Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
BlackBerry Blackout; Inside Cain's "9-9-9" Campaign; Turner Loses Land Crown; AirTran Adding "Large Passenger" Policy; Topeka, Kansas City Government Falls Short of Money to Prosecute Domestic Abuse Cases; "Sesame Street" Airs Episode Focused on Bullying; Disease Expert Discusses Possibility of a Global Pandemic; Inside the Shoe Laboratory
Aired October 13, 2011 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: BlackBerrys buzzing back to life.
I'm Christine Romans.
The company says service is improving after an outage spanning five continents. But here in the U.S., still a lot of people without service because of the backlog. So, when will your device work again?
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Carol Costello.
A city decriminalizing domestic violence to save money. Suspects walk free. Victims left afraid. The D.A. forced to make a change this morning.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Ali Velshi.
Nathan Wolfe is his name and virus hunting is his game. We'll talk to him about his new book and his efforts to stop the next global pandemic before it gets started -- on this AMERICAN MORNING.
(MUSIC)
COSTELLO: All right. Good morning, everybody. It is Thursday, October 13th. It is 8:00 in the East.
VELSHI: Do you feel like the morning is getting a little better because I'm getting e-mails?
ROMANS: I feel a little bit better. Although, you know, ignorance is bliss. I kind of glad I don't know of this stuff before.
COSTELLO: You're right, it was a nice break. I'm sure, if you have a BlackBerry, you know what we're talking about. Do you feel let down by that beloved BlackBerry? If you do, like I said, you're not alone.
For a fourth day, the service is testing the nerves and patience of people who defend on their smartphone. BlackBerry's maker says they're making progress and restoring service after it went down Monday, affecting customers in Europe, the Middle East and in Africa.
By Tuesday, the outages had spread to South America and yesterday, customers in the United States and Canada were hit.
Dan Simon live in San Francisco.
Dan, is your BlackBerry working right now?
DAN SIMON, CNN SILICON VALLEY CORRESPONDENT: Well, CNN has graciously provided me with an iPhone. So, I don't have this problem.
I should tell you that BlackBerry, as you said, they feel like they got a grip on this problem. I just looked at their Web site just a few minutes ago and they say that service has pretty much been restored for most of the world. There might be some Internet problems for some folks in Europe and maybe in Africa, but e-mail service has been restored.
Look, it's a simple proposition. You have a smartphone. You want two things, right? You want to be able to make phone calls and you want to be able to send e-mails. The fact that you could not send e-mails for three days is an enormous public relations problem for RIM. And the CEO and the founder, Mike Lazaridis, he posted a video on YouTube just a little while ago. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE LAZARIDIS, RIM FOUNDER AND CO-CEO: Since launching BlackBerry in 1999, it's been my goal to provide reliable, real time communications around the world. We did not deliver on that goal this week, not even close.
I apologize for the service outages this week. We've let many of you down. But let me assure you that we're working around the clock to fix this.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SIMON: Well, you got two problems here. You have the outage problem and you have the damage to the BlackBerry brand. And I would argue that the second one might be worse. This is a company that we have seen, you know, lose market share rapidly over the last few years. Really ever since 2007 when Apple released the iPhone and, of course, Google has now overtaken both Apple and RIM. RIM now entrenched in third place and, obviously, this is not going to help.
Back to you, guys.
ROMANS: All right. Thanks, Dan.
VELSHI: Dan makes a good point that we talk a lot about the iPhone but the Android is really moving the market. There are a lot of people really enjoying that device.
COSTELLO: My mother has a droid and she loves it. She's something. She's hip and happening my mom.
Witnesses say people went flying. More than a dozen passengers reportedly hurt after two Amtrak trains crashed in Oakland, California. It happened late last night. One of the trains was parked and dropping off passengers when it was hit behind by another train.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's an awful jolt. I don't know, I guess every car bumped together closer. It was an awful jolt.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: Authorities say it could have been far worse, but the moving train was slowing down as it hit.
VELSHI: Well, powerful earthquake struck off the Indonesian island of Bali. Look at this new video just in to CNN.
(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)
VELSHI: The quake hit earlier this morning, the video was taken from inside the house. The quake damaged several ancient Hindu temples. It also damaged a number of homes and businesses.
ROMANS: Serious concerns this morning, the radiation from the damaged Fukushima nuclear disaster in Japan is more widespread than originally thought. You're looking at video of residential area in Tokyo were some radioactive material was detected. Also according to local reports, radioactive sediments were found on top of an apartment building in the town of Yokohama.
Take a look at the map. That's 155 miles away from the nuclear plant.
COSTELLO: Reports out of Libya this morning say that one of Moammar Gadhafi's sons has been captured by rebel soldiers.
The head of the National Transitional Council says Mutassim Gadhafi was arrested while trying to escape after a firefight in Sirte, but other reports deny he's in custody. Libyan rebels are battling for control of Sirte, one of the last pro-Gadhafi strongholds.
VELSHI: The first in the nation, New Hampshire primary may be moved up to earlier or mid-December, and Republican leaders don't like it.
Here are the possible dates. Either December 6th or December 13th. New Hampshire secretary of state is threatening the early start to the primary season because he's upset with Nevada's decision to schedule its primary in mid-January.
GOP leaders are not happy with the prospect of an early December primary in New Hampshire, feeling it maybe overshadowed by the holiday season.
ROMANS: All right. Herman Cain has climbed his way to the top of the GOP field in the new NBC/"Wall Street Journal" poll. The Georgia businessman finished first with 27 percent of the vote, that's four points ahead of Mitt Romney and 11 points in front of Rick Perry.
COSTELLO: It's amazing, isn't it? Herman Cain, he's hot -- whether it's his no nonsense style or success of the business world. Something about Herman Cain is resonating with Republican voters. Maybe it's the catchy way he's branding his tax plan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HERMAN CAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: 9-9-9 plan. 9-9-9. My 9-9-9 plan. 9-9-9.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: It just makes you want to say it, doesn't it? 9-9-9.
Joining us to talk about Herman Cain and his 9-9-9 tax plan is Stephen Moore, senior economics writer for "The Wall Street Journal" editorial page and co-author the book, "Return to Prosperity."
Welcome.
STEPHEN MOORE, WALL STREET JOURNAL: Good morning.
COSTELLO: OK. Let's talk about 9-9-9. Cain's plan calls for a 9 percent flat income tax, a 9 percent corporate tax rate, and 9 percent sales tax and everything else -- all the other taxes like payroll taxes, capital gains, estate tax, the death tax, they all go away.
MOORE: Right.
COSTELLO: Herman Cain's 9-9-9 plan was actually inspired by your book. So, does Cain have it exactly right?
MOORE: Well, maybe not exactly right, but there's no question about it that of all the tax plans that the Republican field of candidates have come up with, his is by far the boldest and most ambitious. I mean, he brings all of the tax rates to below 10 percent, which was something that we talked a lot about when I wrote my book with Arthur Laffer. That's what we talked about. How can you get rates down to below 10 percent?
I think the idea of getting our income tax and our business tax rates down to 9 percent would be like rocket fuel for the U.S. economy. If you want jobs, do that.
The big concern that both conservatives and liberals have about this plan is whether a 9 percent national sales tax is advisable, whether it's good economics and whether it's good for the poor. That's been the primary criticism of the plan.
COSTELLO: Well, let's talk about that specific criticism.
MOORE: Yes.
COSTELLO: Because you're right, the plan is getting a lot of criticism that it will raise taxes on the middle class. Example, a family with an income of $50,000 would be taxed at about $1,000 more under this plan. That's before you add the sales tax. And then it's actually doubled and that really doesn't sound like a winning formula in these days that the middle class is being unfairly taxed.
MOORE: Right. Well, here is the problem with that analysis. I haven't looked through all the details of that analysis you just did. But people should remember, because this isn't something people focused on, that in addition to scrapping the income tax code, the Cain plan, 9-9-9, actually gets rid of the entire payroll tax.
So, you're talking about a 15 percent payroll tax, half of which is now paid by the employer, half which comes right out of the employee paycheck that would no longer be imposed. And that means every -- it would essentially be like every American worker would get a 7.5 percent pay raise when that plan went into existence because you'd get a bigger paycheck.
And I think that's the point that Herman Cain would make is -- wait a minute, that's not fair. Yes, you're going to have to pay a sales tax, but you're going to get a bigger paycheck, as well.
COSTELLO: Well, another criticism of this plan is that the flat tax isn't going to bring in as much revenue, as the current tax system does. Politifact and "The Washington Times" estimate that Cain's plan can bring about, what, $360 billion less than the government gets today. That's a very rough estimate and this is very hard to determine.
MOORE: Right.
COSTELLO: But is that a fair criticism?
MOORE: It is -- well, it's fair in the sense that I don't think Herman Cain has done a good enough job explaining how the numbers add up. You know, when he came up with this plan, he was at sixth or seventh place and people weren't taking the plan as seriously. Now, he is the frontrunner in the Republican primary, that plan is going to come under incredible scrutiny and one of the things that a lot of the economic advisors, you've got to prove to people that this doesn't add to the deficit.
I think he can do that. I think he can show that the numbers add up. I mean, one of the points that I would make, and we wrote about this in our book, is, look, if you have this plan in effect, the economy would grow so rapidly that you would have huge increases in revenues just from the increase in putting people back to work and the increase in business activity and profits. So, that's I think the point that Herman Cain has to make.
But, you know, he's kind of gotten away with not showing the numbers when he was in third or fourth place. I think now that he's in first place, he is really going to have not just back of the envelope calculations but real, audited statements that show that this thing adds up.
COSTELLO: OK. Here's the biggest problem of all. I mean, at least he has a plan, right?
MOORE: Yes.
COSTELLO: But if he becomes president, he has to get this plan through Congress. And they're not exactly cooperating with one another.
And who is to say that it will stay at 9 percent? I mean, what if some congressman says, I think it should be 10 percent.
MOORE: Yes.
COSTELLO: Or some lobbyists comes in and convinces some faction of government to say, I think it should be 12 percent. How can he prevent that?
MOORE: Well, first of all, you keep talking about the problems with the plans and there are some misgivings about the plan, no question about it. But let's not forget the big picture here, that this is incredibly innovative and bold, it would completely tear up the tax system. You'd be able to fill out your tax form on a postcard. It would incredibly simple. It would get away with about $400 billion of cost of compliance with the tax system, which would be huge advantage.
So, those advantages are enormous.
Now, the question that you raise is a very good one. Would Congress -- in fact, we wrote about this on our editorial page. If you put in place a 9 percent sales tax, what's to prevent Congress from raising not 10 percent, 11 percent, 12 percent, and a national sales tax has such a broad base that you just raised that rate by 1 percent or 2 percentage points and you're bringing in huge amounts of revenues.
And so, that is a legitimate concern and Herman Cain has to address that, as well. He would say, well, you need two-thirds vote in both houses to raise the sales tax, but we know from Europe that does have a national sales tax that those rates have gone up and up over time. They started to at about 8 percent or 9 percent. And now, the average tax in these European countries is closer to 18 percent to 20 percent.
COSTELLO: The other political problem I think Herman Cain has with this plan, it is a middle tax increase on the middle class. That's how it's being perceived by
MOORE: I disagree with that. But --
COSTELLO: But by the conservative arm of the Republican Party, that's what it -- that's what it seems like. They don't really quite like this plan.
MOORE: Right.
COSTELLO: And also, Herman Cain, I believe, signed a no tax pledge. So, how does he get around that?
MOORE: Well, because it's not on tax increase. For the vast majority of people, it's going to be a tax cut because of that payroll tax.
But, you know, you're right. This is something that the Republican establishment is very much afraid of. They don't want these kind of bold changes.
And you know, when I talked to Herman Cain about this, what he says, and I think this makes a lot of sense, is -- look, we have huge economic problems in this country that our tax system is an albatross around the neck of our businesses and our employers and if you get this system in place, this would be the most important thing you can do to put Americans back to work.
That I think is very appealing to people, but this is a jobs plan, not just a tax plan.
COSTELLO: Yes. You know, just a caveat to that. I mean, it's not going to create jobs right now.
MOORE: Oh, it will. I think --
COSTELLO: You really think it will?
MOORE: Oh, my God --
COSTELLO: You can't even implement it that fast?
MOORE: Well, look, I mean, you have to get it in place. But, look -- look what happened when we did the Reagan tax cuts in the early 1980s. You know, this statistic is amazing. At this junction of the Reagan presidency after the Reagan tax cuts, we had 1.1 million jobs in the month of September 1983.
So, the economy can turn around really quickly. There's $2 trillion of capital that's sitting on the sidelines waiting to be invested. You put this -- by the way, don't forget. This plan has no capital gains or dividend tax either.
So, the incentive to invest under this plan is enormous.
COSTELLO: All right, Stephen Moore --
MOORE: I can tell you're a little skeptical, but I think I can convince you.
COSTELLO: I'm just saying that, you know, companies have all this money anyway and they're not creating jobs right now. So, I'm just throwing things out there.
MOORE: Yes. But this gives them an incentive to invest that money because they don't have to pay a tax on the returns.
COSTELLO: Got you. Stephen Moore, thank you so much. We appreciate it.
MOORE: See you soon.
ROMANS: If you want to read more of this inspiration for tax, you can pick up Stephen Moore's book called "Return to Prosperity."
We love Stephen Moore because he -- you know, sometimes, he goes against the far right, you know, and stays in the middle. And sometimes, he really --
VELSHI: Right. I'm not sure that I agree with his views on this, but he certainly lays them out very well. And I -- big kudos to Stephen Moore and to Herman Cain for putting some meat on this conversation. Everybody on both sides of this debate say, we'd like tax reform, all right? So, somebody said about it. Now, we're talking about it.
COSTELLO: Right. At least Herman Cain has a plan. And you can't say that about the other candidates.
VELSHI: Well, Mitt Romney and --
COSTELLO: Oh, yes. The 59 points.
VELSHI: -- Jon Huntsman have plans as well.
There's something -- every election, there's some simple plan, right? Last time, Huckabee came out with the flat tax idea and Paul Ryan's got -- Ron Paul has got all sorts of ideas about eliminating taxes. But this is the one that's caught fire this time.
COSTELLO: And he's talking about it a lot.
VELSHI: He actually is.
By the way, programming note, CNN will host the Western Republican Presidential debate in Las Vegas live next Tuesday, October 18th at 8:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN. Anderson Cooper will moderate.
Our Carol Costello will be there live for us. And the morning after, she'll have some analysis and great interviews for us.
ROMANS: The Obama campaign says that over 600,000 people donated to the campaign in July through September.
COSTELLO: Coming up next, heavy rain and strong storms moving in now. Rob Marciano is tracking it all. He'll be with us, next.
VELSHI: Also ahead, baseball's postseason just got even more dramatic. Now, the Rangers are just one win away, if that's how you want to look at it, from the World Series.
(LAUGHTER)
VELSHI: We've got a look at the action coming up next. It's good action, too.
ROMANS: And move over, Ted Turner. There is new king of the hill. Who is now the number one largest land owner in the United States? Who could it be? Fifteen minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Good morning, Dallas and Ft. Worth. Sunny, 59. Right now, it's going to be nice, sunny and 81. We're glad it's not a 100, you know, day break everyday any more.
COSTELLO: I know. I don't feel like being nice to Texas this morning.
ROMANS: I'm sorry.
COSTELLO: I'm sorry, my Texas friends. I'm talking about the Rangers. They're now one win away from their second straight World Series appearance. They're greedy, aren't they?
ROMANS: Oh, Carol.
(LAUGHTER)
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: All right. They beat my Tigers because of that guy, Nelson Cruz. He did it with his arms. As we all know, Miguel Cabrera cannot run very fast, and Nelson Cruz had that wicked arm out there. He saw him throw Miguel Cabrera out from right field. He put the game away with a three-run homer in the 11. Take a look. That broke my heart. Game five tonight in Detroit. Go, Tigers.
ROMANS: What time did you go to bed last night?
COSTELLO: I didn't go to bed.
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: I'm so upset.
VELSHI: All right. In the national league, the St. Louis Cardinals took a 2-1 series lead over Milwaukee. They barely hung on after a four-run rally in the first inning. 4-3, the final score in that game. Game four tonight in beautiful St. Louis.
ROMANS: Rob Marciano, this has been a sleepless few weeks for Carol Costello. Too bad that your team was out so early.
VELSHI: Oh.
ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST: I tell you what, I feel a lot more rested this week.
(LAUGHTER)
VELSHI: Right. That's right, right? We don't have to schedule these things. You don't have to juggle things around. Just let other people suffer through it.
MARCIANO: I'm trying to catch most of them, but a lot of them are going into late innings, and I tell you know, you had to wait all night for Cabrera to actually get to home plate on that --
(LAUGHTER)
COSTELLO: I know. He's so slow. He's a big man. He's a big man.
MARCIANO: He is. And he's got a big bat at the plate, at least.
COSTELLO: Yes.
MARCIANO: Hey, guys, speaking of Texas, we go a little bit further south. Liberty County, just north of Houston, here's what it looked like yesterday, damage from thunderstorms that rolled through the eastern part of the state there. Big-time winds over 50 to 60 miles an hour at times taking down a slew of trees. You see it in there just north of Houston.
We won't see that in Texas today. We're all clear. St. Louis all clear, as well. But Detroit, you want to wrap that game up as early as you can. I think it starts at four o'clock but by the time sixth, seventh, eighth inning rolls around, the rains are going to be there. You go west of Mississippi, and we are pretty much rain free.
There's your rain in Chicago. It's making slow end roads towards Michigan, and again, it will be there late in the afternoon if not early evening, and the northeast seeing a little bit of rainfall that's heading towards Boston. We do have delays this morning out of LaGuardia, hour and 40 minutes delays already, in Philadelphia seeing an hour delay, and Chicago and O'Hare seeing about 30-minute delays.
Look at these temperatures for our west coast friends. Good morning, SoCal, Santa Ana season is here (ph), 105 degrees yesterday for a record high there. Long beach at 102. Ramona seeing 101 and Los Angeles seeing 99 degrees. High pressure over the Four Corners region, off shore winds, not incredibly breezy, but enough to cook the atmosphere, 10 to 15 degrees above normal. Temperatures today easily into the 90s, and in some cases, up and over 100 degrees.
All right, guys. It's the latest from here and good luck to your Tigers tonight. They are up against the wall. They are facing elimination, Ali and Christine, as we like to say.
VELSHI: Yes.
COSTELLO: In the week, we have just Verlander pitching now. So, I'm keeping my fingers crossed. MARCIANO: That is the ace card.
COSTELLO: Yes. Thanks, Rob.
ROMANS: Thanks, Rob.
MARCIANO: See you, guys.
COSTELLO: Now is your chance to "Talk Back" on one of the big stories of the day. The big question for you this morning, what should the United States do about Iran? An alleged Iranian agent charged in an assassination plot on U.S. soil, just the latest twist in a difficult and contentious relationship or non-relationship.
The United States actually hasn't talked to Iran officially since the 1979 revolution. Since then, Iran's been part of the, quote, "axis of evil." a nuclear wannabe.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GEORGE W. BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Iran aggressively pursues these weapons and exports terror, while an unelected few repress the Iranian people's hope for freedom.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: In 2009, newly elected President Obama was pitching engagement with Iran. Oh, but that was before Tehran's brutal crackdown on election protesters. The imprisonment of three American hikers and the Iranian president's America bashing speeches. Engagement? Doubtful.
Congressman Peter King says the United States needs to respond boldly to the latest provocation. Consider military options and throw Iranian diplomats in the United States.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. PETER KING, (R-NY), HOMELAND SECURITY COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN: This violates all international norms, violates international law, and basically, you're talking about an act of war. I think the United States has to really consider taking very significant action. I don't think sanctions alone are enough.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: It is debatable whether sanctions on Iran or North Korea or Iraq really changes behavior. So, could this go beyond sanctions?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, it could, but we're not, we're not going there yet. It's critically important that we unite the world in the isolation of and dealing with the Iranians. That's the most, the surest way to be able to get results. (END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: So, "Talk Back" today. What should the United States do about Iran? Facebook.com/americanmorning. Facebook.com/americanmorning. I'll read your responses later this hour.
VELSHI: All right.
Coming up next, "Minding Your Business." Which airline is asking, quote, "customers of size" to now buy two seats?
COSTELLO: Really?
VELSHI: Yes. We're going to tell you about it on the other side. Twenty-four minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Twenty-seven minutes after the hour. "Minding Your Business" this morning.
In just a few minutes, we'll find out how many unemployment claims were filed for the first time last week. Economists expect the number to be slightly lower than the week before.
Banking giant, JPMorgan Chase just released its third quarter earnings report and it top estimates. CEO, Jamie Dimon warns the company remains cautious because of the, quote, "challenging economic environment." Search giant, Google, releases its earnings report after the closing bell this afternoon.
U.S. futures are trading slightly lower this morning, though, the Dow did turn positive for the year at one point during trading yesterday, but the rally lost steam right before markets closed.
For the first time in a long time, CNN founder, Ted Turner, is not the nation's biggest private land owner. That title now belongs to fellow cable pioneer, John Malone, of Liberty Media who now owns 2.2 million acres of land. The land report comes out with rankings every year. Turner had the title each of the past four years.
Southwest Airlines is expanding its two-seat policy for extra large passengers beginning in March. AirTran Airways will adopt the same policy as it becomes part of southwest. The airline will require passengers who can't fit into one seat with the arm rest lowered to purchase a second seat.
AMERICAN MORNING is back right after this break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: It's 32 minutes past the hour. Good morning. Top stories for you now.
More than a dozen people reportedly hurt after two Amtrak trains crashed in Oakland, California, late last night. Official say one of the trains was parked and dropping off passengers when it was hit behind by another train.
ROMANS: The BlackBerry blackout now testing the nerves of people who depend on that smartphone. For the fourth day in a row the outage started overseas and spread to the U.S. and Canada yesterday. Research in Motion, the maker of BlackBerry says the problem has been fixed, but there's a backlog of messages which means disruption of services until that backlog is overcome.
VELSHI: And this just in, the big news from the Obama reelection campaign. The president's team and the Democratic National Committee raising a combined $70 million in the third quarter of the fundraising this year. The Obama campaign says that over 600,000 people donated to the campaign in the July through September period.
COSTELLO: Wow.
We all know cities across the country are facing budget cuts and have been forced to make some tough choices. In Topeka, Kansas, they can't afford to prosecute domestic abuse cases. Their solution? Change the law.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Abusing your spouse is now legal in Topeka, Kansas, at least according to the city law it is. In a spat with their district attorney's office over the cost of prosecuting domestic abuse cases the Topeka city council voted Tuesday amidst protest to repeal its domestic abuse law.
DAN STANLEY, TOPEKA INTERIM CITY MANAGER: It seems maybe hard- hearted if you look at the surface of repealing your ordinance against domestic battery, well, you know, we don't have an ordinance against murder either, but that doesn't make us a pro-murder city.
COSTELLO: The move came after Topeka District Attorney Chad Taylor announced due to budget cuts his office would no longer handle Topeka's domestic abuse cases. This mean the responsibility of prosecuting the cases would fall on the city of Topeka. But that cost money, money the city of Topeka says it doesn't have. So no one handled the abuse cases and 30 suspects have gone unprosecuted since the standoff began a month ago.
STANLEY: Somehow the city should be handling these matters that have the long-time responsibility of the county.
COSTELLO: And the city council's move seems to have worked. District Attorney Chad Taylor announced Wednesday that as a matter of public safety, his office is forced to resume prosecuting Topeka's domestic battery cases.
CHAD TAYLOR, SHAWNEE COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY: The whole situation is unfortunate. And the sad part about it is if we go back to eight weeks ago, we told everyone what the ramifications of these budget cuts were going to be. (END VIDEOTAPE)
COSTELLO: Further evidence of just how bad the budget cuts appear to be, District Attorney Chad Taylor added that domestic abuse cases will have to be handled by interns who are second-year law students. They have temporary law licenses and are supervised by assistant DAs who will prosecute a case with the intern if it goes to trial.
ROMANS: It's just horrible when there's not enough money to go around and they're making these Orwellian choices that really affect people's lives.
COSTELLO: But at least they're prosecuting the cases, again.
ROMANS: CNN is taking an in depth look at bullying and focusing on ways to stop it. Next week "Sesame Street" addresses the crisis in a special episode where big bird gets bullying.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Big birds don't have huge feet like that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wanted to join the club.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sorry. We can't include you in the good birds club with feet like that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, that's too bad.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So long, big foot.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's Big Bird.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: It just breaks my heart. Earlier on AMERICAN MORNING Big Bird and Blue Jay paid us a visit and asked what they can do to help educate and change the culture of bullying.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What is wonderful about "Sesame Street", it does engage the adult, as well as the child. We're modeling all of the skills that we want parents to actually pick up the strategies, so they learn how to talk to children about these difficult topics.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I learned that I should be a reporter, like you. If I see something, I should go tell an adult, it's not tattling.
ROMANS: Big bird, if you see somebody in trouble, you will be a peacemaker?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I always like to help. And I want everybody to be happy like we said. Happy, happy to be me. (END VIDEO CLIP)
ROMANS: The "Sesame Street" bullying episode airs Monday on PBS. We were talking about before and after that segment about how there are parents, actually, and adults who think this is a rite of passage, having kids picked on and learning how to stick up for themselves, and that's not a good philosophy.
COSTELLO: The other thing we never bring up is children learn behavior from somewhere and oftentimes that's in the home. So parents also have to set a good example for their children.
ROMANS: So watch it Monday on PBS.
VELSHI: All this week, by the way, at 8:00 p.m. eastern, Anderson Cooper and CNN are calling attention to America's bullying crisis. Then on Saturday night on CNN watch "Bullying -- It Stops Here," a town hall led by Anderson Cooper. That's Saturday at 8:00 p.m. eastern right here on CNN.
COSTELLO: All right, where will the next global epidemic come from? That's the exact question on the mind of our next guest. He's a virus hunter trying to predict the next fast spreading global crisis and how to prevent it. It's 37 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: If you've seen the movie "Contagion" you know it's fiction, but just barely. Fear of a deadly new virus spreading uncontrollably is all too real. That's where our next guest comes in. He is what you might call the Indiana Jones of virus hunters. His new book is called "The Viral Storm." Dr. Nathan Wolfe, who was a consultant on that move, "Contagion." I read your book. I would shake your hand, but I'm not going to. It says that handshakes, humans are your worst enemy in terms of spreading viruses.
NATHAN WOLFE, AUTHOR, "THE VIRAL STORM": Well, it's the way that we're connected around the world that really sort of permits these things to jump from any rural village or marketplace to the rest of the world in just a matter of days.
ROMANS: It all starts with animals and humans and animals and their interaction and then you add in a globalized world with air travel and the movement of people and things around the world and you have sort of this cauldron of possible virus activity.
WOLFE: Yes, almost like a mixing vessel where these things have the potential to shuffle up their genes to interact with each other and create completely new viruses. And each one of these viruses a little bit different. It's sort of like working a combination, if it happens to hit the right combination, then the potential to spread could be really devastating.
ROMANS: And that's why virus hunters like you are so into this. You're looking for clues and signals around the world. You're looking for the signs that something evil is amidst and you have to try to get ahead of it.
WOLFE: If you think back to say heart disease in the '70s, this was something you go to your cardiologist and they'd say, oh, if you have a heart attack, we're going to treat it and that would be the best way. Now we know prediction and prevention is the way to do it. That's where we're trying to get with these pandemics. We need to be ahead of the curve and stop them before they spread everywhere.
ROMANS: We even know that the CDC and Google and search engines, I mean, they can monitor what people are Googling about, for example. The kind of symptoms they're having and what is popping up. We globalization has let us get information but also have things spread faster.
WOLFE: You'd be amazed. If you visited our office and our labs around the world, in addition to sort of putting on the boots and getting out to where these viruses are jumping from animals to humans, we've got these software engineers in our office with their hoodies following hundreds of thousands of sites to see exactly where these outbreaks are so we can investigate them quickly.
ROMANS: You know, it's interesting, because my grandparents talked about hearing stories when they were growing up bout 1918, 1919, that Spanish flu, which was more deadly than the black plague, which was a bacteria, but it was very deadly. And that was spread by the movement of troops around the world. You think about how people are moving even more rapidly and quickly around the world. Is it a more dangerous situation?
WOLFE: Yes, what it just means is that historically these viruses would sort of poke around in a village and run out of people and basically go extinct. But there's no such thing anymore. We really exist at this one single world where everything, you know, has the potential for spread.
ROMANS: The planet should be passing $7 billion in population this month. By 2100 it should be $10.1 billion. When you go through history you see these huge wipeouts, one after the other. Should we be concerned about how fast these things can spread and are we doing the right things to prevent some sort of big pandemic?
WOLFE: If you look at this, for me it's a question, globalization on the good side and the bad side. The bad side is that it connects us all in ways that allow these things to spread. But the good side is we have all of these new technologies which allow us to communicate much more rapidly about what the nature of these things is going on. The issue, though, we have to be focused on being ahead of the curve. We just can't sort of let technology trickle along. We have to really focus on these sorts of problems.
ROMANS: All right, Nathan Wolfe, the book is called "The Viral Storm -- The Dawn of the New Pandemic Age." Very nice to meet you. It doesn't have to be scary stuff, right? We're on top of it.
WOLFE: Absolutely.
ROMANS: Morning headlines are next. It's 44 minutes after the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Forty-six minutes after the hour. Here are your "Morning Headlines."
The Labor Department announcing 404,000 unemployment claims were filed for the first time last week. That is down 1,000 from the prior week but still, any time this number comes in at above 400,000 it's not a good sign for the labor market.
Markets open in about 45 minutes. Right now U.S. stock futures are trading lower, but for the most part, stocks have been climbing since the start of the month as investors grow more optimistic that Europe will solve its debt problems.
BlackBerry maker Research In Motion says the problem that caused a four-day blackout has been fixed but because of a backlog of messages there may still be disruptions in service.
Herman Cain leading the field of Republican candidates for president. The latest NBC/Wall Street Journal poll has the Georgia businessman on top with 27 percent; that's four points higher than Mitt Romney.
Big news from the Obama re-election camp. The President's team and the Democratic National Committee raising a combined $70 million in the third quarter of this fund-raising year. The Obama campaign says that over 600,000 people donated to the campaign in the July through September period.
South Korea's President and First Lady will be honored guests at a White House state dinner tonight and then on Friday President Lee Myung-bak will accompany President Obama on a visit to General Motors, an auto plant in Detroit.
That's the news you need to start your day. AMERICAN MORNING is back right after this break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COSTELLO: Oh it's a perfect song isn't it?
ROMANS: She hums the song all the time.
COSTELLO: She does?
VELSHI: No.
COSTELLO: Hello, New York City. It's cloudy outside. It's 61 degrees, but there will be thunderstorms, once again, later 69.
ROMANS: All right, welcome back to AMERICAN MORNING.
Ok, his head-soled shoes became red hot after they were spotted on Carrie Bradshaw herself. Now, Christian Louboutin aren't just for Hollywood's leading ladies. Talk about "Backstage Pass." Alina Cho got a look at his shoe laboratory.
ALINA CHO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean I have to say it was the interview of a lifetime. All of you know me and know my love for shoes.
VELSHI: Yes.
ROMANS: For tall shoes. Tall, tall shoes.
CHO: One person calls them stilts, they might be. You know there is a saying in fashion, it doesn't matter how great the clothes are if the shoes are bad.
Well, everything can be bad, Christian Louboutin knows a thing or two about that. For twenty years he's been creating the most iconic shoes in the world, you know, the ones with the red soles. So iconic that Louboutin is now suing to make sure no one else can make them.
Last week he gave me a rare glimpse inside his studio.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHO (voice-over): Made famous by Jennifer Lopez and "Sex and the City."
SARAH JESSICA PARKER, ACTRESS: Hello lover.
CHO: Christian Louboutin is the shoemaker to the stars. A man who doesn't just talk the talk. He walks the walk. The designer behind those iconic red-soled shoes.
CHRISTIAN LOUBOUTIN: And then it transforms the person from head to toe. A pair of shoes is a bit like that.
CHO: They're on Oprah, Beyonce and the First Lady of France. This year alone, he sold 700,000 pairs of shoes. But don't call them comfortable.
LOUBOUTIN: It's the only compliment which come out of the design. I would be unhappy. So I have nothing against the concept but it's not the thing I'm sort of fighting for.
CHO (on camera): So what are you fighting for?
LOUBOUTIN: Beauty. That's different.
CHO: Beauty doesn't come cheap. Louboutin shoes start at $395 and can skyrocket to $6,000. More if they're custom made. These are 4,200 Euros, that's nearly $6,000 U.S. Why?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why not?
CHO: This is his laboratory. Each season Louboutin sketches 400 to 500 styles. About 150 are produced. Each pair is carefully handmade, taking anywhere from a day to a year to make and on the walls -- Renee Zellweger. LOUBOUTIN: This is a bit of a secret.
CHO: Shoe molds for his A-List clients.
Louboutin is celebrating 20 years in business with a commemorative book. And a lawsuit against Yves Saint Laurent which recently came out with, you guess it, a red-soled shoes.
LOUBOUTIN: You cannot say that you can own a color. I do not own the color I own a red lacquered -- red lacquered sole on the back of my shoes.
CHO: Just how did he come up with the idea for the red soles? Louboutin says an assistant who happened to be painting her nails.
LOUBOUTIN: I grabbed her nail polish and polished the sole, which became red and the minute it became like a little bit like red then it popped off.
CHO: Throw them on, but run at your own risk.
LOUBOUTIN: It's not a good thing to run through life. Appreciate life.
CHO: Appreciate shoes. Beautiful shoes.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CHO: That's right. You know, Louboutin has also paid homage to CNN. Years ago he created a knee-high boot complete with pockets, pen holders and another one of his signatures, (INAUDIBLE). That means of course, Christine you know this, a big heel. He said, it's for people like us who do reportage. And when I asked him about the heel, I said, why a big heel? You don't need a big heel for that running through a war zone. And he said, it's always useful.
ROMANS: You can use it as a weapon, it's true.
VELSHI: I think a lot of wisdom out of him. It's not a good thing to run through life.
CHO: You know, he said, it's a kitchen philosophy. But one woman said, I can't run in my shoes. He said when was the last time you ran? Number one.
ROMANS: It's so tall. It's about elongating the leg. He does have an aesthetic point.
CHO: He does. And you know, he's fighting for beauty, as he said. But one of the things that he's really known for, besides the red bottoms, as you'll see on the bottom of my shoe today. I thought I would pay homage to Mr. Louboutin.
VELSHI: There you go.
COSTELLO: Are those the $6,000 pair? CHO: Unfortunately not, no. But they're the base price. You know, he was saying that he's very famous for his nude shoes and he says it creates this optical illusion and it lengthens the leg so much so that he's creating, he's working on different shades of nude now. Because if you think about it, one nude isn't going to work for everyone. One nude pair of shoes, Carol Costello, is not going to work for everyone.
COSTELLO: Hey, I'm just getting over the woman who paid $6,000 for a pair of shoes because, why not?
CHO: You know what is crazy. It's the first pair of Louboutin shoes she ever bought. She went for it. She went for it and I said, I can't believe haven't bought -- this is what you, your first pair? And she said, why not? Good for her.
ROMANS: Wow, I got a mortgage payment. That's all I have to say.
(CROSSTALK)
COSTELLO: The shoes are bigger than your mortgage payment.
(CROSSTALK)
VELSHI: If you take nothing away from this -- if you take nothing away from this just remember that one shoe is not for everyone. Don't miss Alina's special "Fashion Backstage Pass" from Paris it airs this Saturday October 15th at 2:30 p.m. Eastern.
COSTELLO: Coming up next our "Talk Back" question of the day. The question, "What should the United States do about Iran?" We have some great responses this morning. We'll read some of them.
It's six minutes until the top of the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ROMANS: Good morning, Washington, D.C. you can see that it's a little drizzly at 64. But what they're doing is they're waiting for the arrival of South Korea's president and first lady to the United States because it will be a big state to-do this evening. A fifth, I think, state dinner since the Obamas have been in the White House.
Also celebrating President Obama getting through several trade deals. One of them with South Korea. I think tomorrow the two presidents will be going to a GM plant in Detroit.
COSTELLO: In Detroit.
VELSHI: That's right.
COSTELLO: Now, it's time for our "Talk Back" question of the morning. We asked you this. "What should the United States do about Iran?"
Here are some of your responses.
This from Aaron, "It's not our problem. First of all, they're targeting a Saudi official. Secondly, everyone who wants military action should join the military. If you're too old, enlist your kids or grandkids. I'm so tired of tough Americans who have no skin in the game advocating to put other's families in harm's way. I'm tired of wasting precious lives over in that god-forsaken desert."
This from Ebra, "It's none of our business. Let the Saudis do their job. Honestly, we can't afford another military war."
This from Linda, "I believe Iran will ultimately take care of itself. However, the timing of the administration's propaganda department was perfect. All the press covered this issue and not the subpoenas being served on Eric Holder and the others."
And this from Jory, "We should see some indisputable proof of the Iranian government's role in this fiasco. We shouldn't be saying things like act of war until proof is readily available to U.S. citizens. And we certainly shouldn't resort to something more than sanctions without the sound support of Congress."
Keep the conversation going, facebook.com/Americanmorning. And thanks for your comments. I appreciate it.
ROMANS: All right. That does it for us.
"CNN NEWSROOM" with Kyra Phillips starts right now. Good morning Kyra.
KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR, "CNN NEWSROOM": Guys, thanks so much. Good morning to you.
