Skip to main content

tv   CNN Newsroom  CNN  October 9, 2010 10:00am-11:00am EDT

quote
10:00 am
that will keep your pipes from freezing on really cold days. appreciate it. >> that's going to wrap it up for us here today. but check out your money at 1:00 p.m. eastern today on cnn. our christine romans will be in the kitchen with the legendary paula deen. about your kids, healthy eating and saving you money. now a time for the check of your top stories with t.j. holmes. >> hello, everybody. 10:00 eastern time where i sit in georgia. i'm t.j. holmes. we are following a breaking story out of chile this morning. the folks are celebrating. let me show and tell you why.
10:01 am
at the site where 33 miners have been trapped since august the 5th. some two months these guys have been underground, but just a couple of hours ago rescuers were finally able to cut through. they've been drilling literally a 2,300 foot hole down to the mine where the men have been trapped. they finally broke through. that is a milestone. that's a big deal for this rescue. about a half mile down. and just because they broke through it doesn't mean guys would immediately start coming up. this is earlier as well. we saw hugs. we saw music. we saw people waving chilean flags. we also have new video of trucks arriving as part of this rescue effort. these trucks are carrying the casing that may have to be used to try to reinforce that tunnel
10:02 am
that's been dug. if they have to use the casing it could be another ten days before they start bringing miners up. i don't know. they haven't made the decision if they'll use it. they have it on site. a moment ago we spoke with the president of the drilling company that had a major breakthrough this morning. take a listen. our partners, associates from the u.s. that have been helpful. then just the team. the team plan every day, plan "a." plan "b." plan "c." we had many problems. we were stuck in the hole several times. we want to make progress. and have patience. we have patience and we solve the problems as they come along.
10:03 am
>> well, patrick has been at the scene for us this morning. he was there when the celebration essentially broke out. patrick is on the line with us. patrick. hello to you once again. still, this is just the next phase of the rescue. >> that's actually correct. and it's a very important phase. this is something they've been trying to do now for over a month, drill down to these men, and they've had a very difficult time doing it, throwing three drills at this problem. you heard the president say there were certain days where they could not breakthrough this hard chilean mountain rock, but that's what they did at 8:01 this morning. the drill team broke through. and we heard as much celebration among the drillers as with the family members.
10:04 am
the miners, we've been told, are taking this very calm. they're serene. they're preparing for what comes next. what comes next is going to be as difficult an ordeal as they've already gone through. once the hole is properly prepared, the rescue capsule will be sent down. two initial rescue workers. one is described as an expert mine rescue personnel person who will go down with a chilean special forces navy member. and they'll essentially start this rescue. they'll start sending up the men one at a time. initially the healthiest most technically capable men will go a up. if there's hangups, those are the miners who can work through it. once they get in the comfort level, they have four or five men up, then they'll send the men with the worst health
10:05 am
problems. there's some suffering from diabetes. some suffering from clo clostrophobia. then finally it comes down to the shift foreman. he's asked to be the last man, essentially the captain of the ship. he's asked officials to go up last and be the final of the 33 miners to leave this mine after so many days underground. >> patrick, we appreciate you. we've been checking in with you all morning. also, our karl penhaul is at the site as well. he's been on the story for quite some time. he will talk about the emotions that people have had to deal with there as well. sanjay gupta has been helping me out this morning as well, talking about what these men
10:06 am
will have to deal with. sanjay, good morning to you again. sanjay is not ready for me right now. to our viewers, we have been talking about the physical conditions that these men are going to have to deal with. they've been down there underground 2,300 feet to give you an idea how far that is. that's two empire state buildings down is where they've been for the past two months. so there's a lot of concern about their physical condition. they've been getting medical supplies and food. they had a video hookup, as you can see on the right. they were able to talk to family members and see them as well. the men have gotten cigarettes down there. right now they're getting coaching about how to deal with the media when they come out. all those concerns give way to the mental concerns. what it's like. what you go through in an exercise like that. how strong you have to be to deal with something like that. that is another concern for them as well.
10:07 am
we do know they're in decent physical condition right now. they made sure they watched their weight and stayed strong because they need to be thin enough to fit in the capsule. it's just wide enough to essentially put your body in. they get in the capsule and have to ride up some 15 minutes. this is a good illustration of it. this is plan "a", plan "b", plan "c." it gets to them there. they drilled a large enough hole. they're going to end explosives down. the miners are going to rig up the end of it to blow a hole for the capsule to get through the last part of it. still a lot of work, a lot of dangerous work that needs to be done. still a milestone today. a big breakthrough. i believe i heard you that we have karl penhaul on the scene for us live. hello to you. you've been covering the story
10:08 am
for quite some time. you've seen the moods and the emotions change. tell me about the mood and the emotion we saw two hours ago. >> reporter: well, in that time it's been inevitable that we made friends. we made friends with the families here that are waiting for their miner husbands and brothers to come home. families erupted into cheer ls. then a fe moments later that the breakthrough had comb. that the final countdown was beginning. then there were a lot of tears. a lot of hugs with family members. this is lila ramirez. she's the wife of the oldest miner down there, mario gomez. he's the most veteran, most experienced miner down there. i want to show you the face of mario. it's important to put faces with names. this is mario gomez. 63 years old.
10:09 am
the most veteran miner down there. this is face that goes with mario gomez. this is underground. this is on the surface. and what lila has here, if she'll permit me, is a letter. the miners for 17 days. nobody knew if they were dead or alive. they were trapped underground. the rescue workers were beginning to write them off, saying they must be dead by now. the families held on. when they drill finally reached where they were after day 17, attached was ha message saying we're well, we're in the refuge all 33. but there was a second message attached to drill from mario gomez to the wife it's beaten up because it was wet. it's got holes because it was attached to the drill bit. but let me tell you what it said. this was written on august 22nd, t.j. and it says, dear lila, i'm well. thanks to god. i hope to be out soon. have patience and have faith. we will be together again.
10:10 am
then towards the end he signs off, when i come out we're going live happily ever after. the breakthrough has come. and mario gomez and his 32 colleagues down in that mine have held strong, and they're keeping firm their promise. and now the breakthrough has come, maybe in a few hours, maybe in two or three days, but what it means is that lila ramirez and little leila will all be together again. it's not just great news for this family, but this story is repeating itself across 32 more families today. there have been hugs. there have been tears. but above all we can't forget the 33 miner ls there who fought for 65 days now. it's been a life and death struggle. never forget that. and mario gomez and the other 32
10:11 am
are fulfilling the promise. thanks to god we're well, he says. have patience and faith. we will be home soon. and that's what's going to happen, t.j. >> well, karl penhaul, i appreciate you bringing that to us as a reminder of what's happening. we've been talking about how complicates and risky these procedure has been, how much time it would take. again, we have 33 families down there who have been dealing with something. karl, thank you for bringing that to us. again, folks, yes, this is happening in chile. this is far away. and 33 miners that most of us will never know and never meet in our lives. but a lot of people here in this country and around the world are watching this. and seeing this as a case study in a lot of ways. they're doing things there, and americans have contributed to the rescue effort. and they have done this. so people will watch this and later on we're going to learn things from what happened here that could help in mining
10:12 am
disasters down the road. but it's almost inevitable. others are going to happen. so a lot of people are keeping an eye on this for a lot of reasons. we're going to bring in sanjay gupta, who i've been talking to as well. sanjay, i talk about other people watching this are going to learn from it. learn to maybe better rescue these guys, how to better keep things like this from happening in the future but we can also learn how the human body and mind can deal with conditions like this down the road. >> no question. this is an unprecedented situation for a lot of the reasonings you've been talking ability. they are writing a book in terms of how to deal with these sorts of rescues. by doing things that may seem minor, people may forget, but they're paying attention to here. if i had to characterize the nature of the planning is they really want to leave no stone unturned. from thinking about minor skin
10:13 am
infections to offering inoculations and vaccines when people reach the surface. they haven't been exposed to germs for two months. the common cold could be a disaster, for example. they're getting flu shots. things like that are important. protecting the eyes. the eyes suddenly starting to constrict in response to sunlight can be damaging to the eyes. it can be damaging to the back of the eye as well. so those sorts of things. but the more important issues. the atmospheric pressure change. could there be damage to the internal organs? they've been given 20% oxygen. but there's going to be a change overall for them. all of that is going to be very important. and all these various planning stages. you're right. they're going to learn a lot. hopefully it will all go flawlessly. >> we certainly hope so, sanjay. we appreciate you hopping in front of the camera this
10:14 am
morning. we may get a chance to chat with you more. i want to talk about the mental state of these men as well. good to see you as always. thank you very much. we will continue our coverage of the trapped miners as we get it. we continue to get trickles of it. in we're also going to talk more about the traj ifragile mental of the men. 24 days from election day, can we call it heated yet? things getting dirty? >> here's the kicker. reid actually voted to use taxpayer dollars to pay for viagra for convicted child molesters and sex offenders. what else do you need to know about harry reid? >> wow! who is running these negative ads? do they really work? show you some that will have your scratching your head. [ male announcer ] some prescription drugs may lead to constipation.
10:15 am
10:16 am
fortunately, there's senokot-s tablets. senokot-s for occasional constipation associated with certain medications. find the relief that's right for you and get a $10 rebate at getconstipationrelief.com. we wouldn't have to worry about what's in our water. but most of us live here. so we need the brita pitcher. for healthier, clean tasting water.
10:17 am
so we need the brita pitcher. ♪ when it's planes in the sky ♪ ♪ for a chain of supply, that's logistics ♪ ♪ when the parts for the line ♪ ♪ come precisely on time ♪ that's logistics ♪ ♪ a continuous link, that is always in sync ♪ ♪ that's logistics ♪ ♪ there will be no more stress ♪ ♪ cause you've called ups, that's logistics ♪
10:18 am
again, it's been a morning of developments. major developments with the trapped miners in chile. the rescuers have made it to the men in the mine. they had to drill down some 2,300 feet, creating a shaft wide enough to put in a capsule that the men will get in and bring them up to the surface. a big milestone moment in this rescue effort. but the danger continues. and many rescuing needs to be done. because now the men will not start coming up until tuesday at the earliest. they want to make sure it's safe to bring them up. so still, a lot more can happen. but a major milestone in the miner story. always major developments in politics in this country. lot at stake over the next 24 days. that's all we have left until midterm elections. one of the most watched election cycles we have seen in a long
10:19 am
time. it's getting downright dirty. >> but here's the kicker. reid voted to use taxpayer dollars to pay for viagra for convicted child molesters and sex offenders. what else could you ever need to know about harry rooeds? reid? >> voters going to buy into this nastiness? you think? brian todd looking at the increasingly bitter tone. >> reporter: conversation never meant to be heard publicly. jerry brown, democrat running for california governor talking with aides about support whitman may get. it's not clear who made the whore comment. the brown campaign later apologized. that conversation was inadvertently taped. but other special attacks in campaign acts are proliferating on the air. >> darrell west of the brookings institutions has written a well known book about campaign ads.
10:20 am
he says this year unlike in previous election cycles candidates are not holding back on vicious personal attacks with their opponents. we'll go over the ads with him now. >> when somebody went after my 10-year-old daughter, i got angry. >> new york gubernatorial hopeful rails on the media for tracking his young daughter, then for reports about his extramarital affair. then the kill shot on the sex life of andrew kwcuomo. >> it's hard to imagine voters will be affected positively by this. they'll view this as unfair, going beyond the grounds of fair play. >> a statement saying new yorkers know he's unfit to be governor with his smears and total lack of substance. >> some political experts argue
10:21 am
that works. going negative is effective. >> going negative works in the sense of raising the negatives of your opponent. but if voters tune out and people stay home, you may lose support from people who otherwise might have cast votes for you. >> no one is insulated. right-wing commentator rush limbaugh levels this broadside on president obama. >> he's a jackass. he's an economic illiterate. >> does it reflect a certain mentality on the campaign trail and the political discourse over all this year? >> it reflects a mentality of of mean spiritedness. people are not focusing on the issues. they're insulting the opposition. darrell west says a few factprs are unique to this year. candidates and commentators sense the voter anger and want to tap into it. they realize the stakes are high for the balance of power this year. and he says candidates sense the
10:22 am
media is not doing as much fact checking on their ads and public statement. they think they'll be held accountable. >> we just saw that brian todd piece. campaigns getting heated. got some nasty attack ads. we're used to seeing that. deputy political director paul steinhauser joins us from pennsylvania now. he's breaking down the negative ads. that's not a job i envy you to have. these can be downright ugly. which one you want to start with? >> reporter: let's start with west virginia. we're here in pennsylvania, the driver, the captain of the express brought us up here today. right nextdoor in west virginia, there was a big controversy this week. national republicans put out an ad there. showed a bunch of guys in plaid shirts, country looking, talking about the candidates on the democratic side and criticizing him. those people weren't real west virgin virginians, they were actors. but the casting company that put the commercial together asked for hicky type people. that raised a lot of controversy
10:23 am
this week. little things like that can get you in trouble. the ad wars so crucial. both sides raising big bucks to get out the major ads in the closing weeks of the campaign. >> is that really going to play into it? are the folks of west virginia seeing past it and understanding what this ad was about, or is this really going to play some kind of significant role in the campaign there? >> this is a close race for a seat that's been in democratic hands for over 50 years. it was a distraction for the republicans. they have a good shot at winning the seat back. it was a distraction they didn't need. it was probably more of a national story. at the end of the day the big issues like the economy are more important than a little controversy of an ad. >> usually about everything you say you can back up with a poll. >> yeah, i can, you're right. so let's look at these brand new numbers.
10:24 am
we have brand new cnn national survey. right off the bat i want to show you this. this is called a generic ballot. this is the standard question. would you vote for the generic democrat or republican in your congressional district? 52% for the republicans. 45% for the democrats. that's a seven-point advantage for the republicans. it's down slightly from about two or three weeks ago. still, republicans in the driver's seat. according to our survey. let's go one step further and dig deeper. independent voters, they're so crucial. they swung for the democrats in 2006 and 2008. you can see here, they are going for the republicans by a two to one advantage according to our poll. and one last number, enthusiasm. you can here by this poll number, it seems like republican voters are much more enthusiastic about casting ballots in the midterm elections than democrats now. that's the democrats' sldilemma t.j. >> if you lose the independent ps and your people are not ev enthusiastic, that could spell trouble.
10:25 am
we appreciate you as always, buddy. talk to you again here soon. >> you got it, man. 24 minutes past the hour. is you seen these pictures? this deadly toxic sludge taking out lives in addition to property as you see in these pictures. this is happening in hungary where a whole village has had to be evacuated because they fear another deadly toxic mudslide is on the way. ♪ where'd you learn to do that so well. ♪ ♪ where'd you learn to do that so well. ♪
10:26 am
the new cadillac srx. the cadillac of crossovers. cadillac. the new standard of the world.
10:27 am
[ animals calling ] ♪ [ pop ] [ man ] ♪ well, we get along ♪ yeah, we really do - ♪ and there's nothing wrong - [ bird squawks ] ♪ with what i feel for you ♪ i could hang around till the leaves are brown and the summer's gone ♪ [ announcer ] when you're not worried about potential dangers, the world can be a far less threatening place. take the scary out of life with travelers insurance... and see the world in a different light.
10:28 am
10:29 am
we're coming up on the bottom of the hour now. that rescue shaft has now punched through to the trapped miners in chile. 33 men down there have been stranded since august 5th. now a rescue capsule will bring them up to the surface. this was the first sign, the first word we got that in fact, they had punched through. this has been a long rescue effort, but those are some of the rescue workers and construction workers, the guys who have been working on the drill punched through. but still not going to be until tuesday at the earliest when they start pulling up the first miner. also look at these pictures. another village is being evacuated for fear of a second wave of this toxic sludge. this toxic red sludge. this is coming out of reservoir at an aluminum plant. they worry there could be another breach and collapse there to send out more deadly
10:30 am
chemicals mixed in with the mud. 17 people have died after the taxic sludge gushed through three villages. in pakistan today, they say they will reopen the border into afghanistan. it was blocked after two soldiers were killed. the video here is of an attack on nato fuel tankers last week. fuel traffic is not expected to resume until tomorrow. also on an economic note. even though we got tough economic numbers about the jobs in the country. we got good news on wall street. the dow topped 11,000 to end the week. that's the first time they closed above 11,000 since may. the market rose despite the weak jobs report that we got. we did find out some 64,000 private sector jobs had been created. but we still lost a net of 95,000 jobs in september. also the unemployment rate, it held steady at 9.6%.
10:31 am
e big. add some insulation here. a little weather stripping there. maybe an energy star-rated appliance, or two. let's save money on the things that keep saving money. that way, we can turn a little energy into a lot of savings. more saving. more doing. that's the power of the home depot. we're lowering the cost of staying at room temperature with owens corning insulation -- just $10.44 per roll. on our car insurance.
10:32 am
great! at progressive, you can compare rates side by side, so you get the same coverage, often for less. wow! that is huge! [ disco playing ] and this is to remind you that you could save hundreds! yeah, that'll certainly stick with me. we'll take it. go, big money! i mean, go. it's your break, honey. same coverage, more savings. now, that's progressive. call or click today.
10:33 am
well the drillers have finally punched through. they have punched a hole through
10:34 am
to those trapped miners in chile. 33 men. you know the story now. they've been trapped down there about a half mile underground since august 5th. to give you an idea. 2,300 feet they had to go down. that's about two empire state buildings down. now, yes, this is a big deal. a big step that we saw take place essentially live here on our air this morning, but it doesn't mean they'll pluck them out immediately. let me show you the scene a couple hours ago when the drillers made the breakthrough. >> we had people cheering and hugging and sirens were going off. we saw flags waving. chants were breaking out as well. but the officials are saying now the rescue process could begin -- won't begin until tuesday at the earliest. they're trying to decide whether or not they need to reinforce the hole they made.
10:35 am
2,300 feet down. they're trying to encase that particular hole, that tunnel they were able to dig because they want to make sure it can't collapse anymore. if they decide they want to put casing down there, this could take another three to ten days before they start bringing the men out. a few minutes ago we talked to sanjay gupta about the physical condition of these men down there. now i want to ask about the mental condition they may be in. they've been away from their families and their lives. they've also been away from the sun and civilization. ere riic fisher is a licensed psychologist. sometimes can some people just deal better mentally than others? will that play into it? some of them may just be stronger mentally than others. >> absolutely, and this has been their job for years. they're used to be in these situations now in this prolonged situation, definitely not.
10:36 am
but they predict that about 60% of the people should come out of it pretty much unscathed. half of that, of the remaining, will have some long-term issues. and half of that should come out better for it. there was a story about one guy who become a writer because of this. he's written poetry and really gotten in touch with his deeper side through this. >> and you talk about a certain percentage may have issues. what are we talking about that a small percentage of them may be facing? >> some may have serious post-traumatic stress issues. as much as the miners are having the issues, the families aboveground may sure in the issues with them. depression is another issue. and the difference i say between those is anxiety based disorders are basically, the core is
10:37 am
helpless. depressive base the core is hopelessness. they had the miners organized. they kept them working hard. they've been busy. they've had order and structure, which helps in how people perceive trauma. >> will that be a key, and maybe the percentages may not work out here because these men have had interaction with families. they've been on a regimen. is it possible that the numbers you talked about, so many will be okay. some will have issues, is it possible they could debunk the issues because they've been taken care of. >> it will terms of the longterm outcomes in how you deal with situations where you're trapped. when i work with trauma, trauma is a perception, not a reality. two people can experience the same thing and have totally different outcomes based on how they perceive life.
10:38 am
that has to do with their history, temperament and personality, they're support system and how they perceive the support system. all these factors are important. i'm more concerned about the people aboveground. they had to wait around. they didn't know what was going to happen. >> last thing quickly. how important and crucial is it as well that they had each other down there? >> it's crucial. you share a common bond with these people, which can be a real benefit. it can also be a liability when they're a reminder of the trauma. the greatest thing is how this is such a wonderful event that the world has come around. it's really neat this all happened on john lennon's birthday. >> we were going to talk about that a little bit later. we appreciate you coming in this morning. fascinating stuff. a lot of people will learn a lot about what we see happening in chile, because we haven't seen anything like this before. you have mining professors and experts watching this. you have folks like dr. fisher.
10:39 am
everybody will study how this plays out. we have reporters at the mine as well. we'll continue to update you about what's happening throughout the morning. we're at 38 minutes past the hour. another story that had us in shock. police captured the man that opened fire on an elementary school in southern california. that story just ahead. i have asthma. and when my symptoms came back
10:40 am
i'd get this tightness in my chest. so i went back to my doctor again. we chose symbicort to help control my asthma symptoms all day and night. [ man ] symbicort improves my lung function, starting within 15 minutes. symbicort will not replace a rescue inhaler for sudden symptoms. it is a combination of two medicines and should not be taken more often than prescribed. symbicort contains formoterol. medicines like formoterol increase the risk of death from asthma problems, and children and adolescents may have an increased risk of being hospitalized for asthma problems. symbicort is not for people whose asthma is well controlled with a long-term asthma control medicine like inhaled corticosteroids. once your asthma is well controlled, your doctor will decide if you can stop symbicort without loss of control, and prescribe a long-term asthma control medicine.
10:41 am
be sure to see your doctor if your asthma does not improve or gets worse. symbicort is a good choice to help control my asthma all day and night. [ inhales ] [ exhales ] ask your doctor if symbicort is a good choice for you. [ male announcer ] if you can't afford your medication, astrazeneca may be able to help.
10:42 am
taking a look at the stories making headlines. we've been watching these pictures of the activity at camp hope. right outside of where the miners have been trapped for the past two months. the drillers have finally punched a hole through to the
10:43 am
mine where the men are some 2,300 feet down. now finally the next phase of this recovery and rescue can begin because now they have a hole to start bringing those men up. still it's not going to happen immediately. some time starting tuesday at the earliest. it could be another ten days before they start pulling those miners up. also we turn to afghanistan where we have word that a british aid workers who was kidnapped in late september and held capitalitive is now dead. her captors killed her after a rescue attempt. also to southern california now where listen to this. two kids. school kids, outside eating lunch end up getting injured because some guy starting shooting. the gunman fired several shots at the school. this is in carlsbad. security workers held the gunman until police got there. the kids, 6 and 7 years old.
10:44 am
they had minor injuries. also a birthday. john lennon, former beatle and rock legend would have been 70 today. the fbi just confiscated fingerprints. they were part of beatles items to be auctioned during his birthday week. would you want those as a collectors item? would you want any beatles stuff? are you a fan? >> i'm not from that era. i'm not a beatles guy. >> i'm with you. >> is there any group you would go crazy about. >> about their fingerprints? >> is there any group you go nuts, you've seen the video when they first show up in america and people are going bananas. do you have a group? >> i'm pushing justin bieber a little bit. maybe right now. >> i can think of only one or two group worthy of that kind of
10:45 am
f ferver that i would go crazy for. ph tar phat boys and run dmc. this is not happening anywhere on the eastern seaboard. things relatively quiet here. bad news towards the west. we have not just one, but two potent storm systems developing out in the gulf of alaska. now what we're going to be seeing with these areas of low pressure, one of them deeper towards the gulf of alaska. the other coming close to shore. the frontal boundary will kick out over the cascades in the mountains. the result will be heavy rainfall. with that will be potential flooding. especially in places with poor drainage and spots where you have the higher elevations. this moisture makeses its way from the pacific to the higher terrain. when it interacts with the cooler air, it's going to skeez
10:46 am
out some of the moisture from that -- as it comes in from the pacific. even back towards yakima. usually it happens at the coast and dries out a bit. could see some this afternoon for the big football game. oregon and washington state. they play later on this afternoon. could be rainy then. bring the rain slickers with you. as you get back over the central rockies, some rainfall. about 10,000 feet. you may see light snow. very dry in the southeast. with the dry air you'll have warmer conditions. at least with the high pressure. more humid towards houston and new orleans. not as humid in atlanta. 85, your expected high. as we wrap things up. salt lake city, 69. the rain cooled air. and 82 in los angeles. that's a wrap on your forecast. t.j., back to you. >> we appreciate it at always, buddy. we'll check in with him again. congress may have a secure
10:47 am
feeling about the security companies it hires in afghanistan. this after alleged links between american subcontractors hired to protect u.s. bases and war lords loyal to the taliban. until one day, my daughter showed me a designer handbag. and like that, we had a new side to our business. [ male announcer ] when the martinez family saw an opportunity, the hartford was there. protecting their employees and property, and helping them prepare for the future. nice boots. nice bag. [ male announcer ] see how the hartford helps businesses at achievewhatsahead.com. (announcer) everything you need to stretch out on long trips. residence inn.
10:48 am
10:49 am
10:50 am
we continue to keep a close, close eye on what has been a morning of developments in chile. those 33 miners who have been trapped since august 5th. some two plus months now. they're trapped some 2,300 feet down. to give you an idea, that's about two empire state buildings down. they are trapped. today a breakthrough. they made it to the miners. they've drilled a hole to bring the miners up. they've drilled a 21-inch high hole to bring the men up. even though they've been able to breakthrough. that's a significant milestone in this rescue effort, still they will not start bringing the first miner up until tuesday at the very earliest. but it could be another ten days because they're deciding whether or not they are going to use casing in that particular tunnel
10:51 am
to reinforce it and make sure nothing else goes wrong. still a dangerous process. we're following those developments for you. also congress wants some answers about a dangerous situation happening in afghanistan. a report shows some of the security companies are taking huge pentagon payments. at the same time, they're aiding the taliban. cnn's pentagon correspondent says many actually went to war lords. >> reporter: security contracting in afghanistan comes off as a gangster community in this senate report. one example, they hired war lords and gave them other names to hide the identity. >> this is the company's naming of the war lords. mr. pink, mr. white, mr. white two. >> sound familiar? they took it right off quentin terrentino's reservoir dogs. here are your names. mr. brown, mr. white.
10:52 am
mr. blond, blue blue, mr. orange. mr. pink. >> why am i mr. pink? >> those war lords were variously implicated in murder and bribery. mr. pink killed mr. white one. >> they pay afghans to guard bases. what did this group buy with american tax-payer dollars? >> they were found to possess land mines and large amounts of ammunition and were determined by the u.s. military to be with the taliban. >> the report says mr. white ii was holding a meeting in his home with the taliban when u.s. troops raided it. the pentagon says it's now hired 300% more personnel to audit contracts in the field. general david petraeus made u.s. commanders in afghanistan
10:53 am
responsible for overseeing contracts in their battlefield. defense secretary robert gates wrote to senator eleven through the new programs we have implemented, i believe we have taken significant steps to benefit our forces on the ground while not providing aid to enemies. he was invited to afghanistan when general petraeus took over. he's testified about contracting issues and says reform is no quick fix. >> a lot of the commanders will try to retaliate if we cut off contracts. we have to be willing to accept that that there's a short-term difficulty. the long-term gain will be tremendous. >> now, along with the security issue the white house had other challenges this week. a report criticized the administration's handling of the bp oil disaster. underestimating how much oil leaked into the gulf of mexico. also new e-mails about the shirley sherrod firing surfaced on a misleading video of her
10:54 am
work at the agriculture went public. some in the usda demanded her bosses fired her. they did. though she hasn't decided whether to return for a different job. well, these could possibly be the most watched midterm elections, midterm election campaigns in recent memory. 24 days away from election day. want to take a look at what'sing on our political ticker. paul steinhauser has the duty for us from pennsylvania. paul, good morning to you once again. you're in pennsylvania. paul steinhauser is a big name there. but you have other big names coming in. >> reporter: yeah, a lot bigger than me. we are in pennsylvania. we have the cnn express behind me. we're in harris burg. two big names coming tomorrow in philadelphia. that's barack obama, the president of the united states, and the number two, joe biden, the vice president. they're going to be at a rally in philadelphia tomorrow afternoon. the whole idea is for them to try to get energized democratic
10:55 am
voters. we saw the president try to do that in wisconsin about two weeks ago at a big rally there. they're hoping for similar efforts here. the republicans in this state vz a good shot at winning four or five house seats. maybe the senate seat that's up for grabs and the governor ship. you have the president and vice president coming here to pennsylvania tomorrow. another busy man on the campaign trail for the democrats. almost like a rock star for the democrats is the former president bill clinton. he's going to start in kentucky. then he goes to west virginia. he's going to do with senate nominee there. then he goes to new york state to campaign with a congressman near syracuse. bill clinton, very busy on the campaign trail for democrats. let's look ahead to the next election, 2012, the presidency. let's talk about sarah palin. she made these comments the other day. i'll run for president if the american people want me to. she made those comments to news
10:56 am
max, a conservative news organization. interesting comments. sparking a lot of interest. definitely trending online. she's made comments like this before. we're going to keep our eyes on sa sarah palin. we'll see if the former alaska governor wants to run for the white house in 2012. a lot of people really curious. that's what we have on the ticker. back to you, man. >> that's how you do it. keep people interested. wet the appetite just a little bit, and she keeps throwing us bones, doesn't she, paul? we appreciate you buddy. we'll check in with you again. for the latest political news, cnnpolitics.com you never take ae for granted. and you rent from national. because only national lets you choose any car in the aisle. and go. you can even take a full-size or above. and still pay the mid-size price. i deserve this. [ male announcer ] you do, business pro. you do.
10:57 am
go national. go like a pro. i don't always let the worry my pipes might leak compromise what i like to do. i take care with vesicare, because i have better places to visit than just the bathroom. ( announcer ) once-daily vesicare can help control your bladder muscle, and is proven to treat overactive bladder with symptoms of frequent urges and leaks, day and night. if you have certain stomach or glaucoma problems, or trouble emptying your bladder, do not take vesicare. vesicare may cause allergic reactions that may be serious. if you experience swelling of the face, lips, throat or tongue, stop taking vesicare and get emergency help. tell your doctor right away if you have severe abdominal pain or become constipated for three or more days.
10:58 am
vesicare may cause blurred vision, so use caution while driving or doing unsafe tasks. common side effects are dry mouth, constipation, and indigestion. ( woman ) you have better things to join than always a line for the bathroom. so, pipe up and ask your doctor today about taking care with vesicare.
10:59 am

216 Views

info Stream Only

Uploaded by TV Archive on