Return to Transcripts main page

American Morning

Pet Projects; Shot From the Sky; Behind the Sub Rescue; "Minding Your Business"; "90 Second Pop"

Aired August 10, 2005 - 09:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back, everybody. Just about half past the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING.

Coming up, a helicopter goes down in a backyard in New Mexico. Weird. We're going to talk about that.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: In a very strange and dangerous way. We're going to talk to the sheriff about the investigation. It now appears the chopper was shot down.

Before we get to that, let's get another check on the headlines. Fredricka Whitfield is at the CNN Center in Atlanta.

Good morning.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning to you, Carol and Soledad.

"Now in the News."

The search intensifies in Tennessee for an escaped prison inmate and his wife. George Hyatte was being escorted from a Tennessee courthouse when witnesses say his wife drove up and opened fire. One of the prison guards died in the shooting. Anyone with information is being asked to call 1-800-TBI-FIND. Authorities believe one or both of the suspects could be injured.

Turning to Iraq, a suicide car bombing has left three Iraqi police officers dead in northwestern Baghdad. And Four U.S. soldiers have been killed after an overnight attack near Baiji. Six others are wounded. Forty-two American troops have died in Iraq this month alone.

A fiery explosion at a chemical plant forces hundreds from their homes in suburban Detroit. Look at these pictures. The fire department says it will allow the fire to burn itself out, but there was some concern about air quality. The Environmental Protection Agency is doing some testing in the area as a precaution.

New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton could face a tough opponent in the battle for re-election. It's Jeanine Pirro, a high- profile prosecutor in the New York area. She's expected to officially announce her bid for the Republican nomination less than two hour from now -- Soledad. O'BRIEN: All the local papers are carrying that here in New York today, Fred,...

WHITFIELD: Yes, I bet.

O'BRIEN: ... with pictures of the two of them side by side, comparing notes on each woman.

WHITFIELD: It will indeed be an interesting race, if it comes to that.

O'BRIEN: As we always say. All right, Fred, thanks.

Later this morning, President Bush is going to Aurora, Illinois. He's going to sign the $286 billion transportation bill. It's packed with more than 6,000 special projects which individual members of Congress each wanted for their own constituents.

Dana Bash live for us at the White House this morning.

You know, Dana, the president had threatened he'd veto this bill if it had too much pork, which is what they call those 6,000 little special projects that the individual people wanted. But now he's going to sign it into law?

DANA BASH, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right. And the White House says if members of Congress, at least some of them had their way, this would be a $400 billion bill. And that it took about two years of negotiation to bring it down to, close to, not exactly, but close to where the president had set the limit on spending for this. But still, critics say that it is still way too overstuffed with some pet projects for folks back home.

Take a look at this, $24 billion total for special projects. Some examples, $230 million for a bridge in Alaska, connecting Gravina Island, population 50 people, with the Alaskan mainland. Also, $5.9 million for a snowmobile trail in Vermont, $600,000 for horse riding facilities in Virginia.

Now most lawmakers say that is not pork, that's bringing home the bacon. They say that this is simply, perhaps, a jobs bill for folks back home. But deficit hawks, forgive me, Soledad, call that hogwash.

O'BRIEN: Enough with the puns. I feel like I, you know, a drum set here. Hey, I want to ask you the location. I mean he's going to the Speaker Hastert's district to sign this bill. Why exactly?

BASH: Well, Denny Hastert is certainly a powerful man, as you know, and one watchdog group says that he is actually the third highest recipient of so-called special projects.

And we can take a look at some of what his district is getting in this bill. First of all, $3.3 million in commuter -- for a commuter parking deck, $2.5 million for a coordinated trail system, $2.4 million to increase the height of a railroad underpass, $960,000 for a new bicycle and pedestrian bridge. So tens of millions actually going back to Denny Hastert's district.

Soledad, the president will be signing this at a Caterpillar plant there. They actually make equipment to make these highway bridges, even pedestrian trails.

O'BRIEN: Well all those bridges certainly getting a lot of money today.

Dana, thanks.

BASH: Thank you.

O'BRIEN: Carol.

COSTELLO: Police in New Mexico are looking for someone who shot their helicopter down. The chopper was investigating a burglary this weekend when the pilot heard a disturbing pop and then he had to make an emergency landing. Now investigators have evidence that the helicopter was being fired on.

Bernalillo County Sheriff Darren White is in Albuquerque, New Mexico, now to tell us more.

Good morning -- sir.

SHERIFF DARREN WHITE, BERNALILLO COUNTY, N.M.: Good morning -- Carol.

COSTELLO: So, this helicopter is flying over the scene, it's piloted by a civilian pilot, a sheriff's deputy is inside. And paint us a picture of what happened next.

WHITE: Well, they're orbiting slowly around this home when the pilot and co-pilot here a pop. And at the same time, the co-pilot feels something strike his arm. The pilot immediately initiates an emergency procedure, called an auto rotation, and lands the helicopter, basically crash-lands the helicopter. And...

COSTELLO: Well did he have any idea at that time what that pop was or what hit his arm?

WHITE: He didn't, Carol, because, obviously, the first thing you would think of is some type of engine malfunction. Why would somebody go out in the middle of the night and take a shot at a law enforcement helicopter that is out trying to protect the public? It's the last thing you would think of.

COSTELLO: And like the -- well, the good thing is is that the bullet actually hit the pedal inside the helicopter. Had it not done that, what would have happened?

WHITE: Well, the crime scene investigators were able to run a trajectory from where the bullet hole is to the pedal. And if you keep running that rod through that hole and pedal, it would have entered directly into the pilot's chest. And we believe that there would have been no way he could have survived that round. COSTELLO: So what are his injuries like now?

WHITE: Well that was one of the things, Carol, that just never made sense to us. The pilot has a very serious large laceration on his left leg. But also, he had shrapnel wounds all over his legs, his hands and his face. And that never made any sense to us. And that's what caused the investigator to keep digging deeper, because it seemed readily apparent very quickly that this was not engine failure and something worse, something very disturbing.

COSTELLO: Right. So the bullet came through and caused all the stuff to fly around and that's what you mean by shrapnel?

WHITE: Yes, absolutely. As I said, it struck one of the pedals on the floor that the pilot uses to operate the aircraft. And from there it disintegrated into pieces, striking the co-pilot and the pilot in many different places, causing some very serious injuries.

COSTELLO: Unbelievable. So do you think this had anything to do with the burglary?

WHITE: Well, we're not going to rule anything out. We're really not 100 percent sure at this point where directly this shot came from, and that's something that's under investigation. We're not going to rule anything out. It's just we're stunned, Carol. We just -- you know what type of sick and twisted individual would go out in the middle of the night and take a shot at a law enforcement helicopter? It makes absolutely no sense to us.

COSTELLO: And it seems so random. I mean this isn't the type of crime that will be easily solved.

WHITE: Well, I can assure you that we're going to use every resource that we have to track down this coward. This is nothing that we're going to stand for. This is just so far outside the norm. We're going to do everything that we can possibly do to apprehend this person. We're working with the FBI and the FAA. And, as I said, no holds barred here, we're going as aggressively as possible to find this person.

COSTELLO: Well, I hope you find him, or them.

WHITE: Yes.

COSTELLO: Thank you very much, Sheriff Darren White of Bernalillo County.

WHITE: Thank you.

COSTELLO: That's in New Mexico.

O'BRIEN: We are learning more this morning about what the crew of that Russian mini submarine faced while they were waiting to be rescued from what nearly became their grave.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) CMDR. IAN RICHES, BRITISH NAVY: You asked me whether or not I was optimistic. I lied. I said I was. I was scared.

O'BRIEN (voice-over): Candid words from a British Navy commander who helped rescue seven Russian sailors trapped at the bottom of the ocean. New under water videotape of that rescue shows just how dire the situation was for the crew. The British team used a remote controlled Scorpio 45 vessel to cut away the fishing net and cables that had pinned the Russian sub to the ocean floor.

ADAM INGRAM, BRITISH ARMED FORCES MINISTER: It was also an international effort. And that's a new aspect of what is going on, nations working together when there is, in this case, lives at risk.

O'BRIEN: It was a race against time. The Russian crew, dangerously low on oxygen, and finally, after about six hours, the submarine was able to float to the surface.

RICHES: It would be wrong of me to say that grown men don't cry. I can assure you a lot of grown men cried that day, to see that submarine back on the surface. And I'm sorry, but the emotion is getting to me again.

STUART GOLD, SUB PILOT: When the thing shot to the surface, it was -- well, it was something else. And, yes, I must admit I had a tear in my eye, too. It was quite something. And then a day later, to see pictures of family and loved ones waiting by the phone, to hear words that they're -- the fathers, the brothers were safe was something I'll never forget.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: I bet he won't. Besides the Russian and British teams, rescue specialists from the U.S. and Japan also took part in that operation.

Brings us right to the weather and about 20 minutes before the hour. Chad Myers is at the CNN Center.

Good morning, Chad, what's your focus now?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: You know I'm looking at Denver today, because it might be the perfect forecast.

(WEATHER REPORT)

Back to you -- Soledad.

O'BRIEN: Chad, thanks a lot.

MYERS: You're welcome.

O'BRIEN: Much more AMERICAN MORNING still to come.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Ahead on "90 Second Pop."

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The ghosts are here now.

O'BRIEN: A horrifying development in Hollywood. Why are Kate Hudson and other leading ladies dying to be scream queens? Plus, a not so famous comedian is at the top of the billboard charts.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's only one of the biggest things I've ever done in my life.

O'BRIEN: The secrets of his success ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: One state says it has the answer to lines at the Department of Motor Vehicles. Come on, does it really?

ANDY SERWER, "FORTUNE" COLUMNIST: This is a good one. This is a really good one.

COSTELLO: Yes.

SERWER: We're going to get to that in a second, Carol, but let's start off in the markets. Stocks rallying early on today. Up 54 points, which is good. Stocks extending the gains from yesterday, again, because oil prices continue to slip. However, I would look at this more as an aberration than a long-term trend. Cisco down a little bit this morning. They announced earnings, guidance going forward, slightly disappointing.

One stock moving to the upside, Ruth's Chris, the steakhouse actually went public yesterday, up to 21 bucks.

COSTELLO: Wow!

SERWER: Eighty-eight restaurants in Metairie, Louisiana, their base. And the ticker is RUTH. Makes sense.

A bunch of public steak companies, Smith & Wollensky, Outback, Lone Star, Longhorn, Bugaboo. I don't know, it's a whole thing.

O'BRIEN: Bugaboo, I never even heard of that.

COSTELLO: Bugaboo.

SERWER: Yes, Bugaboo is owned by a company with the ticker RARE, R-A-R-E, which also owns Longhorn. Do we really need two Australian steakhouses? I don't know.

Anyway, let's move on to this Department of Motor Vehicles story. This is a good one out of the state of Indiana. They call it the Bureau of Motor Vehicles there. Well that's the Department of Motor Vehicles. It's the bureau, believe me.

Here's what they've got going on there. They have a new head of the BMV, and they want to get rid of clocks. They're going to get rid of all the clocks in the Bureau of Motor Vehicles in Indiana at 153 branches there, because -- here is the quote -- love this line, "oftentimes customers feel they are in line longer than they are."

COSTELLO: No!

SERWER: That's the line.

O'BRIEN: No, they're just in line a really long time.

SERWER: They feel that they're in a line longer than they are so we're going to get rid of the clocks. You follow? I don't.

There are some other rules that are pretty funny. Let me get to these very quickly. Employees no longer allowed to have fashion hair coloring, i.e., rainbow colors. No more making fun of bad drivers. And my personal favorite, this is kind of out of Lionel Richie, the walls must be clean of footprints.

COSTELLO: What?

SERWER: The walls must be clean of footprints. They asked one customer at the bureau about the new rule, no clocks, and he said -- quote -- "I think it's stupid."

COSTELLO: Well, doesn't anyone have a watch?

SERWER: Yes, I've been waiting a long time. I could tell. There are no clocks, but I could tell right here.

O'BRIEN: Give me back that watch.

SERWER: Right.

COSTELLO: Yes, you're going to have to take your...

O'BRIEN: I can fix this problem, we'll just get rid of this watch for you.

COSTELLO: You'll take the watch off at the door.

SERWER: Hey, hey, hey.

O'BRIEN: See, don't you feel...

SERWER: Now I have no idea what time it is. You're right.

O'BRIEN: You feel better, don't you?

SERWER: Yes, I do. I don't feel like I haven't been waiting so long.

O'BRIEN: I agree with the guy who's quoted, that is just stupid.

SERWER: It is stupid.

O'BRIEN: Well, thanks -- Andy. SERWER: You're welcome.

O'BRIEN: "CNN LIVE" is coming up next.

Hey, Daryn, good morning to you.

DARYN KAGAN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning.

We're going from the DMV to space travel. You think this is a different idea? Top of the hour, we're going to talk about one small step for man, one giant leap for space tourism, if you have the dough, and we are talking about some serious dough, you can go to the moon, that is. We'll explain how.

Plus, panda-monium, America loves pandas. And there's two new cubs to talk about.

Also, though, a really interesting story behind how the panda first came from China to the U.S.

That and much more ahead on "CNN LIVE TODAY."

For now, back to you in New York City.

O'BRIEN: All right, Daryn, thanks, look forward to it.

Still to come this morning on AMERICAN MORNING, the comedian who did something that no other comedian has accomplished in 26 years. And get this, you probably don't even know his name. "90 Second Pop" is up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: Welcome back, everybody.

Time for another episode of "90 Second Pop" starring Sarah Bernard from "New York" magazine, Bradley Jacobs from "US Weekly," Karyn Bryant from "ShowBiz Tonight."

Welcome, welcome, welcome.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thanks.

O'BRIEN: We were showing pictures of the eternally cute Kate Hudson, who I love. Now she, yet another high profile, well-paid actress, who is in, you know, a screamer.

BRADLEY JACOBS, "US WEEKLY": A horror movie, yes, exactly.

O'BRIEN: What's that about? I mean you know that was a day when there were no names, you know a movie that wasn't going to be particularly good, starring no name and no name and another no name.

JACOBS: Right.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Freddy Krueger days. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No name, right.

JACOBS: Yes, it's this amazing trend, Oscar-nominated and Oscar- winning actresses doing horror movies. Not just Kate Hudson, but Jennifer Connelly earlier this summer did "Dark Water." Naomi Watts did "The Ring 2" and later this year will do "King Kong." And then Nicole Kidman just last week signed on to do a remake of "Invasion of the Body Snatchers."

O'BRIEN: Why now?

JACOBS: What's going on is two things. First of all, as you said before, these movies aren't your Freddy Krueger's, your "Friday the 13ths." They're much more psychological horror, sort of in the vein of "Rosemary's Baby," or the "Sixth Sense" or "The Omen," the classics.

And also, for these women, they get marquee value. You know they get their name above the title. They get a huge paycheck because these movies are very lucrative and the filmmakers themselves get a little touch of class to have, you know, an actress who's been nominated for an Oscar headline their horror movie.

O'BRIEN: Maybe better acting, too.

(CROSSTALK)

SARAH BERNARD, "NEW YORK" MAGAZINE: There are so many, though, is the problem.

KARYN BRYANT, "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT": Right, they're not making as much money at the box office as I think potentially they could be if there weren't so many. But the great thing about these movies is the women get to dig in and do some stuff. They don't just have to play the cute girlfriend in a romantic comedy. They get to shoot and throw and run and, I mean, it's an action movie. It's a great role for a woman.

JACOBS: And they get the whole movie to themselves. I mean Kate Hudson, I've seen "Skeleton Key," she's in almost every scene. And there's no guy that she has to share camera time with.

O'BRIEN: Forget the guy, Kate, just do it by yourself.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Forget him.

O'BRIEN: Is it good?

JACOBS: Yes, I thought it was good and satisfying.

O'BRIEN: That's good.

BERNARD: And Paris Hilton is not in this horror movie.

O'BRIEN: Yes.

BERNARD: Tell anyone who might be going to see it.

O'BRIEN: Another reason to go.

BRYANT: There you go.

O'BRIEN: Let's talk about this guy, who is number one on the billboard charts, and every single person I've asked about him is like who?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Exactly.

O'BRIEN: Can we listen to a little bit of his comedy routine. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANE COOK, GREAT DANE: I wanted to be a cop for a little bit, officer of the law. That's one thing I wanted to be. Those cops in Florida, they're in trouble. They shot at a guy 11 times because they claim the guy had a grenade. That's why they shot at him 11 times. The guy was eating a pear. How do you screw that up, unless he was eating a pear like...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'BRIEN: Who's this guy and where did he come from and why is he number one on the charts? I mean, obviously, he's pretty funny.

BRYANT: He's from Boston. His name is Dane Cook. I happen to be from outside of Boston, so this guy has been on the radar for a little while. In the first week out, he sold 86,000 copies of a comedy CD.

O'BRIEN: Whew!

BRYANT: There hasn't been a comedy CD that has sold since my hero Steve Martin "Wild & Crazy Guy." That was in '76.

You know what it is, it's the college kids downloading it on iTunes. He is a very funny comedian. He's on the show "Crank Yankers" on Comedy Central, which is also included. It's a two CD, one DVD set. The DVD stuff with the "Crank Yankers" stuff, not my favorite, but some of the comedy sketches are very funny. He's basically a guy that if you had had a couple of cocktails and you went out on Friday night to a comedy club and you saw him, I think you'd be very satisfied. He's pretty funny.

O'BRIEN: So it's the marketing, too. I mean it's a combination of he's good and he's got a good marketing plan.

(CROSSTALK)

BRYANT: Sure.

BERNARD: They had such an amazing marketing blitz, right? I mean Comedy Central had this campaign where they actually sent people out on to the street to just, you know, talk about him and get people to know him, kind of guerrilla marketing. So he really benefited from that.

BRYANT: And the Internet, with Myspace (ph). It's this great grassroots young movement. And you know I don't know how many times I would want to listen to this CD over and over and over. But I got more than a couple of chuckles out of it, yes.

O'BRIEN: Very good, yes. And a lot of people agree with you, apparently.

BRYANT: Apparently.

O'BRIEN: Let's talk about Broadway. OK, "Fiddler on the Roof." You know I was actually thinking, boy, I haven't seen "Fiddler on the Roof." I'd love to see that. Then I read Rosie O'Donnell is joining the cast next month, right?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

O'BRIEN: And she'll be joining Harvey Fierstein.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Does that mean you want to see it or you don't want to see it now?

O'BRIEN: I'm actually intrigued.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Not sure.

O'BRIEN: And so I want to see it more because I'm thinking, Rosie O'Donnell and Harvey Fierstein, what?

BERNARD: Right. Well they've actually been friends for 20 years. So together they're putting out these statements that you know they're thrilled to be working together.

The odd thing, for some people, is that they're both openly gay, they are playing a married Orthodox Jewish couple in this movie -- I mean in this musical. But even the gentleman who wrote the lyrics for the musical thinks this is a great idea. It's the kind of thing where it's not -- the musical is not all about romance and their love affair. It's really more about you know the trials of getting all of his daughters married. And so I think it's actually going to be OK.

And this is not the first time where producers have called on Rosie to kind of help a limping production. This is supposed to actually be closing in January. And she helped revive "Suesical" (ph) a little bit. She was in "Grease."

O'BRIEN: That was before a lot of stuff, though. You got to go back to that, right?

BERNARD: That's true. Yes.

O'BRIEN: I mean...

BERNARD: And then she had -- that's true. When she was a producer of "Taboo" that was...

JACOBS: Yes.

(CROSSTALK)

O'BRIEN: A less good time for her.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

JACOBS: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Didn't do so well.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.

BERNARD: But she is not producing this time. She is just going to be doing her cameo. And I think it's actually going to help.

O'BRIEN: Don't you want to see it? I'm dying to see it.

BRYANT: I'm really into it.

JACOBS: I really want to see it. I really want to see it the first night. After that, I feel like the novelty will kind of wear off and they, themselves, might get tired of this shtick of a gay man and lesbian playing them.

O'BRIEN: Well we should go together...

BRYANT: Yes.

BERNARD: Yes.

O'BRIEN: ... and go see it, all of us.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Field trip, there you go.

O'BRIEN: All right. We can write it off on the company.

BRYANT: Yes, right.

O'BRIEN: Sarah Bernard, Bradley Jacob and Karyn Bryant, thank you very much.

Don't forget, of course, Karyn "ShowBiz Tonight" on Headline Prime. Tonight, one-on-one with Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones. Jagger speaks out for the first time about his controversial new song. He seems to be taking aim at President Bush. That's "ShowBiz Tonight," 7:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. Eastern.

AMERICAN MORNING is back in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

O'BRIEN: We're out of time.

Let's get right to Daryn at the CNN Center.

Daryn, good morning.

KAGAN: Good morning, ladies. You guys have a great day in New York City.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com