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CNN Live Saturday
The Minutemen Take their Immigration Fight to Washington; Health Officials Say Some New Orleans Residents Shouldn't Be Returning to their Homes; Confusion Surrounding Enrollment in the Medicare Prescription Drug Plan
Aired May 13, 2006 - 17:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: A deadly volcano is about to erupt. A reminder we are keeping you posted tonight. And convicted Al Qaeda operative Zacarias Moussaoui is now in a supermax prison in Colorado, serving his life sentence.
Within the past hour, anti-war protesters, anti-Iraq war protesters, took to the streets of our nation's capital. 2,434 American soldiers have died in the Iraq conflict.
Conjoined twins separated and in critical condition right now. Doctors at Minnesota's Mayo Clinic say the 5-month-old sisters have a 90 to 95 percent chance of survival.
Barry Bonds, the San Francisco slugger is poised to tie Babe Ruth's home-run record of 714 within his next round-tripper.
All right, we're pretty sure that President Bush is going to announce national guard troops to the Mexico border when he addresses the nation Monday night. This, while the U.S. senate will take up the issue again Monday. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle will try to work out a compromise on differing house and senate immigration bills. Now again, President Bush has scheduled a prime time address on the subject of immigration reform, it's set for Monday at 8:00 p.m. eastern, and CNN'S going to be all over it.
Well, from border to the front lines of policymaking, The Minutemen have descended upon Washington with a message for lawmakers. CNN's Tom Foreman has the story which first aired on "Anderson Cooper 360."
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TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Through a crowd of angry protesters and fresh from a tour of the country, The Minuteman project arrived at the capitol with a message for lawmakers. Enforce immigration law, or else.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you will not protect our liberties, then you will be voted out of office! And you will be sent to the unemployment line! And we will find a patriot who loves America, who'd take your place! FOREMAN: Whether this group can deliver on such threats is not clear. But they've seized the spotlight. Patrolling illegal border crossings, reporting employers who hire illegals, and relentlessly demanding that America's boundaries be secure.
PATTY PEEPLES, MINUTEMAN SUPPORTER: We want it done the right way, and that's all we're asking.
FOREMAN: David and Michele Beasley say they've never been involved in politics before, but drove nine hours from South Carolina to say they're worried about the effect of illegal immigrants on national security, American culture, and the economy.
MICHELE BEASLEY, MINUTEMAN SUPPORTER: We see people getting paid under the table.
Day workers.
BEASLEY: Day workers. They're lined up on the streets down from where we live.
FOREMAN: And what do you think that does to American workers and American wages?
DAVID BEASLEY, MINUTEMAN SUPPORTER: They cannot compete. They cannot compete.
We don't want your racist lines!
FOREMAN: Protesters who want amnesty for illegal immigrants call The Minutemen, racist, Klansmen, Nazis.
AMADA JAUREGUI, PROTESTOR: But I'm here to tell them, that we are opposed to them, and there are many people who just disagree wholeheartedly with what their opinion is.
FOREMAN: The Minutemen have caught on, because a lot of Americans are growing concerned about immigration. And fearing that their government is not doing enough.
WILLIAM ABERCROMBIE, TRUCK DRIVER: They're just not listening to the people.
FOREMAN: Why would they do that?
ABERCROMBIE: Honestly, I think it's because of the influence that the lobbyist in corporate America has and they want the cheap labor in this country.
FOREMAN: Immigration rights activists have filled the streets, but The Minutemen project aims to fill elected offices. With people who can make tough immigration laws and make them stick. Tom Foreman, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE) LIN: So be sure to join us on Monday night, when we have special coverage, following the president's address, for special editions of both "Anderson Cooper 360" and "Larry King Live." That's Monday night, right here on CNN.
Not much has been made about the president's guest-worker program and how it's going to help America protect its southern border. But what exactly is involved? Well, our Betty Nguyen has that fact check.
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BETTY NGUYEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Some key points of President Bush's controversial guest-worker plan include, employers must make a reasonable effort to hire an American before turning to illegal immigrants, now employed in the country or workers in foreign countries who have been offered jobs here. The government would step up efforts to enforce laws against hiring foreigners illegally. Illegal immigrants would be able to gain legal status for a set amount of time to do a specific job. Once the job is done, the workers would be required to return home.
Workers involved would be required to pay a onetime fee to register for the program. They would have a chance to renew the temporary worker status at an unspecified time in the future, only people outside the U.S. would be allowed to join the temporary worker program. One crucial point Mr. Bush's program does not allow is amnesty. He says, those who have entered the country illegally should not be rewarded for breaking U.S. law.
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LIN: But you're going to learn more about the president's plan Monday night. CNN's coverage of the president's address starts at 7:00 p.m. eastern with Wolf Blitzer, and then after the speech, we're going to hear from CNN's Lou Dobbs, followed by "Larry King Live."
After months of agony, a day of celebration. Tulane University in New Orleans celebrated graduation today. With two former presidents, George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton raised millions in hurricane relief aid. Well today, they praised graduates for persevering in the wake of hurricane Katrina.
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GEORGE H.W. BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The floodwaters may have breached the levees that surrounded this city. They may have destroyed home after home, block after block, but today, we also know they couldn't break the spirit of the people who have called this remarkable, improbable city home. The courage of the people in New Orleans is just fantastic.
BILL CLINTON, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If you look at Katrina and the enormous response it provoked, from all around the world, 60,000 contributors just to our little fund, and people not just in America, but lots of countries came and gave us money to help you. It is a positive manifestation of the most important fact of your lives, the interdependence of human beings on this planet.
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LIN: You know, we might forget that Tulane had to cancel its fall semester, but 88 percent of its students returned in the spring.
And also there are some signs of recovery. People in New Orleans are being allowed back into some parts of the city hit hardest by the Katrina floods and many residents are relieved, but some health officials say going back is still not a good idea. Here's CNN's Sean Callebs.
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SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Think of this as a welcome mat. Despite these conditions, Mayor Ray Nagin says it's okay for residents to return to a large section of the lower ninth ward, an area of New Orleans hit hardest by flooding.
ELLIOT PELLEBON, 9TH WARD RESIDENT: If you live down by the city, and in a way --
CALLEBS: 58-year-old Elliot Pellebon and others are being allowed back because the state says the water is now safe enough to drink. But he doesn't want to drink it. Pellebon has been back in his house for months, even though he shouldn't have. But Pellebon says, he has nowhere else to go. There is still no electricity in much of the area, and his walls are coated in nasty harmful black mold. We took Dr. Jim Diaz, an LSU public health physician, to Pellebon's home. Diaz couldn't believe city leaders would allow residents to move back into houses like this.
DR. JIM DIAZ, LSU SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: I mean, look at the ceiling here. Look at these colonies on the ceiling. I don't think it's a good idea for us to stay in here for a long period.
CALLEBS: Since virtually all the lower ninth was submerged by foul floodwater, the doctor says this home is not the exception.
DIAZ: I certainly don't think that people with children, with elderly grandparents and relatives, people at the extremes of age, people with any diseases or even short-term illnesses, these sorts of people shouldn't be moving here.
CALLEBS: That includes just about everybody. We went to city hall to try to get an answer when our calls weren't returned. The mayor's office put us in touch with the New Orleans Department of Health, Dr. Kevin Stevens, who was in Atlanta at a conference.
DR. KEVIN STEVENS, NEW ORLEANS DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH: I'm not trying to put you on the spot, but you're asking people who are mostly of low income and have nowhere else to stay, to spend money that arguably many of them don't have to begin gutting their homes, where are they supposed to stay if they're encouraged to come back to the lower ninth? CALLEBS: Stevens says it's not the city's fault. He passes blame on to FEMA for not having more trailers and to the state, because it has not appropriated billions to help uninsured homeowners. And even without mold exposure, Pellebon's already in poor health, with a heart condition, high blood pressure and had part of his right lung removed years back. Pellebon's family is still scattered after the storm, so he's doing the work by himself. According to the doctor, the backbreaking job has had Pellebon in harm's way for weeks.
PELLEBON: If you want to get to the germs and stuff, this is what you got to do. Go down to the nitty-gritty.
CALLEBS: Critics say the city needs to get down to the nitty- gritty and develop a working plan for getting people back into flooded-out neighborhoods. So for now, if people do come home, it's enter at your own risk. Sean Callebs, CNN, New Orleans.
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BONNIE SCHNEIDER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I'm CNN meteorologist, Bonnie Schneider. We are just 19 days away from the start of hurricane season and every day as we get closer we're providing you with hurricane factoids known as "Hurricane 101" to help you prepare. Today we're talking about inland flooding. That occurs when a storm comes on shore and then we get flooding hundreds of miles away from where the storm actually made landfall. Unfortunately this system can last for days and we could actually see many deaths result.
Take a look at this video back in 1999, Hurricane Floyd caused a tremendous amount of inland flooding, and actually 50 people drowned due to the flooding that occurred hundreds of miles away from where that storm actually made landfall. So unfortunately for the last 30 years, inland flooding has been responsible for more than half the deaths in the United States due to hurricanes. If you'd like more information on "Hurricane 101" just go right to cnn.com/weather and we'll have the latest weather information for you. CNN is your hurricane headquarters.
LIN: What to do about that Medicare drug plan? You probably tried the website or maybe even called the 1-800 number, but are you still confused about Medicare's prescription drug plan? So get your pen ready and a piece of paper, of course, because we've got some help coming for you right now, coming from a "Money" magazine reporter who's got the bottom line. Actually it's right after a short break.
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LIN: You're going to have a chance to see a terrific documentary tonight at 8:00 eastern, it's called "Chasing Angelina." And the premise for this is that Americans have never been more obsessed with celebrities. And celebrities are working harder than ever to manage how they're seen in public. Their secret weapon, the celebrity publicist. Kyra Phillips has a preview of this weekend's "CNN Presents."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) Bye, everyone.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: February 13th, 11:15 a.m. Martha's 100th daytime show comes to a close. Rosie, and her publicist, Cindy Berger, head back to the green room for a quick goodbye.
Thank you so much, thank you.
PHILLIPS: And a quick aside.
"CNN Presents." Fame, publicists, do they spin? What do you think? A tad.
Spin is moving something in a direction that you want it to go.
We pay people to lie for us, really, they're called publicists.
PHILLIPS: In a career that spanned more than two decades, Cindy's certainly been through the spin cycle.
ROSIE O'DONNELL, ACTRESS: Sharon Stone, are you divorcing anyone? Listen up. There was a brief period when Cindy was actually the publicist for Star Jones. Could I just say something, it didn't work out well for me. Cindy was the one who represented the divas, so when I had the talk show, whenever there was a huge diva like Mariah, you would always see Cindy Berger, and I was like, uh, that one, she's got the hardest women.
PHILLIPS: From 1997 to 2004, Cindy represented the biggest- selling female recording artists of all time. She's now Billboard's brightest, but a few years ago, Mariah Carey was a glittering mess.
MARIAH CAREY, ARTIST: I don't want to upset everybody.
She's got another like two minutes.
CAREY: Okay, cool. I'm fine.
PHILLIPS: In July 2001, during promotion for the disastrous glitter album and motion picture, Mariah melted down. There was the infamous striptease on MTV.
What are you doing? Oh, my God.
PHILLIPS: And those strange public appearances. Including one that came to a screeching halt.
CAREY: We're all just living in the moment of being positive, and there's like people called haters. One more thing. And we give them positivity. You see, I can't even get five minutes.
Come on.
O'DONNELL: I think Mariah to this day is still angry, but frankly one day she will thank Cindy for that. Because Mariah was not really in any state to be on TV at that point.
PHILLIPS: Two days after Cindy forcibly unplugged an incoherent Carey, she superstar entered a psychiatric facility. Berger's official explanation?
CINDY BERGER, PUBLICIST: She was exhausted.
PETER CASTRO, EXECUTIVE EDITOR, PEOPLE MAGAZINE: A publicist's best friend is the word exhaustion. That could mean so many things.
BERGER: She is so disciplined. The level of work that she puts forth took its toll.
CASTRO: Was it just exhaustion? Probably not. But it was a hiccup in her career, and she has moved on, and Cindy Berger had a lot to do with that.
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LIN: Hey, publicists are just a part of the behind the scenes look at celebrity. So watch "CNN Presents Chasing Angelina, Paparazzi and Celebrity Obsession." Today and tomorrow at 8:00 P.M. eastern right here on CNN.
All right, coming up, if you are confused about whether you or your parents should join the Medicare drug plan, we do have the bottom line. That deadline is coming up, Monday, midnight, and decisions have to be made. Let us help you. We've got a terrific reporter who's got the bottom line.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There's so many different plans that nobody really understands it. I don't know if the people that made the plans understand it themselves.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It looks like about 50 different plans. I don't know how people understand what the plans offer.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't find it confusing. And I haven't found anyone that finds it confusing. It's just easier. It's better. It's better. I get a better discount than I had before.
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LIN: Time is running out for the nation's seniors. Monday is the signing deadline for the Medicare prescription drug benefit plan. Amanda Gengler is a reporter from "Money" magazine, she's going to help us make some sense of this. And you know Amanda, the problem is, is that perhaps there's just too much information out there for seniors. They don't know what to focus on. So you say, find a plan. So you suggest, signing up?
AMANDA GENGLER, REPORTER, MONEY MAGAZINE: Yes. It is a masterpiece of confusion, but the fact of the matter is, it can save you a bundle of money. So you need to work your way through the confusion. The first thing you can do is go to Medicare.gov or call 1-800-Medicare. Either the website or a customer service rep will walk you through the process. You need your Medicare I.D. card number, and the list of pills and your dosages.
Think of the pharmacies in your area that you will want to use, and, also, if possibly you live in two different locations, you need to make sure that this is a plan that will cover you at pharmacies in both locations. And then the website or the customer service rep will generate a list of plans based on your yearly costs. So it will include your monthly premium, your deductible and your co-payment and you can choose from that list of plans.
LIN: And double-check, right? I mean, you can never be too careful about all of this.
GENGLER: Of course. The website has had mistakes. The best thing to do once you have picked a plan is to call that company, call the 1-800 number just to verify that the information on the website is correct. You'll also want to make sure that the plan not only covers your medications, but the exact dosages as well as the form, whether it's pill, liquid, or cream. We have had many complaints about this.
LIN: And sometimes you need a doctor's letter, right? Because Medicare has specific drugs that it will cover under this plan, but if you need a different drug, you may need your doctor to push for it.
GENGLER: Yes. You want to ask if you need authorization. One of the frustrations right now is many people are finding that many of the plans require the doctor to actually fill out a form or write a letter, explaining why they need the drug, before the costs will be covered. That's a major frustration. And in some cases, you may find that it's worth paying an extra premium for no questions to be asked.
LIN: But essentially for seniors who, you know, hear how confusing it is, maybe they think they already have enough coverage, there are people on the telephone who can guide them through it, and really their decision whether to join the plan or not join the plan depends on how many medications they're on, there's a mathematical formula that can help them figure that out?
GENGLER: Of course. And seek professional help, as a few of the people beforehand said, it's very confusing. There are many people who are able to walk you through this. Go to eldercare.gov or simply your state health insurance program, they can help you here. And, also, remember, it's not final. You have from November 15th until the end of this year to sign up for 2007. If you decide that your plan does not fit your needs or if your needs change --
LIN: You can change.
GENGLER: -- you can change.
LIN: Right. GENGLER: So what you choose now is not locked in stone, it's just that you need to choose something so you don't face that higher premium.
LIN: All right Amanda, terrific. And I just want to tell people we were rolling some pictures of drugs, Vioxx and Bextra that have been controversial, making news, some pulled off the shelf. But that's just an indication of medicines out there that seniors may want to have covered, or medicines like them, painkillers. Thanks Amanda.
GENGLER: Thank you.
LIN: Amanda Gengler with "Money" magazine. All right, for more help for seniors, tomorrow at 9:00 a.m. eastern, Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt is going to join us. He's going to take your e-mails and he's going to answer any questions you might have.
And here's a list of websites where you can find detailed information about the Medicare prescription plan. Medicare.gov. Mymedicarematters.org, and eldercare.gov.
Coming up, thousands flee to safety as an Indonesian volcano is about to erupt.
And the president takes to the airwaves to defend the controversial NSA phone-monitoring program. More of CNN LIVE SATURDAY right after this.
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