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New Day Saturday
President Obama Talks to CNN; Gluten-Free Food Options Growing; College Student Gives Epic Speech; Bad Break for "Breaking Bad" Fans; Yosemite Fire Burns 128,000 Acres; Parting Shot From San Diego Mayor; Remembering The March On Washington; The High Price Of Higher Education; Tuff To Gunman: "Come Back In Here"; Lawmaker's Mixed Messages
Aired August 24, 2013 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): The fast-moving wildfire that has consumed 165 square miles entered Yosemite National Park, and having doubled in size in just one day, it's now bearing down on thousands of structures.
MAYOR BOB FILNER (D), SAN DIEGO: I started my political career facing lynch mobs. And I think we have just faced one here in San Diego.
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IVAN WATSON, CNN ANCHOR: He may be out of a job, but he is going down swinging. We have Mayor Bob Filner's bizarre exit speech and what he got in exchange for his resignation.
KEILAR: What made a town full of "Breaking Bad" fans call 911? Let's say the police did not quite see it as a life threatening emergency. Good morning, everybody. I am Brianna Keilar.
WATSON: And I am Ivan Watson. It's 8:00. This is NEW DAY SATURDAY.
KEILAR: Now just in to CNN, the president is meeting with his security team this morning to discuss the crisis in Syria. Mr. Obama is weighing his options after this week's reported chemical weapon attack near Damascus. Previously he had said that would be a red line in the conflict one that would, in his words, change the equation. Opposition leaders claimed that attack killed more than 1,300 people in a Damascus suburb. The Pentagon is preparing a list of options for the White House if it decides to intervene.
WATSON: Also new this morning, that ferocious wildfire raging in California's Yosemite National Park is threatening 4,500 structures.
KEILAR: And this thing is moving so fast that it doubled in size in just a day. Its impact may even be felt 200 miles away in San Francisco.
WATSON: So we'll explain that in a moment. First, CNN's Nick Valencia is outside Yosemite National Park. Nick, do they need more manpower or is it a matter of weather and terrain?
NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ivan, it is a matter of resources and trying to get the resources in here, there was some good news overnight. Last few hours, we've learned that containment is now at 5 percent, that's up from 2 percent. Fire officials credit the use of fixed wing aircrafts for the progress. They are using C-130s, but this is an out of control fire. This is a fast moving fire and it encroached the western boundary of Yosemite National Park, the results of winds and just inaccessible terrain.
It's really tough for these firefighters to get into parts of where the flames are the worst. Evacuations are under order for parts of this area here in Groveland. Yesterday, one of our local affiliates caught up with one of those residents who were on their way out.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's just the conditions and everything else, we all thought it was going to be the year we got a fire. It has been a while since one came through that took care of the brush and everything, and so nobody is surprised there is a fire up here.
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VALENCIA: This has been a relatively slow fire season for the state of California but this one, this fire, the rim fire, has the potential of being one of the largest in state history here in California -- Ivan, Brianna.
KEILAR: So Nick, what is kind of interesting to me about this, you have a state of emergency in San Francisco, even though it's 200 miles away. Why is that?
VALENCIA: That's a great point. A lot of San Francisco's electricity and water comes from this area so two of those power generation stations have been affected. They are in this area and they supply power to things like the cable cars and the streetlights in the city of San Francisco. So that's why you saw yesterday, the governor of California, Jerry Brown, issuing, declaring a state of emergency for the county of San Francisco and the cities. It just gives you a sense of how wide this impact is and how big the fire is and how wide of an area it is affecting, I should say -- Brianna.
WATSON: Nick Valencia outside Yosemite National Park. Thanks, Nick.
KEILAR: So at first glance you might think that this is snow, but actually it's not. This is hail. It's a blanket of ice chunks coating parts of Denver. This hail choked some streets so much that snowplows actually had to be called in if you can imagine that right in the middle of summer. So this hailstorm, it came with torrents of rain. It prompted flash flooding in some neighborhoods. One driver said the water came up very fast and it quickly covered the hood of his car.
WATSON: So let's talk hail and fire with CNN meteorologist, Alexandra Steele -- Alexandra. ALEXANDRA STEELE, AMS METEOROLOGIST: So let's talk a little bit about this hail again. Now this is the time lapse from that Thursday night into early Friday morning when this incredible storm moved through, and predominantly it was south of Denver, really southwest, especially in Littleton, Colorado, and what they saw was six inches of hail, and in addition to that, it was kind of a generation of two storms coming together with dynamic up lift, and for the most part it was hail and dime-sized hail and nickel, but we even saw golf ball-sized hail, and that's how they had to use the snowplows to push it away, and four feet of flooding, and Littleton, Colorado, getting the worst of it.
So from where we've seen too much rain where flooding was a concern to where we haven't seen enough rain, and that's of course, the rim fire, currently the temperature there is 37 degrees. The winds coming out of the north, predominantly these winds are coming from the south- southwest, although we have seen desperate winds going at different directions kind of moving this fire around. Dew point incredibly low, and that's the amount of moisture in the air, and wind gusts were about twenty seven miles per hour, and this fire did double in size overnight at the function of two things, the winds of course and the terrain.
What we talk about with winds is really the funnelling of the winds. What we will see this afternoon, sustained winds, 10 to 15, 20 to 25- mile-per-hour wind gusts, and the problem weather-wise is no chance for rain at all overt next few days, and the winds will continue to be where they have been, and we have a tropical storm with so much flooding rain we're going to see, but that will stay south of where we really need it. So Tropical Storm Eva unfortunately will bring flooding to places like Vegas and Palm Springs, but you guys, it won't get far enough north to impact this fire unfortunately.
KEILAR: You always wonder in the fires, Alexandra, the embers can jump miles in some cases, and when you look at the wind gusts you might not be surprised as to how that happens.
STEELE: Yes, I saw a tweet that said there were two fires on each of these ridges, and looking at that was something he had never seen.
KEILAR: All right, Alexandra, thank you.
WATSON: Moving on, new this morning, San Diego Mayor Bob Filner will be out of a job beginning next Friday, but not out of the spotlight. The mayor still faces possible lawsuits over sexual allegations of 18 women, and still he seems to blame just about everyone, everyone but Bob Filner himself.
CNN's Casey Wian joins me from San Diego with more. Casey, Filner doesn't seem very apologetic or remorseful, does he?
CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Certainly not, at least not at the end of his speech yesterday, Ivan. I was standing no more than 10 feet from him when he walked into the council chambers and started delivering this address, and it started out as if he was going to deliver the heartfelt apology. He was choking up with emotion. He started out by apologizing to the city. He apologized to his supporters. He apologized to his former fiance, who called off their relationship right as this scandal was breaking.
If he had stopped then I think a lot of people would have really taken to heart what he had to say, but then he launched into a tirade claiming that he was the victim of a lynch mob. Let's listen.
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MAYOR BOB FILNER, SAN DIEGO: Not one allegation, members of the council, has ever been independently verified or proven in court. I have never sexually harassed anyone, but the hysteria that has been created and many of you helped to feed is hysteria of a lynch mob.
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WIAN: That is lynch mob accusation. It's interesting given the fact that back in the 1960s, Filner worked with the freedom writers, and he talked about how he faced lynch mobs in the past and stared them down, but in this case, he blamed political opponents. He blamed powerful business interest in the city. He blamed the news media, for someone that came out and apologized for his personal feelings, it was certainly strange to hear him cast so many accusations for so many people for the predicament he found himself in. A lot of people would say it's typical Bob Filner. He did a lot of good work for some of the people of San Diego, but then his administration went down in flames -- Ivan and Brianna.
KEILAR: Such a weird comparison for him to use that kind of language. Casey, obviously this isn't for over Filner, right? There is more to this beyond his just stepping down?
WIAN: Absolutely. There's still a sexual harassment lawsuit that has been filed by his former campaign spokeswoman. That is what really triggered this whole series of events with all these women coming forward, that lawsuit has not been settled. He will get help from the city in terms of defending himself and the city against that lawsuit. They will now be sort of working together on that, but there is also two separate criminal investigations underway, so far from over for Bob Filner.
KEILAR: All right, CNN's Casey Wian in San Diego, thank you.
WATSON: This week marks a watershed moment for civil rights.
KEILAR: Thousands are gathering in the nation's capital to remember, reflect and also to call to action. On August 28th, 1963, the Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. gave his defining "I Have A Dream" speech and today marchers will be rallying again.
WATSON: CNN's Chris Lawrence joins from the National Mall in Washington. Chris, are you seeing more people gathering there yet?
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Yes, the cart just starting to pick up, Ivan and Brianna, behind me they are starting different prayers, calls to action as things really start to move forward, just sort of the highlight of the event, which happens in a few hours. We will see a few speakers throughout the morning and then at about 1:00, the marchers will start here and march to the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial and then from there over to the Washington Monument. A lot of people here, you know, were not born in 1963 or they were so young they don't remember, and so it's left to some of the folks who did live through that time to sort of really bring what this means into focus.
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KINSHASHA HOLMAN-CONWILL, NATIONAL MUSEUM OF AFRICAN-AMERICAN HISTORY: It's hard to imagine, particularly for younger people, what the '60s were like. It was a moment of extraordinary promise and violence and great activism, but when you hear the speeches, they still stir me now and make me want to weep.
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LAWRENCE: And we expect to hear a lot of stirring speeches over the following morning, as people sort of bring their causes out to the national audience -- Ivan, Brianna.
KEILAR: Chris, some say that the rally is not just about commemorating history, although we certainly do think of it in that regard. Martin Luther King's son told us it was about jobs, justice and freedom.
LAWRENCE: It's a great point because, you know, the origins of this march really started about jobs. It became synonymous with the civil rights movement with the "I have a dream" speech, but it started talking about raising the minimum wage, getting the federal government to commit to a job creation program, and here we are almost full circle in what is the biggest issue among Americans right now remains job creation.
You will see people out here with jobs on their t-shirts, talking about the economic issues, as well as some of the other issues that were not in play 50 years ago, but now today, immigration, the rights of gays and lesbians, and, you know, some of the gun laws that have been in the news over the past year to two years, so a lot of those issues as well, people trying to talk about here today.
KEILAR: All right, Chris Lawrence, thank you for your report. We will be checking back in with you.
WATSON: Up next, coming out of college buried under student loan debt. Alison Kosik is New York following that for us.
ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Ivan. You know, it's part of the American dream, going to college, but then again paying for it can really be a nightmare. I will have more on what President Obama is offering to get a handle on the debt that many students are leaving with when they graduate college.
KEILAR: And also coming up, the heroic acts of Antoinette Tuff.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I said to him, bullets don't have no name, and if they shoot you they are going to shoot me.
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KEILAR: Just ahead, CNN's exclusive interview with the bookkeeper that got a Georgia shooting suspect to put down his weapon.
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WATSON: Good morning, New York City. A look at the empire state building there. Welcome to your NEW DAY, New York. And sticking with New York, it's the home to several elite universities, Columbia and NYU, among a few there. And along with the elite degrees, is a huge price tag, $26,000 worth of debt and that number doesn't appear to be shrinking anytime soon.
Alison Kosik is live outside NYU this morning. Good morning, Alison. President Obama is not happy with how much college cost. I don't think anybody is. How does he plan to change the system?
KOSIK: And you're right on both those accounts, Ivan. Good morning to you. When you think about how people choose which colleges they want to go to, they look at the curriculum. They look at the sports program. Well, now President Obama says, no. We shouldn't only be looking at that. We should make these college and universities more accountable. In addition to those other factors, how affordable colleges are? What are the graduation rates? What kind of debt are students leaving with?
These are the kinds of things that President Obama wants to be included in this rating system and once that rating system is in place, he wants how much financial aid is distributed to be based on those ratings, because of what you are talking about, because the students are leaving college in debt up to their eyeballs.
Giving you one example here at NYU, New York University, the average price for tuition is $64,000, that includes room and board, and they are leaving the university with an average of $35,000. So what President Obama is proposing is to make universities more accountable. Here is more on what he said earlier this week.
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BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We want to create a new system of ratings for colleges so that parents and students know what schools graduate kids on time, are a good value for the money, and lead to good jobs, because right now the rating systems, the commercial rating systems tend to focus on what is the most expensive school or has the nicest sports facilities.
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KOSIK: His proposals are pretty aggressive at this point. He is hoping that this rating system could be in place by the 2015 school year and have the rating system tied to how much financial aid is allocated to these universities, have that in place by 2018. But Ivan, that would have to go through congressional approval and can't imagine that happening by 2018 -- Ivan.
WATSON: It's hard to imagine. Alison Kosik live outside NYU early on a Saturday morning. Probably there are very few university students awake right now.
KOSIK: You are right about that.
WATSON: Moving on, an emotional reunion you will see only on CNN. School shooting hero Antoinette Tuff meets the 911 operator that helped her survive a frightening confrontation with the gunman.
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ANDERSON COOPER, HOST, CNN'S "AC 360": This is Kendra McCray.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Great.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How are you?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How are you doing?
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WATSON: These women first met Tuesday on the phone. Police say a man with an assault rifle and nearly 500 rounds of ammo walked into the school in Decatur, Georgia where Tuff works as a bookkeeper. She convinced him to surrender without getting a single person hurt. Tuff's courage might have been displayed best when she demanded the gunman stay in the room with her.
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ANTOINETTE TUFF, GEORGIA SCHOOL SHOOTING HERO: He went out to shoot at the police and they were shooting back at him, and I said to him, come back in here right now, come from out there and come in here, and we are both going to be safe, because I said to him, bullets don't have no name, and if they shoot you, they are going to shoot me. So come back in here, we are going to work this out.
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WATSON: That's remarkable. Tuff's appearance was not all serious, and she managed to laugh when Anderson told her what he wants to be his personal motivator.
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COOPER: I want to have you on my speed dial. Whenever I am down, I want to talk to you, my gosh. You are great.
TUFF: Thank you.
COOPER: I want you to call me sweetie and tell me everything is going to be OK.
TUFF: It's going to be OK. COOPER: That's going to be my ring tone, and it's going to say sweetie, everything is going to be OK.
TUFF: Yes, and it is.
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WATSON: It's going to be okay, Anderson. A programming note, Antoinette Tuff's pastor will be our guest tomorrow on NEW DAY. That's Sunday morning at 8:40 Eastern.
Now politicians seem to be trying to outdo each other this week with crazy comments including a strange discourse on poverty and barbecue. We have the lowlights coming up.
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KEILAR: So kids are not the only ones who say the darnedest things. Politicians do as well.
WATSON: The difference is you would think politicians would know better. Meet Congresswoman Anna Maria Jimenez-Ortiz. She has one of the more original arguments for why same-sex marriage won't work. She says, quote, "a marriage should only be considered amongst people that can look at each other in the eye while having sexual intercourse."
KEILAR: All right, then. I don't know what to say about that. Ortiz said that comment was taken out of context. She tried to clarify her own position saying she meant that in a respectful manner.
WATSON: Again, I don't know how to take that in or out of context.
Moving on, next up, Colorado State Senator Vicky Marble, she was trying to discuss health issues that affect the black community, but it didn't go so well.
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VICKIE MARBLE, COLORADO STATE SENATOR: There are problems in the black race, and sickle cell anemia is something that comes up, and diabetes is something that is prevalent and the genetic makeup and you just can't help it.
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KEILAR: Maybe she would have been OK if she stopped there, but she didn't.
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MARBLE: Although I have to say, I never ate better in my life than when you go down south. I mean, I love it and everybody loves it.
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KEILAR: All right, well, not everybody loved that comment, as you can imagine. Critics slammed her, and she said the comment was not meant to be disparaging to any community but it was.
WATSON: Yes, sometimes it's better to keep your mouth shut. So we'll stick with politics right after the break and keep our mouth shut for now.
KEILAR: But we do have some new developments this morning on how President Obama may go forward with the conflict in Syria.
WATSON: Brianna and I will be talking with former presidential adviser, David Gergen.
KEILAR: First though, Christine Romans has a preview of "YOUR MONEY" coming up in about an hour from now. Good morning, Christine.
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, he changed the world once and now he wants to do it again with a plan to connect 5 billion people to the internet. You are going to hear from him right here on an all-new "YOUR MONEY."
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KEILAR: Bottom of the hour now, welcome back everyone. I am Brianna Keilar.
WATSON: And I'm Ivan Watson.
Here are five things you need to know for your NEW DAY.
Number one, marchers are in the nation's capital to retrace the 1963 march on Washington. 50 years ago Wednesday the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and gave his "I Have a Dream" address urging an end to racism. His eldest son told us this week's events are about jobs, justice and freedom.
KEILAR: And number two crews in Yosemite National Park have a long way to go to wrangle a wildfire there. It is just five percent contained this morning. Flames have put 4,500 structures in jeopardy. The fire could also impact the flow of water and electricity all the way into San Francisco.
WATSON: Number three, San Diego's mayor has one week left in office. The city council made a deal with Bob Filner where he'll resign as of Friday; 18 women are accusing him of sexual harassment. A feisty Filner spoke to the city council yesterday and blamed politicians for feeding what he called the hysteria surrounding those allegations.
KEILAR: And number four authorities in Washington State are searching for a second teenager suspected of beating a World War II veteran to death. Police are calling Kenan Adam-Kinard a danger to the public. Another 16-year-old is in custody charged with the murder. Police say 88-year-old Delbert Belton was waiting for a ride Wednesday when he was robbed and assaulted.
WATSON: Number five if you've got an old Powerball ticket, you might want to check it. Officials in New York say a year-old ticket worth $1 million is set to expire tomorrow. If no one comes forward the money goes to future jackpots. The winning numbers -- we'll help you out here -- drawn last August 25th, are 1, 6, 7, 20, 49 and Powerball number 23.
KEILAR: Gosh, you really hope that person figures it out and claims their money, don't you?
WATSON: Yes.
KEILAR: Gosh, $1 million bucks.
Well, you know when President Obama sat down with NEW DAY's Chris Cuomo this week the fresh carnage in Syria was front and center. Chris pressed the President if the latest allegations of a chemical weapons attack are proven true, hasn't Syria crossed the President's red line.
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CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR, NEW DAY: The red line comment that you made --
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Yes.
CUOMO: -- was a year ago this week.
OBAMA: Right.
CUOMO: We know since then there have been things that you qualify for crossing that red line?
OBAMA: Well Chris, I've got to -- I've got to say this. The -- when we take action -- let's just take the example of Syria. There are rules of international law.
And you know if the U.S. goes in and attacks another country without a U.N. mandate and without clear evidence that can be presented, then there are questions in terms of whether international law supports it, do we have the coalition to make it work and, you know, those are considerations that we have to take into account.
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WATSON: Now, David Gergen is a senior political analyst for CNN and he joins us by phone. David, if it proves to be a chemical weapons attack in Syria, this could be the deadliest case of such an attack, really since Saddam Hussein killed thousands of Kurds in northern Iraq in the late 1980s. If it proves to be a chemical weapons attack does the U.S. have an obligation to intervene in Syria?
DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST (via telephone): I think it has an obligation to act and act militarily to punish Syria, it's -- but I -- I am very sympathetic with the President in one sense and that is he has no good choices here. This is a very, very difficult situation because America doesn't have the influence it once had in the Middle East. As you take action, you don't want to get drawn into a war. Americans are really -- the American public really does not want to do that and it's not in our national interest.
So it's -- it just very, this is a tricky one. I must say, if you ask me, what would you advice in this situation, I think three things, perhaps in the meeting the President is having this morning with his national security team.
First, I think it's important for the administration to pipe down, for everyone to stop issuing threats to Syria. We've had a year as the Chris Cuomo interview suggested, we've had a year now of threats to Syria if they used chemical weapons and we haven't done anything. You know Teddy Roosevelt said a century ago it's important for America to speak softly and carry a big stick, and we're in danger here of doing just the opposite. Speaking loudly and carry a small stick. And that's why I think they need to just stop issuing the threats here on what to do and then do it.
But the second thing is to come up -- you have to see Syria in a broader context. Much of the Middle East is in flames today it's a very difficult situation, ranging all the way from Egypt of course through and now Lebanon is becoming destabilized, and Syria, you've got the Iranian problem, you've got Iraq, with all of these bombs going off.
So you've got to figure out what your strategy is for the whole Middle East. That's not apparent yet I'm sure inside they've got a much clearer sense. But it has not been communicated to the world what their -- what their strategy is.
And then third within that context of a strategy then figure out what you're going to do in Syria, what is your end game? What are you trying to do, are you trying to punish Assad or are you trying to shift the tide of war there so that the -- the rebels are -- you know who have been sort of reeling and are back on their heels, whether they -- they take charge or not. Or do you really want the rebels to win? There are some tough calls here.
KEILAR: And David you just mentioned Egypt. Let's talk about that for a moment -- obviously a flash point that President Obama has to contend with. The ousted dictator is now out of prison, the democratically elected leader is in custody, what does President Obama do there?
GERGEN: Well again I think his choices are very, very difficult. He wants to maintain a relationship with the military, the Egyptian military is odious in some of its actions have been, the slaughter and everything like that, he does not want to sever those ties, because they hold the key and some ways to keeping in peace in the Middle East with Israel. And you know the long-standing relationship to Egypt and Israel going all the way back to Sadat is important to maintain.
At the same time what the -- what the military has done and killing all the people, you know with helicopters and we're just shooting them violates American values. Well I think you've got to make that very clear. And I -- they are moving towards suspending more and more aid to send that signal, but they -- right now unfortunately, we don't have a lot of friends in Egypt, so you've got to move carefully. I think the President has been calibrated on that, but I do think he's got to be very clear about what American values are and not be afraid to take on the generals if they slaughter people.
KEILAR: All right David Gergen, senior -- CNN senior political analyst, thank you for your insights.
GERGEN: Brianna thank you and it's a tough call for the President and not an easy time.
WATSON: No.
KEILAR: No, not envious of anyone having to make this call.
GERGEN: Yes ok and thank you both.
WATSON: Thank you. And nobody ever said the Middle East was easy.
Now after the break, we're going to talk about your health. Going gluten-free is a choice for some. It's a necessity for others. So we're going to explore how the food industry is responding to the demand for gluten-free products.
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KEILAR: Whether you are gluten intolerant or you decided going gluten-free is the right choice for your diet, there is good news, gluten-free options are available now and they are becoming more available every day.
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KEILAR (voice-over): By the end of the year, Dunkin' Donuts plans to have two gluten-free products on its menu. Krispy Kreme says they're not far behind. Nutritionist Marlisa Brown says gluten-free products are springing up everywhere.
MARLISA BROWN, NUTRITIONIST/AUTHOR: They have (inaudible) and they have bagels, and they have cake and cookies and pies and restaurants have it on their menu. This is great because anybody that was gluten- free before they couldn't live like everybody else.
KEILAR: Brown has written several gluten-free cookbooks and says she herself is living with gluten intolerance. Gluten is a protein found in grains, wheat, rye and barley, it can be bad news for you small intestine maybe even mean cancer if you are gluten intolerant or have celiac disease.
BROWN: Celiac disease has been around awhile, I mean a really long while but the last five years they've been getting better at diagnosing it and they've been able to find out who has it and who doesn't.
KEILAR: About one percent of the population has celiac disease, but the estimates of those gluten intolerant range from six percent to 50 percent. So that makes a big commercial market.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Gluten-free celiac is about 10 percent of our clientele so we take it very seriously.
KEILAR: So in Atlanta, Yeah! Burger has gluten-free items on its menu.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You can get anything here from gluten-free onion rings to gluten-free fried chicken.
KEILAR: And at Colorado Rockies games, you can find gluten-free hot dogs. Outspoken celebrities like Miley Cyrus and Gwyneth Paltrow who advocate the health benefits of going gluten-free contribute to the fact gluten-free foods ranked second on "Time" magazine's "Top 10 Food Trends of 2012". But is it a good idea for everyone?
DR. LARRY SPERLING, EMORY UNIVERSITY: I do think people can feel better, but that feeling better is probably eating better.
KEILAR: Dr. Larry Sperling is an Emory University heart specialist who in on a panel that examines popular diets. He's skeptical about the gluten-free value if you don't have gluten intolerance.
SPERLING: Being more aware of process foods, limiting carbohydrates that have no high nutritional value and also in general when people lose weight a lot of health concerns improve.
KEILAR: But it's becomes so popular some are even taking the gluten- free craze beyond food. But a gluten-free dating site -- it could be the start of a healthy romance, or another fad that sells until the next one comes along.
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KEILAR: So for more information on gluten-free restaurants, check out -- very intuitive -- glutenfreerestaurants.org.
Well it is the unforgettable speech that everybody is still talking about.
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NICHOLAS SELBY, GEORGIA TECH STUDENT: If you want to change the world, you're at Georgia Tech, you can do that. If you want to build the ironman suit, you're in Georgia Tech you can do that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: I hope you saw that. I did, I found it fantastic. And if you haven't heard about this Georgia Tech's sophomore's awesomeness, well grab a sit and get ready because we're going to play it for you and also introduce you to the man himself, he is joining us here in the studio next.
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KEILAR: It is the unforgettable speech that everyone is still talking about.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SELBY: If you want to change the world, you are at Georgia Tech, you can do that. If you want to build the Iron man suit, you're at Georgia Tech, you can do that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: I hope you saw that. I did and I found it fantastic. If you have not heard about this Georgia Tech's sophomore's epic awesomeness, well grab a seat and get ready because we're going to play it for you and also introduce you to the man himself. He's joining us here in studio next.
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JOHN BELUSHI, ACTOR: What? Did you say over? Nothing is over until we decide it is. Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell, no.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Germans?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Forget it. He's rolling.
BELUSHI: It isn't over now. When the going gets tough, the tough get going. Who's with me? Let's go, come on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: All right. Who could forget that epic scene in the '78 classic "Animal House"? John Belushi there rallying his fellow frat brothers when their college threatens to shut them down. Well, you are about to meet the modern day version of Mr. Belushi's character. This guy's no Bluto though.
WATSON: No, this is Nicholas Selby, he is a Georgia Tech engineering major, a sophomore and president scholar who leapt into the viral history books this week with some epic awesomeness of his own -- a welcoming speech to his college freshmen and it's unlike anything you have ever seen.
Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SELBY: We chose Georgia Tech because we want to do the impossible. And this school is equipped with the resources and faculty to help us do just that. And so in the words of Sir Isaac Newton, "If I have seen further, it's by standing on the soldiers of giants."
Georgia Tech is proud of its many traditions but the one I find most exciting is our tradition of excellence. Our mission as students is not to follow in the footsteps of the astronauts, Nobel Prize laureates and presidents who graduated before us, but to exceed their footsteps, crush the shoulders of the giants upon whom we stand.
We here are all such innovative people, so I am telling you, if you want to change the world, you are at Georgia Tech, you can do that. If you want to build the Iron man suit, you are at Georgia Tech, you can do that. If you want to play theme music during your convocation speech like a bad-ass, we're at Georgia Tech, we can do that. I am doing that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: We told you so. Well, Nicholas, his speech has already gotten over 1 million views on YouTube, and a few of those are mine. I'm going to be honest, ok.
Nicholas is joining us now. And I take it, Nick, this was not your first time onstage.
SELBY: That's true. That's true. Yes.
KEILAR: You have done this before.
SELBY: Yes. Not quite to this extent, but yes.
KEILAR: Where did this inspiration from the speech come from?
SELBY: Sure. It was actually from my speech and debate coach back in high school, I performed it in that activity in (inaudible) high school back in Phoenix, Arizona. And one of my coaches -- his name is Andy Stone -- he performed a similar speech in college. It was actually on Science Fiction Literature though, and he did the whole like epic music climax with "you can do that". And when I saw that I thought it was the coolest thing in the world.
So when I was thinking of like a cool way to end my speech, I asked him and I was like hey do you mind if I used his idea, and he very graciously said, sure. And so I did it. And everybody loved it.
WATSON: Can I ask what did the freshman class think of it? What did their faces look like when you really went to town there?
SELBY: They seemed to really like it. Actually the parents seemed to like it even more, funnily enough. But that's my favorite part of the clip is when it flashes to the freshman who are clapping, and they are like, I don't -- what just happened? I don't know. It was cool, but --
KEILAR: Well, because they are probably -- commencement sometimes is where you might get some sort of inspiration. Normally it's a pretty blase thing, so you really stepped it up.
SELBY: Thanks.
KEILAR: You know, we spoke to Andy Stone, your speech coach yesterday. He said he was very proud of you. Have you spoken to him since the speech went viral? SELBY: Oh yes. Oh, yes. He is a really cool guy -- like a really, really cool guy. And we had a great conversation just a couple of days ago about the whole thing. And he was excited.
KEILAR: What did he say to you?
SELBY: I mean, you probably should ask him more, but he has reiterated, he was very proud of me, and there is obviously no bad blood between us. I am a huge, huge fan of his, so I think that that kind of helped him be more gracious towards me, as he knows that he is an amazing person in my mind.
WATSON: You perhaps exceeded his expectations. I imagine that right now you are a bit of a big man on campus. People probably notice you as you walk around right now, and you are probably getting some attention that you never had before.
SELBY: Yes, that's for sure.
WATSON: Getting any dates? Any girl's numbers?
SELBY: Actually I have a girlfriend and she is fantastic, and she is back in my hometown of Phoenix, Arizona.
WATSON: Long distance?
SELBY: Yes.
KEILAR: What does she think?
SELBY: She is enjoying this.
WATSON: I mean was she surprised?
SELBY: No, she was very, very surprised that this thing exploded like it did, as was everyone. I have been asked a few times like hey, were you expecting this? No, of course, I wasn't expecting this to happen. I don't think anyone ever does. But yes, Katie has been great with this whole thing. She's been having a lot of fun with me and she's been getting contacted by people too.
KEILAR: How did this all come to be that you were the one giving the speech, and were the professors cool with you? I sort of looked behind you to see how they would react to you. They were sort of unsure at first and then they got into it.
SELBY: Yes, it kind of looked like Bud Peterson like hiding his face at the beginning of the speech. It was an application process, and I applied to be the convocation speaker with an abstract that I submitted, and they liked the abstract so I submitted an audition video on top of that and they really liked that so I got to speak.
WATSON: And you are breaking stereotype, because you are a mechanical engineer. I went to school with some of those and they are not typically happy and enthusiastic people.
KEILAR: Ivan Watson keeping it real.
WATSON: Well --
SELBY: Thank you I think.
WATSON: No I mean you were amazing.
KEILAR: And before we do go Nick, give us a little line tailored to CNN please.
SELBY: Ok. If you want fact-based news, you're at CNN, you can do that. Is that good?
KEILAR: I love it. Nick Selby, thank you so much for coming by. We love that.
SELBY: Thank you.
KEILAR: You know, if you ever felt that you would just die if you couldn't watch your favorite TV show, in one Connecticut town, not far from where Ivan Watson is from --
WATSON: Yes.
KEILAR: -- fans of "Breaking Bad" took it kind of literally and the police had to get involved.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KEILAR: You use it at work, and you use it at home. We all know it's a tool that most of us cannot live without, right?
WATSON: Uh-huh.
KEILAR: But sometimes it turns on us to become the enemy. Yes, we're talking about technology, which means it's time for "Technology is Ruining My Life".
WATSON: I am sure you are not the first person who has said that.
We want to start with something that happened this week in Fairfield, Connecticut right next to my hometown. A power outage knocked out cable provider Cablevision Sunday night, enraging fans of the hit TV show "Breaking Bad". The show is in its final season, and when viewers realized that TV technology had done them well, wrong they did whatever people in emergencies do, they called 911.
KEILAR: Yes, that's right. So the calls -- it was not just like one guy --
WATSON: Right.
KEILAR: It was like tons of people. So the calls overloaded the police department. Police, as you can imagine, not pleased here. They ended up posting a message through the department's Facebook page saying "We are receiving numerous 911 calls regarding the Cablevision outage. This is neither an emergency or a police-related concern. Please direct your inquiries to Cablevision."
Cablevision said it restored power by 11:00 p.m. but clearly it wasn't soon enough for some pretty mad fans.
WATSON: And I hope they didn't block some really important calls coming in --
KEILAR: Exactly.
WATSON: -- from 911.
KEILAR: And that was the point that the dispatchers were making.
WATSON: Thanks for starting your morning with us.
KEILAR: We got much more ahead on "New Day Saturday," which continues right now.
