American Morning
Harrison Ford brings star power to green issues
Program Note: Watch the full interview with Harrison Ford on CNN's "Your $$$$$," Saturday at 1 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m ET.
He didn't bring a bullwhip or a fedora, but Harrison Ford brought his star power to a cause close to his heart: climate change.
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/images/09/22/ford.romans.art.jpg caption="Actor and activist Harrison Ford speaks with Christine Romans about climate change."]
Ford joined the president of Guyana and executives of Starbucks, SC Johnson, Wal-Mart, Harrah's, Wrigley, Conservation International and others to launch Team Earth, a "global sustainability movement."
Think of it as the companies, environmentalists and politicians together trying to outrun the massive rolling boulder that is climate change.
"You have to create a movement," Ford told me, after a Team Earth press conference in Manhattan. "Like the civil rights movement, like the anti-war movement, like the youth movement of the 60's. If we can come together as an efficient mass, the issues will be addressed."
Ford is particularly concerned about deforestation and notes that more than 20 percent of greenhouse gas emissions are because of destruction of the rainforests.
Ford spoke on the eve of a climate change summit at the United Nations, where the presidents of the two largest greenhouse gas emitters – the U.S. and China – will address the world on the issue. In Pittsburgh later this week, leaders will negotiate a framework for addressing climate change ahead of a critical summit in Copenhagen in December.
It's a lot of politics and process and, well, talking. Environmentalists like Ford are trying to seize on the momentum heading to Copenhagen.
Mother given wrong embryo in IVF mix-up
A couple's greatest joy has become, in some ways, their worst nightmare. Carolyn and Sean Savage wanted to have another child and they were having trouble, so they turned to in vitro fertilization. Then they learned the horrifying news that doctors had implanted Carolyn with another couple's embryo.
Despite a history of difficult pregnancy, Carolyn and Sean made the decision to carry the child to term and then to give that baby to its biological parents. But they also wanted to tell their story as a possible warning to other couples.
Carolyn and Sean spoke to Kiran Chetry on CNN’s “American Morning” Tuesday. Below is an edited transcript of the interview.
Kiran Chetry: Carolyn, you're 35 weeks pregnant right now. I understand you actually went to the hospital last night.
Carolyn Savage: Yeah, we just had a little false alarm last night. Being 35 weeks pregnant for me is nothing short of miraculous because I delivered my third child at 32 weeks, my second child at 30 weeks. And so it's been 15 years since I've been this pregnant. I just didn't quite know what was going on last night. So we just went in for safety purposes. And everything's fine. So hopefully we'll be able to squeeze a little more time out of this.
Chetry: Everything's going fine physically, thank goodness. Emotionally, it must be such a difficult time for both of you as you're trying to figure out what to do. Take us back to the beginning. You decided you needed to get in vitro fertilization to be able to become pregnant with your fourth child. When did you realize that a terrible mistake had been made and another couple's embryo had been implanted?
Sean Savage: I received a call, actually, at my desk in my office on my cell phone sharing with us that we were pregnant, but at the same time, that they had transferred another couple's embryos to Carolyn. So the news came simultaneously. And it was absolutely a shock.
Chetry: Carolyn, how did you react when you heard it?
Carolyn: Well, I was at home. The news went to Sean in error. They thought they were calling me and they called his cell phone by mistake. Sean came home and told me right away. It was just a very shocking moment. I couldn't even comprehend what he was saying. I know I was kind of yelling at him, asking him if he was joking. Clearly his physical demeanor indicated that there was no joke about the news he was delivering to me.
Mad as Hell: Gun owners up in arms
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/POLITICS/08/18/obama.protest.rifle/art.obama.gun.pool.jpg caption="A man is shown legally carrying a rifle at a protest against President Obama in Phoenix, Arizona in August."]
December 15, 1791 – On that day the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified, sowing the seeds for an ongoing and still raging debate about the right to be free to bear arms vs. the right to be free of violence.
Here’s the exact wording:
“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”
We went to western Pennsylvania, where hunting is popular, and to Baltimore, Maryland, where it isn’t, to understand better the cultural gap that divides the two sides.
Baltimore, Maryland – So far this year more than 300 people have been shot. Just last week six people died from gunfire. Baltimore is one of more than 450 small and large cities that have joined New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg in an effort to keep guns away from criminals.
Baltimore also has instituted “Safe Streets,” a program that aims to reduce shootings by putting community members onto the streets at night to mediate disputes that could lead to violence.
Dante Barksdale is one of those community members. An ex-con, Barksdale says “Safe Streets” gets at the heart of gun violence. “I don’t know about people loving guns,” he said, “but I know about people using guns to protect themselves or protect their image. … And this is why usually people use guns to resolve conflict. It’s because they feel like, you know, someone is stepping on their macho image [but] … being macho, being the biggest man with the biggest gun, the man who has all these people fearing him, this is not being a man. This is ignorance.”
Bill Clinton sounds off on Obama racism charge
(CNN) - While some criticism targeting President Obama is racially motivated, the fight over health care isn't, former President Bill Clinton told CNN Monday.
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/POLITICS/09/21/bill.clinton.larry.king/art.clinton.lkl.cnn.jpg caption="Former President Bill Clinton says Democrats need to win the health care debate "on the merits.""]
"I believe that some of the right-wing extremists which oppose President Obama are also racially prejudiced and would prefer not to have an African-American president," Clinton told CNN's Larry King in a wide-ranging interview aired Monday evening. "But I don't believe that all the people who oppose him on health care - and all the conservatives - are racists. And I believe if he were white, every single person who opposes him now, would be opposing him then."
Clinton discussed a variety of issues facing the Obama administration - from health care to the war in Afghanistan - on the eve of the fifth annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative.
Regarding race, the former president was referring to an outburst from Rep. Joe Wilson, a South Carolina Republican, who shouted, "You lie," at Obama during the president's joint address to Congress, and also former President Jimmy Carter's assessment that racism is an obstacle for the current president.
"While I have devoted my life to getting rid of racism, I think this [health care] is a fight that my president and our party - this is one we need to win on the merits," Clinton said.
Flooding takes at least 6 lives; more rain falling
ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) - Georgians braced for more rain Tuesday after a deluge flooded streets and homes, killing at least six people Monday.
[cnn-photo-caption image= http://i2.cdn.turner.com/cnn/2009/US/weather/09/22/southeast.flooding/art.flood.dog.cnn.jpg caption="Atlanta firefighter Stephen Webb carries a dog to safety Monday at the Peachtree Park Apartments. "]
Widely scattered showers were forecast for early Tuesday, with some areas expected to get up to a quarter-inch of rain an hour, falling on already saturated ground.
Days of heavy rains prompted Georgia's governor to declare a state of emergency Monday in the 17 counties hardest hit by flooding.
Gov. Sonny Perdue's announcement followed three deaths in north Georgia's Douglas County, one death in Gwinnett County and another in Carroll County, where a 2-year-old child was ripped from her father's arms by fierce floodwaters while he struggled to hold on to bushes, officials said. CNN affiliate WSB later confirmed a fourth death in Douglas County.
Those counties, near Atlanta, were among the 17 included in the state-of-emergency declaration.
Cubans pack concert for peace
CNN
My trip to Cuba began on my birthday – after snarfing down a Duncan Hines birthday cake made by my four kids (and decorated with redhots), i headed to Miami first, then onto Havana.
It was hot when I arrived at Jose Marti airport – temperatures for the concert were well into the 90's. Hopeful concert-goers were lined up along the roads hoping to hitch a ride or catch a Wah-wah (the local bus) to La Plaza de la Revolution. It's the same spot where Pope John Paul II said mass back in 1998. But this was a concert and the "water station" in the tent for the performers served mojitos, with Havana Club – a rum you cannot buy in the United States, because of the embargo.
Our photographer Orlando arrived with a tent, thankfully, because by midday young women were fainting from heat exhaustion and the crowd estimate had swelled to 600 thousand people. At two o'clock sharp the concert began with Puerto Rican singer Olga Tañon taking the stage, and despite the heat the crowd danced wildly to her music. Cucu Diamantes (crazy diamonds), who is tall and willowy and never broke a sweat, told me she was happy – and that it was very emotional for her. A Cuban-American who left Cuba in in the mid eighties, she hadn't been back to Cuba for 8 years, and even then it was to visit her family.
We wrangled our way onto the stage – the security was tight but it was doable – and had a quick chat with Miguel Bose, who said he was energized by seeing so many Cubans waving flags. He – as all the performers consistently did – underscored the concerts focus: peace. And brushed off any questions of controversy by saying the people, the growing crowd, just wanted to be entertained. We got to run "backstage" (really the upstairs of the national library) to interview Juanes – making our way through the throng of mostly young people who were waiting outside to catch a glimpse of Juanes as he did the mad dash (about 100 yards) to the stage.
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