden once headed the National Security Agency which began carrying out that warrant less wiretap program authorized by President Bush after 9/11. This week a report in "USA Today" sparked renewed questions about the NSA's activities. That report said the federal government is collecting the phone records of tens of millions of Americans. Well today the president tried to address concerns about that report while being careful not to confirm or deny details in it.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This week new claims have been made about other ways we're tracking down Al Qaeda to prevent attacks on America. It is important for Americans to understand that our activities strictly target Al Qaeda and its known affiliates. Al Qaeda is our enemy and we want to know their plans.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
QUIJANO: Now the president says the U.S.'s intelligence activities are lawful. He says the appropriate members of congress have been briefed, that Americans' privacy rights are being protected and he also says the government is not listening in on domestic phone calls without court approval. Nevertheless, critics of the program question its legality and say that it will likely complicate General Hayden's confirmation process. They plan to pose some difficult questions to the general whose confirmation hearings get underway on Thursday. Brianna?
KEILAR: Elaine Quijano reporting at the White House. Thanks for that report Elaine. President Bush plans to make yet another push for immigration reform Monday night. He has scheduled a televised address to the nation. White House correspondent Suzanne Malveaux has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President Bush is making immigration reform his top domestic priority. A senior aide says that's why he's addressing the nation from the oval office Monday during prime time to signal to members of congress they've got to come up with legislation he can sign.
BUSH: First and foremost the federal government has the role to enforce our border.
MALVEAUX: Mr. Bush has been facing increasing pressure from conservatives of his own party to get tougher on border security. So Monday the president will address that head on. One plan Mr. Bush is considering a senior administration official says, is enhancing the role of the national guard in protecting the southern border. The official said the plan would not call for federalizing those troops nor increased active duty assignments, nor would it jeopardize the guard's missions overseas or preparations for hurricane season.
BUSH: I'm for a temporary worker program that will -- it says to a person here is a tamper proof card. That says you can come and do a job an American won't do.
MALVEAUX: Mr. Bush will also argue that the country cannot enforce border control without a guest worker program that allows some illegal immigrants to stay and work and others to earn eventual citizenship. Critics call that amnesty.
SEN. JEFF SESSIONS, (R) ALABAMA: I do not back down on the fundamental concept that the legislation before us today is basically an amnesty for the people who came here illegally in violation of our law.
MALVEAUX: On Capitol Hill supporters of amnesty for illegal immigrants squared off with a group calling themselves The Minutemen, who take it upon themselves to patrol the border. A senior administration official says the issue is ripe and the debate has been moving forward over the last couple of months, but that same official acknowledged that finding a compromise over immigration reform will be a very heavy lift. Suzanne Malveaux, CNN, the White House.
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KEILAR: That story comes to us from "Paula Zahn Now." Be sure to join Paula weeknights at 8:00 PM eastern, 5:00 Pacific.
California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is coming out against any plan to deploy national guard troops along the border. But he says the federal government should finance operations to secure the border.
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GOV. ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, (R) CALIFORNIA: I think that the key thing is to secure our borders, going the direction of the national guard I think is maybe not the right way to go because I think that the Bush administration and the federal government should put up the money to create the kind of protection that the federal government is responsible to provide.
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KEILAR: Schwarzenegger says national guard troops returning from Iraq and other hot spots should be allowed to go back to their jobs. Our in depth coverage of Monday's presidential address on immigration starts with a special edition of "The Situation Room" at 7:00 P.M. eastern. After the speech you'll hear what "Lou Dobbs" says about illegal immigration followed by "Larry King Live." And at 10:00 p.m. eastern join Anderson Cooper for a special report on illegal immigration reform. It's all on CNN, Monday night.
If you or your parents or even your grandparents are on Medicare listen up. Important news on the prescription drug program is coming up. Also, college campuses are a good place to hear potential candidates for president. We'll tell you why some people were surprised to find out where John McCain chose to speak today.
And can the cheetah outrun extinction? Stay tuned to CNN LIVE SATURDAY.
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KEILAR: Here's a look at top stories. Zacarias Moussaoui has been transferred to the nation's most secure prison located in southern Colorado. He was flown in overnight to begin a life sentence for conspiring with the 9/11 attackers.
A typhoon has killed at least 24 people in the northwestern Philippines. It sank, capsized and grounded several vessels and it forced southeast Asian trade ministers to move a scheduled meeting.
Indonesian officials warn there may be a full scale eruption of Mount Merapi, a volcano, any time now, they say it's already spewing smoke, ashes and lava. Thousands of evacuations have been ordered but some farmers and ranchers in the area have refused to leave. We go now to Catherine Hickson, she's a top volcano expert from Thompson Rivers University in Canada and she joins us now by phone from Ottawa. Catherine can you tell us, this is definitely going to erupt is that right?
CATHERINE HICKSON, VOLCANOLOGIST: Well it actually is erupting right now. And what the officials are saying is that we're going to have a larger eruption than what we're seeing right at this moment.
KEILAR: And my understanding is you were actually at Mount St. Helens when it erupted in 1980 and you were trapped because of that volcano eruption. We saw then a lot of people reticent to leave their homes and some people died because of that. Is that what we're going to see here in Indonesia?
HICKSON: Well I hope not. But you're absolutely right. Until a person actually experiences a volcanic eruption it's actually very hard to convey to them what in fact will happen. At Mount Merapi what is expected is what we call in volcanological terms pyroclastic flows. What these are, these are hot avalanches. So this is rock and ash that is cascading down the mountain, it's going at several hundred miles an hour and the temperatures are hundreds of degrees Fahrenheit. Anyone or animal that's caught in its path is immediately centrally incinerated.
KEILAR: So maybe someone who thinks they can outrun the lava, that's not really the problem they're facing here, it's really the pyroclastic flows. Can you give us a sense of how fast that would happen?
HICKSON: Well these happen almost instantaneously. Essentially what we've got -- the situation there is that you have a dome. And what the dome is it's simply the lava is not fluid enough to flow. You can think of this lava instead of being like water or milk or honey or something like that that you might see in Hawaii, this lava is so thick and sticky that it can't flow away. It's more like toothpaste. What it's doing is building up this big blocky bunch of material at the summit and as it grows it becomes unstable and pieces of it break away. When they break away they form these pyroclastic flows. And so they are not predictable.
KEILAR: This is not really unusual right for Mount Merapi? I mean this is something these people have been living with for decades, isn't that right?
HICKSON: Well actually more than decades. Hundreds of years. Merapi is one of the most active volcanoes in the world and these kinds of eruptions we actually call them Merapi in style eruptions, because essentially we have this -- a dome forms and we create these hot pyroclastic flows which kill people. So we actually name a style of volcanism after Mount Merapi because it's so frequent.
KEILAR: Catherine Hickson, a top volcano expert from Thompson Rivers University in Canada, thank you so much for talking to us today.
HICKSON: You're most welcome.
KEILAR: His title U.S. senator but John McCain sounded more like a presidential candidate today during a commencement speech at Liberty University in Virginia. The Arizona republican talked about the crisis in Darfur, the fight against terrorism and the war in Iraq. And he had this to say about the United States' position on promoting human rights abroad.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN, (R) ARIZONA: We're not defending an idea that every human being should eat corn flakes, play baseball or watch MTV. We're not insisting that all societies be governed by a bicameral legislature and a term limited chief executive. We're insisting that all people have a right to be free. And that right is not subject to the whims and interest and authority of another person, government or culture.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: The chancellor at Liberty U, you might be surprised, it's a former political foe of McCain's and an influential force among conservative Christians, Jerry Falwell. More now from CNN's chief national correspondent John King.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The old warrior of the moral majority is looking to shape the next presidential campaign and striking what to many is a surprising alliance.
JERRY FALWELL, CHANCELLOR, LIBERTY UNIVERSITY: For those of us social conservatives he at this moment is by far the strongest candidate we could field against Hillary Clinton.
KING: He is Arizona Senator John McCain. The same John McCain who lashed out at Falwell six years ago as his 2000 presidential campaign faltered.
MCCAIN: Neither party should be defined by pandering to the outer reaches of American politics and the agents of intolerance.
FALWELL: I paid no attention to attend. When we sat down last year in his office it was as if it had never been said.
KING: Moving on includes McCain delivering the commencement address at Falwell's Liberty University. Where young evangelicals are urged to be active in politics. No outright endorsement yet but Falwell is helping McCain arrange other appearances before conservative groups, and offering to travel with the senator to help heel the wounds of campaign 2000.
FALWELL: And my guess is it will take him about six months of sincere communication with people in the religious right on certain platforms to put that all to rest.
KING: It is a risky choice for Falwell, a test of his influence, quarter century after the moral majority's heyday. But it's clear he relishes being back in the game and thinks the risks of a less tested republican nominee are far greater.
FALWELL: Well there's no question in my mind that Hillary Clinton will be the democratic candidate. She'd (INAUDIBLE) Bill or something not to be.
KING: For the self styled straight talker McCain, the risk is to be seen as pandering to the Christian right. But the senator says too much is being made of this and his peace with Falwell would simply prove he holds no grudges and wants to reach out to all wings of the republican party. John King, CNN, Washington. (END VIDEOTAPE)
KEILAR: That story originally aired on "The Situation Room" and you can catch Wolf Blitzer weeknights in "The Situation Room" at 7:00 p.m. eastern, 4:00 pacific. This programming note, our in-depth coverage of Monday's presidential address on immigration gets started with a special edition of "The Situation Room" at 7:00 p.m. eastern, then find out what Lou Dobbs has to say on that topic followed by "Larry King Live." And at 10:00 p.m. eastern join Anderson Cooper for a special report on illegal immigration reform, it's all on CNN Monday Night.
Are you ready for hurricane season? Find out what gadgets and safety products are available to those living in the danger zone.
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GERALDINE LAYBOURNE, CHAIRMAN & CEO, OXYGEN MEDIA, INC.: I have a philosophy that liking your audience and liking your customer is the best way to do business.
KEILAR: And after reaching over 65 million homes in eight years, Geraldine Laybourne knows how to tune in success. Together with Oprah Winfrey Laybourne founded Oxygen Media, a 24 hour cable TV network owned and operated by women for women. The network airs original series like the hidden camera show "Girls Behaving Badly" and its newest comedy "Campus Ladies."
LAYBOURNE: My definition of success is making a difference and also doing well. Don't think about yourself. Think about creating an environment that you would like to work in. Create something that's a good for people that will keep on existing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KEILAR: In Florida firefighters are battling some major fires right now and they can really use some relief. We go now to Bonnie Schneider in the CNN weather center.
(WEATHER REPORT)
KEILAR: Thanks for that Bonnie. And as you said, hurricane season is knocking on the door and with it comes specialty products. Little things that make life more comfortable before and after the storm. Here's our John Zarela in Ft. Lauderdale.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN ZARELA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's called a zero lat. And it's not just any toilet. So you're telling me that solid waste literally becomes this?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Powder.
ZARELA: Powder?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sterile powder.
ZARELA: Heating elements in the tank do the trick. The water comes from this tank. No dependence on city water and sewer that might be out after a storm. The $3,000 zero lat was one of hundreds of new products on display at a hurricane conference in Ft. Lauderdale. There's a sandbagger and --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is an alternate to a sandbag. The company that makes it actually calls it the door dam.
ZARELA: In the after math of last year's mean season, companies have discovered there are big bucks in products designed to make life easier and emergency response better during and after a hurricane. The breakdown in communications was a major issue after Katrina.
EVAN KAGAN, GLOBAL SATELLITE: I think after we saw with Katrina and we saw the failures that were taking place, everyone sees the need for it now.
ZARELA: Now the market is flooded with high tech satellite communications equipment from hand held to SUV mounted.
BILL WAGNER, MONROE COUNTY EMERGENCY MANAGER: You look around and you say boy I need this, and boy I need that. And hopefully we can get some of that.
ZARELA: For the average consumer there's a $25 light that can stay bright for 75 hours on one LED battery.
GREG KENNEDY, LAZERBRITE: You can flip the heads around and now you have a powerful wide angle flashlight.
ZARELA: For insurance purposes Arkiva will document and store a visual record of all your possessions, even photo albums.
BRUCE ROBERSON, ARKIVA: People during Katrina in the gulf coast states places like Waveland, Mississippi, lost all their memories.
ZARELA: Hurricanes have suddenly spawned an emerging market of products and devices to make getting through the storm a little less painful. John Zarela, CNN, Ft. Lauderdale.
(END OF VIDEOTAPE)
KEILAR: Who are the minutemen and why are they generating such strong emotion? We'll hear from supporters and opponents. And our legal experts tackle the issue of phone companies and the National Security Agency combing forces to track your phone calls.
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