Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Saturday Morning News
California Wildfires Continue to Burn; President Obama Trying to Boost Confidence of the Unemployed; Who Will Be the Next Governor of California?; Congressman Wants to Ban Ads for Erectile Dysfunction Drugs
Aired May 09, 2009 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everybody, from the CNN Center. This is CNN SATURDAY MORNING. It is May 9th. Good morning, thanks for joining us. I'm Betty Nguyen.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: And hello to you all. I'm T.J. Holmes.
8:00 a.m. here in Atlanta, Georgia, 7:00 a.m. in Poplar Bluffs, Missouri. That is where thunderstorms and deadly tornadoes ripped through that city, also that entire state. Five people killed in Missouri, Kansas as well as Kentucky. Going to take a look at all that damage straight ahead and we're actually not out of the woods yet in some places in the country.
NGUYEN: Not at all. We're going to talk to Reynolds Wolf about that. Also Los Angeles expecting the largest city deficit it has ever faced in history, $530 million. (INAUDIBLE) the city's mayor who said the economic problem is stemming from the state capital.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR ANTONIO VILLARAIGOSA, LOS ANGELES: The system in Sacramento is broken.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Ouch. L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa points to a few different places and gives President Obama an on the job grade. More on this interview coming up at 8:30 Eastern.
I do want to start with the wildfires out west where desperate homeowners are hoping an army of firefighters can save their homes. The fires are burning in Santa Barbara, California, up the coast from Los Angeles. Here's a map of it. A huge part of the community has been forced to flee and we have seen dozens of homes like this engulfed in flames.
Just look at that. As many as 80 have burned so far. It's just hard to watch them just come crumbling down and there are many more in immediate danger right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHERIFF BILL BROWN, SANTA BARBARA, CALIFORNIA: If you live in an area that is in a warning area or even an adjacent area, in other words if you live in an area that is on the periphery of the western flank, the eastern flank or the southern part of the current evacuation area, you should be preparing to evacuate and move now. The potential for another breakout of the fire remains very, very strong.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: As many as 30 -- sorry there Betty, as many as 30,000 people have been given the order to evacuate. That number could grow significantly depending on what the winds do to this fire. Another 22,000 people being told to be ready to get out of there at a moment's notice.
NGUYEN: I mean just looking at the smoke and the fires that continue to burn, they are trying desperately to put those out. Reynolds Wolf joins us now to talk about the fact that, if they could just get a little let up in the wind and maybe a little bit of rain, that would really help them out.
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, two bad things. One, rain is not in the forecast. Second big issue, we're not going to see any letup at all with the wind. The wind actually intensifying this afternoon, so it's really bad. If you happen to be in downtown Santa Barbara later on this morning, let's say you're going for a walk or passing away, but you look up, you hope to see that beautiful shot of the coast range.
Instead, you're going to be seeing thick clouds and incredible, incredible fire. Some of these flames that we had, not from this particular shot that's destroying this home, but some of these flames reaching heights of around 100 feet. The temperature of these flames to 1,400-degrees Fahrenheit.
The battle is going to be roaring through much of the day, some 2,300 firefighters there, 254 trucks are going to be in place, also 13. 13 aircraft. Helicopters are going to be dropping water and flame retardant, trying to do what they can to stay one step ahead of this fire and it is going to be just a major thing.
You have an idea what's happening on the ground. Let's give you an idea of what's happening from the skies above and the atmosphere. The setup as I was telling Betty and T.J., no favorable. One of the reasons why is because we've got a big area of high pressure represented by this big blue (INAUDIBLE) you happen to see.
Now, high pressure has a compressing effect on the atmosphere. It kind of pushes down, almost like the lid on a jar and that's going to limit any possibility of the marine layer, the thick layer of marine air that could actually raise dew points. That's going to stay away. At the same time, rain chances are all but nonexistent.
Now gusty winds up to 35 miles an hour you'll see here on the screen, but we could see gusts topping 65 into the afternoon. We're talking about winds that are in excess of tropical storm force, approaching hurricane force winds, really rough times.
Now, I'm also going to zoom in on something else for you, give you an idea right here is where the big issues are going to take place. In the central coast of California, all areas that happen to be shaded in red are going to be under the gun today. We're talking about of course Santa Barbara, but when you get back say from the coastal range and be back into the Sierra Madre mountains, you're going to have some issues there.
Anyone hoping to take that drive not (ph) along highway 101, but maybe say 154, San Marcus Pass, that is going to be closed for the day today and the reason why is out by (INAUDIBLE), you're going to have those fires that could be moving, spreading very quickly.
You think about the kinds of plants you have out there. In this part of the world, you have that dry chaparral. You got the California oaks and with that in mind, those could really be just perfect fuel for these fires. Something else to consider, just over the last couple of weeks, we've had two other stories that we've covered in dealing with fires in the news and one would be in Oklahoma, the other just a week or so ago.
That was up in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. Both areas are relatively flat, very easy for the firefighters to get to them. Still a struggle no question, but easier in comparison to what you have on the central coast of California where you have these valleys.
You have these huge ridges, just a topographical impossibility really to fight these things without the help of those firefighters from the skies above. We're talking about smoke jumpers. We're also talking about the 15 helicopters and three water tenders (ph) that are going to be in play today, trying to get a good handle on this fire. It is going to be rough times for them. They hope to have a better handle on it as we get deeper into maybe next week, but for the weekend itself, no letup whatsoever.
Let's send it back to you guys.
NGUYEN: They got a tough fight on their hands. OK, thank you Reynolds. We'll be checking in with you shortly.
HOLMES: Thanks Reynolds and well, you probably saw this coming. You knew somebody was probably going to lose a job over this and yes, someone has. Fallout at the White House now over that ill advised photo-op fly over, a low fly-over in New York City a little over a week ago.
NGUYEN: You remember this because we saw people running out in the streets when the presidential 747 flew over at low altitude. Here is the picture. A beautiful shot, the White House released the picture that they took on that mission. You see Air Force One there and the statue of liberty.
Nice shot but probably not worth the fear and anger that spread throughout the city. Even President Obama said he was, quote, furious. Now, he's accepted the resignation of the guy that planned that fly-over. Louis Caldera, the head of the White House military office said his blunder had become a distraction to the president so he decided to step down.
HOLMES: We have got new unemployment numbers for month of April. More than half a million jobs were lost. However some are pointing to that as a bit of good news, because at least the jobs that were lost were less than what analysts expected, greeted fairly warmly on Wall Street as well.
Here are the numbers, overall unemployment rate is now at 8.9 percent. That's up from 8.5 last month, 8.1 the month before. Employers cut 539,000 jobs in April. That is actually down quite a bit from the those 600,000 plus we saw in March. It adds a string of six straight months of increases, so some pointing to that as some good news.
Now to highlight a few groups here that have been hard hit. Unemployment for African-Americans went up nearly 2 percent to 15 percent. But adult women, up just 1 point, 1 percent I should say to 7.1 percent. Also teenagers, still having the hardest time out there, the highest unemployment rate of any group at 21.5 percent. That's actually down however slightly from the month before.
The unemployment rate for Hispanics dropped slightly to 11.3 percent. President Obama never too far away from any issues having to do with the economy also talking about these unemployment numbers we have been watching.
NGUYEN: Absolutely. He's trying to boost confidence while giving the unemployed hope and really just an idea that there is new start out there. CNN deputy political director Paul Steinhauser has more now on the president's plan.
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Betty, T.J., President Barack Obama says he has a message for those looking for jobs, more help and job training is coming soon. The president yesterday outlined steps to allow people without jobs to take educational and training classes at vocational schools and community colleges, this without losing their unemployment benefits as current law dictates.
Mr. Obama's announcement came just three hours after the government announced that the unemployment level jumped last month to 8.9 percent. That's the highest rate in 25 years. Getting the country out of a recession is job number one for this White House and putting people back to work is crucial to that effort.
Our most recent CNN Opinion Research Corporation national poll indicates that the economy by far remains issue number one, with 55 percent saying it's the most important issue, way head of everything else. And so far Americans think that the president is doing a good job dealing with the economy. Our poll suggests that more than 63 percent of Americans think the president is paying enough attention to the country's most important problems -- Betty, T.J.?
NGUYEN: Have you gotten a notice that credit card rates, they are going up and continue to rise it seems and some rates have risen significantly. HOLMES: I don't pay close enough attention to this stuff. A lot of people probably don't. You don't even realize it's happening. But in his weekly address, President Obama talked about the credit card reforms he would like to see Congress pass.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The abuses in our credit card industry have only multiplied in the midst of this recession, when Americans can least afford to bear an extra burden. It is past time for rules that are fair and transparent. That's why I have called for a set of new principles to reform our credit card industry.
Instead of an anything goes approach, we need strong and reliable protections for consumers, instead of fine print that hides the truth. We need credit card forms and statements that have plain language in plain sight and we need to give people the tools they need to find a credit card that meets their needs.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: The president wants to sign that reform into law by Memorial Day, he says.
Let's turn out to California now, Governor Schwarzenegger's turn for governor is winding down.
NGUYEN: Yes it is. So the question is who's going to be stepping up to run the state of California? Well, I sat down with one possible contender.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Obviously you've given it thought to run for governor, but since you haven't decided just yet, is there anyone out there who could run who might be better for that position than you?
VILLARAIGOSA: You're good.
NGUYEN: What do you think about President Obama...
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: L.A. Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa to the edge (ph) about running for governor. His response right after the break.
HOLMES: He's running. He's running, did you hear that?
NGUYEN: Sounds like he's really considering it doesn't it?
HOLMES: We're looking forward to hearing from him, a lot of big issues to tackle out there.
But take a look at this here, a lot of people trying to figure out what happened to this woman. An American couple goes on vacation in Thailand. The woman you see there gets extremely sick, dies within 12 hours. She's the second woman to die at this spot in recent weeks. What is this mystery illness? Or is something else going on?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, we have all heard about California's economic struggles, not unique just to that state, a lot of states struggling right now. But Governor Schwarzenegger has demanded major budget cuts and they're looking to cut billions of dollars.
NGUYEN: Absolutely. It is the same story in the state's biggest city, that being Los Angeles. They're dealing with a $530 million deficit and just massive layoffs. I had a chance to sit down with the Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and asked him about his personal salary cut during these economic times and his possible future as governor.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VILLARAIGOSA: First of all, this is the largest deficit in our city's history. It's roughly a little more than 10 percent of the budget. The state on the other hand is looking at roughly 40 percent of their budget, 43 percent -- $43 billion budget deficit. The system in Sacramento is broken. Most of our deficit has everything to do with the economy, whereas there, they have not dealt with their budget deficits over a period of time.
NGUYEN: So what plans are in place? I mean we have seen this full board vote to lay off 5,000 teachers. You're seeing protests. You yourself have taken a pay cut. I mean what are the answers to these problems?
VILLARAIGOSA: I have cut my salary by 12 percent, on top of last year not taking a raise of 4.5 percent. That's more than $30,000. I'm not saying that others should do that amount, but I am saying that everybody is going to have to participate.
We're proposing to cut services, to lay off about 400 employees, but also asking our employees to take a cut in salaries and benefits to help us get through this so that we don't add to the unemployment lines and importantly, maintain the services the taxpayers want. I think that's the road out of this unprecedented deficit problem. It's the way to clear skies.
NGUYEN: What do you think about President Obama and his first 100 days? Looking back, what is is grade that you give him?
VILLARAIGOSA: A plus. I was with him a few weeks ago. In fact I think you covered it when we spoke at the town hall in Los Angeles. I had an opportunity to meet with him and I said I was so proud how bold he's been in addressing the economy, the issue of green jobs and the new economy, but also attacking the financial crisis that we're facing, the health care crisis.
He realizes that when you're president of the United States and we have as much going wrong in the country as we do right now, you can't just say I'm going to focus on one thing. You got to focus on a number of things.
NGUYEN: The 2010 race for governor is coming up, any chance you're going to run?
VILLARAIGOSA: You are here in part because Los Angeles is facing, as other cities are, an unprecedented financial crisis, the deficit that we have never seen in our history. I have got to focus on this job. I have got to do what it takes to get us out of this crisis. I have said as well that when you're mayor of Los Angeles, you are a governor in many respects.
NGUYEN: Obviously you have given it thought to run for governor. But since you haven't decided just yet, is there anyone else out there who could run who might be better for that position than you?
VILLARAIGOSA: You're good. Look, I'm not focused on running for governor right now. I'm focused on this job. At some point, hopefully sooner rather than later when we're out of this crisis, I'll be able to make an assessment about whether or not I can or should serve or put my name in nomination, if you will, but at this point I'm focused on the job at hand. I love what I'm doing. I'm feel like a kid in the candy store that I have got the opportunity in the city of America's hope and promise.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: All right, but It sounds like he's thinking about it.
HOLMES: We are used to hearing politicians answer that question and we're used to getting that answer and we're used to covering them when they announce they're running for governor.
NGUYEN: And notice he wouldn't tell me anyone else who would be better for the job.
HOLMES: Because you can't do that because they'll use that against you during the campaign.
NGUYEN: You'll see it in the ads. So when we're thinking about who may run, there are a lot of names out there there are being floated without about. We've got eBay chief Meg Whitman who might be interested in it, also the attorney general there in California, Jerry Brown, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsome.
So there are a lot of names. There's a little time still left, so I'm sure it will get heated as we get closer. But interesting to talk to the mayor about what he not only thinks about the budget and this economy, but the future of California because they are facing a huge deficit.
HOLMES: They are a major city and that city needs to be doing well for that state to be doing well. So that's a half a billion dollars in deficit they have. A lot of places around California, that state as a whole suffering right now.
NGUYEN: Absolutely and a lot of people (INAUDIBLE) as well without jobs at this hour. A lot of people looking, trying to find a way to make ends meet, to pay those mortgages, to pay those credit card bills, so we're staying on the issue of your money because the economy is definitely issue number one right now.
HOLMES: Another issue that a congressman decided he wanted to introduce. He thought this was important. It has something to do with some of this -- you have watched, you have seen all of these ads. This is the issue he has decided he wants to take up because he calls some of this indecent. Yes, the Viagra, the Cialis, the Levitra commercials, indecent to you?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WOLF: Welcome back to CNN SATURDAY MORNING and if you happen to be tuning in from the golden state of California, you're looking for something to do, look no farther than the Presidio in the San Francisco bay area. It used to be just a bunch of coastal batteries, and old Ford (ph) is now a very affordable weekend get away.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WOLF: Just a quick ride from the heart of San Francisco, the Presidio National Park offers lots of options for visitors and a budget price tag, free, All 1491 acres.
STIRLING KELSO, TRAVEL + LEISURE: Presidio was once an army base, but it's now a national park that overlooks the Golden Gate bridge. It has man-made and natural wonders to visit.
WOLF: For history and architecture buffs, the site spans centuries.
DANA POLK, THE PRESIDIO TRUST: We have a real amazing collection of different architectural styles. We have over nine different styles, you know, ranging from all the way back to the early 1800s to the early '90s.
WOLF: And the Presidio has hiking trails, beaches and great views.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Inspiration point looks out over Alcatraz. It's the end of the one mile ecology walk.
POLK: We really encourage people to get out in the park. We have 12 different trail segments here that will take you to view some just gorgeous scenic overlooks. Those are just some of the highlights.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WOLF: Cool stuff isn't it guys? That's a cool thing to do on a weekend, that's what you do when you play. Coming up, we're going to talk about working, in fact, working like keeping the airport (INAUDIBLE) Hartsfield Jackson international, nice, lush and green. We're going to talk to a lady who actually does that for a living. It's a tough job. We were there to help out a little bit with a green thumb. Let's send it back to you.
NGUYEN: You got behind the wheel of some heavy machinery and you lived to tell about it.
WOLF: Very dangerous, no question. We'll talk about that with you.
NGUYEN: And we're going to be talking about this too, a big change is underway in the comedy world.
HOLMES: Yeah, to make it these days, comics say you have to be funny not just on stage, but on Twitter. How do you do that in 140 characters? Josh Levs looking into it this morning.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's a new big challenge in that world. Here there guys. We've got a winner of the American comedy awards and a winner of last comic standing who's telling me it's all by Twitter now, which means some winners, but also some losers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN HEFFRON, COMEDIAN, TWITTERER: I think the big loser in this whole Twitter phenomenon is probably the vowels, because I think the vowels kind of are getting aced out of the entire thing. Support A, E, I, O and U.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: We haven't heard this song in a long time. (INAUDIBLE) it was the Tom Tom Club.
HOLMES: (INAUDIBLE) Mariah Carey version, right?
NGUYEN: That's what it is. This is the original one, apparently.
Let's talk about the new forum for stand up comedians, it's giving the pros a whole set of challenges, shall we say? Because to become successful these days, you got to build a following and where do you do that? On Twitter.
HOLMES: A lot of people are doing that, but how do you do that? You only get 140 characters on Twitter so you've got to be funny.
NGUYEN: That's a short joke.
HOLMES: A very short joke. Josh Levs telling how they're doing it this morning. Good morning.
LEVS: Good morning to you. It is a real big change and I'll tell you what happened. I was looking at Facebook and I saw this ad for a comedian and it called him one of the funniest comedians on Twitter. And so I got to thinking, is that central to the comedy world these days? And it turns out the answer is yes. It is. We spoke with Stu (ph), one right here, you'll see his page right here. He calls himself the love master. He's a former winner of the American comedy awards. And another one right here, John Heffron is a former winner of last comic standing. Now he's doing pretty well. But this guy right here, Craig, well, he's a Twitter newbie.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CRAIG SHOEMAKER, COMEDIAN, TWITTERER: I'm on the information super cul-de-sac. I'm not so great at the -- I'm learning and I have no friends. I have more friends at any house yesterday for dinner than I have on Twitter (INAUDIBLE).
LEVS: How did you build up your fan base, John? How did you build up this number of followers on Twitter?
HEFFRON: I try to be funny. I try to be entertaining. I try to do stuff that hopefully gets retwitted. Is that the word? Sure.
LEVS: All right, let's take a look at some of your popular tweets here. You have this section called the original last tweet.
HEFFRON: Yes.
LEVS: And you have one here, a guy who always gets killed on "Star Trek," last tweet, got my uniform, the rest of the landing party wearing a different color, weird. And then my favorite one, married man's last tweet, about to go into the champagne room, wish me luck.
HEFFRON: Those are the things that end up, people start passing around and then that's what gives people to go, who is this guy?
LEVS: And, Craig, is this what (INAUDIBLE) after the same idea out here (INAUDIBLE) ?
SHOEMAKER: I'm a storyteller, so it's not so great for me, I'm still working with this under 140 characters thing.
LEVS: One of yours I looked too. You wrote up late in my Pittsburgh hotel, just read a "USA Today" article, about how Twitter is no good for intimacy, no worries I'm alone.
SHOEMAKER: So I don't know if anybody's laughing at the joke. So I tweeted that last night. We'll see how that goes. (INAUDIBLE)
LEVS: Like when you're doing this, you don't have that kind of instant feedback, if you're doing standup somewhere, you've got the laughter. How do you know?
HEFFRON: It's the replies. To me, I judge by the reply.
SHOEMAKER: I have had zero replies so apparently I got to work on my tweeting. The whole thing is, when you write, though, it's different. It doesn't have the nuance or things like that. I put something about my ex-wife that I got divorced and tonight's show is a benefit show and all proceeds go to my ex-wife and people writing back, oh, I feel so sorry to you, and I go, no, it's a joke.
HEFFRON: And Chris Angel was on my flight so I tweeted Chris Angel (ph) is on our flight, we will not have to use fuel. He will use his superpowers to get us home. The replies were I spelled Chris Angel's name wrong. It's like come on, people, how am I supposed to -- that's not the point.
LEVS: The biggest generation never had this problem. You go to previous stand up and you got like stand up in the Adirondacks right and you've got all these generations. No one's ever (INAUDIBLE) over the last few years, no one's ever dealt with the opportunities and the challenges that you guys have. Is Twitter the new stand up?
HEFFRON: As a comedian, it's funny. Now it seems like you have to be funny and be this crazy Internet marketer. How can I let somebody know that I'm coming into whatever city? And Twitter and Facebook and all those things are the best way to do it.
SHOEMAKER: I would hate to see though that we're on stage at the punch line in Atlanta actually tweeting the crowd from the stage, yeah, I'm doing my act with my thumbs on my blackberry. Hold on for a second. I have a new joke I would like to try on you, turn on your text.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEVS: I don't know, live tweeting (INAUDIBLE) stand up, might not be that far off at this point. Let me tell you. We're looking to hear from you. We want to know from you, what are the funniest tweets you have ever seen? Send them to us right here. You can send them to us, joshlevscnn. We're going to compile them all into a big thing. You can't do that at Twitter, but you can on Facebook.
So that's where you'll see a list of them, Facebook on my page, joshlevscnn. Guys we're going to start getting this going, to see what the funniest tweets are out there. And hopefully this coming weekend, we'll have some good humor to share with you.
NGUYEN: Yeah, looking forward to that. You talk about live tweeting during a show. Hello, we do that every weekend.
LEVS: All the time, nonstop.
HOLMES: Pope Benedict is on his second day tour, second day I should say of his tour of the holy land. This morning he spoke to Muslim leaders in Amman, Jordan. He called for Christians, Jews and Muslims to unite as worshippers of God. We'll be looking into his trip, his week-long trip to the Middle East this morning.
NGUYEN: Yeah and welcome back, everybody. Thanks for joining us. We got a lot on the plate today. I'm Betty Nguyen.
HOLMES: And good morning to you all. I'm T.J. Holmes. Glad you could start your day here with us.
We want to start as well talking about a big story out of California. Firefighters not going to be getting a break from winds today in Santa Barbara. Wildfires spread by gusting winds have destroyed at least 80 homes so far. As many as 30,000 people under evacuation orders. Thousands more were told they could be next to have to get out of there.
NGUYEN: Text messaging is likely the cause of a trolley wreck in Boston. 20 people were injured. The train operator admitted that he was text messaging at the time of the accident and didn't see the other train ahead of him until it was too late. He could face criminal charges.
HOLMES: And so the president talking about credit card reform this morning in his weekly address. He wants to stop sudden changes in interest rates, outrageous penalties, and random fees. He wants Congress to pass reforms in the industry so he can sign them by Memorial Day.
NGUYEN: Well, President Obama does plan to deliver a major policy speech in Egypt next month.
HOLMES: And he's reaching out to Muslims in an effort to improve U.S. relations with the Muslim world. Our deputy political director Paul Steinhauser in Washington with a look at what the president expects to accomplish.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEINHAUSER: The speech will deliver on a promise candidate Barack Obama made when he was running for president. White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs made the announcement yesterday afternoon during his daily briefing. He had said Egypt was chosen because it's "a country that in many ways represents the heart of the Arab world." Now Gibbs deflected questions by reporters asking if Egypt was a wise choice, given the resistance by that country's president Hosni Mubarak to making elections in Egypt more democratic.
The president originally promised to deliver the speech, which will be on America's relationship with the Muslim world. He promised to make it during his first 100 days, but senior administration officials say the date slipped due to security concerns and logistics.
The president did visit Turkey, a secular state with the Muslim majority last month. In a speech to the Turkish parliament, Mr. Obama said the United States is not and never will be at war with Islam. Betty, T.J.?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: All right.
HOLMES: Well, a trip paradise ends in tragedy. And investigators don't know what when wrong. A sudden mysterious death of a tourist may not be the only case either.
NGUYEN: And ads for one of America's most popular pills, you know, the little blue ones and others like it, well, they may soon be more difficult to find.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: In Pakistan, five people are dead and several more injured following a suspected drone attack on a Taliban stronghold. Officials say the attack was in south Waziristan in a tribal district near the border with Afghanistan. Now it's still not clear who or what the target was. But that area has seen a spike in aerial attacks carried out by unmanned U.S. drones.
Well, the increased attacks along the Afghan Pakistani border is taking a toll in collateral damage. Afghanistan's President Hamid Karzai complained about the attacks in a recent interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HAMID KARZAI, PRESIDENT OF AFGHANISTAN: It's not wise to use an aircraft. It's not wise to drop bombs from air on villages . We cannot justify in any manner, for whatever number of Taliban, or for whatever number of significantly (INAUDIBLE) tourists. The accidental or otherwise loss of civilians.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: More than 50 people in the region have been reportedly killed in suspected U.S. air strikes. President Karzai says the death toll is much higher. He puts it at about 130.
HOLMES: Officials in Thailand investigating the mysterious death of an American there. Jill St. Augi (ph) is her name. She was at a resort with her fiance when she became suddenly ill. She couldn't breathe. She was vomiting. Her fiance said she died within hours. He also got sick, but not seriously.
Officials are particularly concerned because a Norwegian woman also died at that same resort the same weekend. The resort manager says he believes the women from heavy drinking. The Thai media raising questions now about possible poisoning. The St. Augi family plans to have an independent laboratory run tests to see what may have happened to her.
NGUYEN: That is a mystery.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(WEATHER REPORT)
HOLMES: And here we go again. Say it ain't so, not Manny. Just Manny being Manny, huh? Well, the Dodgers superstar hit with a 50 game suspension. Baseball's latest black eye, how is this going to affect the sports bottom line?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: We have a couple of major sport stories to get to this morning. One, Dodger slugger Manny Ramirez, one of the biggest stars in the game, one of the most talented many would say, sitting out 50 games after he had to get kicked out. He got that suspension because he's been taking something that is banned in the sport.
Also some sad news this morning from the NBA. Hall of Fame head coach Chuck Daly has died. He was battling pancreatic cancer.
CNN Sports Larry Smith here with us. Also in West Palm Beach, Florida, our sports business analyst Rick Horrow joins us. Good morning to you both.
Larry, I appreciate you coming upstairs here and spending some time with us on both these stars.
You know what? I will start actually with you, though, Rick. Chuck Daly, again, a lot of people may now -- who don't even follow the NBA will know of one mark he made on this sport back in 1992 at the Olympics. Will that be his legacy?
RICK HORROW, CNN SPORTS BUSINESS ANALYST: No, his legacy is much broader than that. Clearly, gold medalist, activist, and really a pillar of the profession. And I'm in South Florida. Billy Cunningham was one of the first owners of the Miami Heat. He was a Chuck Daly disciple.
Like a lot of people around the NBA, Orlando Magic, Shaq. There is a coaching tree and a players's tree. It's a $5 billion business, but people like Chuck Daly were building blocks of that huge NBA college and basketball and Olympic business as well.
HOLMES: And Larry, about that -- the Olympic business there, did he kind of set the model for how this should be done? Because that was the first time we saw this kind of collection of major superstars. Again, this is a big team -- the biggest names we've ever seen.
LARRY SMITH, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, I agree.
HOLMES: Selected like that.
SMITH: Yeah.
HOLMES: He had a -- that was a tough job to manage those big personalities and big talents.
SMITH: Yeah, and even the players themselves, I mean, Larry Bird even said that too. Keep in mind that what he did that was really kind of unreported a little bit, T.J., in 1992, in that summer before they went to Barcelona, he coached a team of college players against the dream team and beat them, just to get their attention to make them understand, listen, you're great, but you can still be beaten. And he used different lineups for every game. Kept the Eagles in check. That was really a special job that he did.
But I agree with Rick. He's much bigger than just a coach. He was a broadcaster. He was a better people person. And even if -- anyone you talk to, who's talked to -- has met Chuck and talked to him, he was a great people person. And now he was known -- really renowned for his ability to coach diverse personalities in the game.
HOLMES: Again, long runs with the Detroit Pistons, those bad boys up there, back to back championships in the early '90s as well.
Let's turn now, Rick. It seems like you and I have talked about these several times. Larry, you and I, we've had you up here talking about some of these stories about suspensions and drugs and steroids and baseball.
The latest, Manny Ramirez, Rick, huge star here, one of the most talented, had a heck of a run at the end of last season. Got the big contract. And now it comes out he is being suspended 50 games because he took a banned substance. Now is this going to be a thing where people watch and don't say, okay, it's just another one? Or is this going to be another major black eye for the sport?
HORROW: A couple things. First of all, you know, you listen to Larry. You would be good to hear what he said. He said he agreed with me. So those are kind of things in the future.
SMITH: A first.
HORROW: And just remember that, okay?
SMITH: In 10 years probably.
HORROW: No, no, it's not a first. It's a trend, okay?
But in seriousness, as far as Manny is concerned, you know, five of the 17 biggest hitters of all time arguably got wrapped up in this whole steroids issue. Bonds, Mcgwire, A-Rod, Palmero, and Manny. It's a $6, $7 billion business. Average franchises now up over a half billion dollars. Revenues up 6 or 7 percent. This couldn't have come at a worst time for Major League Baseball, regardless of the future of Manny. We're talking about Dodgers and baseball here.
HOLMES: Yeah, got to go here, Larry, but the last and quickly, any recourse for the Dodgers, who made this man, gave him all this money making him the fact of their franchise?
SMITH: Well, no, because they didn't know this was -- didn't have a testing is what's going on. But the thing is now for Major League baseball, do you start now testing for these female fertility drugs that are being used by steroid users to keep your testosterone levels up once you're off steroids.
HOLMES: All right.
SMITH: It could be in the future.
HOLMES: All right, Rick Horrow, we appreciate you as always. Good to see you, buddy.
Larry, we'll try not to have you on with the risk (INAUDIBLE)
HORROW: Hey Larry, you have a good day. You too, T.J. HOLMES: All right, appreciate you both, guys. Thanks so much.
NGUYEN: Well, the drug companies that have brought pleasure to millions of couples, they're getting a little heat these days.
HOLMES: Yeah, one man on a mission to keep some of these ads with the man and the woman in the tub and dancing around and making little eyes at each other. Well, they don't want kids to be seeing this stuff.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: All right, let's talk about sex for a second or 30 seconds.
HOLMES: Yes.
NGUYEN: But that's what one Virginia congressman is trying to avoid.
HOLMES: Yes, he actually wants to ban ads for erectile dysfunction drugs. And you know the ads by now. Viagra, Cialis, Levitra. Our Carol Costello now reports. The congressman thinks the ads make for inappropriate viewing and questions during the day.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Surely you've seen them.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Levitra works fast, and it gives him the quality response that he wants.
COSTELLO: The sultry commercials that regale viewers with a satisfying end to erectile dysfunction.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah, that guy is back.
COSTELLO: The ads run so often between 6:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m., Virginia Congressman Jim Moran has had it up to here.
REP. JIM MORAN (D), VIRGINIA: Especially a sporting event if you're sitting down with your kids and your grandkids, invariably they're going to ask you, you know, what is E.D., why do you have to go to a doctor if it lasts longer than four hours?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the rare case an erection lasts for more than four hours, seek immediate medical attention.
COSTELLO: Frustrated, Moran has introduced House bill 2175. If passed, it would ban any commercial mentioning erectile dysfunction from being broadcast on any day between 6:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. Some people are all for it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These ads should be banned.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think that's a great idea.
COSTELLO: And some not so much.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's clearly unconstitutional.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: MALE: The problem is you ought to be able to run them 24 hours a day.
COSTELLO: It's not like E.D. has never been mentioned on television before, Remember Senator Bob Dole?
BOB DOLE, FMR. SENATOR: Like erectile dysfunction, E.D.
COSTELLO: That ran back in 1999. But Moran says E.D. commercials have gotten much more sexually explicit. In fact he says, other commercials that run during primetime are inappropriate too.
MORAN: I don't want to censor the airwaves. I just want to work with these folks and them to look at the impact on young kids, especially if it was their child or grandchild.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: All right, so are they too racy? Should they be taken off? You know, a lot of people are weighing in. And we've inviting you to tell us what you think about it.
So let me go to my Facebook page first. Dale Chung says only between 6:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m., let's ban it completely. So he is in support of it. But some of my Twitter friends here, Augusta68 says it's disgusting what they advertise on TV now. I have a small grandson and he asks what is Viagra or a condom commercial, what is that?
But E.M. Hicks 00 says, Davis, speaking of the congressman, he needs press. Parents need to be parents and teach them the ropes. Ads in magazines and newspapers, they're going to be there. So just get real.
HOLMES: And you can head to the right there, the next screen. My Facebook page. I think you can see this now. Jam there says I know one thing, every time I see two old people sitting outside in bath tubs and holding hands on those commercials, I throw up a little bit in my mouth.
NGUYEN: Oh, gosh.
HOLMES: He says I'm with the congressman. Get rid of them. But someone put a good perspective on it here on my -- the Twitter page. Mezlin, if I have your name right, says seriously, Viagra, Cialis Levitra ads are humorous. E.D. is a serious concern for a lot of folks out there. And the ads actually don't reflect that it is a serious issue that people deal with. And these, as we know, these drugs have helped millions and millions of people.
NGUYEN: Yeah, and a lot of parents still saying, you know, what -- should it be on when my child's watching because then I have to answer those tough questions.
HOLMES: And he also in the legislation, it also would ban those male enhancement ads...
NGUYEN: Right.
HOLMES: ...as well. But he also says like if they're little mentions in shows and things, not banning that if some show mentions it.
NGUYEN: Right.
HOLMES: So we'll see what happens.
NGUYEN: It's a tough one. You know, keep weighing in, we want to hear what you think about it. Go to our Facebook pages, our Twitter pages. You can also reach us at weekends@cnn.com. We want to hear from you today.
HOLMES: And also, the $328,000 mistake. We'll have fallout from the flight that frightened many in New York City and cost one of the president's men his job.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: All right, we have an update right now on a story that we told you about last week. You know, women in Kenya, they're being told that they're going to be withholding sex as a form of protest. It's dealing with the government there.
HOLMES: Yes, the government, they were sick, they were fed up after election last year. Even some post election violence. So the president, prime minister, two sides, couldn't get along. Nothing being done. Women say all right, we're going to come together. This coalition urged all women across the country to withhold sex at least for seven days now.
NGUYEN: Right.
HOLMES: And now there's some fallout from that.
NGUYEN: Oh, a little bit, shall we say. There is one guy who is suing, saying that he is getting all kinds of sicknesses and illnesses including back aches, stress, mental anguish and a lack of sleep? I'm kind of flabbergasted by it all.
HOLMES: No, I didn't -- he's suing over sex literally is what he's doing right now. The protest I believe is over. We don't know what he is hoping to recoup from this.
NGUYEN: Yeah.
HOLMES: But apparently some of the people in the coalition were waiting to be served papers.
NGUYEN: Right. HOLMES: To show that they've been sued. And they say they can't wait to see this man's face and for him to come forward.
NGUYEN: This is going to be so interesting. We'll continue to follow this story and bring you the latest on that. But yeah, a man suing because the women have said you know what, in order to get you guys to move on this government and figure this out, we are withholding sex. And a man says, you know what? Forget about it. I'm suing. You can't do that.
HOLMES: Back aches, stress, mental anguish and lack of sleep.
NGUYEN: Lack of sleep.
HOLMES: Those are some of the conditions you have to deal for after a week he couldn't go without sex.
NGUYEN: Without sex. All right.
HOLMES: Let's go to the next hour of CNN SATURDAY this morning, shall we? Yes, it's 9:00 for us here in Atlanta, Georgia. 8:00 Central time, 6:00 a.m. for a lot of folks waking up on the West Coast.
Now, hello to you all. I'm T.J. Holmes.
NGUYEN: Yes, hello, everybody. I'm Betty Nguyen. It is Saturday, May 9th. Thanks for starting your day with us.
And speaking of daylight just coming to California this morning and that is giving firefighters a better look at the destructive fires in Santa Barbara. Thousands of firefighters have been manning the lines there, trying to stop the fires from spreading. We've seen dozens of homes just engulfed in flames.
Just take a look at this video. Imagine that being your house. Home after home burned to the ground. As many as 80 homes have been burned so far. Evacuation orders have been given to as many as 30,00 people and that number may almost double depending on which way the winds shift today.
And you know, for many homeowners, this isn't the first time. Another devastating fire just ripped through many of the same areas seven months ago, not very long. CNN's Thelma Gutierrez introduces us to one family bracing for round two.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You can still see flames, it's burned over the area once already and it's still burning.
THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For three days and nights since the Santa Barbara fire began, Lisa and Kay Camarillo have watched the flames on the ridge. All their neighbors have evacuated. The Camarillos told us they're staying behind.
KAYE CAMARILLO, HOMEOWNER: My family has lived here for many generations. This is our land and we have to defend it.
GUTIERREZ: Their nerves are raw. Just seven months ago, flames roared through this canyon, destroying hundreds of homes.
CAMARILLO: It happened so suddenly, that the sparks flew and were right here.
GUTIERREZ: Kaye Camarillo fled for her life. The home she grew up in, where she raised her children, burned to the ground.
(on camera): It's hard to imagine what the homeowner feels when they come back and they look at that.
CAMARILLO: The memories, you know, the little things, the photographs. You know, the little things like the bench that my father built, and we all sat in when we were little kids. Those irreplaceable things, that's hard.
GUTIERREZ (voice-over): Camarillo didn't have enough insurance to rebuild so the community environment council in Santa Barbara came to her rescue. Volunteers built a new fire resistant green home. Two weeks ago that home was relocated to her property.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You would be absolutely astounded at how many people put their time and effort into this.
GUTIERREZ: And just when she was ready to settle in, the fire threatens once again.
(On camera): Why would you rebuild here? Why not move elsewhere? Live somewhere else in Santa Barbara?
CAMARILLO: No, no. This is our home, this is our land.
GUTIERREZ (voice-over): Land, high above Santa Barbara that has belonged to the Camarillo family for more than 100 years.
CAMARILLO: And now we've got ashes again on our mountain tops.
GUTIERREZ: Thelma Gutierrez, CNN, Santa Barbara, California.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: And Reynolds Wolf joins us now. You know, we see this every year, these fires that just burn and people lose everything because of it. Why in that particular area?
WOLF: Well, you have to go back to the climate. I mean, some Mediterranean-style climate. If you were say to go to Greece or parts of Italy, the kind of plants, the kind of temperatures, the low humidities, what you will find there in the Mediterranean is exactly what you will find in parts of central California.
Something else to consider, if you want to build a fire, you're looking for very dry grass, you're looking for say chaparral, you're looking for, I don't know, maybe some California oaks. The stuff that they have out there is perfect for fire fuel. And with the temperatures today, expected to be relatively warm but the winds picking up at 65 miles an hour, whatever fires are there are going to spread very quickly.
So we're talking about 3,000 acres that have already burned and more expected later on today.
NGUYEN: 65 miles an hour?
WOLF: It's hard to believe. Yes, we're talking tropical force winds. So when you have that wind going up and through those canyons, when the air drops, I don't want to sound scientific geeky on you, but when the air is actually pushing down through the canyons, it actually tends to heat up a little bit, which further dries the vegetation, which means more flames, more fire, more issues.
So, just the absolute in parts of Tennessee last night. We had some scattered showers and storms and heavy rainfall and of course, some damaging winds. Just take a look at this video, all this coming up. This from Scott County, Tennessee, where you have all kinds of roof damage.
From parts of Tennessee back into Arkansas, even into Missouri, we've had over 100 reports of widespread wind damage, I think seven confirmed tornadoes and then on top of it, we're seeing more than action this morning. Case in point, we got Scott where the Scott photographer right here in the studios.
I'm going to zoom in or please expand this picture for me so that people at home can see where the rain falling heaviest this time. If you're tuning in from Nashville, you have one patch of rough weather that came through. Then things begin to calm down a bit.
Now we're seeing some more development back from Clarksville into downtown Nashville, right along parts of the I-40 corridor. And into Columbia, you had a little bit of a break. Now you're hearing the pitter patter of rain drops. But look a little bit farther back out towards your west, you're seeing some big cells beginning to develop and it intensifies and you get some rough weather ahead.
So again we're dealing with rough weather in parts of the southeast, but back out to the west, again just the opposite, no rain in sight for anyone who happens to be in central California, battling these fires on the central coast. We got high pressure, it's going to keep the rain away. The humidity at a big time low and of course your wind picking up in the afternoon. Again those wind gusts topping 60 miles an hour, maybe closer to 70 by later this afternoon.
Let's send it back to you, guys.
NGUYEN: All right. Thank you, Reynolds.
WOLF: Any time.
HOLMES: Well, folks, you remember this story, and folks in New York remember it really well because it sent them running out of their buildings ...
NGUYEN: Yes.
HOLMES: Out into the streets when they saw what they thought was Air Force One being followed by two fighter jets flying pretty low over New York, and it really scared the mess out of a lot of folks for good reason.
NGUYEN: Oh, absolutely. You know, 9/11, of course. Now the White House aide in charge of that photo-op, gone. CNN White House correspondent Ed Henry takes a look at the controversy and the picture that cost that aide his job.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ED HENRY, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Betty, T.J., the significance, of course, this is the first forced resignation under fire involving a White House aide in the early days of this Obama administration. This one of course stemming from that Air Force One fly-over that cost taxpayers over $328,000.
The president accepting the resignation of Louis Caldera. He had been running the White House military office. He's now taking the fall for that incident that really sparked so much panic in New York and New Jersey. People thinking that maybe this low flying air force jet had something to do with a terror attack late last month.
This internal review by the White House suggesting that there was a communications breakdown, not enough officials on the local level knowing that this was a photo-op, not a terror attack and also the whole incident not properly vetted. Now White House aides say the president has ordered that Defense Secretary Robert Gates make sure that this not happen again, make sure the White House military office is reorganized so another incident like this does not occur.
What's also interesting is that the White House decided to release this internal investigation late on Friday afternoon. White House officials over the years have always done that when they try to bury bad news, when they think people are not paying attention. Of course, also the whole mess was sparked by an attempt to snap a new publicity photo for Air Force One as part of this investigation.
The White House released a beautiful photo really of the Air Force jet flying past the Statue of Liberty. But White House officials say they have no plans now to use this publicity photo because it has become so tainted. Betty, T.J.?
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: All right. So we want you to weigh in this morning, was it really worth it, what $328,000 taxpayer dollars, a man lost his job over it, a lot of people were really fearful when they saw the plane fly over. Was it really worth it? I mean, beautiful picture ...
HOLMES: It is a beautiful picture. It really it but a lot of people, folks out there, you're all responding to us, saying it's not worth it.
A lot of people responding. We had Twitter comments and Facebook comments as well. We'll take one here, one the Twitter page coming into me from one of my followers saying it could have been more easily photoshopped ...
NGUYEN: Yes.
HOLMES: ...versus wasting all the taxpayer's money, spend, spend, spend administration.
I guess that's probably the top thing ...
(CROSSTALK)
NGUYEN: Yes. I'm getting a lot of those saying you know Photoshop or use one of those green wall effects. But on my Facebook page, Robert says plain and simple, the answer is an empathetic no. Meaning, you know, it shouldn't have been done. It was stupid and even though the man who authorized it resigned, maybe he should pay back the taxpayers for some of the expenses that were wasted.
And here quickly on my Twitter page, Wolf2001 says nice pic, but really they needed to let someone know what was going on, referring to the folks in New York. Because a lot of them came out of buildings looking up into the sky seeing this plane flying very low. I mean that's a scary sight.
HOLMES: At some point, the administration did tell officials in New York but it came with explicit instructions not to pass the information along the to the public. The mayor didn't even know about it, called it felony, stupidity, I believe that's what he called it.
NGUYEN: And the end of all of this, the photo is not going to be used.
HOLMES: Not going to be used right there.
NGUYEN: So.
HOLMES: Beautiful shot though. Those two iconic images, Air Force One and the Statue of Liberty.
All right. We can only see it here, I suppose.
Well, coming up, divine intervention that led him to sell off, all of his stocks. This is what he said has happened.
NGUYEN: Yes. It's very interesting. I'm going to spiritual leader, Michael Bernard Beckwith about spirituality in this economy.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Pope Benedict XVI is in meetings with Muslim leaders in Jordan this morning. It's his second day of his week long pilgrimage in the Middle East. He's hoping to improve relationships between the faiths, Christian and Islamic ties were strained three years ago after the Pope quoted some medieval text in which that text seemed to suggest that Prophet Mohammad wanted to spread the faith by the sword.
On Monday, the Pope will begin the second stage of his trip by flying to Israel. Israel and the Vatican clashed recently over the ex-communication of the Holocaust denying bishop.
NGUYEN: Well, Reverend Michael Bernard Beckwith is a nationally known spiritual leader and his expertise is obviously faith, not finances but judging from his actions, Reverend Beckwith may know the stock market better than the so-called the experts. He got out just before stocks plunged last year and saved him thousands.
So how did he timed it just right. Well I traveled in Los Angeles to find out.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN (voice-over): It was here in Reverend Beckwith's media room where he says he heard a message that would change his financial future.
REV. MICHAEL BERNARD BECKWITH, FOUNDER, AGAPE INTL. SPIRITUAL CENTER: I was sitting right here. And I was signing books for a book signing that I had to do the next day. And I was signing, I had to stop every now and then just kind of take it the people what I was signing for prayerfully and in one of those moments, I heard, sell all your stocks. Sell all my stocks? Sell all your stocks. I said OK. The next morning was Monday and I went into the brokerage and said I'm selling all my stocks.
NGUYEN: Here are his statements showing he sold on September 29th, 2008. Less than two weeks later, on October 12, the International Monetary Fund warned the financial system was tethering on the brink of systematic meltdown. So was his timing divine intervention. After all, Reverend Beckwith has spent his life centered on faith. He founded the Agape International Spiritual Center in Los Angeles, which ministers to thousands.
NGUYEN (on camera): So what do you attribute it to, this inner voice?
BECKWITH: It is spirituality. Everyone has the ability to hear that kind of guidance and that cultivates the willingness to be still, to listen, to pray, to take the time every day to liberate yourself from the bottles of the world and to get to what's really important which is your soul.
NGUYEN (voice-over): Reverend Beckwith admits he's no financial expert, just a man rooted in faith, who enjoy spending time with his family. But when he does get back in the markets, he says he only wants to invest in socially responsible companies.
BECKWITH: In terms of investing, I had to really think about the fact that, where do I want to put my money? Because I don't believe in just making a profit, I believe in what is called noble profit, and that is the profit not only has to support the business that it comes from, but it also has to support the kind of world I want to live in.
NGUYEN: It's a noble plan, but is it sound investment advice or financial suicide? I took that question to CNN's chief financial correspondent, Ali Velshi.
ALI VELSHI, CNN, CHIEF FINANCIAL CORRESPONDENT: The problem comes in and when you're dealing with an environment where it's just about making money, where others are just investing for greed so they'll cut corners and you may get stuck with a lower return because you're investing in the type of company that's doing the right thing.
It may be best to try and do the right thing in other areas of your life. Because when you're trying to invest, you can do better when you get the money that you need and then you got the money to make your own decisions about how you're going to do thinks.
NGUYEN: However, Natalie Pace tends to side with Reverend Beckwith. She's the author of "Put your money where your heart is." I caught up with her at this economic forum in L.A. and asked her about socially responsible investing.
NATALIE PACE, AUTHOR AND FINANCIAL ADVISER: It forces companies to evolve. So Exxon Mobil may be full of talent and infrastructure and if we switch to electric cars, maybe they become the lithium ion battery makers, who knows? But as you start forcing new products that really serve our world better, you don't lose all the talent, you don't lose all the infrastructure, you just get better products.
NGUYEN: And that's the kind of change Reverend Beckwith hopes his investments will make.
BECKWITH: I think it's a time for us to reassess our priorities as a nation, as a culture.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: And you know, Reverend Beckwith says when he does get back into the markets, he's looking to invest in green sustainable energy. He calls it the next stage in our evolution of the species, when we try to invest in what he calls noble stocks, noble profits. And you know, that's going to be his strategy, but the key is wondering whether that will translate into money on the markets. But you know, the reverend is not really interested in making a fortune, he just wants to make a difference.
HOLMES: And what's good for the soul, if it makes you feel good to invest in certain things, that's what he said, it's about.
NGUYEN: Right.
HOLMES: All right. Well, the "Wizard of Oz," you guys are familiar with that. The death of an actor from the "Wizard of Oz." Josh Levs here to tell us about that. Good morning, Josh.
LEVS: Yes. Good morning to you guys. Millions remember him. We're going to tell you all about it. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: An actor from "The Wizard of Oz" has passed away.
HOLMES: Yes. He is one of the most memorable munchkins from that movie. Josh Levs following that and other stories from CNN affiliates this morning -- Josh.
LEVS: Hey there, guys. Really interesting to see this, we saw this on our home page today, CNN.com/us. This is him, Mickey Carroll, who was very known for the part that he played in the "Wizard of Oz." You're going to see a little clip of him here. That is him in the red. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: From now on you'll be history.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You'll be history.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You'll be history.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And we will call you by your name. You'll be a bust.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Be a bust.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Be a bust in the hall of fame.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: So there you go. That's him on the red, on the left side of you screen. There, I know he looks different now. Obviously, he lived to be 89-years-old and he was only one of a handful that's been still around through these days. So you can learn more about him. I want to show you how this works.
CNN.com/us, we have a whole bunch of great stories from our affiliates over there. And that will bring you to a story about him. You can learn more about his life, his background, there in St. Louis.
Now, while showing you these stories. Two more quick ones that I want to show you from our affiliates. It's getting a lot of traffic on line this morning. Take a look at this from Seattle. Let's see if we can zoom way in. This is about a fish who caught a fish that weighs more than I do, 200 pounds and apparently is getting a lot of attention out there. This is from our affiliate KING. Certainly, this is kind of amazing.
And one more before we go, you guys are into Twitter. We're talking about Twittering this morning. Check that out. That's a job now ...
NGUYEN: Really?
LEVS: You can tweet and Facebook, make $70,000 a year, that's from KPTV in Portland, out there. $70,000 for tweeting and Facebook. Not too bad, huh?
NGUYEN: We're going it for free and Juanita who is on our team here ...
HOLMES: Who just quit.
NGUYEN: ...who is kind of our Facebook czar ...
LEVS: She just walked out. There she goes.
NGUYEN: She said what? I'm doing this for free, too?
HOLMES: She just handed her resignation.
NGUYEN: Just walked out of the building, in fact.
LEVS: There she goes.
HOLMES: She just walked out of the building, in fact. Juanita come back, we need you.
LEVS: Seriously.
NGUYEN: Hey, Josh. You're a pretty popular guy, you want to know why?
LEVS: Uh-oh. I'm scared. What's up?
NGUYEN: Well, listen up, T.J. will bring you the info.
HOLMES: Yes. The baby names, was Josh on it?
NGUYEN: Yes.
HOLMES: It were. The most popular baby names for 2008, the Social Security Administration released these. For boys, top of the list for the 10th straight year was ...
LEVS: It has got to be Jacob again.
HOLMES: Jacob again.
NGUYEN: Yes.
LEVS: Every year.
HOLMES: And then Michael, Ethan, Joshua ...
NGUYEN: Joshua.
HOLMES: ...Daniel. So, they're still getting Biblical.
NGUYEN: Yes, they are. And for girls we got Emma, Isabella, Emily, Madison and Eva. I got to tell you about Emily, Emily had been number one for 12 years. But that reign is over. But again, as we mentioned, Biblical names for boys, pop culture has kind of influenced the names for girls and the president well he is influencing names as well.
HOLMES: OK. He's not way up on this list, the name Barack, but considering how far down the name was, he's made a pretty big jump this year. It's in the first 2,000 on the list. It is now believed -- it jumped 10,000.
NGUYEN: Where was it before?
HOLMES: Yes.
NGUYEN: Oh, OK.
HOLMES: It was near the 2,500 so it jumped 10,000 plus spot at the 2,409th most popular name expected to rise in popularity among ...
NGUYEN: I wonder where it will be next year? I bet we'll see a large increase next year.
HOLMES: Well, we'll revisit the story.
NGUYEN: No doubt. All right. Many people are waking up early to get their home a little curb side appeal. You know, working out in the garden, plating those flowers and what not. But imagine doing that on a large scale, say I don't know, at an airport.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do not touch anything.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not touching a thing, boss man.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Yes. That's for good reason.
HOLMES: Yes. He didn't follow instructions though. It all worked out. That's our Reynolds Wolf on the tractor. Yes, look at that picture of a good farm worker in Alabama there. Look at that. Yes, Reynolds. We're going to take a look at his attempt to keep the grounds at Atlanta's airport groomed so when you fly out of Atlanta, if you see a few things out of place, it's because Reynolds is there.
NGUYEN: It's Reynolds' fault.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
NGUYEN: All right. Now I know this is from your play list, T.J.
HOLMES: You got me, Betty.
NGUYEN: Rocking out to Bon Jovi, "Have A Nice Day." You know, it is going to be a beautiful day here in Atlanta. At the airport, one of the busiest in the world, if not the busiest, serving what, some 250,000 people each day? WOLF: It's crazy. Crazy business.
HOLMES: Yes. We fly out of there all the time so we see how busy it is.
WOLF: That's just it. I mean, when you're making that run to the airport, you're thinking -- may do my cell phone charger. OK, do I have everything I need. Do I have my driver's license. You don't think about the pretty things around the airport.
NGUYEN: Sometimes you don't even get to stop to see them.
WOLF: Exactly. You're making my point but I mean the thing is, if you take a look, it's 15 miles around the airport, over 5,000 acres of beautiful green grass and flowers and trees and shrubs. And there's someone that has to take care of all of that. You'll get a chance to meet her right now.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ABRA LEE, HARTSFIELD-JACKSON ATLANTA INTL. AIRPORT: Get our hands dirty a little bit.
WOLF (voice-over): Abra Lee knows that first impressions matter. So when you travel through the world's busiest airport, chances are you'll see some of the 15 miles of trees, flowers, shrubs and grass surrounding this major transportation hub. And she's in charge of it all.
(on camera): There are people every day that go off to work and they hate what they do. They don't like their job at all. You seem very happy.
LEE: Very happy. Plants make me happy. Plants are colorful. I mean, is this not gorgeous?
WOLF (voice-over): It sure is and to keep things pretty, an artistic touch along with a green thumb is required. Changing the seasonal plants outside the airport front door is the first objective of the day.
LEE: What we want to do is we want to have a centerpiece to it, we want to have something filling in the sides and then we want to have something spilling over.
WOLF: Abra's talent is seen throughout airport roads, entrances and exits. All this sustained with soil from an on site compost pile and recycled rain water gathered in these cisterns. But not all of the process is as delicate.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a new highland tractor.
WOLF: It's one of the 15 grass cutting behemoth that operate night and day, seven days a week. Rick Rover is one of Abra's teammates and on the field, he's the boss.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do not touch anything.
WOLF (on camera): Not touching a thing, boss man.
WOLF (voice-over): After a quick lesson, the FAA-mandated cutting begins.
VOICE OF RICK ROWER, HARTSFIELD-JACKSON ATLANTA INT'L AIRPORT: So we can't get the grass to get too far ahead of us.
WOLF (on camera): Let's say ...
ROWER: Because if they do, again the tower, they'll be raising a lot of -- saying the pilots can't see that sign right there. Can't see that sign. We can't get you to the terminal.
WOLF (voice-over): It's all part of a coordinated effort of safety and aesthetics.
LEE: We're so happy with what we do, it's not about the money. It's like money just can't compensate for the peace of mind I feel. I'm happy to come to work.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: That is so refreshing.
WOLF: And the flowers don't talk back.
NGUYEN: Yes. That's my favorite line.
WOLF: If they do then, then there's something wrong. Just a little bit odd out there. But you know, a great bunch of people and the thing that I came away from this job and so many other jobs that people who are successful, they love what they do. And maybe that's really the number one thing.
NGUYEN: The key.
WOLF: Absolutely. I mean, you know, we were talking about earlier, you want to have that financial security ...
NGUYEN: Right.
WOLF: But the bottom line is, to go there and make it a passion. Make it a lifestyle. You got to love what you do.
NGUYEN: Yes. Because if you love what you do, then you're going to be good at it and the rest will come.
WOLF: It's not work, it's only a job.
NGUYEN: Exactly.
HOLMES: We showed the one woman, but just how big of a staff does she have? We saw her there, but ...
NGUYEN: And the other guy.
WOLF: We met roughly 10 people.
NGUYEN: Still not that big of a staff.
WOLF: Not a huge staff for a tremendous area and Mr. Rower who was telling me not to touch anything.
NGUYEN: He was serious about that.
WOLF: Oh, he does not play. He is a great guy. When he speaks, you listen.
HOLMES: All right, Reynolds. We appreciate it.
WOLF: Good luck, guys.
NGUYEN: Poppy Harlow is in today for Gerri Willis with "YOUR BOTTOM LINE."
