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Some Cities Push to Test all Rape Kits; New Information About Nidal Hasan; Oprah vs. Palin; Log In & Kiss Privacy Goodbye

Aired November 17, 2009 - 14:00   ET

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

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: The excess will come out of next year's refund, or it could add to your bill, so be careful.

Also, the Fed partnering up with state investigators to root out fraud and other crimes that worsened the economic meltdown. They're forming a task force that will replace one formed by the Bush administration in the wake of Enron.

Well, they have the evidence, a whole lot of it. They have the DNA matching technology as well. So, why in the world are more police departments not using rape kits to put rapists in jail, give victims some peace, maybe? Also, even be used to clear inmates who are innocent.

Some departments like New York, L.A., they now test all rape kits. Others, like in Detroit and Houston, they do not, for any number of reasons. Possibly, sometimes, a suspect pleads guilty, maybe the charges are dropped, maybe the victim decided not to press charges, whatever may be.

But San Antonio now in the spotlight, the latest city pushing to test all rape kits no matter what. Police there are sitting on more than 5,000 untested rape kits that date back to 1987, and now they're wondering if they could be sitting on a gold mine of evidence.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF WILLIAM MCMANUS, SAN ANTONIO POLICE: We don't want to let any case where someone was sexually assaulted fall through the cracks.

LYNN BLANCO, RAPE CRISIS CENTER CEO: I think just to be proactive, it's a wonderful step.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Well, the police chief said every rape kit will be kept indefinitely because, even after a case is solved, the kit is still some valuable evidence.

Well, Lavinia Masters can tell you what a gold mine of evidence a rape kit can be and why they all should be tested. The man who raped her was identified 20 years after the crime. The evidence, the technology gave her closure she never thought she would have.

She's with us now from Dallas.

Ma'am, thank you so much for being here and taking the time and sharing your story.

Let me just get your reaction. When you hear about another -- we've heard them over the years, certainly in all the years you have been going through and dealing with what you went through.

LAVINIA MASTERS, RAPE VICTIM, AUTHOR: Yes.

HOLMES: What do you think when you hear about another police department sitting on 5,000 rape kits?

MASTERS: I am appalled, for one, but I am elated at the same time because they are trying to do something about it. Just as you shared about my case, I am excited about what happened with my case being solved after 20 years, because it was definitely a horrendous journey for me to be on, not knowing who my perpetrator was that violated me on that night.

HOLMES: Well, what have you found over the years? And you've been an advocate for this for several years now.

MASTERS: Yes. Yes.

HOLMES: What have you found are the reasons you hear from police departments about why they are sitting on these backlogs and why these test kits are not essentially tested?

MASTERS: You hear many reasons, T.J., but to be quite honest, there is no valid reason, if you ask me. But most of it I heard lately was the funding for the kits to get tested. I hear that they're a little bit over $1,000 to get tested like mine was. And to me, it shouldn't even be an issue, especially with children.

I was a child. I was 13 when this heinous crime happened to me. And they shouldn't have put a price tag on my sanity and on my well- being as a child growing up in America.

HOLMES: And I'm not even sure if you can put it into words, but how offensive is it to hear that after a young woman goes through something as traumatic as a rape, to hear that, oh, yes, we can't follow up because of a financial issue, it's just not worth it financially to us, we just can't pay for it?

MASTERS: You're right, I can't put it into words. I was devastated.

I read an article a couple of weeks ago in Texas about some victims were actually getting sent bills from the hospitals for taking their exams, and that was devastating to me, to know they have to go through this. We have been through enough as victims, and why re- victimize us over and over again by doing such things?

My case, July 31, 1985, I was 13 years old when this guy raped me, and my case sat on a shelf for years -- dust. And as a child, you would think that the adults in this situation, the authorities, would be working for you around the clock. And I had no idea I had to wait before I became an adult and try to find my own closure in this situation.

So, it's a devastating response to hear that we have to wait on money or funding or things of that nature before they can solve these cases.

HOLMES: Well, what else needs to happen, in your opinion, besides someone like yourself, an advocate like yourself, out there staying on these different police departments? Who else has taken up this cause? Who else needs to take up this cause?

MASTERS: I think the police departments need to rally with legislation and really just get together and make a voice. More victims need to come forward. And I know it's hard for victims to come out and speak because they felt that the police has done nothing for me yet, I haven't heard anything about my case, about my kit. But we still need to speak up as victims.

The reason I do this is not for me, it's for other victims, because I know the life I lived as a victim for so long. And I feel the pain of other victims, and I want them to get some sort of closure. So we need to get together as victims with the police departments and rally legislation at finding the funds to have these rape kits tested.

HOLMES: Well, Lavinia Masters, ma'am, I am so glad you could come on and share your perspective.

MASTERS: I'm glad for you to have me here.

HOLMES: Thank you so, so much. And by all means, please stay in touch with us and follow up with us...

MASTERS: I will.

HOLMES: ... and make sure we follow up as well, ma'am.

MASTERS: OK.

HOLMES: Ma'am, thank you so much.

MASTERS: Thank you, T.J.

HOLMES: Well, many of you have heard this before, but any day now, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid will unveil his health care reform plan. And the floor debate will begin.

Well, the holdup is a sign off from the CBO, the Congressional Budget Office, essentially balancing Reid's calculations. One calculation leaves many Americans pretty cold here.

An Associated Press poll finds 56 percent oppose taxing high- dollar insurance plans, those so-called Cadillac plans. Well, that is part of the Senate Finance Committee bill and may wind up in Majority Leader Reid's bill.

A majority support raising taxes on the wealthy that's called for in that bill that passed over in the House. Now, that House bill, about that thing, a new CNN/Opinion Research poll finds Americans split down the middle -- 46 percent like it, 49 percent do not. The sampling error is three percentage points either way.

So why do objectors object? Thirty-four percent say the bill is just too liberal. Ten percent say it's not liberal enough. Another three percent say their reasons aren't ideological.

Well, health care in America, all the facts and figures, words and pictures on this critical debate any time. And most importantly, how it all affects you. You can go to CNN.com/health care.

Well, suicide in uniform. 2009 will almost surely be another record year for the U.S. Army, the fifth record year in a low.

We learned this morning that 140 active duty soldiers are believed to have take their own lives so far this year. That's the same number as in all of 2008. But the general in charge of a ramped- up suicide prevention campaign says the numbers since March are actually trending down. He credits much greater attention by Army leaders everywhere.

That's not all.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GEN. PETER CHIARELLI, U.S. ARMY VICE CHIEF OF STAFF: We're also working very, very hard in the Army to eliminate the stigma long associated with seeking and receiving help. This is a matter of life and death, and it is absolutely unacceptable to have individuals suffering in silence because they're afraid their peers or superiors will make fun of them, or, worse, it will adversely affect their careers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Well, some of the figures you're just hearing do not include ex-military. The VA estimates veteran suicides add up to more than 6,000 a year. That's about 18 every single day.

Let's turning to a medical story getting a lot of attention now.

New medical guidelines could dramatically shift the way women think about mammograms. They're igniting a debate about how old you should be when you're screened for breast cancer, and they're causing a whole lot of confusion here as well.

A government task force now says women under 50 do not need regular mammograms. And just forget about those regular self-exams unless you have a family history of the disease.

Now, that is the entirely wrong message, at least according to the American Cancer Society. You can imagine, they oppose these new guidelines.

Chief medical officer Otis Brawley explains why. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. OTIS BRAWLEY, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, AMERICAN CANCER SOCIETY: I and all the experts that I have been talking to believe that women should continue getting a mammography every year starting at the age of 40. The task force did find that screening women in their 40s does save lives. It reduces the relative risk of death by 15 percent.

They went on to do some calculations, calculations, which, by the way, we disagree with, and estimate that you have to screen 1,900 women in their 40s to save one life and 1,340 women in their 50s to save one life. It leaves me to say, what's the number between 1,340 and 1,900 in which mammography screening is no longer beneficial or no longer useful and should not be recommended?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Well, a lot of people are talking about this, including you. A lot of you have some strong feelings about these new guidelines.

Let's share with what some of you are telling us on Twitter.

Stuart O'Neill writing this: "How can reducing early detection decrease the death rate and misery of late detection? It makes no sense."

Another from Jalangrey, who says, "Who paid for this task force? It seems unlikely their findings are anything more than a way for the insurance company not to pay."

Got another one we can share here. It says, from Veritaz, "No to mammograms and self-exams? How Taliban. American women have joined their international sisters in being extraneous. Big money saved."

Thank you all for writing in. We will continue to collect those, but thank you so much for participating in the show today.

Also, we're going to be telling you about a wakeup call the Pentagon is getting. After the Fort Hood shootings, the Defense Department taking action, looking inward at every branch of the military. Can we prevent another Fort Hood from happening?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, the Pentagon now taking on a full-scale review in the wake of those Fort Hood shootings. The focus of the review will be how the military can keep a closer watch on potential problems in its ranks. Right now, the review in the planning stages.

Pentagon officials say it will be much broader than just looking at the Army. They're going to be looking at issues that need to be addressed across all branches.

As you know, 13 people were killed in the November 5th shooting rampage at Fort Hood. The Army, meanwhile, also planning another probe. "The Washington Post" reports Army Chief of Staff George Casey wants a closer look at Major Nidal Hasan's entire military career. Those would be separate from other criminal investigations.

CNN's Brian Todd explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Imam Yahya Hendi spends most of his professional time as the Muslim chaplain at Georgetown University, but he also conducts services at Bethesda Naval Hospital near Washington. He says he encountered Nidal Hasan there and that Hasan asked him for help in finding a wife. The third imam we found who Hasan approached for that.

IMAM YAHYA HENDI, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY: He said that he wanted someone to help him serve, deploy, and be understandable and understanding of his own military career. He wanted -- he saw himself as someone continuing his service with the U.S. military until the end of his career.

TODD (on camera): And so that didn't work out either? He just couldn't find someone with that balance?

HENDI: Well, it's not easy to find, in general, someone who will be willing to travel with you and deploy with you every few years. But he did want a wife who will stand by him, is loyal American who will help him do his work and his service for the U.S. military.

TODD (voice-over): While he was a devout Muslim, CNN has also learned Hasan frequented this strip club near Fort Hood in the weeks leading up to the shootings. Hendi says that runs counter to Islam too.

HENDI: For me, everything that he did is against the teachings of Islam. Killing fellow soldiers, fellow citizen men and women, the shooting, the bloodshed, it speaks of someone who did not understand his faith very well. Islam is against going to strip clubs, but it's also against killing fellow citizens.

TODD: Hasan has been charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder at Fort Hood. He's not pled to the charges. CNN terrorism analyst Peter Bergen says that with this defense of suicide bombings, the giving away of his possessions and the way he dressed, Nidal Hasan seemed to be preparing for his own death.

PETER BERGEN, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: I think what he was doing was sort of a jihadist death by cop. Here's a guy who, obviously, had personal problems. He's alone or avoids women, basically, has few friends, and then on to that, he finds sort of jihadist ideology as a way of sort of making sense of everything and he decides to martyr himself.

TODD (on camera): Bergen and other experts say Hasan could be someone who engaged in what they call self-radicalization, the idea that militant religion might provide an answer to psychological problems that someone already has.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Police still investigating the death of Chicago Board of Education president Michael Scott. The medical examiner, however, says it was suicide.

Scott's body was discovered yesterday near a loading dock along the Chicago River. Police say there was a gunshot wound to his head. The leader of the troubled school district was last seen Sunday evening. Right now, police are looking for security camera video and tracking the registration of a gun found with Scott. They're also trying to find out if Scott possibly left a suicide note.

Well, a racially-charged trial begins tomorrow in Missouri, and it all started with a woman who cut in line at a Wal-Mart. The trial is set to take place in Dunklin County in Missouri, where race relations have taken a turn for the worse there.

Supporters of the accused say Heather Ellis (ph), who is a young black woman, was physically and emotionally mistreated by local police and Wal-Mart workers after an incident in the store's checkout line some three years ago. This all escalated and Ellis (ph) was arrested for resisting arrest, assaulting police and disturbing the peace.

As you can see, some of these pictures here about the racially charged, the Ku Klux Klan has gotten involved. It's kind of gotten ugly.

Again, this was all over somebody in line. Ellis (ph) actually accuses some of the white customers and also some of the white workers there at Wal-Mart of calling her names and using racial slurs. Now, if she is convicted in this case, she faces up to 15 years in prison. She says she was trying to just join her cousin, whose checkout line was moving a little faster. Others say, however, she was acting belligerent.

Well, is your privacy dying a virtual death? How many times do you give out that credit card number on the Internet? Maybe your bank account information, some personal information? You've probably got a romantic liaison or two you probably wish you could take back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Some of your top stories this hour.

Fifteen additional charges are leveled against five male members of a Missouri family after a third alleged victim has come forward. Burrell Mohler Sr. and four of his sons accused of molesting young relatives for years on end. All of the alleged victims younger than 12. All of this allegedly happened back in the '80s and '90s.

Well, a temporary math teacher in suburban Atlanta accused of trying to put a hit out on a student. He is now on paid administrative leave. Police say Randolph Forde -- you see there -- was arrested for making terrorist (ph) threats. Forde's attorney says this is all a misunderstanding and was meant only as a joke. Police don't think it's hilarious.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OFFICER OTIS WILLIS, CLAYTON COUNTY POLICE: The teacher held a piece of paper up with the victim's name on it, advising that he was going to have a hit on that student.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People say they're going to do something in this day and time, they just might do it. So we're pretty scared.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Also, she was the female accomplice in the 2002 abduction of Elizabeth Smart, and now she's now pleaded guilty in a deal with prosecutors. Sixty-four-year-old Wanda Barzee says she now realizes the role she played in the kidnapping and she has apologized to the court. Barzee was the common law wife of Smart's alleged abuser, Brian David Mitchell, and will reportedly testify against him.

Well, just 24 hours ago, right about this time yesterday, we were watching the Space Shuttle Atlantis take off for the International Space Station. It's still on its way.

It's up there floating around and whatnot, but hasn't gotten to the space station just yet. It will be there tomorrow. Right now, the crew checking the shuttle for any damage, making sure it's OK after yesterday's launch.

(WEATHER REPORT)

HOLMES: Chad, you been doing any reading today?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: No, not much. What do you got?

HOLMES: New book out, "Going Rogue."

MYERS: Ooh, yes. I didn't get my copy yet.

HOLMES: Yes, with Sarah Palin. Yes. All right.

Well, a lot of people are getting their copies today. It hit the shelves, you could buy it today. Everybody is running out. A lot of people are getting their hands on it, trying to see what the former Alaska governor and former vice presidential candidate has to say.

But you know who found out first what she had to say? Oprah Winfrey. She had the interview, the big interview with her first.

So, exactly how did that go? Our Carol Costello asked.

CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: T.J., I sat down with four very sharp women -- a conservative, a Republican, an Independent and a Libertarian, to watch Oprah versus Palin. They didn't know what to expect. And when Oprah was over, they expected a lot more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: Today, all new, the world exclusive -- Oprah and former vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin.

COSTELLO (voice-over): Maybe Oprah laid it on a little thick. World exclusive info?

(on camera): What was the strongest part of the interview? I mean, what really stood out? Anything?

MARIANNA PICCIOCCHI, CONSERVATIVE, ATTORNEY: It was boring.

COSTELLO: You thought it was boring?

PICCIOCCHI: It wasn't compelling.

JAMIE MAARTEN, LIBERTARIAN, PRES. COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY LIBERTARIANS: I have to agree. I mean, she was well spoken and she did look nice, but I feel it stops there.

COSTELLO (voice-over): Meet Jamie, a Libertarian; Marianna, a conservative; Joyce, a Republican; and Leighann, an Independent.

OPRAH WINFREY, TALK SHOW HOST: Please welcome Sarah Palin.

COSTELLO: They already see the value in Sarah Palin's personal story. They don't much care about Levi Johnston posing for "Playgirl" or Katie Couric's interview. They want substance.

MAARTEN: I don't feel like there's a lot of political substance, and I don't know if you girls feel like that, but...

JOYCE GIUFFRA, REPUBLICAN, FORMER PRESS SECRETARY, SEN. BOB DOLE: No. Supposedly, in a 432-page book, only 13 pages were dedicated to policy issues, which I think is a little bit telling of even, you know, her interview or her dedication to really looking...

MAARTEN: I find that troubling.

COSTELLO: It's troubling for some because of Palin's exalted position within the Republican Party.

PICCIOCCHI: When I ask my friends -- who, of course, are all liberal -- and I'm like, "So, you know, what do you think of Palin?" "Oh, I don't like her. She's dumb." They don't have any substantive basis for that opinion.

COSTELLO: There were a few substantive matters that resonated, like Palin's decision to have a baby with Down Syndrome.

SARAH PALIN (R), FORMER ALASKAN GOVERNOR: It was easy to understand why a woman would feel that it's easier to just do away with some less than ideal circumstances, to do away with the problem. LEIGHANN LORD, INDEPENDENT, STANDUP COMEDIAN/BLOGGER: In a way, she almost trivialized the serious decision of abortion that some women make.

PICCIOCCHI: You know, (INAUDIBLE) the opposite.

LORD: No. No.

COSTELLO: Again, these women wanted debate and didn't get it, and know they probably wouldn't.

(on camera): So, are any of you going to buy her book? Oh.

LORD: I'm being a fiscal conservative right now, and I'm going to take it out of the library.

PICCIOCCHI: Yes. Exactly. I couldn't afford that right now.

GIUFFRA: Why would you want to buy it when we have all the excerpts on the -- on the Internet?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COSTELLO: All of these women like some aspect of Sarah Palin. They just think if she keeps on selling celebrity and not politics, eventually people will stop listening altogether -- T.J.

HOLMES: All right.

Well, President Obama currently on stop three of four he's making on his Asian tour. And a lot of people think this might be his most important stop to our Chinese creditors.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: A lot of people wondering right now when exactly they'll be able to get the H1N1 vaccine. When is there going to be enough to go around? Maybe coming out of this room today. This is a committee over in the Senate, it's the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, that's going to be asking some tough questions of some Health and Human Services employees trying to get to the bottom of this.

The government purchased 250 million doses, but so far shipments have been just a bit behind. Only expected to have 13 million available by the end of the year. We, of course, will be monitoring that and bring you any news that jumps out.

Also, more people being affected by the swine flu than anyone really thought. New numbers from the CDC, some 22 million people infected. That's a low estimate, however, the actual figure could be 10 million higher. About 98,000 people have gotten so sick they've had to be hospitalized. Also, so far, 3,900 people have died from that virus and complications related to it. But again, these are all estimates. The actual toll could be as high as 6,000.

So much to talk about, so little time. President Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao have been talking about climate change, clear energy, nukes, trade, human rights, you name it during the president's stop in Beijing. President Obama says both leaders benefit from their relationship despite their differences. He says China's been helping the U.S. out of the recession.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: As President Hu has indicated, we discussed what's required to sustain this economic recovery so that economic growth is followed by the creation of new jobs and a lasting prosperity. So far China's partnership has proved critical in our effort to pull ourselves out of the worst recession in generations.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: However, many Americans see China's money as more of a menace than a helping hand. A new CNN Opinion Research Poll suggests more than 70 percent of Americans agree that China is an economic threat. A military threat, not really. Barely half the poll respondents think so with a margin of error of 4.5 percentage points.

The president's next stop and his last stop on his Asian tour is going to be Seoul. He'll meet with South Korea's president and speak to U.S. troops. He comes back to the U.S. on Friday.

Also tomorrow, our Ed Henry, who's been traveling with the president, is going to be sitting down with the president for an interview to talk about that Beijing trip and a whole lot more. That full interview on AMERICAN MORNING, tomorrow morning starting at 6:00 a.m. Eastern time.

Well, you log in, you kiss that privacy goodbye. If you think the photos of you and your kids are safe on any social media site? Think again, posting something private online can jump up and bite you in the butt.

Jean Meserve has a cautionary tale.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Dick Hardt put photos of his Hawaiian wedding on Facebook to share with close friends. But when he made mention of it on Twitter, he didn't know a link would be attached, giving more than 3,000 followers access to some rather intimate images.

DICK HARDT, PUT PHOTOS ON FACEBOOK: We didn't think they were offensive in any way, but my wife didn't prefer for everybody to see those photos.

MESERVE: While his case was embarrassing, others are downright dangerous. Sarah Downey was horrified when a picture of her young daughter was hijacked from her Flicker account and used in a sexually suggestive Portuguese-language profile on orchid.com, a social networking site.

SARAH DOWNEY, PRIVACY WAS EXPLOITED: It broke my heart. It broke my heart.

MESERVE: Downey posted a translation to warn other Flicker users, but then she says total strangers exploited the Internet to find her phone number and, worse, her home address.

DOWNEY: We would go to the grocery store and I'd wonder, has this person seen my daughter? Are they here, you know, trying to find us? Trying to, you know, get close with my daughter?

MESERVE: Since then Downey has tried to protect her private information. Has it worked? With her permission, we gave her name to Steven Rambam, a private investigator who harvests information from the Internet. In less than 90 seconds, he turns up 100 pages of possible links.

STEVEN RAMBAM, PRIVATE INVESTIGATOR: Frankly, anything you'd want to know about this -- this young lady seems to be available on the web.

MESERVE: On sites like YouTube, Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter, more and more Americans are making their private information public. Put it together with public documents like newspaper accounts and property records and a portrait emerges.

Take Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Using free, publicly available information on the Internet, a Fordham University law school class came up with 15 pages of information, including Scalia's home address and phone number, even the movies and foods he likes.

JOEL REIDENBERG, FORDHAM UNIVERSITY LAW SCHOOL: If we were willing to spend $100 for the project, we would have been able to acquire far more intrusive, far scarier information.

MESERVE: Private investigator Rambam says any time you hit the "send" button, your information is no longer your own. He says your frequent flier program, movie account, book purchases, even some searches can be tracked, stored, and sometimes sold.

RAMBAM: I have a window into your soul. I know what you believe. I know what you think. I know who your family is. I know who your friends are. I know your politics.

MESERVE (on camera): Orchid.com says it has updated its policies and tools to find and remove fake profiles like the one of Sarah Downey's daughter. And Google says it gives customers the tools they need to protect their personal information. Many of us could be more careful.

In addition, some privacy experts would like to see standardized and simplified website privacy policies or even government restrictions on secondhand use of private information. MESERVE (voice-over): Steven Rambam sees a lot of positives to having so much information on the Internet and says the genie is already out of the bottle.

RAMBAM: Ten years from now, you're going to have a choice of getting used to minimal privacy or subleasing the Unabomber's cabin. That's going to be your two choices. The fact of the matter is, there's nowhere to hide.

MESERVE: As Rambam puts it, privacy is dead. Get over it.

Jeanne Meserve, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Something else you possibly blame on the digital age, the financial bruises on the postal service. And to save money, they're looking at leaving your mailbox empty one day. Guess which day that is?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Checking some of our top stories today, a whole lot of confusion about breast cancer screening today. A government task force to come out and says most women in their 40s now do not need to get routine mammograms. Most insurance companies follow the advice of this influential task force, so critics wonder could the recommendations place a premium on saving money over saving lives.

Also, President Obama and his Chinese counterpart sharing some common ground in Beijing. After meeting today, they promised to work together to stop the spread of nuclear weapons and create clean energy and combat climate change. The two leaders also discussed areas that they disagree on like expanding human rights.

Also, some of Bernie Madoff's cherished possessions on the auction block today. Among the items up for bids, a vintage 55-foot yacht. Two smaller boats also up on the auction block; also, his Mercedes. The money raised will help victims of the imprisoned financier's massive Ponzi scheme.

Well, some extra dollars, stimulus dollars you may have gotten in your paycheck, that was a good thing for millions of Americans out there. Got some bad news for you now. You might have to give some of it back to the government. The Treasury Department says more than 15 million people getting that so-called "Making Work Pay" credit might be getting more than they should. And they could get less of a tax refund next year or you could end up owing the IRS. The credit is part of a stimulus package passed in February. Those who might feel the pinch include working teens who are claimed as dependants, people with more than one job, households where both spouses work and retirees.

Well, for millions of people, the recession has played out in the worst possible way, losing a home to foreclosure. And even though the economy is growing and there are signs of hope, a new report says many people are still falling behind on their mortgage payments.

Susan Lisovicz at the New York Stock Exchange with the details here for us.

Susan, hello to you again. We know it has been ugly out there, but just how bad are these numbers you're talking about?

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Terrible and it's been terrible for some time, TJ. Mortgage delinquencies hit a record high in the last quarter, 6.25 percent of mortgages were at least two months late. And as anybody who's paid a mortgage bill knows, it's pretty hard to get out from under that if you're more than two months late on it. That compares, 6.25 percent compares, to less than 4 percent a year ago.

And basically what we have been seeing, TJ, is that the delinquency rate for mortgage payments has increased every quarter since 2007, nearly three full years. The states with the highest delinquency rates -- Nevada, Florida, Arizona, California, all in the double digits. On the flip side, mortgage delinquency rates, the lowest in the country, North and South Dakota. What housing crisis? They're each around 2 percent or under.

HOLMES: But these numbers, you talked about, I think you said since '07 they have been going up every quarter? What's it going to take to turn it around? To finally start seeing those numbers go down a quarter or two?

LISOVICZ: It's pretty basic. It's two things, TJ. It's higher home values and lower unemployment. People have a tough time making a big payment like a mortgage payment when they lose their job or the value of their home falls so low that they owe more on their mortgage than what their home is worth.

Now the silver lining here is that we're starting to see home prices inch higher. Just starting. But obviously we have a long way to go. The other thing is that the rate of mortgage delinquencies slowed for the last quarter for the third quarter in a row. We're still at record numbers, but it's slowing. It's a painful recovery, but you're starting to see things move in the right direction. It's just going to take a long time, TJ.

HOLMES: That's something, we'll take that now. Even though they're still going up, they're not going up as much as they were.

LISOVICZ: That's right.

HOLMES: Susan Lisovicz, thank you as always.

LISOVICZ: You're welcome.

HOLMES: Well you might possibly eliminate that stroll down to the mailbox on Saturdays if the Post Office has its way. Post Office way in the hole, planning to propose to Congress next year that Saturday mail delivery be dropped. The Postal Service has already cut some 40,000 jobs, but it's still reporting a nearly $4 billion loss for the year. They blame in part the recession, also more and more people are doing all of their business online. You know, a lot of you do that, doing your banking online, so you're not dropping those bills in the mail with the stamp on them anymore.

Well some disturbing numbers. Disturbing trend we're hearing now about more Americans going hungry. The Agriculture Department is reporting an unprecedented spike in the number of people struggling to put food on the table. Felicia Taylor is in the CNNMoney.com newsroom in New York.

Felicia, this is some disturbing stuff to hear about, what's happening, quite frankly, right next door to all of us.

FELICIA TAYLOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's true, TJ, this isn't a problem that you'd think we'd have in this country. We often talk about the obesity problem, but here's the flip side, 17 million households, accounting for one of every six Americans, had trouble putting food on the table last year. And that is up 31 percent from 2007 to the highest level recorded since the Agriculture Department starting counting this information in 1995. More than 500,000 of the households reporting a lack of food also are homes that had children.

Even hunger advocates that we spoke to are shocked by these numbers. The head of the organization Bread For the World says he knew the situation was bad based on reports from food pantries, but he called the official government numbers, quote, "appalling, stunning and even unbelievable" -- TJ.

HOLMES: I guess, how is the White House, how is the government in any way addressing what you're now talking about, these numbers?

TAYLOR: President Obama admitted that the report is indeed unsettling and he says that more needs to be done, the first task is job growth. That will help alleviate the economic pressure that so many American families are feeling right now. The stimulus bill included $20 million for food stamps and hundreds of millions for food banks and school lunch programs.

But the real test of the administration's commitment is going to happen next year. That's when Congress is expected to pass a new childhood nutrition program. Advocates that we talked to want to see it expanded to see more food provided during the summer and more school breakfast programs. We'll see, of course, what kind of funding the president actually pushes for, but admittedly, given the demand on the government's purse strings and the size of our deficit, it could really be difficult to get additional funding for these types of programs.

But if you want to hear more about the story, you can check it on CNNmoney.com -- TJ.

HOLMES: All right, Felicia Taylor for us. We appreciate you, thank you so much.

Well, folks, do you remember the days you get a knock on the door and it's just a cute little girl wanting to sell you some Girl Scout cookies. Well, when was the last time you got a knock on the door and the guy was trying to sell you some weed? We're going to introduce you to a 19-year-old entrepreneur in Brownsville, Texas.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: An exclusive "AC360" investigation starting tonight. It reveals why four Iraqi prisoners were shot execution style at a Baghdad canal. Three Army sergeants were convicted of gunning down those detainees. CNN obtained nearly 24 hours of Army interrogation videotapes that detail the crime. And tonight, special investigations unit correspondent Abbie Boudreau talks to a soldier who says the sergeants did the right thing.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ABBIE BOUDREAU, CNN SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS UNIT CORRESPONDENT (on camera): The soldier we talked to was one of the last to see the men alive. He describes how his first sergeant decided not to take the four Iraqis they had just captured to a detainee center. He feared they would be released since there was not enough evidence to hold them.

I asked Joshua Hartson what happened before the men were killed.

JOSHUA HARTSON, FORMER PRIVATE FIRST CLASS: My first sergeant comes up to me and pulls me away from everybody. Then he asks me if we take them to the detainee facility, the DEHA (ph), that they're going to be right back on the streets doing the same thing in a matter of weeks. He asked if I had a problem if we took care of them and I told him no.

BOUDREAU: And what do you think he meant by that?

HARTSON: To kill them.

BOUDREAU: How could you be OK with that?

HARTSON: They were bad guys. If we were to let them go or take them in we risk the chance of them getting out and killing us, killing other people.

BOUDREAU: The four Iraqi men were lined up next to the Baghdad Canal and killed. All three sergeants were eventually convicted of premeditated murder.

We take a hard look at the Army's policy for detaining prisoners in our four-part investigation, "KILLINGS AT THE CANAL, THE ARMY TAPES." It begins tonight on "AC360."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Don't miss "KILLINGS AT THE CANAL" tonight 10:00 Eastern "AC360" only right here on CNN. You don't want to miss that. You don't want miss what's coming up just about eight minutes from now. That's Team Sanchez, Rick Sanchez, always trying to look busy.

That's all right. It was a good look. How you doing back there, buddy?

RICK SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: I was writing something actually. I'm going to tell you what I was writing about cause it's interesting. It has to do with -- you know all this buzz going around, right, TJ, between the McCain camp essentially saying that Sarah Palin was dishonest in what she's written in her book? Well there's parts of that story that actually begins about a year ago when the McCain camp started calling Sarah Palin dishonest after something she had complained about after watching this newscast, after watching our hour at 3:00. It's detailed in the book. I'm going to be talking to the authors of the folks who wrote this book, it's called "Sarah From Alaska," and we're going to go into that considerably.

And also, huge story involving the NAACP and a Wal-Mart store and a huge protest, and we are all over that. In fact, we're leading with that story.

HOLMES: Yes, that story's just gotten out of hand. It's a tough one.

All right, we'll see you here in a few minutes. Thanks so much, Rick.

SANCHEZ: All right, T.

HOLMES: Well, if you're out there trying to sell something. You can sit back and wait for buyers to come find you, or you can hit the pavement, hit the streets, knock on some doors and find your customers. Well, don't know if this was the best option when your product is marijuana. The case of 19-year-old Anthony Carasco in Brownsville, Texas, he allegedly sold marijuana door to door in an apartment complex knocking on doors. He was said to be drunk at the time. And so sure enough, he kept a knocking and he knocked on the wrong door, on the other side was a guy with a badge.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SGT. JIMMY MANRRIQUE, BROWNSVILLE, TEXAS, POLICE: He asked me if he wants to buy marijuana that he has a bag of marijuana, he even has his own scale, he can weigh out however much you wanted.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Man, if he could apply that entrepreneurial spirit in another way, he'd be a star. Police say Carasco also had a gun and legally all this is even worse because he was busted near a university campus which is designated a drug and weapons free zone.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, bodies sold and dreams stolen. For women from poverty ridden villages in Indonesia, becoming a migrant worker is their only chance for a better life. For some, though, the pursuit of their dreams turns into their worst nightmare.

CNN's Arwa Damon reports from Jakarta. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Sunarsi (ph) is not this woman's real name. And no one, not even her family, knows what happened to her.

"My family was poor. I had to drop out of school," she tells us. "I met many successful migrant workers, and their stories enticed me."

To break out of her impoverished existence in the village, she decided to look for a job overseas as domestic help. At 17, Sunarsi (ph) went to what she thought was a legitimate company. There, she says she was handpicked by a Saudi man who wanted a tall, brown- skinned, virgin maid.

"It was a dream for someone like me," she remembers. "I was so proud. My friends told me how lucky I was to be chosen that quick."

She was expected to care for the man's disabled father. Two weeks after she arrived, the horrors began.

"He asked me to give him a massage every night, using a vibrator on his privates," she says. "Of course, the first time, I refused to do it. But then he threatened me. He insisted and got very angry and said he wouldn't pay my salary." She says his nine sons also molested her.

She tells us how she eventually ran away and ended up in a shelter in Saudi Arabia run by Indonesians. She thought she'd been saved.

"They promised to get me a job that would get me more money than before," she says. "They told me to dress up because the employer was a foreigner." Instead, she says, she was sold to a pimp for about $1,300. A sex slave.

For more than a year, her life would be living hell. She says she was violently raped and sodomized.

"I felt like I was dying. It would have been better for me to commit suicide," she remembers. "I was humiliated. They treated me like an animal."

She says she only managed to escape when Saudi police raided the operation. She was detained for six months and deported.

UNICEF estimates that around 100,000 women and children are trafficked yearly as sex slaves, both within and outside of Indonesia. The more reputable agencies are equipping their migrants with the basics of self-defense, along with the skills they'll need to be high- quality domestic help.

(on camera): These women are all undergoing their final examination. If they pass, they'll travel sometime in the next two weeks. But as familiar as they may become with these types of day-to- day tasks, they're still going to a foreign land, leaving their families and their support system behind.

(voice-over): The majority will be successful. Others will see their lives and happiness stolen from them.

As she breaks her silence of 15 years, Sunarsi (ph) says, "I'm nearly 40 and I've never known true happiness."

Arwa Damon, CNN, Jakarta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)