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Same-Sex Marriage Controversy; Prescription for Change; Condition Critical; Stocks Tumble; King of Pop Returns; Another Darfur Crisis; Dancing in Defiance; How To Fix Health Care

Aired March 05, 2009 - 11:59   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: And hello again, everyone. I'm Tony Harris in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Here are the headlines from CNN for this Thursday, the 5th day of March.

Activists rally as the California Supreme Court takes up a ban on same-sex marriage. Legal arguments this hour in San Francisco.

And next hour, at the White House, the president begins looking for the right prescription to fix a broken system. We preview his health care summit in the NEWSROOM.

The difficult issue of same-sex marriage being played out in the California Supreme Court this hour. A live shot from the courthouse in San Francisco. The judge is hearing arguments on the state's controversial Proposition 8 same-sex marriage ban.

Earlier, CNN's Dan Simon spoke with those on both sides of this issue outside the Supreme Court building.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, a very lively atmosphere outside of the courthouse. Oral arguments now under way. The Supreme Court looking at whether or not to uphold the ban on same-sex marriage.

Now, that ban was a result of Proposition 8, which was narrowly approved by California voters in the November election by a 52-48 percent margin. As you may recall, that set off a wave of protests throughout the country. Gay rights groups were very well organized, obviously very vocal on this issue.

And we should note that it was just about six months ago that the California Supreme Court ruled in favor of same-sex marriage, only to see that decision invalidated by Proposition 8.

I want you to listen now to CNN Legal Analyst Jeffrey Toobin, who framed the issue in a very profound way. Take a look.

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SR. LEGAL ANALYST: This case is really about democracy, because the voters have spoken. The voters said no gay marriage. But courts are often supposed to be a check on democracy, to protect oppressed groups. So the question is, is the Supreme Court here going to support the democracy of the majority or protect the rights of the minority?

SIMON: One of the participants in the proceedings is very well know, Kenneth Starr. He is best known for handling the inquiry into President Clinton's affairs during the Whitewater scandal. He is now dean of Pepperdine University's law school.

We should note that the Supreme Court is not expected to make a ruling today. A ruling is expected in 90 days.

Dan Simon, CNN, San Francisco.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: We are following developments at the hearing on the gay marriage ban, and you can see live coverage of the California Supreme Court on our Web site. That's CNN.com.

San Francisco's mayor supports gay marriage, and he rejects the argument from opponents that domestic partners have the same rights as -- and benefits as married people.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR GAVIN NEWSOM, SAN FRANCISCO: I thought we dealt 55 years ago with the notion that separate is not equal. They're arguing that separate is somehow equal. I thought that we had worked through that in the consciousness of people's minds.

I don't believe in running the 90-yard dash on equality. I believe marriage is marriage, and I believe there's a reason they spent $40 million on a word, is they understand that the institution is different, and it's superior to civil unions.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Newsom says he believes in full equality for everyone, and he is worried about a simple majority taking away the rights of the minority.

Medical makeover. President Obama convenes a summit next hour looking for ways to overhaul the nation's health care system. Doctors, lawmakers, pharmaceutical reps, hospital officials are all taking part.

Our Suzanne Malveaux spoke with the director of the White House Domestic Policy Council about what to expect.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MELODY BARNES, DIRECTOR, DOMESTIC POLICY COUNCIL: Everyone who has a stake in this to have a conversation with the president put their cards on the table and talk about how we're going to move forward. We also know it has to be transparent. The American people have to see what we're doing so they understand where we're going. Those are two of the most important things. That's what's going to happen inside the White House today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: White House Correspondent Suzanne Malveaux joins us live.

And Suzanne, here's one question. I've got a few, but how will this be different from the last time there was attempts at health care reform?

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, one of the things that they say, lessons learned here, it was 15 years ago. You've got some key players who are part of that battle that actually happened when Hillary Clinton, as first lady, was taking on this overhaul of the health care system. You have got people like John Podesta, who was the chief of staff at the time, intimately involved in that cause.

Well, he has had an advocacy group that he's been working with that he established over the last 15 years really studying the matter here. So you're taking a look at the opposition.

There is some opposition to this, no doubt, Tony, but it is not as ferocious as what you had seen 15 years ago, because they're trying to actually learn from this. They say that there's going to be sacrifices on all accounts here.

You're going to have hospitals, doctors, as well as patients. Everybody is going to take a hit on this, but they all believe that they're going to benefit.

For example, you're going to have seniors who make a little bit more money, say $170,000, who are going to have to pay a little more for their prescription drugs. That is one way that they're going to put a little bit more costs and a little bit more burden on one group. But the hospitals and the doctors are also going to have to take a little bit of a hit as well.

So that is the approach that they're taking.

The other thing that they're saying here is that they're going to allow everybody to talk about this, that the last time around you didn't have a lot of bipartisan effort, you didn't have a lot of debate and discussion before this legislation was put out there. The White House says, look, that the president's not handing lawmakers anything just quite yet, they want to work with them to see if they can come up with some reasonable plan to overhaul the system.

And the other thing that Melody Barnes said I thought was interesting here was that they are flexible on that number, $634 billion over the next 10 years.

HARRIS: Yes. Yes. MALVEAUX: I said, "Is that a hard and fast number there?" And she says, "We're going to be talking to lawmakers." Some people believe it needs to be more, some people believe it needs to be less. But that is something that at least they're going to be discussing.

HARRIS: Right. And talking about discussions, it's clear that this is a huge event today, but there is also evidence that the president -- this administration -- wants this conversation to be happening all across the country, isn't it?

MALVEAUX: Absolutely. They're going to be holding these regional health care summits, is what they're calling them.

They're going to be hosted by governors across the country, Tony. We've got a list here.

It's going to start March 12th, that's going to be in Michigan. It's going to the follow week be in Vermont, Iowa, North Carolina, California. That's where Governor Schwarzenegger is going to be hosting one of these summits.

The president not necessarily attending these, but you're going to have health care officials from the White House, and they want to hear from regular folks. This is going to be a town hall forum to listen to American people, but obviously also to sell their own plan -- Tony.

HARRIS: White House Correspondent Suzanne Malveaux.

Suzanne, thank you.

You know, one symptom of the nation's health care ills -- hospital emergency rooms in critical condition. Many are overwhelmed by the flood of uninsured patients, and some are even forced to shut their doors.

Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen is here with that part of the story. So many questions here.

Elizabeth, first of all, is there any consensus -- and I mentioned this to you just a moment ago -- about what to do about the plight that so many emergency rooms find themselves in at this point?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SR. MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, to keep it sort of a medical theme here, the place that emergency rooms are in is a symptom of the disease that's happening with the health care system in general. Emergency rooms are on the front line of this sort of dysfunctional health care system that many people find themselves in.

When things go wrong, they feel it first. Emergency room doctors are telling me that they have been feeling much more overwhelmed in the past couple of months than usual.

Why is that? There are fewer people with health insurance. Take a look at these numbers. They are really quite stunning. In January and February alone, just those -- just those two months, 1.25 million jobs were lost. All right? Half of those people are believed to have also lost their health insurance. That's in two months.

Where do people go when they don't have health insurance? They go to the emergency room.

Also, when you don't have health insurance -- let's say you're an asthmatic -- you stop paying for your inhaler sometimes; right?

HARRIS: Right.

You don't use your inhaler, you get sick. You get sick, you go to the emergency room.

HARRIS: You know, I asked this question of Suzanne Malveaux just a moment ago. I'll ask the same question of you, Elizabeth.

Why should we believe -- or is there a better chance of health care reform on the scale that we're talking about here passing this time around?

COHEN: Right, it failed so miserably in the early '90s when Hillary Clinton did it. So you might think, well, gosh, why will Obama be successful? A couple of different reasons.

One, many more people are feeling the pain now in 2009 than they felt in 1993. Things are so much worse, so many more people are without health insurance, and businesses are feeling the pain because they can't afford to insure their employees. So there's much more pain going on.

Also, at the time that Hillary Clinton did it, there were some formidable voices that wanted the United States to have sort of a Canadian-style health care system. And Tony, you don't hear that so much anymore.

HARRIS: No, you don't.

COHEN: That part of it is kind of out of the picture, and so people are more on the same page than they were back in '93.

HARRIS: All right. So a huge discussion today, and the indication that the president wants these regional health care summits around the country.

Any worry, concern, on your part, that we may talk this thing into paralysis and not get anything substantial done this year?

COHEN: Well, you know, I'll tell you, the discussions that I hear going on are the same discussions I heard when I was a student in public health school in 1991.

HARRIS: Really?

COHEN: I mean, a lot of this...

HARRIS: And it wasn't that long ago.

COHEN: And it wasn't that -- right, right, right, when I was 12, right.

So if these discussions have been going on for really several decades now, you do have to wonder, will we ever come to a consensus where we can actually change things? I mean, I think what President Obama and his folks are thinking is, look, things may be bad enough now that people may be willing to make compromises.

Melody Barnes, the woman at the White House, she said, you know what? Some people like doctors and nurses fought tooth and nail against health care reform. They might not fight so hard this time because they're feeling the pinch.

HARRIS: We'll see what comes out of all of this; huh?

COHEN: Exactly. It's interesting to see.

HARRIS: It feels like it's a great discussion to be having right now.

COHEN: That's right.

HARRIS: Elizabeth, appreciate it. Thank you.

COHEN: Thanks.

HARRIS: And President Obama makes opening remarks at the health care summit next hour. We will have live coverage of his comments at 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

What would you do to fix the nation's health care? Well, stick around for a 90-second prescription fix. In about 25 minutes, we will hear what the head of the health department at Emory University would actually do.

Doctors say she is alert and cracking jokes. Barbara Bush is recovering from open heart surgery in Houston. Doctors replaced a worn out aortic valve with one from a pig.

Mrs. Bush is 83. This type of surgery is not uncommon for people of her age. The former first lady is expected to be in the hospital for another week to 10 days.

Mrs. Bush's surgeon plans a news conference this afternoon to update us on her condition, and you can see that live from Houston at 2:30 Eastern Time with Kyra Phillips, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

New signs General Motors may be heading toward a dead end. In its annual report, the nation's largest automaker says its auditors have serious doubts about GM's ability to continue operating.

GM hints at the possibility of bankruptcy if restructuring plans don't succeed and it can't get sufficient funding from the U.S. government or other investors. The ailing automaker wants an additional $7.7 billion in federal aid. That would bring GM's total debt to the government to $30 billion by 2011.

Adding to the bleak picture, GM expects auto sales to remain weak. Sales fell 53 percent last month.

With stimulus dollars flowing already, many people want to know, how much is their state getting?

Our Josh Levs is here with the answers -- Josh.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Tony. I'll tell you, it's really interesting.

This is probably the biggest question we get asked all the time, isn't it, when people say, look, I hear these millions are flowing, I don't know how much is making it to my area? Well, fortunately, we've been talking a lot about recovery.gov; right? The White House has been setting up these new Web sites that allow you to find out a couple of things. Not just how much is being spent nationally, but also how much is being spent state to state.

I'm going to show you two things now. I'm going to show you an interactive map that will give you the millions to your state, and I'm going to give you the information we just now got from the Transportation Department.

The first 10 states, Tony, getting tens of millions, let's zoom right in. This is recovery.gov. This is the map that everybody is checking out lately.

It will show you -- and you can get there pretty easily -- a link from the main page. Check it out.

Look, just pick any state at all. Boom. You find out the total distribution it's planning on getting and how that state is planning on using it. So no matter where you live in the country, you go to this map at recovery.gov, you'll be able to see that.

Now, one more thing. Also at recovery.gov, you can see some states, Tony, that have already set up their individual Web sites that tell you how they're using the money day by day. So if you go to any of the states...

HARRIS: Nice.

LEVS: ... in pink right there.

All right. Now, check this out. This is a document.

I called the Transportation Department and I said, "Look, people want to know what's being done in individual states." They're keeping this complicated Excel document. I don't you expect you to check it out, but look at this.

This right here is the summary. We just put it together, Tony.

HARRIS: Awesome.

LEVS: Now I'm going to tell you the first 10 states and how much they're getting.

Arkansas, $23 million; Maine, $35 million; Maryland, $23 million. Mississippi is at $117 million, Tony.

New York, $48 million; Oregon, $2 million; Rhode Island, $11 million; Utah, $70 million. West Virginia is at $10 million; Tennessee, $8 million.

They're just putting out this information, and what this does is it allows us to see how all of this is being spent in the individual states. The White House says we need to track it each step of the way. Now with this we can actually do it -- Tony.

HARRIS: Awesome.

LEVS: Yes.

HARRIS: Awesome.

You know, I'm just curious, was that -- is it just my monitor? That didn't really pop. Did it look clear to you over there?

LEVS: Zoom right in.

HARRIS: It was OK?

LEVS: I don't know. You tell me. Let's zoom pretty far in.

HARRIS: All right. Well, we'll look at it a little later.

LEVS: Yes.

HARRIS: And if we need to adjust it, we'll adjust.

All right, Josh. Appreciate it. Thank you.

LEVS: Thanks, Tony.

HARRIS: A bus driver is about to lose her $800,000 home. She is not getting a lot of sympathy from those outraged over the whole housing bailout plan.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: You know, a few weeks ago, CNN profiled a school bus driver facing foreclosure on her $800,000 house. After her story aired, the homeowner didn't find much sympathy. She did find herself on the receiving end of a lot of outrage.

CNN's Jim Acosta has her story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MINTA GARCIA, HOMEOWNER: We're going to be losing the house. We're going to lose everything.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You think you're going to lose everything?

GARCIA: Yes.

ACOSTA (voice-over): When we introduced you to school bus driver Minta Garcia, she told us her bank was threatening to foreclose on her $800,000 home in suburban Washington. She could no longer afford the house which is now worth less than her mortgage.

(on camera): How much was the house when you bought it?

GARCIA: Eight hundred.

ACOSTA: Eight hundred thousand dollars. And how much is the house worth?

GARCIA: Right now, it's like $675,000 on the market.

ACOSTA (voice-over): Since then, she's become the target of bloggers who say she's the poster child of America's housing crisis.

(on camera): You feel attacked?

GARCIA: Yes, of course. I never thought they're going to write those nasty comments.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Craig from Jackson on 1390 AM.

ACOSTA (voice-over): Her story spread to talk radio on west Tennessee's 1390 AM. Callers showed no mercy, blaming Garcia and her bank almost equally.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We should not have to bail that kind of irresponsibility out. I mean, that's not our job.

MIKE SLATER, TALK RADIO HOST: The people who are most upset about these are very self-reliant people, and they don't automatically turn to the government to help them get out of their problems.

ACOSTA: Talk radio hosts are staging Boston Tea Party-style rallies across the country, protesting the nation's bailouts, for banks and homeowners.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You are spending money we don't have on social programs we don't need.

ACOSTA: Garcia says she and her husband, a construction worker, simply want their bank to lower the interest rate on their mortgage so they can try to make their payments.

(on camera): So if people say, "Oh Minta, you were irresponsible"?

GARCIA: They say that because they don't know. I never asked for people to pay my mortgage or pay, you know, my bills or something.

TIMOTHY GEITHNER, TREASURY SECRETARY: This plan will help homeowners meet their mortgage obligations.

ACOSTA (voice-over): She's waiting to find out if she qualifies for the president's housing plan.

GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: And I know it's frustrating, but boy, at the end of the day you know, you got to think how are we going to dig out of this?

ACOSTA: CNN personal finance guru Gerri Willis cautions allowing troubled homeowners to go down in flames could leave everybody burned.

WILLIS: You know how this is, you get one foreclosure in a neighborhood, and all the prices near that property start going down. You get two, the prices go down further, faster. It affects us all.

ACOSTA (on camera): The White House insists its housing plan does not bail out irresponsible homebuyers. In order to get help, homeowners have to meet certain requirements to show they can afford to stay in their houses, a process Minta Garcia will have to begin right away.

Jim Acosta, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Well, here we go. The president's plan to pump $75 billion into the housing market in order to stem the foreclosure crisis is being met with some pretty harsh criticism. And we have a ton of questions about how it is even going to work.

Joining me now, John Adams, host of "Money Talks."

John, good to see you again.

JOHN ADAMS, HOST, "MONEY TALKS": Thank you.

HARRIS: All right. We've got a graphic. Let's start with a graphic.

We've got some new polling on what people think about this plan. Take a look at this.

Sixty-four percent of Americans believe the president's housing plan is unfair. Now look, John, I could play sound bite after sound bite from officials, experts, who suggest that we have to do something about housing. Got to start with housing, that's where the crisis started. Got to fix housing first.

So are you surprised that there is that kind of disappointment, unhappiness with the president's plan? ADAMS: No, because the program is not designed to help everybody.

HARRIS: OK.

ADAMS: And there are a lot of people who are wondering if this is the right approach. But I think it is a balanced approach. It makes sense.

I saw a bumper sticker on the way down here. It said, "Honk if you're paying my mortgage." It's a concern people have. But the program is designed to begin the process of stabilizing the housing market.

HARRIS: Yes.

ADAMS: It affects two groups, people that...

HARRIS: Well, great. Talk us through that, because this is a plan in two parts; isn't it?

ADAMS: Exactly. The first part is designed for people who are -- have been paying on their mortgage, they're not behind, but they're in trouble a little bit and they need to refinance. But because their homes have fallen in value, they can't.

HARRIS: Yes.

ADAMS: Those people are going to be allowed to refinance, and that's a smart first step.

HARRIS: Yes.

ADAMS: It makes common sense.

The second part of the program -- and this is the more controversial -- this is the loan modification, where if you are in imminent danger of default, or if you're already in the foreclosure process, the lender is going to be encouraged to literally lower your interest rate and make your payment affordable to the point that it's 31 percent of your gross monthly income.

HARRIS: So John, I'm in the second group, OK?

ADAMS: OK.

HARRIS: For the sake of this example, I'm in the second group, and I pick up the phone and I call whoever -- who do I call? I call my...

ADAMS: You call -- just whoever -- the 800 number is on your payment coupon.

HARRIS: OK. So how long from the time -- I believe I qualify for some help for modification under the president's plan. How long from the time I pick up that phone and make that call until the time that I can see some assistance and I get some help?

ADAMS: It looks like it is going to be very similar to the time period that is necessary for the loan approval process. Probably 30 to 45 days.

The government is attempting to streamline this, but knowing the government, there's going to be a lot of paperwork involved. You'll have to have tax returns, a statement of hardship. You'll have to have pay stubs. They'll want to see a copy of your tax returns. All those things have to be gathered, verified, and 30 to 45 days, Tony.

HARRIS: And once I'm in that process, will the legal action that might be pending against me, will it cease?

ADAMS: We don't know that, but the answer is probably. Unfortunately, with these lenders, sometimes, Tony, the right hand doesn't know what the left hand is doing. But theoretically, all legal action should stop during the modification process.

HARRIS: I can pay my mortgage. I've got a 30-year fixed, I can pay my mortgage.

ADAMS: Right.

HARRIS: But you know what? I'm wondering if there is something in the plan that will allow me to refinance at these tremendously low rates that are available right now? Because I could take that money and maybe take a piece of it, and I could go out and further stimulate the economy.

ADAMS: Well, all these programs are designed not to allow you to have extra money to go out and stimulate...

HARRIS: OK. OK.

ADAMS: ... but to make your payments affordable. And I think that's an appropriate first step.

HARRIS: Yes.

John, good to see you. Thanks for your time.

ADAMS: Thank you, sir.

HARRIS: The Bush administration was the subject of intense criticism for its handling of hurricane damage along the Gulf Coast. What is the Obama team doing to turn things around?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: Queue the music.

(MUSIC)

HARRIS: Oh my.

What are we seeing on the left here? I don't know what that is. What are we seeing on the left?

OK. Oh, Michael Jackson leaving the hotel for the trip to the QE3O21 (ph) Arena, where he is announcing plans. We believe he is going to announce plans for a concert.

Is Michael Jackson saying "I'll be there" to his fans? Again, expecting a rare appearance from Michael Jackson with a new tour announcement.

What do you think about this comeback? We are reading your e- mails.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: On Wall Street, stocks are selling off, wiping out all of yesterday's gains and taking shares of Citigroup down, too. Once the nation's most powerful bank, Citi is now trading -- can you believe this -- below $1.00 a share? Susan Lisovicz is at the New York Stock Exchange.

We know that this is a company in real serious trouble here, Susan, but less than $1 a share?

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, right now Citi has bounced. Its shares are trading at $1.03 a share.

HARRIS: OK.

LISOVICZ: But I think you've made the point, Tony, this was two years ago it was the world's most valuable financial company, as measured by its stock price. And it's basically getting close to being worthless at this point. It's lost about 97 percent of its value over the last year. It's really unthinkable that this could happen so quickly.

Breaking the buck is what they call on Wall Street. It's an important psychological barrier. But it really passed that when it broke $5.00, a barrier, because you start to see a lot of big institutional investors dumping shares. So you're seeing like day traders and short just betting that the stock is going to keep going down.

Perhaps what's most distressing of all, Tony, that there's no news connected with this. This is -- we've seen this before with lots of companies. We see the damage that can be done when there's no confidence. As one trader told me before today, he said that, you know, when there's no clarity, there's no confidence. When there's no confidence, there's no buying.

So it's a very tough day for Citigroup, for financial stocks and for the overall stock market. Check it out. The Dow is off the lows for the session, but hit new intraday lows in this bear market of 6,630. Also weighing on sentiment today, Tony, GM. Its own auditor saying that it's going to have problems as an independent company at this point. That the company said in its annual report that it may have to file for Chapter 11. And this is not a surprise in a sense because we've known for months now that GM is on the ropes. But the fact that its auditors are saying this. And this is after its already received an infusion of federal loans. It's clearly going to need more and it's said as much.

HARRIS: Susan, let me -- let's go back -- yes, exactly. The GM story is a tough one today. But if we turn back to Citi for just a moment, we know, for example, that the big British bank, HSBC, is trying to raise -- what is it -- what's the number -- like $17 billion and is not looking for the government to help it out. Is there any chance at all that Citi is in any kind of position to raise outside capital? Something outside of what the government is pumping in to Citi?

LISOVICZ: It's an excellent question and, in fact, Citi has gone outside of the government, as I recall, I mean, and it's not the only financial company that has done so. When we first started seeing in the summer of 2007, when we started to see that the housing crisis -- the housing meltdown wasn't just related to folks with spotty credit records, that these big behemoth financial companies were, in fact, tied to it, they made all these bad bets on the housing market, you started seeing sovereign wealth funds taking stakes.

Well, clearly that money has dried up. It has dried up or is drying up, because Citi doesn't want to go to Uncle Sam. Uncle Sam -- by having the federal government having close to a 40 percent stake in (ph) the government, it means that much more control of a company. It dilutes the shareholder power and also, you know, as, you know, -- the big fear is that the government can change the rules as it sees fit. It can tell the board of director what it wants to do. That's the big concern.

For instance, just things on compensation. It's a sore point for everybody. But the fact is, the biggest value, the most important asset these financial companies have, is the talent. If they leave, it doesn't help when the market does come back. It will come back, Tony.

HARRIS: I just think it's curious that HSBC believes it can raise money in the private sector and Citi is in a position where it doesn't look like it can do that very same thing.

LISOVICZ: We'll see.

HARRIS: Yes, yes, we'll see.

Susan, appreciate it. Thank you.

LISOVICZ: Thank you.

HARRIS: A housing dilemma. Too many times U.S. service members have taken a hit when they were transferred and sold their homes. Often at prices below what they paid. But the president's stimulus plan could make selling that home less painful. Service members who purchased homes prior to the housing crisis could get up to 95 percent of what they lost. A real estate dealer and an Army lieutenant in that position says it is a program that's definitely need.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIP FRANKS, REALTOR: When they are told that, yes, you're going to be here in Ft. Hood for at least three years, at least four years, at least five years, when they're told that and then all of a sudden they come up on orders and they have to sell their home prematurely, that's who it's really going to really help.

LT. JOHN STEINER, U.S. ARMY: I would never have bought a home. Negative. No. I would never even considered it. I mean that's like -- that's asking a two-year-old, hey, if you're going to give me your candy and at the end you're not going to get any back.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Well, that Army lieutenant says he is selling his home at $20,000 less than what he paid for it.

A prescription to heal, at least try to, heal the health care crisis. We will get a 90-second solution.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Hey, how about this? Michael Jackson at the 02 Arena in front of a microphone. I don't know if he's taking questions. I hear "Thriller." Well, let's go to Michael Jackson.

MICHAEL JACKSON: And -- I love you. I really do. You have to know that. I love you so much. Really. From the bottom of my heart. "This Is It." And see you in July.

HARRIS: Oh. That's the name of the concert tour. "This Is It." See you in July. Oh, and some moves from Michael. Power, Michael. Wow. "This Is It."

Is that a pretty -- Josh, wasn't that a pretty popular Kenny Loggins song, "This is it"? Do you remember that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And there we go. Thank you very much.

HARRIS: We don't need him. We don't need him.

So, all right. There you go. Michael Jackson. Maybe he said a little more. I don't know. For all of the breaks for the applause and the screaming and everything else. A lot of you have a lot to say about Michael Jackson. We know that because Josh has been hearing from you all day.

What do you have now, Josh?

LEVS: Wait, what about the sound clip of you singing Michael Jackson, huh?

HARRIS: There's no sound clip of me singing Michael Jackson.

LEVS: Oh, man, sing some through the heart (INAUDIBLE).

HARRIS: Hey, come on now! Come on.

(INAUDIBLE) mine and my baby. Give it to me. Give me some time.

Hang on for a second. Hang on.

LEVS: I am so happy right now.

HARRIS: Hang on. Hang on. There's a little something there. Hang on a second. There was a little something there. Hang on a second. Hold on. There was a little something there.

LEVS: You know what? If you weren't over 29, "American Idol" would be calling right now.

HARRIS: What?

LEVS: I think "American Idol" is looking for you.

HARRIS: There was a little something there. I don't want a -- Kyra?

LEVS: Uh-oh. Kyra's here. She's watching. She's having fun.

HARRIS: Kyra, there was a little something there, Kyra. Come on. A little love. There was a little something there.

LEVS: There was a little something there.

All right. Let's go over to the screen . . .

HARRIS: About that much.

LEVS: Before we get into any more trouble.

HARRIS: Yes, we are so in trouble.

LEVS: All right. Hey, everybody! What's going on? Let's put the cameras over here. How you doing, huh? Here's the deal. Look, we know a lot of you have a lot to say about Michael Jackson. We're often on FaceBook and e-mail asking questions about the economy. Took a different tack (ph) today because so many people have so much to say about this icon. Let's zoom in on the board. You know what we're doing here. People weighing in. Joshlevscnn is the page. Let's take a look at what they're saying.

Jenny Marshall says this. "I don't like Michael Jackson. I like his music, but as for who he is, not at all. But simply because he's such an icon, I think that I would buy a ticket to see him in concert simply to say that I have seen the Michael Jackson in concert."

How about over here. Victoria. "Michael's a train wreck. So much talent. So little reality. Make him look freakish."

Kristen right here. "Michael Jackson should give it up. We will live without him going on touring again."

Now, not everyone's using FaceBook. Some of you all are writing us at our e-mail address, cnnnewsroom@cnn.com. Let's do a couple of those.

"I can't understand how anyone would give him one second of their attention, let alone the thought of attending his concerts, et cetera. He's a very, very, sick, sick, sick individual." Wow.

We'll go a little bit farther down, here, Kelvin. "I feel that the man made a mistake in the past and he has learned his lessons. Nobody's above mistakes, hence, we should give him the support he needs to be a better person." That's Kelvin.

So, there you go, lots of people weighing in on Michael Jackson. We know you have a lot to say. We've got a graphic for you that shows you how you can weigh in. We've got our e-mail address, cnnnewsroom@cnn.com or keep it coming. Lots of people, Tony, getting involved in the discussion there on the FaceBook page, joshlevscnn.

And, you know what, I'm going to see if we can get a little bit of that loaded up online. Maybe we can make you viral.

HARRIS: No, I'm getting killed in my in-box. I'm absolutely getting -- I'm getting slayed here. This is ugly.

Josh, thank you.

LEVS: I actually think that was some good stuff. It was a testament.

HARRIS: It was a moment (ph).

LEVS: There were moments. Moments that were not pitchy at all.

HARRIS: Still to come, a prescription to help heal the health care crisis. We will get a 90-second solution next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Sudan's president, Omar al-Bashir, charged by the international criminal court Wednesday with crimes against humanity. He immediately moved to expel several aid groups from Darfur. That action threatens to aggravate what the U.N. already calls the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. CNN's Phil Black has more now from London.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT, (voice over): Sudan's president isn't letting being a wanted man kick him down. That's him dancing. Omar al-Bashir responded to the International Criminal Court's arrest warrant by throwing a party. Tens of thousands of supporters cheered and danced with their president in the capital, Khartoum. Al Bashir told them he would not kneel before the colonialist ambitions of the west.

For the moment, at least, that means not letting western aid groups help the people of Darfur. Within hours of the ICC's announcement of the arrest warrant, the Sudanese government ordered around 10 international charities to shut down their operations in the region. One of the groups is Doctors Without Borders. It says 400,000 people in Sudan's north now have no medical assistance. The frustration is clear.

VICKY HAWKINS, DOCTORS WITHOUT BORDERS: We're completely outraged by it. We are a nonpolitical organization caught up in the middle of a political process. We're medical. Our only concern is the medical needs of the people in Darfur. So we are appalled, we're outraged and are desperate to get back to our patients.

BLACK: British-based charity OXFAM says its offices in Sudan have been raided and it's staff have been told to stop providing food, water and shelter to people who need them desperately.

JO LEADBEATER, OXFAM: The big worry for us is that we've had to suspend life saving operations, which affects about 600,000 people. That's about the size of Glasgo (ph) or Boston.

BLACK: Despite this setback, those who have been campaigning for international intervention hope the arrest warrant will bring positive change.

GEORGE CLOONEY, ACTOR/ACTIVIST: What we're hoping is that this is -- it shines a spotlight again on how dangerous this regime has been to its civilians. And hopefully that's a way to start to push the people who profit from it, like China, into, at the very least, making it more difficult for them to -- for the government to act the way it does.

BLACK: But for now, it is the people of Darfur who are being punished as the international court attempts to enforce justice.

Phil Black, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: And joining me now -- we love to get an opportunity wherever we can to talk to John Prendergast, co-founder of The Enough Project, an initiative to end genocide and crimes against humanity.

John, thanks for you time. Appreciate it. Good to see you.

How outrageous a figure is this president of Sudan? How audacious? A day after a warrant issued for his arrest on war crimes -- and you saw it there -- there he is smiling and dancing.

JOHN PRENDERGAST, CO-FOUNDER, THE ENOUGH FOUNDATION: Well, let's look at where he stands in the pantheon of war criminals since the Holocaust. He's responsible -- his regime is responsible for the deaths of about 2.5 million people, either directly or indirectly, over the last 20 years. First in a war in the south and then now in a war in Darfur over the last five or six years. So this guy is -- ranks right up there with some of the great war criminals of the last century. So -- and often along with being a war criminal comes this attitude. This very cavalier attitude about international justice.

So you have an interesting scenario where he's laughing at this arrest warrant that's been issued yesterday. But many people have had the same experience. Milosevic in Yugoslavia, Charles Taylor in Liberia, ended up a couple of years later in prison after laughing when they received their warrants.

HARRIS: I'm going to get to that point in just a moment. But something of pressing concern. He has ordered aid agencies out of the country. What are the consequences of throwing those agencies out of the country?

PRENDERGAST: The consequences are going to be dire if this is left unchallenged. If the agencies actually do leave and are not allowed to come back, I believe over the course of the next two months, we could see hundreds of thousands of people that will perish, literally will die as a direct result of this order by President Bashir. The death tolls are going to skyrocket.

And it's not just dying of starvation. Usually the main death -- the numbers come from people who die of diseases in these camps. Once somebody gets cholera or measles or any kind of communicable disease. Everyone in the camp gets it in the next 30 days. So if there's no medicine that's being supplied by the international aid agencies, people will die by the hundreds of thousands.

HARRIS: You know, he's smiling and laughing at the International Court and the rest of the world. Please tell me that this indictment from the ICC is more than just powerful symbolism.

PRENDERGAST: Yes, tomorrow he's not going to be arrested. There is no world police force that's going to go in and grab this guy. But the truth is, the wheels of justice -- international justice grinds slowly, but they grind surely. It may, in fact, end up being that a number of nations will downgrade their relations with this now- indicted war criminal for the head of state of Sudan, they'll downgrade their relations with the country and some of the party members underneath Bashir will say, you know what, we can't afford to have this guy in charge of our country. So maybe he'll be replaced. Maybe he'll be sent into (ph) exile (ph). Maybe he'll make a mistake and travel internationally and somebody will -- another country will arrest him and turn him over to The Hague. Something will happen. I don't think we'll see tomorrow the victory for justice, but we will see it in the near future.

HARRIS: So you think he'll end up in the dock in The Hague?

PRENDERGAST: Well, he has one exit option. If he works diligently to get a peace deal in Darfur, to end the crisis in Darfur, the security council of the United Nations can suspend his case. But only if he actually helps contribute to peace. But -- which at this juncture he has done only the opposite.

HARRIS: John Prendergast.

John, great to see you. Thanks for your time.

PRENDERGAST: Thank you so much, Tony.

HARRIS: A solution to the U.S. health care crisis that just takes 90 seconds.

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HARRIS: Live pictures now. The East Room of the White House. People are starting to gather for the health care summit sponsored by the president and this administration at the top of the hour, 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time, in the CNN NEWSROOM. And, of course the president will lead that discussion. And Kyra Phillips will have that for you. The president's remarks to open a health care summit, 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time in the NEWSROOM.

President Obama knows what he wants to do about the nation's health care system, but how would you fix it? We asked the chairman of the health department at Emery University for his 90-second prescription.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KENNETH THORPE, CHAIR., DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EMORY UNIVERSITY: My prescription to fix the nation's health care system has three parts.

One is that we need to be more effective nationally in preventing disease in the first place. Much of the rise in health care spending was really linked to more diabetes, more hypertension, things that are preventable. So we need to do a better job of preventing disease right from the start.

Second is that we have to do a better job of managing people that have chronic health care conditions, like cancer and diabetes. Chronic disease accounts for 75 percent of what this nation spends on health care. We need to do it more efficiently with health information technology to reduce administrative costs and we need to do it more effective clinically by working with patients at home and getting to make sure that they comply with their physician's care plans and game plan for managing their disease.

And, finally, we have to finally step up to the plate and make sure that all Americans have health insurance coverage. If we don't move towards universal coverage, we keep a lot of inefficiencies in the system and we know it's a major source of economic upheaval for families that lose their coverage, they become bankrupt, and at the end of the day may actually lose their home. So it is a major economic issue.

So those are the three areas we really need to focus on.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: All right. We know you have questions and we certainly have answers for you. E-mail us your questions on health insurance, Medicare, the president's reform plans. Here's the address, cnnnewsroom@cnn.com. Kyra Phillips will read as many as she can on the air and get you some answers in the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM.

And you know what, that next hour of CNN NEWSROOM continues right after this.

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