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American Morning
Three Dems Picked for Super Committee; American Woman Vanishes In Aruba; "Dougherty Clan" Manhunt; Giants Fan Beating; China Unveils First Aircraft Carrier; States May Now Opt Out of No Child Left Behind; Original Skin
Aired August 10, 2011 - 07:59 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Battleground Wisconsin.
I'm Christine Romans.
Republicans survive recall elections and hold on to a majority in the state Senate, a nasty battle over budgets and union rights and possibly a 2012 preview.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Hi. Good morning to you. I'm Carol Costello.
Americans are angry. The poll shows a record number of voters are simply fed up with their elected officials. So, we're asking the question this morning: is it time to clean house -- on this AMERICAN MORNING.
(MUSIC)
ROMANS: Good morning, everyone. It's Wednesday, August 10th. Ali Velshi is off today.
Is it only Wednesday? We had the best day for the stock market and worst day for the stock market? And a year and it's only Wednesday.
COSTELLO: At least things are on the up and up now, right?
ROMANS: Yes.
COSTELLO: Coming up first this morning, though, an election in one state that matters to you no matter where you live. Republicans have held on to control of Wisconsin state Senate after recall elections last night. The expense of drawn out battle that began over union rights ended with Democrats one crucial victory short. The elections were closely watched for a possible backlash against the Tea Party. Many feel the stakes were so high because they were a litmus test for the 2012 election.
The Republicans backed a law that started all of this which strips most public workers of their rights to bargain on labor contracts.
ROMANS: All right. Talk about whiplash on Wall Street. After a big bounce yesterday, this morning, U.S. stock futures are now down, Carol. I'm so sorry to tell you.
The drop coming after the Dow picked up 430 points yesterday. The rally fueled by historic move by the Federal Reserve.
What did the Fed do? The Fed promised it would keep interest rates exceptionally low for two more years. It put an actual date on how long it's going to keep those rates low, 2013. That means low cost to borrow for a house or a car or to take on a college loan. The Fed essentially says we got our foot on the pedal, foot on the gas and keep it on the gas all the way through this next election.
COSTELLO: Well, it seems to have worked, but, of course, what should happen next? That's the question.
ROMANS: Right. And some people say, it hasn't worked, we have a horrible economy. Others say, no, if the Fed weren't doing this, how horrible would the economy be.
So, the Fed also saying that things were worse than they had thought even just a few months ago.
COSTELLO: Well, the important thing, they made a definitive statement and they took a stand and I guess that is what Wall Street wanted to hear.
ROMANS: That's right.
COSTELLO: That super committee is starting to take shape. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has appointed first three Democrats who will serve on a new 12-member deficit-cutting panel.
So, h is the lineup so far. Reid choosing Senator Patty Murray of Washington to be the co-chair. Along with Senate Finance Committee Max Baucus of Montana, and Senator John Kerry of Massachusetts.
ROMANS: All right. Let's bring in Joe Johns now from Washington.
Joe, no surprise to learn, of course, there's already finger- pointing and bickering over the appointing.
JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Right.
ROMANS: I mean, there aren't that many seats to begin with.
JOHNS: No.
ROMANS: So, it's almost like picking a jury, quite frankly. The outcome of the trial could rest on what those people think in the jury box.
JOHNS: Yes. But the problem is, it's going to be six Republicans and six Democrats and you end up with a tie, right?
All right. The only reaction that really sticks out this morning on this committee is to Senator Patty Murray. Senator Murray is a member of the powerful appropriations committee and she's also a member of the budget committee which makes sense.
But here's the thing -- she is chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which is supposed to help Democrats get elected to the Senate, and so, they spend and raise a lot of money to do that. Republicans got out of the block quickly saying she shouldn't have been chosen because of her relationship with the DSCC and what is especially hard for Republicans to swallow is that the DSCC has been out in front in opposition to entitlement cuts, including Medicare, the chairman of the Republican National Committee said the super committee was no place for Patty Murray.
Democrats also have a little heartburn over the selection of Max Baucus because he's known to try to work deals with the Republicans. But he is chairman of the Senate Finance Committee and that's what they do. We'll know a little bit more about how all of these people will fit together and work together after all the people are named and that will be sometime early next week.
COSTELLO: OK. So, Joe, I know you run around Capitol Hill, because I've seen you do it. He leaves the bureau and shoots up to the Hill.
So, what are you hearing about Republican choices?
JOHNS: You know, frankly, there are a bunch of names out there and there have always been a bunch of names. But I certainly can't, you know, mention them for you because I just don't know how serious they are.
The question, of course, is whether the Republicans are going to pick people who absolutely, positively, will not go for, for example, tax increases. And then, you know, you have the Democrats saying we have got to have revenue -- in other words, tax increases. You've got Republicans saying, no way. And then you're kind of stuck.
COSTELLO: Oh, whatever! Aren't we tired of that argument? I have actually heard that Eric Cantor is one of the names bandied about to serve on this super committee.
JOHNS: That's true.
COSTELLO: As we know, Eric Cantor was the guy who walked out on negotiations and is totally against any sort of tax increase.
JOHNS: Yes, I know. And that's the way Congress works. You got Democrats and Republicans and they get in a room and fight.
But, you know, at the end of the day, by Thanksgiving, by Christmas, they are supposed to come up with something or there's going to be a lot of trouble.
ROMANS: All right. Joe Johns, when you're ready to game it for us and speculate, you tell us.
JOHNS: You got it.
ROMANS: Although I'll tell you, the first names you usually hear are not the names that end up there on the end. They flip the names to see how the public is going to respond.
OK. Here's another example of how fed up Americans are with their elected officials. Remember when John McCain called Tea Party hobbits during the debt ceiling crisis? I think he was quoting a "Wall Street Journal" piece. But that comment has come back to haunt the Arizona senator.
He was hosting a town hall meeting in his home state yesterday. It didn't take long for things to heat up.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The widespread perception is that you called us hobbits. And I'm asking for a simple apology because many people were (INAUDIBLE). Will you apologize?
SEN. JOHN MCCAIN (R), ARIZONA: I said that if anyone misunderstood what was reported by the media, I'm very sorry about that.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Is that your apology?
MCCAIN: But I am not sorry if it was misunderstood. I am not sorry for what I said. OK?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: He is standing up for himself, but, boy, is it getting ugly out there.
Joining us live from Washington this morning, Ron Brownstein, the editorial director of the "National Journal."
I don't know what to think about this John McCain thing. Clearly, he's kind of defensive when it comes to, you know, what he said on the floor of the Senate. But the Tea Party members are out in force and they're giving it to their lawmakers -- just like they did during the summer of anger.
RON BROWNSTEIN, NATIONAL JOURNAL: Yes. Well, look. John McCain is an old fighter pilot and sometimes he shoots from the lip and has used provocative language throughout his career. But in this case, it's worth thinking about what happened here. The Tea Party is a powerful force in American politics and especially a powerful force in the Republican Party, but it is not a majority of public opinion.
Your new poll that is out just yesterday shows only 31 percent of Americans have a positive view of the Tea Party at this point and it's gone down significantly since last November.
Republicans like John McCain are going to have to take some heat from the most ideological portions of their coalition, which includes the Tea Party, if we are going to see the super committee make any progress.
I mean, you just mentioned moment ago how exhausted people are with the kind of bickering. Without -- unless elected officials on both sides are willing to stand up to the most ideological elements of their coalition, we're going to have a stalemate and more kind of fulfilling the prophecy of the rating agency S&P when they downgraded the U.S. debt, saying that they doubted we had the political will to solve our problems.
So, ultimately, McCain does really, in the end, have to say to voters like those who confronted him, you can't have everything you want in a very diverse country if we are going to make progress.
ROMANS: Well, let's talk about a super committee because already, you got three people named. And people are already saying, wait! Wait! Let's look at who they are.
I mean, Patty Murray is on there. Senator John Kerry. Also, Max Baucus and some grumbling that Patty Murray is too involved in raising money and getting Democrats elected.
I would argue, Ron, that every single person in Congress spends all of their spare time trying to get their friends elected, so you're not going to find anybody who is totally clean on that.
BROWNSTEIN: Right. Look, I think Senator Harry Reid, the Senate majority leader, missed an opportunity here in the members that he named. First of all, the super committee is, as we have said before, an important opportunity to really make a dent in this long- term deficit problem, because the rules that established it allow it to have an expedited path to the floor in both chambers if a majority of the committee agrees on a recommendation which probably gives you the best chance we're going to see for many years for a truly comprehensive response to this problem.
I think Senator Reid, by not picking anyone who is clearly identified with the "gang of six" effort, which was a bipartisan effort, to challenge kind of chivalrous (ph) in both parties, Democrats willing to take on entitlements, Republicans willing to talk about revenue, by not picking anyone from that effort, even though he's picked able and competent legislators he makes it easier I think for the Republican Mitchell McConnell to also pick people who are not clearly identified with moving beyond kind of the traditional party positions. And that I think makes it a little more likely we may be heading towards stalemate.
COSTELLO: And along those same lines, didn't Mitch McConnell come out and say, I'm going to be careful and not appoint any members of who might be -- who might agree to any sort of tax hike?
BROWNSTEIN: Right. And that is the risk here, as Joe johns said. That you end up with a committee stalemated at 6-6 and then you default to these very large automatic spending cuts.
You know, you have to hope that the public pressure evidenced by the poll that you put out this week that shows broad discontent with both parties and the process, the ratings downgrade by the S&P which again focus on political, not economic dysfunction, that all of this sort of encourages the legislators to take advantage of what is probably the best thing that came out of this debt ceiling fiasco which is the rules regarding the super committee which allows us -- as I said -- I think the best chance for many years to deal with this problem, but only if both sides are willing to compromise in the sort of way we saw with that "gang of six" process in the Senate.
COSTELLO: OK. So I'm thinking that America is angry enough to force the super committee to get things done. I could be naive but I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
Ron Brownstein, thank you so much for joining us.
BROWNSTEIN: Thank you guys.
ROMANS: All right. A Missouri mom is getting national headlines to sending a scathing message to lawmakers for Standard & Poor's. Meet Lucy Nobbe. She's a single mom from Kirkwood, Missouri, who works on securities business. Lucy got so angry when S&P downgraded America's credit rating, she decided to hire a plane with a banner that said, "Thanks for the downgrade. You should all be fired."
It passed Wall Street earlier this week. Lucy and her kids say it was worth every penny.
(BEING VIDEO CLIP)
LUCY NOBBE, HIRED PLANE TO SEND MESSAGE TO LAWMAKERS: I thought that is something I could do that probably wouldn't cost a million dollars and maybe somebody would listen to me.
HOLLY NOBBE, LUCY'S DUAGHTER: I'm really proud of her, because she -- she's just standing up for what she really wants and I'm really glad to have a mom like that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Awesome. Lucy paid about 900 bucks to hire the plane. The company so impressed with her idea they gave her a big discount.
COSTELLO: But it didn't make any difference to S&P, I bet, though. But that she did it was kind of cool.
OK. Now is your chance to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. The question we are asking you this morning: should President Obama call Congress back from its vacation to deal with the budget? Congress spent months bickering over the debt ceiling after reaching an 11th hour agreement and then they all got out of dodge for a five-week vacation.
Yes, they did stave off an American default, but I don't need to tell you it's been a bumpy ride on Wall Street. And look, not many of us can afford to invest in gold.
Well, now, lawmakers from both parties are calling on the president to be bold, to call lawmakers back to work. As in right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MICHELE BACHMANN (R-MN), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If I were president today, I would call all of the members of Congress back into Washington, D.C.
REP. CHARLIE RANGEL (D), NEW YORK: There's no question in my mind, even if we didn't do something, the president should call us back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: OK. So what are the lawmakers want the president's job. But why not come back early so that super committee, you know, the bipartisan committee that will decide the next round of massive cuts can be totally maimed and maybe to work in Labor Day. Maybe the stock will rise like the stock market did yesterday.
In a new CNN/ORC poll, only 25 percent of Americans think most members of Congress deserve to be reelected. Don't hold your breath, though. When asked about a call back, White House Spokesman Jay Carney said, it's unfortunate that, quote, "we do not control all levels of government."
Still, the "Talk Back" question of the day: should President Obama call Congress back to deal with the budget? Facebook.com/AmericanMorning -- Facebook.com/AmericanMorning. We'll read your responses later this hour.
ROMANS: And Republicans would say it's a good thing that the White House doesn't control all levels of government. That's what they fight about all the time.
All right. Still ahead, an American woman missing in Aruba this morning. She vanished from same resort town as Natalee Holloway.
COSTELLO: Plus, check this out. How the heck did he do that? This bizarre rig wreck shuts down Houston traffic and it's still causing all kinds of problems.
ROMANS: And more must see video when glaciers attack. A 200- foot chunk of glacier breaks off in Alaska, right in front of a small sightseeing tourist boat. We're going to tell you what happened and how it happened, next.
It's 12 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
CAROL: Prime Minister David Cameron says police have the resources to combat the rioting in Britain cities, and they'll do whatever is necessary to restore law and order. London is calmer this morning, but there's new violence and looting in a number of cities including Manchester.
ROMANS: More than a hundred police officers have been injured in four days of rioting now. The rioting has seen buildings and shops torched, cars destroyed. The rioting has prompted the U.S. state department to issue a travel warning for Americans.
Meantime, with Britain suffering its worst unrest in decades, sales of aluminum baseball bats and police batons have shot up more than 5,000 percent on Amazon British website. No comment from Amazon in the UK.
COSTELLO: Safe to say the police aren't buying them, right?
ROMANS: No.
COSTELLO: Police in Aruba are investigating the disappearance of an American woman. Thirty-five-year-old Robin Gardner was last seen back saw on August 2nd. She went to Aruba with a 50-year-old man she met online. That man now in custody after he tried to leave Aruba. Officials are only identifying him by his initials GVG. He reportedly told investigators Gardner just simply vanished after going snorkeling. Gardner's disappearance comes six years after Natalee Holloway vanished without a trace while vacation on the Caribbean island.
ROMANS: The SPI manhunt for three siblings who allegedly robbed a bank in Georgia now focusing on Colorado. Police say they have credible evidence that the Dougherty clan may have been spotted in Colorado Springs. Ryan Dougherty, Lee Grace Dougherty, Dylan Doughtery allegedly fired on a Florida police officer during a chase earlier this week and then robbed a bank in Valdosta, Georgia.
COSTELLO: The two men accused of beating a San Francisco Giant fan outside the Dodger Stadium will be in court this morning for his arraignment. Marvin Norwood and Louie Sanchez each charge with three felonies for allegedly beating Bryan Stow into a coma back in March. Stow who suffered a fractured skull and a brain injury is still in the hospital, but his family says he is showing signs of improvement. He's lifting his leg, he's raising, he's even kissing his sister. Such good news.
ROMANS: Two passengers were injured when their plane was forced to make an emergency landing due to severe turbulence. The American Airlines flight headed from Miami to Washington, D.C. was able to land safely in Charleston, South Carolina. The plane had 152 people on board. One passenger said, it felt like an amusement ride but when you're going down. Have you ever been on a plane that had terrible turbulence like that?
COSTELLO: Yes. Yes. And it makes me very afraid. My husband always says it's like speed bumps on the road. You had a pot hole. It's just like a pot hole in the sky.
ROMANS: For me, I hold the baby on my lap, you know? You just think about how hard you can move and how, you know, how far something can fly. It's really frightening.
COSTELLO: Yes, I do. I grab the person's hand next to me whether I know them or not.
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: It's like pray!
This next accident may have you scratching your head. Check it out. The rear end of a tractor-trailer gets stuck on a freeway sign. Isn't that bizarre? It happened in Houston. The accident backed up traffic for miles and miles. Police say actually the truck's hydraulic arm, for some reason, just lifted, lifted the trailer up while the truck was moving. I think that thing is still there now --
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: Houston is still dealing with that bizarre problem.
ROMANS: Unbelievable. All right. Some tourists in Alaska capturing the raw power of Mother Nature. Check this out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh! Woo! Ah!
ROMANS (voice-over): Yes. They were on a sightseeing trip to see a glacier when, all of a sudden, a huge chunk of ice crashed into the water.
COSTELLO (voice-over): That sends shards of ice flying toward their boat. You saw people ducking there and screaming.
ROMANS: Look at the black smoke!
COSTELLO Oh, my gosh. The captain tried to high-tail it out of there. One woman was hurt. She was 60 years old.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO (on-camera): She reportedly fell during the confusion and fractured her right leg. That's pretty scary.
ROMANS (on-camera): All right. Rob Marciano stepped outside. He is live with us this morning in Johns Creek, Georgia, where there's no snow, no ice, no sight-seeing boat, just you and your glory on the golf course. Hi, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning again, guys. Live from the Atlanta Athletic Club where they're hosting the 93rd PGA Championship. Today is the last day of practice rounds, and players have now filled up the practice green or the practice tee behind me. And, they'll be going on the course as we go on through the afternoon. The forecast for the next days is actually pretty nice. Today, low levels of humidity, had a little weak front come through last night, so that has cooled things off, relatively speaking. And throughout the day today, temperatures will get into the lower 90s. A chance for rain as we get towards the weekend and maybe tomorrow afternoon. All right. Let's talk heat. It's been hot. The fourth warmest July on record and that heat continues across the southern plains. Heat advisories out for the normal spots, for the usual spots. But, the pink you see there, the heat warnings for Southeast Oklahoma, that has shrunk dramatically.
Nonetheless, Dallas' streak of 100-degree plus days will continue today. Day 40 and counting. All right. 106 (INAUDIBLE) high temperature expected in Dallas, but look how cool it is in Kansas City, in Minneapolis, in Chicago, into the 70s. Ew! Feeling like fall. Eighty-eight degrees in New York City after your rough weather last night. Cooler and drier, relatively cooler today.
All right. Watch those storms fire up. We had thunderstorms yesterday across parts of Florida. Here's what it looked like in Port Richie, and one gentleman decided to do to take advantage of it. You know, when you've got a river flowing down the street, you know, you do a little rafting. Yes, that's right. Make it happen there. It certainly was warm enough to do that. Almost the entire state of Florida was engulfed in thunderstorms for a good chunk of the day yesterday, and that's what some Floridians did to deal with it.
All right. Let's talk about the PGA Championship. Tomorrow is round one. Our sister network, TNT, will have the early round coverage. Six hours worth starting tomorrow afternoon at 1:00 p.m. eastern time. Same deal on Friday, and then, earlier in the day on Saturday and Sunday. Last chance for glory as they like to say. And we'll be watching the favorites throughout the day today. All of best players in the world are here, guys. It's going to be quite a competition.
COSTELLO: I am jealous, although, I'd rather be at a baseball game. I still am jealous. I know I have it on my mind.
ROMANS: Carol and her sports.
MARCIANO: Come on down.
(LAUGHTER)
ROMANS: All right. Thanks, Rob.
When the fed speaks, the markets listen. Is the rally still running this morning? We know the answer to that. We're checking futures next.
COSTELLO: Plus, here comes a chorus of boos. The most disliked car of the year is?
ROMANS: Drum roll, please.
And a little later, China's first aircraft carrier begins its sea trials. Should we be nervous? We're live at the Pentagon coming up. It's 22 minutes after the hour. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: It's 26 minutes after the hour. "Minding Your Business" this morning.
Right now, futures for all three of the major markets indicators are lower ahead of the opening bell. Of course, these continuing concerns over America's economic standing, the debt crisis in Europe, all of this making for another volatile morning of premarket trading.
And those fears were, at least, temporarily calmed by the Federal Reserve's decision late yesterday to keep interest rates, quote, "exceptionally low" for at least the next two years. That news sent stocks soaring yesterday in the last two hours of trade, but the rally, it could be short-lived. Uncertainty still running very high on Wall Street this morning.
Macy's Polo Ralph Lauren, Cisco Systems, among the companies reporting their quarterly profits today. Spotlight, though, is on News Corp which will report its earnings after the closing bell this afternoon. Investors will be combing through these filings for any details about the hacking scandal that rocked the media conglomerate the past several weeks.
Walgreens, America's largest drug store chain, is getting into the health insurance business. Starting this fall, it will offer Walgreen's customers several different plans through a private health insurance exchange. That's according to people familiar with the matter who spoke with CNNMoney.com. A Walgreens spokesman neither conforming nor denying that report.
Critics described it as an art choke on wheel. The Nissan Murano Crosscabriolet, it's the most disliked car of 2011. This according to "Fortune" magazine. An art choke on wheels. Consumers complain that the convertible crossover is shaky and sluggish. It's not cheap either. This thing goes for about 47,000 MSRP.
And China's first aircraft carrier steams out of a harbor for a sea trial. How concerned is the Pentagon? A live report next. AMERICAN MORNING back right after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: For the first time the Pentagon is considering not releasing the names of those killed in last weekend's helicopter crash in Afghanistan. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta still hasn't made a final decision. Thirty Americans and eight afghan soldiers were on board the Chinook helicopter when insurgents shot it down. Twenty-two of the U.S. troops were part of a covert Navy SEAL unit.
ROMANS: New violence reported in Syria as the government's bloody crackdown on opposition protesters drags on. Dozens of people have reportedly died in the city of Deir ez-Zor since security forces began a campaign in the area over the weekend. In the meantime, President Obama meets with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton today as the U.S. prepares to hit Syria with new sanctions and a formal demand that President Assad step down.
COSTELLO: New tensions on the Korean peninsula as North and South Korea exchange artillery fire near a disputed border island. The south says it responded after North Korea shells landed in the waters of Yeonpyeong Island. No casualties reported, but you may remember back in November South Korean officials accused the North of bombarding the island, killing two South Korean marines and two civilians.
ROMANS: And China showing some new muscles at sea. The nation rolled out very first aircraft carrier yesterday in China. It's a retooled Soviet ship.
COSTELLO: That's interested. China's development of this naval carrier along with aircraft to back it up has the international community wondering what is next. Barbara Starr is live at the Pentagon this morning. So are they worried about it?
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, the answer is yes, they are. What they are looking at is, as you just pointed out, the picture of what China is really up to, 1,000 foot long 67,000-ton aircraft carrier going to sea. As you just said, they are developing fighter aircraft, missiles, other military technology.
What is China up to? You know, the Chinese say a number of things. They will tell you it's research and development. They will tell you that it is for their own defense of their country. But when you put all of the pieces together, an aircraft carrier, fighter jets, missiles that have increasingly long ranges, the concern the U.S. has is that China is basically extending its reach, its military reach across Asia and perhaps even beyond.
You know, you look at the map. You just saw the tensions rising on the Korean peninsula. There are tensions throughout the region, tensions beyond. If China can develop the military capability by putting this altogether and extending its reach, it becomes a player on the world military stage. And that is a concern for the U.S. it's a concern for the allies. They are repeatedly asking China what exactly they are up to. Carol?
COSTELLO: And Barbara, where exactly are they getting some of the technology that they are using in their rapid military modernization? People who study cyber warfare and cyber espionage say they see a lot of attempts in the U.S. to get, for example, jet propulsion technology and stealth aircraft technology, anything they can by stealing it to use in their own military. And that's something, the allegation of the cyber warfare types, that really concerns them.
STARR: Well, China is long believed to be one of the leading experts in cyber warfare, in cyber-attack. Whether it is through official Chinese government channels, state-run industries, which essentially are the government, Chinese hackers, there's just really no question, as you say, that China is expert at surfing the Internet, seeing what it can get, hacking into websites, and getting information that way. But, look, they also have long-standing extensive military relationships with the Russians, with Pakistan, even with North Korea. The Chinese military has very long deep relationships in many places. And the Internet is certainly becoming one of the growing areas that they look to get the technical information that they believe they need.
COSTELLO: After Tiananmen Square, we have laws in this country to make sure that we are not selling military technology to China. But China, in the meantime, continues to build its military and build its police state. So something that I know the Pentagon and economic security experts watch. Thanks, Barbara Starr.
The White House now saying stats may opt out of the No Child Left Behind law. Critics say all it's done has frustrated the schools and failed the kids. Up next former D.C. schools chief Michelle Rhee joins us live. Will the move arm our students for success? It's 35 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: A partly cloudy morning in Washington, D.C. 81. It will mostly sunny and 93 we are told by the end of the day. Good morning, Washington.
The Obama administration has made no secret of the fact it dislikes the No Child Left Behind law. Many states would agree. More than 80 percent of U.S. schools could be labeled failures under the current mandates. So Education Secretary Arne Duncan says they're giving waivers for some schools in some states to opt out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARNE DUNCAN, EDUCATION SECRETARY: We are really hoping Congress would act in a bipartisan way to fix this No Child Left Behind law that is fundamentally broken, but that hasn't happened, unfortunately. The law is far too punitive, many, many way fails to fail, no rewards for success, very prescriptive, very top down from Washington, and led to a dumbing down in standards and led to a nailing of the curriculum. None of these things are what our children or our country needs right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: Joining us now from Sacramento is Michelle Rhee, founder of Students First, a former Washington D.C. schools chancellor. Michelle, welcome to the program.
It sounds like Arne Duncan doesn't like this. I'll tell you something else. There may be a rare moment of bipartisan in Washington because there are Republicans who don't like this either saying No Child Left Behind has flaws in it. What do you think here? These waivers are a good thing?
MICHELLE RHEE, FORMER WASHINGTON D.C. SCHOOLS CHANCELLOR: Well, I think that the devil is going to be in the details very clearly, you know. Waivers in the past have been used by some states to try to just shirk responsibility, so that would not be a good thing.
But if states are legitimately applying for the waivers and they are going to meet certain thresholds of reform efforts, that the administration is talking about, and Secretary Duncan has made very clear that the only way that he would give a waiver is if the states are taking on aggressive reform, then it could be a solution for some states. But I think it's all going to come down to how it's implemented.
ROMANS: So has No Child Left Behind has been a bust?
RHEE: I don't think so at all. Let me be clear. The law is not perfect and I think everyone knows there are some changes and modifications that need to be made, but I don't think that anyone can doubt that it has brought a new level of accountability to American schools.
We are looking at data in a way that we never have before. We are paying attention to subgroups of kids and saying that it's not OK for certain groups of kids in your school or your school district to be failing. And in those ways, it's been incredibly important.
ROMANS: There are teachers, though, who just hate this. They say all of this testing, they say it's nonsense and it's not helping them. They are teaching for No Child Left Behind and not teaching to teach. You know, are we getting -- I know that you've heard that. But from the administrator perspective, I mean, is this a valuable way to find accountability?
RHEE: Well, I don't know what, you know, we want to teach to teach means. We have to teach so that kids learn. And what the standardized tests do is they test the standards. And we want kids to meet the standards.
Now, is that all that should be happening? No, I mean, because one of the things that you see and the secretary talked about was the fact that tests only test certain subjects, you know. Oftentimes, math and reading, and sometimes what schools do is go overboard and they just try to then, you know, jam reading and math down the kids' throats.
That's not the answer. The research shows that kids who have access to a broad-based curriculum are the ones who do better academically.
But we also shouldn't go the other direction to say that testing is evil and testing is bad. We have to be able to in a very objective and consistent way know whether or not kids are learning and meeting the standards, and the way to do that is through a standardized test.
ROMANS: But the White House wanted Congress to sort of revamp this and didn't get a plan. Surprise, surprise, couldn't get a plan out of Congress on this. So they are going to allow the waivers for some states. But it seems like there is no plan now. So now we are going to have waivers but what happens next? If you're going to redo it and make it better and more thoughtful and really work in terms of standardized testing and a plan, what should we be doing now?
RHEE: Well, you know, interestingly, I've talked to folks on both sides of the partisan debate and I don't think they are that far off from each other. Philosophically, I think the Republicans and the Democrats right now believe in a lot of the same things. So I think if we can take politics out of it and just focus on the policies themselves we might be able to actually get something done.
ROMANS: And what are the policies, the policies that will work?
RHEE: So, for example, I think that one of the things that we have to look at is a value-added growth model. One of the things that drives people nuts about No Child Left Behind is that it sets certain benchmarks for proficiency. So x-percent of your kids have to be at proficiency, and it goes up every year until 2014 when 100 percent of your kids are supposed to be at proficiency. And people look at that and say it's not realistic.
I think we have to look at growth and say is the school moving student achievement in the right direction? Are the students growing, you know, to meet certain targets? And I think that instead of having a binary distinction you either met adequate yearly progress or you have not, it's, you know, what has the growth looked like.
And so I think that we have to be able to modify the achievement records -- not the achievement records, but modify the system to that achievement and growth can be taken into account without there being sort of a strict binary yes or no.
ROMANS: Michelle, we'll have to see how many states will apply for these waivers and what happens to student achievement in the subsequent months and years, I mean, because we don't know how long the whole waiver system will go on. But Michelle Rhee, founder of Students First and former Washington D.C. school chancellor, thanks for joining us, Michelle.
RHEE: Thanks for having me.
COSTELLO: Morning headlines coming your way next including another rocky ride on Wall Street this morning. What else is new?
And who will be on that debt super committee? Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid makes his picks.
ROMANS: A little later NBC's new show "The Playboy Club," is it a fun female-empowering soap opera or a sexist show exploiting the past? We will talk to some critics and "Playboy" founder Hugh Hefner.
It's 44 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: It's 46 minutes past the hour. Here are your morning's headlines.
Right now, futures for all three of the major market indicators trading lower before the opening bell. Continuing concerns over America's economic standing and the debt crisis in Europe are making for another volatile morning in premarket trading.
Harry Reid has selected Senators Patty Murray of Washington, Max Baucus of Montana and John Kerry of Massachusetts to serve on a new congressional super committee. By next week there will be 12 lawmakers appointed. They'll have 90 days to agree on $1.5 trillion in spending cuts.
A major victory for the GOP, Wisconsin Republicans put up enough wins in yesterday's recall elections to hold their majority in the State Senate. The Republicans backed the law which strips most public workers of their right to bargain on labor contracts.
An American woman is missing in Aruba. She was last seen a week ago on the western tip of the island. Her 50-year-old travel companion says she vanished while snorkelling. He is now considered a suspect.
British Prime Minister, David Cameron, says the fight back is underway and his government is prepared to do whatever it takes to end the rioting that's broken out in cities across England. Calm was coming back to London though as 16,000 police hit the streets to restore order.
That group of hackers known as "Anonymous" is at it again and this time they're planning to go after Facebook. In a YouTube video the group announced plans to destroy the social network on November 5th because of privacy concerns.
So far, Facebook is not commenting on the threat.
Hollywood wants football back. The L.A. City Council ok'd plans for a new $1.2 billion stadium that city vows taxpayers won't pay a dime for it. The stadium named "Farmer's Field" just needs a team. The last NFL teams to play there are the Rams and the Raiders in '94.
And Chad Ochocinco wants you to be his roommate. The newly- minted (Patriots' receiver is looking for a place to stay in Foxborough, Massachusetts. He is hoping to move in with some lucky New England fan for the first few weeks of the NFL season. All he asks is that you have Internet access and an X-Box.
And that's the news you need to start your day. AMERICAN MORNING is back right after this break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Good morning to you, New York City; sunny and 74 right now. And later today, oh, it's going to be a beautiful day and mostly sunny and 88 degrees. You can't ask for much more than that.
ROMANS: No, you can't. It's going to be beautiful today.
And "A.M. House Call" now: good news for expectant parents, well, those of you who can't wait to decorate the nursery. The American Medical Association says a test that look at DNA in a mother's blood is nearly 100 percent accurate in determining whether a baby is a boy as soon as seven weeks. Again, the catch is you have to wait at least seven weeks.
COSTELLO: Wow. People don't even know they're pregnant that time.
ROMANS: I know. Doctors say tests that claim to tell you gender by five weeks are pretty unreliable. The tests are considered less invasive than an amniocentesis (ph) which is, of course, that needle. And you can also catch genetic defects that maybe reversible before birth.
COSTELLO: That's amazing.
ROMANS: I know.
COSTELLO: NBC's throw back series, the "Playboy Club" is stirring controversy even before its season debut next month. One NBC affiliate is actually refusing to air the thing.
ROMANS: But Playboy founder, Hugh Hefner is defending his prime time bunny.
CNN's Kareen Wynter has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KAREEN WYNTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESONDENT (voice-over): This fall, television is turning back the clock to a time of rabbit ears. Not this kind but this.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good evening Mr. Thompson.
WYNTER: NBC's new drama "The Playboy Club" takes place in the early 1960s in Hugh Hefner's very first club where men dropped cash and the bunnies showed skin.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How do you know I want to be on stage?
WYNTER: Hefner's company co-produces the show and he narrates the pilot episode but he otherwise plays a limited creative role.
HUGH HEFNER, FOUNDER, PLAYBOY: We're capturing some sense of retro-romantic connection from the early '60s. It's wonderful.
WYNTER: Not everyone thinks it's so wonderful. NBC Salt Lake City affiliate which is owned by the Mormon Church is refusing to air the show. The station ran a guest commentary linking the program to pornography.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Our coalition sees it as an issue of public health.
WYNTER: And the Parents Television Council, a conservative media watchdog group calls NBC's decision to green light the show disgraceful. It says, "Bunnies are bad news".
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They are promoting an industry that really exploits women.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's the "Playboy Club". Not a knitting club.
WYNTER (on camera): The Parents Television Council, boy, have they sounded off about this.
HEFNER: Sure, but who are they? You know? Who do they really represent? These right-wing groups that feel that they have a right to redefine, you know, what is appropriate for other people to watch.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I love it, good stuff, that's perfect.
WYNTER (voice-over): Some feminists also are blasting it at nostalgia for a sexist era.
NBC executives describe "The Playboy Club" as a quote, "Fun soap with a crime element" and promise it will carry, quote, "appropriate rating". At a presentation last week, cast members told journalists the show is really about female empowerment. "The Detroit News" Mekeisha Madden Toby who covered the event says that claim met with skepticism.
MEKEISHA MADDEN TOBY, TV CRITIC, THE DETROIT NEWS: The slogan of the show is something like the men have the keys but the women run the show. And nobody was -- at least the press, nobody is going for that.
WYNTER: Hefner says critics have it wrong.
HEFNER: Why don't you talk to the original Bunnies who worked at the Playboy Club and see whether they felt exploited or whether they felt empowered because I know the answer to that.
WYNTER: The controversy almost guarantees that when "The Playboy Club" debuts in September. All eyes and "ears" will be on it.
Kareen Wynter, CNN, Hollywood.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: I don't know. Can you be empowered in a bunny suit? I'm just thinking, maybe not.
I'm even reluctant to draw the parallel to "Mad Men", you know, which was a throwback and, you know, the women are women and the men are men and they smoke and they're chasing the secretary around the desk. We kind look at that with like a wary eye.
COSTELLO: Yes. Gosh I don't want to go back to that state. But the difference "Mad Men" is sort of the evolution of the feminist movement. That's what that show has become about. So it's different from this. There's another new program coming out in the fall about stewardesses. You know, the old time stewardesses when you had to be thin and you had to wear the cute little uniform and it's like -- I mean the networks are coming up with these shows but that is not really the point. Maybe it will attract a young audience because I'm a little older than a young woman out there.
ROMANS: Maybe you have to watch all of them to find out if they're also the evolution of feminism, Carol. Maybe they are just looking for your eyeballs.
COSTELLO: No. I think they just want women in bunny suits to attract an audience.
ROMANS: I agree. And coffee, tea or me? Right.
All right.
COSTELLO: Fifty-four minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: All right. Washington, D.C., partly cloudy, 82, going to be, I guess now mostly sunny and 93. A little bit more steamy than we thought earlier. There you go.
COSTELLO: Whatever you say about Washington, it's a gorgeous city. So good morning Washington.
ROMANS: It really is.
COSTELLO: Now, it's your turn to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. We asked you: should President Obama call Congress back right now to deal with the budget? And here are some of your responses.
This from Rodney: "Absolutely. Aside from them taking five weeks off, the country is in a major tail spin. We have so many issues to address from the budget deficit to social issues, not to mention the state taxes that sunset at the end of 2012. Don't wait until the last minute. Put together an agenda and get these matters addressed.
This is not a Republican versus Democrat issue. It's about us, the United States. Bring them back to D.C.
This from Mike: "No. If they come back and still cannot work together the American people will be the ones who suffer. We need a vacation from Congress. Let's see how the markets rebound without them."
And this from Rusty: "Let them get an earful from their angry constituents back home and then maybe they'll come back to D.C. with cooler heads and an understanding that they need to learn to be pragmatic going forward.
ROMANS: They have a lot of work to do, Carol. They have a lot of work to do by December. They've already called it the Christmas Crisis if they can't get their act together with the super committee and the like. So, really great thoughts there.
COSTELLO: Yes. Thank you for your comments. Facebook.com/Americanmorning if you want to continue the conversation.
ROMANS: I mean do you think they're going to be able to get it together?
COSTELLO: I think they have to. They have to. I mean they built stuff in to the super committee rules so that they have to come up with something.
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: Don't you think it's sad that they had to build in such punitive triggers just to do their job?
COSTELLO: Congress is punishing itself for not doing a good job.
ROMANS: I know but who gets punished really? We get punished. We get punished because you have not very well thought out sharp cuts to defense spending and sharp cuts to entitlement programs that, you know, maybe shouldn't be an act, should be a scalpel.
COSTELLO: If only we had all invested in gold. Because tell us how much is gold again.
ROMANS: We just checked. Gold is up 23 an ounce at $1,766 an ounce. There you go.
COSTELLO: That's crazy. If you had invested in gold a long, long time ago you would be sitting pretty and you wouldn't care what Congress did.
ROMANS: Apple stock too. Apple stock -- I remember when it was like a $2 or $3; it's now unbelievable.
Anyway, enough about all that.
That's going to do it for us. "CNN NEWSROOM" with T.J. Holmes starts right now.
Hi T.J.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN GUEST ANCHOR, "CNN NEWSROOM": Hey, good morning ladies and thank you so much. You all enjoy the rest of your day.
