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Jimmy Carter Rushed to Hospital; Eiffel Tower Evacuated
Aired September 28, 2010 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: And we're going to start the conversation with some breaking -- in fact, we have got a lot of breaking news on this day.
Just as I was getting ready to begin this newscast, my producer was telling me there's yet another development that I have to share with you, so let's get started. We have got four stories to take you through.
First, in brief, two that have been unfolding over the past few hours, the others breaking just a short time ago. Here's the short list.
Former President Jimmy Carter taken from a flight to Cleveland and rushed to the hospital.
Also, a disaster in Mexico, where a landslide has swept away -- I mean literally swept away a small town. More than 100 people are still missing. Look, the numbers on this thing are still coming in. We expect they might be growing. Chad Myers is going to joining me here in just a little bit and he's going to be taking us through this. OK?
Now let's go to Texas. There, it's happened again. Have you seen or heard about this thing unfolding there today? A gunman storms onto campus. Remember, the University of Texas has one of the most infamous shootings ever. This gunman today storms onto the campus, starts firing shots, and he shuts down a university.
Also, tourists have just been evacuated, we learn, from the Eiffel Tower again. This is the second time in two weeks the Eiffel Tower has been evacuated. And French authorities made the decision to evacuate the iconic structure after a bomb threat was called in from a nearby telephone booth.
Let's get you there right away. We have got Jim Bittermann standing by. He's our correspondent there in France. And he's going to let us know what -- what -- what -- what was the threat and where do we stand right now, Jim?
JIM BITTERMANN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Rick.
Well, I think, right now, it looks like things are over. The police are letting people back into the tower. And the situation has been going on for about two hours and 20 minutes here. A phone call came in about that time ago.
And it basically was from a public phone booth. They called the police -- the fire station, rather, which is not too far away from the Eiffel Tower, basically saying that there was a -- a booby-trapped package in the Eiffel Tower.
And authorities waited a while because of what happened two weeks ago. They had the same sort of threat two weeks ago. They evacuated the tower. They found nothing, so--
SANCHEZ: Hmm.
BITTERMANN: -- they waited a while, but they then decided they had better err on the side of caution.
SANCHEZ: Yes.
BITTERMANN: They did evacuate the tower. About 2,000 people in the tower and around the tower were evacuated. They searched. They found nothing. And things are slowly returning back to normal now.
SANCHEZ: Are we starting to worry about this possibly being just a copycat?
BITTERMANN: Absolutely.
And, in fact, one of the things that we're reporting on the Eiffel Tower, because everybody knows it, but the fact is that, over the last few days here, a lot of more minor monuments have been evacuated, train stations and whatnot, as a number of false bomb alerts have been called in.
SANCHEZ: Hmm.
BITTERMANN: And I think people are taking advantage of the fact that authorities are pretty nervous.
There is a high level of alert here, not the highest, but a high level of alert, against some terrorist attack. And, as a consequence, it looks like pranksters are taking advantage of the nervousness at official levels to call these alerts in.
SANCHEZ: Yes.
Hey, Jim, appreciate it, as usual. You're like ready on the spot for us there whenever we get stories out of there. And we certainly appreciate your time.
Another breaking story now is topping our LIST. I don't know if you have heard about this, folks but former President Jimmy Carter was rushed to the hospital in Cleveland. The Carter Center is telling us that he's under observation, that he's resting comfortably. That's good news. Carter was rushed to Metro Health Hospital after becoming ill on a flight.
CNN official -- affiliate WEWS reports that emergency crews were told to meet the flight for a passenger who felt sick. It wasn't until they got there that they learned the passenger was a former president of the United States.
Mr. Carter will turn 86 Friday.
Senior correspondent Allan Chernoff is joining us now from New York. He's got some more information on this.
Allan, what do we need to know? What's his condition at this point? What is the last you have heard?
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Rick, he is still at the hospital resting comfortably, and it seems he's got a stomach bug.
As you said--
SANCHEZ: Hmm.
CHERNOFF: -- he was flying into Cleveland on Delta Air Lines. The crew contacted emergency personnel. They brought him right away to the hospital not too far from the airport.
But it does seem that it's a -- a stomach issue. Let's have a look at a statement from the Carter Center. They're saying: "While on a flight to Cleveland, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter developed an upset stomach, upon arrival, was taken to Metro Health Hospital for observation. He is resting comfortably and is expected to resume his book tour this week."
He was in Cleveland to appear at a bookstore just east of Cleveland.
SANCHEZ: Hmm.
CHERNOFF: And the bookstore told us more than 400 people were there waiting for him. They had arrived as early as 9:00 in the morning.
And even as the president had been brought to the hospital, the people were still waiting at the bookstore. That was finally canceled, that event, but it seems that the president is doing OK. He's 85 years old, will turn 86 on Friday.
Rick, as you know, the president does travel quite a bit still.
SANCHEZ: Yes.
CHERNOFF: He was recently in North Korea. And, also, Larry King recently interviewed him, in fact, just eight days ago. Let's have a listen to what he told Larry King.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JIMMY CARTER, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I will stay involved in the Carter Center as long as I'm physically and mentally able. I'm still a professor at Emory University. This is -- I just -- this is my 29th year as a professor. And I will still write a book every now and then.
LARRY KING, HOST, "LARRY KING LIVE": I know that.
(LAUGHTER)
KING: How's your health?
CARTER: My health is good, thank goodness.
KING: You're an amazing guy.
CARTER: Thank you, Larry, for letting me come.
(CROSSTALK)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHERNOFF: And he still is very prolific, still cranking out those books, the latest one, "White House Diaries," actually excerpts from his notations in his personal journal when he was in the White House. And it seems--
SANCHEZ: Hmm.
CHERNOFF: -- he's intent on selling that book and continuing the book tour.
SANCHEZ: Allan Chernoff, my thanks for you. Let us know if anything changes on this. I'm sure many Americans would be interested to know.
There's another story that's following right now that's breaking as well. Scores of people are believed buried under a massive hill of mud that swept through their homes while they were sleeping. Dozens of houses -- this is terrible -- in just one village, dozens and dozens of homes have been buried under tons of mud.
So far, we know at least seven people are dead. Hundreds are possibly missing, though. And, you know, it's early enough in this thing that it's hard to nail down any numbers, so don't expect specifics. Just getting to this village right now is very difficult for rescue personnel, as well as, you might imagine, members of the media.
We here at CNN are trying to race to the scene as well. We're trying to get our crews there. Meanwhile, we're working with some of the crews in the area who are affiliated with CNN, as are many other news organizations all over the world.
Let me tell you where this is. This is in the mountains of Oaxaca. That's the southern part of Mexico. And -- and take a look at the video of the area. The terrain is steep --
CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Mm-hmm.
SANCHEZ: -- roads not very good, communication spotty at best. A hill that was about 650-feet wide collapsed at about 4:00 this morning.
And the -- the question, of course, is, well, what makes something like this happen? Well, you know what happened, because Chad Myers literally told you about this last week before it happened.
This is the remnants of those storms that have been going through there, days and days of rain. And the area just can't handle it, right? This is, you know, the -- the -- the famous zone that most of us have known as Chiapas. Chiapas is where much of the revolutionaries have been in Mexico for many, many years--
MYERS: Mm-hmm.
SANCHEZ: -- anti-government insurgents.
This flooding is caused by what is -- by what used to be a tropical storm.
MYERS: Matthew.
SANCHEZ: Matthew, right?
MYERS: Yes.
SANCHEZ: Chad Myers, as you can hear, is joining us now to take us through this.
We -- you and I talk about this all the time. It happened in Texas not long ago. Hurricane comes by, and we all think, OK, we're in the clear. It didn't do any damage on the shore. Well, it keeps going and it creates this kind of mess.
MYERS: Well, we talked about the storm on -- on Thursday and Friday.
SANCHEZ: Yes.
MYERS: The issue was that this thing was only going to move 500 miles in five days.
When you have a storm moving, just -- just clunking along like this, it -- the rain stays in the same spot. Because of the way the spiral bands come around, you just get rain and rain and rain. And we know that this town had 11 inches of rainfall --
SANCHEZ: Sheesh.
MYERS: -- in that amount of time, in those -- 48-, 72-hour period there.
SANCHEZ: It's saturated.
MYERS: And it's saturated.
SANCHEZ: Yes.
MYERS: And although it just ran down and made flooding in the valley, what happens is that the dirt above the hill -- and you saw with that -- that was a Google map --
SANCHEZ: Hmm.
MYERS: -- of a very long-ago drive that someone took through that mountain area, and the pictures come off the camera.
You can go onto your own street on Google Earth and--
SANCHEZ: Really?
MYERS: -- find somebody who drove down your street and took pictures, and you can see your house.
Well, there's the picture that someone was driving on this -- what was a fairly good road even at the time, but you can see even a landslide that happened there--
SANCHEZ: Oh, yes.
MYERS: This was not -- this is not now. This is months or years ago. I have no idea how long this -- old this picture is. You can see it on the time stamp, but it's not there.
And then the steepness of the hill. The problem is now they're not only having problems with mudslides, where they're seeing them. They're having mudslides wash out and move over the roads. They can't get equipments to get these people out of these buildings --
SANCHEZ: Well, in fact, they're --
MYERS: -- that are covered in mud.
SANCHEZ: In fact, let me -- let me bring you something, Chad, that we can listen to as well.
This is Ulises Ruiz. He's the governor of Oaxaca. He's a phone. He's doing an interview. And we got ahold of what he is saying about the region right now.
MYERS: Hmm.
SANCHEZ: I will translate it for you. Go ahead and play that up, if you would, and I will tell you what he's saying. Hit that.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
GOV. ULISES RUIZ, OAXACA, MEXICO: (SPEAKING SPANISH)
(END AUDIO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: "We are waiting for more machines."
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
RUIZ: (SPEAKING SPANISH)
(END AUDIO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: "We are preparing (INAUDIBLE) transferring people from the Mexican army and from the armada from different states in Mexico."
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
RUIZ: (SPEAKING SPANISH)
(END AUDIO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: "We're also sending ambulance and rescue workers."
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
RUIZ: (SPEAKING SPANISH)
(END AUDIO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: "We haven't even gotten there yet."
There you go. That's the governor of Oaxaca explaining that situation. And, as you heard, I mean, I was translating on the fly there, but, essentially, it sounds like they're doing what they can, but they're not even close to being able to deal with this yet.
MYERS: Mm-hmm.
SANCHEZ: Can you imagine, you live near a hill or a mountain, and the whole thing comes down? I mean, I hate to say this, but they're not going to find these guys.
MYERS: They're not going to find some of them.
SANCHEZ: Yes.
MYERS: But they -- they said a 600 -- or they said 200-meter, but I will do the translation -- 60-feet-wide piece of a mountain slid down the mountain. As it slid down the mountain, obviously, it took all of the homes with it.
SANCHEZ: Mm-hmm.
MYERS: You want to go -- you want to go to this map for a second?
SANCHEZ: Hold on. Hold on.
MYERS: Oh, no.
(CROSSTALK) SANCHEZ: Stay with me. Stay with me.
We have got Kirsten Johnson standing by. She's one of our correspondents who is following this story for us now. And she's going to bring us up to date on what she knows.
Kirsten, go ahead. You're here with Rick Sanchez and Chad Myers stateside. What -- what -- what are you seeing? What are you hearing?
KIRSTEN JOHNSON, VIDEO REPORTER: Well, good afternoon.
SANCHEZ: Give us the lowdown.
JOHNSON: Good afternoon, Rick.
I'm -- like many other journalists, as you mentioned, we're all trying to get down there. The biggest issue right now is that there a bridge that has partially collapsed that has basically cut off land access to this village.
SANCHEZ: Hmm.
JOHNSON: It's a 70 -- it's a 70-meter long bridge over a river that is -- that has partially collapsed. So, they have -- they won't let anyone cross this bridge at this point. And, so, basically no heavy machinery can cross over that way.
SANCHEZ: What about the people in the city? Is there any kind of contact or communication with them? Is there -- are there phone lines that have allowed them to get their word out or needs? Or what are we hearing from them?
JOHNSON: There has been spotty phone contact. It's an area of the state where there -- there is not much cell phone reception. There are no cell phone calls going in or out right now from that area.
So, basically, there has been a little contact by landline, but it has been very sporadic.
SANCHEZ: So--
JOHNSON: And, obviously, no one has gotten any kind of confirmation about numbers of people disappeared or numbers of deaths or--
SANCHEZ: So -- so--
JOHNSON: -- whether or not--
(CROSSTALK)
SANCHEZ: So -- so -- so, essentially, what I'm hearing you say is -- and, I mean -- and this is the reason we're -- we're most interested in this -- is, this place really has not yet been reached yet by anyone who can confirm much, other than the sporadic original reports.
No one has eyeballed this. No one has taken a picture of it yet, outside of, not just here on CNN, but any other news organization, right?
JOHNSON: That is correct.
SANCHEZ: Wow. That's a -- that's a heck of a thing. And--
JOHNSON: Yes.
SANCHEZ: -- with -- with -- what's -- Chad, the topography there--
MYERS: Mm-hmm.
SANCHEZ: -- is -- is -- to get there--
MYERS: It's tough.
SANCHEZ: -- from like Mexico City -- why?
MYERS: It's rough. It's part of the Sierra Madre. It's part of the Mexican Rocky Mountains. But where you are is not rocky. Where you -- where you see those -- this -- this land mass here, there's dirt and gravel and stone.
That's a picture of a mudslide from long ago, when this--
SANCHEZ: Hmm.
MYERS: -- this -- the Google Map car decided to drive down this road and take pictures.
So, there are -- there are landslide and mudslides without even a Tropical Storm Matthew. And that's what we have now.
Have you seen other landslides, mudslides, Kirsten?
JOHNSON: Yes, I have -- I have covered other landslides in Mexico. They -- they can be common, especially after the heavy rains that you mentioned after -- after Matthew you came through. These -- a lot of these roads, when they were built, they also still have portions of them that are mud.
SANCHEZ: Hmm.
JOHNSON: And a lot of these steep hills are never secured, so rocks slide down them very easily. They're fairly common.
MYERS: Yes.
SANCHEZ: You said the bridges are down, or at least one of the significant bridges is down.
JOHNSON: Yes. SANCHEZ: What does that mean for you? How are you going to be able to get there now? Is there a -- is there a detour you can take?
JOHNSON: No. There is -- these -- many of these villages are -- are -- they're communicable only by one road.
And so I think the best hope is to kind of start seeing whether there will be helicopters or other kind of air travel into the area.
SANCHEZ: Hmm.
So, it sounds like the only way of getting in now is going to be by helicopter. And that's what you're going to be attempting to do.
Kirsten, thanks for reaching out to us.
MYERS: Hmm.
SANCHEZ: Let us know. If you hear anything else, get back to us. We will get you on the air right away. Kirsten Johnson reporting to us there on what seems to be--
MYERS: Yes.
SANCHEZ: And, you know, the funny thing about these, Chad, as you know -- you've covered these, and so have I -- is, you're really blind.
We don't know really what's going on there.
MYERS: Yes.
SANCHEZ: We can tell you our best guess. And guys like you, who have studied these things for many years, can say, well, this is probably -- but, until you get there, you don't know if luck was on the side of the folks or not. It's about whether you were under the mountain--
MYERS: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
SANCHEZ: -- or how big the village was that was next to the hill, right?
MYERS: Right.
The -- the mud on the mountain actually becomes liquid, almost liquefies because there's just -- and then there's no friction, there's no traction for that mud. And you just lose parts of the mountain itself.
I will predict that this will not be the only mudslide we hear about.
SANCHEZ: Why?
MYERS: Because the entire area is still saturated, and it is still raining, because Matthew -- the remnants of Matthew are still spinning, still making rain right now.
SANCHEZ: OK. Here we go.
My thanks to you.
MYERS: Yes.
SANCHEZ: We will be chatting some more about this.
Meanwhile, folks, take a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JULIAN BOND, CIVIL RIGHTS LEADER: He said that homosexuality is worthy of death. He's a -- he's a raving homophobe.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: That is Julian Bond, a legend of the civil rights movement, an icon. And he's talking about Eddie Long. Wait until you hear what he says about Long, as the pastor fights allegations that he had sex with four teenage boys. That's ahead.
Also, terror on campus -- a gunman waving an AK-47 at the University of Texas. I'm going to tell you how this all played out, right, next on RICK'S LIST, your national conversation. Stay with us. We will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Hey, welcome back. I'm Rick Sanchez.
Let me catch you up on a big story that we were following for you earlier in the day. A gunman suddenly opens fire at the University of Texas. Students and teachers run for their lives. The shooter ends up killing himself.
I'm going to try and walk you through what happened, because it was quite scary there for quite some time. Police say that the shooter was packing an AK-47 when he showed up on the campus in Austin. A professor tells us that he saw the guy in a dark suit and a ski mask running toward the library around 8:00 this morning.
He says the shooter started firing randomly, and then students ran for cover. Then the guy started heading for the library. And this is, by the way, a huge campus, about 50,000 students. School officials sent out an e-mail telling them to stay put, lock their doors while this whole thing played out.
The SWAT team showed up pretty quickly, and the campus went into a total lockdown. Police say the gunman wasn't in the library for very long before he shot himself with that assault rifle.
We were getting reports earlier today that there may have been a second gunman or maybe even a third or suspect. Now investigators are saying there was no second gunman. As you know, it's not the first time something like this has happened. Now we're looking at black-and-white video. Why? Back in 1966 -- and those of you watching us from Texas remember this well -- Charles Whitman went on a shooting rampage from the school's landmark observation tower.
He just started firing, picking people off one by one. It was one of the worst and bloodiest days in Texas. He came ready for a standoff. He had rifles, and pistols, and a shotgun, and a revolver. He brought food. He brought water. He brought a hatchet, hammer, and a knife.
When the massacre was over, 14 people were killed, 32 others were shot. Until the tragedy at Virginia Tech three years ago, that was the nation's worst mass shooting ever.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
INGRID BETANCOURT, HELD HOSTAGE FOR OVER SIX YEARS: I had a moment of very deep anguish, because I thought they were going to kill me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: She battled piranhas and anacondas and crocodiles and abusive guards. Now, somehow, Ingrid Betancourt got out alive. She tells her story. It's coming up.
Also, Vice President Joe Biden tells Democrats to stop whining. President Obama tells them to buck up. Jessica Yellis -- Jessica Yellin is standing by to tell us what's going on, on the left.
We're going to be right back with this and a whole lot more. This is RICK'S LIST.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: The president of the United States has just reacted to the situation with another president of the United States, President Carter. Let's listen to what President Obama had to say about the former president just moments ago.
Go ahead and hit that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The report we're getting right now is that he's resting comfortably. I'm going to make a call as soon as I get on Air Force One to make sure that he's OK.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: All right. There you go.
And from -- by the way, from everything we hear right now, the situation with President Carter is not a life-threatening one, we're happy to report.
Topping our political list now: President Obama's base wants him to fire the man that he appointed to the deficit commission. Who are we talking about? Alan Simpson. Now, Alan Simpson, as you probably know, a well-known Republican from out West, has always been known to say what he thinks. He's kind of flip that way.
Well, he's under fire still from progressives. He's been accused of ageism and sexism. And this quote didn't endear him to the progressives either. Simpson described Social Security as being like a milk cow with 310 million breasts, except he didn't use the word breasts. You can imagine what word he used. It starts with a T.
Now, Simpson has a reputation as a straight shooter.
And joining us now is Jessica Yellin. She's good enough to tell us what the reaction -- what is going on? Why is this a big deal, Jessica?
JESSICA YELLIN, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: OK, Rick, it matters because progressive activists are gunning for Simpson. They have organized campaigns to pressure the president to push him out.
And the bigger-picture implication of this is, it's another skirmish between the president's base and the White House right at a time when the White House is scrambling to energize his core voters.
There is some action planned for tomorrow, when Simpson's commission meets, and there will be a press op, with baby bottles being delivered with little, you know, and -- that word.
(LAUGHTER)
YELLIN: And the bottom line is, the White House doesn't need this kind of trouble with its own base while they're trying to excite -- while the vice president and president are on the road trying to awaken Democrats before the midterms.
SANCHEZ: You know what's interesting? This -- this is not the only situation that is pitting progressives or the left, as it were, against this White House. It comes up again and again. And I find that you and I end up having this discussion, but it's not just the president this time. It's also the vice president, right?
YELLIN: That's right.
We have heard the president say in an interview with "Rolling Stone" magazine that Democrats need to buck up. And Vice President Joe Biden just said in a fund-raiser that, you know, Democrats have to get with the program -- he didn't say get with the program, but he said, and stop their whining.
Clearly the message they're trying to deliver is, in a larger picture -- they're trying to make Democrats look at the big picture and say think about the decision here. Do you want Republican policies or do you like the policies this administration has put forward? Let's be realistic and stop being so depressed about the options.
But the way the message is coming across, it does sound like some tough love. And it's kind of hard to imagine, for example, Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader in the Senate, or John Boehner telling Tea Party activists to stop their whining or buck up.
SANCHEZ: Just the opposite. They're embracing them, right?
YELLIN: Right, right.
SANCHEZ: Yes.
YELLIN: Right.
SANCHEZ: And -- and -- and--
YELLIN: And that is partly the difference between being in power, where you're called to account for your actions, and your base can be mad at you for what you have done, and not being in power, where you can say, well, we're on your team. We would see things your way. We just can't do anything.
(LAUGHTER)
YELLIN: So the Republicans have the benefit of not being in power right now in that way.
SANCHEZ: It's -- it's a pickle for the president of the United States.
(LAUGHTER)
YELLIN: Pretty pickle, indeed.
SANCHEZ: Jessica Yellin, thanks so much for bringing us up to date on that.
And I understand, tomorrow, you and I are going to -- you and I are going to be talking about numbers, right?
YELLIN: Yes. Yes. We have some exciting new polls coming out in California, Florida, Illinois, Alaska. Good stuff. We will talk about it tomorrow.
SANCHEZ: I can't wait to do that.
Thanks so much, Jess. Appreciate it.
YELLIN: Right. Great.
SANCHEZ: What does it take to drive Afghanistan President Karzai to tears? He starts crying. All right.
Also this: How do we fail our children when it comes to nutrition? There's a noted pediatrician that's got some answers and some solutions that we all -- trust me -- all of us as parents need to hear, maybe even some good information for ourselves.
The LIST scrolls on. We will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: WE -- we just got a -- welcome back, everyone. I'm Rick Sanchez.
We're following this story out of Mexico. You know, and what's sad about this story is, it's happening in Oaxaca, and it's a region of Mexico that's hard to get to even without a -- a landslide.
But, in this case, this landslide has apparently taken out bridges. And we haven't even seen the very first pictures from there. But, if it's as bad as we hear, it's -- it's pretty doggone awful. Let me show you what the president is saying. This is Felipe Calderon. This is a tweet that we got from Felipe Calderon.
He says "There's a horrible landslide in Oaxaca." Then he says "There are dozens of people that have disappeared or are missing. The help from the federal government is on the way," but then he goes on to say "But it's difficult to get there."
So really it sounds like they're doing everything they can to get rescue workers and army officials there, but so far it's a very, very difficult trek.
I think some of the very first pictures are starting to come in. Let me see what we've got. All right, this is Televisa. Let me hear what they're saying. I'll translate if I have to.
She's describing the landslide. Now she's saying 300 homes have been destroyed. She said there are families that have disappeared and there are many deaths. Soldiers are being mobilized and sent into the area. Dozens and dozens of ambulances are also on the way.
It happened in the area of Juarez in Oaxaca, and there you see the description and some of the things that she's talking about.
All right, that's great, guys, I appreciate that. Look, as the information comes in, I'll continue to follow it for you. And since I speak the Spanish, hopefully I can translate the information as it's coming in from some of our affiliates down there in Mexico. It's a tough situation.
How do you solve childhood obesity? Well, it's on the rise, and the statistics are stunning. Wait until you see what kids are eating these days. That's ahead.
Also, never attack a man dressed as Elmo. One guy found out the hard way and it was anything but a sunny day on "Sesame Street" after that.
We're going to take you through this and it promises to deliver a laugh or two. Stay right there, this is "RICK'S LIST," and we'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: So some guy in Florida, right, tries to beat up a puppet. Wait a second, really? Elmo? You mean the Elmo from "Sesame Street"? He got in a scrap? We need details. So let's do "Fotos."
All right, there's this guy you see, he entertains kids dressed up as Elmo for a living, but he crossed paths with one guy who wasn't delighted by the life-sized Muppet and who tried to pick a fight. Here's what happened, straight from the Muppet's mouth.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Exactly like that, it felt just like that. I'm like -- I wave to him no like this. So I turn around. And then he delivers a punch.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He punches Elmo in the back of the head.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, straight punch to the back of the head.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: It was just like that. Turns out the guy picked on the wrong puppet. Police say Elmo defended himself successfully, if you know what I mean. The police came, they took the injured attacker to a hospital for a mental evaluation. I'd say.
All right, next, Utah, where the sky is big and so are the pumpkins. Look at these monsters. This is important history here. The state of Utah's biggest-ever pumpkin came out of this competition, 1,169 pounds, baby, 1169 pounds. Wow. Where the winning farmer grew it, that's his secret. He ain't telling. He's not telling.
Now this - last one, a professional soccer game in Morocco. The goalkeeper goofs up and lets an easy goal get past him. How does he react? He's out of here. Strips off his shirt, get out of my way. He's taking himself out of the game. This is like a pitcher getting upset and leaving the field or a quarterback just walking away from the huddle.
The soccer world is all abuzz with this little temper tantrum. I wish I could tell you more about it, but I don't speak soccer.
That's "Fotos." Thanks so much for being with us. My blog is CNN.com/RicksList.
A police officer hears his teenage daughter allegedly had sex with her boyfriend. So the officer fakes the kid's arrest. Did he cross the line? I'm going to show you the video. It's coming up.
Also, a civil rights hero weighs in on Eddie Long's scandal. Julian Bond calls the pastor a "raging homophobe." And that's not all. His story goes deeper than that. I'm going to share it with you in just a little bit. A civil rights icon. We'll be right back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: There is no bigger or more talked about irony involving the pastor Eddie Long's story than the fact that he's denounced on many occasions homosexuality. He's marched for a return to family values. He says the definition of marriage should not ever include same-sex couples.
So when Martin Luther King Jr.'s wife, Coretta Scott King, died, they held her funeral at long's church. Presidents showed up, dignitaries, senators, statesmen from around the world.
One of her husband's closest allies, though, a man who walked side by side with Martin Luther King didn't go that day. He said he couldn't. As much as he loved Martin Luther King, he could not step foot on this church.
Why? Let me tell you, first of all, who it is. Come back to me, if you would, D. Man is civil rights legend Julian Bond. Julian Bond says that Coretta Scott King defended gay rights. So to have her funeral at that church, he feels, was wrong.
And while Bond doesn't know Long personally, he says he couldn't go there, and he calls him, calls Eddie Long, a "raging homophobe."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JULIAN BOND, CIVIL RIGHT LEADER: Well, you hope these charges are not true, because it's bad news for his family, it's bad news for his church. If they are true, it's just sort of typical of people who are raving homophobes who are secretly homosexual and who are homophobes because they are filled with so much self-loathing and self-hate that they have got to let it come out some way, and it comes out in homophobia.
I knew her and I knew she was a defender of gay rights. I knew Bishop Long was a raving homophobe and I knew that she'd be twisting in her grave if she were buried there and I'd be twisting in my grave eventually if I went to the funeral there, and so I stayed away. He said that homosexuality is worthy of death. He's a raving homophobe.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SANCHEZ: Three times he said it. He must mean it. My team has been reaching out, by the way, to Pastor Long to a reaction to how Julian Bond characterizes him. So far we haven't been able to get a response.
Well, he's almost halfway through his term, and President Obama is still facing questions about his Christian faith. Wolf Blitzer has been following today's event and gets us up to speed. That's coming up.
Also there's something drastically wrong with the diets of American children. You want proof? Check out the obesity statistics. We did. And now we're searching for solutions for me and for you and for our kids. Some possibilities next on the list. Stay right there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Hey, welcome back. I'm Rick Sanchez and I want to tell you something now really special on CNN this week. And I should tell you this is special to me, I'm sure to you, it's special to my wife. We talk about this all the time.
It's about food. And you're probably thinking, OK, I'll bite. We sent teams all over the United States on a mission. We want to find out more about how our food is grown, how the choices that we make can impact our health and our budgets.
We joined up with a new CNN.com food destination called Eatocracy.com, spelled just like that, "Eatocracy." We're calling this "Eatocracy -- Mind, Body, and Wallet."
Today I want to talk about healthy eating for children, our children, kids, mine and yours. I know it sounds like a bit of an oxymoron, right, because, let's face it, when we were kids, what did we do? Milk Dud city, right? At least those were my favorites.
Now, my wife knows more about this than I do, so I need some help. Here's Dr. Jim Sears, joining us as a pediatrician, host of talk show "The Doctors." He's also one of the authors of "The Doctors' Five-minute Health Fixes." Dr. Sears, how are you, sir?
DR. JIM SEARS, HOST, "THE DOCTORS": I'm doing great, Rick, thanks.
SANCHEZ: Good. I understand you've got some tips. Let's get through the viewers -- let's get the viewers through some of these. We start with breakfast. But it's about eating the right breakfast, right?
SEARS: Exactly. I think most people, whether you're eating doughnuts or pastries or even most cereals that kids eat, are just the wrong type of food to eat. They're too much sugar, not enough protein. So you get the sugar high that lasts about an hour and a half, and then you crash. You get that mid-morning sugar craving that you need more and more, and so your sugar levels are going up and down and up and down. That's not a good way to learn at all.
SANCHEZ: Ideal breakfast, what is it?
SEARS: Something with protein in it -- eggs, yogurt, milk, whole wheat toast, peanut butter, those sort of things.
SANCHEZ: You recommend milk for children. At what age should we start weaning them off of it?
SEARS: Milk is actually a great meal. It's got a great source of complex carbs, lactose sugar, a good sugar, good source of protein, good source of calcium. So I say drink milk your whole life.
SANCHEZ: OK, then you say stay away from sodas and all the other sugary drinks. In fact you say don't even keep that kind of stuff in the house. Take us -- convince us of why that's so important.
SEARS: You know what, sodas and juice drinks are so bad for you, for years I've been calling them liquid diabetes. But it's actually worse than that. Now I'm calling them liquid cigarettes, because the extra calories you get from soda and juices will kill you faster than a cigarette.
Most people will get an extra four to 500 calories a day in what they drink. And that's going to put 40 pounds a year on you. So you can see why it could kill you faster than a cigarette.
SANCHEZ: Tell me why I can't drink Diet Coke. After all it says big zero for calories on it.
SEARS: Yes, that's an interesting phenomenon that happens. People that drink diet soda are actually more prone to be obese because your brain thinks you're drinking calories, but they never show up because it's diet. So your body actually starts craving more sweets. So you're actually more likely to be obese with diet soda.
SANCHEZ: Should we reassess how we let our kids snack? Because my kids know where the pantry is and I hear them walking toward the pantry and opening the door. And you know, and they're going to do that. We did that, we all do that. Snacking isn't bad in and of itself, right?
SEARS: Right, Rick. That's why it's so important to make sure your pantry is filled with healthy snacks. A lot of the snacks people take -- muffins, bag of chips, cookies -- you know, those have just about as many calories as most meals you eat. So you've got to really think about your snacks as extra meals.
So those snacks I just mentioned, a bag of chips, tons of fat, hardly any protein. You want to snack on something better, you know, fruit, nuts, those things. It's amazing how much -- how filling an apple or an orange is compared to cookies. If you've ever tried to eat both, you know, you'll get full after one apple but it will take three or four cookies, three or four times more calories of the cookies to get you full.
SANCHEZ: No, you're right. That certainly makes a lot of sense. I just read a book that's called -- it's kind of nasty -- it's called "Skinny Bastard." But after reading this book I came away with the conclusion that I need to get my proteins from some other place other than red meats.
So I've been doing more fish, a lot more fish and a lot of chicken as well. Good idea, bad idea?
SEARS: Really good idea, Rick. Personally, I have a family history of colon cancer, so I stay away from red meat. And then fish -- fish is so important. It's the omega 3 oils in there, those are the healthy fats.
And in my opinion, omega 3 oils are probably the biggest nutritional deficiency in this country. Hardly anybody is getting enough omega 3 oils. They're good for your brain, heart, they're good for your immune system.
And not only that, they actually help your body metabolize the other fats you eat. So eating -- taking fish or an omega 3 oil supplement just as good, actually helps reduce your bad cholesterol, the LDL cholesterol.
SANCHEZ: And another reason for eating nuts, as in walnuts, which that have some of the very things you're talking about.
And then there is a third thing, kale -- my wife has me eating a lot of kale these days. You know what? It actually tastes pretty good. Sounds not so good, tastes pretty good. Doc, thanks for joining us and taking us through this list. I'm sure it's been very helpful for a lot of folks.
SEARS: I hope so, Rick. Thanks.
SANCHEZ: See you again.
Did a police officer abuse his power by trying to teach a teenager a lesson? Well, maybe he wasn't supposed to do that on his own. He's now being put on leave after video surfaces of this entire thing. And we're going to take you through it.
Also, if Rahm Emmanuel actually leaves President Obama, who will take over as the president's new chief of staff? One of the top candidates is making the most intriguing list today, and I will reveal who that is in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: It is now time to check the list of the most intriguing people in the news on this day. Hit it, D.
He is one of those really powerful Washington guys whose name you probably never heard. And who doesn't have his picture taken very often. He's a Harvard man. He's been chief of staff to various members of Congress for more than 30 years.
He's now -- his nickname inside the beltway is "The 101st senator." Who is he? It's Pete Rouse. He joined then Senator Barack Obama's team, followed him to the White House, where he's the deputy chief of staff.
So what's intriguing about that? Well, because we're told that his boss, Rahm Emanuel, may be leaving Washington to run for mayor of Chicago and Pete Rouse would be his likely successor. The spotlight and the media's attention, two things he avoids are waiting for him if he's tapped for the job by the president, I should say. Pete Rouse, most intriguing on this day.
Former President Jimmy Carter is hospitalized after falling ill. We're still working the story, but we're getting more and more information on it, and we'll have the latest on his condition at the very top of the hour. Also, what's making the political ticker? President Obama's eventful trip to New Mexico, perhaps? We'll Take you through it. Wolf will join us in a bit and he'll tell us what's crossing as we speak. Stay with us. This is your national conversation.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
SANCHEZ: Time for a "CNN Equals Politics" update with Wolf Blitzer from "The Best Political Team on Television." Wolf, bring us up to date. What's crossing as we speak?
WOLF BLITZER, HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": Let's go through a few things, Rick. I know you've been covering this. We're going to be covering in "THE SITUATION ROOOM" as well.
The president once again asked today about his Christian faith and he gets emotional. He starts describing in specific detail why he became a Christian, how he became a Christian. All of this is significant especially in light of the fact these polls showing a significant number of Americans out there who don't really believe he's a Christian, that he's really a Muslim.
We'll go in depth on that in "THE SITUATION ROOM" coming up in an hour, as you know.
Another story we're following at CNNpolitics.com involves the former president Bill Clinton and his home state of Arkansas. He's getting involved in trying to help the Democratic senator Blanche Lincoln get reelected. She faces a tough challenge from John Boozman, the Republican candidate.
But Bill Clinton has a popularity base in Arkansas. He's got a lot of folks in there that like him. He helped Blanche Lincoln get the nomination, win the democratic nomination. We'll see how he does in the home state of Arkansas.
Finally in Texas, the Democrats seem to think they have a pretty good shot at potentially beating Rick Perry, the incumbent Republican governor. Bill White is the former mayor of Houston. He's running as the Democratic nominee for governor. The Democrats are now spending $700,000 in this week alone in ads going after Rick Perry, his 25 years as a politician. It's getting tough in Texas right now. We'll follow that story as well.
SANCHEZ: I just got an e-mail from my father-in-law, good old Karl Dasher. He said he was with President Carter this weekend. They had the peanut festival in Plains, Georgia. You've been down to Plains. You've covered them at one point.
He said he saw Roseland and former president Carter and he said they were in great spirits, looked good, shaking hands, hanging out with everybody. So it's kind of interesting that all of sudden we hear that the former president had this problem on his plane today.
BLITZER: And we wish him, of course, a speedy recovery. We hope it's nothing serious. He's 85 years old. He's always been in great shape, Jimmy Carter. He used to jog a lot. He still exercises a lot. Let's hope for the best. Let's this is just a very, very modest, little sickness.
