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American Morning
Fear Returns to Wall Street; Markets in Europe Rally; Nine Down, Three to go: Budget "Super Committee" Nearly Complete; Homemade Bomb Tied to Gas Line; Cop Snared in U.K. Hacking Probe; Obama Hosts Iftar Dinner; Rioting in Britain; PGA Championship Tees Off Today; Desperate for Drinking Water; Cameron Speaks on Riots in Britain; Gauging The GOP Race; Cameron Addresses Parliament On Riots
Aired August 11, 2011 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: The fear factor hammering U.S. stocks. I'm Christine Romans. Another 500-plus point drop for the Dow. World's markets reacting. What's behind the wild ride on Wall Street and what will stop it?
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: The calm after the storm. I'm Ali Velshi. Heavy police presence in Britain following four days of rioting. Prime Minister David Cameron about to address an emergency session of parliament on what he calls despicable violence.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And "October Surprise," the movie about the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden set to be released one month before next year's election. A key Republican demanding to know whether the White House declassified anything on this AMERICAN MORNING.
Good morning to you. It is Thursday, August 11 now. This is AMERICAN MORNING. A lot going on today so let's get right to it, folks.
VELSHI: Good morning, good morning. So much for comeback. We haven't seen these kinds of wild swings on Wall Street since the darkest days of the financial meltdown. The Dow diving 520 points yesterday, about 4.5 percent of its value.
This time fueled by fears or at least triggered by fears. That France is on a verge of a credit downgrade. Every day it seems to be something new triggering the sell-off or the buying. That's because this is a global economy. Your investments feel it right here.
Your 40l(k) and IRA, take a look at that Dow yesterday, wild swings. Take a look at the past week, Monday the Dow dropped 635 points. Tuesday, it rebounded, picking up 430 points. But yesterday the Dow took it all back and then some with a drop of 520 points. Drop of the S&P 500 has a percentage was even greater.
COSTELLO: Well, the wild ride is far from over, too, right, because this morning U.S. futures are weigh up and that kept Asian losses at a minimum. I guess that's good news. Who the heck knows Hongkong Hang Sang and Japan's Nikkei closed down less than 1 percent. The Shanghai composite actually closed up and in Europe, markets in the U.K., Germany and France are all in positive territory.
ROMANS: Let's get more of what we can expect today. We bring in our Felicia Taylor who has been covering all of this. I know I read some analysis yesterday of the biggest mutual funds. Funds that we all probably have in our 401(k)s and they're flat or down for the past five years. So this route really hurts.
FELICIA TAYLOR, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: It does really hurt, but I don't want to intend, you know, any kind of panic in the market place. This is a great buying opportunity. If you are a holder of stocks for the long term, this is the place to get in.
There is no question about it. Actually, you know, futures backed off a little bit. So there's nervousness in the marketplace. I mean, there's uncertainty. We are not going to get away from that.
We haven't stepped away from the fundamentals. We have to keep looking at the economy and where we are heading and that's the problem. We haven't had any leadership in Washington.
COSTELLO: But nobody has any money to invest. Some Americans do. But if Christine was talking about it earlier that most people don't have the thousand bucks in case of an emergency saved up.
So most of America probably feels pretty powerless looking at these wild market swings because there really isn't anything they can do or can they really benefit from that?
VELSHI: Almost half of Americans do have a 401(k) or an IRA. So I have a thousand dollars for an emergency fund. Some people have been disciplined enough to squirrel this money away while they haven't been looking.
ROMANS: The stock market matters because what's happening in the stock market, confidence for business that's hire. So what you can be seeing happening around --
TAYLOR: Exactly. I mean, this is exactly the point. I mean, if there is no confidence in the marketplace, there's no confidence in corporate America. That's a problem because corporate America is going to feed off of that.
And that's what's going to help job opportunities. So that's where you need to see some kind of confidence. So that's the problem. If we don't have some kind of leadership and I'm going to go back to this point, which I made a couple of days ago, frankly, you have got the French president coming back from his vacation.
You've got the English prime minister coming back from his vacation. Where's our president? I mean, frankly, it is enough. You need to have leadership in Washington to start directing the ship. If we don't get that any time soon, where's the market going to go?
They have no direction. We have heard from the Federal Reserve. We've heard from the people that matter at this point. Now we need to hear from the people that are sitting in Washington directing this.
ROMANS: The president met with Ben Bernanke, the fed chief --
TAYLOR: But there was no message! There was nothing.
VELSHI: He put on a press release to say --
TAYLOR: We met together.
VELSHI: And we talked about the economy and jobs. We talked about the economy and jobs.
TAYLOR: You and I are talking about it and we're not issuing anything.
VELSHI: I will say one thing about your point of sitting on your hands as a regular investor. The professional investors, fund managers, hedge fund managers, they compete against each other on a daily basis.
So if they think the markets are going to be down, they want to be out of it and they want to sell. That's very different than the goals of average people set. It just -- just because this is happening and driven by professional investors does not mean that should be the same decision you make.
ROMANS: Try that again.
VELSHI: I don't have to mention my 401(k) on a daily basis.
TAYLOR: I haven't even looked at my 401(k). I don't want to see it.
COSTELLO: Nothing the average person can do but sit back and watch and say --
VELSHI: If you really piled up on gold and had 30 percent of your portfolio in gold, now it's 40, you may want to buy some of the that are deeply discounted.
TAYLOR: To give a little of reassurance in the marketplace, I mean, we are talking about the United States. These still are our companies that have great value.
Don't forget we had good corporate earnings and we are going to continue to see good corporate earnings. So there is value in the United States. There is no reason that people can't invest in treasuries that -- and gold is still a safe haven, but --
COSTELLO: Can't afford to buy gold.
TAYLOR: You would be surprised. There are companies buying and storing gold for people for regular investors.
COSTELLO: The ETFs.
TAYLOR: You don't have to buy gold bouillon. You can buy the ETFs. Carol. You can school her during the break.
VELSHI: All right, we are waiting to find out who the final three Democratic choices are going to be for the new Congressional Super Committee. Those picks are going to be made by House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi. She has until Tuesday to announce her decision.
I don't know if she's going to take the entire time. The 12-member panel began taking shape this past Tuesday when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid selected Democrats Patty Murray of Washington, Max Baucus of Montana and John Kerry of Massachusetts.
Yesterday on the GOP side, House Speaker John Boehner chose Congressman Jeb Hensarling of Texas, Dave Camp of Michigan and Fred Upton of Michigan.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell selected Senators Jon Kyl of Arizona, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania and Rob Portman of Ohio. We will be talking to Pat Toomey a little later in the show.
ROMANS: I'll wait for that.
COSTELLO: Me too. I'm excited. Once the Super Committee is set, its member will have to agree on $1.5 trillion in spending cuts within 90 days.
"Newsweek" and "Daily Beast" columnist John Avlon says, he is not sure they will be able to accomplish that. Avlon believes Congress is up to the usual tricks based on their picks. He will explain when he joins us at 7:30 eastern.
And at 8:00 Eastern, we will be joined by one of the new Super Committee members, you had heard Ali say it, Republican Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania. We'll ask where he sees room for compromise when it comes to raising revenues.
ROMANS: Also new this morning, payback in Afghanistan. U.S. officials say a precision airstrike killed the Taliban leader and the insurgent who shot down a military helicopter last weekend. Thirty Americans and eight Afghans died in that chopper crash.
The Pentagon now says that 17 of the victims were Navy SEALs not 22 as previously reported. The Pentagon now says that the names of all 30 U.S. service members killed will be released as soon as today.
VELSHI: A Jerry-rigged bomb tied to a gas line in rural Oklahoma. The FBI and the bomb squad actually used a water cannon to take the device out before it could explod. The cooked-up bomb had a windup clock with a propane -- propane and black powder. It is now in an FBI lab. ROMANS: London's top police spokesman is now on extended leave as the News Corp phone hacking scandal grows. Looking into a possible misconduct by Dick (inaudible) and also his ties to former "News of the World" executives.
Staff of the paper accused of hacking into thousands of people's voicemails including politicians, celebrities and terror victims. Yesterday on its conference call, News Corp CEO Rupert Murdoch said this was isolated to "News of the World." We are a big company with global brand. His personal wealth has taken a big hit with that stock being slammed.
VELSHI: President Obama hosting his third Iftar dinner at the White House last night marking the end of the daily fasting period for the Muslim holy months of Ramadan. One hundred guests were on hand including two Muslim-American congressmen, two Muslim-American NFL players and Israel's ambassador to the United States.
COSTELLO: Now is your chance to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. The question this morning, does Hollywood making an Osama Bin Laden movie warrant a congressional investigation?
The question, like everything else, has become a political hot potato. The sad thing, since Osama Bin Laden's death was so unifying.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: Tonight, I can report to the American people and to the world that the United States has conducted an operation that killed Osama Bin Laden.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: I mean, remember the people celebrated? It was a secret mission that played out like a Hollywood movie. Don't you know it, it will be released in October of 2012. Just ahead of the November elections. Republican Representative Peter King is outraged.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. PETER KING (R), HOMELAND SECURITY CHAIRMAN: We're talking about revealing classified information that could put American lives at risk. What the administration has done?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: He's calling for a congressional investigation to find out if Hollywood is getting special access to classified information. The White House says "please."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JAY CARNEY, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: First of all, the claims are ridiculous. When people, including you, in this room are working on articles, books, documentaries, or movies that involve the president, ask to speak to administration officials. We do our best to accommodate them to make sure the facts are correct.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: It is not like the White House is giving Hollywood permission to use the Bin Laden death photos or video of OBL being buried at sea in the film.
For those of you keeping score at home though, it's only been a little over three months since Bin Laden was killed and come 2012, the story of that top secret mission will be opening at a theater near you. Just in time for the November election.
So the "Talk Back" question this morning, does Hollywood making a Bin Laden movie warrant a congressional investigation? Facebook.com/americanmorning, Facebook.com/americanmorning. I will read your comments.
VELSHI: Leo McCarthy-like.
ROMANS: I mean, hasn't --
VELSHI: Don't you think?
ROMANS: Pentagon has been working with movies since World War II, you know, on continuity.
VELSHI: Peter King says a lot of stuff that has no basis in any reality. No founding or anything. No, it's a fact. Peter King makes stuff up all the time.
Peter King, when had says just -- because he says something was wrong doesn't mean it is. Peter King needs to get into the habit of putting the evidence out in front and then talking about it as opposed to saying did Washington release secret information?
Just because Peter King woke up in the morning and thinks it happened, it does not actually mean it happened. I like Peter King. He has been very helpful.
ROMANS: Usually it is -- it is the government trying to make sure that it has control over what's going on with something going on. I think even the "Hunt for Red October" they had to scrub some of the interiors of the movie set to make sure nothing that looked like classified information could go out on the air. You think about all those kinds of movies the government is involved.
VELSHI: If you are listening, call in.
Coming up ahead on AMERICAN MORNING, order in the streets. Police in Britain restoring calm after four days of rioting in London and beyond. Parliament about to hold a debate on the crisis in an emergency session.
ROMANS: A massive hunt of the suspect that outweighed and outmaneuvered Washington cops. COSTELLO: And Tiger Woods tees off today in the PGA championship. We are live in Georgia with a look just ahead. It's 12 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: There is a tense calm in London this morning. A massive police presence restoring order after four days of rioting that began in the capital and spread to cities across Britain. The violence and looting resulting in four deaths. Prime Minister David Cameron is taking his zero tolerance approach. He's about to address an emergency session in Parliament on the riot.
CNN's Max Foster is live in London. Max?
MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. A big, big test for David Cameron today. As you say, it does feel a bit like the calm after the storm here in the United Kingdom. Suddenly overnight it was a lot calmer across the U.K.
But people are bewildered, really. They don't really understand what happened in the U.K. this week, and David Cameron is going to address that in parliament. All the MPs have been brought back from holiday to debate this issue today.
Fundamental question is, is David Cameron right to say that there are pockets of British society that are sick? In a way, lots of people suggesting that he's writing off these pockets of society or is there a fundamental problem with British society? Is it fundamentally broken? That's the big debate here.
And the backdrop here as well is that, as you know, Wall Street has been affected by this austerity cuts across Europe. The European economy is in a terrible state. There have to be cutbacks. And one of the areas that the British government is planning to cutback on is the police service. Billions of dollars worth of cuts there. Can he justify that, Christine, after these riots? This is a big, big question.
ROMANS: You know, Max, another big question is just why? And I'm sure that your friends and colleagues are all answering this question. We here are looking at America's best friend and an ally picking up the pieces, picking through the wreckage. And we just don't know why.
And I'm hearing a lot of discussion, particularly among economists who say you look at the kids who are rioting and you hear the complaint about austerity or the jobs market. But aren't they too young to really feel it? Is that an excuse? Can we -- can we blame the economy for this?
FOSTER: Multi-layers is what everyone says about this. If you want the simplistic arguments they are there, but they are the extreme left and there -- it will be extreme right. People are talking about parenting being a problem and in a lot of these areas you do have absent parents, working parents full time. You do have problems with joblessness and literacy. So there's a link there because you have those problems in the areas where these riots are taking place.
But the extreme left, you're having a situation where they are blaming the austerity cuts over time. Cutbacks for a fundamental problem in that society. The other end of the scale, you've got people suggesting actually the liberal policy agenda in this country is the problem. It's been too soft on crime. We should have been tougher a lot sooner.
So who is going to win that debate? There are lots in the middle grounds, so it will be a bit blurred, but it's going to be interesting to see how David Cameron does.
ROMANS: Oh, yes. Max Foster, thanks. Such great analysis. I think multilayered is a really great way to look at it and I think, Max, thank you. I think it's also interesting that both extremes are using this to further their own -- that sounds familiar.
VELSHI: That would never happen in America.
COSTELLO: No.
ROMANS: That's really interesting analysis.
VELSHI: Carol, I was watching "Wakeup Call" this morning and I could not get my eyes off of this video. You know, police have got to deal with a lot of bull sometimes, right? But in Washington State, it was a couple thousand pounds of bull. Check this out. This bull, like a real one, eluded police for about half an hour.
COSTELLO: Looks like that's (ph) a real one, not what you find on Wall Street.
VELSHI: Why is there a bull in the street? About half an hour, raced around town. Charged a couple of folks who were unlucky enough to be on the road. Eventually they called in the cowboys. They were actual cowboys that were able to lasso the big guy from the hood of the patrol car. Weird.
COSTELLO: I love that. Have you ever lassoed a cow?
VELSHI: I haven't, no. Well, come on.
COSTELLO: I actually have.
VELSHI: What answer do you expect from that? Have you, really?
COSTELLO: Yes. It's fun.
VELSHI: Wow.
COSTELLO: I envy those cowboys.
Rob Marciano, I'm sure you lassoed a few bulls or two.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Hey. Good morning, guys. Sorry, I missed that part, but I saw a bull or heard about a bull running across the screen. So I can just imagine you guys came in at me.
We're live at the PGA Championship just north of Atlanta, Georgia, the final major of the year. And yesterday, we told you and showed you just what it takes to get this golf course into shape.
And a little bit of news this morning. Yesterday was a phenomenal day weather-wise with low dew points. And late in the evening when they were cutting the greens on 14th and 17th specifically, some of the equipment in and one of the mowers dug in the greens a little bit and did a little bit of damage. So they had to go out there and repair it on the fringes of the greens.
I talked to the superintendent, the man in charge. And he says the only thing he can figure out was there was a little bit of a dew -- a jump in dew point and moistures came up a little bit late in the day and that may have to have something to do with it. Nonetheless, we're assured that that damage has been repaired. We'll go out and check it out later on today.
But heat is always going to be an issue when we talk about the PGA Championship, especially when it is this far south. And all of the marquee players were in the press tank yesterday giving their interviews and press conferences. Tiger and Rory, being the two highlights of the day, and they both spoke about the heat.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TIGER WOODS, PROFESSIONAL GOLFER: It's hotter at home. So this is -- this is nice. It's not so hot here. I'm looking forward to it and I had a nice tournament at Tulsa when I was, you know, over 110 that week. So, you know, hopefully this will be a similar success.
RORY MCILROY, PROFESSIONAL GOLFER: Major championships are, you know, long enough weeks anyway with everything that's going on. So, you know, they add in the extra heat as well, you just have got to be very careful about it, you know, your practice and make sure you don't overdo it leading into the tournament. And then when you're on the course just making sure you are taking plenty of fluids onboard.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MARCIANO: So there you go. To the marquee players, Tiger living in Florida, a little bit more used to the heat. Rory from Northern Ireland maybe -- maybe not so much. But, yesterday we had low levels of humidity. It was really an unusual day in Atlanta in August. Today and tomorrow and going forward I think we will get back to a little bit more in the way of humidity.
Here is the forecast. Today, the first round of play. Four culminating on Sunday, of course, 95 to 96 degrees is what we expect for a high temperature and we'll increase the chances of afternoon thunderstorm just because we're going to start to bring up the levels of humidity. It will feel a little bit more like it should. And then going forward, same deal. Lesser chances tomorrow. But Saturday and Sunday, we've got a front that's trying to come through and that may increase the chances for rain at that time. Tiger tees off at right around 8:30, guys. And as you know, he's looking for a -- still looking for a full-time caddie. I put in my application. And at that press conference he did not announce that I got the job. We'll keep you posted on that front as well.
ROMANS: I thought you were our full-time weather caddie. I mean, how do we get by without our weather caddie?
MARCIANO: Hey, these guys work weekends. I can moonlight. No problem.
VELSHI: There you go. Rob, we'll see you in a little while when the sun comes up. Rob Marciano.
MARCIANO: All right.
ROMANS: All right. Coming up on this AMERICAN MORNING, can raw sewage save a Texas town that's running out of drinking water? You heard me right.
COSTELLO: That sounds disgusting.
ROMANS: How about a cupful of treated sewage? We'll tell you about that.
COSTELLO: And the U.S. Army soldier just back from Afghanistan finds a unique way to break the news to his wife. It's a happy story.
It's 22 minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: "Minding Your Business" this morning.
It has been a roller coaster week on Wall Street. Markets closed sharply lower yesterday. The Dow and the S&P 500 both dropped about 4.5 percent. The NASDAQ fell about four percent.
Stocks tanked in part over renewed concerns that Europe's debt crisis is spreading, this time to France. French President Nicholas Sarkozy came off his summer vacation and called an emergency meeting about that country's budget and finances yesterday. Markets took a hit sparked by concern the country could lose its AAA credit rating because of debt problems. France has the second largest economy in Europe.
Right now, U.S. stock futures are trading higher ahead of the opening bell. Pre-market trading for the big three pointing to a higher open this morning, but investors are bracing for another choppy session today. Wall Street is waiting for the weekly jobless claims report that releases in about two hours from now. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com are expecting about 409,000 unemployment claims were filed for the first time last week. And that would be slightly more than the week before.
Double dip recession fears are rising. A new survey of economists by CNNMoney.com says there's a 20 percent chance that the economy will dive into another recession. That's up from 15 percent just three months ago. Economists say the rising risk is due in part to huge slides in the stock market and the S&P downgrade of the U.S. credit rating.
Well, what if the unexpected happened? Could you pay for it? A new survey by the National Foundation for Credit Counseling says most Americans can't afford a $1,000 emergency. The same survey found that only 36 percent would tap into their savings for an emergency and the rest would opt to borrow money or put it on their credit cards.
AMERICAN MORNING back right after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: It is 30 minutes past the hour. Good morning to you. It's time for this morning's top stories.
Hope the U.S. markets could rebound pushing European stocks higher this morning. Markets are actually up in London, in Germany and in France -- though they were down slightly in Asia.
Here in the United States, futures are up after the Dow closed down more than 4 percent yesterday.
VELSHI: I follow this stuff and I don't really understand.
COSTELLO: I know. Maybe it is best not to pay attention to.
VELSHI: Well, sometimes it is best to pay attention.
ROMANS: All right. Nine of the 12 members of the new super -- congressional supercommittee have been selected. Yesterday, on the GOP side, House Speaker John Boehner chose Congressman Jeb Hensarling of Texas, Dave Camp of Michigan, and Fred Upton of Michigan. While Senate Minority Leader McConnell selected Senators Jon Kyl of Arizona, Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania, and Rob Portman of Ohio.
VELSHI: All right. A massive police presence managed to keep the peace in Britain after days of rioting. Prime Minister David Cameron is about to address an emergency session of parliament this morning dealing with the crisis going forward. We're going to monitor that for you and may bring you parts of it.
You know, these heated parliamentary discussions are always interesting. And I think the world actually wants to know what's going on in the streets of London right now.
ROMANS: That's right.
VELSHI: Is it hooliganism or is it frustration over the economy or unemployment? Or is it bits of all of that?
ROMANS: He said broken and sick section of the economy but that's our Max Foster reported, it's a multi-layered problem and not prone to easy solutions or easy explanation.
COSTELLO: I think the reason it intrigues Americans is because we identify so closely with the British and that's sort of like looking into a mirror.
VELSHI: Would that happen here? Could it happen here? It's happened here before.
COSTELLO: Yes, well, let's hope not.
VELSHI: Yes. Right now, parts of Texas are about to run dry. Reservoirs and vanishing drinking water is scarce.
ROMANS: You know, the situation is desperate, but there may be a solution. Solution many Texans are finding a little hard to swallow. Here is Ed Lavandera.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In this withering west Texas patch, oil still flows. Problem is you can't drink water. Finding water is getting tougher. It brings us to the town of Big Spring.
(on camera): This is the spring in Big Spring. More than 100 years ago, it was a popular watering hole for settlers heading west. Those days are long gone. And you won't believe what people around here are having to do now to find drinking water.
(voice-over): Crews are now building a $13 million water treatment plant that will turn sewage waste water into drinking water by the end of next year -- treated raw sewage water will be mixed with lake water and treated again, three times in all.
BENITO LARA, BIG SPRING RESIDENT: I will never drink it.
LAVANDERA: But the idea still doesn't taste right to a lot of people, like Benito Lara.
LARA: That's not a good idea at all.
LAVANDERA (on camera): You don't like it?
LARA: No. If they do, we're going to have to leave town.
LAVANDERA: Really?
LARA: Yes, yes. You know, that's too much.
LAVANDERA: Are you kind of the salesman for this plan?
JOHN GRANT, COLORADO RIVER MUNICIPAL WATER DISTRICT: Somebody has to.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): John Grant directs the Colorado River Municipal Water District. It's his job to find drinking water for half a million people in the area around Midland Odessa. He's got to get people past one big hurdle.
(on camera): When you hear people say, oh, my God, these people are going to be drinking their own urine.
GRANT: There was a fellow in Midland I heard make a comment that said at least he gets to drink his beer twice now.
(LAUGHTER)
LAVANDERA (voice-over): This part of west Texas had a only seen about three inches of rain in the last year. The drought is drying out the areas in the three reservoirs.
(on camera): This is what's left of the E.V. Spence reservoir. It's the only source of drinking water for the nearby town of Robert Lee. Problem is: there's less than 1 percent of the water left.
(voice-over): Robert Lee Mayor John Jacobs says that the water situation is so dire that his town could run out of water in six months. Emergency pipeline is in the works. But he thinks turning waste water into drinking water is the future.
(on camera): On the surface of it, that doesn't sound appealing, does it?
MAYOR JOHN JACOBS, ROBERT LEE, TEXAS: Not appealing. Then again, going thirsty isn't either.
GRANT: This is the water we are going to be picking up and -- taking it back through the new water treatment plant that we are building.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): This new water treatment plant will provide 2 million gallons of water every day. And actually John Grant predicts people will really like it.
(on camera): And you are saying this process is -- could make it taste better?
GRANT: It could. And it will be -- it's good quality water with less salt as you can find anywhere.
LAVANDERA (voice-over): John Grant says he'll be the first in line to pour himself a glass.
Ed Lavandera, CNN, Big Spring, Texas.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: Now, I'm told that in NASA, in space, they recycle waste for water. So, if it's good enough for astronauts, it must be good enough for us.
VELSHI: It happens more than people are prepared to think. I would venture most Americans don't give a whole lot of thought to what comes out of their tap.
COSTELLO: Are you kidding? I think they do. Oh, definitely.
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: The bottle comes out of the tap in many cases.
COSTELLO: We just recently built that up.
VELSHI: Don't think much about where your water comes from.
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: British Prime Minister David Cameron is now making a statement to parliament about the rioting. Let's listen.
DAVID CAMERON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: I tried to speak with many of the members whose constituencies have been affected. And I'd like to pay particular tribute to the member of Tottenham for his powerful words and actions of the recent days.
What we have seen on the streets of London and in other cities, across our country, is completely unacceptable. And I'm sure the whole house will join me in condemning it.
Keeping people safe is the first duty of government.
The whole country has been shocked by the most appalling scenes of people looting, violence, and vandalizing, and thieving. It is criminality pure and simple and there's absolutely no excuse for it.
We have seen houses, offices and shops raided and torched -- police officers assaulted and fire crews attacked as they try to put out fires. We've seen people robbing others while they lie injured and bleeding in the street, and even three innocent people being deliberately run over and killed in Birmingham.
Mr. Speaker, we will not put up with this in our country.
We will not allow a culture of fear to exist on our streets.
And we will do whatever it takes to restore law and order and to rebuild our communities.
First, let us be clear about the sequence of events.
A week ago today, a 29 year old man named Mark Duggan was shot dead by the police in Tottenham.
Clearly there are questions that must be answered and I can assure the House that this is being investigated thoroughly and independently by the IPCC.
We must get to the bottom of exactly what happened. And we will.
Mr. Speaker, initially there were some peaceful demonstrations following Mark Duggan's death -- and understandably and appropriately, the police were cautious about how they dealt with this.
However, this was then used as an excuse by opportunist thugs in gangs, first in Tottenham itself, then across London, and then in other cities.
And it is completely wrong to say there is any justifiable causal link.
It is simply preposterous for anyone to suggest that people looting in Tottenham at the weekend, still less three days later Salford, were in any way doing so because of the death of Mark Duggan.
The young people stealing flat screen televisions and burning shops -- that was not about politics or protest, it was about theft.
Mr. Speaker, in recent days, individual police officers have shown incredible bravery and have worked in some cases around the clock without a break, and they deserve our support and our thanks.
But what became increasingly clear earlier this week was that there were simply far too few police deployed onto the streets. And the tactics they were using weren't working.
Police chiefs have been frank with me about why this happened.
Initially the police treated the situation too much as a public order issue -- rather than essentially one of crime.
The truth is they have been facing a new and unique challenge -- with different people doing the same thing -- basically looting -- in different places, but all at the same time.
Mr. Speaker, to respond to this situation, we are acting decisively to restore order on our streets, to support the victims of this terrible violence, and to look at the deeper problems that have led such a hard core of young people to decide to carry out such appalling criminality.
Let me take each in turn.
First, restoring order. Following the meetings of COBRA, which I chaired on Tuesday, and Wednesday, and again this morning, we have taken decisive action to help ensure more robust and more effective policing. Because of decisions made by Metropolitan Police Commissioner Tim Godwin and other police chiefs up and down the country, there are now more police on the streets, more people arrested, and more criminals being prosecuted.
The Metropolitan Police increased the number deployed on the streets of London from 6,000 to almost 16,000 officers. And this number will remain through the weekend.
We have also seen large increases in deployments of officers in other affected areas.
Leave in affected forces has been cancelled. Police officers have been bussed from forces across the country to areas of greatest need.
And many businesses have also quite rightly released special constables to help and they performed magnificently as well.
More than 1,200 people have now been arrested across the country.
We are making technology work for us, by capturing the images of the perpetrators on CCTV -- so even if they haven't yet been arrested, their faces are known and they will not escape the law.
And as I said yesterday, no phoney human rights concerns about publishing photographs will get in the way of bringing these criminals to justice.
Anyone charged with violent --
COSTELLO: It's interesting that he said it wasn't the lack of police officers or police cuts that led to the infective use of police force, you know, to arrest the rioters. It was rather they were using the wrong tactics.
VELSHI: And then, he said, though, they are bussing them in from all over the place. So, clearly, there was some shortage of police officers. But he said they are coming in from all over the place and everybody -- they've got a lot of video, obviously, in England, in the streets. Anybody who's gotten arrested, they will find them and they will arrest them.
But David Cameron insisting that this is about hooliganism.
ROMANS: But, you know, the most compelling people, I think, urging calm are not the leaders of the country. It's the people who are residents of the country. I mean, if we have the sound of the father of one of the kids who was killed in the hit-and-run -- I mean, you could just listen to how he pleads with his country to just fix this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TARIK JAHAN, VICTIM'S FATHER: We live in the same community. Why do we have to kill one another? What started these riots? What's it escalated? Why are we doing this?
I lost my son. Step forward if you want to lose your sons. Otherwise calm down. Go home.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: I mean, I think -- the voices like that are the most compelling in this whole argument. You can see politicians talk and posture.
COSTELLO: But it's also interesting nobody quite knows why this is happening. Everybody is like going through these soul-searching like how did this suddenly happen? That's the weirdest part to me.
ROMANS: Cameron said simultaneous crimes in different parts of the country. I mean, that's what's really --
VELSHI: And I think it would be great to talk to economists and sociologists about this. But I think many tell you it doesn't sort of suddenly happen, right?
ROMANS: Right.
VELSHI: It's an environment that creates --
COSTELLO: Yes, it's just one day, you know, cities across your country.
ROMANS: We'll keep following it for you.
VELSHI: Sarah Palin's One Nation bus tour ready to roll. And it looks like the former Alaska governor is ready to do some party- crashing.
You're watching AMERICAN MORNING. We'll tell you about it on the other side.
Forty-two minutes after the hour.
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VELSHI: Mitt Romney continues to lead the field of Republican candidates for president, but he doesn't have a whole lot of wiggle room. Take a look at the latest CNN/ORC poll. Seventeen percent of all Republicans favoring the former Massachusetts governor. Look who's right behind him, just two points back, Texas governor, Rick Perry, who has not officially declared that he's running.
He might do that, though, in the next few days. Three other Republicans are within five points of the top spot. Rudy Giuliani, Sarah Palin, and Ron Paul. Notice in that top five, you don't have Michele Bachmann. She's making a lot of news. Speaking of Sarah Palin, gassing up that bus again after a three-month hiatus. The one- nation bus tour is ready to roll.
ROMANS: That's right, and the former Alaska governor plans to crash the GOP presidential party in Iowa. The Republican field is in Ames today for a big -- for a debate and a big straw poll that takes place on Saturday. Palin will be 30 miles away at the Iowa State Fair. It is not clear when she'll arrive or whether she'll have the funnel cakes or deep fat fried butter.
COSTELLO: It's surprising. Maybe she's just going for the deep fried butter. Who knows? Not. Comedian, Stephen Colbert is also getting into the act in Iowa, he's quotable action committee, Americans for a better tomorrow, tomorrow --
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: A one-minute campaign ad that's now airing across Iowa. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A storm is gathering over Iowa. A money storm. Out of state groups like grow pac and jobs for iowa pac are flooding the Iowa airwaves telling you to vote Rick Perry at the Ames Straw Poll. They think that they can buy your vote with their unlimited super pac money. But Americans for a better tomorrow, tomorrow ask, what about our unlimited super pac money?
We want to you vote for Rick Perry, too, but not their Rick Perry. Our Rick Parry. On August 13th, write in Rick Parry. That's Parry with an "A" for America, with an "A" for Iowa.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: You know, he's asking -- I mean, he's actually collecting money, right?
VELSHI: Right.
COSTELLO: For his pac.
VELSHI: Yes.
COSTELLO: And it will be interesting to see how much he actually takes in.
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: I love that commercial.
VELSHI: It is a good commercial.
COSTELLO: Sorry, Rick Perry.
VELSHI: All right. Forty-eight minutes after the hour. We're going to check today's top stories including late night talk show that has been canceled.
COSTELLO: Plus, is the Obama administration giving sensitive information about the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden to a Hollywood movie director. One Republican is calling for an investigation. It's 48 minutes past the hour.
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ROMANS: It is 50 minutes past the hour. Here's what you need to know to start your day.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTS (voice-over): U.S. stock futures are up this morning and that has most of markets in Europe rallying. Of course, this all coming one day after the Dow sank more than 4.5 percent.
Britain's Prime Minister, David Cameron, telling an emergency session of parliament that he won't put up with violence this country has been rocked by. He's authorized police to use batons and water cannons on rioters if necessary. Sixteen thousand police officers will patrol the streets of London throughout the weekend.
The jury recommending a death sentence for an Ohio serial killer. Anthony Sowell was convicted in the murders of 11 women. The judge can hand Sowell a life sentence. Instead, he'll announce his decision tomorrow morning.
Japan's Prime Minister is Naoto Kan out. He's resigning after he signed a bill that will pay for the earthquake reconstruction. Kan's popularity tanked after the March earthquake and tsunami followed by the country's bungled nuclear crisis.
President Obama heads to Holland, Michigan today. He'll be visiting a plant that makes batteries for hybrid and electric vehicles, this time, the heels (ph) of announcing new fuel efficiency standards for cars and trucks.
And CBS is canceling George Lopez's late night show after two seasons. "Lopez Tonight" took a 20 percent hit in the ratings after being pushed back to a later time slot to accommodate Conan O'Brien's talk show. Tonight will be Lopez's final show.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: That's the news you need to know to start your day. AMERICAN MORNING is back right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: He may be an expert in camouflage, but Army Major Michael Harlow outdid himself the other night in the minor league baseball game in Mississippi. His wife, Darla, threw out the ceremonial first pitch. She had no idea that the man behind the catcher's mask was her husband home from Afghanistan. Watch this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Just shock. Overwhelmed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's been nine months.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Since I've seen her. Wanted to make sure she remembered what I looked like.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I didn't through that mask.
VELSHI (voice-over): Major Harlow says the last time he surprised his wife, she fainted.
COSTELLO (voice-over): Oh, no.
VELSHI: So, I'm not sure I would have gone for this if that was the reaction. Look at that. Look at that. Isn't that fantastic?
ROMANS (voice-over): Oh, that's sweet.
VELSHI: He's glad she didn't faint this time. He says he'll be home for about ten weeks and then heading back to Afghanistan.
ROMANS: That's sweet, but you know how I feel when they surprise the little kids. I don't like it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROMANS: I don't like it because I feel like those kids -- that gives me -- I don't like it. I don't like putting them on the spot like that. That -- I mean, that's -- that was cute.
VELSHI: Clearly for them, that worked very nice.
ROMANS: That works, but --
VELSHI: What do you think, Carol?
COSTELLO: I'm going stay out of this one, because, you know, I don't have a loved one serving overseas. So, I really don't know what it feels like to see them come home. I don't know.
VELSHI: For this couple, it certainly worked.
COSTELLO: It did, and we're glad. Now is your turn to back on one of the stories of the day. Hollywood is working on a movie about the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden and comes from Peter King, a Republican, wants an investigation into whether the White house gave filmmakers access to confidential information. So, we asked you, does Hollywood -- does Hollywood making a Bin Laden movie warrant a Congressional investigation?
Here are some of your responses. This from heather, "Why a congressional investigation? More money wasted on something tasteless. We do not need to make Bin Laden more of a martyr to his followers than he already is. The less attention, the better."
This from Leshaun, "Yes, I believe it does. The Obama White House is just trying to get the president re-elected next year."
And this from Anthony, "Congress should not be worrying about anything except this economy. Wasting our taxpayer dollars is why we're in this condition now."
Keep the comments coming. facebook.com/americanmorning.
ROBERTS: They can have a Congressional hearing about the weather. They can have a Congressional hearing about the congressional hearings.
COSTELLO: And they do, actually.
VELSHI: Right. We only talk about the few of them that are, you know, newsworthy. They have Congressional hearings all the time. What else would they do?
ROMANS: And subcommittee hearings in rooms that are empty.
VELSHI: Yes.
COSTELLO: Yes, I know.
ROMANS: Yes.
COSTELLO: They like to hear themselves talk.
Just ahead next hour, jobs are vanishing, markets are plunging, so why are lawmakers and the president on vacation? You're watching AMERICAN MORNING.
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