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CNN Saturday Morning News

Texas Faces Tornado Warnings; Iraqi Soldiers Use Hip-Hop as Form of Expression; Bush Administration Too Closely Tied to Big Oil?

Aired April 29, 2006 - 11:30   ET

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

BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome back to CNN SATURDAY MORNING. Hello everybody. I'm Betty Nguyen.
TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Tony Harris. Lots on our plate today. Let's get right to it with a look at the top stories now in the news. Severe weather is pounding parts of Texas for the second straight day. Winds gusting up to 100 miles an hour tossed planes about at an airport in Gainesville. There was baseball sized hail, too. The storms have damaged several dozen homes, at two injuries are reported.

Rush Limbaugh has struck a plea deal with Florida prosecutors. The conservative talk show host has pleaded not guilty to a single charge of prescription fraud. If he completes 18 months of drug treatment, prosecutors will drop the charge.

You may soon be able to legally buy cocaine, heroin, marijuana, in Mexico. A bill to allow consumers to buy small amounts of the drugs for their own personal use is on Mexican President Vicente Fox's desk. He is expected to sign it. His office says decriminalizing the drugs will allow police to go after major drug dealers.

NGUYEN: We have been showing you the wild pictures out of Texas all morning long and the damage there because of severe weather. Let's get straight to Bonnie Schneider in the weather center with the latest on where these storms are headed. Hi, Bonnie.

BONNIE SCHNEIDER, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hi, Betty. What we're looking light right now is one more tornado warning. The others have expired in Harris and Chambers County. This is in southeast Texas. Currently though the one for Liberty County in southeast Texas, that's just to the west of the Beaumont, Port Arthur area, that is still in effect. It goes until 10:45 a.m. Central time so we still have a little ways to go for this one. The reason is is because we're definitely looking at a line of severe weather that's been working its way to the east. And this tornado watch actually will continue further than that. It will go until 1:00 p.m. today central time. So the threat for tornadoes continues all the way into Louisiana northward towards Arkansas and that will go into the early afternoon hours.

As we look at the map, this area of low pressure in this front is pushing off to the east, pulling up some warm, moist air ahead of it and that's why we're getting strong, powerful thunderstorms with this cold air aloft, warm air at the surface. The winds are very strong. Indeed, like what we saw at the area with the planes near the Dallas area where the winds have been so strong. We had reports yesterday Betty of wind gusts as high as 68 miles per hour in the Gainesville area.

NGUYEN: That is some wind that could do a lot of damage. And w e saw the damage with the planes just tossed around like toys. Of course we'll stay on top of the severe weather. Thank you, Bonnie.

HARRIS: A new message of defiance from al Qaeda's number two leader in a video that first surfaced on Islamic Web sites yesterday. Ayman al Zawahiri praises insurgent attacks against U.S. led forces in Iraq. He claims al Qaeda operatives have carried out 800 martyrdom operations in the past three years. He also urges Pakistanis to overthrow their president. This is the third videotaped message from Osama bin Laden's top lieutenant this year.

The U.S. death toll in Iraq is nearing 2400, 2,396 U.S. troops have died in Iraq since the beginning of the war in 2003. A U.S. soldier and a Marine were killed this past week; 68 U.S. troops have died in Iraq this month. That's the highest monthly total this year.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED SOLDIER: We're projecting our voices from the front lines about lives in conflict.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: U.S. soldiers, sailors and marines tell their stories about the war in Iraq with the rhymes and rhythms of hip-hop. It's music from the front lines and it's come a long way from the days of "When Johnny Comes Marching Home." Today, many troops prefer to rap about their experience. You can hear here them on a new CD, "Voices from the Front Line."

Marine Corporal Michael Watts performs on the CD. Joel Spielman is the producer behind the project. They both join us from Los Angeles. Good to see you both.

CPL. MICHAEL WATTS, US MARINE CORPS: How you doing Tony?

JOEL SPIELMAN, PRES., CROSSCHECK RECORDS: Good morning.

HARRIS: Good morning, good morning. Joel, OK, good idea. How did you come up with the notion for this project?

SPIELMAN: Well I saw a documentary on Veterans Day of all days, back in 2004 called "Last Letters Home" on HBO. It was very poignant where mothers and fathers were reading the letters of their sons and daughters who had passed away while serving in Iraq. It's just something struck in me where I wanted to hear something as current as possible whether it be active duty soldiers and Marines, you know just telling us about their feelings, like an audio diary.

HARRIS: Yes, and Corporal, how did you find out about it?

WATTS: Well, one of my buddies (INAUDIBLE) Foster came up to me and was, like, there's a guy named Joel Spielman was looking for Marines that can rap for like a military CD. I was like, sure, all right. I don't have a problem doing that. So he came to me and I gave Joel my number and like, a couple days later, Joel called me and, hey, can you come over to the studio? And he just told me more about the project. And about a week and a half later, we was in the studio recording the CD.

HARRIS: Well, Michael I want you to sort of think up a little freestyle for us. Ask you to do some of that a little bit later. I'm going to ask Joel a couple of questions. But you, I was going to ask you to do it. So I want you to work up a little something --something for us this morning. Joel, did you anticipate any resistance by the military?

SPIELMAN: I really wasn't sure what to expect. I just went on a search starting on the web. I called a bunch of military bases. And I think -- I didn't get any resistance whatsoever. But the whole time, you know I knew that it was just going to be what's coming from their hearts. There's going to be really nothing political about it. It ended up being nonpolitical at all.

HARRIS: It's not political at all.

SPIELMAN: Well in my opinion, it isn't. I sat with all of these young men and women from the Army, Navy, Marines, and I just simply said, just tell me about your life. Tell me about your experience and they just took it from there.

HARRIS: Michael, what's the name of your rap tune on the CD?

WATTS: My rap tune is...

HARRIS: You got one on the CD, right?

WATTS: You talking about my song?

HARRIS: Yes.

WATTS: Well, (INAUDIBLE) that what I'm guessing because I'm talking about the media in a way in the song.

HARRIS: Yes, that's what I'm leading to. What is your problem with members of the media?

WATTS: I don't have a problem with media, but while we was in the job during -- not last year, but the year before last, August, (INAUDIBLE) knows about the cemetery, it's a pretty big fight. I really don't want to go too indepth on it. But I lost a couple of my friends whatever and the media, like, whenever you lose a life in Iraq or whatever, someone on stateside will go and notify that Marine's parents.

HARRIS: Yes.

WATTS: Well the media was just trying to get the story back and not even worrying about, you know, waiting for the Marine's parents to get notified that their child just died. That just, it really ticked me off. We had been up for like three days straight already and fighting and we're all tired and hungry and we're all...

HARRIS: And that's the last thing you needed. I can understand that. I'll give you that one. I can understand that. It's one of the tougher aspects of the job, that's for sure. You got a little freestyle worked up for us?

WATTS: I got a couple lines for you

HARRIS: All right, bust a little something for us.

WATTS: All right, well, I've been doing this rap thing for a very long time. I suggest that you go buy my CD "Voice from the Front Line." Yes, I'm the best in Texas, but if I rap the boys trying to understand (INAUDIBLE) it's a lot of things that I try to spit. That's why we on this CD, but you just don't get, what we're doing when we out there fighting in Iraq. I say, thank God I made it.

HARRIS: That's good, that's good. Hey, thank you for your time, both of you.

SPIELMAN: Thank you.

HARRIS: "Voices from the Front Line," it's the CD and all of the contributions are from our U.S. service personnel. We appreciate it, Joel, thank you, Michael, good to hear from you.

WATTS: All right, thank you.

HARRIS: Thank you.

NGUYEN: And that's a wrap. Hey onto other music news though. Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards was injured in Fiji. A band spokeswoman says Richards suffered a mild concussion while vacationing on the island this week. Now local media, here's what they say. They're reporting that he fell out of a palm tree of all things. But here at CNN we have not confirmed that he fell out of a palm tree. Well, we do know that he was injured and possibly a mild concussion from that injury. Tony.

HARRIS: Not quite "The Jetsons," but still pretty cool. We're going live to the first robot competition Betty.

NGUYEN: But first, rising gas prices not only a problem for you and me, but the Bush administration is feeling quite a bit of pain on those prices at the pump. When we return we'll talk about it all.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Top stories now, terrible weather in northern Texas. High winds damaged or destroyed several building and pushed several planes against each other at a Gainesville airport. At least two people were hurt.

Radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh has been charged with fraudulently concealing information to obtain prescription drugs. But under an agreement with prosecutors, the charges will be dropped in 18 months if Limbaugh remains in treatment for drug addiction.

A new offer from Tehran in the stand off over Iran's nuclear program and a bid to head off U.N. Security Council sanctions. An Iranian official says his country is willing to accept snap inspections of its facilities.

NGUYEN: Bad news if you're out driving this weekend. There is no relief in sight from those high gas prices. The latest AAA fuel gauge report puts the average national price of a gallon on unleaded regular at almost $2.93. Mid-grade gasoline is just below $3.11 and premium just above $3.22. The nation's three biggest oil companies are reporting a 17 percent increase in first quarter profits. That has critics calling for a windfall profit tax. But President Bush rejects that idea.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEORGE W. BUSH, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The temptation in Washington is to -- is to tax everything and they spend the money, they being people in Washington. The answer is, is for in there to be strong reinvestment to make the country more secure from an energy perspective. Oil prices are a wake-up call. We're dependent upon oil and we need to get off oil.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NGUYEN: OK, you heard that side.

Now critics have accused the Bush administration of being tied too closely to big oil. CNN chief national correspondent John King looked into that for this report from CNN's Anderson Cooper 360.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOHN KING, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): George W. Bush was an oil man before he turned to politics. For Dick Cheney, the energy business came during a break from government service. Now to say the least, those oil ties complicate the politics as the Bush White House deals with voter anger over spiking gas prices.

SEN. CHARLES SCHUMER (D) NEW YORK: The bottom line is very simple. This president believes what's good for ExxonMobil is good for America.

KING: A cheap shot, the White House says, noting Mr. Bush angered oil companies by ordering an investigation of possible price gouging and just Friday, pressured big oil to pump its record profits into new pipelines, refineries and developing alternative fuels.

BUSH: These oil prices are a wake-up call. We're dependent upon oil. We need to get off oil.

KING: Energy policy has been high on the Bush domestic agenda from day one and with it, the debate over whether industry ties are an asset or liability. Mr. Bush's stake in Harken Energy helped him buy into the Texas Rangers 20 years ago. Mr. Cheney was the CEO of energy giant Halliburton from 1997 to 2000. Former Commerce Secretary Don Evans was a 25-year oil industry veteran. Even Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has oil ties. She was on Chevron's board for 10 years. Valuable experience the vice president said back five years ago as he wrote the first Bush energy plan that critics said was loaded with giveways to big oil.

DICK CHENEY, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think it's useful to have somebody who knows something about the energy business involved in the effort.

KING: The lead role back then, no Cheney role in this week's focus on gas prices. No accident, Democrats say.

STANLEY GREENBERG, DEMOCRATIC POLLSTER: Cheney even more than George Bush is the guy associated with Halliburton, the energy companies, the CEOs that are making big dollars. He's part of the problem.

KING: The president and his party have benefited enormously from oil industry contributions. Of the $190 million in oil and gas money given to Federal candidates in past 15 years, 75 percent of it went to Republicans, including $4.5 million to Mr. Bush's presidential campaigns. Given that history, Republicans say Mr. Bush opens eyes when he pushes proposals the industry doesn't like.

BILL McINTURFF, REPUBLICAN POLLSTER: Generally in our focus groups people say, look, Bush is an oil guy, so is Cheney. So in some ways, when the Bush does something unexpected, like saying OK, give me the power. We'll go ahead and make sure that the average car's got to get more miles per gallon. They think it's really intriguing because, they think hey, wow.

KING: Democrats disagree and say Mr. Bush's past contributes to his current political slump with voters.

GREENBERG: In general they don't trust him. But specifically for sure they don't trust him to make the right choices when it comes to energy.

KING: It is a familiar debate. The experience they consider an asset used by their critics as a weapon. John King, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NGUYEN: And that report first aired on Anderson Cooper 360 which you can see weeknights at 10:00 Eastern.

HARRIS: It's the first robot competition and our Reynolds Wolf is there to show you a little bit of the action. Reynolds.

REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A lot of the action. We're coming to you live from the Georgia dome where we have a lot of different kids and a whole lot of different robots that are going head to head right now. Appropriate music for an appropriate day. You're going to get a chance to meet one of these great teams of kids coming up in just a few moments right here on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: How about this, New Orleans getting its swing back, the jazz fest under way, both homegrown musical heroes and superstar acts are in the Crescent City for its biggest music event since hurricane Katrina. Thousands of fans flocking there for the two weekend long extravaganza, showcasing musical performance with blues to rock to gospel. And I just happen to know Fredricka loves the New Orleans jazz fest.

NGUYEN: You've been to just about every one, haven't you?

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No.

HARRIS: Right? You make a habit of going.

NGUYEN: But you go like for the past how many years?

WHITFIELD: Eight years now.

NGUYEN: Well, there you go.

WHITFIELD: Although, missing this year.

NGUYEN: Well, good reason.

WHITFIELD: Yes. But you know, we're going to take you there in part.

NGUYEN: True.

WHITFIELD: And we've been taking you there in part all day and yesterday, too. We're going to have what we call a great get coming up in the noon eastern hour. He's been compared to Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton, (INAUDIBLE) who grew up in the trendy neighborhood of New Orleans. Trombone Shorty, a young trombonist, who was a Katrina evacuee now back home in New Orleans and happy to be performing during the jazz festival. We'll be talking to him about what this entire experience has been like for him. Also, are you a Prius person or an Escalade enthusiast?

HARRIS: Give me a battery I can charge up.

NGUYEN: Fuel efficiency, please.

WHITFIELD: ... get you from point A to point B. Well we're going to show you how the drivers of these variation of vehicles are actually kind of taking on one another.

NGUYEN: Oh, really?

WHITFIELD: Yes. Emotions are getting a little heated up over this whole fight over gasoline.

HARRIS: Prices are too darn high. WHITFIELD: (INAUDIBLE) All that.

NGUYEN: Who's wasting, who's making smart decision.

WHITFIELD: We've got all of that at the top of the hour.

NGUYEN: All good stuff, looking forward to it.

WHITFIELD: Have a good time.

NGUYEN: We'll try. We're going to check in now with someone who is having a great Saturday because it is a battle of the robots in Atlanta this weekend. Teenagers are showing off some amazing inventions at the 15th annual first international robotics championship at the Georgia dome. Our Reynolds Wolf is there. Reynolds, you've been there for about a couple hours now. Tell me you haven't broken anything yet.

WOLF: I haven't broken anything, nothing that a little duct tape and some super glue can't fix. So that's how it's been so far. You know what's so neat about this competition? It's not just the different types of robots, but the different types of people that you'll meet in this wonderful competition. It's called the first robotics competition, first is just the name only, that's a sponsor company, the company that sponsored the event. It's actually the 15th year they've been doing this and they have all kinds of groups. One group, one team that we have is from Missouri. What's your name sir?

COREY: Corey.

WOLF: He's a handsome devil. He's from Missouri. And your name?

BOBBY: Bobby (INAUDIBLE) , sir.

WOLF: OK, tell us about your machine.

BOBBY: Our machine right here, it is mainly a shooting machine. We do offense and defense. Mainly most of the machine was built out of necessity when we came to designing it.

WOLF: Now all these are different. There aren't any two that are exactly alike. These are all different models right?

BOBBY: Yes. We came out here and we've quite literally seen so many different designs and so many good ideas. It was outstanding.

WOLF: But this morning you guys had some problems because the machine was too heavy, right and you had to make some adjustments.

BOBBY: Right before actually we left for regionals, we were I think 45 pounds over the weight limit of 120 pounds.

WOLF: OK, so what did you do?

BOBBY: I don't know if we have a picture of it somewhere around here. But we had the whole thing encased in metal. Everything was steel and it was a very, very heavy duty robot. But we had to redo the siding very last minute, had to cut holes. We used to have a lot more metal in there. It's actually a lot less secure now but weighs a lot less.

WOLF: Let's move it around a little bit. How do you make it move? That's your control board I guess. OK.

BOBBY: It's tethered up right now. Normally it would be wireless but since we're out here and we can't do wireless on the field. Josh is going to drive it around a little bit.

WOLF: Wow. OK and it shoots and he fires the projectiles through the top into the hoop and that's what gives you the points?

BOBBY: Right.

WOLF: All right, guys, really, really cool and what a great story it is that they had to make some adjustments to make the whole thing work. See, it's using your noggin.

NGUYEN: These kids are smart.

WOLF: A lot smarter than all of us put together.

NGUYEN: I know that's right. OK Reynolds.

WOLF: At least a lot smarter than me.

NGUYEN: No, your first statement was true. All right. We want to thank you for joining us today. There's a lot still to come. CNN SATURDAY with Fredricka Whitfield is up next.

HARRIS: Right after this short break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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