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Is Education Key to Breaking Cycle of Mideast Terror Bombings?; Gun Shows Skirt Background Checks; Stay-at-Home Moms Find Job Seeking a Challenge

Aired October 08, 2009 - 13:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Tony, thanks so much.

There's more than one war in Afghanistan, and more troops can't win them all. We're pushing forward on ways to choke off the money flow that helps keep the Taliban in business.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEVE PENNINGTON, BROTHER DIED IN IRAQ: Graphic images embedded in my mind or Steve's last screams for air as he was rushed into ICU.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Bullets and bombs aren't the only mortal dangers facing U.S. servicemen and women. Some fall prey to invisible threats in the air, in the water, sometimes in their own homes.

And you can forget that stuff about the camera adding ten pounds. Photoshop can make anybody thin, or young, or glam. But some say it's a scam.

Hello, everyone, I'm Kyra Phillips, live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Eight years of the war against the Taliban and not even the Afghan capital is safe. The Taliban says it's sent an Afghan national in a bomb-laden SUV to the Indian embassy in the heart of Kabul. At least 13 people dead, dozens hurt, a bustling downtown street in ruins. The embassy was damaged, but a worker says no Indians were killed.

So, here's what we want to know: given that the Taliban prey on Afghan and Pakistani boys, whom they kill turn into killers. What can be done to make radical militant Islam less of a draw? A man who set up dozens of schools in Afghanistan over the past decade told me the answer is education, especially for girls.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GREG MORTENSON, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, CENTRAL ASIA INSTITUTE: If you educate a boy, you educate an individual. If you educate a girl, you educate a community. Women who are educated have much more influence over their sons, to encourage them to get an education, get a job. The Taliban deliberately target illiterate, impoverished society, because many educated women that I meet, they refuse to allow their sons to join the Talibans.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: And, of course, there's the drug war. Opium and heroin from Afghan poppies are sold around the world, and the Taliban reaps the windfall. What can be done to cut off the economic lifeline?

Whatever the battle plan, it can't be carried out by troops alone. So, we turn once again to our Ken Robinson, veteran of U.S. Army Special Ops, Special Forces, military intelligence, a guy well- versed in unconventional problem solving.

You heard Greg Mortenson, Ken, and he said it's the women; it's the girls. It's educating that part of the culture. Do you agree?

KEN ROBINSON, FORMER MILITARY INTELLIGENCE OFFICER: I agree 100 percent. I've written two papers on this that have been distributed amongst the intelligence community, called "The Hand that Rocks the Cradle," because women are the center of gravity. If you can give women hope, and if you can educate and liberate women -- women raise the children -- you have a better chance than dropping a bomb on a village.

What we need to be dropping on these villages are books. I have known kids there that were 8 years old when we first went into Afghanistan who are now 18 years old, and the things that they ask me for textbooks. They're desperate for knowledge.

PHILLIPS: So, it's not like these boys want to go to the madrassas and want to become killers. It's just that when you -- when that's your only option, that's all they know.

ROBINSON: That's where their three meals a day come from and an ability to find some form of education. Who wouldn't send their child there if that was all there was?

We cannot kill the idea of the ideology that we're fighting against in Afghanistan. We have to change the idea. And to change it, we need to empower women. We need to recognize that the military solution is only 10 percent. Ninety percent of the solution is the world community and economic power. It is everything but kinetic fighting.

PHILLIPS: Well, I love hearing "empower women."

Now, the other issue, of course, the drugs. We're even seeing that drug influence move into the United States. What's happening in a war that we're fighting is bringing drugs into our country. And now you've got DEA agents here from the U.S. going into Afghanistan. How do you deal with the poppy problem?

ROBINSON: You have to deal with it like an adult. We can't use the past to predict the future. In the old days, we flew Paraquat. We poisoned the fields. We put farmers out of business, and all we did was disenfranchised the very populations that we wanted support from.

If I was in Afghanistan and I was a poor farmer, I would be growing poppies. What we have to recognize is that we have to give them crop substitution. There is a crop that could be used to substitute.

In Iran, they faced the same problem on this same latitude and longitude. And they substituted poppy production for pistachios, where there's a world demand and a good return on investment.

The problem is, is we are not going to let Iranians come into Afghanistan to try to shape and change that, because we're worried about that. But we have to take logical, simple choices, and one of those is this: defending goat trails in the middle of the mountains is not the way forward when we have soldiers in a bowl where high ground puts them at risk 24/7. It demoralizes them.

We have to take soldiers and put them around the key cities, and we have to make the Afghan national army actually defend itself. And to do that requires a little money and training, but it's using these soldiers properly.

PHILLIPS: Ken Robinson...

ROBINSON: There's pressure on the American president right now to deploy soldiers. The issue is not deployment. The issue is employment. What do you with them when you get them on the ground. And that's where we will either win or make a mistake in this issue.

The western way of thinking of winning must be taken off the table. It's not about that. It's about getting the country stable and getting out.

PHILLIPS: Yes. And not only where you put those troops, but where you put the money that the U.S. is funneling into that country.

Ken Robinson, great to talk to you.

ROBINSON: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: Now, the dangers facing U.S. troops in Afghanistan and Iraq are apparent and ever-present, but some dangers are not so apparent and lurk thousands of miles from the nearest war zone.

Today, a Senate panel heard agonizing testimony from troops and families of troops suffering or dying from illnesses blamed on exposure to toxic chemicals. Stacy Pennington that says her brother died a horrible death, and she blames burn pits in Iraq.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PENNINGTON: When Steve went into cardiac arrest, and they were working to revive him now, my mom ran into ICU. She fell to her knees. And she realized her son was dying. Screams filled the air as we begged God to keep Steve here with us. We know Steve heard us, as tears were in Steve's eyes.

Doctors and nurses pumped on Steve's chest trying to revive him. But I knew immediately he was gone. His spirit that surrounded my dear, sweet little brother of 32 years old was gone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: We'll have more of this heart-rending testimony, plus the facts and allegations on that threat, this hour, in the CNN NEWSROOM.

All right. We know President Obama has a troop request from the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, it's said to call for up to 40,000 extra troops, but hold on. You've also got Joe Biden calling for zero extra troops and more focus on targeted strikes. He, the president, and the secretary of state, meeting in the Oval Office today to try and hash it out.

One thing the president's not doing today or tomorrow, meeting with the Dalai Lama. President Obama holding off until he visits China. How does Tibet's exiled spiritual leader feel about that? A bit snubbed, maybe? Wolf Blitzer finds out in an exclusive interview, "SIT ROOM," 6 Eastern tonight only on CNN.

OK, listen closely, then ask yourself: Should this guy be buying a gun?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No background check, right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, that's right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All right. Good, because I probably couldn't pass one.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Gun show dealers laughing at the laws that keep weapons away from criminals. It's a dead-serious problem, so what are we going to do about it?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Is your little girl hyper, even aggressive? Maybe it's a chemical thing, one that's all over your local grocery store. Moms, you need to hear this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, if you're trying to buy a gun, you would expect background checks and waiting periods, right? Well, not if you're buying a gun at a gun show. Just some paperwork and a few questions, that's all you need. But now a dead-serious problem: Some sellers are playing fast and loose with those rules. Here's our senior correspondent, Allan Chernoff.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, no background check, right?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, that's right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Good, because I probably couldn't pass one.

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's illegal to sell a gun knowing the buyer may not pass a background check. But on hidden camera, gun shows in Ohio, Nevada, and Tennessee it happened 19 out of 30 times. The undercover buyers were hired by New York City.

MAYOR MICHAEL BLOOMBERG, NEW YORK CITY: What you saw, just saw, was willful disregard of the law, and it happened again and again and again.

CHERNOFF: Firearm dealers are regulated, but at gun shows, people who make what the law calls occasional sales from their collections can sell without a license. And sometimes, as the investigation illustrates, they ignore the law.

BLOOMBERG: This is real. This translates into people getting killed. Children, adults, police officer, civilians.

CHERNOFF: New York City conducted a gun-show sting three years ago and even brought a civil lawsuit against some gun sellers. Mayor Bloomberg has long called for a crackdown on illegal gun sales.

The National Rifle Association, though, says the mayor, who's running for reelection, should be helping enforce existing laws, rather than holding news conferences. "Bloomberg's priorities are clearly media first," said the NRA.

New York and 15 other states require buyers to have a background check before they can purchase a handgun at a gun show.

COMMISSIONER RAY KELLY, NYPD: There's simply no reason why there shouldn't be background checks at gun shows.

CHERNOFF: Now city officials are hoping to prod Congress to act to close what it calls the gun show loophole.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How much is it?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: All right, Allan Chernoff joining me now live from New York.

So, Allan, what's been happening in Congress on this issue? CHERNOFF: Kyra, this is nothing new in Congress. It's been an issue, dealt with there, for over a decade. In fact, ten years ago in 1999, Vice President Gore cast the deciding vote in favor of a bill to close this loophole in the Senate. Got through, but the bill died in conference committee, the House-Senate conference committee. So, the bill has never made it all the way through Congress to the president's desk.

PHILLIPS: Well, after seeing this undercover video and just listening to the conversation, is Bloomberg getting involved? And if so, what's he doing?

CHERNOFF: Well, I mean, this is a major media campaign, financed by the city: $1.5 million spent. And, yes, the mayor and city officials are definitely trying to influence federal policy here. They are trying to push this issue.

They've been on it for a while, as we said. Three years ago they had another sting. And they want to get this bill through Congress, so they are lobbying. They are sending copies of the report to every member of Congress. They're doing what they can. They're also trying to make this viral on the Web. YouTube, Twitter, they're all over it with this.

PHILLIPS: That's definitely the way to do it, one way to do it, that's for sure. A lot of people will watch. Allan, thanks.

Going from home maker to breadwinner? No easy task. Just ask stay-at-home moms trying to get back into the workforce. But some are still bringing home the bacon. You'll meet them.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: One quake after another, and after another, and fear and panic, basically, in the South Pacific right now after a new round of big earthquakes. Three of them struck within an hour northeast of the island nation of Vanuatu. Another one followed hours later.

The quakes triggered a tsunami warning now, but it was later canceled.

Today's quakes come just after a week of quakes and a tsunami that ravaged other parts of the South Pacific.

So, what the heck is happening here, and why are there so many earthquakes and tsunamis -- Chad.

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: You have to pay attention to this one, Kyra. I'm going to get really deep. Usually I'm really fun, but I'm going to get really deep on you here.

This is the ring of fire. There is the U.S. This is the Pacific Ocean. Ninety-three percent of all the big earthquakes in the world happen in this ring of fire. So really, what is -- what is going on? Here, let's just go from one earthquake to the next. This was the 8.0 earthquake that happened with the tsunami near Samoa. This was the first of all the major earthquakes. It was -- it was Pago Pago. We heard about, about 200 people killed by the tsunami.

About 16 hours later, 6,000 miles away, there was a 7.6 earthquake here near Sumatra. Banda Aceh right there. That's where the 2004 earthquake was with the 300,000 people killed, tsunami.

Too far away, 6,000 miles away, too far away to really be part of the same plate shaking and too late -- 16 hours -- too late to actually be part of the world still shaking from that first earthquake.

Then we'll kind of move you ahead until what happened last night. Here was the 7.8 earthquake last night. Not that far from the Samoan earthquake there. But still, this 7.8 earthquake had a 7.7 with it and a 7.1 aftershock. Big-time earthquakes.

Can earthquakes make other earthquakes? Yes, they can. Can typhoons make other earthquakes? Well, I didn't think so until I did a little bit of Carnegie research. You could go into the Carnegie Institute in Washington, D.C., and look at -- so we just search "Taiwan." You will find that, when water builds up in a typhoon, you know, the tidal surge, you know, that storm surge, the weight of the water gets heavy in the ocean floor. But the weight here of the air is actually lighter, and that air makes a low pressure here, high pressure down here. And that weight difference can trigger some small earthquakes. Not 8.0 earthquakes, but that's all we know so far.

This is brand-new research. We'll have to see if they can find out more, whether one can cause the other -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right, that was pretty technical. Thanks, Chad. We'll keep following it with you. We'll try to.

MYERS: All right.

PHILLIPS: Other top stories now.

The health-care battle headed for a big showdown on Capitol Hill. The Senate Finance Committee will vote Tuesday on its reform bill, the so-called Baucus plan. It would cost $829 billion over a decade and cover more than 9 out of 10 Americans. Many Republicans still don't like it.

And getting a flu shot, no longer a hurdle for pregnant women at a major drugstore chain. Rite Aid will start making those moms-to-be show a prescription to get a shot. Pregnant women have low vaccination rates, partly because many doctors won't vaccinate, and some pharmacists are wary of even giving them shots.

And get ready for a lot more headaches if you're a frequent flier. A new report says as the economy gets better, flight delays get worse. The Brookings Institution [SIC] says that those delays are already twice as common now as they were in 1990. So, is your credit card collecting dust in your pocket? You're not alone. The Federal Reserve says that Americans are borrowing less and paying down a lot of debt. In fact, borrowers paid back some $12 billion in August, revolving credit debt, mostly unpaid credit-card balances actually dropped by 13 percent, and non-revolving debt like car and student loans, fell by just over 1.5 percent.

Desperation in Detroit: 50,000 people, can't deny it. Fifty- thousand homeless and near-homeless people mobbed a downtown convention center, lured by the possibility of free federal cash. But the city says there were only enough applications for a tenth of them. So, inside those snaking lines, we're hearing stories of angry outbursts, threats, fainting and frustration.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

YVONNE CRANDELL, DETROIT RESIDENT: There's people all over the place. This is getting crazy out here. We need help here.

ASIA JOHNSON, DETROIT RESIDENT: My concern is that everybody is down here, and they've been down here all night. Might not get a chance to get the application to apply for the grant, and it's very sad.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, the city says that many people wrongly thought that they were signing up for a $3,000 stimulus check from the White House, but the program is really aimed at people who just became homeless or are on the brink of that.

Well, you've seen them in your neighborhood or maybe even in your own home. Stay-at-home moms sending their kids off to school, then sending in their resumes. Of course, it's a tough time to find work, but some moms still find a way to go from homemaker to breadwinner. Here's our Christine Romans.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Meet Kathryn Gutowski, stay-at home mother of four. Carpooling, laundry, homework, for 11 years she juggled it all.

KATHRYN GUTOWSKI, JOB SEEKER: I think anyone who's had 4 children under 7 knows a lot about juggling.

ROMANS: Before she was a mom, she was an attorney. And it's time, she says, to get back to work.

(on camera): One child in college and another going to college and then two more a few years behind that. I mean, financially, it's probably important to have a job, as well, right?

GUTOWSKI: Oh, it's very important. I think like most American families, you know, the equity in our home, our college savings, our retirement savings have plummeted. And, you know, I've had the luxury of being home all these years and with my kids, but that's not a luxury I'm going to continue to have.

ROMANS (voice-over): She knew this day was coming. She's kept her skills polished, her license up to date. She volunteered.

GUTOWSKI: I started to respond to job postings on the Internet, and I would send out a resume, and I would hear absolutely nothing.

ROMANS: She looked for a job for a year before she found a program at Pace Law School for lawyer moms like her.

AMY GEWIRTZ, DIRECTOR, PACE LAW NEW DIRECTIONS: There's a concern right now because they've been out of the workforce: how am I going to manage the family work/life balance; how am I going to do it? And this gives them a way to get their toe in the water.

ROMANS: She landed an externship in a college law admissions office. Think of it as an internship primarily for stay-at-home moms. Companies as diverse as Goldman Sachs and Sara Lee have similar programs called returnships.

But while Kathryn is trying to get back in, many working moms have no choice: they cannot take off time to raise their kids.

SYLVIA ANN HEWLETT, ECONOMIST, CENTER FOR WORK-LIFE POLICY: There's been a tremendous decrease this year in the number of professional women taking that kind of time out, because they feel under the gun on the earnings front.

ROMANS: Kathryn says she'd advise her daughters to keep one foot in the workforce when they have families.

GUTOWSKI: I would say do something. Do something part time, teach. Do something. But never find yourself in the position where you've been completely out for ten years.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: And that was our Christine Romans.

Next hour we're talking credit: your credit, and how your credit- card company might be squeezing you. We've got a follow-up to yesterday's eye-popping report.

He's been a firefighter, a church pastor, a gospel record producer, and a truck driver. But one thing Terry Bailey never thought he would be, homeless.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TERRY BAILEY, HOMELESS JOB SEEKER: As you see, you know, the bed takes up most of it for me and my wife, and then we just kind of got our stuff scattered around on the sides, put in the best way we could.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, we caught up with him at a tent city in Seattle. Bailey moved there with his wife and two teen sons to find work. The reason: his job as a truck driver in Montana had been eliminated.

So, we want to get him back behind the wheel and back on his feet. He's today's "30-Second Pitch." Terry joins me live from Seattle.

Good to see you, Terry.

BAILEY: Hi, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: So, I know, things have been so rough for you, and just looking at everything that you've done. And then ending up living in this tent city, where you met, actually, one of our reporters. I'm really glad we were able to get in touch with you through him.

And now you're living in a hotel. This has got to, I mean, just be a tremendous challenge for you. I mean, you're always used to having a job.

BAILEY: Yes. You know, it's -- it's been a real experience, having to make do with very little. I'm very used to working 40-plus hours a week. And going from that to nothing has just been a real shock to my family.

PHILLIPS: And how has it been for your two sons and your wife? I know how tough it's been for you. How have they been handling this?

BAILEY: Well, you know, my wife is a real -- a real trouper. She -- she is sticking with me, no matter what...

PHILLIPS: Wow.

BAILEY: ... and she knows that things are going to change. I'm a very hard worker, and there's got to be a break out there for me.

PHILLIPS: And it's not like you haven't been trying. You've been trying constantly. What do you think the biggest challenge has been? Why is it, with all of your experience and all your various interests, why do you think you haven't been able to find something?

BAILEY: I believe that most of it has to do with I don't have a permanent address, you know? Homeless people have a stereotype to them that says that we're not responsible, that we can't stay clean, and I'm just the opposite of that. I am very responsible. And I can guarantee you that, no matter what job I have, I can be there every single day.

PHILLIPS: How are you getting by day-to-day, cash-flow-wise?

BAILEY: Mainly from, like, Food Stamps and Tanif (ph). And the community at a whole has been really great and stood behind us, and they deliver food and supplies that we need on a pretty regular basis.

PHILLIPS: Wow. Well, are you ready for that "30-Second Pitch"? Because we want a trucking company to see this and e-mail you immediately. So, you ready to go? BAILEY: Yes, ma'am.

PHILLIPS: All right. Terry, take it away. You've got 30 seconds, my friend. We'll start the clock.

BAILEY: All right, my name is Terry Bailey. I live here in Seattle. I am willing to relocate to any -- anyplace in the country I need to go. I'm a class "A" CDL driver with all my endorsements and have a fantastic work record. I have not had a motor vehicle citation in over 20 years. I've had no moving violations, no accidents. I have a great work record for showing up and doing the job in its entirety.

PHILLIPS: And that was perfect. Thirty seconds. Terry Bailey, thank you so much. I want you to stay in touch with us and let us know what happens, all right?

BAILEY: I sure will. Thank you.

PHILLIPS: Stay strong, Terry.

BAILEY: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: And once again, here's his e-mail. It's terwbail -- it's a combination of his name -- at hotmail.com. We also have it posted on our blog at CNN.com/Kyra.

And if you want to be a part of the pitch, e-mail us at 30SecondPitch@CNN.com. Or just tweet me at kyraCNN. We'd love to try and help you.

Guess what, ladies? There's at least one magazine where real is the new hot. And impossibly thin models, well, if they want to work it here, better eat a sandwich first.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Health care reform, hurry up and wait, right? Well, now we're getting a little more hurry up and a little less wait. The Senate Finance Committee plans to vote Tuesday on its version of a massive health care plan. It's authored by Democratic Chairman Max Baucus and bolstered by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. The CBO says the 10-year, $829 billion plan would expand coverage to 94 percent of eligible Americans and cut the federal deficit by 80 billion bucks.

Plastic water bottles, aggression in young girls, there might be a link. Ever hear of the chemical bisphenol or BPA? New research now saying that you better, especially if you're a parent, because guess what, it's everywhere.

CNN senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen here to talk more about BPA. It's been under the microscope definitely in the past. So, are we -- what more are we learning?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. The last time you and I talked about BPA, it was about BPA in baby bottles and sippy cups, and that that was a concern. Now, the concern is when pregnant women are exposed to BPA, what does that do to their developing fetus?

Now, BPA is, as you said, everywhere. It's in ketchup bottles, it's in water bottles, it's in plastic containers, you name it. So, it's really hard to avoid.

But what those studies did is they looked at 200 pregnant women and they measured how much BPA they had in their system. Then they followed up with them two years later. They found that the women who had lots of BPA in their systems while they were pregnant were more likely to have aggressive 2-year-old daughters, not sons, but daughters. Somehow, there was a link between lots of BPA while you're pregnant and having an aggressive child later. They're not really sure why there would be a link, but they did find that link.

PHILLIPS: So, of course, the plastics industry has to be saying something about this, I would assume.

COHEN: Indeed they do. Yes, indeed. Indeed they do. They point out there are some weaknesses with their study. It is not a perfect study by any means. Here's what they had to say: "The results of this preliminary and severely limited study cannot be considered meaningful for human health." They are challenging scientists to say, hey, if you want to try it again and see if you get the same results, that's one thing. But they said one study doesn't make for the truth.

PHILLIPS: Is it even possible to avoid BPA in its entirety?

COHEN: If you really wanted to, you could try to avoid it. I doubt you could get it 100 percent out of your diet. But let's talk about one way that you could do it if you were concerned. Take, for example, this water bottle here. You can take a water bottle, flip it upside down and you'll see a number like this. If you see a 7, that means that that plastic very likely has BPA in it.

So, what you want to do is, you want to flip it over. If it doesn't have a 7, then you're OK, if it has a 7 and you're concerned, go get another bottle of water.

PHILLIPS: Interesting. I'll be checking my bottled water in about two seconds.

COHEN: I see it over there.

PHILLIPS: Yes, exactly. And "Empowered Patient," what are you talking about this week?

COHEN: That's right, "Empowered Patient" this week, which is up right now at CNNhealth.com, and it's about how to have a successful doctors' appointment. You know, too many people walk out of their doctor's office and go, huh, what did he say? What was I supposed to do? What are my next steps? We tell you how to avoid that.

PHILLIPS: Sounds good. Thanks, Elizabeth.

COHEN: Thanks.

PHILLIPS: All right.

Well, you know, as serious a risk as that stuff poses to our girls, they're exposed daily to something just as insidious. Pretty much every commercial image that they see, that we all see, promotes a false reality. And guys, if pictures are worth 1,000 words, retouched pics should raise 1,000 questions.

In August, we had the Kelly Clarkson "Self" magazine controversy. Remember this? Where they Photoshopped the heck out of her, while inside, an interview where Clarkson said she's fine with her fluctuating weight. And then there's this lovely Ralph Lauren ad, the gorgeous model whittled down to insane proportions, by the way. Critics say that by an overzealous Photoshopper, this is what happened. No comment from the Ralph Lauren folks.

Well, there has been some evolution in advertisers' thinking, in fact, that's the name of this spot from Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty, "A fabulous look at cosmetic and digital trickery." And hopefully one that opened a lot of eyes. Just look at how they start with her, And how she ends up.

Pretty interesting, isn't it? Well, when they're posing for pictures, stars generally demand makeup artists, filters, Photoshop, you name it. So, bravo to three ladies that appeared on French "Elle" covers this year without a stitch of makeup. You're looking at actress Sophie Marceau, who's played a James Bond villain and a French princess in Braveheart."

Got to say, this was pretty brave of her as well. I think she looks pretty darn good. And on newsstands right now, "Glamour's" November issue featuring models who might actually wear a double-digit clothing size. You've got to applaud them for seeking more realism, but a German magazine has really pushed the idea forward.

Here's CNN's Diana Magnay.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DIANA MAGNAY, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): So, if you find all this a bit much and size zeroes many sizes away, then take heart and maybe treat yourself to a pastry. Because Germany's top fashion magazine, "Brigitte," has decided to ditch models in favor what it calls real women. Here's chief editor Brigitte Huber.

BRIGITTE HUBER, CHIEF EDITOR, "BRIGITTE": Fashion has changed. Everybody, nearly everybody is a trendsetter today, Michelle Obama, Carla Bruni, but all the musicians and girls who are -- who live in the big cities, and I think you can see that the designers aren't the only trendsetter.

MAGNAY: So no more models on the magazine's front covers or anywhere inside, in fact. Come January, it's real women only, says Huber, women with jobs and their own life stories and bodies of all shapes and sizes. It lends another industry voice to an ever-growing chorus that says super-thin models can encourage eating disorders amongst women.

Many readers like the idea of a model-free magazine.

"Just like you and me, right? I think it's brilliant. It's better than I thought. I've been waiting for this for a long time."

"I have a little daughter, and if she only sees thin women, she'll think all the others are fat who aren't thin like that. It's a good decision."

Thumbs-up, then, for the women on the street, but a problem, perhaps, for models forced off the front covers, maybe soon off the catwalks. Fashion experts say not likely.

TIM BLANKS, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR, "STYLE": I've always credited people with the common sense that when they're looking at a magazine, they don't think, I want to look like that, you know? I mean, models are freaks of nature. I think maybe it's unfortunate that they're called models, because it suggests that they are some kind of aspirational ideal.

MAGNAY: "Brigitte's" hoping it's a strategy that will sell with readers, a gamble in an industry where thin is still in.

Diana Magnay, CNN, Berlin.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: And we're going to put this segment up on the blog later, CNN.com/kyra. And I'm interested in what you think about all this. Check back in a bit. Leave your comments there or shoot us a tweet at kyraCNN.

All right, talk about a journalist living and breathing the story.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Wow, we just got hit by a -- a real cloud of tear gas. It's pretty painful. And right now the riot police, they've been firing gas into this alleyway here, again in this notorious neighborhood, Tarlabasi. I'm having trouble seeing and breathing right now.

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PHILLIPS: CNN's Ivan Watson actually caught in the middle of the police protesters and the tear gas. He's going to tell us about it live.

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PHILLIPS: Top stories now. Another brazen and deadly attack in the Afghan capital. The Taliban says it was behind today's suicide bombing outside the Indian Embassy in Kabul. At least 17 people killed, another 63 hurt.

No damages or injuries reported, but plenty of rattled nerves in the South Pacific. Fourth earthquakes rocked the island nation of Vanuatu this morning. They sparked a temporary tsunami warning.

And this pleasant surprise from the Labor Department, 33,000 fewer Americans filed for first-time job -- jobless claims, rather, last week. It was unexpected, and after all, the U.S. jobless rate is at 9.8 percent.

And another day, another demo. Violent clashes all this week in Istanbul, Turkey. Riot police battled crowds protesting the IMF and World Bank meetings.

CNN's Ivan Watson actually got caught up in the chaos there. And Ivan, you've been covering this story and obviously saw firsthand how painful it can be.

IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Kyra. I'm standing in front of Istanbul's Taksim Square. You could compare it to the Times Square of Turkey's largest city. And it's calm now, and it's been calm today, but for the past two days the air was thick with tear gas and water cannons and protesters throwing rocks.

We're going to offer you a look from the ground, a look at the scene. Let's take a look at that.

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WATSON: We're supposed to be covering an IMF World Bank conference. I wore my suit this morning, but we have riots and skirmishes that have broken out between protesters and riot police. As you can see, this road is wide open here. They've stopped traffic. And this has been happening periodically throughout the day, and we're going to try and find exactly what's happening here.

To my right, this is a big, infamous ghetto in Istanbul called Tarlabasi, and it seems like some of the demonstrators have been running in and out of there using it as cover for the police.

Hey, man, you all right? Joe? Wow. We just got hit by a real cloud of tear gas. It's pretty painful. And right now, the riot police, they've been firing gas into this alleyway here, again, of this notorious neighborhood, Tarlabasi. I'm having trouble seeing and breathing right now.

And you can see down the way, protesters with an anti-IMF World Bank sign. I'm sorry, this is awful. But take a look down the street here. I'm sorry.

So, my partner, cameraman Joe Duran, as you saw, he had a gas mask, but for some reason it malfunctioned, because he got hit really hard by the tear gas. We got basically a press release from one of the leftist groups, the anarchist groups that's organized these protests, saying that they're going to try to make life miserable for the capitalists, who make their lives miserable.

And these are something that we've got to get out of the way of the road now. Traffic's starting to come through.

So, now, we've been covering these demonstrations. Now we have to go back to the conference center to do some live reports about what the IMF and the World Bank have been up to and possibly an interview with the finance minister of Nigeria. All in a day's work.

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WATSON: So, Kyra, more than 100 people arrested. The meetings themselves were not disrupted. One interesting development, there were groups of shopkeepers protecting their shops from the anarchists, picking up sticks and beating them off, little vigilante groups protecting their businesses -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: I love how you say, all in a day's work. You're quite humble. I'm go straight to the top for more hazard pay for you, my friend, Ivan Watson, thanks.

Well, from dangerous deployments to hazardous homes, lots of our troops are in harm's way, way more than we ever knew. Some of them secrets. Many of them exposed today.

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PHILLIPS: Pushing forward to our next hour of CNN NEWSROOM, some stories we're working on for you. A sexting sequel. Since yesterday's report, we've heard about another crop of kids facing felony child porn charges. We'll take a look at the letter of the law here and how some folks are trying to change it.

Plus, a gangster's paradise goes under the hammer. We're going to tell you about Al Capone's home sweet hideout and (INAUDIBLE) it went for.

All right, you just had to take a moment to look at that video to actually believe what you were seeing. Yep, I think I saw something like this on "That's Incredible" around 1980. Heck, it's still incredible in 2009.

Hogan's owner here went on the Web, found a ten-step program to potty-train a cat. And what do you know? it worked. You go, Hogan. Just light a candle when you're done there, pal. Now, this story bothers me in two ways. Number one, I can't stand cats, let alone share my throne. And number two, before you know it, the cat will be taking the paper and leaving the seat up. Think inside the box, Hogan, would you?

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PHILLIPS: It's a shocking and sad tale, one that made us ask, what kind of hell are we putting our troops through? New developments now in a story that we first brought you two weeks ago, a group of men who believe they got breast cancer from toxic water at Camp Lejeune. Since CNN aired that story, more men are now speaking out, and Congress is paying attention to what may be a case of poisoned Marines.

Today, a Senate panel heard agonizing testimony from troops and families of troops suffering or dying from illnesses blamed on exposure to toxic chemicals. Stacy Pennington says her brother died a horrible death, and she blames burn pits in Iraq.

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STACY PENNINGTON, SISTER OF IRAQ WAR VETERAN: Steve went into cardiac arrest, and they were working to revive him now. My mom ran into ICU. She fell to her knees as she realized her son was dying. Screams filled the air as we begged God to keep Steve here with us. We know Steve heard us as tears were in Steve's eyes. Doctors and nurses pumped on Steve's chest trying to revive him. But I knew immediately he was gone. His spirit that surrounded my dear, sweet little brother of 32 years old was gone.

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PHILLIPS: CNN's Abbie Boudreau has more now in our special investigation.

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ABBIE BOUDREAU, CNN INVESTIGATIVE UNIT CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): These are the faces of a rare disease, male breast cancer. Marines or children of Marines who believe their illnesses came from drinking and bathing in toxic tap water at Camp Lejeune decades ago. Within two weeks after CNN's story first aired, the number of men coming forward with this disease has nearly doubled. The total is now 40 -- all Marines or their children.

MIKE PARTAIN, SON OF MARINE: That's blown me away. I mean, I expected to find some, but to double our number with just one story? And it just -- it begs to ask, how many people are out there with male breast cancer from Camp Lejeune?

BOUDREAU: Mike Partain was one of those we first interviewed. As a result of the story, he's been asked to testify before the U.S. Senate Veterans Affairs Committee this week. Partain was born at Camp Lejeune 40 years ago.

PARTAIN: I do not drink. I do not smoke. I was diagnosed at the age of 39. There is no history of breast cancer anywhere in my family, male or female. I was exposed while my mother was pregnant with me to chemicals in the drinking water. I was poisoned.

BOUDREAU: Representative John Dingell has long pushed for cleanup and accountability for contaminated military sites, including Camp Lejeune.

REP. JOHN DINGELL, (D) MICHIGAN: Well, it's an outrage. Frankly, it should not be permitted. And it smacks of active deceit, dishonesty, irresponsibility of the environmental concerns, and quite honestly, putting their people at risk.

BOUDREAU: The Marine Corps says drinking water at Camp Lejeune is now cleaned up but acknowledges it was badly contaminated. In a written statement, the Marines point out that several scientific studies have not identified a link between exposure to the historically impacted water at Camp Lejeune and adverse health effects.

With no proven link, many of those who are sick are denied V.A. benefits. Senator Kay Hagan from North Carolina, where Camp Lejeune is located, says these people deserve help.

SEN. KAY HAGAN (D), NORTH CAROLINA: I think they've worked their entire careers, successfully completing the mission that they were asked to start. And I think it should be our mission to give them complete answers on the water contamination issues. And if we stop now, our mission will not be accomplished.

BOUDREAU: Partain says that would be a start.

PARTAIN: It is up to the Senate and up to Congress to force the Marine Corps to answer these questions and hold their feet to the fire when they give them the answers and make them explain their answers. That's the only way we're going to get to the bottom of the truth of this.

BOUDREAU (on camera): Senator Hagan has just sponsored a bill that would give V.A. medical benefits to Marines and their families who may have been exposed to contaminated water at Camp Lejeune.

Abbie Boudreau, CNN, Washington.

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