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CNN Sunday Morning
Texas Changes Textbooks; India Plane Crash Investigation
Aired May 23, 2010 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Well, good morning, everybody. And welcome to this CNN SUNDAY MORNING. Glad you could be with us. I'm T.J. Holmes.
It's 8:00 in the morning where I stand here in Atlanta, Georgia. Just 5:30 in the early evening in southern India. And that is where investigators are searching for clues into exactly what caused that deadly Air India crash yesterday. It killed 158 people, eight people survived and we are starting to hear their stories.
(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am on the left side. When I see the left side is broken and there is where go out. I jumped outside from there.
(END AUDIO CLIP)
HOLMES: We will be talking more about the investigation and the search for the all-important flight data recorders.
Also, the Texas textbook controversy continues. We told you about it yesterday. The vote was on Friday. The changes have now been approved. School leaders approved changes to the school textbooks that critics say eventually rewrite history.
Well, today, we're taking a closer look at some of those changes. We're going to let you see the exact text of what's in some of those changes and let you decide and also respond this morning.
But, first, we want to give you a look at some of the stories that are making headlines.
Like we mentioned, the search is on for answers. The search is on as well for those flight data recorders after India's deadliest plane crash in a decade. You are seeing the scene there. The Air India jet after it missed the runway went over a cliff and killed 158 people. Authorities are now working to identify the victims.
Insurgents attacked a U.S.-NATO base overnight in southern Afghanistan. Security forces, they were able to push back that attack at the Kandahar Airfield. Several civilians however were injured. Bagram Air Base came under attacked just three days ago in Kabul, and one U.S. contractor was killed there. And dispersants -- there's a dispersant controversy in this whole Gulf oil spill. The EPA told B.P. that they needed to use a less toxic chemical dispersant. B.P. now is going to stick with the one they were already using. It's an oil industry standard. And they say they are sticking to that because the alternatives aren't as plentiful or immediately available, and even question whether or not they are as effective.
Again, I show you this picture one more time, the live streaming footage of that oil spill. This is made available to us just a couple of days ago. It does change from time to time in different angles. But essentially what you're seeing there is a constant flow of oil into the Gulf, as long as this stream is up, we will be putting this up for you on the web.
I want to get back this morning to the story we've been talking about the past several days, weeks, even months -- Texas, the textbook controversy that's taking place there. Well, now, another state is getting involved.
You remember, a lot of folks thought because Texas buy so many textbooks, a lot of companies manufacture what Texas wants and they just fan them out and sell them to other states. Well, California wants to make sure that doesn't happen to them. A new bill has been introduced in the Senate -- the State Senate in California to prevent any Texas standards from making their way into the classrooms in California. We're going to talk more about that in just a moment.
But I want to tell you now about the Texas state board of education. They're accused of imposing their own political beliefs into history.
Let's take a look at some of these controversial changes. And what I did was pull some of the texts from these very changes that you've been hearing about, hearing people talk about in the media, but I'm reading them directly to you and let you decide for yourself.
One of them that got a lot of talk was, quote, "explain reasons for the development of the plantation system, the Atlantic triangular trade, and the spread of slavery." That, of course, got a lot of attention because they changed the name from the slave trades of the Atlantic triangular trade.
Another one says -- this is from the high school curriculum -- "explain the impact of the Atlantic slave trade on West Africa and the Americas."
Another one that got a lot of attention because of Joseph McCarthy and it says directly, "describe how McCarthyism, the House on American Activities Committee, the arms race, the space race increased cold war tensions and how the later release of the Venona Papers confirmed suspicions of communist infiltration into the U.S." That got attention because those papers that it mentioned were later shown to prove that there was some communist infiltration to the country. Many took that to think that Joseph McCarthy was then being vindicated. Another one we can show you that got a lot of attention, quote, "explain how the Arab rejection of Israel has led to ongoing conflict."
And one more I'll share with you says, quote, "describe the causes and key organizations and individuals of the conservative resurgence of the 1980s and 1990s, including Phyllis Schlafly, the Contract with America, the Heritage Foundation, the Moral Majority, and the National Rifle Association."
Now, all of those changes I just shared with you were, in fact, approved earlier this year. And then some debate, not all of that stuff got in there in the final vote, but all of that stuff was originally at least earlier in the year approved for a vote.
Yesterday, I spoke with two prominent voices in this debate about one of the most contentious changes and that was about slavery.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JONATHAN SAENZ, LIBERTY INSTITUTE: A lot of people that haven't read the standards, a lot of people haven't read what was approved yesterday. And that's unfortunate. And that's how misinformation is spread.
And the reality is, you know, we have strong standards that parents, teachers, experts and professors from the across the state are supporting. And, you know, talked about what's not talked about is yesterday, they've been absolutely involved in this from every step of the way.
(CROSSTALK)
HOLMES: Hold on one second, Ben. Hold on one second, Ben. Jonathan, you finish up. And, Ben, I'll let you get back in there. Jon --
SAENZ: Earlier this week, Wallace Jefferson, the first African- American chief justice in the Texas Supreme Court was added, Sonia Sotomayor, the first Hispanic female justice of the United States Supreme Court was put into our standards.
And there's some misinformation about the slave trade that Mr. Jealous brought up. That issue was dealt with yesterday and the day before. It seems there was some confusion and so, the board voted unanimously to have it listed as the transatlantic slave trade.
(CROSSTALK)
HOLMES: Now, Ben, you tell me what you were taking issue with there.
BEN JEALOUS, NAACP PRESIDENT: Sure. Right up until yesterday, they had sought to rename the slave trade, the transatlantic slave trade, and take people out of it and take slavery out of it. That's part of why they flew on. So, I'm glad to hear that last night they moved on that point.
(CROSSTALK)
HOLMES: Now, on that point, you know what? Let me get in here. I want to make sure because I read this thing as well and I did see Atlantic triangular trade in there. But in the next almost couple of words, I saw the word slavery and there are other points where you --
JEALOUS: It says, "And slavery."
HOLMES: And slavery. But go ahead, now, what is the issue with that if you call it a triangular trade and then you just still talking about slavery and use the word slavery. What was the issue? JEALOUS: Euphemism, it's a euphemism. The reality is that slaves were central to that trade. There's a reason why it's called the transatlantic slave trade. And you take them out and you call them the triangular trade. And all of the sudden, people are put on the same level as rum and sugarcane and everything else -- there's a reason why you call it the transatlantic slave trade.
HOLMES: Now, Jonathan, he's got a point there. Jonathan, is it that at least the point? Why you even change that name? I think we all came up calling this the slave trade. So, why was it important? Even though you got slavery in the curriculum, the word. Why make that type of a change?
SAENZ: Sure. And that's the point I'm making. I think there was some confusion on the part of some of the board makers (ph) and that's why there was an opportunity on Thursday to talk about that. And that's when they talked about this issue. Everybody got on the same page, voted unanimously, the process worked. And so, that was before --
JEALOUS: No, it didn't work.
SAENZ: -- the standards were final.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Well, we're talking about the second largest school system in Texas. The largest in the country, California, is getting into this whole mess as well. A California state senator has introduced a bill that would require its state to avoid Texas textbook content.
I want to turn now to Valerie Strauss. She's a "Washington Post" education correspondent.
Valerie, good morning to you. We're talking about now of California getting into this, the whole debate in this whole controversy. First of all, how much of a chance did you think there was, or still possibly is, of whatever goes into Texas textbooks actually getting out and fanning out to the rest of the country?
VALERIE STRAUSS, WASHINGTON POST, EDUCATION CORRESPONDENT: There's a pretty good chance that it will get into some other states, although ironically, not in California where there is a Senate bill now to make sure that that doesn't happen. California is the largest textbook adopter. And it has its own very specific standards.
The textbook companies listen to California, make the textbooks according to what California wants. So, the chances of anything from Texas getting into California are slim.
But the textbook companies cater to the two three biggest states. They cater to Florida, California, and Texas. They make national editions, and other states where -- that can't dictate what they want -- wind up buying some of these textbooks. So, that's the concerns.
There are some people -- it should be said -- in the textbook industry, who say that because we're in the digital world now, that textbooks don't have the same role that they used to, and that people and states shouldn't bother this. I'm not sure that's so.
HOLMES: Well, this --
STRAUSS: I think that we're not quite at the -- yes?
HOLMES: Well, yes. You say we're not there yet. It's amazing that it has gone, in some ways, as far as it has. What do you make of -- and a person like you and me who have read through -- and I know a lot of people out there have just been hearing these sound bites quite frankly from one side or the other, and it's got you heated and a lot of stuff has been misrepresented.
What do you think of a lot of that back-and-forth that we've seen now given that you have actually -- and I have actually read the standards? What do you make of the stuff that's been out there? How badly misrepresented has some of this stuff been?
STRAUSS: I think some of it has been taken out of context. Some of it is misrepresentative. A lot of it is misunderstood.
HOLMES: Yes.
STRAUSS: None of us are great historians, nor are the members of the board of education. I think that more than just looking at specific items and fighting about that. The idea is to actually look at the process, what the motivations were for the changes, and what the broad view of the changes tell us.
Some of those individual things we heard. Some of them were egregious. Some of them were pulled back. But I think the motivation behind it is what people need to understand.
For a year and a half -- the standards were devised over a year and a half by a group of academics and teachers. Then, the board of ed, which is dominated by a very conservative, religious majority, came in and wanted to put their view of history on the standards. They said they were making them --
HOLMES: Balanced is the word they used.
STRAUSS: They were taking away liberal bias.
HOLMES: Yes.
STRAUSS: They were trying to balance it. I don't think that's what they were trying to do.
Some of their changes are fine. A lot of them distort the way things really happened. What they were trying to do overall is cast the United States as being created by the founders -- not as a secular country but as a country rooted in biblical values.
HOLMES: Well, let me get one last thing in here to you. And you cover education there at the "Washington Post." And we maybe wrong. Maybe this is just a big debate that got national attention.
But, are other debates, frankly, going on like this around the country? And, secondly, how dangerous is it if we have simply politicians, Republicans and Democrats, lefts and rights, liberals and conservatives, who can essentially have the power to change history when it comes to education? How dangerous of a proposition is this?
STRAUSS: I think it's incredibly dangerous to have people who don't understand history deciding what history children should learn. It's important to remember that Texas isn't the only place where politics play a role in the creation of standards, history, economics, social studies.
The other thing to remember is that the textbooks that may or may not come out of this will not be the only textbooks in history that are bad, that distort history, that do not allow children to think critically. Part of the problem with these standards is that it forces kids to learn so many facts, so many dates, so many people, that there is no room really to analyze, to think, to extrapolate.
And so, there are -- there are a lot of other lousy standards in other states too who might do the same thing.
HOLMES: Well, you know, maybe we all should be taking a closer look at exactly what's going into textbooks down the road. But you hate to see this ever been politicized. And, again, some -- plenty of parents out there ---
STRAUSS: Right.
HOLMES: -- some in Texas, have come out and said that they are very much in favor of these changes. And certainly, members of the board think they were doing the right thing as well.
Valerie Strauss, we appreciate you taking your time out on your Sunday to give us some of your perspective. Again, from "The Washington Post," the education correspondent -- thank you very much. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday.
STRAUSS: Thank you.
HOLMES: This is a topic we're talking about on our blog and also Facebook page. We want to know what you think. We're getting a lot of responses in. We want to try to share some of those a little later in the hour. Again, CNN.com/TJ. Also, the Twitter handle is TJHolmesCNN. And also on Facebook as well. Please send those in to us.
We continue to follow the story out of India where the search is on for the data recorder in that horrific plane crash we saw in India yesterday. We have crews on the ground giving us the latest on that investigation. You see some of wreckage of the some of the video that we've been getting in.
It's just amazing that anyone survived. But, in fact, we're told that at least seven, maybe eight people survived that crash. We will give you some of the numbers.
And look at this -- a tornado. We are in the season. A lot of tornadoes hit the South. But not this south where this tornado hit.
Our Bonnie Schneider is going to be along in just a moment. She's tracking all of this stuff for us. Stay with us on this CNN SUNDAY MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Yes. School is out.
When does summer officially start? Not until what?
BONNIE SCHNEIDER, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Not until later in June.
HOLMES: Later in June.
SCHNEIDER: But unofficially, it feels like summer, right?
HOLMES: Yes. When kids get out of school, that means the unofficial start of summer. But it's still spring and that means we are in that tornado season.
SCHNEIDER: Absolutely.
HOLMES: Now, we talk about tornado alley all the time and we talk about the South. This is a different south where we're seeing this big tornado (ph) up there.
SCHNEIDER: Yes, this is actually the north, the northern plains of South Dakota. This is Bowdle, South Dakota, in Edmunds County, a large twister. Look at h how large this is, covering most of the land.
Now, this occurred in a rural area. That's why there were just only reports of some farms that were damaged. If this were in a major city, T.J., can you imagine? It's such a huge tornado. But it's really incredible to see. You know, South Dakota has 25 tornadoes on average a year. So, you may not think of it as a place as tornadic activity but --
HOLMES: They get it.
SCHNEIDER: But, you know, talking about the weather for today, we are going to see some changes out there. The weather is improving for South Dakota. So, we're going to be looking at some better conditions for the region.
But we are seeing dramatic changes in the temperatures out there across much of South Dakota. You can see already as we advance to the east, the temperatures are dropping in Sioux Falls. It actually started out in the 70s this morning. The tornado that came through yesterday was part of a big cold front that's really changing things and bringing about some much colder numbers.
Hot Springs is not so hot today. The current temperature there this morning is 48 degrees.
And so, this is part of a larger scale weather pattern that's bringing the hot temperatures well in advance of the front and then much colder ones behind. But we're talking about dramatic differences in what's normal for this time of year. So, you look at a city like Chicago, maybe in the low 70s typically this time of year -- but not today.
Check it out. We have a live picture to show you of Chicago. And I'd say, get ready to feel like summertime. We are looking at temperatures today of 88 degrees. That's a gorgeous shot. So, this is the time of year to visit Chicago, when it is nice and warm, I think.
Eighty-eight in Chicago, 91 in St. Louis, that's almost 20 degrees above normal. It will be hot across much of the South. Here in Atlanta, in the 90s. And then colder, San Francisco, 54 degrees, T.J.
HOLMES: Oh, San Francisco. But I still can't get over that video today from the tornado.
SCHNEIDER: Yes, that is really amazing.
HOLMES: All right. Bonnie, we appreciate you as always. Thank you so much.
And coming up here next -- you know, every Saturday and Sunday here, we -- it's our duty, we feel now, to bring you a person you should know. And we have someone this weekend to introduce you to that's actually from my hometown. But it's a story I wish I would never have to tell you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: It's about 22 minutes past the hour here on the CNN SUNDAY MORNING.
We turn now to India where searchers hope to find answers as to why an Air India flight crashed as it tried to land in Mangalore Airport. Here is the latest we have for you now. Relatives of the crash victims are being asked to provide DNA samples in hopes of streamlining the identification process. Some of the bodies, in fact, have been burned beyond recognition. Eight of the 166 people who were on board that plane survived.
We want to take you now to Mangalore as part of this investigation. CNN's Sara Sidner is there live for us.
Sara, we were talking to you last hour about the possibility of finding these flight data recorders. There were some words that possibly, they have been located. Have we been able to confirm just yet if, in fact, they have them?
SARA SIDNER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We have confirmed that at this point in time, they have not been, according to the chief of Air India, a government-run airline. He has spoken and made an announcement to the country, basically saying that 128 bodies have been handed over to families. There are still 12 bodies that have not been identified yet, which leaves 30 bodies in all that have not been handed over to families. But that the black box or the flight data recorder as it's now known, has not yet been recovered.
I want to talk a little bit about -- because earlier, you talked about the survivors. Eight people miraculously survived this. If you look at pictures of the wreckage, it seems unfathomable that someone would survive this. But, indeed, eight people have.
And we spoke to one of the survivors, T.J., of (AUDIO BREAK) really fascinating story. She basically said that when the plane touched down, she was awake a few minutes before landing. And as soon as the tires hit the tarmac, she said, instead of feeling the plane start to break and slow down, she felt it actually accelerate. She could feel herself moving back in her chair, as if the plane was accelerating.
And then a few seconds later, they were off the cliff and had smashed into the valley where the wooded area is -- T.J.
HOLMES: All right. Our Sara Sidner, again, collecting information on the ground for us there in Mangalore where the investigation now is under way. And they're still searching again for those flight date recorder. Sara Sidner, thank you so much.
Now, of course, we have been talking a lot about the disaster in the Gulf, the whole oil spill. But do you remember? It was just a month ago, the initial explosion that killed 11 oil rig workers. We don't want to forget about them. We're going to talk to one sister who is still mourning her brother.
Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, it's our goal here every weekend on CNN SATURDAY and SUNDAY MORNING to introduce you to someone we just think you should know about -- and today, our someone takes you to my hometown of West Memphis, Arkansas.
There are some professions out there where young boys, they often try to follow in the footsteps of their dad, you know, firefighters, soldiers and -- yes, police officers as well. Sergeant Brandon Paudert followed in his father's footsteps, wanted to be a police officer just like his dad. He became a sergeant at the West Memphis Police Department where he worked on the drug interdiction unit.
Not only that, listen to this -- he got to work with a guy he grew up wanting to be just like, his dad, who was the police chief at the West Memphis Police Department. His dad, the police chief, was the one who had to confirm to the public on Thursday that his son had been killed, shot and killed, when he responded to give backup to fellow officer, Bill Evans, who had made a traffic stop. Evans was also shot and killed.
Oftentimes, the traffic stop seems like maybe one of the simplest things, the most mundane for an officer to do, given all the other dangerous situations therein. But, in fact, traffic stops are often the most dangerous things for officers to do because they don't know anything about who or what they are about to encounter.
Sergeant Brandon Paudert, somebody we thought you should know.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, bottom of the hour here on this CNN SUNDAY MORNING. Take a look now at some of the stories making headlines.
In Mangalore, India, investigators are looking for the flight data recorder from the deadly crash of an Air India plane yesterday. Eight of the 166 people on board survived. We just got word that 128 bodies of victims have been handed over to their loved ones. Pilot error suspected in the crash.
Well, a heart-wrenching season and really past month has been over now, ended for the University of Virginia's women's lacrosse team. They lost to the University of North Carolina yesterday in the NCAA quarterfinals of the tournament.
The team has been grieving the death of their teammate Yeardley Love who was found slain in her apartment earlier this month. Her ex- boyfriend and men's lacrosse player, George Huguely, faces first- degree murder charges. Yeardley was supposed to graduate today.
And President Obama, appointing a bipartisan committee to investigate the oil mess in the Gulf, still gushing uncontrollably after a month. BP hopes another method -- they're going to try -- call the top kill method, will eventually seal it and they'll try this on Wednesday at the earliest.
And so much talk we've been saying about what spilled and the disaster down there, the economic and the ecological one. But also, 11 people died when the DeepWater Horizon rig blew up about a month ago. That sometimes is overshadowed by this deepening oil mess. Well, Heather Sophia from our affiliate WAPT talked to one grieving family member who said -- that she has always feared the worse. She's still stunned by how this ended.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HEATHER SOPHIA, 16 WAPT NEWS (voice-over): He was a husband, father of two and a brother. But Dale Bert King died on the Deep Water Horizon Oil rig.
JANET WOODSON, SISTER OF OIL RIG VICTIM: When he left the house, he hugged and he kissed me on the forehead and he said, "I will see you when I get home, sis." That was the last time I talked to him.
SOPHIA: That is the last memory Janet Woodson has of her brother. Dale spent time walking in this garden with his sister. It's those memories that brings a smile to Janet's face.
WOODSON: He was proud of his job and he was proud of being a crane operator.
SOPHIA: Witnesses say Dale fell off of a crane when the rig exploded. One of his co-workers tried to save him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Before we could get there, there were some more explosions. And they put fire in between us and Dale. I mean there was no way we could get through at this point.
WOODSON: And I found them on Facebook and I thanked them for trying to save my brother.
SOPHIA: Now, Janet wants answers.
WOODSON: We hear several different stories. And -- but if some of the stories were true that we heard, somebody needs to be accountable for something or other. There should not be a liability on how much they should be able to give the family or any kind of loss out there.
SOPHIA: No matter the outcome Janet says money won't bring her brother back.
WOODSON: I just want them to realize, not only are there turtles out there that's dying but my brother and ten other men died out there too.
SOPHIA: In Philadelphia, Heather Sophia 16 WAPT News.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Well, a lot of questions out there still about what happened in the Gulf and what is going to happen going forward. And students, young people have questions as well.
We'll bring in our "Extra Credits" assignments for CNN Student News Anchor, Carl Azuz who's a regular here on our show on Sundays. It's good to have you.
CARL AZUZ, CNN STUDENT NEWS: Good morning, T.J.
HOLMES: What are -- what are kids talking about these days, may be the same things the adults are discussing?
AZUZ: On many cases, absolutely. Their reaction to this was a mixture of frustration and confusion. Frustration that it hasn't been solved yet, the gusher is still gushing and confusion as to why it hasn't been solved yet; a lot of students sounding off about these things.
HOLMES: Yes and what are they saying? I know you usually bring us some good quotes from these kids. What are they saying?
AZUZ: I have one for you. If I were to ask you, though, what you think students would be most concerned about, the worst part of this oil spill, what do you think it would be?
HOLMES: Maybe the environment.
AZUZ: That's right, marine life and that's our first comment today from a student named Ben. He is talking us about marine life, about this impact, he's saying, "The marine life is in danger from the spill. Worst possible thing and we have the responsibility as humans to protect the lives of animals." He is saying, "This is hurting a delicate ecosystem and the beauty it inspires".
But there are a number of students who are looking beyond this. They're looking at the economy, the economic effects, the ripple effects of this.
And Keenan bring us the first comment, they are saying, you know, the fishing industry will be the most affected by this, if an oil spill happened where he live. And his town, 90 percent of the economy is fishing he says. So it would be devastating there.
And that's echoed by Elizabeth, she's saying, "This will mainly affect the economy. Fishermen will unable to fish. Seafood restaurants will have to close. This is like a chain reaction, every time being a bigger blow to the local economy in the Gulf."
HOLMES: Well, nobody seems to be able to find a solution right now about how to stop it, for one and also how to clean it up. Are the kids chiming in there as well?
AZUZ: They are responding in a lot of way about what they have heard. They have looked to the dome, they have look to the top hat. They have seen these things kind of come and go in terms of ideas. But what's interesting, I think, is their response in terms of how we should and what we could learn from this, how we should react to this.
Students are telling us -- the first comment I have is from Truong, and who's telling us, you know, look, the point is that after this disaster, experts should gather and find a technique that makes oil rigs safer. Some students are saying that's what we need to do. Deal with the present, fix these things.
And then there are others who were saying, this should be a wakeup call; we are dependent on oil, maybe this is a wakeup call for us to pull back from that dependency and look for alternative forms of energy.
HOLMES: But the President has put together now a commission to look into this. Maybe he can grab some of your students to serve on that commission. They have some ideas as well, right?
AZUZ: They have some -- any way to stop it, I think we'll all take.
HOLMES: Carl Azuz, always good to see you, my man.
AZUZ: Thanks.
HOLMES: Enjoy the rest of your Sunday as well. And a reminder, we do have live streaming that footage of the oil leak just coming to us from a mile below the surface available to at CNN.com/live. As long as it is up and streaming, we will have that for you on the Web.
I'm going to turn now to some more politics and maybe a little infighting in the Democratic Party. Some most likely, is going to cost them one seat, at least for now, a seat out in Hawaii, a seat they've held for some 20 years.
The party couldn't decide between their own candidates. Colleen Hanabusa and Ed Case, they eventually split the Democratic vote. So that made way for the Republican candidate, Carl Charles Djou, he's a Honolulu city councilman -- there he is. He needed 39.5, just 39.5 percent of the vote to clinch the special election on Saturday.
The Democratic -- some might called it a meltdown in Hawaii; one of the topics that'll be talked about today on "STATE OF THE UNION WITH CANDY CROWLEY". Candy good morning to you, dear lady.
CANDY CROWLEY, CNN HOST, "STATE OF THE UNION": Good morning.
HOLMES: Always good to see you. Is this going to turn out, I mean, the Democrats are probably going -- and on Hawaii at least, get it together and get behind one candidate come November, because they still have to run again.
So is this just going to be a matter of bragging rights for a few months, Republicans were able to steal the state and steal a seat where the President is from?
CROWLEY: Well, remember, this is a special election. So but yes, there's another shot at it in November for Democrats. And -- and obviously, they're going to try to get it together.
But it speaks to a larger point. First of all, it does give Republicans a special election win and they haven't had any. So that's good for them. But, it also speaks to what the Democrats face this fall and that is what everyone expects will be some losses.
First of all because it's dictated by history; second of all, because the economy is still bad; and third of all, because the President's popularity and approval ratings have dropped.
So the Democrats are looking at what's going to be a very tough election. And the question right now seems to be how tough? Will they lose the normal amount of seats that parties tend to lose, parties in power during mid-terms or is this going to be enough of a wave for Republicans to move into the majority, say, in the House, which seems to be of the House and the Senate, the more likely scenario for Republicans?
Whether it's likely in general certainly it's going to depends on what happens between now and the fall and what Democrats can do to try to mitigate what are expected to be some losses.
HOLMES: At what point, as well and so many things on the table, on the plate that voters are going to consider come November. But at -- at what point with this BP oil disaster now are more people going to start looking to the President and the administration for -- some would say, a lack of response but now just a lack of movement and still not getting it stopped and cleaned up before it becomes an even bigger disaster than this already is?
CROWLEY: Electorally, I don't know that it's going to have a lot of resonance come this fall simply because the economy just dominate everything --
HOLMES: Yes.
CROWLEY: -- and I expect it will continue to dominate voters' minds when they go into those voting booths.
Having said that, certainly the administration is beginning to take (INAUDIBLE) -- in the end, probably what will happen in terms of the BP spill is you are now hearing some of the complaints about the administration not being on top of this and not being forceful enough. And it's coming from some Democratic sources saying, where are they? They look lackadaisical. They are sitting on the sidelines.
But we have to remember, that in fact, by law certainly, the U.S. government can oversee, which the Coast Guard is doing now, but it can't run this operation. It just isn't allowed by law. It is -- it is overseeing it.
So at some level, there was frustration in the White House about that. Certainly you've seen the President out there saying, this is unacceptable. He has set up this commission as you noted, to try to figure out what went wrong.
But there are limits to what the U.S. government can do right now involving the operation and trying to shut down this gusher.
HOLMES: Well, I know that will be a topic of yours. And I believe you have Governors Rendell and Pawlenty on today. You have both of them. And they (INAUDIBLE) a BP executive --
CROWLEY: Yes.
HOLMES: -- you're talking to today as well.
CROWLEY: Yes.
HOLMES: Again --
CROWLEY: And -- and to Commandant Thad Allen, so we'll -- we will look at both the politics and the oil gusher. And sometimes they are the same.
HOLMES: All right.
Candy Crowley, again, always a pleasure to serve as the warmer pack for Candy Crowley that's coming your way, "STATE OF THE UNION" at the top of the hour at 9:00 a.m. Eastern.
Candy always a pleasure to see you. We'll see you here in just a few minutes.
CROWLEY: Thanks.
HOLMES: And again, there you see her guests today on "STATE OF THE UNION" coming your way.
Well, the story is about faith fuel passion among our viewers of course so many times, CNN has launched a new site for you to share your beliefs. We'll tell you how you can participate in our "Faces of Faith". That's coming up next.
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HOLMES: All right.
I'm going to go from California girls to talking about God. We have a new initiative here at CNN. We're going to focus on it today in our "Faces of Faith" segment.
I want to bring in Dan Gilgoff, who can help us with this. He has a new title now -- you have a new title, the co-editor of our belief blog. And that's what we are starting up, a belief blog.
Welcome. Thank you for coming in and showing this to us. But why, in the first place -- what kind of triggered us to think that something like this would be helpful and would be necessary?
DAN GILGOFF, CO-EDITOR, CNN BELIEF BLOG: Well, it is kind of obvious, you know. It's that there are so many stories that are driving the news that have major faith angles. You look back on this week and it's an American missionary being released from Haiti after being held for 100 days or more. Its' the crowning of the first Muslim Miss USA in Las Vegas or the fact that Pakistan cut down access to Facebook and to YouTube because of an online movement to have people draw Mohammed which is considered sacrilegious by most Muslims. And so these are angles that are absolutely crucial to understanding what's going on in the news whether you're a believer and not. And viewers can find this at CNN.com/belief.
HOLMES: Well, that's simple enough. You named a couple there -- how long have we had this up so far?
GILGOFF: This is just live a few days now.
HOLMES: Just live a few days. All right. So then I guess we're giving it kind of a debut.
GILGOFF: That's right. That's right. But we already have tons of content.
HOLMES: Ok. Now what is some of that content? Some of those stories like you talk about? The Muslim Miss USA and a couple of others that you mentioned?
GILGOFF: Sure.
Well some of these are stories, I think, they're really not going to find anywhere else. And a big story right now, obviously, is the Supreme Court and Elena Kagan, Obama's nominee as the next Supreme Court Justice. If she is confirmed, the Supreme Court for the first time will have no Protestant Christians on it.
This is a big deal. I mean three out of every four justices to ever serve on the high court have been Protestants.
We have a guest blogger this week; a Boston University religion scholar, who's arguing that even though none of the Supreme Court Justices are real Protestants, they are all stealth Protestants. And that's because the way that Jews and Catholics have come to see religion is something that's chosen as opposed to inherited. It's something that's personal as opposed to communal; makes them, you know, very much Protestant at least in mentality.
HOLMES: And this is the interesting math here.
GILGOFF: Exactly. Surprising math there.
HOLMES: We have a lot of guest bloggers like this.
GILGOFF: We do. Every week -- almost every day we'll have guest bloggers.
HOLMES: Ok. Now, what are some of the others -- and a lot of people often have had something to say when it comes to these stories, very passionate. Is there somewhere where they can let their views be known, maybe get into a back and forth in conversation with other people?
GILGOFF: Absolutely. We are really encouraging this as not a one-way kind of static discussion but as a real interactive conversation. You will see on the post like this, we already have more than 700 comments.
So we're encouraging not only readers to go in and post comments. But we bloggers are going in and responding. Another thing we are doing is iReports. We ask people to send in pictures and video of their favorite church signs. Some of these are funny. Some of these are moving.
HOLMES: I love this. Yes, I love it.
GILGOFF: And so we had response on this. We got hundreds of pictures.
And then we asked a few of the folks that were offering iReports to go further and to tell us, in this case a minister, how he devises these messages every week.
So he talked about, you know, trying to reach people in the street if they ordinarily come to church. Do we avoid religious jargon?
He talked about doing this in the dead of night and having police officers come up to him and accuse him of vandalizing the church. And so we're really hoping that people get evolved in this blog beyond just reading it.
HOLMES: Well, it's interesting. A lot of content I absolutely love this. I saw this -- when I first went on and saw this. My pastor is actually very good and he is long as well. I don't know what that means.
Dan Gilgoff, good to have you here with us.
GILGOFF: Thanks very much for having me.
GILGOFF: Good luck and congratulations. And again it's CNN.com/belief. You can catch our new belief blog.
We are going to take a quick break here and come back and share some of the response to the Texas textbook controversy you have been sending us. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Thanks for the music. Deana -- our great producer, Deana, is actually leaving us today. Today is her last day.
I don't know if I was supposed to do something emotional at the end of this show but she is responsible for so much of the music we hear and she makes it match up with the stories we are hearing. We are going to miss her. She is going on to bigger and better things. So, thank you to our producer Deana who's been with me since I started this show. She's one of the originals, so I appreciate everything you've ever done, Deana
I want to turn to Josh Levs now. And you probably forget now that the song goes with the story. Say what you need to say because we are letting our viewers say what they need to say about the Texas textbook controversy. This is probably one of those we're getting kind of reaction on.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I miss Dee already too.
HOLMES: Yes.
LEVS: I'm totally there with you.
Yes. I have to show you something super serious so we're steering the car back onto the road. A lot of you weighing in all yesterday and all this morning on controversy out of Texas. And I've been following you and all the interactives.
You know, I'm talking to you on Facebook, Twitter and the blog as we continue our show all morning long.
Let's take a look at just a few of the responses we've been getting today. We're starting off with Facebook here from Michael Wollin: "Having recently retired as a history teacher after 35 years, I would say the impact of a textbook is mitigated by a conscientious educator. That said, it is sad that some feel it necessary to skew the material to the right."
Another on Facebook: Makes me want to move to Texas. I'm keeping this one in from earlier because of the hundreds we've gotten this is the only thing I can find that's in support of Texas. "It makes me want to move to Texas. No wonder the cowboys are God's team." That's from Chuck Lentine.
One more here: "Whitewashing history blinds people to their own existence as their human beings. The conservative swing in this country is frightening," that's what Kristein is saying there.
Let's go over here to Twitter. So we're getting on twitter this morning.
From NeezyBaby21: "Students in Texas will suffer an insufficient education if they want to further their history career when it comes to college."
And here: "I'm never moving to Texas. And if books come from there, my kids will be home schooled. Sad, other countries will know more of our history.
We have a couple from the blog here to show you too.
Dennis: "This decision will only contribute to the continued divisiveness in this country. Facts are facts. History is history. Politicians have no business putting their mark or slant to shape and mold our country."
"If liberals hadn't been corrupting our history books for the last 20 years, this would not have happened." This one's from Mike, "Nowadays, Pocahontas has as big of a role in U.S. history as Abraham Lincoln." Kind of seems to be a little bit in support of the argument that we're hearing in Texas as well, which is that some of the changes are designed to balance out some other changes that have been made previously that everyone should try and use, too.
Here is what I want you to do. Take a look at this graphic. First of all, it shows you how you can weigh in. You have my blog, Facebook and Twitter. But what you also have that's really helpful at CNN.com/josh is a link to the story and to the decision from the board of ed about the changes.
Take a look for yourself. See what you think. Then weigh in. We would love to hear from you.
So T.J. you can see, no shock there. Plenty of passions this morning on that issue.
HOLMES: And you have a ton of them. Appreciate you sharing some of them Josh.
LEVS: You got it.
HOLMES: Thanks so much.
LEVS: Sure.
HOLMES: As we've been saying and as you know, this is graduation season for a lot of people, a lot of college graduates. You have to overcome a lot to get to college and get to that graduation day.
I am going to introduce you to one guy who had to overcome a whole lot more than most.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Sometimes we miss with the music, but that's ok. We are showing you a picture of Austin, Texas this morning because there's an extraordinary story coming out of there in the University of Texas.
A young man -- of course, we all have obstacles in trying to get through college. But he actually, during his college career, was in an accident and lost his sight after a car accident.
Being blind didn't stop him. He had reconstructive surgery, moved to Austin, did some rehab. He has now since earned three bachelors degrees and yesterday he added a master's degree.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARTIN KAREITH, BLIND GRADUATE: I learned but I think the students who learned along with me because of the share of communal process that we have been through have also learned. And I think the faculty, as well as the staff, have learned a great deal as well with working with me as just any other person.
I'm a pretty good representative for any organization and I have a lot of skills behind me. And I'm ready to get to work.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: He says one day for part of that work, he hopes to start a school for the blind in Africa.
Of course, Candy Crowley right around the corner. Stay here.
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HOLMES: Thank you for being with me on this CNN SUNDAY MORNING. "STATE OF THE UNION WITH CANDY CROWLEY" starts right now.
