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American Morning
Forty Three People Now Dead in Irene; Boats Save Families as Rivers Surge; Homes Sheared in Half; Texas Wildfire Out of Control; Wildfire Threatens Oklahoma City; New Orleans Covered in Smoke; Aruba Missing Woman Case; Conservative Women Stereotyped; Romney Reverses Course; Forgotten Victims of Libya War; Obama Disaster Declarations; Texas Wildfire Burns Out Of Control; Matthew Fox Accused Of Assault
Aired August 31, 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 storm long gone. The suffering far from over. I'm Christine Romans. People running from their homes along rivers and returning to destruction along the beach, all in the wake of Hurricane Irene.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: North Texas is burning. I'm Ali Velshi, about 30 homes already destroyed by a wildfire, already 100 more in harm's way. It's going to get worse before it gets better because officials say this fast-spreading fire is zero percent contained.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Carol Costello. New developments out of Aruba in the disappearance of American Robyn Gardner. Her traveling companion and the chief suspect may be about to walk on this AMERICAN MORNING.
ROMANS: Good morning, everyone. It is Wednesday, August 31st. Welcome to AMERICAN MORNING.
VELSHI: Continues to be a busy morning.
ROMANS: Sure does.
VELSHI: We continue to deal with the after effects of Irene. Let's talk about that. A disaster on a delay in some places. Several hundred people now evacuated in New Jersey as flooding continues three days after Hurricane Irene tore through.
Residents say it's the worst they've ever seen. In Vermont, a dozen towns cut off by flooding had supplies air lifted in. More than 250 roadways cut off by high water and the layers of mud it left behind when it went down.
And in Connecticut, shoreline communities are in shambles. Look at these pictures, homes torn to shreds, the force of Irene bending steel, knocking some homes right off of their foundations.
Forty three people now dead in 12 states and close to 3 million people are still without power. We're all over the story with reports from many of the hardest hit areas.
Alina Cho is live along the Connecticut shoreline. But first, Mary Snow live in front of the raging Passaic River in Little Falls, New Jersey. Mary, let's start with you. What's the situation where you are?
MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ali, as fierce as this looks, take -- crested about 7 feet above flood stage, and as intense as this is, it's a big improvement from just the last 24 hours. Passaic River crested in several places yesterday. But with the rising waters forced evacuations in several towns including Patterson, New Jersey.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SNOW (voice-over): For a city that is used to flooding this became too much as people could no longer get out of homes on their own in Patterson, New Jersey, rescue crews in boats had to bring them to safety, from adults to babies.
The Passaic River hit levels not seen in more than a century. This woman had gone to her mother's house with her two children. The 30-year-old Connell Kelly said he ignored evacuation orders because he's experienced many floods before.
He lives on the second floor, but when waters topped the door to his building he waited by his window for help.
CONNELL KELLY, FLOOD VICTIM: I had food, water, things to survive and I was pretty much all right. But it just got scary to me at a time where I see the water keep elevating I had to leave.
SNOW: This father and son were swept away by currents. This YouTube video shows crews rescuing them. They were said to be checking on their property when the water took hold of them. Rescue crews later found them holding on to a log.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They were scared. They were more scared than anything, holding on and they yelled out in the beginning, a lot of people around, that couldn't get to them and they were the ones screaming.
SNOW: While Patterson has a history of flooding, city officials say what's different this time is that some areas not prone to flooding were under water. It's just one of several communities in northern new jersey seen here on Monday that have been inundated by water following the heavy rains dumped by Hurricane Irene.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SNOW: And what you're looking at right now are some live pictures from Patterson, New Jersey. And you know, while the river has crested, county officials say that some areas in Passaic County could be under water for several more days. Ali --
VELSHI: All right, Mary, it's quite dramatic, those pictures behind you. We'll stay on top of the story with you in New Jersey and we're going to take it to Connecticut now. ROMANS: That's right. Where you're seeing Mary, there usually are falls behind her. They just usually don't look like that. Alina Cho is live in East Haven, Connecticut, where beach houses crumbled to the ground when Irene hit. Some dramatic be pictures coming out of Connecticut on the shoreline as well. Good morning, Alina.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Christine, good morning to you. We are in Cozy Beach, a small shoreline community in East Haven, Connecticut, and all you have to do is take a walk along this stretch of beach and for as far as the eye can see, almost every home has been either damaged or destroyed.
Three days after Hurricane Irene made landfall in this community, residents here are only now beginning to assess the damage and it's not pretty. So many homes simply wiped out.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DINO BRENARD: The whole first floor is gone. This was the second floor actually.
CHO: This is the second floor?
BRENARD: This is the second floor.
CHO (voice-over): The living room, kitchen, rooms that were once one floor up in Dino Brenard's home are now hugging the beach at ground level. Homes sheered in half by what many here call the perfect storm.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's eerie. You come back and it's almost like it's so surreal.
CHO: Like this scene, people enjoying their summer, just feet away from total devastation.
(on camera): These are the pillars on which the homes were built to protect them. This is what's left after Irene. One resident told me it's as if someone picked up their home, threw it and stomped on it. All of the homes here, flattened and reduced to rubble.
MAYOR APRIL CAPONE, EAST HAVEN, CONNECTICUT: We believe that we have 25 homes that are a total loss and maybe another 20 that are uninhabitable.
CHO (voice-over): Adding to the heartbreak, Cozy Beach is tight it and many families have owned their homes for generations like Jim.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We did get a little water in here. That's very unusual.
CHO: Sixty five of his 70 summers have been spent here. He says with all the beach erosion over the years, owning a home on this stretch of beach is like playing Russian roulette.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It wasn't a question of if. It was a question of when.
CHO: Life-long Resident Roberta Sebo ignored the mandatory evacuation order.
(on camera): What did you see?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I saw the house coming down. I saw this, this coming down and at me.
CHO (voice-over): Her home was spared. But for Dino Brenard and his family, there's little to salvage. Yet, for him, leaving the area is not an option.
BRENARD: I would not let this stop me from coming back.
CHO (on camera): When you hear the name Irene now?
BRENARD: I won't be naming any of my daughters or pets Irene.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHO: That's for sure. You're looking live now at Dino Brenard's home or what's left of it. What is remarkable is that the mayor tells me there were no fatalities, not even any injuries, following Irene.
It appears that most, not all, but most of the residents did heed the warning and they did get out ahead of the storm. As for the cleanup, the National Guard, the Salvation Army, the Red Cross will be back in this community again today.
President Obama has declared an emergency in Connecticut, but he has not declared the state a federal disaster area and that is an important distinction. An emergency gets you preliminary aid like food and water.
But it is only when the president declares a disaster area in this state that the millions of dollars pour in for rebuilding and we're told that declaration, Christine, is days, if not weeks, away.
ROMANS: We're also watching kind of a strapped, if you will, FEMA with its federal emergency management fund down below a billion dollars. That's when people start to get nervous. All right, Alina Cho, thanks.
Coming up at 7:40 Eastern, we're going to talk to Mayor Jeffrey Jones of Patterson, New Jersey. The latest on water rescues and rescues there. What his city needs to recover from this storm.
Also in our 8:00 hour, we'll speak to Governor Dan Maloy of Connecticut where Alina was about the recovery effort in his state.
COSTELLO: We're also watching this. It's happening now, a devastating wildfire. It's burning out of control in northern Texas. Take a look at this spectacular new video from our Dallas affiliate WFAA. The 7,500 acre fire has already burned about 30 homes to the ground. One hundred twenty five other homes have now been evacuated. Officials say the blaze is zero percent contained and it's growing.
The fire is located 50 miles west of Dallas/Fort Worth. This is the worst fire season ever in Texas with a record 3.5 million acres burned.
More destruction in Oklahoma City, a wildfire there burning down 12 structures including two homes. Six hundred acres have been scorched and officials have now evacuated several hundred people.
They're going door to door to get people out of their homes. Officials say two people have been hurt including a firefighter who was overcome by the intense heat.
And in eastern New Orleans, people with respiratory problems are being told to stay in their homes as a marsh fire continues to cover the metro area and choking smoke. Look at that.
National Guard helicopters have been brought in to dump water on the fire. There is hopeful news this morning, a 60 percent chance of rain in the forecast. That's for later this week, but at least there is rain in the forecast, right?
VELSHI: It's coming. All right, let's take a look at what weather looks like across the country in addition to these unusual spots we've been talking about.
Good friend, Rob Marciano is back in the Extreme Weather Center. Good morning, Rob.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Good morning, guys. High fire danger in the spots that are seeing those fire issues, Oklahoma, Texas, here you go that area and also the intermountain west. As far as the flooding is concerned live pictures I believe out of Patterson and New Jersey where the waters continue to rush over that area.
We're looking at, my goodness, that shot just still takes me back, dramatic rescues and evacuations last night. The river has crested, but that does not mean the danger is over. Look at this graphic highlighting the fact that we will be in major flood stage until Friday morning.
So those folks are not going back any time to soon. And adding insult to injury here's Tropical Storm Katia. Way out there in the Atlantic, that's the good news. Bad news, it's forecast to become a hurricane, almost there, 65-mile-an-hour winds right now.
Little bit of encouraging hope at least, the forecast for this will likely, likely keep it out to sea, but we have to wait until we get to the beginning of next week before we can give the all clear. History tells us that this sort of track or the start of this track may curve it, Bermuda or the Carolinas not out of the woods.
This thing of more immediate concern, north western Caribbean, this will get into the Gulf of Mexico. The computer models are developing it into something, the Texas coast line or Florida coastline closer towards the weekend. We have to wait and see.
More indication I think later today and especially tomorrow, but Texas would certainly take the rain from that system, but if it lingers in the Gulf of Mexico past the weekend, then it will become a stronger than just a tropical storm.
Another nice day for rescue and recovery efforts across the northeast. That's one little bright spot as that -- really, really odd, obviously, to see the rivers rise to these record levels with days of gorgeous, dry weather.
And these folks being -- having to flee from their homes as the rivers rise where they've never been before in parts of New Jersey and Connecticut. Guys, back up to you.
VELSHI: All right, Rob. Thanks very much. It is incredible to continue to watch. You really do think when these things pass, that's when it's done, but for New Jersey, for Vermont, it's just not getting better.
COSTELLO: And Connecticut the rivers haven't crested yet.
ROMANS: I know. Rob has said all along, inland flooding is the story here. The storm will pass. Inland flooding is the story.
Ahead on AMERICAN MORNING, a new twist in the case of the American woman missing in Aruba. The only suspect could go free. A live report coming up.
COSTELLO: And a most unusual find. When a passenger tries to get through security at Miami International Airport, here's a hint. You wouldn't think you could keep it in your pants. Get your mind out of the gutter.
VELSHI: A young -- young conservative women are not happy after one magazine refers to them as, quote, "baby Palins." Hear their objections. It's our talk back question of the day. We'll tell you about when we come back. It's 13 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: We're following developments this morning from Aruba in the case of a missing American woman. Gary Giordano is the only suspect in the disappearance of Robyn Gardner. And he's been held for almost a month in Aruba. But at a court hearing later today, Giordano could go free.
CNN's Martin Savidge is live for us in Aruba. Good morning, Martin.
MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christine. You know, there's a new report out that says that Gary Giordano on the day that he reported Robyn Gardner missing was stumbling along the beach and had blood coming from a cut on his throat according to witnesses.
But we want to show you something, because the reason that's important is some say, look, those might have been defensive wounds, Robyn Gardner struggling with him that this was no snorkeling accident.
But, take a look at that mug shot photo. You can see his neckline pretty clearly. That was just days after he was arrested and there's no indication that there's no indication that there was a scratch there.
And this just goes to show you that the eyewitness accounts coming in on this story vary all over the map and that's the problem the judge is going to have today. Because Gary Giordano goes before a judge, and the judge is going to make a decision whether there is enough evidence to continue to hold him in this case or not.
The defense attorneys are going to argue and say, look, you've held my client over a month. This was nothing more than just an accident. We don't care what proof you put forward, because they really don't have much. You've got to let him go.
But the prosecution is going to say, no, look, there's much more to this case, how about the million and a half dollar insurance policy that Gary Giordano took out on Robyn Gardner days before she vanishes. That's motive but it isn't necessarily proof.
So there's a lot of back and forth. You talk to legal experts on the island, they really can't tell you how it's going to turn out today. Unfortunately, the proceeding is closed. We'll try to be outside and we certainly will give you the first report whenever that comes down.
But it could be a very big day for Gary Giordano. He could walk. He could go home. And the mystery of Robyn Gardner still isn't solved.
ROMANS: Now, Martin, are they still looking for her, or have they determined that - that she's gone? You know, they - there is still a search for her?
SAVIDGE: No, there is no active search going on. That actually ended I think it was the Saturday after she disappeared. She disappeared on a Tuesday.
There's been a couple of sort of what they call spot searches that are based upon intelligence or information that they gather even from witnesses or from Gary Giordano himself. So they've looked in large areas where the couple was near when they were down there on the southern part of the island.
But not a trace. No clothing, no indication, no sign of what happened to Robyn Gardner. And the real mystery is the people who have drowned in that area have always been found, which is why people here are wondering was she ever really in the water -
ROMANS: All right.
SAVIDGE: -- Christine.
ROMANS: Thanks so much, Martin Savidge. Thank you, Martin.
COSTELLO: Now is your chance to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. The question for you this morning, are conservative women unfairly stereotyped?
Take a look at this month's issue of "Elle" magazine. You see the headline there? It says the best and the brightest. That's OK. But the article also labels these young conservative women "Baby Palins" and that stings, not because they dislike Sarah Palin, but because all the negatives attached to Palin, thanks to the media and, of course, "Saturday Night Live."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TINA FEY, ACTRESS, "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE": Ultimately what the bailout does is help those that are concerned about the health care reform that is needed to help shore up our economy to help, um, it's got to be all about job creation, too.
And I can see Russia from my house.
I don't know. Is it? Boom, boom, boom.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Karin Agness featured in the "Elle" article and founder of the Conservative Network of Enlightened Women says, "The Palin brand has been so damaged by the media that the Baby Palin label serves the purpose of quickly stereotyping and de-legitimizing us at the same time, i.e., not every conservative women fits the Palin stereotype, a gun-toting, not so bright mother of five. You know, like not all liberal women fit the stereotype of a man-hating, hairy- legged, bra burner.
But the article's author, Nina Burleigh, defends her work, stating the women profiled are into guns and motherhood and low taxes. A rather new conservative female ideology first introduced to the national political discourse by Palin.
So the "Talk Back" this morning, are conservative women unfairly stereotyped? Facebook.com/AmericanMorning. Facebook.com/AmericanMorning. I'll read your comments later this hour.
ROMANS: Boy, I need more choices than just those two, the bra- burning, man-hating, hairy-legged, liberal or the not so bright mother of five. COSTELLO: I'm going to ask you something - as I'm sorry, as a woman - I think in general women are lumped together and we only care about certain things and we don't care about other things. Like women don't really care, first and foremost, about the economy, although I know that you do and you're a mother, too.
So I think in general, women are lumped into this category where our interests are limited.
ROMANS: I also think it's an easy narrative. It's an easy narrative for headline writers and an easy narrative when you're in the political horse race to just start throwing people together in groups. I mean -
COSTELLO: And calling them things like Baby Palins in other words.
ROMANS: Right, right.
VELSHI: I don't know what you two have against hairy legs, but whatever.
Coming up next, a father and his two young daughters fighting for their lives in a raging New Hampshire river, it's all caught on camera.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're talking within seconds of them letting go. And then there's nothing between them and the falls.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Wow. OK. We're going to show you how this desperate rescue turned out when AMERICAN MORNING continues.
Twenty-two minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: "Minding Your Business" this morning. Twenty-five minutes after the hour.
A little bit of concern yesterday morning on a weak report on consumer confidence, but the Dow, NASDAQ and S&P all were higher by the close.
Stocks made those gains following news that some Federal Reserve members favor stimulus measures, just the fact that another round of economic stimulus was even discussed at the Fed's interest rate meeting earlier this month was enough to push stocks higher. But the Fed has not officially announced any new measures to boost growth in the economy.
That buzz about potential of more stimulus from the Fed pushing U.S. stock futures higher again this morning. Right now, futures on the Dow, NASDAQ, S&P 500 are all trading higher.
More legal trouble for Bank of America. Add U.S. Bank Corp to the list of companies filing lawsuits against America's largest bank. The suit is related to mortgage-banked locked that went sour. The price tag on this one - $1.75 billion.
Check this out, a new study says 25 of the 100 highest paid CEOs in America were paid more last year than their companies paid in government income taxes. That's according to a report by a Left- leaning Washington think tank. CNN reaching out to some of the companies highlighted in that study like eBay, General Electric, Boeing for comments and no responses so far.
Some of the country's largest banks cutting some slack for Hurricane Irene victims. JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo waving fees - several bank fees like overdraft fees, late fees and ATM fees for customers. If you're coping with Irene's aftermath, you might want to check out with your bank to see if they're doing something similar as well.
AMERICAN MORNING will be right back after this break with the celebrity arrested at a White House protest.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Good morning to you. It's 30 minutes past the hour.
Time for your top stories.
New this hour: President Obama has declared a major disaster in North Carolina, the first state where Hurricane Irene made landfalls and also in New York. The president has also declared a disaster area there. Forty-three people now dead in the storm. Hundreds of people have been pulled from their homes in New Jersey as floodwaters surge into towns there, days after the storm moved out. Close to 3 million people on the East Coast still without electricity.
VELSHI: A devastating wildfire is raging out of control 50 miles west of Dallas/Ft. Worth. The 7,500-acre fire has already burned about 30 structures to the ground, 125 homes have been evacuated. And here's the worrisome part, officials say the blaze is zero percent contained and growing.
ROMANS: A developing story out of northeast Japan this morning. A magnitude 4.7 earthquake has just rattled the coast. It was centered about 86 miles northeast of Fukushima where officials are still trying to contain a nuclear disaster from the tsunami that hit back in March.
COSTELLO: We are getting our first look from the ground at the stunning damage in the small Upstate New York town of Prattsville. The only comparison that can be made is it looks like parts of New Orleans did after Katrina, without, of course, the extreme loss of life. Only this is hours inland. Record rainfall forced creeks to swell, walls of water surged down the mountains, ripped homes off of their foundations, slabs of concrete and layers of mud left behind. Roads and bridges into towns were wiped out and that's left hundreds of people stranded.
And take a look at this, a railroad bridge just gone. The tracks left behind, hanging 15 feet in the air. This came to us from an iReporter in Vermont. The railroad completely bed swept away by floodwaters from Irene.
VELSHI: On the day after Hurricane Irene, an incredible rescue in New Hampshire caught on tape. A father and his two daughters, age 7 and 9, nearly swept away while riding on a jet ski in the raging Merrimack River -- just looking at them clinging to this dam cable kept them from going over a waterfall. Rescuers got to the family with only seconds to spare.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIPS)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Both -- all three hanging on to that cable that was down there. I saw the two little girls on either side of the dad and knew that's who we had to grab first.
LT. PAUL SMITH: He was very disappointed in himself but he saved his family by first having PFDs on and keeping them altogether.
(END VIDEO CLIPS)
VELSHI: Got to have the personal flotation devices on. The rescuers say the father was slipping in and out of consciousness when they reached him. A few seconds later all three of them, they say they would have been swept away.
ROMANS: Can I just -- I mean -- these rivers are so dangerous. There is so much water. This is not a recreational sporting time in the Northeast.
VELSHI: A lot of people -- I mean, look, I knew people surfing here when it happened. Some people like the water sports --
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: Kids in the water!
ROMANS: I'm really glad everyone is all right and that rescuer who said that he did the right thing keeping his family together and making sure they were wearing personal flotation devices but do not go in the raging rivers.
COSTELLO: There's debris in the water, fallen trees and branches and that could cause --
VELSHI: Bridges down. I mean, yes, you're going to get -- a lot of potential for injury.
ROMANS: Wow.
VELSHI: All right. New this morning, gearing up for the September debut.
ROMANS: That's right. Republican members of the congressional debt reduction committee have met -- oh, yes, this is super committee, folks. They've met for the first time in a day-long strategy session on Capitol Hill, the bipartisan super committee facing a Thanksgiving deadline to identify $1.2 trillion in budget cuts. Democrats on the panel plan to hold a conference call today.
We've been told by some of the participants they're going to be drawing from a lot of previous work that has been done. There have been a lot of panels that have tried to look at how to cut our deficits.
VELSHI: There's no need to reinvent the wheel on deficit cutting. We've done all the research we have to do. We just need to make some decisions. I have a good guess these guys are going to ruin our Thanksgiving, though.
COSTELLO: Don't say that. Do not say that.
VELSHI: OK. I hope they don't, though.
(LAUGHTER)
VELSHI: The so-called Fast and Furious operation, you've heard us talking about, it allowed thousands of weapons to be sold illegally, has cost the Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosive chief his job. Kenneth Melson is being reassigned to a lesser post as part of the sting, hundreds of weapons were smuggled into Mexico. The problem is they ended up in the hands of drug cartels and they were later linked to several killings.
So, it was a program that was designed to be a sting operation. But the sting part didn't work. It just ended up --
ROMANS: Somebody got stung already. And that was folks at ATF --
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: Putting heavy duty guns into the hands of the wrong people.
ROMANS: That's right.
COSTELLO: Actress Daryl Hannah among more than 100 people arrested during a sit-in at he White House. She was protesting the Keystone pipeline project. If the State Department approves that project, it would dramatically increase the amount of oil the U.S. imports from Alberta, Canada's, controversial oil sands. Critics say the way the oil is extracted harms the environment.
VELSHI: Interesting. The oil sands are one of those -- it's the biggest industrial site on the planet. You can see it from space. It produces a lot of oil.
ROMANS: Yes.
VELSHI: It produces a lot of oil. And, you know, when you talk about getting oil from places that are friendly, a lot of people who say why don't we get more oil from Canada. But there are opponents who say, it's getting better. It's a getting a lot cleaner, but still --
COSTELLO: I think Daryl Hannah will lose this fight. That's my guess.
VELSHI: But there are -- I mean, there's a growing movement of people. There are some mayors, some governors who say we don't want this -- what they called dirty oil. But oil is dirty from everywhere, you know, friendly dirty or unfriendly dirty oil.
ROMANS: From the Saudis, you know, where you're competing with China for oil around the world or Canada on the oil sands.
(CROSSTALK)
ROMANS: I know.
All right. We've seen him fish, ride horseback, even hunt Siberian tigers. You know who I'm talking about. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin showed up at a festival on a Harley. Check it out. He led a convoy of cyclists known as the Night Wolves. Putin -- his ride coming just months before the country's next presidential election. There's a lot of speculation he may run again.
This time, he is wearing a shirt. He's wearing a jacket. I've seen him shirtless on a horse.
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: I mean, he's buff.
COSTELLO: He's on a three-wheeled Harley, though. Come one.
VELSHI: I don't know about those three-wheeled bikes. At some point, if you get a three-wheeled bike, just get a car.
ROMANS: You're going to get hate mail from three-wheeled Harley lovers everywhere.
VELSHI: I know. I know. But I just don't see the point.
COSTELLO: Well, he's trying to prove his manliness.
VELSHI: Use two wheels.
COSTELLO: Exactly.
VELSHI: Coming up ahead on AMERICAN MORNING: the crisis in Libya extending to zoo animals suffering a lack of food and water. This is common in these strife torn areas. CNN's Nic Robertson visits a Tripoli zoo to see how they've been affected by the fighting.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: No longer the Republican frontrunner, Mitt Romney has stepped up his game. Romney is going on the attack against the man who replaced him, Texas Governor Rick Perry, on Perry's home turf. The Romney campaign has reversed course on two major conservative events.
Meantime, Tea Party favorite Michele Bachmann will be campaigning in Iowa for the first time since winning the GOP straw poll.
CNN's Shannon Travis is live in Des Moines.
What are these events that Romney's reversed course on, Shannon?
SHANNON TRAVIS, CNN POLITICAL PRODUCER: Well, Romney's reversed his schedule, course on his schedule. He was supposed to be headlining his first major Tea Party event, really in his political career, Ali, on Monday, Labor Day. You know, the Tea Party Express, they've got the bus tour going across country. He was supposed to headline that event on Monday in New Hampshire, in Manchester, but he's actually going to do a Concord stop the day before on Sunday. Now that's kind of irked Tea Party organizers.
I actually put that story out there yesterday when we first reported it, but when Romney reversed course, the Tea Party Express, the organizers, I got on the phone with them and they were not happy. They were basically saying, look, this CNN story, that we broke, has been out there for a while. They were asking Romney to keep the Monday appearance, the Labor Day appearance, instead of the Sunday appearance.
I want to note that Romney's campaign says that they are trying to accommodate, basically want to go to a forum in South Carolina on Monday on that same day hosted by senator -- South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint.
I just want to read this one quote from Romney's people. Quote, "We were able to reschedule Governor Romney's calendar in order to be in South Carolina and New Hampshire on both days. So, little bit of a schedule reversal by Governor Romney that didn't make the Tea Party Express organizers happy.
VELSHI: Shannon, talk to me about Sarah Palin, what's she up to?
TRAVIS: Yes. Sarah Palin, she's got a busy schedule as well, Ali. She's going to be here in Iowa on Saturday.
Now, we already knew that. She's going to be joining a big Iowa Tea Party rally here. But we just learned yesterday that she's also going to be headlining a Tea Party Express rally on Monday, on Labor Day in New Hampshire. This was the same rally that Mitt Romney was supposed to be headlining.
So, now that he won't be doing that -- that event, he'll be in South Carolina, Sarah Palin is going to be headlining it and, of course, you can imagine that's going to create a whole lot of buzz.
This Saturday, lots of speculation, Ali, about whether she'll announce a presidential run or not.
VELSHI: Shannon, good to see you, thank you, my friend -- Shannon Travis.
ROMANS: All right. As the manhunt for Moammar Gadhafi intensifies in Libya, rebel leaders estimate some 50,000 people may be missing as a result of the country's civil war. The U.N. says Tripoli faces a true humanitarian crisis with 2 million residents desperately short of food and water.
CNN's Nic Robertson went to check on some of the war's forgotten victims as well -- animals at the Tripoli zoo. Nic's live for us in Tripoli.
Hi, Nic.
We saw this in Iraq. We've seen this whenever there's civil war, conflict and the like, it's as if people who work there simply disappear and then a few days later, we have to figure out what's happening.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Christine. That's what I was thinking about. I drove past the zoo and I remember when I was in Tripoli in the Rixos Hotel where the journalists were, at night you could hear the lions roaring because the zoo is right behind the hotel and I thought, look, we should go in and check it out.
When I got there I realized that no one else had been in.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTSON: We've just come into Tripoli's main zoo. The gates were locked. We were told that it had been under renovation for the last three years, that there weren't any animals here.
We're just getting a look around. I can see a vulture up there, certainly a huge bird of prey.
(voice-over): As I'm looking at it, we hear a lion roaring.
(on camera): It's an eerie feeling walking around here. You don't know what you're going to bump into. The gunfire is still going on.
Most of the cages seem empty. But I just trying to follow the sound of the roaring. There he is. There he is. Tiger.
He's seen us. Just looking at him, you can see how thin he is the way he's walking. Those thighs, so skinny against his back. He looks like he's going in there to get shade.
(voice-over): Then we se the lions, the male particularly skinny, the deep scar on his head.
(on camera): There's no one here to tell us how often they're being fed, how much they're getting fed. We don't even know if there's a vet here to look after them. All we've seen so far is the food left by the giant tortoises.
These lions look like they're just not getting enough to eat.
(voice-over): Suddenly, we get some answers.
(on camera): The zookeeper has arrived. I'm going to ask him about the animals.
Assalamu Alaikum. How are you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fine.
ROBERTSON: Fine? Fine.
So what about the animals? Are they getting enough food, the lions, the tigers?
(voice-over): He tells me for seven days the animals got nothing. Now, 10 of the 200 staff have returned. They're trying to feed all the animals, the big cats get only half the food they need.
But their biggest problem is water. He takes us to see the hippos. Of all the animals, they seem the most forlorn.
ROBERTSON: The keeper tells us that he tried to get some more water in here, even laid this plastic pipe on the floor right into the tank here with hippopotami, but it didn't work. And they're just left with a rank (ph) water. Even they don't seem to want to go into.
ROBERTSON (voice-over): Struggling to keep up, so many animals to feed, hyenas, bears, monkeys, deer, emus, but it's the big cats, the meat eaters, they can't feed enough.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ROBERTSON: But it's the water in the zoo that's the most pressing need. Water's cut off in Tripoli. The zoo keepers just can't get what they need for the animals. It's dehydrating them, and the zoo keepers really fear, unless, they can sort that out, these animals, these big cats and all the others, are going to continue to suffer, Christine.
ROMANS: Priorities in a country that is, you know, simply trying to feed people and get water to people. I mean, it's just priority in the wake of civil war. All right. Nic Robertson, thank you so much, Nic.
COSTELLO: OK. Here's your bizarre story of the morning. It wasn't snakes on a plane but sure was close. Officials say a passenger tried to board a flight from Miami to brazil with bags containing seven exotic snakes and three tortoises, and he had those bags, yes, stuffed down his pants.
VELSHI: Oh, no he didn't.
COSTELLO: Oh, yes he did! The man was stopped after passing through a body scanner at Miami International Airport. This happened last week. And -- look of horror on his face. The man was arrested for violating animal trafficking laws. Still no explanation for his botched attempt at reptile smuggling. Did he go through the full body scanner?
VELSHI: I would have loved to see the TSA people who saw -- was that like a tortoise and snake in his pants, the other one is going, don't be disgusting. That's not a tortoise and snake in his pants. Come here. Come here. I'm telling you, look at the screen, it's a tortoise and snake in the pants. I just -- I would have loved to see how that conversation went down.
COSTELLO: Time for a time check. It's 47 minutes past the hour.
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: I mean, that's fine. I'm not judging smuggling, but really? A snake in your pants?
COSTELLO: smuggling is illegal.
VELSHI: I'm not judging. I'm not judging. I just don't understand why you need to put a snake and tortoise in your pants.
ROMANS: All right. the day's top stories next, including --
VELSHI: Is that a snake and tortoise in your pants?
ROMANS: The big TV star accused of beating up a bus driver.
VELSHI: Also --
(LAUGHTER)
VELSHI: I'm sitting this one out.
COSTELLO: Stop it. And the people who handle it where white gloves. So, you can imagine, the wincing faces when --
ROMANS: Oh, no.
VELSHI: No, no. No, not the Stanley Cup.
COSTELLO: Again. When this happened. Watch.
ROMANS: Oh, no. Oh, yes.
COSTELLO: It's 47 minutes past the hour.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST (voice-over): Guitars are one of the most loved instruments in modern music. Unless, of course, they're out of tune.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In music, the tuning is very important. Anybody can tune a guitar, but keeping it in tune is the problem. All of a sudden, you're dancing in front of the audience, hey, how is everybody doing? OK. I'm tuning. How is the world? It's a process that can take away from the rhythm of the show.
WOLF: That led to EverTune, a device that will keep your guitar in tune forever.
In some ways, it's a pretty simple design, isn't it?
MARK CHAYET, EVERTUNE: It's very simple. This is all mechanical. It's based on a spring technology and constant tension, and that's the beauty of EverTune. We're not adding bells and whistles and blinking lights to a guitar.
WOLF: The EverTune is now used by some of the biggest names on stage, and it's just the beginning.
So, we're talking pianos, violins. We're talking base. We're talking everything.
COSMOS LYLES, EVERTUNE: Any string strung between two points works on the same principles. So, if there's a string, we can keep it in tune.
WOLF: Which means now, you've run out of excuses for why you're off key.
Reynolds Wolf, CNN, Hollywood, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Fifty-one minutes after the hour. Here's what you need to know to start your day.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VELSHI (voice-over): President Obama has now declared major disasters in North Carolina and New York after Hurricane Irene. Rivers are cresting and water surging into towns in the northeast where hundreds have been evacuated. Forty-three people now dead because of the storm.
7,500 acre wildfire is raging out of control 50 miles west of Dallas/Ft. Worth. It's already destroyed about 30 structures, and 125 homes have been evacuated. Officials say the blaze is zero percent contained and it's growing.
He's been held in Aruba for the past month in connection with the disappearance of American, Robyn Gardener, but after a court hearing today, Gary Giordano could go free.
A Cleveland bus driver accusing actor, Matthew Fox, of assault. She claims the former "Lost" star attacked her on a party bus. Prosecutors say they're reviewing the complaint. No comment from Fox who's in Cleveland filming a movie.
The NCAA suspending eight University of Miami football players for receiving cash and gifts from a former booster. They all have to pay back the money they took before they can play again.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VELSHI: That's the news you need to know to start your day. AMERICAN MORNING back right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Fifty-three minutes past the hour. We asked you to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. We asked you this question this morning, are conservative women unfairly stereotyped?
This from Christina, "Talk about an oxymoron. When have stereotypes ever been fair? I cannot recall ever hearing a fair stereotype. Who really cares? Any woman courageous enough to freely speak her mind will be judged, most harshly by other women, stereotype. If we let that deter our beliefs, we be as well not have won the right to vote. If someone judges you, you know that their on their mind." Talking about you, isn't that enough?
This from David, "Women on both sides of the aisle are stereotyped. Just look at the names that Hilary Clinton has been called. Let's all get off the subject of appearances and focus on the positions that these individuals hold."
And this from Benny who's a regular of ours, so thank you, Benny. "Conservative women are constantly being scrutinized from both sides. There are still many conservatives who feel that women should be seen and not heard, so they have to step lightly as to not appear to be feminist. Then, they have the liberals telling them that they are out of touch with modern society, because they hold on to an old fashion set of family values. Either way, they are bound to be attacked from both sides"
VELSHI: These three comments would make a great dinner party. Like these very well --
(LAUGHTER)
VELSHI: I was listening to all of them, and they don't say the same thing, but really well thought out criticisms.
ROMANS: So, Republican women are stereotyped. Liberal women are stereotyped. All women are stereotyped.
VELSHI: Remember though, a lot of women business leaders are fiscal conservatives. No, I don't think they have. I know. I'm saying I don't think they enjoy -- we don't have a vision of them.
COSTELLO: Not separating women business leaders from male business leaders.
VELSHI: Right. Many male business leaders --
ROMANS: Are physically conservative.
VELSHI: Right.
ROMANS: Then, why wouldn't women business leaders be --
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: Right. That's got more to do with being a business leader than -- no, it's interesting. It's an interesting discussion. Great comments.
COSTELLO: Thanks, though. Keep the comments coming. Facebook.com/americanmorning.
ROMANS: OK. The Stanley Cup, word to Canadians --
VELSHI: Just cover your eyes.
ROMANS: This video is graphic.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS (voice-over): Not just Canadians.
VELSHI (voice-over): Any hockey fans.
ROMANS: There it is. That's the Stanley Cup, hockey's Holy Grail hitting the ground. It fell off a table. Someone yelled out -- first hit of the day, after. Michael Ryder who helped the Bruins win the cup back in June brought it up, take it to his hometown. The 118- year-old cup didn't appear to suffer any damage.
VELSHI: It's a tough thing. The cup is tough.
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO (voice-over): It's been dropped before. I don't understand why people keep dropping the cup.
ROMANS: Funny center of gravity.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI (on-camera): I was going to say, you know, it's been added to, and I think that's what it is. It wasn't added to by an engineer. It's done that. It's not like it drops off a bus. Somebody drops it of their hands. Somebody puts it somewhere, knocks it, it goes over. I think they need to put some weights in the heavy base. COSTELLO (on-camera): I think they need a better table.
VELSHI: Yes, they need a better table.
ROMANS (on-camera): There you go.
VELSHI: Coming up ahead, we'll be talking to the FEMA chief about Hurricane Irene. Is there enough cash left to help everyone and who's being left out because money's got to be shifted to this hurricane response. It's 56 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
