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Existence of Second Iranian Nuclear Facility a Violation of U.N. Security Council Resolutions; String of Terrorist Plots Foiled; Free Health Care Clinic in Houston Today
Aired September 26, 2009 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everybody. From the CNN Center, this is the CNN NEWSROOM. it is September 26th. Good morning everybody, I'm Betty Nguyen.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello to you all. I'm T.J. Holmes. It's 10:00 here in Atlanta where we sit, 9:00 a.m. in Houston, and it's 7:00 a.m. out in San Jose, California. Wherever you may be, thanks for right here starting with us.
And they've had an early start to the morning in Houston. Take a look at some of these pictures. These are from much, much earlier today, before this free health clinic even opened up. We'll tell you what's going on there.
This is at Houston's Reliant Convention Center. Dr. Oz, a name you might know, a TV doc, I give we can call him, will explain why he decided this was necessary today.
NGUYEN: Also, there's a big topic we want you to weigh in on today. There's the couple right there. They went into a fertility clinic and ended up she was given the wrong embryo implanted in her.
But she decided to go ahead and have the baby and give the baby to the biological parents. Is that something that you think you could have done or maybe if this ever happened to anyone in your family or your friends? Boy, it's a big decision.
So send us your comments to our twitter page, our Facebook page. You can also reach us at CNN.com/betty or CNN.com/tj and weigh in on this story. We'll read your responses on the air.
But in the meantime, quote, "Pursue a new course or face consequences," President Obama's exact words to Iran this weekend. This after the world learned that Iran is building a second nuclear facility, but the country's leader, well, he doesn't seem to care who is upset about it.
Our Elaine Quijano is live at the White House. All right, Ahmadinejad may not care, but the Obama administration does. So what is its next move?
ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Betty.
President Obama wants an investigation into this second nuclear facility. You know, the United States and other countries, Betty, have long suspected Iran of trying to develop a nuclear weapon.
Well, on the heels of a G-20 summit in Pittsburgh, President Obama said that the world community is more united than it ever has been when it comes to the issue of Iran.
Nevertheless, in an interview on CNN with Larry King, Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, denied that his country is trying to hide anything, and he said that President Obama, he believes, has made a mistake.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD, PRESIDENT OF IRAN (via translator): Well, I believe he's made a mistake. The mistake is very clear. We informed the agency even before we were required to about the facility's operations, so how can he possibly accuse us of secretly engaging in an activity that did not take place? This is a big mistake.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUIJANO: Nevertheless, President Obama is vowing that the world will not sit idly by if Iran does not cooperate with an investigation. Here is how he put it during his weekly Internet and radio address.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The international community is more united than ever before. Yesterday, I stood shoulder to shoulder with our European allies in condemning Iran's program. In our meetings and public statements, President Medvedev of Russia and I agreed that Iran must pursue a new course or face consequences.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUIJANO: Now, Iran for its part has insisted all along that its nuclear activity is simply for peaceful civilian power purposes. However, President Obama said yesterday, he said that looking at this facility, its size and its configuration are not at all consistent for the peaceful program -- Betty?
NGUYEN: With news about this nuclear facility coming at a really critical time, just before some crucial talks are set to take place, what can you tell us about those talks and how this might affect that?
QUIJANO: Really significant here, because this news is coming just days before this meeting set to take place on Thursday in Geneva, Switzerland.
It will be the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council plus Germany all sitting down with Iranian officials for talks about Iran's nuclear program.
This is a rare meeting. And President Obama said obviously these talks are taking on added urgency. He said that he is still very much open to the idea of the United States engaging in some serious dialogue with Iranian officials about the nuclear program, but, he says, first Iran has to demonstrate that it is serious about showing -- about taking action to show that it is really trying to develop a peaceful program here and demonstrate the talk with some actual tangible action.
NGUYEN: All right, Elaine Quijano, join us live. Thank you, Elaine.
HOLMES: Police say 83 people were arrested between Wednesday and Friday during protests at the G-20 economic summit that's happening in Pittsburgh.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go! Move!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: This is just one of the protests outside the University of Pittsburgh last night at the end of the G-20 summit. Police officers had to break up a large group of demonstrators who they say did not have permits.
NGUYEN: Inside, President Obama and members of the G-20 say they're confident with the efforts made so far to fix the global economic system and they hope to prevent future financial meltdowns.
HOLMES: It seems like we've been hearing a lot about terror plots here in this country. There are now several terror suspects under arrest. Federal agents have broken up three separate alleged bomb plots.
Let's walk you through them now -- Najibullah Zazi, seen there on the right, is being held in Brooklyn this morning. Prosecutors say he was planning an attack in New York on September 11th. He faces a charge of conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction.
That is the same charge filed against a teenage the terror suspect in Dallas. Investigators say 19-year-old Hossam Smadi was trying to blow up a sky scraper in downtown Dallas.
And one more to tell you about -- Michael C. Finton who was arrested in Springfield, Illinois. He's accused of trying to attack a federal courthouse there. The FBI has been watching him for some two years.
All three of these, even though we're hearing them in quick succession here, they are three unrelated plots. CNN Homeland Security Correspondent Jeanne Meserve reports the arrests served to highlight the threat of domestic terrorism.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Bomb plots allegedly targeting New York, Dallas, Texas, and Springfield, Illinois, all unfolding in the same week. Although the FBI coordinated the stings in Springfield and Dallas, authorities say none of these cases is related.
Some experts say it is pure coincidence that they broke almost simultaneously, but others say the calendar is a factor.
CHRIS VOSS, FORMER FBI NEGOTIATOR: It is in the vicinity of the anniversary of September 11th. It's also at the same time -- Ramadan was just over. So, there are a variety of reasons that have heightened the fervor, if you will, of the people that would like to do these things.
MESERVE: This week also brought new charges in connection with an alleged plot to attack the marine base in Quantico, Virginia. That case and the alleged plot in Springfield involved American converts to Islam, proverbial homegrown terrorists often hard to detect.
CLARK KENT ERVIN, FORMER HOMELAND SECURITY INSPECTOR GENERAL: I don't think this recent spate of incidents necessarily in and of itself indicates homegrown terrorism is a greater threat today than it was a couple weeks ago.
MESERVE: But at least one analyst disagrees. He thinks this could signal that the domestic terror threat is growing in size and severity.
PETER BERGEN, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: There are a constellation of cases which taken together suggest this some of the self- congratulation we had, that this was not really such a problem as it is, say, in Britain, maybe we need to reexamine that proposition.
MESERVE (on camera): Some terrorism experts believe we should expect more domestic terrorism cases, that the situation will only get worse, not better.
But they are encouraged that all of these alleged plots were short-circuited by law enforcement before they could be carried out.
Jeanne Meserve, CNN, Denver.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: After a week of dealing with deadly flooding, Georgia doesn't need any more rain right now. But guess what?
HOLMES: It's coming.
NGUYEN: Yes, it is.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HOLMES: And the story we've been talking about a bit this morning. A fertility clinic makes a pretty bad mistake here, implanting an embryo in the wrong woman, and that woman has just given birth. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right, we thought we were done. We should be done for the year.
NGUYEN: And next year, maybe, too.
HOLMES: Given what we just went through here in the southeast, particular right here in Atlanta.
NGUYEN: Man.
HOLMES: Reynolds, it's not over. We're about to get more rain.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HOLMES: Well, was it a suicide or was it a murder made to look like a suicide? A census worker's death turns more mysterious as new revelations come to light.
NGUYEN: And who should you turn to if you are a victim of domestic violence? Well, the CNN hero of the week has the answer when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: And now our hero of the week. Nearly one in four women will become a victim of domestic violence in their lifetime, one in four. Women of all backgrounds are at risk, but Muslim women can be more reluctant to seek help.
Our CNN hero is raising awareness in New York's Islamic community to prevent women from suffering in silence.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ROBINA NIAZ, PROTECTING THE POWERLESS: Abuse cuts across race, religion, culture.
I'm a Muslim, born and raised in Pakistan. I migrated in New York in 1990.
Within the Muslim community, there's a lot of denial about the issue. The Koran condemns abusive behavior of women. If we witness injustice, we're required to speak up.
I'm Robina Niaz and I'm helping Muslim women end abuse in their lives.
We do a lot of community outreach. This affects all of us, we need to talk about it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was afraid for my life. I didn't have a place to go. My family would disown me. My father even said to me that you're lucky you live in America, because if you lived back home, you would have been dead by now.
Robina understood the cultural nuances and all the religious issues.
NIAZ: Islam's duty is protect ourselves. It's important we tell them how to get into a shelter and what their rights are.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She really made me understand that I'm not alone.
NIAZ: We are here whenever you want to come to us.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I told my friend about you.
NIAZ: When it's the right time.
There have been threats to my safety, but I know that God is protecting me because I'm doing the right thing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: And to find out more about Robina or any of our hero's work, go to our Web site at CNN.com/heroes right now.
And get ready, because next week we are going to be making a special announcement. Throughout the day on October 1st, Anderson Cooper will tell us which of these remarkable heroes we've been telling you all year have been selected as the top ten CNN heroes of 2009. So stay tuned for that.
In the meantime, though, President Clinton tried to change health care and failed. What the Obama team can learn from his mistakes, that's coming up.
HOLMES: Also, Conan O'Brien has only been the new host of "The Tonight Show" not too long.
NGUYEN: Not too long at all.
HOLMES: Why are they already running reruns? Why? Well, it's because Conan ended up in the hospital and couldn't finish his show. We'll explain.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: We've got some new details in the bizarre death of a Kentucky census worker. The "Associated Press" spoke with the man who found his body.
The witness says he saw Bill Sparkman naked and gagged with his hands bound and his I.D. card duct taped to his neck. His body was hanging from a tree near a cemetery earlier this month with the word "Fed" scrawled on his chest. Authorities are looking into whether Sparkman was targeted because of his job.
Well, the H1N1 flu vaccine, it appears that it's ready, so you get ready to roll up your sleeve. Health and human services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius says there will be more than enough of that vaccine to go around. At least 6 million doses will be available the first week in October. She says 250 million doses have been purchased by the government. Also, a long week for the Senate finance committee, hashing out which amendments to keep in the health care bill that it is considering. In this week's GOP address, Georgia Senator Johnny Isakson says the Democrats are ignoring public concern over their ideas.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. JOHNNY ISAKSON, (R) GEORGIA: The American people expect us to get this right and to do it in an open, honest, and bipartisan debate. That's what they deserve, but that's not what they're getting from Democrats on Capitol Hill.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Now, Republicans want to slow the process down just a bit over health care. They want to pass a waiting period to give everyone time to read that final bill.
Speaking of health care, health care front and center today in Houston. Right now a free clinic going on expected to serve thousands of people. It's being put together by Dr. Oz, the TV doc who was made famous, of course, by Oprah Winfrey. I spoke to him just a little earlier about what he's doing this morning.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DR. MEHMET OZ, CARDIAC SURGEON: Thank you so much for having shed a light on this national emergency. I have to say it in those terms because I was in Houston -- in New Orleans in Katrina, and the last time the city of Houston mobilized its health resources of the nature that is most like today was during Katrina.
So, a natural disaster last time is now being paralleled by what would otherwise be an ordinary day in Houston and around cities around the country. That is the challenge we all have to pay attention to.
HOLMES: And you called this a national emergency just then, Dr. Oz. How many are you expecting to turn out? Go ahead and give the information because I know a lot of people will be listening and will try to make it over to you. They're interested to hear the hours, but how many are you expecting?
OZ: We'll be open all day. I must say at this endeavor we undertook the challenge of a big free clinic in order to shed a spotlight on the problem.
We had no idea we would be overwhelmed with thousands of requests of pre-registrants saying please help me, do what you can to support me. I've fallen off the bus and I can't back on.
There are people with jobs who have lost their insurance, there are mothers with lots of kids who can't get them all covered. It's people like me and you, T.J.
And for anybody out there listening, we'd love to have the opportunity to help you. We have hundreds of volunteers, kind, wonderful people. I want to celebrate today because this represents the American spirit of helping each other out of a jam. I think it again speaks to what we can do as a country to come together.
HOLMES: And explaining to our viewers, here are some of pictures you're seeing, just people starting to line up in the early morning hours, video we're getting in just a little bit ago.
And Dr. Oz, it sounds like you were alluding to, yes, setting this up to help people who need it. But it's also an opportunity to shed more light on this issue of health care reform and people being underinsured and people without insurance.
Do you still think -- I mean, certainly these are necessary to help people, but do you still think more of a spotlight needs to be shined on this issue of health insurance reform?
OZ: Well, we have a big debate everyone is following in Washington about health care finance. But we need to change the debate a little bit and also focus on the care of health, because chronic illness drives about half of all the cost in the system. And people are chronically ill who don't have coverage.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Well, the floodwaters here in Atlanta have receded a bit, thank goodness, but now the race is on to save as much as possible before we get another round of rain.
NGUYEN: It is coming back, no doubt.
And Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi comes face to face with people who lost loved ones on Pan Am flight 103. And CNN was there for that emotional encounter.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Well, overcast skies here in Atlanta, and that's not especially good after all that rain that we experienced earlier this week and the flooding that ensued afterwards.
HOLMES: And that's a live look at downtown Atlanta right now. A few breaks here and there, but we're not expecting it to stay like this the rest of the day.
Parts of metro Atlanta were hit 10 to 20 inches of rain in the past week. It was horrible for a lot of neighborhoods. The flooding cost an estimated $250 million in damage. Again, a live look just outside here where we are.
Among some of the hardest hit areas is one west of Atlanta, Hiram. Catherine Callaway is there for us now. Catherine, good morning to you. it looks like a mess behind going on behind you.
CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's such a mess, but this is actually one of those stories we like to bring to you, and that is people helping people.
Here this is the Sosebee home in Hiram, Georgia, one of the thousands in the state of Georgia that has been damaged. This house was completely submerged under water.
But a group has come to help this family. They're called the Samaritan's Purse. What they have done is they have come from all over the country to help basically tear this home apart so that it can be rebuilt.
This is John Pryor. He is the disaster relief manager. How many people are here in this home today?
JOHN PRYOR, SAMARITAN'S PURSE: There's over 20 volunteers working on the home right now. We have over 70 working in the Dallas area helping out other home owners like this one.
CALLAWAY: John, tell us what you're doing. This is difficult, nasty work. This home is loaded with mud. The water went all the way to the ceiling. Tell us what you're doing.
PRYOR: That's right. This is the water level here. What we're pulling out the paneling. It's starting to buckle. Mold is starting to grow up the wall. We need mold remediation, get all the moisture out.
CALLAWAY: The floor is completely soaked.
PRYOR: You can see the floor is sloping down here because it's starting to swell.
This was the kitchen. We pulled out the cabinets. We're pulling out the flooring. There are shelves we had to pull out. Over here we had to pull out the dry wall and insulation.
CALLAWAY: You're basically bringing it down to just the studs, aren't you?
PRYOR: That's right. We want to break it down to the studs and treat for mold and make sure that doesn't grow back. And then the homeowner can come in and have a contractor come in, and any money he would get from FEMA or from insurance he can use a contractor to rebuild.
CALLAWAY: So they may actually get to rebuild a better home, a stronger home because of all the volunteering you're doing here.
PRYOR: That's right. Hopefully the volunteers will save them enough money where they can rebuild their home.
CALLAWAY: All right, thank you so much.
We're going to talk very quickly with the Sosebees. This is Truman Sosebee. He has actually been living in this house for 24 years. I know it's quite a loss for you, sir.
TRUMAN SOSEBEE, FLOOD VICTIM: It sure is.
CALLAWAY: Tell me what it was like when you came that first day and saw the home under water. You actually had to be rescued by a deputy, but then you returned to find your home and all of your cars were under water.
SOSEBEE: Well, when we first came back over, I wasn't able to get out of the car. It just totally made me pick. Unless people go through it theirself you don't know what...
CALLAWAY: I understand. Now you have all of these people, complete strangers from all over the country helping you rebuild this home. Tell me, what does that mean to you?
SOSEBEE: It means everything because if we didn't have the help, we'd have to turn and walk away, because I'm retired and we couldn't afford to fix it back. And although we got flood insurance, it's not going to pay for everything.
CALLAWAY: We appreciate you letting us in your home. And we want to tell you the only thing they were really able to save here from this home was a kitchen table that belonged to Mr. Sosebee's mother.
And they're still actually looking for their family pet, a 15- year-old dog. So we're hoping we have some good news by the end of the day. But very hard work from complete strangers, Betty and T.J., they've come from all over the country to do this work for them.
NGUYEN: That is fantastic.
HOLMES: It's good to see a lot of that work going on around Atlanta right now. Thanks so much, Catherine, we appreciate you.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HOLMES: A lot of people would like to help. And if you'd like to, you can certainly find a way to do so by visiting "Impact your World," that's our page. You'll find links to several organizations looking to help those who need some help right about now. Again, that's CNN.com/impacts.
NGUYEN: Let's talk about some options for Afghanistan. It is believed that the top U.S. general there wants tens of thousands more troops.
But that's an idea that's not exactly being embraced right now by the White House. Pentagon correspondent Chris Lawrence has more on the troop debate and the search for a winning strategy.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: A secret meeting at a secured military base in Europe that could help decide the fate of up to 40,000 American troops. CNN has learned General David Petraeus and the chairman of the joint chiefs flew to Ramstein, Germany, for a face to face meeting with their Afghanistan war commander.
The goal -- to better understand the troops and equipment General Stan McChrystal needs in Afghanistan. But those added troops are based on fighting President Obama's current strategy, a counterinsurgency against Al Qaeda and the Taliban.
Officials tell us the administration was taken aback by general McChrystal's assessment of Afghanistan's problems and the sheer number of troops needed to fix them.
GEOFF MORRELL, PENTAGON SPOKESMAN: There's a discussion taking place about whether it should continue or whether adjustments should be made.
LAWRENCE: President Obama says he'd only support expanding the counterinsurgency if it's proven to ultimately defeat Al Qaeda.
Another consideration is a more limited goal of ensuring Al Qaeda doesn't operate in Afghanistan. A just-released audiotape allegedly from Usama bin Laden himself suggests he's listening to that debate. Al Qaeda warns European nations to leave the U.S.-led coalition and get out of Afghanistan.
Analyst Michael O'Hanlon monitored the recent elections in Afghanistan. He says there's a third option on the table besides immediately sending more troops or scaling back the mission.
MICHAEL O'HANLON, BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: I think the leading alternative is a blend trying to negotiate more with the so-called moderate Taliban, trying to await improved Afghan government performance before we add more resources, trying to do some of what Senator Levin is saying and trying to figure out how we can use the Afghanistan security forces a little more assertively and American forces a little bit less.
LAWRENCE (on camera): O'Hanlon says holding off on the troops could give the U.S. more time to pressure the Afghan government, to say, look, we're not going all in here until you clean up your own corruption.
As for negotiating with the moderate Taliban, probably, a senior defense official told me, the Taliban believe they're winning and a lot of Afghan people believe they're winning, so he thinks it will be hard to co-op them right now because who wants to jump ship if you think you're already on the winning side?
Chris Lawrence, CNN, the Pentagon.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: We've been hearing a lot about that guy, Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi, in the United States. We saw his -- it was a one-man show, a lot of people called it, at the United Nations.
NGUYEN: It lasted quite a while too. HOLMES: You can see some of the show going on there -- tossing papers, tossing accusations, tossing all kinds of stuff earlier this week.
NGUYEN: He was met, in fact, by protesters outside the U.N. angry about his country's role in the Lockerbie disaster. But while he was in New York, Gadhafi met with go two people who lost loved ones in the attack on Pan Am 103.
Lisa Gibson lost her brother at Lockerbie, but she saw her meeting as a step toward reconciliation. The Libyan leader talked about the encounter when he sat down with an exclusive interview with our Fareed Zakaria.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN HOST: I gather from your aides that you have met with the victims of the Lockerbie bombing. Tell me about that.
MUAMMAR GADHAFI, LIBYAN LEADER: Yes. I met some of them yesterday. It was a friendly meeting, friendly encounter. And I -- I offered my condolences for their relatives whom they lost.
They also -- they also -- yes -- they also expressed their condolences for my daughter who was killed during the American raid in '86.
ZAKARIA: The 1986 raids.
GADHAFI: It was very sentimental and I was very touched, the meeting.
ZAKARIA: So, you understand the grief of these people?
GADHAFI: It is a tragedy. It is a catastrophe.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: And be sure to tune in to this week's edition of "FAREED ZAKARIA: GPS" for the entire exclusive interview with Libyan leader Muammar Gadhafi. That comes your way Sunday at 1:00 p.m. eastern.
And we're going to give you another check of the top stories in just a minute, including the latest on a woman mistakenly implanted with the wrong embryo. She, indeed, had the baby last night. We're asking you to weigh in on that story.
HOLMES: Also, why in the world is "The Tonight Show" with a new host, Conan O'Brien, already running reruns? He had a nasty little incident while performing a stunt for his show and couldn't complete his show. They had to run a rerun.
NGUYEN: Oh, no.
HOLMES: We'll tell you about his accident that actually sent him to the hospital. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Well, it's time now to check our top stories this morning.
A terror suspect arrested in Denver has been moved to New York. Najibullah Zazi was indicted by a court there on a conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction.
Investigators say he intended to attack an unknown target in New York on September 11th. He was allegedly trying to build bombs out of chemicals that he bought at a Denver beauty supply store.
HOLMES: This is also a story we've been getting a lot of reaction coming across the country to this one -- a couple implanted with the wrong embryo.
They found about it some ten days afterwards but still decide to go ahead and have the baby and hand and then had baby over to its biological parents. That baby was born on Thursday, a healthy baby boy. And indeed, that's the couple you see there that carried the child for the other family, a family they did not know, just a mix-up at the hospital. And yes, they have handled the baby over to the family.
Now, they did release a statement, these are the Savages here, they released a statement that says "At this time we'd like to offer our heartfelt congratulations to the Morell family," that's the other family, "On the birth of their son. Our family is deeply grateful for the support and prayers of so many people around the world."
They went on to ask for some privacy at this time and also mentioned that it is a painful time for them.
NGUYEN: Absolutely, because they went in trying to get a child of their own, and she was implanted with the wrong embryo but she decided to go ahead and have this child. Just how giving is this couple?
HOLMES: It's amazing.
NGUYEN: Because a lot of people would say ten days in, you tell me you gave me the wrong embryo, some people would say, you know what, I'm just going to terminate this pregnancy. I can't go through with it. It's not my child. It was a mistake.
But they did go through it. And we're getting a lot of responses from you today. I want to take you to my Facebook page. Alice says "I think the other woman should offer to carry a child for the woman who accidentally carried hers." That's an interesting thought. We'll see if that indeed happens.
On Twitter, Kayla Banks says "I would have taken that clinic to town on this one. This is no excuse. My heart goes out to that couple. So tragic." HOLMES: And we can go right next door to the Twitter page. Miss Precious is her name. She writes in "That is an incredibly selfless thing to do. I am not sure I could give away a child after nine months of pregnancy."
Now, a few people and maybe a couple mothers writing in this morning saying no matter if that is biologically your child or not, once you carry a child for nine months, you have a bond there that is going to be there and that is your child.
NGUYEN: Yes. It is absolutely selfless. I mean, to go through all of that and to hand the child over to the biological parents. But, boy, it's a tough situation to be in.
HOLMES: Tough story, but great story of a selfless act that they did there.
Stay with us. We're going to be talking about a lot of you folks who have been flying a lot lately.
NGUYEN: Us included.
HOLMES: Yes. It's supposed to be a good time for frequent flyers.
NGUYEN: OK. There are some great deals we here, if you know where to look. and we're going to show you where to look.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, airlines are doing more these days to keep their best customers happy. That means good deals for you frequent flyers. Richelle Carey has more on this week's edition of "On the Go."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RICHELLE CAREY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Frequent flyers can pick up good deals right now.
CHRIS MCGINNIS, EXPEDIA.COM: Perhaps the most valuable benefit right now airlines are offering elite customers are waivers of those baggage fees.
CAREY: And some airlines are making cashing in your rewards easier.
MCGINNIS: United just recently permanently waved the fees to charge the frequent travelers to redeem their reward trips at the last minute.
CAREY: Delta revamped their frequent flyer program, allowing elite miles to be rolled over from one year to the next.
MCGINNIS: Delta has added a new layer to its elite level called Diamond Medallion. These people fly 125,000 plus miles a year. The best benefit is free membership to its sky clubs. CAREY: JetBlue is also making some changes, including no blackout dates.
MCGINNIS: JetBlue overhauled its frequent flyer program. What made it different this time around is that the program is based on how much you spend versus how many miles you fly.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: All right. So you know twitter has come a long way when the head of Homeland Security brings it up as an important tool. That happened this week, and our Josh Levs is here to tell us about it. So how'd this go down?
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Janet Napolitano was talking to a bunch of media and talking about the importance of getting information out. And she specifically brought up Twitter. Take a look. She said "texting Twitter and all forms of media can and need to be an accurate source of information so that we can begin jointly to get accurate information out and accurate assessments about what the risks really are."
That got us thinking here about Twitter. How do you keep out the people who want to send you spam, malware, the people you cannot trust? Earlier in the show we spoke with an expert about this who traced me through some websites. Let's take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: Ourtwitter.me. What does this do?
BEN PARR, CO-EDITOR, MASHABLE.COM (via telephone): The problem is with the short lengths on twitter you can't tell where they lead until you click them. What power twitter does is expand them so you can see what the link is before you click it.
LEVS: Let's show it. This is great. When I'm looking at my Twitter page, I'll see mystery links. I have absolutely no way of knowing where on the Internet that will bring me.
But once I click on powertwitter.me, it totally changed my twitter page. So now when I look at my tweets it shows me what the webpage is and what it's all about. And it's free, just clicking one thing.
Another thing you gave me here, tweetblocker.com. What does that do?
PARR: So, essentially what you do is you type in your user name and it'll show you whether that person is a spammer or not.
LEVS: I'm going to type me in here, Josh Levs, CNN. It gives me this grade. It's saying, OK, you can trust this guy, right?
PARR: Exactly.
LEVS: OK. There's that. This one here, tweetgrade.com. Same idea?
PARR: It's similar, but instead of trying to tell you whether someone is a spammer it just tells you whether someone is a valuable person on twitter.
LEVS: Before we go, I want to show this. This is a place you can actually go inside twitter to report someone if they're sending out false information or dangerous links. Inside twitter, twitter.com/spam, you can go and send a message and it reports them, right?
PARR: Exactly. You can send a direct message to twitter.com/spam with the names of anyone that you believe is a spammer.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LEVS: Everything you just saw I posted right here -- show everyone the graphic, up on our blog and Facebook and twitter. CNN.com/josh, I put it on Facebook and Twitter, Josh Levs CNN. So in all those cases, just click on them right there, no need to write anything down.
Hopefully Betty and T.J., this will help some people out there keep their twitter account free from some of those bad spammers out there.
NGUYEN: Yes, very good information. Thank you.
LEVS: No problem.
HOLMES: All right, talking about "The Tonight Show," new host, hasn't been on that long with the new host, Conan O'Brien. It shouldn't be in reruns just yet.
NGUYEN: Not just yet, you would think.
HOLMES: Last night was rerun. It was not supposed to be. The host was busy. He was in the hospital. NBC says he smacked his head, Betty.
NGUYEN: Ow.
HOLMES: Apparently a pretty nasty smack. He was doing a stunt and they couldn't finish the show.
NGUYEN: No word yet on his condition or whether he has been released, but he did issue this statement, saying "The last thing I remember I was enjoying the play with Mrs. Lincoln, and the next thing I knew I was in bed being served cookies and juice." So that must be one bump on the head.
What was he doing exactly? I wonder what the stunt was or if we'll ever get to see it.
HOLMES: You know they're going to use that video for something. NGUYEN: Especially if he's OK and comes out of this fine, it might be kind of funny.
HOLMES: Of course, they're going to use that. Look for that next week, I'm sure.
Quick break, and we'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, President Clinton couldn't get it done some 15 years ago. A lot of people asking can President Obama get some health care reform?
NGUYEN: And who better to ask than the people who were in the White House in 1994. I spoke with Health and Human Services Secretary under President Clinton Donna Shalala, Harold Ickes, then President Clinton's deputy chief of staff, and Kenneth Thorpe, who worked on the health care reform bill for the Clinton administration.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Donna Shalala, let me start with you -- 15 years ago this bill did not pass. Why not?
DONNA SHALALA, FORMER SECURITY OF STATE: Well, there are a lot of reasons. Everything in politics is timing. It was a complex bill. We had trouble explaining the bill. We didn't have the kind of transparency that we have today.
Everyone that had one problem with the bill got together with someone else who had one problem with the bill, built a negative coalition, and at the end of the day we couldn't either explain it or put the politics together to pass it.
NGUYEN: If you can't explain it, how are you going to sell it? That's a major problem there.
Harold Ickes, let me talk to you. Was it a design issue?
HAROLD ICKES, FORMER DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF: Well, I think it was partly a design issue, but I think Donna put her finger on it. We spent much more time on the substance of health care reform as opposed to the politics of how we are going to get it enacted.
It strikes me that one of the lessons learned by the Obama administration is to pay much more attention to how to get this thing passed as opposed to the substance.
That's not to say the substance is to be dismissed. It's very, very important. But the politics of getting this passed is I think the most critical.
Another lesson learned, it seemed to me, is to bring some of the potential opposition in. I think the administration has done a very good job on that. And finally it was not a transparent process, and it's much more transparent this time.
NGUYEN: Kenneth Thorpe, you actually helped write that. And it didn't even get out of committee. Correct?
KENNETH THORPE, FORMER HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES SENIOR OFFICIAL: That's right. If you look at today, we have four bills -- four committees have reported a health care bill out. Sixteen years ago no committee reported any bill out. So, the contrast I think in terms of where we are in the process is quite dramatic.
NGUYEN: Well, do you think -- Donna Shalala, let me go back to you -- that President Obama's plan, at least when we figure out which of these bills is going to be the one, has a better chance of getting past because there has been so much public debate, town halls and whatnot, public, you know, forums out there discussing it and getting the information out there?
SHALALA: I do. I also think the situation today is much more critical. A much larger number of people without health insurance and the costs have gone up dramatically. We have to both get the coverage and start to squeeze down on the costs for health care.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
