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American Morning
NASA at a Crossroads; '90-Second Pop'
Aired August 24, 2005 - 09:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: That's a pretty view, a pretty morning here.
SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: Our view, if we can brag for just a moment.
M. O'BRIEN: In New York City, our virtual view. Imagine if we had a window, what would that be like? It's just half past the hour on this AMERICAN MORNING.
Coming up, more pressure for President Bush today with word of new fighting, and a brazen attack in Iraq.
S. O'BRIEN: The president's in Idaho right now. It's a Republican stronghold. He's trying to bolster support for the war. He's meeting with more military families today, and we've got an update on what's happening.
First, though, let's get another check of the headlines with Carol Costello.
Good morning again, Carol.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. Good morning to all of you.
Now in the news, we've been telling you about those renewed clashes in Baghdad this morning. You heard Miles tell you about them. Well, the fighting broke out just about two hours ago, between insurgents and Iraqi police forces. We're just getting pictures in from the scene now. These are the latest pictures we have. At least three people have been killed, 30 others hurt. Iraqi police believe at least one car bomb was detonated. Iraqi police checkpoints were the targets.
Search-and-recovery efforts are ongoing after a Peruvian passenger plane went down. Officials say a wind shear, a sudden change in wind speed or direction, may have caused Tuesday's accident. The pilot was apparently trying to make an emergency landing during heavy storms. At least 37 people have been killed. Eleven Americans were onboard that flight.
The mother of Michael Jackson's accuser is now facing her own legal problem. She's accused of collecting almost $19,000 in a welfare scam. The charges apparently a direct result of the Jackson trial. The pop star's defense used alleged evidence of the scam to discredit the woman's testimony. If convicted, she could face more than four years in prison.
Dozens of people in Southern Arizona being rescued from stalled cars and flooded home. Storms on Tuesday dumped up to four inches of rain. The flooding causing a giant mess, just as people were trying to clean up from another storm which occurred last week.
And a world record to tell you about. This world record is raising some eyebrows. Frank Ames has just been added to "The Guinness Book of World Records." Take a look. It's hard to see in his picture, but he's a 40-year-old mechanic from upstate New York. He's measuring his eyebrows, just over three inches long.
S. O'BRIEN: That's disgusting. I'm sorry.
COSTELLO: But he's breaking new ground, Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Ewww!
I can't see it that well.
COSTELLO: Well, stop looking at it closely. It's grossing her out and she's still looking.
No, this is the first time that "The Guinness Book of World Records" has measured someone's eyebrow hair for a record.
S. O'BRIEN: I'm shocked.
M. O'BRIEN: Well, we're glad they finally got around to that. It's about time!
COSTELLO: It would be tough to break, but I don't know about you, but my eyebrows do not grow to three inches long.
M. O'BRIEN: Have you ever tried?
COSTELLO: Yes!
S. O'BRIEN: You did not!
COSTELLO: No, but would your eyebrows grow to three inches?
S. O'BRIEN: I'm not answering the question, actually, eww!
M. O'BRIEN: Can we ship him some scissors. That's gross. That's just gross.
I'm not even going to say, thanks, Carol, because that's just gross.
(CROSSTALK)
S. O'BRIEN: Easy segue to the president's schedule.
M. O'BRIEN: All of the raising eyebrows are not worth going to, so let's not. President Bush -- oh, you're doing this. S. O'BRIEN: Oh, no.
Let's get -- actually in all seriousness, this is a serious story about the president's schedule this morning. He's in Idaho today. He's speaking to the National Guard, as well as relatives of troops who were killed in Iraq and Afghanistan, and it comes as a new poll from "The Wall Street Journal" online shows the president's approval rating continues to decline. Only 40 percent of Americans have a positive opinion of his job performance, 58 percent have a negative view.
Let's get right to Bob Franken. He's at the White House this morning.
Good morning, Bob.
BOB FRANKEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What's the president doing to try to combat this growing negative public opinion.
S. O'BRIEN: Well, as we're seeing he's now making more speeches about his policies on the war, although the White House insists these were speeches that had been long scheduled, but the poll numbers are dwindling. The president is faced with this confrontation with Cindy Sheehan, who's the mother of -- her son lost in Iraq. She has been camping out outside the ranch, and is returning there as a matter of fact today as the president goes back for this ongoing confrontation. The president is very publicly, not in front of cameras, but has made it sure that we all know that he's meeting with relatives and loved ones of others who have been lost in Iraq and Afghanistan. He's already met with Cindy Sheehan, although she is demanding another meeting, another meeting to push for a withdrawal from Iraq.
The president, who has to wake a very fine line now, expressing sensitivity to her sadness, says he is not going to change his policy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: She expressed her opinion. I disagree with it. I think immediate withdrawal from Iraq would be a mistake. I think those who advocate immediate withdrawal from not only Iraq, but the Middle East would be -- are advocating a policy that would weaken the United States.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
FRANKEN: As I mentioned, the president is going back to Crawford to continue the vacation. Cindy Sheehan and her group will be there. They will be joined at some point by those who have also lost loved ones in Iraq, saying that Cindy Sheehan does not speak for them. So it's an unusual vacation -- Soledad.
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, not much of one, I would imagine. Bob Franken live for us from the White House -- Miles.
M. O'BRIEN: NASA at a crossroads. A space vehicle headed for retirement? Money tight, the next big idea on the distant horizon. Current events, yes, but history as well. A new History Channel documentary tells the story of NASA just after the moon landings and before the first shuttle flew. Tough times for NASA at the time. It's called "Beyond the Moon: Failure is Not an Option II," and it's kind of a video sequel to a book first written by Gene Kranz, the quintessential flight director, the man who I guess an entire generation knows as the character played by Ed Harris in the movie "Apollo 13."
Gene Kranz joining us now from Houston to tell us a little bit about the documentary and a little bit about NASA and what's going.
Gene, this is a fascinating look at kind of what happened after the Apollo era, which was a tough time to be in mission control. I want to share just a little clip from one of your fellow controllers, who had some interesting things to say about what happened after Apollo.
Let's listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN LLEWELLYN, FMR. NASA FLIGHT CONTROLLER: Can you imagine how hard we worked, all of us, and then all of a sudden it's taken away? I thought it was un-American. I just can't believe the contradiction, and I don't forgive them, ever.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
M. O'BRIEN: Now that was John Llewellyn, who you worked with, of course, in mission control, and there is that sense of anger and loss there. And I wonder -- I'm sure you thought of this over the years, if the Nixon administration hadn't pulled the plug on Apollo and if they had pressed on with the program, can you imagine how NASA would be different today, how the country, how space exploration would be different today?
GENE KRANZ, FMR. NASA FLIGHT DIRECTOR: Miles, I believe that every person who worked Apollo was really surprised that we did not continue the process of space exploration. We believe that it's essential to the economic well-being of our country. We believe it's essential to inspire the youth, to, basically revitalize the factories, to develop the technologies, to guarantee the economic engine of our country continues to run at full throttle. We believe that as Americans, we are explorers and that is our destiny.
M. O'BRIEN: Let's talk about NASA today and NASA that is depicted in this documentary. As I mentioned right at the top here, there are some parallels here. Do you see the same parallels I see?
KRANZ: Actually, I believe there are quite a few parallels. We've licked very difficult problems in the past, and we've moved on and turned what amounted to catastrophe into spectacular successes. I believe that the documentary that we have shows the men and the women of mission control, their passion for their work, their excellence in the performance, their dealing with the risk and making risk acceptable. We have a generation of young people out there who are probably the most competent team we've ever put in place, and we have a new leader, Mike Griffin, that's going to take us into the future.
M. O'BRIEN: Let's talk then about the shuttle. You must have been dismayed to see that piece of foam falling off after launch, after all of the work that had been done. And yet by the same token, you also probably have a different view of what is an acceptable risk than the average person watching this right now.
KRANZ: Yes, I do, Miles. I take a look at this mission -- NASA advertised it as a test flight, and I really believe that every time we fly a shuttle, there's some level of risk involved, and it's up to the people in mission control, the designers, the engineers to make that risk acceptable. When they returned the spacecraft to the Cape, they found this was the cleanest vehicle we've ever flown. We were fortunate to have the instrumentation that would tell us the conditions under which the foam was shed. We can now focus a very specific problem and get on with it.
M. O'BRIEN: NASA has the right stuff now. Have they learned the lessons of Columbia?
KRANZ: Oh, I believe that the lessons in Columbia are very well learned. I believe that like previous accidents, particularly Apollo I, Columbia accident filled the team with anger and resolve to go fix the things that needed to be fixed and get on with the future. I believe we have a team in place that is going to continue our work in space and bring us to the forefront in space exploration.
M. O'BRIEN: All right. As they say in the space business, copy that, Gene Kranz. Former NASA Flight Director Gene Kranz, always a pleasure seeing you.
"Beyond the Moon: Failure is Not An Option II" will air Sunday 9:00 p.m. Eastern and Pacific on the History Channel and I recommend the original book, "Failure is Not An Option" penned by one Gene Kranz to you. If anybody is interested in space, it's a good read. Thanks for being with us.
KRANZ: Miles, thanks a lot.
S. O'BRIEN: Well, some mounting gas prices are stringing the pockets of Americans across the country. The average cost of a gallon of regular gas is now more than $2.60 and for diesel it's more than $2.64 a gallon. CNN's Allan Chernoff is at Edgewater Commons shopping center in Edgewater, New Jersey.
Allan, some Americans, really stretching their dollar, obviously because of these high gas prices, right?
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No question, Soledad. It really depends though, what your income is. For the wealthy, it's not such a big deal. They're still enjoying shopping sprees at their favorite boutiques, but for many Americans the pain at the pump is definitely changing their shopping habits.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHERNOFF (voice-over): Beth Giaffi (ph) spends $64 to fill up her SUV this week.
BETH: It's killing me; killing me and my family. I don't know what we're going to do.
CHERNOFF: What Giaffi is doing is economizing elsewhere: Buying only necessities and telling her 6-year-old twins, "no."
BETH: No more toys. You know, thank God my kids don't need toys so much, but where they used to get things that they didn't need, they're not, you know -- they used to get it, but now they'll have to do without it.
BETH: It's OK. I've got it.
CHERNOFF: That's why Giaffi (ph) is shopping alone.
BETH: Because if I brought them to the store, they'd be asking for every -- you know, every three seconds, "Can I get this? Can I get that?" and usually I'd say, "sure, sure, sure." But you know, that's why I come here alone, because I just can't afford to say yes, anymore.
CHERNOFF: Americans with moderate incomes are taking fewer trips to the store and buying less.
MARIE PHAYER, DISCOUNT SHOPPER: I'm not buying so many things for my grandchildren. Things and things and things just to give them.
CHERNOFF: Retailing experts say prices at the pump are squeezing the country's deepest discounters: Dollar Tree, Family Dollar and Dollar General. Not only are their core customers tightening up, but they also have to pay more to get their products delivered.
ERIC BEDER, RETAIL ANALYST, BREAN MURRAY: If you're a dollar store, you pretty much have to be a dollar. You can't really raise your prices to pick up for these higher gas prices. So, they're being hurt the most.
CHERNOFF: Wal-mart, the world's number one retailer, says gas prices are slowing its sales growth. Shoppers, still buying plenty of food there, but fewer high-profit items.
GINO BRANDONISIO, DISCOUNT SHOPPER: I have to buy the things that I need, but as far as things that want, I have to cut down on that because of the gas prices.
CHERNOFF: If gas prices keep rising, American economizing may have only just begun. While Beth Giaffi (ph) is buying less at the store, she's still spending plenty at the gas pump to keep driving her 2005 GMC Denali.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHERNOFF: Yes, it's all about priorities. Some people are giving up their beloved SUVs while others are making sacrifices elsewhere. By the way, this morning Dollar Tree did report a decline in quarterly profit -- Soledad?
S. O'BRIEN: I'm surprised by that. Allan Chernoff for us morning. Allan, thanks.
(WEATHER REPORT)
S. O'BRIEN: Much more AMERICAN MORNING still to come.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
S. O'BRIEN (voice-over): Ahead on "90 Second Pop:"
(SINGING)
How low can they go? A racy new ad for jeans pushes the boundaries of fashion and good taste.
Plus, Martha Stewart picks a pair of sidekicks for her version of the apprentice. We'll tell you who's teaming up with the domestic diva. That's ahead on AMERICAN MORNING.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
M. O'BRIEN: Ali Velshi is in for Andy Serwer, who continues his interminable vacation. I hope he's having fun and...
ALI VELSHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I hope he looks better against this backdrop than I do.
M. O'BRIEN: That's not your color, pal.
VELSHI: No.
M. O'BRIEN: We'll have to work on that one. We'll get you another set. Next time you come back, we'll get you another set. In the meantime -- first of all, let's check the market.
VELSHI: All right. The market's opening a little bit lower today. The price of oil is a little bit higher. We had an economic report out a little while ago that indicates, you know, things are not always on the up and up. It's over 30 points down on the Dow, 10488. Oil is approaching a record again.
M. O'BRIEN: All right. You are now officially practically an AMP.
VELSHI: That's right.
M. O'BRIEN: Which is an aircraft and power plant mechanic.
VELSHI: That's right.
M. O'BRIEN: I hear you spent the day in the hanger yesterday.
VELSHI: Yes. Yes.
M. O'BRIEN: And since you're an expert, you can talk to us a little bit about Northwest, the mechanics strike and concerns that may exist.
VELSHI: What's happening right now is the flight attendants union has complained to Northwest that when the flight attendance are issuing complaints about safety or maintenance issues, they're being maybe bullied a little bit into not complaining.
So, the flight attendants on their Web sites, have told flight attendants, "write-up any complaint that you have. Get the name of who you complain to. You don't have to tell anybody why you're sick. You can get a doctor's note."
I mean, they're sort of implying that maybe the flight attendants are being intimidated into not supporting the mechanics right no now; particularly that they're encouraged not to complain too much about maintenance issues.
M. O'BRIEN: Boy, we sure hope that doesn't reflect in any way in the...
VELSHI: You know, there's a lot of bad blood around. So it's -- it's not entirely crystal clear what's going on.
M. O'BRIEN: Very difficult to get through those murky waters. All right. Ali Velshi.
VELSHI: Good to see you.
M. O'BRIEN: Soledad?
S. O'BRIEN: Coming up this morning, Martha Stewart chooses sidekicks for her new apprentice show. Find out who they are just ahead in "90 Second Pop." Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
S. O'BRIEN: That song's appropriate. You're going to find out why in just a moment. Once again, it's time for America's favorite pop culture feature. That's what we like to call it. "90-Second Pop" with our stars, this morning, Karyn Bryant from "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT." We're sitting on her set, by the way. Thank you for loaning it to us while ours is being built. Andy Borowitz from borowitzreport.com and Jessica Shaw from "Entertainment Weekly."
Good morning. Good morning. Good morning.
It's getting hot in here, because have you seen these now Dolce and Gabana pants? First of all, I'm sure they're hugely expensive, kagillions of dollars, because it's Dolce and Gabana. But even more noticeable it is the ultra, ultra-low rise. Here is the very heavily pixelated version of it, because it is just too dirty, frankly, to show you. This man's basically naked, honestly, that's it. Who -- who's going to -- why? Why not just be naked? I mean, why stop there? Why not just be naked.
JESSICA SHAW, "ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY": I love what they've done with the ad for morning TV. First of all, I have to say eww, just eww. I don't understand...
S. O'BRIEN: We saw the non-pixelated. It's in "Esquire" this month. Eww.
ANDY BOROWITZ, BOROWITZREPORT.COM: I actually -- I got to say, as a man, I like these pants. I'm actually wearing a pair of pants under these pants. I find them very freeing.
SHAW: I can remember when like Paris Hilton was wearing these really low-cut pants, and you could see her butt. Can we say that on morning TV?
S. O'BRIEN: Yes, you can.
SHAW: And, like, I feel like, enough, I want it to go back to the '80s when you wore your jeans pulled up to here.
S. O'BRIEN: Right. Not to mention the fact that the low riders, everybody is wearing them, and they don't have the cute, toned tummies.
KARYN BRYANT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's the thing.
S. O'BRIEN: Like those handsome men in that ad.
BRYANT: It's not good, and the thing is I do find, you know, that area on a guy sort of around their hip, I mean, it is kind of sexy, but I don't want to see that walking down the street, and those jeans are really, really low. And like you said, they're going to probably cost $250.
S. O'BRIEN: Oh, at least $900 and something. It's Dolce and Gabana.
BRYANT: Yes, ill advised.
S. O'BRIEN: You wouldn't wear those, Andy?
BOROWITZ: I guess I would wear them just at some private events. I don't think I would wear them out in public.
S. O'BRIEN: All I can say is Eww!
BOROWITZ: Eww. Not about me wearing them.
S. O'BRIEN: No, no, no, not at all. Keep it at home is what I can say.
Martha Stewart finally giving us a little insight into who's going to be on her show, the "Apprentice" 2.0, I think it's fair to call. So What do we know?
BRYANT: Well, she is going to have her daughter, Alexis, and Charles Koppelman, who is the chairman of "Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia." Those will be the two people in the boardroom with her.
BOROWITZ: Not her parole officer? That seems like an oversight to me. They're letting her out of her...
(CROSSTALK)
BRYANT: It's a little bit nutty. And there's going to be 10 women, six women competing. Two of the men are gay. They're not as worried about having even numbers of men and women.
There's a lot of achievers, and she's very proud of the fact that her apprentices are smarter than the ones who have been on Trump's show.
SHAW: But she's also starting to make certain changes. Like instead of calling it a boardroom, she's calling it a conference room, which is not really that different, Martha.
S. O'BRIEN: I thought that's when we called them, a boardroom or a conference room.
BOROWITZ: And she's not going to say you're fired; she's just going to hold up a little kitchen timer and go ding.
BRYANT: I thought it was, your mulched.
(CROSSTALK)
S. O'BRIEN: You guys are laughing about that, but that's a big secret of how she's going to can people.
(CROSSTALK)
S. O'BRIEN: That's a good one, can people, canning.
SHAW: I interviewed her a couple of weeks ago, and she said she couldn't decide. She sent out an e-mail to her whole staff when she got back, a lot of ideas, and one person said they liked, "Your goose is cooked," which I thought was really good, but she decided to go with something else.
S. O'BRIEN: I don't know. Do you want to wear that on your T- shirt?
Well, I tell you, I've got to tell you, I am so watching that show when it airs.
BOROWITZ: We all are.
S. O'BRIEN: Absolutely. Thanks, you guys, as always, Karyn, and Andy and Jessica. Don't forget Karyn and "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT," right on this set, which we are borrowing temporarily. On Headline Prime, tonight a special series, movie theater madness. They're going to show you how a cinematic setup at home will keep you glued to the couch. That's tonight and every week night, 7:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. Eastern Time.
We're back in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
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