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Many Still Have Questions about H1N1 Vaccine; New Orleans Music Program an Instrument of Change; Tsunami Preparedness Money Squandered in American Samoa; Obama to Sign Hate Crimes Legislation

Aired October 28, 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: All right. Get the flu or get the shot. With H1N1 tearing through the country and vaccines lagging, the odds are with the virus. But that's about to change. It's one of two major stories we're pushing forward for you right now.

We're also watching brazen new attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan, and I'm going to find out whom the CIA may be paying and for what in the war against the drug lords.

I'm Kyra Phillips at the CNN studios in New York, and you're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

All right. Let's get right to it. The timing was off, but H1N1 vaccines are finally on the increase, and the virus in some places is starting to wane. Key words there: some and starting.

The map hasn't changed: 46 states are still reporting widespread swine flu outbreaks, and the feds estimate more than 1,200 schools have closed because of flu since early August. In Washington, the secretaries of health and homeland security are briefing reporters right now as we speak. We're monitoring that for you. You see Kathleen Sebelius right there at the mike. If they make news you'll definitely hear it here first.

And a lot of people won't be lining up for swine flu shots or nasal squirts, and some of them told our Mary Snow they'd rather take their chances with the virus. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MARY SNOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's clear. Many people do want the H1N1 vaccine, willing to stand in line for hours to get it. But there's still a significant number of people who don't want it. A recent CNN/Opinion Research Corporation poll finds 43 percent of those surveyed don't think the swine flu vaccine is safe.

Count 24-year-old Shantelle (ph) Boyd in that camp.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My biggest problem with the vaccine is I don't know what the side effects of it are. So I don't want to take something I don't know what might happen to me.

SNOW: Health officials say they've seen no proof of any damaging side effects, although they do say there may be a sore arm after the shot. Columbia University's Dr. Irwin Redlener adds... DR. IRWIN REDLENER, COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY: It's as safe as a vaccine could possibly be, and the risks of getting ill far outweigh the risks of anything that might be seen with the vaccine itself.

SNOW: Some question how the vaccine was made, including Jennifer Litman (ph).

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I do, because it was so hastily made, and it hasn't been really tested yet.

SNOW: Not true, say health officials, who are repeatedly asked about the clinical trials and manufacturing.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY & INFECTIOUS DISEASE: This is the way we make vaccine every year for seasonal flu, so it's a time-honored process. So the vaccine that we're having this year in many ways is very similar in how you make it, in fact, identical to what we've been doing over decades and decades of seasonal flu.

SNOW: And among pregnant women, a concern is taking a vaccine with thimerosal, an additive containing mercury, found in some but not all vaccines. Questions have been raised about possible links to autism, although repeated studies have found no proof of that.

Dr. Jacques Moritz has seasonal flu shots that don't contain thimerosal, and is hoping to soon get the H1N1 vaccine made without it, as well.

DR. JACQUES MORITZ, DIRECTOR OF GYNECOLOGY, ROOSEVELT HOSPITAL: I don't think a lot of pregnant women are going to accept that thimerosal containing one, even though there's no proof that it does anything. They won't take any chance with their child.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, even if you trust the vaccine, want the vaccine and receive the vaccine, you still could have problems. Case in point: Flagstaff, Arizona. Seven kids who got swine flu shots on Saturday accidentally got the adult dose, twice as much as they should have, by the way. And as of yesterday, all were OK.

Mesa County, Colorado, had 400 doses up for grabs, and they were spoken for in 35 minutes. If you want to make an appointment there or anywhere else, you'd better call early, and you'd better dial pretty fast.

And Fort Worth, Texas, like many other places, fears a scarier- than-usual Halloween. All those hands, grabbing at all that candy, spreading all those germs. Then again, it is the biggest mask-wearing day of the year.

So is the flu on the rise in your town or on the ropes? Want to know where to find a vaccine and when? Well, the answers are as close as your computer. On the new CNN.com, Josh Levs points and clicks in Atlanta for us. So how do we do it, Josh?

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'll show you, Kyra. You know, it's great. It's part of the new CNN.com, as you were saying. And this is unusual, because health officials are really encouraging people to use the Internet, to blog about it, to get information to make sure you're not getting missed getting facts. And this is the site to do it at: CNN.com/H1N1.

Let's zoom in right here. I'll show you some of the new features. Now, that easy to get to. Just type slash H1N1 after CNN.com. This right here get you information about vaccines from the CDC. Lists your local resources, helps you find vaccines near you.

And we've been talking about pregnant women in that piece just now. Here's a whole section about that. Concerns to have if you are a pregnant woman, or a pregnant woman in your family, all sorts of things, plus this map which shows you the amount of activity right now. It's pretty heavy in every state.

You can see that all, CNN.com/H1N1.

Here's something else that's new from the new CNN.com. The News Pulse shows you the most popular stories. I clicked on "health" for News Pulse, and you can actually watch videos within it. And this, Kyra, is a story that you did yesterday, where you were interviewing a woman who was a survivor of H1N1. She talks to you about that. You can watch that from News Pulse right here.

Also, we're following external sources, as well, that help you track H1N1 in your area. One of the many is this new application from Google Earth the Google folks called me about. If you have Google Earth on your computer, you can now click on any state. It gets you the latest activity, based on searches in that area. That's one of many links that we're giving you at CNN.com/josh.

Let me go to that screen. If you want to see how you can get a whole bunch of resources here, to reach pretty much anything you could need to track H1N1 online. CNN.com/Josh, Facebook and Twitter, JoshLevsCNN.

And Kyra, we update that all the time with the latest online applications to follow H1N1.

PHILLIPS: Thanks, Josh. You know, you mentioned the young woman that I interviewed yesterday, Aubrey Updike. You know, not only is she a survivor of H1N1 -- you might remember the story -- she actually was pregnant and lost her baby...

LEVS: That's awful.

PHILLIPS: ... while fighting off H1N1. So she's got a real message there for pregnant women. And I think everybody should tune in and see what she has to say.

LEVS: And they are. Yes. It's getting traffic online, because it's so moving and so difficult to hear but so important, as well.

PHILLIPS: Thanks, Josh.

LEVS: You bet. Thanks.

PHILLIPS: Well, you can run, you can hide, but there's no escaping the deadly attacks of the Afghan Taliban.

Taliban militants wearing suicide vests and police uniforms storming a guest house used by U.N. election workers in the heart of Kabul. At least five U.N. staffers were killed, including one American, in a two-hour battle.

It's the latest in a series of attacks aimed at scaring Afghans away from the polls in next week's presidential run-off election. Other targets today included the presidential palace and the city's main luxury hotel.

Gunfire even woke up our Chris Lawrence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: We were sound asleep when we started hearing that and a few blocks away.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Wow.

Well, he's the brother of the Afghan president. He's allegedly on the CIA payroll, and he's an alleged major player in the Afghan drug trade. If true, how can we possibly win the hearts and the minds of the Afghan people, much less win that war? Well, this hour, I'll get answers from an expert, a former CIA officer.

Chaos, fear, anger and death. A massive car bomb exploded in a crowded marketplace in northwestern Pakistan today. At least 100 people were killed; two 200 wounded. It's the deadliest in a surge of attacks by suspected militants this month. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was in the Pakistani capital at the time of that attack.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: These attacks on innocent people are cowardly. They are not courageous. They are cowardly. If the people behind these attacks were so sure of their beliefs, let them join the political process. Let them come forward to the people of Pakistan and this democracy and make their case that they don't want girls to go to school, that they want women to be kept back, that they believe that they have all the answers, that the rest of us who are people of faith have none.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: The Pakistani government says that militants are seeking revenge for its ongoing offensive against Taliban and al Qaeda forces near the Afghan border.

Pushing forward on a rapidly developing story for you, police in Richmond, California, have now arrested three more people in the gang rape and robbery of a 15-year-old girl outside a high school dance.

Two juveniles and one adult hauled in last night. Five people in all now in custody. And arrests are still to come.

Some pretty frank and frustrating talk today from the detective working the case, frustrated because so many people allegedly watched this crime for so long and did nothing about it and likely won't be punished.

Lots more on this story at the top of the hour. We will talk to that investigator.

Upping the ante and raising the stakes. In just about an hour, the hate crimes law gets tougher and wider. We're covering it.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Orchestrating change in violence-plagued New Orleans. It can often fall on a flat note. But don't play that tune to Derrick Tabb. He's a music teacher and a drummer who's teaching kids to scale new heights by showing them the roofs.

He's one of our top 10 CNN heroes, and he joins me live from New Orleans.

Great to see you, Derrick.

DERRICK TABB, MUSIC TEACHER: Great for you all to have me here.

PHILLIPS: It's a pleasure.

Well, I know firsthand how music class is so important. Heck, it kept me out of trouble in elementary, junior high, and high school. So you know, you definitely know the impact that music can have on kids. Did it do that for you as a musician?

TABB: Yes, as -- when I was young I lost my grandmother at the age of 12 and got pretty rebellious. And my junior high band director showed a special interest in me and made sure I got in the band, teaching me music. And I wound up traveling the world with the musical knowledge that he give to me. I wound up getting into a lot of brass bands and traveling. So I know firsthand that, you know, it seems wise, when it comes down to keeping you out of trouble.

PHILLIPS: Right on. So why New Orleans and why the kids there? And why this program?

TABB: First of all, I'm from New Orleans.

PHILLIPS: There you go. It's in your blood.

TABB: It's the birth place -- it's the birth place of jazz, you know. And you know the kids here are -- a lot of and I want to give them an alternative.

PHILLIPS: And how have they responded to you? Have you had kids come up and you said -- and say, "You know what, Derrick? If you wouldn't have believed in me, if you wouldn't have put that instrument in my hands, if I wouldn't have sat in that classroom, I would probably be, you know, running the streets in ways I shouldn't be"?

TABB: Yes, a lot of kids thank me a lot. They always come and say, "Mr. Tabb, thank you for this program." Right now I have 1008 kids in the program and 400 on the waiting list. So you know, it's at high demand right now.

PHILLIPS: Ooh, we need to raise some money for this program. Is that what you need?

TABB: Yes, I really do. Funding is not as strong as it should be. Hopefully, we'll (INAUDIBLE)

PHILLIPS: OK. Well, 400 kids on that waiting list. There's no reason that there should be a waiting list that long. We're going to pump to raise some money for this program. All right. We'll get to that in just a second.

But I understand that we do have some sound of the kids playing. Let's go ahead and roll that and see what these kids have to show us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Oh, my gosh. "When the Saints Come Rolling In." What a perfect song for New Orleans. How does that make you feel when you see all these kids surrounded around you, Derrick, playing I mean, in such force, but also playing so well?

TABB: Well, and it's very surprising because all the kids in my program are beginners. They never, ever touched an instrument before.

And to see them learn and, you know, to just watch them go from learning how to hold a horn to playing, that's amazing to me. And then to actually see kids inspired by something that I created just for them -- I didn't really want -- I didn't really think about being a CNN hero or anything.

I just wanted kids to get off the streets, you know, give them an alternative to what they had to deal with on a regular basis, going home and just doing nothing, playing video game. You know, I just wanted them to understand that you can go to college for free. You can get a job playing music. You know? I did it, so why can't you?

PHILLIPS: So I'm curious: how did -- how has your success rate been so far with regard to showing up at school, completing the program, sticking with the instrument? Have you been able to tally the success yet? TABB: Yes, last year we had an 85 percent increase in at least one letter, kids going up one letter in the grades. Our -- our percentage on kids' attendance to the program is like between 85 and 90 percent every day. A hundred and eight kids there almost every day. At least 90 kids there every day.

PHILLIPS: Wow.

TABB: You know, they want to come. They want to be there. We have classes five days a week, Tuesday through Saturdays, 4 -- 4 to 7 Tuesday from Fridays and 10 to 2 on Saturdays. So, you know, that's a lot -- that's a lot of time that a kid want to be there in our program.

PHILLIPS: All right. So here's the plug. It's a free after school music program created by Derrick Tabb. You can go to CNN.com. Go to the heroes section, and you can donate, you can participate. Derrick will take your funds and your support in any way.

Derrick, congratulations. And what a perfect place. You're right, music is in the blood of everybody that grew up in New Orleans.

TABB: Yes. Thank you. Thank you so much.

PHILLIPS: Thanks, Derrick. We salute you.

And if you want to find out more about Derrick or even vote for him in the Top 10 "CNN Hero" finalists, you just go to CNN.com/heroes. Plus watch all our all-star tribute. That will be hosted by Anderson Cooper on Thanksgiving night, only on CNN.

It was our responsibility, and we came through. What a shame that they didn't, despite millions of dollars of our money sent to prevent it. Wait until you hear what our special investigations unit uncovered.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Top stories now.

Three more arrests in the gang rape of a California high-school student. Two adults and three juveniles now in custody. Police say around 20 people may have taken part or stood by and watched as that teen was raped for two and a half hours outside a homecoming dance.

See these North Carolina inmates, now serving so-called life sentences? Well, they're waiting to find out what will happen next in their bid for early release. After years of good behavior credit, they could have been freed tomorrow, based on a 1970 state law, but the governor put that on hold. We'll hear what she has to say tomorrow, live, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

An al Qaeda sleeper agent learning his prison sentence today in federal court in Illinois. Ali al-Marri pleaded guilty in May to providing material support to a terrorist group. He spent the last five years locked up, and his lawyers say that's punishment enough. But prosecutors are recommending the maximum 15 years in prison.

Not just frost but a while lot of snow on the pumpkins in Colorado. And it's really coming down. Chad Myers tracking it for us.

Time to go skiing yet or not enough?

CHAD MYERS, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Just about. Rent the skis, because you're going to get a couple rocks. Don't take your good skis.

Hey, do you remember? And I know you're way too young for this one. But back when there was UHF and VHF, and you get on the wrong channel and it would look like this. We'd say, "Oh, we've got too much snow. We're on the wrong channel." Well, no, that's Colorado right now.

KUSA, our affiliate there, right through downtown, seeing the little brief pictures. Make sure you have your snow brush today, because it's going to come down in buckets, the snow.

There's Denver right there. There's Aurora and Castle Rock. The snow builds up through Boulder, right through the front range, down to Castle Rock, and then out the South Plaid River. All these areas you see areas purple, that's going to be a foot of snow or more.

Now Denver proper, a lower elevation, not going to get quite as much. But still, it is going to be one frightful, or depending on your point of view, delightful day, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Thank you very much, Chad.

MYERS: Sure.

PHILLIPS: Well, you know, you helped us, Chad, cover last month's devastating tsunami in American Samoa. Now we're learning that some of the death and destruction might have been prevented. A CNN investigation has actually found that the tragedy was, in many ways, manmade.

Drew Griffin with our special investigations unit covers evidence of a warning system that was just never built.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN INVESTIGATIVE UNIT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On a Saturday morning, villagers at Leone, American Samoa, hold funeral mass for the 33rd victim of this tsunami. Outside the packed church, the village remains in ruins. A boy is still missing here. One village over, flowers mark the spot where two more died.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They found the mom, and now they're still looking for the daughter now.

GRIFFIN (on camera): Nobody sent out a warning?

FIDELIS LEOTA, LEONE VILLAGE CHIEF: No warning at all.

GRIFFIN: That's why people died.

LEOTA: That's why people died.

GRIFFIN: We decided to investigate why the United States government has sent millions and millions of dollars to this island to prepare for an emergency that they weren't prepared for.

(voice-over): Records show U.S. taxpayers have shelled out nearly 13 million in disaster preparedness grants since 2003. And yet, no sirens, no warning system, and 34 dead.

And to our surprise, the highest ranking official here on this American territory, an island of 68,000 people, the governor, says there was a study but never a plan for a warning system.

GOV. TOGIOLO TULAFONA, AMERICAN SAMOA: I was trying to get verification of what happened to that application, but I wasn't able to get the definite information.

GRIFFIN (on camera): There's every reason to believe tsunami warning sirens should have been blaring at the time when people, unbeknownst to them, were sitting in a line of fire. True?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: True.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): This man says he has all the information the governor says he lacks. His name is Bertie Alalima (ph), and he worked for the governor as Samoa's homeland security advisor. He was fired two years ago in 2007. Today, Bertie lives with his son in the U.S., and he insists he was testing and preparing the very warning system the governor seems to know little about.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And the siren system that -- that was being planned for Leone was going to be right up here.

GRIFFIN: Thirty or more towers, he says, 30 or more sirens. Hit a button, and a tsunami warning siren blasts across the island.

(on camera): What you're saying is that the tsunami warning system should have been in place?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): So what happened? Bertie says some of the money from U.S. taxpayers for Samoan homeland security went missing. He says the government of Samoa was using that money to pay salaries of what he calls extra personnel.

(on camera): You're thinking like a bureaucrat. When you say...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Keep in mind...

GRIFFIN: ... personnel put on the payroll, me being from Chicago think, I'm rewarding my cronies with a job. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, in some ways, yes.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): Not just new jobs. U.S. homeland security investigators reported emergency money instead was being spent on fancy extras, like plasma TVs, expensive leather furniture, and government SUVs not used for emergencies.

So the U.S. stopped the free money train. It froze the Samoan preparedness accounts.

TULAFONO: I'm not going to fault them for freezing the funds. I mean, these are federal funds. They have oversight responsibility, and they saw fit to freeze the funds.

GRIFFIN: Federal negotiators wanted the Samoans to pay back those misused funds before unfreezing the rest of the money.

TULAFONO: All I'm saying to you is that we've tried to work with them, and we've tried to get some partial releases. But so far it hasn't -- hasn't happened.

GRIFFIN (on camera): A federal official in position to know calls the governor's statement nonsense. American Samoa was asked to pay back just some of the money it misused.

The government here and the governor refused, and the tsunami siren system was stopped.

(voice-over): When we asked the governor's office about that, a spokesman declined to comment.

Thirty-four dead, 13 million in U.S. taxpayer aid, and now CNN has learned the FBI is looking at why Samoa's tsunami warning systems were never built.

In fact, since 1995, the U.S. has sent $2 billion to America Samoa. That while the U.S. officially describes America Samoa as, quote, "high risk for receiving federal funds."

Drew Griffin, CNN, American Samoa.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Now, when the tsunami hit last month, the U.S. rushed in tons of emergency aid, but the people who need it just aren't getting it. Join us in the CNN NEWSROOM tomorrow to find out why.

The long arm of the law, about to get longer and stronger. In about an hour, Uncle Sam makes crimes against gays and lesbians his business.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: In just about an hour from now, the president signs the 2010 Defense Authorization Act into law. It includes the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, two victims whose names are synonymous with hate crimes. When the ink hits the bill, it will be a federal crime to assault a person based on sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or disability.

Jimmy Wheeler's name isn't in the bill, but his spirit sure is, and his family will see the president sign it with their own eyes. And you've got to think that this will be running through their minds: Could it have prevented his death?

Here's CNN's Ed Henry.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's been 12 years since the pain of young artist Jimmy Wheeler's suicide, though family snapshots still bring joy to his mother, Susan, and sister, Elizabeth.

SUSAN WHEELER, MOTHER OF JIMMY WHEELER: There's Jimmy, right there. Jimmy always had a tremendous blonde head of hair.

HENRY: In middle school, Jimmy told his family that he was gay and dyed his blond hair orange-red, Ronald McDonald orange-red.

S. WHEELER: Well, we all got pretty much a big kick out of it, actually. We all laughed and enjoyed it because it made him happy, and it was part of his flare.

HENRY: But many of Jimmy's classmates in conservative central Pennsylvania did not appreciate his flare or sexual orientation. So, they taunted and bullied him.

ELIZABETH WHEELER, SISTER OF JIMMY WHEELER: He was peed on in the locker room at high school in gym class by football players. And, no, he didn't tell anybody in our family. We found out when it was read in his poetry. And it breaks my heart. It does. It's horrible that people can be that cruel.

HENRY: It only got worse in high school, when he came out in an emotional poem, "Jim in Bold," later the title of it documentary about his life and death.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, (INAUDIBLE), for publishing my profile, for printing me, printing Jim, Jim in bold.

S. WHEELER: He had the courage to come out with "Jim in Bold" and proclaim to the world, I am a gay person from central Pennsylvania. I'm proud of who I am. I want to you respect me.

HENRY: The Wheelers will be at the White House when President Obama passes legislation extending federal hate crime law to cover crimes motivated by a person's sexual orientation. The law would not have prevented Jimmy Wheeler's suicide, but it may have been a deterrent for the attacks that led to his death.

S. WHEELER: I feel like this is a triumph for not just members of the gay community, but for us as a civilization. It shows that we value all life.

HENRY (on camera): Susan Wheeler told me she realizes the president has taken a lot of heat from the gay-rights community for not doing more. But she said he has a full plate right now, and major change is going to take time. She believes this is at least a major step forward.

Ed Henry, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: He's promising to be a roadblock in the fast lane to health care reform. Senator Joe Lieberman says he's against any legislation that includes a government-run insurance option. Lieberman, who's now an Independent, is vowing to support GOP members in a filibuster against the plan. Democrats would need his support to push their health care bill forward. It currently contains a public option but also allows states to opt out of it.

So, would a public option work? Supporters say just look at Massachusetts, but a former governor says not so fast. Mitt Romney sat down with our chief medical correspondent Dr. Sanjay Gupta.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MITT ROMNEY (R), FORMER MASSACHUSETTS GOVERNOR: We were unable to deal with and didn't have any pretense that we would somehow be able to change health care costs in Massachusetts.

We still have a fee-for-service reimbursement system here like every other state in America. That's the way Medicaid and Medicare are structured. That's the way the insurance industry is structured.

That's a whole different topic, which is how do we get the cost of health care down in America. And as you know, we're way above the cost of health care of any other country in the world as a percentage of our total economic vitality.

So, that's a different topic. We didn't deal with that here in Massachusetts, and frankly, we dealt with a much more narrow issue, getting people insured that weren't insured and, this is just as important, perhaps even more important, for those who are insured, making them understand that they will never lose their coverage.

If you're in Massachusetts, and you've got coverage, and you lose your job, you are always going to be covered. You don't lose your insurance. That was critical.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Should the president be looking at Massachusetts as a model of lowering health care costs?

ROMNEY: No. Massachusetts is not the model with regards to the second problem. Massachusetts is a model for getting everybody insured in a way that doesn't break the bank and that doesn't put the government into the driver's seat and allows people to own their own insurance policies and not to have to worry about losing coverage.

That's what Massachusetts did. What we did not do was say, how can we change the reimbursement system, align incentives in health care with doctors, with hospitals and with patients. That's what needs to be done if you're finally going to rein in health care costs in this country.

GUPTA: President Obama does talk about health care costs. He talks about this idea of bending the cost curve down over the next 10 years. He does talk about creating a system that as you say pays for itself.

That is what you hear when he is talking about health care reform in broader brushstrokes. Do you not believe him or think that do you think it's just the details aren't there?

ROMNEY: Well, I haven't heard any measure being proposed by the president or by the members of Congress that suggests a change in the way incentives are going to be structured, or any other measure that will lower health care costs in America.

With one exception. And that is they're saying they are going to cut $500 million out of -- or $500 billion, rather, out of Medicare. Now, that's not bringing down health care costs. That's jamming a burden on America's senior citizens saying we're going to take costs out of your system.

Either it's going to be on their backs, or on the backs of the hospitals and the doctors but it's not saying how can we make health care more efficient, more effective, providing care in a more advanced, technologically efficient way.

And that's not something I've heard anything come out of Washington, but discussing and putting in this piece of legislation.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation, even with the recent reforms, Massachusetts has some of the highest health insurance costs in the country, averaging nearly $14,000 per family.

Did you know that Twitter has a twin brother named Fritter? Yes. When you Twitter away at work, you also fritter away the boss's money, lots of money.

Before we go to break, ever wonder what the secret to making 105 years is? Juanita Black knows.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What's your trick? Why are you 105?

JUANITA BLACK, TURNED 105 YESTERDAY: Because I drink green tea.

(END VIDEO CLIP) PHILLIPS: She drinks green tea. We just saw this and couldn't pass it up. Just like she couldn't pass up her party at a strip club. Still rocking at 105. Cheers to you, Juanita.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Northwest Pakistan is rocked by a massive car bomb today which ripped through a busy market, killing at least 100 people. The attack comes as Secretary of State Clinton is visiting the capital, Islamabad. She calls the attack the work of militant cowards. At least 200 people were injured.

Today's not a good day to be a San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge commuter. It's closed again. A chunk of the bridge fell off last night. Engineers are repairing a rod and metal brace that fell into one of the traffic lanes. They plan to do a full safety check before it reopens.

NASA's heading into a new era of space exploration. After multiple delays, it launched the new Ares 1-X rocket on a test flight today. The 327-foot rocket is about twice as tall as the space shuttles its supposed to replace. Today's test run could pave the way for a new mission to the moon.

Networking on the job can be valuable for you. Social networking on the job, well, that could cost you, and it could cost your boss even more.

Here CNN's Errol Barnett.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ERROL BARNETT, CNN INTERNATIONAL IREPORT CORRESPONDENT: All those tweets that you're sending and crops you're growing on Farmville, one of the most popular games on Facebook? That is wasting your company's time. No big surprise, right?

Well, you might think so when you realize just how much time and money it's costing your bosses, according to a new survey just released by an IT research firm in the UK. They surveyed almost 1,500 employees. Here's what they found.

More than half admitted to using a social network every day at work, on the average spending about 40 minutes per week on these social sites for themselves. But they said other people at work spend up to an hour a week. The more serious findings were that a third said they've seen, quote, "sensitive company information" posted on social networks.

And the price tag for all of this is huge. It costs more than $2.2 billion a year because of lost productivity. That's almost 1.4 billion pounds. But the researchers said the true cost to the economy as a whole could actually be much larger. One of the problems they identified is that about three-quarters of the employees surveyed said their bosses just don't really have any rules about using Twitter at work. And that's what these researchers want to aim to change. One of them said, look, when it comes to an office environment, "the use of these sites is clearly becoming a productivity black hole. Businesses shouldn't turn a blind eye."

And a rep for an employment placing firm says, as long as the younger generation joins the workplace, businesses will inevitably have to embrace social networks and recognize the benefits. David says some of those benefits are well-deserved downtime or networking within your industry.

So, what do you think? Is using social networks while at work a waste of time or a necessity? Send me your thoughts at @errolcnn on Twitter, but you probably shouldn't do that while you're at work.

From the CNN Center, I'm Errol Barnett.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: And another thing that you probably shouldn't do at work, log on to watch Lindsey (ph) give birth. A 23-year-old Minnesota woman plans to share the miracle of life, live on momslikeme.com. She says the social-networking site has been great support during her pregnancy, and she, quote, "wanted to give back." Well, the Web site took a survey, and about 60 percent of members said they want to watch the whole birth.

Well, you've heard of absentee voting. What about absentee campaigning? One man discovered he was running for office even though he isn't. Oh, and by the way, he's been arrested dozens of times.

But, first, creature comforts on the road. Imagine a hotel room with no lamps. It lights up automatically by just sensing your movements. And that's not all. Our Jim Boulden has today's "Edge of Discovery."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JIM BOULDEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is my hotel room today. Comfortable bed, nice mini bar, wide-screen television. But fast forward a few years, and our hotel room could look like this.

(voice-over): Complete with voice commands, curved surfaces and soothing lights, this is what we travelers might find in our hotel rooms in 2020. It's part of a research project in Germany where hotel chains can test new ideas. The goal here is a room as soothing to the mind as it is pleasing to the eye, like beds that gently rock you to sleep and infrared lighting that could rejuvenate your skin. And if you're wondering about light switches, there aren't any.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In the hotel room of the future, there will be no light switches. Instead we will use sensors.

VANESSA BORKMANN, FUTUREHOTEL; They have this intelligent floor, the sense floor. There are sensors all over the floors. BOULDEN: They don't expect any one hotel to have all of this, but there could be a floor or two in top hotels with some of these options.

Jim Boulden, CNN, Duesberg, Germany.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Each new detail more devastating, more disgusting in that gang rape at a California high school. Several more suspects behind bars today, accused of casually brutalizing a 15-year-old girl, snapping photo, stealing her jewelry and showing no remorse.

Also next hour, it won't halt hate, but it will help the justice system address it. Eleven years after Matthew Shepard was killed because he was gay and James Byrd because he was black, the government honors their memory by getting tougher on hate crimes. We'll see President Obama sign that measure live, 2:30 Eastern time.

So, you remember Groucho Marx's line about not joining any club that would have him as a member? Well, a guy in upstate New York kind of feels the same about the county legislature. Somehow, Kevin Gervasio wound up on the ballot for the Working Families Party. He admits he's less than qualified.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEVIN GERVASIO, RELUCTANT CANDIDATE: Me, I got 30, 40 arrests, and I got 15, 16 convictions.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You shouldn't be elected.

GERVASIO: Aw, heck, no.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are you going to do if you get elected?

GERVASIO: If I get elected?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. I mean, it's kind of an outside shot, but...

GERVASIO: Oh, if I get elected, it's going to be like somebody like a murder getting elected.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: God. So, who put him up to it? Well, apparently his brother Keith (ph). With a brother like that, who needs enemies?

This man, the brother of the Afghan president's shocking allegations on the CIA payroll. A kingpin in the drug trade. Is this the way to win the war? We're going to hear from a former CIA officer.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Gunfire in the heart of Afghanistan. A major Taliban attack on a U.N. compound in the capital of Kabul. At least five U.N. staffers were killed in the battle that raged for two hours. The government says the Taliban's trying to scare people away from next week's runoff presidential election.

And of course, one of the two candidates in the runoff, President Hamid Karzai. Now, stunning allegations about his brother. Sources tell "The New York Times" that Ahmed Wali Karzai is on the CIA payroll and has been for eight years.

But that's not all. They also say he's a major player in the Afghan opium trade, the same drug that fuels the enemy that American forces are fighting. The senior U.S. military intel officer in country, Major General Michael Flynn, offers this sharp analogy to "The Times." Quote, "The only way to clean up Chicago is to get rid of Capone."

Joining us from Washington with his insight, former CIA officer, Reuel Marc Gerecht. If what "The Times" is saying is correct, Reuel, isn't this a major conflict of interest?

REUEL MARC GERECHT, FORMER CIA OFFICER: Oh, it's probably not an enormous one. I mean, listen, the good guys and the bad guys deal in the drug trade. Until greater security is brought to Afghanistan, until you have more roads, the drug trade is one of the only viable means of making a living. So, I think the larger issue here, certainly on the hearts and minds question, is, is the United States doing a better job of bringing security to the country or a worse job? If it's worse, then obviously our reputation will go down perhaps as low as the Karzai family.

PHILLIPS: But let's take a -- I mean, these quotes are pretty powerful, if indeed Karzai's brother is tied into the drug trade like these allegations are saying, calling him a major drugpin. I mean, the senior American military official in Kabul is saying, "If it looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, it's probably a duck. Our assumption is that he is benefiting from the drug trade."

And then we have an analyst for us, former special ops, Reuel, who said, "It's no secret to anyone in government, ours or theirs, that the president's brother is deeply involved in the opium drug trade. Many diplomats have confronted Karzai on this. It's common knowledge on the streets."

Now, if indeed this is the case, I mean, this is somebody who is involved with what is killing Afghan citizens, killing U.S. troops and keeping this war going.

GERECHT: Well, more than just the drug trade is keeping the war going. And, again, just to repeat, if you were to exclude people who have some hand in the drug trade, you would be excluding the primary players in every ethnic community. The real issue, I think, with Ahmed Karzai is, is he doing good work within the agency? I mean, the agency's going to have a lot of people on the payroll. That pay may not be justified, and that's certainly where the agency and the U.S. government should be ruthless in looking.

PHILLIPS: Well, let me ask you, what would be the payoff to have him on the CIA payroll? I mean, we all know the CIA takes on, let's say, the less than upward citizen -- we could go forward and say thugs -- because it gives them intel that they need in order to beat the bad guys on whatever it is that the mission is. So, if he is indeed on the payroll, what's the benefit to the U.S.? What's the benefit to trying to win a war against terrorism in Afghanistan?

GERECHT: Well, I mean based on what "The New York Times" report told us, Karzai has been given some assistance to agency operation and special forces operations down in Kandahar province, where his family comes from. Now, I think it's a legitimate question whether that assistance has been critical, given that Kandahar province, much of it has been lost to the Taliban. So, I think it is fair to assess whether his work there is really worth whatever we are paying for him, assuming he is still receiving money from the agency.

PHILLIPS: Do you have any idea if he is still receiving money from the agency and how much he could have received from the CIA?

GERECHT: No, I don't -- I mean, listen, I mean, obviously the Karzai family early on was bankrolled by the agency, as were most Pashtuns. Now, I suspect that's changed a bit in the last eight years. I don't know how much. I suspect it's not all that much. The agency tends to be a tad bit cheap in these things.

PHILLIPS: Well, now there's the allegations also coming forward that Karzai's brother was involved in making those fake ballots that caused a corrupt election there in Afghanistan. Is there credence to that?

GERECHT: Maybe. I mean, obviously the election wasn't fair by any stretch. And the Karzai family is deeply implicated in the cheating that was involved. So, it's certainly not inappropriate that a review be done of Ahmed Karzai and his role in election, you know, in election fraud.

PHILLIPS: And when you say a review be done, I mean, this is the CIA. I mean, they know every intricate detail about whoever they want to investigate. So, I mean, isn't it pretty much black and white? Either this guy is a thug and this is a total conflict of interest or, you know, there's something the CIA is getting from this guy that's worth it?

GERECHT: Well, actually, it's probably not black and white. I mean, the agency doesn't necessarily know all that much about people on the payroll. Now, certainly Mr. Karzai is a well-known personality. And again, you would have to have people look at what he is actually done for the agency and the Pentagon to properly assess whether in fact that relationship is worth the money. It may well not be. And, you know, we'll have to see as this story evolves, whether it does evolve, of whether there is a review and whether we deem that his worth really isn't worth the cash.

PHILLIPS: Well, we'll definitely follow up.

Reuel Gerecht, appreciate your time.

GERECHT: Sure.