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California Town Vents After Gang Rape; What Will Pelosi's Prescription Mean?; '30 Second Pitch

Aired October 29, 2009 - 14:00   ET

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

DON LEMON, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, we're going to get you now to the president in the White House, making comments about heading to Dover this morning for those transfer caskets. Take a listen.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: ... our men and women in uniform are engaging in every single day. Not only our troops but their families as well. And so, Michelle and I are constantly mindful of those sacrifices, and obviously, you know, the burden that both our troops and our families bear in any wartime situation is going to bear on how I see these conflicts. And, you know, it is something that I think about each and every day.

LEMON: All right. That was the president just moments ago. He was having a meeting with the minister mentor of Singapore. His name is Lee Kuan Yew.

He was asked by a reporter about his trip to Dover and whether that would affect his decision to send more troops to Afghanistan. And you heard the president's response.

More on that story here on CNN as it progresses.

It is the top of the hour, everyone. It's time now for a quick sweep of our top stories.

Let the debate begin. For real this time.

The House Speaker, Nancy Pelosi, and other Dems have taken the bubble wrap off their health care reform proposal. Two thousand pages, $894 billion over 10 years. And most controversial of all, a public option.

President Obama told small business owners the House bill was written with them in mind. He claims they could save up to 25 percent on premiums by 2016 if they take part in that program.

And detectives in Los Angeles will look at synagogue security videos. They might show who shot and wounded two men after they arrived for morning service. Police detained a teen boy, but it is not clear if he is the gunman. Other Jewish temples and schools are on alert in case this wasn't an isolated attack.

And we are pushing forward the gang rape story from Richmond High School in the San Francisco Bay area. Three juveniles and one adult charged in the case just got out of court. And the juveniles were wearing bulletproof vests.

Only one suspect entered a plea. It was not guilty.

While justice does its thing, the community vents about what happened, how and why? And just a short time ago, I talked with a friend of the 15-year-old rape victim.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAMI BAKER, VICTIM'S FRIEND: A lot of the students are stepping up now, but most of them are scared of snitching. The idea that I have of it is that it was mob mentality, because most of the kids at our school, they conform to what society believes. And society today, like pop culture, is -- like, females are viewed as pieces of meat, so it's like violence against females, and that's why I'm talking today, to show that it's not OK.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: All right. Well, Kami also says there was a lack of security at the high school dance on Saturday. So I want to talk more about this Madeline Kronenberg. She is a school board member.

Thank you so much.

You heard Kami talk in my interview just a little bit there about the lack of security. She doesn't believe that there is enough.

How do you respond to that, Ms. Kronenberg?

MADELINE KRONENBERG, SCHOOL BOARD MEMBER: We can always have more security. One of the things about our situation, just in California in general right now, is that we have an unbelievable budgetary crisis, and that crisis has gone on for some time now has caused us to look at every penny we spend for everything.

And safety is incredibly important, but as you decide what your safety budget is going to be, you have to try to make thoughtful choices. And the choices that were made here were thought out and believed to be sufficient, but it turned out, really more than anything else, I think it was the deployment of the security that probably could have perhaps kept it from happening or had made a difference.

And one of the things we decided last night...

LEMON: Hang on. Explain that to me. The deployment of the security? What do you mean by that?

KRONENBERG: Yes. And all it means that instead of all of them being inside the dance, which is where they really saw the problems and they kept problems from happening, they probably needed to be out around the perimeter.

LEMON: So whose fault is that, security? Or is that police? School security or police? KRONENBERG: I think it's more of a planning -- an issue of how they planned to handle it, both of them, I think both together, because they were both there. And so that's the issue we addressed at the safety meeting last night when we talked about -- and I wasn't able to speak -- some of the members of that board, of that subcommittee. But I attended it, and that was one of the conclusions at the end of the meeting, is that we're going rethink that.

LEMON: OK. So rethink it. Have you figured out how you're going to do it, or was it just that we need to look into this?

KRONENBERG: Well, they're going to meet. What's going to happen now is there will be meetings between the security personnel and the police department, looking at how they're going to in fact secure all of the functions that are held in any of our schools.

LEMON: So listen, Ms. Kronenberg, you know, I know hindsight is 20/20, and I don't want to put you on the spot too much here, but there were students who spoke out last night at the meeting, parents, who have been saying that they have had concerns and have voice them about security all along, and why did it take this -- to come to this for this to happen? They're thinking that the security should have been revamped.

What do you say to those folks who are listening right now and who had those comments?

KRONENBERG: Well, you know, the security issue, it's such an interesting point. The security issues have been looked at for many years.

My children have been through this district. I have five kids, and my kids are graduates of the district. And there's always been a conversation around security. And really what you have to look at is how -- in many ways, you try to anticipate, but you have to know what you're going to respond to.

I think what they were anticipating were issues that would be happening at the dance, within the walls of the dance. And they anticipated those successfully. They didn't anticipate the problems that would happen outside and around the perimeter.

LEMON: All right.

Richmond School Board member Madeline Kronenberg.

Thank you very much. We're going to stay on top of this story, and we may be hearing from you again, though we appreciate you joining us right now.

In just a few minutes, we're going to talk with a psychologist. Her name is Wendy Walsh. We're going to ask her about teen violence, if we're seeing more of it, or if we're just somehow more aware of it now in this age where we can reach out to each other on the Internet or what have you, so quickly. Yet another milestone though for health care reform on Capitol Hill, and yet another hurdle ahead. The milestone is a merger of three separate bills passed by three House committees. Now there's one, one bill, which a whole bunch -- which the House, I should say, can kick around and vote on.

The hurdle is the 218 votes the measure needs to pass. Democratic House leaders spent weeks cutting and pasting, tweaking and trimming, but they didn't cut the parts that critics hate the most.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), HOUSE SPEAKER: The bill will expand coverage, including a public option, to boost choice and competition in the health insurance reform.

(APPLAUSE)

It covers 96 percent of all Americans, and it puts affordable coverage in reach for millions of uninsured and under-insured families, lowering health care costs for all of us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Well, Republicans couldn't see it more differently.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R), MINORITY LEADER: It's going to raise the cost of Americans' health insurance. It's going to kill jobs with tax hikes and new mandates in it. And it's going to cut seniors' health care benefits. And if all that isn't bad enough, the mandates on states will bankrupt what are already states that have huge financial problems today.

We have got better ideas, and we'll be talking about them over the next week.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Well, you know what? These won't be the final words, of course. But if this bill or something close clears the House and the Senate, and is signed into law, those are very big "ifs." Well, what will it mean to you?

Our Senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joins me now from Boston to show us that.

What does it mean for the average person watching, Elizabeth?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Don, unfortunately, it's hard to see what it would mean for any American. You have to be specific about each person's circumstances, so we have developed sort of a team of pretend people to show you what this bill would mean to these three individuals. We just made them up, and with the help of Rob Andrews, who's' a congressman from New Jersey, who co-authored the bill, we're going to talk about what this bill would mean to them.

First, let's talk about the Smith family.

The Smith family is a mom and dad and two babies, and dad works for a computer company. Mom is at home with the kids.

His company does not give insurance, and so they're spending nearly half of his salary buying insurance. What this bill would do is it would require the company that he works for to give him insurance.

Now let's move on to someone we call "Heart Attack Harry."

Harry had a heart attack last year, he is self-employed and, you know what? He's stuck. He cannot get insurance. Nobody wants to insure someone who had a heart attack last year.

What this bill does, like the other bills that have been in Congress, it says that companies must insure him, insurance companies have to take him despite his pre-existing condition.

Now, let's look at our last person. We call her "Young Yasmin."

Yasmin is one of those young invincibles we've heard so much about. She's 25. She's perfectly healthy. And she says, I don't want insurance? Why should I spend money on insurance? I'm not making that much money as it is, I'm sort of hopping from job to job.

And so what this bill does is this bill says that people can stay on their parents' insurance, including Yasmin, until they're 27 years old.

So, those are three people, three circumstances, and what this bill does for them.

Now, I should note, this won't happen immediately, even if this bill passed tomorrow. Many of these things wouldn't go into effect until 2013 -- Don.

LEMON: All right. So the folks you mentioned, the family you mentioned, what if they needed to insurance on their own, not through their jobs? Would this bill help them, Elizabeth?

COHEN: Yes, this bill would give each of the three folks who we just talked about, it would give all of them subsidies, and pretty hefty subsidies. I mean, we're talking to the tune of thousands and thousands of dollars to help them buy insurance. So, this bill would help subsidize anyone who makes less than approximately $75,000.

So, now, the folks who don't like this bill say that, well, sure, you can subsidize it, but they think this bill is going to drive the cost of insurance way up. Now, the folks who wrote the bill, the Democrats, say the opposite is true, that this bill will drive the price of insurance down.

LEMON: Elizabeth, how is this bill different, if at all, from the Baucus bill in the Senate?

COHEN: Right. It's different on a couple of key points, and it will be interesting to see what happens when they try to kind of put them together.

One of the key ways is that this House bill tells employers, look, if you have a payroll of more than $500,000, you have to give your employees insurance. That is very different from the landscape that we see today. So this bill puts much more of a burden on employers.

LEMON: All right. Elizabeth Cohen, we appreciate it.

How many times have you heard this, though -- Americans spend more on health care than anybody else in the world? That's partly because Americans like to tell doctors their business, and doctors don't like to say no.

This hour, we look at the staggering costs there.

The latest deadly Taliban attack in Afghanistan is just the beginning. So says a spokesman for the rebels. He says the violence is meant to derail next week's runoff presidential election.

And right now, it looks like soldiers outnumber citizens on the streets of Kabul a day after the latest attack. Five U.N. workers were among those killed, and now the United Nations is ordering all non-essential employees to pack their bags as the mission is reevaluated.

We pause now. A silent salute from the commander-in-chief for 18 Americans killed in the Afghan war zone.

We heard from the president just moments ago at the White House. He said his predawn trip to Dover Air Force Base was a sobering reminder of the sacrifices of war as he considers adding troops in Afghanistan. He watched the flag-draped transfers of 15 U.S. troops and three federal agents pass before meeting the families of the fallen.

Cameras were not rolling during the transfer of 17 of those coffins at the request of their families. The one exception, Army Sergeant Dale Griffin of Terre Haute, Indiana.

This is the face of a fallen hero, one of eight Americans killed Tuesday in a roadside bomb explosion. His mother says he enlisted eight years ago right after the 9/11 attack.

(MUSIC PLAYING)

LEMON: Sergeant Dale Griffin is just one of the 817 U.S. servicemen and women who have given their lives in the war in Afghanistan. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: Signs of life right now. The gross domestic product grew at an annual rate of 3.5 percent in the third quarter. The expansion is the best in two years.

And on the jobless front, new unemployment claims dipped slightly last week, down by 1,000 to 530,000. At least that's a little bit of a dent.

The number of Americans filing continuing claims dropped 148,000 to 5.8 million. That decline was bigger than expected.

So, many jobless people out there with so much to offer, people like Debra Rosenbloom, an integrated marketing communications professional. Wow. That's a mouthful there.

There's her family. Wow, what a nice family. Nice home, too.

She lost her job at IBM earlier this year after a decade with the company. And Debra joins us now from our New York City bureau. She is our "30 Second Pitch" right now.

So, you're hearing that -- hey, listen, take a deep breath. Take a deep breath, Debra. Are you ready?

DEBRA ROSENBLOOM, JOB SEEKER: Hi.

LEMON: This is easy. Everybody's rooting for you. Because you know what? There are a lot of people who are in your shoes, predicament. So, just calm down and you're going to do a great job. OK?

ROSENBLOOM: Thanks, Don.

LEMON: So, you're hearing that the economy is getting better. Are you encouraged by that at all, Debra?

ROSENBLOOM: I actually am. Yes, I am. It was very slow back in February, when I first lost my job, but third quarter results were fantastic. So, we're looking for the companies to start hiring again.

LEMON: So you were just part of a layoff or a downsizing? Is that it?

ROSENBLOOM: Yes, I was. I was part of a downsizing at IBM Corporation, so I found out about it at the end of February.

LEMON: OK. All right. We heard about that, and we know what's going on.

Do you have any leads or any prospects, any bites at all?

ROSENBLOOM: I actually do. I was down in New Jersey yesterday at a financial institution. They had a bunching of us that were out of work and they had an orientation. And I just found out this morning that I'm going to be called back for a series of interviews. So that was very helpful.

LEMON: You have done so well. I was stalling a little bit to try to make you -- I heard you were a little bit nervous, so, really, don't worry. You're going to be great. Are you ready, Debra?

ROSENBLOOM: Oh, you haven't started yet?

LEMON: No, this is your 30 -- you've got to do it in 30 seconds all on your own. Are you ready for us?

ROSENBLOOM: OK, great. Sure.

LEMON: OK. Here we go.

Debra Rosenbloom, everyone.

Take it away.

ROSENBLOOM: Hi. My name is Debra Rosenbloom.

I'm a marketing communications professional with over 20 years experience on both the agency and corporate side. And most recently at IBM. I'm adept at project management skills, and I have launched several new products and offerings very successfully over the years.

I'm looking to take my vast skill set and apply to them your company to help you grow and prosper. I'm ready, willing and able to start working tomorrow, so contact me today.

LEMON: Debra, you did it all and you had three seconds to spare. So I think that shows efficiency in the workplace. You can get your task done not only on time, but before it's even due.

Right?

ROSENBLOOM: Thank you so much.

LEMON: Hey, best of luck. Thank you so much.

I'm going to give your e-mail out now. Let us know if you have any prospects or get work. OK? And say hello to your family. I'm sure they're all watching right now.

ROSENBLOOM: Terrific. Thank you.

LEMON: So, once again, here's here e-mail, Debra's e-mail: DebraRosenbloom@yahoo.com. And you can find her on our blog.

And if you want to be part of the pitch, e-mail us at 30secondpitch@CNN.com. Or you can tweet us at KyraCNN. If it is Thursday, it is a "30 Second Pitch."

OK. Now we take you to Capitol Hill.

A bid to keep improving homes sales going. Senate leaders have tentatively agreed to extend the first-time homebuyers tax credit. The credit is seen as a key reason home sales have shot up over the last few months. And right now it's set to expire at the end of next month. A congressional aide says under the plan, buyers would have to sign a contract on a new home by the end of April and close by the end of June. Of course, it will have to clear Congress first.

And a lot of Americans are fighting mad at their credit card companies. Payments and fees are going through the roof ahead of new regulations that won't take effect until next year. But one couple getting the shaft, so to speak, is getting a break here after CNN aired their story.

Take a look at what our Jessica Yellin found out.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Remember we told you about Chuck and Jean Lane, a couple that's played by the rules? But their credit card company, like so many others, jacked up their payments before new regulations 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: Now Chuck tells CNN his bank offered to slash his payments to $270 a month, less than before. The bank won't confirm the offer, citing privacy issues, but his congresswoman, Betty Sutton's office, has been in touch with his bank.

REP. BETTY SUTTON (D), OHIO: It wasn't until after CNN aired his story and he came to our office for help, and our intervention, that they did take appropriate action to reduce the payment. But, you know, it's unfortunate that it has to go to that extent.

YELLIN: It's great news for the Lanes, but what about millions of others who are seeing their credit card payments skyrocket? A new study by the Pew Charitable Trust finds across the board, credit card companies are using what Pew calls "... unfair or deceptive practices..." and increasing rates on average 20 percent.

NICK BOURKE, PEW SAFE CREDIT CARDS PROJECT: The bottom line is the credit card companies are doing whatever practices that are most profitable for them as long as they can, and until the law takes effect, that's going to continue.

YELLIN (on camera): And Congress can step in and stop it now?

BOURKE: Congress can step in and stop it now.

YELLIN (voice-over): Some members are trying. Representative Sutton is introducing a bill that would prevent unfair new fees. Representative Betsy Markey also saw our piece and is introducing a bill that would halt rate increases. But so far, neither has become law. LANE: I know I'm not the only one, and I'm sure there's a lot of other people out there that can't afford an increase of two and a half times what they have put into their budget for a credit card bill.

YELLIN (on camera): Now, the lobby that represents credit card companies tells CNN that credit card lending is the riskiest type of lending, and rising interest rates are directly related to the state of the economy. As for all those other consumers who aren't featured in a CNN piece, they can still hope that their member of Congress takes action.

Jessica Yellin, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: Want to update you now on our top stories.

A radical Islamic leader is dead, killed in a shootout with the FBI in suburban Detroit. The feds say Luqman Abdullah and 10 followers were targeted yesterday by heavily-armed agents. Five are due in court today. They're said to be in a group called Ummah, pushing for a separate Islamic nation in the U.S.

No terror charges here. Conspiracy and weapons charges instead.

In California, the suspects in Jaycee Dugard's kidnapping, Phillip and Nancy Garrido, were in court this morning. The judge decided to put off a preliminary hearing until mid-December. The Garridos are accused of kidnapping Dugard and holding her prisoner for 18 years.

The white Georgia man accused of beating a black female Army reservist is out of jail. Troy Dale West was granted bond of just over $320,000. He was ordered to wear an ankle monitor. The attack took place last month at a Cracker Barrel restaurant in suburban Atlanta.

(WEATHER REPORT)

LEMON: The few, the proud and the concerned. Former Marines weigh in on war strategy in Afghanistan. What do they want for their comrades on the front lines?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: OK, so Richmond, California. Less than a week ago, a 15- year-old girl gang raped, beaten and robbed over a two-hour span allegedly by other teens. Many others allegedly look on and they do nothing.

Jefferson City, Missouri. Last week, a nine-year-old girl found dead near her home. Her accused killer: a 15-year-old.

And there's Deerfield Beach, Florida. Earlier this month, five teens allegedly throw rubbing alcohol on a 15-year-old boy and set him on fire. And on the South Side of Chicago last month. Honor student Derrion Albert beaten to death on the way to school. Several other teens charged. The crime? Well, that brings the attorney general to Chicago to address a, quote, "plague of teen violence."

I believe Derrion was heading home from school. A plague of teen violence. So, let's talk about this. So many examples, horrific examples just in the last few weeks, in the last couple of months here. So, is the attorney general right? Are we seeing a, quote, "plague of teen violence"? And if so, what is feeding it?

Let's talk with Wendy Walsh now. She's a psychologist in Los Angeles. Thank you, Dr. Wendy Walsh for joining us here today.

DR. WENDY WALSH, PSYCHOLOGIST, MOMLOGIC.COM: Thank you.

LEMON: OK. So, the attorney general says it is a plague. We're not sure what the exact numbers are. We need to (ph) do a lot more studying, and I'm not sure if officials know exactly if it's a trend or if we're just hearing more about it. Why do you think this is all going on?

WALSH: We have to be careful for sure to use the words trend and plague because it's just that the media is bigger than ever, so we are getting to hear about a lot of these incidents.

But let's talk about what's behind these incidents. We're talking about teens that don't seem to have a lot of compassion or empathy for their fellow teens and are acting out, in a way. And I think there are big cultural trends that have led to this. I like to say that feminism got in bed with capitalism and gave birth to consumerism. Which means that parents are off working, so who's raising the kids?

LEMON: Hey, you bring up a very good point. Because I had a panel -- we're doing a special this weekend called "Black Men in the Age of Obama," and we talked about parents being in the home, and that was an issue for African-American families. And one woman said during that panel, "Well, it was the rise of feminism because it took women out of the home." And she goes, "I don't know if that's good or bad, but it's the truth."

So, you're speaking to that as well. Why do you say that?

WALSH: Absolutely. I think that feminism was a fabulous thing because it liberated masculinity in women and gave us a little bit of parity on the economic playing field, but it did a bit of a disservice to both our love lives and our families.

A recent -- last week, "Time" magazine's poll on women said that less than 30 percent of kids in America today have a parent at home. Whereas in 1975, virtually all kids did. And yet, 65 percent of Americans think that is a negative. Well, what are they doing about it?

LEMON: Here's the thing. It seems like what you're saying is that it's really home training -- it starts in the home when you say all this. So, at the very bottom line, at the base, is it what is taught in the home?

WALSH: I think that no matter what we try to teach our children, the truth is, the apple doesn't fall far from the tree. So, the way to parent well and to teach compassion and ethics and morals is to be a moral person yourself, OK? That's important.

LEMON: All right, Doctor, let's talk about this. I'm reading from CNN.com here, and criminology and psychology experts say there are a variety of reasons why the crime wasn't reported. We're talking about the bystanders here...

WALSH: Oh! The bystanders.

LEMON: Several pointed this problem, the social phenomenon known as bystander effect.

WALSH: Yes. Bystander effect involve twos things. It was first identified back in 1964 when poor Kitty Genovese outside of an apartment building in New York was murdered, and 38 people supposedly heard or saw it.

What happens is when the group gets together, our brains look at each other for consensus. "Well, they're not doing anything, so maybe I shouldn't be doing anything. What are we supposed to do here?" They depend on the group psychology to decide what to do.

Secondly, there's a diffusion of responsibility. They look around and go, "Well, it's not my - there's more people here who should be doing something." So, in fact whether someone will call 911 is inversely related to the number of people. So, the more people you have watching, the less likely it is that somebody will call for help.

LEMON: Ah! Dr. Wendy Walsh, we can talk about it on and on and on here. But the bottom line is, parents, grandmothers, aunts, uncles, teachers know what the kids are doing and try to instill in them some basic discipline and the meaning of life. Right?

WELSH: And also traditional religions, you know. As we're seeing the decline of traditional religions -- they used to perform a very important function for the majority of our society, which is to instill morals. They were the big moral teachers.

And now, more Americans call themselves spiritual rather than religious. Well, you know what? You can't teach morals if you're sitting on the side of a mountain meditating, all right, people? You have to live it and walk it, and it's the tiny lessons that we give our children by our behavior.

LEMON: Thank you so much, I appreciate it, Dr. Wendy Walsh.

WALSH: Thank you.

LEMON: Now I want to know what you think. Tweet us with your take on violence against kids, by kids. And I'll read your comments on the air just a little bit later on this hour. Fire, smoke and chaos in Afghanistan, and the Taliban spokesman says this is just the beginning. He says the violence is meant to derail next week's runoff presidential election. Just yesterday, an attack on a guest house in Kabul left eight people dead including five U.S. -- U.N. workers. And now, the U.N. is ordering all nonessential employees to pack their bags as the mission is reevaluated.

So, what is the next step for U.S. troops in Afghanistan? Should we bulk up the ranks or bring them all back? Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr went on a road trip to pose a question to former Marines. She found lots of opinions but one thing in common.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (on camera): We're headed down I-95. We're going due south about 30 miles south of Washington to Quantico, Virginia. It's the home of a Marine Corp training base. And we're going to go to a restaurant called the Globe & Laurel. We're going to sit down, talk to some folks there, see what's on their mind about the war in Afghanistan.

MAJ RICK SPOONER, U.S. MARINE CORPS (RET.): Remember, in the Marine Corp, we have a solid anchor behind our globe (ph).

STARR (voice-over): Eighty-four-year-old retired Marine Corps Major Rick Spooner has owned the Globe & Laurel for over 40 years near the Quantico Marine base. A World War II veteran, the major's restaurant is a place where Marines from all wars come for a bite to eat and a lot of conversation.

SPOONER: What do you think about what's going on in Afghanistan?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, we got to make a decision one way or the other. We just can't sit on the fence.

STARR: Public support for the war is dropping.

SPOONER: I think the -- I can't speak for them. I can only speak for myself. I think they're probably amazed at the lack of public support because they didn't go there on their own, they didn't buy a bus ticket to Afghanistan. Their country, the United States of America, sent them there under orders.

STARR (voice-over): Lieutenant Colonel Chris Wagner, an Iraq veteran, speaks with the careful consideration of a man not long out of the combat zone.

LT. COL. CHRIS WAGNER, U.S. MARINE CORPS (RET.): I look at it as deliberation. You got to decide what your strategic goal is. What is it you want to achieve in Afghanistan? Do you want to build a nation? Do you want to stop al Qaeda?

STARR: Here, once a Marine, always a Marine. Especially for these Vietnam veterans who remember how much Americans did not support their war.

STARR (on camera): How important do you think it is for President Obama to make a decision about Afghanistan?

PETE ROSS, U.S. MARINE CORPS (RET.): It is absolutely imperative that he makes one.

BARRY COLASSARD, U.S. MARINE CORPS (RET.): This is not one of these decisions we can afford to keep wasting time on.

STARR (on camera): What are you hearing right now about Afghanistan and this issue, of course, that people are waiting for the president to make a decision?

ROSS: For me, it's a shade of Vietnam all over again. We -- you send us in to do a mission, we accomplish that mission. Why would you absolutely send a commander in, hand-picked commander, and not take his advice?

COLASSARD: You only go to war to win. You know, if the goal is not to win, then you shouldn't have committed it the first place.

STARR (voice-over): As we head back to Washington, the major and his customers hope their ranks will grow with fellow Marines back from a war soon won.

Barbara Starr, CNN, Quantico, Virginia

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: All right, time now for this hour's top stories. And they begin with a swine flu state of emergency. That's in New York state. A declaration from the governor there in light of a surge in H1N1 cases. As you may recall, President Obama declared a nationwide emergency some days ago. Both are aimed at getting treatment and vaccinations to more people faster.

The speaker of the House has spoken, and you saw it live right here on CNN. Nancy Pelosi unveiled a health care reform bill cobbled together from three that have passed House committees. The Pelosi plan would cover 97 percent of Americans at a cost of roughtly $894 billion over ten years. Congressional analysts say it would also cut the deficit.

Ever heard of a minister mentor? Well, you're looking at one. President Obama's guest last hour in the Oval Office. Lee Quan Yu of Singapore. The title was created just for him when his son took over as prime minister in 2004.

You would like to start a small business, but you hit a lot of brick walls, right? So, what do you do next? There's a great resource out there if you're looking to be your own boss.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

LEMON: President Obama talking to small businesses, pushing health care reform. He says small businesses that sign on to the latest Democratic-backed health care plan could save a quarter of their premiums by 2016. That comment in a speech this morning to small business leaders in Washington. He says the current health care system keeps a lot of Americans from starting small businesses.

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BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The bottom line is that too many Americans like you can't afford to build the kinds of businesses you had been hoping to build. Too many budding entrepreneurs can't afford to take a gamble on a smart idea because they can't give up the health insurance they get in their current job.

Too many of you not only can't afford to provide health insurance to your employees, too many of you are having a tough time just affording health insurance for yourself. That's bad for our economy, it's bad for our country. And that's what will change when health insurance reform becomes law.

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LEMON: Well, Mr. Obama praised the House Democrats' health care plan unveiled this morning. He says it was written with small business owners in mind.

Even as the administration reaches out to small business owners, it's still a tough environment for the millions of Americans who dream of starting their own business. But help is available. CNNmoney.com's Poppy Harlow tracked down an important resource for you.

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POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM (voice-over): You know one of these people, but all four are critical in the success of small business.

First, President Obama.

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BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This administration is going to stand behind small businesses. You are our highest priority because we are confident that when you are succeeding, America succeeds.

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HARLOW: No one disputes that fact. More than half of working Americans are employed by or own a small business, which brings us to Mike Tracy.

MIKE TRACY, SMALL BUSINESS OWNER: It just was always my dream to own my own business. I think that I just wanted to work for myself.

HARLOW: While working at Lehman Brothers in 2004, Mike Tracy decided he wanted to open a bar and lounge in New York City. He went to a local small business development center for help and he was teamed up with a business counselor.

TRACY: Without their assistance, this would not have been possible for me on my own as far as the financing, capital.

HARLOW: And that brings us to Greg Callender, who left his job on Wall Street years ago to counsel small business owners.

GREG CALLENDER, BUSINESS CONSULTANT: Well, in Mike's case, I guess my primary concern was whether or not the deal made sense. So it really began with the due diligence process. And Mike and I, we ran through the financials trying to get to the reality behind some of the numbers and trying to translate it into something that a bank would do.

HARLOW: There's help like this at 900 government run small business centers across the country. Karen Mills is the head of the Small Business Administration.

KAREN MILLS, ADMINISTRATOR, SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION: We think we have a small business development center within 45 minutes to an hour of most small businesses. We want to provide the capital, the counseling, the other tools that a business might need to get started or maybe grow to that next level.

HARLOW: Lending through the Small Business Administration has increased since the Recovery Act was passed. $12 billion has been doled out over the past six months. But its loans only make up a small percent of total small business lending.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're seeing a whole lot different type of client right now. We're seeing clients that are struggling to survive. People are coming to us and they're saying I know the credit environment is tight, what can I do, what can I do?

And, unfortunately, we don't have a whole lot of good answers for them right now.

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LEMON: Here's Poppy Harlow right now. CNNmoney.com's Poppy Harlow. She joins us from New York. So, Poppy, good to see you. How tough is it to get banks to lend to small businesses these days?

HARLOW: I think, Don, the hardest picture is that it's so unclear because you can't measure all of that bank lending. They don't always have to report that. What we do get is the numbers from the banks that have gotten T.A.R.P. money, government bailout money.

And this red arrow you see, down $8 billion, shows you that the 22 U.S. banks that got the most T.A.R.P. money between April and August of this year, their lending fell $8 billion. That's a 3 percent decline. Still a cause for concern.

The good news here, 1,200 of those lenders that pulled back and said we're not going to lend when the crisis hit just over a year ago, Don, they're back lending to these small businesses. Bottom line here, it's unclear. That's one success story of the small businesses, some help out there. Still a lot more needed. That's why you heard the president again today hitting home on the importance of small business in this country employing more than half of Americans. Don?

LEMON: Poppy, appreciate it.

Sick of partying? It could be if you get invited to a swine flu shindig. The CDC says party somewhere else.

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LEMON: Is your social calendar looking a little empty? Are you hoping to pencil in a party or two? No matter how desperate, you probably don't want an invite to this shindig. It's a swine flu party. There are rumors, urban legends, maybe, that people are having parties with swine flu. Infected friends on purpose.

The reason? Get the flu, get it over with and maybe build up your immunity. But the CDC says turn down the invitation. Doctors say there is no reason to expose yourself or your kids to a potentially dangerous virus. Try the vaccine instead. Good advice.

All right, as always, Team Sanchez, there he is, back there working hard on what's coming up in the next hour in the CNN NEWSROOM. What do you have for us, Ricky?

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: I'll tell you, man, we've got some breaking news for you. Looks to me, Don, like there might be some real movement on a story about one of the guys who was very much involved in the planning of 9/11, the attack on the United States.

He's being considered everything from somebody involved in the planning stages to actually being a bag man. Remember that a lot of the funding of this came out of Hamburg, Germany, right? You remember when we were doing all those stories, you and I on this?

LEMON: Mm-hmm.

SANCHEZ: Well, it turns out, and this is bizarre, it turns out that moments ago in Pakistan, our correspondent has confirmed that one of the passports that was apparently attributed to that guy has been found. And the Pakistani military didn't even know that it belonged to this fellow until some of the reporters there told him. So, suddenly now we're on the trail of this fellow. His name is Saeed Bahaji.

Listen, we're all over it. We're going to tell you what's going on with this. We're taking you live to Islamabad in just little bit, so stay tuned.

LEMON: You can best believe Sanchez team will get to the bottom of it. Hey, Rick, we'll be watching. Thank you, sir.

Just a few moments ago, psychologist Wendy Walsh talked what's feeding all this horrific teen violence stories that we have been seeing lately. Want to get to some of your feedback. Again, it's not necessarily a trend here, but we have been see a lot of it in the news. Let's see. JoannaLinz says, "I can't believe your guest just blamed working moms for teen rapists, murders, etc. Most teens of working moms don't commit violent acts."

Veritaz says, "I agree with you. The family structure is responsible for their children, not government at any level. And especially not schools."

Jenniferts01 says, "Violent video games, movies, along with poor schooling and inability to gain employment with broken family, school contribute."

And ClassicIronman says, "Listen to the girl. Instead of legalizing drugs, Arnold" -- meaning Governor Schwarzenegger - "should be trying to protect these students from these sorts of people." Thank you all for you comments. We really appreciate them. Here, get them on as often as we can.

And we're staying on top of this story for you. Tomorrow, we push forward with the real Coach Carter. Remember that movie with Samuel L. Jackson? The real Coach Carter found his great challenge at Richmond High. And you know he'll have a lot to say about what's happening there now.

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LEMON: We have been talking a lot about the long-awaited unveiling of a single health care reform bill in the House. But some reforms come easier than others.

Consider this. Americans waste tons of health care dollars every year on tests and procedures our doctors know we don't need but can't talk us out of. You may need an aspirin after you hear from CNN's Allan Chernoff.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let me take a look at you.

ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Dr. Joseph Zebley, a family practitioner in Baltimore says patients are more pro- active than ever, telling him not just symptoms, but also test they believe they need. If he disagrees, Dr. Zebley says he may try to dissuade a patient but often fails.

DR. JOSEPH ZEBLEY, FAMILY PRACTITIONER: If the person is very demanding, I must admit that oftentimes we will exceed to their wishes knowing full well that it might be a futile study or futile test.

CHERNOFF: And an unnecessary expense. Multiply Dr. Zebley's experience by the 940,000 physicians in the U.S. and the cost of unneeded treatment, surgeries, office visits, prescriptions runs as high as $325 billion.

According to Thomson Reuters Healthcare Analytics, it's the consequence doctors say of a society that's promotional, bombarding us with ads for pills and procedures and litigious with a threat of a malpractice suit hovers like a dark cloud above every physician, forcing them to practice defensive medicine.

ZEBLEY: In reality, the standard of care for American medicine tends to be set by ten people in a courtroom who say, this should have been done, because physicians all through a community will say, "Uh- oh! This physician was sued for not doing this," and therefore everyone starts doing the test.

CHERNOFF: For the 85 percent of Americans that do have health care insurance, "no" is not a word they're used to hearing. Patients generally don't incur most of the cost of each test, each prescription they receive. That often takes cost out of the health care treatment equation, leading to excessive spending, says the study's author.

ROBERT KELLEY, THOMSON REUTERS HEALTHCARE ANALYTICS: It may in fact be too easy to - to get services if you have health care coverage.

CHERNOFF: Add in fraud, inefficiency, especially from redundant paperwork, provider errors and lack of care coordination that leads to duplication of tests, and the Thomson Reuters study concludes Americans are wasting as much as $850 billion on health care spending.

(on camera): That's pretty close to the ten-year price tag for the version of health care reform approved in the Senate Finance Committee.

Allan Chernoff, CNN, New York.

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LEMON: Thank you, Allan. That is it for me. Thanks for watching. Rick Sanchez, take it away.