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CNN Sunday Morning

American Hiker to Be Released; Tea Party Activists Rally

Aired September 12, 2010 - 07:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

REZA SAYAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: He tells me that everything is in place. They're waiting for the $500,000 to be deposited into an account, and a Swiss embassy is going to play a role in all of this. Of course, Iran and the U.S. do not have diplomatic relations. So, in situations like this, it is the Swiss embassy that plays the role of mediator.

As far as the other two hikers, Shane Bauer and Joshua Fattal, a prosecutor said today they're not going anywhere. They're going to remain behind bars. They say an indictment has been issued against them and their cases are being investigated.

T.J., of course, all three of these hikers were arrested in July 2009, about 13 months ago, when they allegedly crossed over to Iranian soil and they were hiking along the Iran/Iraq border last year.

So good news for Sarah Shourd, but it seems the ordeal for the other two hikers is far from over.

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: So, why is that, Reza? Is this possibly a goodwill gesture because we have been hearing the reports that possibly she is not in good health?

SAYAH: Well, it's not clear what it is right now. Initially, it seemed to be a goodwill gesture with the initial move last week.

Of course, according to state media, it was President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad who intervened and said Sarah Shourd will be released to mark the Muslim holiday eve, in the spirit of forgiveness and compassion. Then, all of a sudden, the judiciary came up and said, no, the legal proceedings haven't been completed. She's not going anywhere. And it's ultimately the judiciary that's making the final conditions of her release with that $500,000 in bail money.

And, T.J., this really is an indication of divisions and significant fractures within the hard-line leadership of Iran. Clearly, there are branches within this government and leaders that are not on the same page, and not consulting one another -- and this process has really been a debacle for the Iranian government.

HOLMES: All right. Reza Sayah for us on the story this morning -- Reza, we appreciate you as always.

I want to turn now to some politics here in the U.S.

There is going to be another tea party in Washington today. Activists are expected to descend on Washington for a political protest and rally, similar to what we saw a year ago. And this is the one we saw last year. They're abdicating for smaller governments, but with the midterm elections less than two months away, this time might have a lot more political weight.

Kate Bolduan, a friend of our show here on CNN SATURDAY and SUNDAY MORNING, is joining us from Washington.

Kate, always good to see you.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey there.

HOLMES: Are we going to see something very similar to what we saw last year?

BOLDUAN: Similar in the logistics of the rally, but they say this is a different Tea Party. Leaders and activists that I've been talking to say the main difference about this year is the level of engagement and enthusiasm. This is what I mean. Last year's rally was the first time the Tea Party movement at large began to coalesce. And that's what the leaders say.

But this year's rally comes on the heels of a string of primary victories for Tea Party-endorsed candidates. They can tout tangible success from their new found organization.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GENA BELL, TEA PARTY ACTIVIST: I'll be a captain at station 23.

BOLDUAN (voice-over): Until last year, Gena Bell of Cincinnati, Ohio, was apolitical.

BELL: I was always conservative in my nature, never did a thing, never made a phone call, never went door-to-door until the 2008 election.

BOLDUAN: Now, she's a Tea Party leader in Cincinnati, Ohio. Bell and fellow activists from across the country are converging on Washington as they did last year --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you hear us now?

BOLDUAN: -- to rally against big government and for fiscal responsibility.

(on camera): What is your goal? What is your hope for this year's 9/12 rally?

BELL: To motivate people right before the midterm election. The rallies are always great to get people energized and so, just to build off of that energy, go back, and get involved with some campaigns that will make a difference.

BOLDUAN (voice-over): And it is a different political climate. Look no further than the string of victories by Tea Party-endorsed candidates in congressional primaries from Kentucky to Nevada to Alaska.

MATT KIBBE, PRESIDENT, FREEDOMWORKS: I think there is a lot of political power in this decentralized movement. And you don't -- you don't need a lot of money, you don't need the endorsement of the national party because if you're on the ground, getting out the vote, talking to your neighbors, that results in victories.

BOLDUAN: Matt Kibbe is the president of FreedomWorks, the conservative Washington think tank organizing the weekend rally.

(on camera): We were here one year ago, almost to the day, what has changed within the movement? What has changed since last year as we approach 9/12 again?

KIBBE: You know, 9/12 last year was kind of a coming out party. It's the first time everybody got together in one place at one time. This year, the Tea Party movement is far more sophisticated, far more developed, and it's probably tenfold bigger.

BOLDUAN: When the rally ends, the rubber meets the road in just over 50 days. The first major election since the Tea Party movement came into its own.

But Kibbe says that's nowhere near the end.

KIBBE: The real test for the Tea Party is not November 2nd, it's November 3rd.

We're going to have this new generation of political leaders that have come in on the Tea Party wave and then the question on November 3rd is: are they actually going to govern as fiscal responsible politicians?

BOLDUAN: And that's one theme in this stubbornly decentralized movement both leaders and the boots on the ground agree on.

BELL: We're going to be watching. We're not walking away and we're not going back to our TVs, you know, and we're going to be there.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BOLDUAN: So, the day's events begin at 10:00 Eastern this morning, with a nondenominational service at the Washington Monument. And then the big rally is scheduled to kick off at 2:00 at the Capitol, like last year, following a march down Pennsylvania Avenue.

But one complicating factor you would not have known it from those beautiful pictures from yesterday, but today, it's forecast to rain much of the day as it is right now. So, we'll see if that complicates things for the big rally.

HOLMES: Oh, is that why you're inside this morning, Kate?

BOLDUAN: Yes. It's not because I'm worried about my hair either. We had major power issues. They're still setting up the stage.

HOLMES: OK. And one more thing here, how much emphasis -- or are they putting any emphasis this year on making sure they tone it down? There are always individuals that sometimes get the attention when they bring out signs with the nasty slogans or something on it.

BOLDUAN: Right.

HOLMES: Are they trying to make sure they get that message out to people that, hey, we don't need that kind of stuff?

BOLDUAN: They're definitely not telling -- they're definitely not telling people to leave the signs at home. I mean, this is definitely -- this is very much a little political rally and they made a point to say that it is.

But, as they said for, you know, throughout the year, especially since last year's rally, they said the people that are making -- saying those very extreme statements, those aren't the core -- those aren't the real Tea Party activists. Those are extreme elements that are kind of -- that gravitate to large movements as they would, be it a liberal movement or conservative movement, they definitely shy away and everyone I speak to says, we are -- we are not angry, we are concerned. And that's definitely trying to be the message that they're sending today.

But we'll see.

HOLMES: All right. Some concerned possibly about the weather as well.

BOLDUAN: Exactly.

HOLMES: We're going to check in with Reynolds here in just a second.

Appreciate it. Good as always to see you, Kate Bolduan.

Well, I don't know how good your eyesight is, folks. You think you could se something 24 million miles away? You'd have pretty good eyes, wouldn't you?

Take a look at the sky, this evening. You might be able to see that. We'll explain exactly what it is, where it is, and why you'll be able to see it.

Reynolds Wolf here with us live as well.

Reynolds --

REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: We'll be able to see the Monday.

HOLMES: That wasn't the moon, was it?

WOLF: That's part of the tease, I think. HOLMES: OK.

(LAUGHTER)

WOLF: Yes, there it is -- a crescent moon, how beautiful. And something else, we're going to tell you what that green orb is in mere moments. May be it's easy for everyone to see with the help of our fancy (INAUDIBLE) weather computers, it will be a big hurricane which will be a major hurricane in just a several days. I'll let you know when the threat might be to the United States coming up in a few minutes. We'll see you in a few.

You're watching CNN SUNDAY.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right. Nine minutes past the hour here on this CNN SUNDAY MORNING.

And there will be a rare treat for you astronomy buffs out there.

Reynolds, you happen to be one?

WOLF: Somewhat.

HOLMES: Come on. You're the meteorologist here. Aren't you guys required to be into astronomy?

WOLF: I will be. For the case of this argument, I'm the biggest astronomy buff of all time.

HOLMES: All right. Venus is going to have a sighting this evening, but it's going to visible to the naked eye, I'm told. And this thing is 24 million miles a way, these pictures coming to us from one of our iReporters, took the shots from Pensacola, Florida. This was yesterday. Didn't have a telescope, no special lens, just looked up, took the picture.

Now, one shot is of -- you're my astronomy expert here now.

WOLF: I think that's a lightning bug that went by the camera lens. That's my belief.

HOLMES: But which is which? Which is supposed to be because -- you're right, I thought it was the moon.

WOLF: Well, you have the moon there but then the other shot that you saw is Venus. You have to have decent eyesight to be able to see it. You know, not just, you know, your eyes are somewhat poor. You might have a few issues.

HOLMES: All right. They say 30 minutes after sunset is the best time to see this.

WOLF: Set your watch, man. I'll remember that.

(CROSSTALK)

WOLF: Again, eyesight is great. I mean, I had that do it yourself home Lasik surgery, the results were not good. So, let's just say if you have somewhat better eyesight than mine, and you're going to be A-OK.

HOLMES: Where did you get that package, the do-it-yourself?

WOLF: That's a story for another time.

One thing that we mentioned earlier that's easy to see is Igor. And it really is --

HOLMES: We're going to Igor.

WOLF: We're going to go with Igor.

And Igor is going to an area with very warm water, it's like basically pressing the accelerator with high octane fuel with this thing. It's going to get big, it's going to get strong and it happens to be right here -- easy to see.

This storm system is just churning away. Yesterday, it looks like it's fizzling a little bit. But then, just over the last couple of hours, you see it intensify, especially the northeast quadrant of the storm. It's deep convection there.

And with that storm, the intensification is expected to lead it off to the west, possibly becoming a category 3 storm as we get into Monday evening. Then as we get into Wednesday evening, winds of 135 miles per hour, gusts to 160, that is a category 4 hurricane. Remember, they get as high as 5. So, there's a very good chance the storm may really intensify.

Let's give you the bearings. This is the Eastern Seaboard right here, you got Bermuda right there. What we anticipate the storm doing is if we were anticipate -- to extrapolate this path, extend it a bit further, there's a chance it might just go right between Bermuda and the Eastern Seaboard. That would be a great scenario. It would bring heavy surf action to the Eastern Seaboard but that's certainly is far better than a direct hit.

Still, though, there's a lot that can change over the next 12 to 24 to 36 hours. The storm could actually get much stronger, could get weaker, it may even fade out altogether. Let's certainly hope that that last option is the one that plays out.

In terms of what's happening, scattered showers and storms are going to pop up along the Eastern Seaboard. It looks they're going to stick around for a good part of the midday hours. What we can expect later on will be right behind that system, an area of dryer air moving into the Tennessee Valley.

For our friends in Nashville that are tuning in, Louisville, back over to, say, even Elkhart, Indiana, perhaps even to, say, Chicago, dryer air is going to move into the region. That's going to feel comfortable for along the Gulf Coast, though, still humid for you. Austin, you might see some scattered showers along Sixth Street for the afternoon.

And still out to the west, we're still seeing the fires that continue to rage. It looks like humidity might be a little bit higher today, the winds a bit weaker. That should help the firefighters. That could change by midweek.

Your temperatures, very quickly, string of 90s can be expected along the coast from Houston back to New Orleans. Even Tampa, 93 degrees is the expected high. Miami, some sea breeze showers possible by afternoon with 90, 79 in Minneapolis, 85 in Denver and 71 in Seattle, 78 in Los Angeles and 71 in New York and into Boston.

All right, that is the latest on your forecast. T.J., let's kick it back to you.

HOLMES: Kind sir. We appreciate you, Reynolds.

WOLF: You bet.

HOLMES: Do want to let our viewers know, a little something you might not know about Reynolds Wolf, the man is a dancing machine. When he's out in the field, during the commercial breaks, the part you don't see, you would not believe. He just dances and dances and dances.

But a lot of people not that comfortable with their dance moves. So, there's a new study out now that possibly holds the key to making sure you have all the right moves.

Josh, clearly, Reynolds is not one that needs any help or any stat.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is why I've actually insisting that Reynolds is going to join us when we take a look at this. It is pretty amazing. Someday, we're actually going to grab some of that video and put it on TV.

Look at this guy. Researchers are saying that these are the moves that women liked. I'm going to explain the deal behind this weird-looking completely genderless dancing machine and why people all over the world are now watching that.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC)

HOLMES: Now, let's go ahead and take this three-shot here of all the fellows here and to our viewers, welcome back to "The View," male version.

(LAUGHTER)

HOLMES: We're all up here because there's a study out, and Josh is looking into this for us, that is supposed to help guys understand what is going to turn women on if they see the guy dancing on the dance floor. Do I have that right?

LEVS: Yes, you got it right.

HOLMES: OK.

LEVS: My concern is that guys are going to take this too literally and get it wrong. What happened was they went and they took video of actual guys dancing --

HOLMES: OK.

LEVS: -- and took their moves and they mapped them on to these things. Show the first video. They took -- and they wanted to create this, like, featureless, genderless figure so that women wouldn't be turned on by like specific features.

So, they had these women watched a figure like this dance and these are all the bad moves. So, they created this video now, if you're dancing like this on the dance floor, the women didn't like it --

(CROSSTALK)

HOLMES: You're walking out of the club, aren't you?

WOLF: I'm just confused.

(CROSSTALK)

WOLF: You know, looks like he's looking for a bathroom or something.

LEVS: The problem is, the good dancer, which I'll show you now, go to the next one, this is the good stuff that they liked. I am surprised.

HOLMES: Wow.

LEVS: And here's the thing -- I know -- and when they looked at it, they said that the moves that the women liked involved the right knee and the left wrist and shoulder.

HOLMES: What is that woman into?

LEVS: And the neck --

WOLF: Well, it's not what he's saying. I mean, that dancer was saying, hey, I'm a Pisces.

(CROSSTALK)

(LAUGHTER)

WOLF: I'm down for it. That's right. Bring it on. Yes.

LEVS: Northumbria University, they got this 35 women, and when they watched those figures, I'm telling you, this is what they said, is -- go back to the good moves again.

HOLMES: What university?

LEVS: Northumbria University in England.

HOLMES: In England. OK.

WOLF: Great football team.

LEVS: That's what they're known for. Well, maybe now, they'll be known for their dancing.

My concern is that guys are going to take this advice literally and start dancing like these guys from a "Night at the Roxbury." People look at, because you look at how they break it down, they're like, it's the way you move your neck, it's the way you move your knee -- let's go to this video guys, "Night at the Roxbury." I mean, this is obviously what not to do.

WOLF: Wow.

LEVS: But if you're going to take it literally, you might end up looking like this.

HOLMES: This was -- this was over in Great Britain. Is it possible the women over there like something differently from what the women like here?

OK. We have two women in here -- two on our floor and everybody, all the people in our studio and our control room right now are saying, no, we don't like that.

WOLF: You know, I kind of agree with Josh. I think that sometimes moves can help. I can tell you that Mrs. Wolf, seriously, from the first time I met her, I did one of these little bounce moves, and I was down with it. And her response was: what the hell is wrong with you?

(LAUGHTER)

WOLF: That was basically it. But, you know, I mean, it translates into marriage.

LEVS: Maybe you need to do more with the left wrist and the right knee and the left shoulder and the neck.

WOLF: Maybe so.

LEVS: Surprisingly, I didn't mean (INAUDIBLE) as it did. Surprisingly, if you want a reason why I actually give you a little advice --

WOLF: Right.

LEVS: Take a look at this one, the professor in "Rocky Horror Picture Show," not so far off. (VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: See, some of the moves in here actually similar to the good dancing guy there.

WOLF: Wow. OK. That's good stuff.

HOLMES: OK. Our floor director, she's like --

LEVS: Not so much?

HOLMES: -- she's like, what's going on here?

LEVS: I haven't found any women in the building who actually agree with the good dancer guy.

HOLMES: I don't think you will.

LEVS: But maybe it's behind closed doors.

WOLF: That video of the dude, the faceless, it is good he doesn't have a face probably. Do we have the video? I mean, I see it behind us.

HOLMES: He's flopping around.

WOLF: That's just --

HOLMES: That's sexy?

LEVS: Apparently, this is the way -- I know, and I'm waiting for someone to get in touch with us, go ahead, we're all on Facebook and Twitter, go ahead and message us, tell us if this does it for you. Maybe secretly, you know?

WOLF: I think it's not dancing. It's --

LEVS: Oh, yes. There's my Facebook and Twitter, go ahead. All the links are there, you can watch the video for yourself. You can see the whole list of things that you're allegedly supposed to do. Thank you, Northumbria in England.

HOLMES: All right. Twenty past the hour. We're going to take a break. And in the break, Reynolds is going to break it down in here.

WOLF: That's right.

(CROSSTALK)

LEVS: Before we go to break, start, start.

(MUSIC)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Twenty-two minutes past the hour now. I'll give you a look at some of the stories that are making headlines.

Mexican police is on a nationwide manhunt today for 85 inmates who escaped from a prison in a border city of Reynosa. The men used a ladder to clear a wall on Friday and disappeared into the surrounding neighborhood or possibly crossed over the border into McAllen, Texas. Forty-four corrections officers at the prison have been detained or suspended on suspicion of corruption. Police consider many of the escapees are drug cartel members or hit men for drug gangs.

Also, in Kentucky, a man shot and killed five people before killing himself there. And police say this all started as a domestic argument. The "A.P." reporting that the man became enraged over the way his wife cooked his eggs. Investigators identified the shooter at Stanley Neace. They say he shot and killed his wife, stepson and three others. Police heard a gunshot as they pulled up to Neace's trailer and found him dead on the front porch.

Also, a barge hauling away what didn't work. That is the blowout preventer you're seeing on that barge, folks. The blowout preventer, you know, that didn't prevent a blowout of any kind. This is the broken 300-ton piece of equipment that should have prevented the pipeline gusher that led to the Gulf oil disaster. Crews pulled it off the ocean floor a week ago. Engineers now will try to find out why it failed in April and allowed millions of gallons of oil to spew into the Gulf.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, 25 minutes past the hour now.

September 11th, a lot of people had the minds on their anniversary yesterday on those attacks, on those planes coming across the skies over New York and Washington, D.C. Well, some tense moments for folks yesterday in Houston who had that on their mind on the September 11th anniversary, the ninth anniversary.

This is what they saw above them. You see that white line in the sky there? That was a large plane that was circling the city.

People started calling the police department. They didn't know what was going on there in Houston. It was actually NASA. NASA was testing a plane, doing some earth surveys and test maneuvers, taking some air samples as well.

Officials at the Bush International Airport say those flights happen all the time, but as you can imagine, Reynolds, on September 11th, on the anniversary, it caused some alarm there in Houston. People started making some calls.

WOLF: My gosh. It's so weird, you know, all the -- you know, what 9/11 has meant to this country in terms of so many things. I was just watching a documentary last night, speaking of air travel, it's hard to believe that when that took place, we had complete air stoppage around the country.

HOLMES: First time it ever happened. WOLF: Ever. I mean, it's hard to believe that it happened.

So, again, it's natural. I mean, you think about when, when was it, early in the Obama administration when they had Air Force One flying close to --

(CROSSTALK)

WOLF: Exactly. You know, just small little things like that, which any other time you wouldn't think is a big deal, now, it's huge.

HOLMES: And we're told to be alert. We're told to have an eye out. We're told all this stuff.

WOLF: It's a different world.

HOLMES: And something like this happens.

WOLF: Absolutely.

HOLMES: It is a different world.

Reynolds and I will be back at the top of the hour with more live news for you. But first, we're going to hand this thing over to "SANJAY GUPTA, M.D." We'll see you back here shortly.