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American Morning
British Tabloid Scandal Widens; Pakistani Doctor Arrested; Obama Challenges GOP; Decade of Speeches: $75 Million; A Man Flies 10 Million Miles on United Airlines; Soldier Asks Mila Kunis Out Via YouTube; Spacewalk Scheduled for Astronauts; Inside the International Space Station; An Artist Reborn
Aired July 12, 2011 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KIRAN CHETRY, CNN ANCHOR: Shocking new developments in the British tabloid hacking scandal.
I'm Kiran Chetry.
Rupert Murdoch's newspaper is now accused of illegally accessing the bank accounts of the former prime minister and the medical records of his ill son. Gordon Brown firing back this morning.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Ali Velshi.
The CIA reportedly used an elaborate vaccination sting to hunt down Osama bin Laden. Now, a Pakistani doctor has been arrested for helping the U.S. carry out the plane, and that's leaving the relationship between the two countries even more fractured -- on this AMERICAN MORNING.
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CHETRY: Good morning to you. Thanks so much for being with us on this Tuesday, July 12th. Christine is off today, but Ali is here.
VELSHI: I am.
CHETRY: Keeping cool in your three-piece suit. It is going to be triple digits in much of the country today.
VELSHI: And it's heating up inside Rupert Murdoch's media enterprise as well. According to published reports, Murdoch's newspapers reportedly illegally accessed the bank accounts of former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and the medical records of his seriously ill son.
CHETRY: And Brown is firing back this morning, claiming that the media mogul's tabloids are linked with criminals.
Dan Rivers is live from London with the latest.
So, we understand that local politicians there are questioning police as well about that initial investigation into the hacking. What's going on?
DAN RIVERS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. So, they are questioning the policeman that led the initial inquiry into all of this many years ago.
And what the Policeman Peter Clarke is saying that the initial tip-off was that Prince William's phone was being hacked into and they went to investigate that narrow parameter of investigation just looking at who is hacking into the royal family. And that resulted in a "News of the World" reporter and a private investigation being jailed.
The key break down in all this was that they didn't look at the wider picture of those 11,000 pages of evidence that they gathered, that it wasn't just the royal family, it was pretty much everyone in the British establishment here, including now, as we know, the former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, even the queen being targeted, politicians, sports stars, actors, celebrities, murder victims, terrorist victims, the list goes on and on.
Gordon Brown has hit out today at suggestions that his personal details were accessed not through his telephone but by people ringing up pretending to be him to his bank and also trying to gain access to property deals he was doing by calling up his lawyers, even getting access, "The Sun" newspaper, to his son's medical records to get a story. Now, "News International" is saying they got those medical records without breaking the law -- but Gordon Brown is furious.
Here's what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GORDON BROWN, FORMER BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: I think what happened pretty early on in the government is that the "Sunday Times" appeared to have gotten access to my Building Society account. They got access to my legal files. There's some question mark about what happened to other files, documentation, tax and everything else. But I'm shocked. I'm genuinely shocked to find that this happened because of their links with criminals.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RIVERS: I mean, his critics are saying, well, look, hang on a minute. After that story about his son was published, the editor of the paper was Rebekah Brooks at the time. He attended Rebekah Brook's wedding. So, was he really that upset about it? Yes he was, he said, Gordon Brown, this morning in an interview.
But the bigger picture is that this scandal is getting bigger and bigger each day. It's not shrinking. It's getting bigger because it's not just one newspaper, "The News of the World," that's involved. It's now "The Sun" and "The Sunday Times," all owned by Rupert Murdoch.
CHETRY: All right. We will continue to follow it, Dan. Thanks so much.
VELSHI: This is really continuing to unfold.
Another story now we've been following. The brother of Afghan President Hamid Karzai, his half-brother, is found shot to death in his home.
CHETRY: Yes, this is Ahmed Wali Karzai. He was the provincial council chief of Kandahar. He suffered gunshot wounds to his head and chest according to hospital officials. A spokesman for Kandahar's government claims a guard is responsible for the shooting. The Taliban says that that guard worked for them. The U.S. has long suspected Wali Karzai of being involved in drug trafficking.
VELSHI: And "The Wall Street Journal" is reporting that the United States is poised to sell fighter jets and air defense systems to Iraq. The deal could be worth billions of dollars and it's intended to counter the influence of Iran in the Middle East and tighten our relationship with Baghdad.
Pakistani security officials have arrested a local doctor for helping the CIA set up a fake vaccination sting in an effort to track down Osama bin Laden.
Reza Sayah is live from Islamabad this morning.
Reza, give us a sense of how the sting worked and what this revelation does to already deteriorating U.S.-Pakistani relations.
REZA SAYAH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Well, Ali, the U.S./Pakistani relations is in the tank. It's struggling. And this arrest of this Pakistani doctor certainly doesn't help and it shows that Pakistan is still very unhappy with the U.S. raid of the bin Laden compound back in May.
But let's talk about this plot because it's very high stakes international spying at its best. This doctor, this Pakistani doctor, according to an intelligence source here, is being linked to a CIA plot to confirm the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden. The source says that he stage a fake vaccination campaign to offer free shots to people and children of Abbottabad where this bin Laden compound was.
According to the British paper "The Guardian," he had hired two nurses going house-to-house and the plan was to extract some blood from the bin Laden kids in the compound and match that blood with the DNA samples of bin Laden's sister who had passed away in Boston, Massachusetts, last year.
We haven't been able to independently verify if these two nurses actually got into the bin Laden compound. But we have spoken to about six residents in Abbottabad who tell us that indeed in late April, two nurses, two female health workers were going house-to-house administering these vaccinations.
So, some fascinating details and it really drives home, guys, the efforts it took by the CIA to find and located bin Laden back in May.
CHETRY: Absolutely. All right. Reza Sayah for us this morning in Islamabad, thank you.
VELSHI: Update on WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. He's in courtroom this morning. He's appealing his extradition to Sweden where he's wanted on sexual misconduct allegations.
Right now, Assange remains in the U.K. under house arrest. The Swedish warrant isn't related to the release of confidential U.S. documents, but his lawyers say that they fear that if he's extradited to Sweden, he then could be extradited to the United States on those actual leakage charges.
CHETRY: Former IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn's next court appearance in New York has now been postponed until August 1st. Defense lawyers are still pressing to have the case thrown out completely. Strauss Kahn faces sexual assault charges for allegedly attacking a hotel maid. The case against him, though, is looking weaker now that prosecutors have admitted that there are discrepancies in the maid's grand jury testimony.
VELSHI: The case against DSK is prompting a New York City councilman to try to outlaw the perp walk. That's what you're looking at here, it's where the perpetrator is walked in front of media. They parade the crime suspect past the media.
Councilman David Greenfield of Brooklyn is sponsoring the measure. He says even Mother Teresa would look guilty in shackles.
CHETRY: It's interesting, though. Ray Kelly, who is the New York police commissioner, he goes, we don't parade anybody anywhere. There's one way in and out of the courthouse, or in and out of the booking place. There's no back door.
VELSHI: Right. But they could figure out a way to do that, right?
CHETRY: They could put up, I guess, barriers for high profile people.
VELSHI: I think if you were clear that you didn't want the media seeing it. But, again, people need to know one thing, that in some cases the perp walk is a deliberate thing.
CHETRY: That's right.
VELSHI: In New York, the media is given a lot of access, more than they are in many other cities. I mean, it's culture here that media gets access unless there's a danger to the public by giving the media that access.
CHETRY: I mean, and even when they don't -- I mean, boy, you saw the guy who is charged, Whitey Bulger, he had been on the run, wanted in about 19 alleged mob killings. Anyway, they got him in a helicopter. They shot him from the air.
VELSHI: Yes, these days, it's hard to avoid.
CHETRY: All right. Well, it took exactly one week. "The New York Times" says that St. Martin's Press is going to publish a book written by a forensic psychiatrist about the Casey Anthony trial, claiming to answer the question: why is Caylee Anthony dead? The jury acquitted Casey Anthony of her daughter's murder last week. She is scheduled to walk out of prison on Sunday.
VELSHI: All right. It's getting hotter out there. Dangerous heat wave has engulfed half the country, 23 states. Look at that, literally half the country. Twenty-three states are now under heat advisories. The blistering heat and humidity is being blamed for one death in Illinois.
CHETRY: Rob Marciano is in the extreme weather center and he's tracking all of this for us.
Wow. Triple digits. When you talk about the heat index being up to 115, that's unbelievable.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes. There's so much humidity in the air. We haven't had a slew of record highs to tell you the truth. I mean, just a handful. So, the humidity is really what's causing the misery here and that's what will suck the life out of you and in some cases quite literally.
And these temperatures, you know, this is measured in the shade. If you're outside in the sun, you can take these temperatures and add another 10 to 15 degrees. These are the states that are painted with the heat advisories and heat warnings and heat watches. And they stretch all the way up now to the Northeast and, yes, any one of these spots could see temperatures that feel like they're up and over 100 degrees.
Here's the set up high pressure over the midsection of the country, this hasn't really budget much. We are looking for this to break down a little bit as we get towards Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and that will bring a little bit of relief, but the next two days certainly look to be rather steamy.
As far as what we're looking at going forward, 109 degrees we expect today for a heat index in Little Rock and similar numbers as we go through tomorrow. Notice that these temperatures begin to break down a little bit as we go through Thursday and into Friday. But until then, all bets are off and do what you can to stay cool.
Guys, I walked by Elizabeth's little desk there and there was leftovers of the blooming onion and the fries and the hamburger. I was reminded, you don't want to eat that kind of stuff on a day like today. And, certainly, I don't think she got that stuff this morning.
(LAUGHTER)
CHETRY: She might not have gotten it this week! Eat at your own risk.
VELSHI: Rob knows me well enough that if I were in Atlanta, that there would be remnants of that.
MARCIANO: Yes, it would have been gone.
VELSHI: KFC, you can eat later. It definitely has improved.
(CROSSTALK)
MARCIANO: -- the next day.
CHETRY: And also, I mean, a few studies, McDonald's fries, they'll last for the better part of a decade. You don't throw those things out.
VELSHI: Exactly.
CHETRY: My kids find them in the back of the minivan? Forget it! They are eating them again. So bad!
All right. Thanks, Rob.
MARCIANO: OK, guys.
CHETRY: Well, he didn't ask for a dime but the IRS may still come after the guy who caught Derek Jeter's 3,000th hit. It was a home run in the left field bleachers. It happened Saturday. And "The New York Times" talked to tax lawyers who say that the 23-year-old fan who claims he owes $100,000 in student loans may actually owe taxes on the gift from the Yankees. That was he was moved to a $1,500 seat on Saturday and they also gave him luxury box tickets for the rest of the year.
VELSHI: So, what do you think? Do you think Christian Lopez, that Yankees fan, would have been better off not catching Jeter's home run? Email us, give us a tweet, or tell us on Facebook, we'll read some of your comments later on in the show.
CHETRY: And still ahead, debt talks heat up but there is no deal in sight. Is this entirely a political game? James Carville and Nicolle Wallace talking to us live, next.
VELSHI: And meet the 10 million mile man. A businessman traveler from Chicago is the first United passenger to fly 10 million miles! Oh, the stories he can tell! We want to know what 10 million frequent flyer miles will get you and how you get them.
CHETRY: And dial-a-beer. Why Anheuser-Busch wants to trademark area codes.
VELSHI: That's clear. Dial-a-beer.
CHETRY: Twelve minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Fifteen minutes past the hour. A live look at the nation's capital. Some clouds, 86, but later, sunny and 101 degrees in Washington, D.C. today.
Feeling the heat outside, feeling the heat inside. President Obama's challenging Republicans on raising the nation's debt ceiling. The talks continue today, and the president is insisting that he is not accepting any short-term fix.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: So, we might as well do it now. Pull off the Band-Aid. Eat our peas.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHETRY: Joining us now is former White House communications director under President Bush, Nicole Wallace. Good to see you. Also in New Orleans, CNN political contributor, James Carville. James, always good to see you, as well. Thanks for being with us.
JAMES CARVILLE, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Thank you. Thank you.
CHETRY: Where, Nicole, will they find common ground? Because there seems to be a big debate. Democrats are saying no to entitlement, any types of changes to entitlements that involve less services, less services for Medicare, and the Republicans are saying there is no way we're going to say yes to any tax increase.
NICOLE WALLACE, FORMER WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR UNDER PRESIDENT BUSH: You know, I think we've entered a point where there's a failure to communicate. Republicans, a few days ago, actually as recently as last weekend, were open to a big dramatic fix. The big deal, I think, is what Obama and Boehner call it, as someone who writes fictional novels about presidents who do the great, big, bold, courageous things, I would certainly -- that captured my imagination, I think, that as many Americans.
But I think the reality collided with that fantasy of doing something big in that Republicans are not going to accept tax increases at a time of such economic distress. I mean, you talk about eating your peas. President Obama had plenty of opportunity to eat his own peas by submitting budgets that were smaller and that didn't contribute so mightily to the federal debt that we now find ourselves maxed out at.
CHETRY: All right. Well, I want to ask you about that. And James, I'm going to let you weigh in one second, because the federal government grew the most under the Bush administration. I mean, you know, and --
WALLACE: Sure, sure. After 9/11, we did spend a lot of money protecting the homeland. We entered wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. So, but I think after 9/11, there was an understanding in Congress the debt ceiling was raised during those years.
CHETRY: Right.
WALLACE: Now, the public is -- really the place where the far right of the Republican party, the tea party caucus, if you will, the traditional Republican establishment and the vast majority of independent voters, the place where there's the most consensus among those groups is around the size and the cost of the federal government.
So, certainly, drawing a line in the sand against increasing this country's debt and against raising taxes is not an extreme position. It actually represents the desires of the mainstream of America.
CHETRY: Well, let me ask you about this, James, because the president, certainly, painted himself to sort of be the pragmatic, you know, centrist here. He said I'm willing to make the liberals angry, too, but we have to get something done. I mean, he's in a tough position right now. How does he sort of find a way to reconcile this with this countdown ticking?
CARVILLE: Well, I think, he's in a tough position, and I think a lot of Republicans want to shut the government down. The majority of American people want a government shutdown and a clear majority of -- I mean, a big majority of the Republican Congress. And if you listen to Jim DeMint or you listen to Rush Limbaugh or you listen to, you know, a lot of the titans in the Republican Party, they say it doesn't matter if you shut the government down.
My own feeling is we're probably going to get one just like in talk. They voted it down the first day. This country decided that it could pay for three wars and three tax cuts. Well, that didn't work. And we're dealing with the consequences of that. But, my guess is, I hope I'm wrong, put it this way -- I hope that the experts are wrong because they say a shutdown would be a disastrous thing, but I think they're going to go ahead and shut it down. I really do.
CHETRY: I think this is interesting. Do you think that the Republicans are playing chicken with the debt ceiling that they do want the government to shut down?
WALLACE: I can't tell. I mean, I really don't know. And I think if you look at the comments of the Republican presidential contenders, I would agree with what James is saying, but if you look at the kind of careful comments of the Republican legislators, at least until this point, they seem to indicate that a deal will get done.
CHETRY: This is what David Brooks wrote in "The New York Times" about Republicans. He said they basically missed a golden opportunity. He said if they were a, quote, "normal party, it would take advantage of this amazing moments being offered the deal of the century trillions of dollars in spending cuts in exchange for a few hundred billion dollars of revenue increases. This is, I say, the mother of all no-brainers."
WALLACE: David Brooks makes a good point, and he's a very well- respected voice on the right and on the center right. I think that's a legitimate way to look at this. I think another way to look at it is that Republicans believe that it is a principle worth drawing a line in the sand and organizing around. Not to raise taxes on anybody at a time of great economic stress.
CHETRY: Not to close loopholes?
WALLACE: Well, closing loopholes was something that Republicans were for when the idea was to accompany those closed loopholes with the lowering of the corporate and individual tax rates. That's what Senator McCain and Senator Coburn, two of the more conservative members of the Senate, were very willing to do and to discuss. But I think that, you know, again, we had a failure to communicate with our friends in other party, and it was closing the loopholes in isolation which would have resulted --
CHETRY: Well, let me ask you about that, because it's interesting. David Winston, also a Republican strategist, James, for Speaker Boehner said that the president was introducing a, quote, "poison pill" by talking about increasing revenue, you know, either closing loopholes or needing to raise taxes. That he's putting Republicans in a position where they just can't say yes to that. Do you agree?
CARVILLE: Look, the president didn't want to continue the Bush tax cuts of the wealthy which, of course, were a disaster to the U.S. government and did very little to stimulate any growth. That's a historical fact. He was against that. He was forced into that position. He said let's close the loopholes and return to this. Look, there's got to be something to negotiate with. Again, I go back to my central point is, I don't think a majority of the Republicans are really interested in negotiating or doing anything.
I think they actually want to shut the thing down. And I think that they're being told by, again, by very influential people in the Republican Party. The "Wall Street Journal," for instance, is promoting op-ed pieces saying it will actually help the country if you shut it down. So, I think the real truth of the matter is if they're not looking to extend the debt limit, they actually want to shut it down.
I think that's -- and you know what? They actually have public support for that position. The public wants to shut the government down, too. Now, whether or not they understand the consequences of this, I don't know, but the fact of the matter is the public by substantial number doesn't want to extend the debt limit.
CHETRY: All right. All of this --
CARVILLE: That's a fact.
CHETRY: Was in the context of the election not far away now. Nicole Wallace and James Carville, great to get your take from both of you. Thanks so much for being with us this morning.
CARVILLE: Thank you.
VELSHI: Great (ph) conversation, Kiran.
Up next, investors are spooked by worries that Europe's debt crisis could spread, not just our debt crisis that's worrying investors. We will check the morning futures for you on the other side of this break.
Plus, former president, Bill Clinton, enjoyed his most lucrative year ever. How much did he pull in on the speaking circuit? Let me just tell you, you should sit down before I tell you the answer to this one.
And the power of the Internet. A marine turns to YouTube to ask Hollywood actress, Mila Kunis, on a date. She saw it. What did she say? I'll tell you on the other side. Twenty-three minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Twenty-five minutes half the hour. "Minding Your Business" this morning.
U.S. stock futures trading lower ahead of the opening bell this morning. There's a lot of uncertainty over the euro zone debt crisis that's spreading to Italy now, the third largest economy in Europe. Some concerns about our own debt crisis here in the United States.
Cisco Systems, the world's biggest name in networking equipment, reportedly slashing its work force by 14 percent or 10,000 jobs, that's in order to revive profit growth. According to the report by Bloomberg, majority of those cuts could start by the end of summer.
Former President Bill Clinton's words are money. Federal finance records show that he's earned more than $75 million in the past ten years just from paid speaking events. 2010 was his strongest earnings year to date.
Well, you've heard of local brews before, but not like this. Anheuser-Busch is reportedly trying to trademark the area codes of 15 major U.S. cities to create local sounding brew. Something like a pint of 202 for Washington or a bottle of 415 for San Francisco.
Coming up next, the first customer ever to fly 10 million miles with United Airlines. AMERICAN MORNING is back after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: This next guest actually -- this is really fascinating. This notion of being able to do this. When he calls to reserve a flight, all he has to say is it's me. Over the weekend, a man named Tom Stuker became the first person ever to reach the 10 million mile mark on United Airlines. That's equal to about 20 round trips to the moon.
VELSHI: Wow! They named a 747 in his honor. They awarded him with the first ever titanium United Mileage Plus card. Tom flew in to be with us this morning. That's normally a big undertaking, but for you it's probably like brushing your teeth or breathing or walking.
TOM STUKER, UNITED'S 10-MILLION-MILE MAN: I take a bus to work. VELSHI: That's incredible. How did this happen? Over how many years have you collected these miles?
STUKER: I think 29 years. The first -- it took 19 years to do the first five. And then I did five million the last ten years. I've been having averaging a little over a half-a-million miles a year.
VELSHI: What do you do?
STUKER: I'm a consultant in the auto industry. I help dealerships or associations or manufacturers around the world in the retail side, helping them with the sales and the management processes at dealerships.
CHETRY: So you're basically the real life George Clooney character in "Up in the Air." Did you see it?
VELSHI: But nicer.
STUKER: Maybe not as good-looking.
(LAUGHTER)
STUKER: But that character is more pathetic. I mean, he has a real sad life. I really feel for him. But, no offense, with those looks and that kind of money in that job, what is he doing living in Omaha? No offense.
(LAUGHTER)
VELSHI: But you love traveling. In fact, you're not tired of it.
STUKER: I love traveling. I hate being on the ground. I mean, I don't hate being on the ground but I look forward to getting in the sky. It's so quiet. It's so peaceful, no phones and no cell phones.
VELSHI: Wow.
STUKER: I get more creative at 40,000 feet, you know?
CHETRY: Let me ask. Your wife, does she fly with you all the time?
STUKER: She has flown 1.6 --
CHETRY: Million?
STUKER: Yes. The ex has done 1.4.
(LAUGHTER)
CHETRY: You crack me up.
VELSHI: OK, so I travel a lot. And I'm in my circle one of the most traveled people. You've got to be the most traveled person you know?
STUKER: Yes, yes, except for pilots and astronauts.
VELSHI: Right.
CHETRY: OK, so let me ask you a couple of questions. Have you ever wanted to get in the industry? Have you ever wanted to fly your own plane?
STUKER: Fly? Are you kidding me? You can't drink up there. Unless you're -- I can't name an airline.
CHETRY: Let's say you're not supposed to drink.
STUKER: Yes, because want I don't want to say what do you want after takeoff? Whatever the pilot is drinking. I'm sorry.
(LAUGHTER)
CHETRY: How many times have you lost your luggage?
(CROSSTALK)
STUKER: No, no. I've flown -- I got a couple delayed bags, right? But 6,000 flights on United, they have never lost my bag once.
CHETRY: That is amazing. Have you ever been in a crash or a scare?
STUKER: I've been on near misses. I don't know what that means. How do you almost miss something? But I've never been on a flight where the oxygen masks come down. I've been on turbulence. At first, I was scared to death of flying when I first started.
VELSHI: Is that right?
STUKER: I was scared of death of flying. But I got used to it at 6,000 flights. Now I go through turbulence, I say, hey, put another quarter in. It's kind of a Disney ride.
VELSHI: You take a lot of trips. Obviously you've earned more miles the 10 million.
STUKER: I've done 40 million or 50 million miles.
VELSHI: OK, so let's just show some of these pictures. You take -- I can't imagine you pay a buck to travel anywhere when you want to use your miles. You were in the Maldives I 2007, which is good because it is disappearing.
STUKER: Right.
CHETRY: A lot of people won't go there because it's so far away.
STUKER: On a weekend -- I'll go to Hawaii over the weekend for two or three days because, hey, sunshine, paradise. It's worth the journey, you know?
CHETRY: You can get that in Miami too.
STUKER: Yes, but I don't go there.
(LAUGHTER)
VELSHI: When you talk to people about travel, a lot of it's complaints. A lot of it's delays and airports and flights and security. This doesn't seem to be part of your experience. I mean, you still have to go through security like everybody else.
STUKER: I'm more patient, you know? You got to go with the flow. American consumers are just so demanding. They want to go to New York to L.A. for 199 dollars. They want triple miles and first class upgrades and free luggage if anything is scratched. You've got to -- you got to be more patient.
I tell people, you know, for coach people, there are some really good tips. You know, you could fly good if you're in coach. First of all, know how many people are on the flight, know what the load is, which means what percentage is full and how many empty seats you have. And then if you don't have an overhead bag, right, then be the last person on the flight, because that's when everybody shifts seats.
So you're the last person on the flight, you see a whole empty row. Plop down in the middle and just relax. You're in first class back there.
VELSHI: Brilliant.
STUKER: So, I mean, that, plus, you know, be prepared. I mean, all airlines have delays, cancellations, especially with the hub situation. With the hub situation, one flight cancels and it's a domino effect. So you might say the flight is delayed because of weather. The weather here is perfect, but maybe not in Denver.
So be prepared. Every time you fly bring that extra pair of clothing, underwear, socks, whatever, and a bathing suit if you're heading to warmer weather. And if your luggage is delayed by a day, who cares? Sit by the pool. You're on vacation. Relax.
VELSHI: Here's my question. You got these miles on United. Do you have great status on all of the airlines?
STUKER: I'm a million-miler on American, which is lifetime gold and lifetime and upgrades and stuff, and that is very nice. But, you know, United has been loyal to me for 29 years, so I'm loyal to them. It's like they are my family, and why would I ditch my family by going on another airline?
CHETRY: But let me ask you this. The other question is have you noticed -- I know you don't want to rip on United, but have you noticed a service change for the worse over the years? I mean back when flying was considered a luxury and you dressed up and you got on the plane, and now you're almost like cattle. STUKER: You know what? To tell you the truth, and I know a lot of people will disagree with me and think I'm kissing up to United or something like that -- and it's not just United. I fly on other airlines too. I don't see service going down as much as passengers going down. And no offense, the rudeness on a plane, whether it's this is my arm thing, or I put my seat back and I have grown adults act like children behind me kicking my seat or putting their paper in my hair or stuff like this. So I mean, I'll put my seat back and some guy says, sir, can you put your seat up? I said, oh, no, yours goes down, too. No offense, I want that space. If you have to go to the bathroom I'll put my seat up so they don't have to do a contortion thing to go to the bathroom.
VELSHI: Tom, I guess you're getting on a plane pretty soon. Good to see you. Congratulations on all that great travel.
STUKER: Thank you. If you ever need an upgrade, I can wallpaper my house with them.
(LAUGHTER)
CHETRY: So adorable. It's been really nice talking to you.
VELSHI: Tom Stuker has a lot of friends.
(LAUGHTER)
(WEATHER BREAK)
VELSHI: You know what I wanted to ask him, by the way, about all of that traveling?
CHETRY: What?
VELSHI: What these guys have on them. What they always have on them, because they carry so little stuff.
CHETRY: I know.
VELSHI: What is your favorite gadgetry and what does he ever have. Already I had been talking to him for 10 minutes. So we had to move on.
CHETRY: We'll ask him in the green room.
VELSHI: There is actually other news today, including a rare honor for a true hero. He is getting it at the White House today. Sergeant First Class Leroy Arthur Petry will become just the second living active duty service member to receive the Medal of Honor for his actions in Iraq and Afghanistan. The seasoned army ranger lost a hand when he tossed an enemy grenade away from the young soldiers that he was leading. Now he has a prosthetic hand, and despite his injuries he recently re-upped with the army for eight more years. Wow!
CHETRY: Amazing hero. Who knows how many lives he saved by that act of heroism?
Also marine stationed in Afghanistan snags a date with actress Mila Kunis. He was posting a YouTube video on the off chance she would say yes. This is Sergeant Scott Moore. He asked the "Friend with Benefits" star to go to a Marine Corps dance with him. Check it out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SGT. SCOTT MOORE, U.S. MARINE CORPS: Hey, Mila, Sergeant Moore. You can call me Scott. I just wanted to take a moment out of my day to invite you to go to the Marine Corps ball on November 18 with me in Greenville, North Carolina with yours truly. So take a second. Think about it. Get back to me. All right, bye, now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(LAUGHTER)
CHETRY: Mila was promoting her new movie with Justin Timberlake and agreed to go after Timberlake told her to accept for her country. We will see if she follows through.
VELSHI: Why do you have to be so negative?
CHETRY: I'm just thinking it's in November. She said she's going to do it. We'll see.
VELSHI: OK, up next, one single spacewalk left of the shuttle era. We'll take you there live. Plus what about that space junk? Remember we were talking about that? Any problems with that? We will check into it. It's 40 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: This is exciting. We love when the magic wall really can show information. And today we are talking today about the International Space Shuttle, the shuttle mission. They are a little bit behind schedule this morning. In about a half an hour from now, two members will take a walk 220 miles above earth, and during the six and a half hour spacewalk, guess what they will be doing?
VELSHI: Fixing stuff.
CHETRY: Yes, and recovering a broken pump.
VELSHI: Yes.
The space station, by the way, the International Space Station, let me just tell you a little about this. You keep hearing about that. That's staying in space. It's a joint research facility involving the United States, Russia, Europe, Japan, and Canada. It measures 357 feet end to end, which is just three feet shy of the length of a football field.
CHETRY: All right, let's take a look at some of the shuttle missions. The first mission to the international space station was the shuttle Endeavour, and this was STS-88. So let's pop it up here real quick and we get a shot of the crew. This was back in December of 1998. And that mission was dedicated to helping actually put the International Space Station together.
VELSHI: Pick it up in parts basically and they've been building it ever since. Now in March, 2001, the Discovery, STS-102 -- all of them are STS's. There is 102 right there. This was the mission that was the first to deliver a residential crew to the station. They went up there and lived there a while.
This mission was also responsible for bringing back the first group of people who actually stayed on the space station to conduct repairs and building.
CHETRY: How fascinating when you think about that, living up in space. And also this morning we are learning about the final mission. Of course, we know that is shuttle Atlantis. And we do the honors. We know it's the very last one, 135. It's scheduled for the return, they actually pushed it back today.
VELSHI: It was going to be 12 days. They are doing it in 13 now.
CHETRY: Yes. And they are returning I believe just a couple of minutes before 6:00 a.m. eastern time Thursday morning. So of course we will have it live.
VELSHI: Maybe they'll be a few minutes delayed and it will be live and we'll come on air and give it to you live. This morning's spacewalk is expected to begin at around 9:10 Eastern this morning. Guess who is covering this for us?
John Zarrella, live not in space but in Miami, his other home. Good morning John.
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning Ali and Kiran.
You know STS stands for Space Transportation System. A lot of people out there, we always call it STS but nobody really knows what it means but that's what the acronym is -- Space Transportation System.
Yes, that space walk you're talking about is going to get started a little bit late this morning. They are using a new technique that was developed where they don't have to pre-breathe all night in the air-lock like they've had to in the past.
What they do now is they do some exercising ahead of time. You'll see, there that's them in the quest air-lock getting ready for this spacewalk. And the two astronauts performing it are space station astronauts, not members of the shuttle crew but two Americans part of Expedition 28. Mike Fossum and Ron Garon and what they are going to do, as you mentioned is there was an ammonia pump that failed back about a year -- almost a year ago to the day and they are taking that ammonia pump and they are going to, both of them, be in what's called foot restraints on the end of the Canada arm taking turns doing that and they will take that failed ammonia pump. They'll take it off where it's berthed right now and they will put it inside the space shuttle's cargo bay so they can bring it back to earth as a piece of the space junk they are trying to clean up, up there on the space station -- Ali, Kiran.
VELSHI: John, thank you by the way. You get your five bucks for mentioning Canada in there, the arm.
So I'm sitting with John the other day and we weren't sure whether the shuttle was going to take off on schedule.
(CROSSTALK)
CHETRY: Eating chicken wings or not eating chicken wings?
VELSHI: Well, he gave me the sauce. He gave me the sauce. So John, the space shuttle, NASA is encouraging people to eat along with the space shuttle crew. I don't think that sauce is on the menu.
ZARRELLA: Well, you know it actually probably is in some ways on that menu, Ali, because what they are going to do is on Thursday, they are having a virtual meal and it's a real all-American summer-time meal. There is going to be fried chicken. There is brisket, there's corn, there's baked beans.
So all of the ten astronauts, the six members of the space station and there you see some of that virtual food there that we have. You know, I had an opportunity to go to the Space Food Systems Laboratory out in Johnson one day and some of the -- one of the most favorite things that they like is the shrimp cocktail. And the reason they like shrimp cocktail the most is because it has that cocktail sauce and the spices and the hot sauce. And what I was told was that in space, your taste buds tend to dull --
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: Yes.
ZARRELLA: -- so that's why they like hot sauces on a lot of their food.
VELSHI: That makes sense, all right.
CHETRY: That's nice.
ZARRELLA: It gives -- it gives it a lot more flavor. The other thing they like a lot is strawberries. And of course, you know, all that stuff is freeze dried.
Now, the commander Chris Ferguson, I think we actually have a live -- a live picture from space right now real quick. And Ferguson just closed the hatch on the air-lock. So they are going to get to that -- get to that spacewalk pretty quickly now, guys. CHETRY: Yes, we take it for such granted that we can actually just see that live. That is a live picture happening in space. I mean, I still will never get over that.
ZARRELLA: Yes.
VELSHI: That's pretty fascinating. John --
CHETRY: And I swear, I could love shrimp cocktail but freeze dried shrimp cocktail?
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: John, I know you will be following this for us. So we'll be -- we'll be staying on it with you.
ZARRELLA: Absolutely.
VELSHI: Good to see you John. How do you feel about this baked beans in space?
CHETRY: I'm not sure I'm high on that either. I stick with this freeze dried ice cream that we used to get at the --
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: Yes, I hear you.
CHETRY: -- at the Air & Space Museum.
VELSHI: Our morning headlines are next. It is 48 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Its 50 minutes after the hour. Here are your morning headlines.
Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown says Rupert Murdoch's newspaper illegally accessed his bank accounts and the medical records of his seriously-ill son. This morning Murdoch and his son and NewsCorp executive, Rebecca Brooks have been asked to appear before parliament next week.
Talks to raise the nation's debt ceiling continue today; President Obama and congressional leaders come up empty again. Yesterday Republicans are still refusing to budge on tax hikes and some Democrats are saying Medicare is off limits.
U.S. stock futures trading lower ahead of the opening bell this morning on concerns over the Euro Zone debt crisis, spreading the Italy now, Europe's third largest economy.
Nearly 400,000 Chicago area residents are still without power this morning following what may have been the worst storm in a decade. Utility officials say it could take several more days to get all the power back.
Step out of the door and into the furnace. A dangerous heat wave has engulfed nearly half of the country. There are heat advisories in 23 states. The blistering temperatures are blamed for one death in Illinois.
You're caught up on the day's headlines. AMERICAN MORNING is back after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CHETRY: Kevin Robb is a renowned metal sculptor, who by all accounts, reached the height of success in the art world. But a stroke in 2004 cost him his career and nearly his life.
VELSHI: Yes and now he's back though, he's creating art again. Dr. Sanjay Gupta has his remarkable story in this morning's "Human Factor".
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Kevin Robb's sculptors can be found in museums, parks, in private collections all over the world. But for the past seven years this Denver artist hasn't been able to sculpt.
DIANE ROBB, KEVIN ROBB'S WIFE: I walked in and in my normal sarcastic manner I was teasing him about what you think that sculpture looks better from the ground up. And then, I took a look at him and I could tell that there is something seriously wrong.
GUPTA: What Kevin's wife Diane, didn't know is that her previously healthy husband had a blood clot which had traveled to his brain and caused the massive stroke.
ROBB: He was moved into ICU and he was on life support for 13 days. And then from there, he was in rehab hospitals for seven weeks.
GUPTA: When Kevin finally came home, he wasn't able to function on his own. He had lost his memory, his ability to speak, and most of his movement. But when he was taken back up into his studio, something inside him lit up.
ROBB: He stood here, walked over and touched some of his machinery and for the first time since his stroke, there was life in his eyes.
I knew that day that I had to figure out how to make sure he could continue his artwork so he could continue to live and so he could continue to come back to this world.
GUPTA: Kevin continued his rehabilitation and, over time, he learned to walk on his own. Bits of his memory came back and he can now speak more than a hundred different words. All of that led him to be able to make art again.
ROBB: Kevin sketches. We have staff that understands what he wants. And Kevin is back in full swing in creating sculptures.
GUPTA: None of it has been easy.
ROBB: More than once, at the end of the day, I would sit back and go, "What in the world am I doing?"
GUPTA: Diane and Kevin have to speak in a sort of complicated type of charades.
ROBB: You want to go someplace?
KEVIN ROBB, SCULPTOR: I want keys running.
D. ROBB: He wants the keys to the truck so he and Tom can go someplace.
K. ROBB: Yes.
GUPTA: Diane says Kevin's love for his family and his fierce determination to get better brought him and his art back to life.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN reporting.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: It's sort of the unofficial Yankee anthem.
CHETRY: And the unofficial New York summer anthem. At least, it has been the last couple of years.
Hey, we thought he was a big lucky fan. He caught the 3,000th homerun ball of Derek Jeter -- the 3,000th hit that happened to be a home run.
Anyway, now they did some digging of the poor guy to find out if -- because he has been gifted these seats he'll have to actually pay for them, right? So they showered him with these gifts. Apparently the seats cost about a grand each.
VELSHI: The ones that they've given him for the rest of the season.
CHETRY: Right. So he could be looking at paying $14,000 in taxes by some estimates.
VELSHI: So do you think he would have been better off not catching Jeter's home run? It's our question of the day. Here are some of your responses.
On Facebook, Benny says, "Yes, he should have caught the ball. It's not every day that an ordinary person can be a part of history however this is just another example that our current tax system didn't work. Maybe we should start to seriously explore that fair tax proposal.
CHETRY: Flat, fair tax proposal.
Dawn on Facebook writes, "I believe the Yankees or Jeter should step up and pay the taxes. They're going to profit from the ball and the tickets he received were nice. But the franchise is going to make millions from it."
So there's a lot of people who thought somebody else should step up and offer to pay for the taxes but then that is considered a gift and he could get taxed on that as well. Poor guy.
VELSHI: All right. That's it for us. We'll be back tomorrow bright and early but for now --
CHETRY: It's "CNN NEWSROOM" with Kyra Phillips. Good morning Kyra.
