getting help from volunteers offering food, sweat and comfort. brown tells me he s learned something and wants to tell the people of joplin don t turn down help and don t give up. if you can t go anywhere, you can always go home. reporter: would it have been easier for you just to pack it in and say, i m not going back and start over somewhere? yeah, it would have been a whole lot easier. it definitely would have been a whole lot easier, but i won t let this get me down. reporter: a full month after a deadly tornado and so many still so slow to turn the corner from surviving to recovery. david matingly, tuscaloosa, alabama. we are bringing you the stories beyond the destruction later this evening. a special cnn presents a twister s fury in the past of destruction. just moments from now we ll observe the moment of silence about to take place in joplin, missouri, as you are looking live at the people gathering. we ll be right back.
rooftops. people were marched to demand the release of political prisoners and the bullets rained down. and sarah palin thundering into d.c. today, but is she ready to roll into the presidential race? the best political team on television is weighing in. i m drew griffin. the news starts now. in the headlines tonight president obama went to joplin, missouri, today. it was his first chance to see the unimaginable damage caused by last sunday s ef-5 tornado. he spoke at a memorial service for the 142 known victims. a live look at the president s visit just ahead. and sarah palin drew attention riding on the back of a motorcycle in rolling thunder. despite all the symbolism of the moment, the former alaska governor insists she is just riding, not running, at least not yet. i m an american. i have no title, i have no office, and to be an american citizen with the freedom to come out here and assemble and thank our veterans, i can t tell you how honored i am. lockheed mart
keep the radioactive particles from getting into your lungs, things we saw back in the 50s and 60s with civil defense films, and now we re seeing that on the level for the population there in japan. we ve heard this from soledad o brien, paying attention to this very closely. they are not panicking. they are very calm, but they are concerned. they are concerned. i think i heard someone say duct tape should be everyone s best friend. duct tape, keep your windows closed and doors shut if you re in that radius. and that radius telling everyone to stay inside, don t go outside. they are giving advice, if you have to go outside what kind of clothing to wear and part of that demonstration we saw was a type of overcoat and type of hat you should be wearing if you have to go outside as well. david matingly, thank you so much. on this whole subject of radiation here, you have these things. do you know about these? these are iodide pills. apparently they are flying off of some store sh
up on the surface where they are cleaning up the oil that s already up there. all right. david matingly, thank you very much. we re going to bring into the conversation, cnn producer vivian quo who is here. bp is a little ahead of schedule, is it not? it depends on what ahead of schedule means. certainly this is a 24/7 operation. they have crews working overnight. all shifts covered. they are a little ahead of schedule in terms of the relief well. they suffered a setback. they had to delay work to continue with the well integrity test. now that s back on track. they have begun drilling again on the first relief well. these things do take time. right now bp doesn t want to celebrate. the president of the united states said in the rose garden, you know, let s wait. there are a lot of tests that need to be done. there are assessments that still need to be made. why would the white house be so careful? why would bp be careful as
source of that miscommunication. but his pr people with the coast guard saying really the only thing he got wrong was just the sequence of events that all of these things are in place simultaneously and so they re trying to minimize that gaffe that he put out there. david matingly, thank you for keeping us updated. appreciate it. that leak is so deep under water that human hands can t get to it. on top of all of that it is spewing immeasurable amounts of crude. we really don t know how to stop it and we don t know the long-term consequences, effects of having so much oil floating around in the gulf of mexico and possibly going into other areas as well. joining me now is cnn contributor and retired army general russell on honore. what are you hearing about the military getting involved in this leak, general? don, the military is directly supportive of the united states coastguard, which is the the oil incident commander. to date, the department of defense has approved 1100 up