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Pakistan Army Headquarters Attacked; Afghan War Debate; Workplace Romance, Max Cleland Interview, Child Cancer Victims, Green Jobs

Aired October 10, 2009 - 15:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN CENTER: Hello, I'm Fredricka Whitfield and you're in the CNN NEWSROOM. A high-stakes drama is still unfolding with a key U.S. ally in the war on terror. Taliban militants are taking responsibility for a brazen attack deep inside Pakistan. Heavily-armed militants are holding up to 15 people hostage at the Pakistani army headquarters after a deadly assault there. CNN's Reza Sayah is on the phone now with us from Islamabad. Reza?

REZA SAYAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on phone): Yes, Fredricka, it's been a long here in Pakistan. It's now 1:00 a.m. local time. This very tense and dramatic stand off has now exceeded 13 hours, according to a military official.

You have four or five armed militants who have penetrated the Pakistani army's in Rawalpindi just outside the federal capital of Islamabad. They're holed up and holding up to 15 hostages. Among them, civilians and at least six military personnel. Throughout the past few hours, there has been an exchange of gunfire. It has been relatively quiet over the past couple of hours. Obviously, it's night time. Darkness is now an element security forces have to deal with.

The standoff started a little before 12 noon local time when a group of militants armed, all wearing camouflage uniforms, kind of stormed the army compound in Rawalpindi. There was an exchange of gunfire at a check post. Initially, military officials said that they had things were under control. But two militants were missing. But over the past few hours, they have acknowledged the situation is not under control.

Again, at this hour, 1:00 a.m. local time in Pakistan, the stand off continues, four or five gunmen inside the army compound. Remember, this is the heart of Pakistan security apparatus and they're holding up to 15 hostages. Military officials say they have conveyed a set of demands. One of the demands is the release of some of their comrades, militants who have been arrested over the past couple of months. This military official has told CNN that the military has rejected that demand, that their priority is to get these hostages out safely. The dilemma is how do you do that with militants who are very likely prepared to die? Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: And Reza, is there anything that we may know about the tactics that these Taliban members are using or perhaps even any more sophisticated armor that they are using in this situation that perhaps Pakistan has not seen before? SAYAH: Well, there's two things that stand about this militant attack which is going to be remembered as one of the most audacious and brazen ever. These militants, according to military officials, were wearing military uniforms. We saw that, again on Monday, about six days ago in a suicide attack here at the federal capital of Islamabad.

Another thing that's remarkable about this attack, it's not a suicide attack where you have the explosion and the attack is over. These are militants who engaged and took on security personnel in what has been a stand off that extended more than 13 hours. These are indications that this is the type of attack that's very well planned. There's a higher degree of determination and sophistication. These types of attacks that obviously concern the Pakistani government and concern Washington. It's applying pressure on Pakistan to get tougher on the militants here. Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: Reza Sayah, thanks so much from Islamabad.

Roadside bomb blasts have killed three more service members in Afghanistan. Military officials say an IED, improvised explosive device, killed an American Friday in the eastern part of the country. Two other troops died in an IED attack in the south.

Afghanistan's defense minister says thousands of foreign fighters have come to his country to support the Taliban. He's calling for more international troops now. The White House wants to decide strategy first, then resources. Let's go to Kate Bolduan at the White House for more on the strategy debates and the many meetings that the White House has on tap.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, Fredricka. Well yesterday, the president and his national security team held their fourth meeting. This is the fourth meeting in a series of meetings really to tackle the big question of where to go next, what to do in terms of Afghanistan's war policy.

The focus of last night's three hour long meeting, we're told, according to White House spokesperson, Robert Gibbs, the focus last night was largely on General Stanley McChrystal's assessment of the situation in Afghanistan and the region and his recommendations for the best path forward.

General Stanley McChrystal is the top commander on the ground and has reportedly called for 40,000 additional troops to carry out a counterinsurgency strategy. Now Robert Gibbs stressed the White House continues to stress as you mentioned, Fredricka, that the president is being very deliberate to talk strategy and decide strategy first and talk resources after. Listen here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT GIBBS, WHITE HOUSE SPOKESMAN: I think there's obviously, in each of these, an agenda where we're going through, again, as we talked about, understanding and enunciating clearly the goal, the strategy to accomplish the goal and ultimately, we'll get toward -- get to discussion decisions about resources needed in order to implement a strategy to meet that goal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Now, coming out of last night's meeting, a senior administration official told CNN it was a robust conversation, a conversation about the security and political challenges in Afghanistan and the options for building a strategic approach going forward. So clearly an indication there's much more conversation that needs to occur before a decision is made, Fredricka. The next meeting that has been announced is Wednesday morning.

WHITFIELD: And so among those items, it appears the president might be leaning towards sending more troops. Just at issue here is how many?

BOLDUAN: That is a really big question. And what we are getting indication from the White House is that no decision has been made. There's really no indication that's really coming out of the White House, of what direction the president is leaning. As you said, General McChrystal has requested 40,000 troops, but the president, the White House stresses that he first is talking strategy, and then they're going to resources. And they say all options continue to be on the table.

But it's clear, Fredricka, you have been talking about it, we have been talking about it. The president is receiving a lot of pressure from all sides, the left and the right. The left wanting no more troops, no more additional troops. The right saying listen to your commanders on the ground and give McChrystal what he wants.

WHITFIELD: Kate Bolduan, thank you.

BOLDUAN: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right, thousands of gay rights activists are preparing to march to the U.S. Capitol, demanding more action from Congress and President Obama. Plus, it's amazing what a little sunlight can do, if you just know how to work it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, gay rights activists are planning a major show of force in Washington. It could turn their relatively empty grounds around the U.S. Capitol into a packed protest site tomorrow. Thousands of people are expected to take part in the National Equality March and Rally. Organizers say they will be calling on Congress and on the president as well to back laws protecting gays and lesbians against discrimination in the workplace and military. President Obama is expected to confront those concerns head on tonight in a speech to the nation's largest gay rights group. He is the first president to address the Human Rights Campaign since President Clinton back in 1997. The White House says Mr. Obama will touch on a range of issues and likely voice support for making it a federal crime to assault a person based on their sexual orientation.

A new neighborhood has popped up on the National Mall in Washington. College students from across the country have built solar powered homes in a contest sponsored by the Energy Department. Our CNN cameras were there as the new homes went up.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RICHARD KING, DIRECTOR, SOLAR DECATHLON: The solar decathlon is a competition for schools of engineering and architecture to design from the ground up, solar-powered houses that are ultra energy efficient. This is a two-year project for these architecture and engineering which culminates with putting them on the National Mall here. And they put, bring these houses that are fully functional, 800 square foot houses and then we judge them for aesthetics and good engineering and livability.

SCOTT CHAPPUIS, UNIVERSITY OF LOUISIANA: It has a big kitchen for entertainment. It has a covered porch area that can be indoor or outdoor. It will feel like a home. We call it the BeauSoleil Louisiana Solar Home. We try to represent our culture, very rich heritage.

ANTHONY CATANZARO, PENN STATE UNIVERSITY: I say we are above 50 percent done, you know, coming to crunch time, the 24 hour range. And then kind of putting 10 to 12 hours for clean up and prepping the house.

ANNA OSBORNE, TEAM MISSOURI: There's a lot of little things that we are just realizing now that need to be done and need to be a little finishing touches. So I think that we are pretty schedule, though. We might be a little bit behind.

KING: We measure them for performance and make sure they are energy efficient. So we measure heating and cooling and healing and humidity. And we put temperature sensors in the refrigerators and dishwashers. Make them do everything six people would normally do in a house.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nervous is a feeling that we all have, I think, when we stepped on the Mall and actually saw the level of competition we are going to be facing. Everyone, everyone stepped it up a notch. This year, we tried to blend the technology and the architecture into one seamless design.

KING: The Solar Decathlon is based on the athletic decathlon, same contest. Because we sat down one day and we said how would you have a contest with houses that just sit there? So we said well you could judge them for architecture, engineering, market viability, communications, they have to put up a Web page, they have to give tours. They have to brand their house and the greenness of what they are trying to do.

JOSEPH PAREDES, VIRGINIA TEACH: I am actually fairly confident that the house is going to do extremely well.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, very neat transformation there on the Washington Mall. So, the winner of this Solar Decathlon will be announced next Friday.

All right, romances at the workplace. They happen all the time, you know. But sometimes they end in disaster and the people involved can lose their jobs. In our next hour, we'll be getting some answers to your questions about this. And our Josh Levs is following them. Of course, sometimes it doesn't work out. But then, in a lot of cases, Josh, and I know you'll be underscoring that, there are happy endings, too.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And we're going to talk about some of the legal implications of the situation like David Letterman, right? Which is part of what triggered this. But you know what else is interesting? Just the other day, one of our most popular stories on dot com -- can you zoom right in? A wedding that took place on the show "The Office." Get the picture down there.

Anyone who follows that, just the other day. It's got a lot of traffic at dot com. And you know what, Fred? Just another reason people are really talking about this now.

So ahead in our 4:00 hour, we are going to be reading your comments, your questions. Let's go right to these graphics because I want to show everyone how to send your questions and then we're going to take a look at some sound. There's Fred's page. CNN.com/NEWSROOM. We'll get you straight. And slash Fredricka, will get you straight there. Then you've got my page too at CNN.com/Josh. Also my Facebook and Twitter, JoshLevsCNN. We're following all your posts there. We are also following your i-Reports, yet another way of interacting with you.

Here is one we've gotten from there. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REUBEN BLACK, I-REPORTER: It leads to trouble and it just puts everyone in your business. Not to mention the fact, do you really want to see someone on and off the clock? It just kills the buzz, the romance, the spark.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEVS: Not holding back, Fred.

WHITFIELD: No, he lays it all out there, doesn't he? He is going over all of it.

LEVS: You know what, give him a year, he's going to fall in love with someone he works with. You think you know when you come to this stuff, you do not know what's coming.

But we have a whole bunch of great guests, too, that are going to be joining us. This is one of the authors, Nicole Williams is one of the authors that's going to be joining us. She's written a lot about this. And we're going to get another author over here, Rosemary Agonito who is going to be here. And the Ethics Guy, right?

WHITFIELD: Yes.

LEVS: He's been doing a lot of talking about this. Plus, Robin Bond, an attorney that specializes in all of this. So we're going to be presenting your comments, your questions, hearing what they have to say, interacting with you throughout the whole hour.

WHITFIELD: Yes, and Robin Bond will actually have kind of stealing from the magazine, kind of "Glamour" do's and don'ts. They're not really glamour, but you know, do's and don'ts when considering whether to get involved with someone romantically at work.

LEVS: Yeah, it's a really interesting conversation.

WHITFIELD: Interesting little taking off points there that folks need to be taking notes on if you are thinking about jumping into a workplace romance.

LEVS: People might be taking notes, you got it.

WHITFIELD: All right Josh, thank you.

All right, she is a living legend within a national treasure. We are taking you to Yosemite where one woman is keeping the old ways alive.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, news across America right now. The Pennsylvania mom who made news last year with her very public support of gun rights was shot and killed by her own husband. That's the word from the police in the town of Lebanon. They also say Meleanie Hain was killed during a Web chat with a friend Wednesday. Their friend told investigators that he heard a scream and actually saw the husband fire off several shots.

A UCLA student who was stabbed Thursday in a chemistry lab on campus should recover. This is word from her family. Police have a suspect in custody, 20-year-old UCLA senior Damon Thompson. They say they also have the knife used in the stabbing. But so far, no motive.

And these, take a look, striking pictures of the tsunami that hit the American Samoa last month. The FBI released this video from a surveillance camera at the office on the island. You can see the water simply rush into the parking lot right there. Tossing SUVs and cars, tossing them like they were just nothing. More than 180 people were killed from that tsunami.

And this school bus was no match for rushing waters in western Arkansas. The driver and a lone student were inside when it was swept off the road yesterday. They were rescued as the students' father watched nervously from the side of the creek. And talk about dedication. After all of that, the student actually went to class.

All right, the storm system that brought heavy rain and flooding to parts of the U.S. is now moving east. Bonnie Schneider is tracking all of that for us in the Weather Center. Bonnie?

(WEATHER REPORT)

WHITFIELD: All right, she's a living legend and a national treasure. Eighty-year-old Julia Parker is the longest serving employee at Yosemite National Park. She's a native American whose hand-made baskets are featured at museums around the world and CNN photojournalist John Chirico has her story in today's "Americana in Focus" series.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JULIA PARKER, EMPLOYEE, YOSEMITE NATIONAL PARK: My first sound that I heard when I came into Yosemite was water rushing. My name is Julia Florence Parker. This is our willow patch. I am gathering for a basket, see if the willows are going to like this.

LUCY PARKER, DAUGHTER OF JULIA PARKER: She started working in the Indian village about 60 years ago.

J. PARKER: My teacher said, you make the basket, you have to give it away. I though who would want this funny little crooked basket? So I gave it away. I always look in the sales and I look inside sales and I might find that little basket.

SCOTT GEDIMAN, NATIONAL PARK RANGER: Julia Parker is a park ranger on paper, but she doesn't wear the hat and the badge that I do. She wears traditional Native American clothing.

J. PARKER: That's the way it grows.

L. PARKER: She's a living legend. And she's known throughout the whole world. People will come to Yosemite to visit her here. And she works in the museum in there.

J. PARKER: That's one of the baskets I did for the museum.

GEDIMAN: Julia is truly a national treasure. She's been honored by universities. She has baskets all over the country. She's consulted with museums.

L. PARKER: Ever since I was little, I followed my mom around. She worked in the village and after that, she came to the village and demonstrated to the tourists.

J. PARKER: And I do have an Indian name given to me. I'm called "hoina" (ph). And "hoina" means person of peace.

L. PARKER: And I used to come with her as a young child and I began to learn from my mom.

J. PARKER: Well, I learned from my elders. They told me Julia, you take from the earth with a please, like offering, then you give back to the earth with a thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: That is so soothing and beautiful. So some jobs just seem to be timeless, like that one. And if you would like to read more about jobs just like that, those with staying power, you can go to our Web site, CNN.com/Americana. And next Saturday at 3 p.m. Eastern, watch a one-hour special that looks at classic American jobs that are still being done the same way they were done generations before.

So he came back from Vietnam with cruel and crippling injuries. But did he know then his battles were just beginning? I'm talking with a veteran, former senator Max Cleland right there. He just wrote the book on survival.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: A look at our top stories now. A tense stand off goes on this hour in Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Armed militants are holding up to 15 hostages at the Pakistani Army headquarters there. At least four militants and six Pakistani Army guards were killed during a shoot out. The Taliban says they are behind the attack.

And a friend of Najibullah Zazi, the Afghan national accused of plotting terror attacks in New York, is actually speaking out. Naiz Khan is denying any connection to the alleged terror plot. The FBI is keeping him under constant watch.

And senior White House adviser David Axelrod says the president's meetings with his national security team are more complex than simply how many more troops need to be sent to Afghanistan. The White House says a decision on that is probably several weeks away.

It's been one week since the insurgent attack that killed eight U.S. troops at the Keating forward operational base in Afghanistan. We are still hearing dramatic accounts of the fighting and of the aftermath.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What did Keating look like after that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Different. I mean, it looked as you could expect for most of Keating to catch on fire. By the next morning, it was pretty much ash, besides that one building. I mean, that's the best way to describe it. Most of it had burnt down. So, we were pretty much at one building and the rest was just a shadow of what it used to be.

QUESTION: Your impressions?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: After the aftermath Camp Keating was completely changed. Like he said, almost all of the buildings had burned down. There were trees that were cut down trying to save other buildings from catching fire, and then just remnants of a mass attack afterwards.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Lieutenant Shrow (ph) described the attack as very well planned. The outpost has since been evacuated and closed. Well, years after the Vietnam war left him a triple amputee, former senator Max Cleland is talking candidly about another wound of war. One you can't see. He opens up about post-traumatic stress disorder and a whole lot more in his new memoir, "Heart of a Patriot: How I Found the Courage to Survive Vietnam, Walter Reed and Karl Rove."

Welcome Senator. Good to see you. And congratulations on your book.

MAX CLELAND, AUTHOR, "HEAR OF A PATRIOT": Thank you. My heart goes out to those young men who went through that attack. They go through that, they lose their buddies, see others wounded. They know the bad guys had it well organized and then, you leave the area.

Now, that sounds to me like Kason, that sounds to me a lot like Vietnam. We have to rethink why we take military action in Afghanistan and Pakistan. For me, there's only one reason and that is that al Qaeda is there. We got to focus on al Qaeda. Now, going after al Qaeda and killing and capturing al Qaeda leadership, bin Laden and his terrorist cadre and the Taliban leaders that are in Pakistan now see the invasion in effect of the security forces by the Taliban. And we don't want them to gain any weapons that are in Pakistan.

So, the real issue, to me, is never muddy boots on the ground. That's counterinsurgency, that's defensive. Where the bad guys can stage and come get you. The real issue is we need to go on the offense. We need to kill or capture them before they kill us.

WHITFIELD: So, am I hearing you, also, I guess, in agreement with some of the generals saying we need more, we need more U.S. troops in Afghanistan. The White House trying to figure out is that the best way in which to approach things?

CLELAND: No, no, no, not necessarily, because the question of killing or capturing Osama bin Laden and his terrorist cadre is not necessarily a boots on the ground issue. It is using our air assets. It is using our naval assets. It is using our growing human intelligence. That is using our NATO allies. That's the way to put the squeeze on al Qaeda. When you got a swamp, you focus on killing the alligators first. If that has to be a counterterrorism mission, not so much as a counterinsurgency mission. So yes, counterinsurgency you work at, but that's not the main mission. The main mission is going after al Qaeda and they are in Pakistan.

WHITFIELD: So, I saw you nodding yes when we were reporting that the White House says it wants to take its time, it wants to come up with a strategy as opposed to a knee jerk reaction to say yes to more troops.

CLELAND: You got to, otherwise, you fixed fortifications, you put together a unit, the bad guys come after you, you lose some people and then you withdrawal. What the hell is that? It's Vietnam. We do not need to go that route. What we need to do, what we have to do in the war we have win is against al Qaeda. Bin Laden who came after us, his cadre who came after us and planned the attacks, 9/11. The first congressional authorization was to go after those who came after us. That is exactly what we have to do. And that's why the president has to re-evaluate exactly why we are doing what we are doing and keep our eye on the ball.

WHITFIELD: You are speaking with experience as a military vet and also as a former senator.

CLELAND: That's right.

WHITFIELD: And it's really the premise of your book. You are compiling all these emotions and experiences into one memoir, here, "Heart of a Patriot: How I Found the Courage to Survive Vietnam..." Let's tackle that one, first. How did you -- how did you muster the courage? I'm sure -- there's not one ingredient here.

CLELAND: Well, three ingredients. One, the grace of God, two, the good friends who came to me and helped rescue me, and three, my own personal desire to survive. There are 58,000 names on the wall in Washington on the Vietnam Veteran Memorial in Washington, who wanted to survive. So, the real question for me is, that since April 8, 1968, my life has been guided by the grace of God and the help of friends whether I realized it or not. They are the ones that helped save me in Vietnam. They are the ones who pulled me through Walter Reed, not once, but twice and they're the ones that have helped me overcome political defeat.

WHITFIELD: "Surviving Walter Reed." Why do you put it that way? Walter Reed is supposed to be the epitome of veteran services, medical services. But you're attaching the word "surviving."

CLELAND: I went through it once and Walter Reed helped me survive, in 1968 and into to 1969. And I had to go through it again, 2004, 2005, 2006 with massive PTSD, massive depression and a sense that...

WHITFIELD: That many years after the fact?

CLELAND: Absolutely, that's what PTSD does to you. Post-traumatic stress disorder, PTSD. I call it post war stress disorder.

WHITFIELD: So, it was buried down deep.

CLELAND: Yes. Once you have been to war, you never forget it. These young men and women that we send to war now, the war for them is not over when the shooting stops. They'll be carrying it for the rest of their lives. You can overcome it, but you got to deal with it.

WHITFIELD: So, early 2000, we're talking 30 years after the fact for you. And was there a name, post-traumatic stress disorder, or was it, at that point, there was this realization, 2003, that I am dealing with this and I need help.

CLELAND: It was only later, not 2003, not 2004, not 2005, more like 2006 when one of the guys who helped save me on the battlefield told me, after I'd told him how I felt, he said that's PTSD, that's what it is. I said oh, my God.

So, what we now know about sending young people to war is a whole lot more than we knew just a generation ago. And what we know now about treating those who have been to war, what they need, not only physical rehabilitation, but mental and emotional rehabilitation, as well, so that they can get on with their lives. I tell you, it's a double whammy to realize that you got to heal up physically and then emotionally, as well.

WHITFIELD: And is there a really short way in which to describe how surviving Republican strategist Karl Rove comes into play here.

CLELAND: Well, in 2008, we won and he lost. That's it.

WHITFIELD: And that was quick.

Former senator, Max Cleland, always a senator, good to see you. And thanks so much for your service.

CLELAND: Thank you. God bless you.

WHITFIELD: All right, young cancer patients. They've got emotional challenges that adult patients actually never face. Find out how one boy faced his fears and empowered himself.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: While some people wait in long lines at health clinics for the new H1N1 flu vaccine, there's still a lot of skepticism, even though health officials say it's safe. Results from a Harvard study show that 40 percent of adults say they are not absolutely sure that they'll get the vaccine. About half the parents surveyed say they don't know if they will give the kids that vaccine and some are rather concerned about a mercury preservative found in some of the vaccines. Other people say they simply don't they'll actually get sick, so they don't need it anyway.

However, there's more proof of just how dangerous the H1N1 flu is, 76 children have died from it since April and 19 of them in just the past week alone. That's according to the Centers for Disease Control and preventions. Health officials say H1N1 is now widespread in 37 states and young children are part of the group at most risk.

So, children with cancer often face serious challenges that have nothing to do with their health at all. Many are afraid to go back to school after treatment because they are afraid that classmates will make fun of them. CNN national correspondent Susan Candiotti tells us about a New York boy who stopped the taunts and empowered himself in the process.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's back to school for 10-year-old Adrian Jones. He's both happy and scared.

TERRI TURECAMO, ADRIAN'S TEACHER: He is so excited to be here, to be normal again and to be with the kids and interact and he wants to make friends so badly.

CANDIOTTI: Being normal, make friends, mingle with kids. Adrian's missed that for a year because he has lymphatic cancer and his chemotherapy made it impossible for him to go to school.

(on camera): What's the most important thing you think that they should know about you?

ADRIAN JONES, 5TH GRADER: That I'm not any different than anybody else.

CANDIOTTI (on camera): Not on the inside of course, but medications forced him to gain weight, chemo cost him his hair, but not his smile.

(on camera): How will Adrian do? Will his classmates accept him? It's time to find out.

(voice-over): Kids can be cruel, especially if they don't understand why their classmate looks different.

MARY JONES, ADRIAN'S MOTHER: One of the students was teasing him about his hair and then another little boy came and was teasing him, laughing at him and he didn't know what to say. He told me about it and he just cried and cried.

CANDIOTTI: Adrian's treatment program can't stop tears, but it tries to stop misinformation by working directly with schools.

DEBRA GIUGLIANO, STONY BROOK UNIV MEDICAL CTR: There are many different issues that can arise, medical issues, psycho social and educational issues. And that transition isn't always easy.

CANDIOTTI: At the hospital, the program prepares Adrian to face his fear of telling kids he has cancer.

GIUGLIANO: You can decide if you want to say anything.

A JONES: Let me think about it.

GIULIANO: All right. You think.

A JONES: Am I getting paid?

(LAUGHTER)

CANDIOTTI: kidding aside, the program's special twist involves going directly to a school, first to teach the teachers.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And he's having issues with his body image, specifically his hair loss and he's very sensitive about it.

CANDIOTTI: Adrian's classmates also get a lesson that his cancer is nothing to be afraid of.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you catch cancer?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No, it's not contagious, right?

CANDIOTTI: Because Adrian loves football, his hospital invites some local college football players to come to school.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you think we can give Adrian a round of applause.

(APPLAUSE)

CANDIOTTI: it's still early, but so far, Adrian seems to be doing well.

(on camera): Do you think you'll be able to be friends with him?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's funny.

CANDIOTTI: And from the looks of it, making friends might not be so hard after all.

Susan Candiotti, CNN Bellport, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Green collar jobs, it's great catchphrase, but can it actually save the U.S. economy? We'll find out why one business owner in New Jersey is giving a yes to that question.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, green jobs, sounds like a great idea. But, are they really the answer to America's economic problems? One New Jersey business owner said they saved his business. CNN's Christine Romans reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Scott Needham has a degree in architecture, but rather than designing homes or skyscrapers for living, he's rebuilding his family's 38-year-old heating and air-conditioning business.

SCOTT NEEDHAM, CEO, PRINCETON AIR: It was march '08, we first noticed that something was awry. We weren't hitting our sales plan, we were typically, at that point, starting to gear up for our busy summer season. And we just said something seems a little strange.

ROMANS: Calls weren't coming in, business dropped off and Scott and his father, Joe, were forced to lay off 10 percent of their staff. Then the Needham's started hearing about a push from the state of New Jersey to weatherize homes and tax incentives and rebates for business owners and consumers that went along with it. Needham saw an opportunity, took a gamble and launched a new division of Princeton Air.

NEEDHAM: It was weird to this dynamic of laying people off in other divisions, building a new division. All of a sudden, things have exploded, we are out work-wise or leads-wise for about a month-and-a- half. ROMANS: Needham has added eight jobs to his payroll of 48 and expects that number to rise largely because of the Obama administration's push for green creation, $5 billion to stimulus cash going to low income home weatherization projects, $4.5 billion to retrofit federal buildings, $600 million in green job retraining programs.

RICK FEDRIZZI, GREEN BUILDING COUNCIL: The amount of money being wasted in houses all across America is immense. I honestly believe this is one of the single largest areas for job creation and these are permanent jobs. This isn't a temporary blip on the screen.

ROMANS: Scott Needham hopes that's the case.

NEEDHAM: I think there is a huge opportunity to get the country fixed, if you will. I mean, to tighten up the existing housing stock. I really believe now that my eyes have been opened. I think it makes a lot of sense to do what we're doing.

ROMANS: Christine Romans, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: A new generation of television technology that you can actually wrap your mind around. No kidding. Flat screens becoming flexible and huge.

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WHITFIELD: The next generation of television technology is coming to a screen near you. It'll start as a vehicle for indoor advertising, but your home theater could soon be the size of the real thing. Jacqui Jeras has the story in today's "Techno File."

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JACQUI JERAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The 2002 movie "Minority Report" depicts a futuristic shopping mall where every nook and cranny is crammed with video screens pitching their product.

RICHARD COPE, CEO, NANOLUMENS: Less than a quarter of an inch thick, very flexible.

JERAS: Richard Cope is the CEO of NanoLumens, an Atlanta company focused on developing flexible high-definition indoor advertising screens. Cope says that science fiction has moved closer to becoming advertising fact.

COPE: We have everything there but the displays. Indoor advertising is growing second only to Internet.

JERAS: It all started with this.

COPE: Flexible, green only, no video, no nothing, except the concept and the technology behind it with the ability to do flexible stuff.

JERAS: Acquired from a university in Canada, originally developed as a small flexible screen concept for personal electronics like cell phones and iPods.

COPE: We thought it would be better for very large, 10 foot and larger indoor displays that were thin, light, and flexible, and significantly more environmental.

JERAS: Nine months later and four generations later...

COPE: We built this five times the size, can bend it around itself, quarter of an inch thick, runs on batteries so the whole thing is portable...

JERAS: Cope says they use existing technology, but configured in new ways to achieve this flexibility.

COPE: Our display mechanism is essentially stiff things and an overall flexible matrix. And people have a lot of trouble visualizing that. So one of the analogies I use is a sequined dress on Angelina Jolie. The sequins don't bend but the dress forms very nicely around whatever it's put on.

JERAS: Initially developed for indoor advertising at places like subway stations, airports, and malls, the technology can be adapted to any shape and fit any contour.

COPE: It will show up in a cardboard box and you can stick it to the wall if you want with Velcro.

JERAS: Cope believes other applications, such as portable trade show displays and even military applications are in its future.

Jacqui Jeras, CNN, Atlanta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: NanoLumens plans to make the 110-inch flexible screens available for you in about a year. So, start saving now because, guess what, they're going to sell for around $75,000 a piece.

All right, well, they paid their bill on time every month and their credit was good. So, how did their credit card company reward them? By jacking up their rate so high that they couldn't actually make their monthly payment. Sounds pretty cruel. Well, they couldn't believe it either, and neither could lawmakers.

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WHITFIELD: Lawmakers are now considering a bill that would enforce tough new credit card rules starting in December instead of February. That's because banks are hiking rates and fees and cutting credit lines to beat the new law. Congressional action comes after CNN profiled a couple who saw their payment skyrocket. Here's national political correspondent, Jessica Yellin.

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JESSICA YELLIN, CNN NATL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): This week, CNN told you about Chuck and Jeanne Lane, a couple that's played by the rules, but their credit card company, like so many others, has jacked up their payments ahead of new regulations that go into effect next year.

CHUCK LANE, CREDIT CARD CUSTOMER: I'm calling to find out why my payment jumped from $370 to $911 this month.

YELLIN: Through no fault of their own, the Lanes' monthly minimum payment more than doubled. Now they will have to decide whether to pay the card or get surgery Jeanne needs and support Chuck's son in college.

(on camera): Do you have a message you would want to give to Congress?

LANE: I'd like Congress to take a stand for the American people and stop credit card companies from making these kind of changes that do have major impacts in people's lives.

YELLIN (voice-over): Guess what? Congress is listening. Freshman Congresswoman Betsy Markey saw the story on CNN.

REP BETSY MARKEY (D), COLORADO: It gave awareness to people like me, other members of Congress who saw that and were just outraged by the fact that credit card companies are just blatantly increasing rates solely because they know that once the law takes effect, they are not going to be able to do this anymore.

YELLIN: She and 17 other members have since written the banks, calling on them to stop raising rates and changing policies ahead of the new credit card bill. Bank of America had already announced it's freezing its rates for now, but Chase, the company that holds the Lanes' credit card, tells CNN they have no plans to do the same. And Wells Fargo, they're raising their interest rate three percent.

An industry representative says the card companies are just trying to protect themselves in a rocky economy.

SCOTT TALBOTT, FINANCIAL SERVICES ROUNDTABLE: The industry is not making changes to interest rates or lines of credit in anticipation of the new law. It's simply a reflection of the changing economic times.

YELLIN: Now, some members of congress are pushing forward with a bill that would actually move up the date when these new consumer protections go into effect. But banks say they need more time. They say they have to update their computer programs to meet all these new regulations, and that will take months.

Jessica Yellin, CNN, Washington.

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