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Duct Tape Prom; Cleveland Diocese Closes Some Churches; AIG Bonuses
Aired March 15, 2009 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Downsizing now hitting churches, The Cleveland Diocese is closing long-time houses of worship.
And a unique prom: colorful outfits, yes, but there's no silk, satin or taffeta here. It's all duct tape. Hello, everyone. I'm Fredricka Whitfield and you're in the CNN NEWSROOM.
Your tax dollars at work. Big bonus checks go out today to some of the executives blamed for the U.S. financial meltdown. Critics say it's an outrage. AIG has received more than $170 billion in taxpayer bailout money. Today the company is sending $165 million in bonuses to executives in its financial products unit. That's the very unit responsible for the risky deals that brought AIG to the brink of collapse prompting the taxpayer bailout.
AIG says the bonuses are required by contracts, but the Obama administration is not happy. CNN's Elaine Quijano is at the White House. Elaine, the government owns most of AIG now. Why can't it do anything to stop this?
ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, as you know that this all boils down to contracts. What happened here is that AIG entered into these agreements before it started getting any of this government money, before these efforts to help AIG. It agreed to pay these bonuses, and so now they are obligated to fulfill what they said they would do and pay these bonuses. That is the argument, that's the reasoning. But the Obama administration says, look, we did try.
Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner did try to lean on AIG to pull back on some of these payments. Here is the White House's chief economist Christina Romer.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRISTINA ROMER, CHWMN, COUN. OF ECONOMIC ADVISERS: We're the first people to be angry. So absolutely Secretary Geithner has been furious and has been pushing back, urging them to re-negotiate this. We're pursuing every legal means to deal with it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUIJANO: Now, the Obama administration did get AIG to scale back some of the bonuses, but as you can imagine, Fredricka, there is still some outrage on Main Street. In fact, I talked to some tourists outside the Treasury Department. They say this basically smacks of injustice at a time when American taxpayers are worried about making ends meet. Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: So I realize Christine Romer said that they're going to look into the, I guess, legal obstacles, but does it seem difficult for the government to be able to take away the bonuses because of, I guess, the more recent agreement to make sure that there's a cap on bonuses to anyone receiving government funds, bailout money?
QUIJANO: Yes. It's complicated, but basically to answer your question what the government says is that, yes, there are rules in place now on executive compensation, right? But because these agreements were entered into before the government started to help the companies like AIG, that these contracts and these bonuses fall outside the scope of these new rules.
So it looks like a very difficult situation for the Obama administration right now but they're trying to see if there's some avenue perhaps around the contracts, not clear yet though, Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: All right. Elaine Quijano, thanks so much, from the White House. Appreciate it.
Well, AIG's collapse took place just at a time the economy went into this tailspin. All week we're actually taking an in-depth look at the money meltdown that is changing your life. Who can lead us out of this crisis? What do all the numbers really mean? And where are the jobs exactly? "Road to Rescue, the CNN Survival Guide" all this week.
President Obama is again focused on the economy this weekend. He began meeting with his economic advisers just last hour. Tomorrow he's giving a talk at the Department of Veterans Affairs. Tuesday, he is heading to Capitol Hill for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi St. Patrick Day's luncheon. And then on Wednesday watch for confirmation hearings for the president's commerce secretary nominee Gary Locke.
During his eight years as vice president, Dick Cheney developed a reputation for being blunt and outspoken. He has not mellowed in retirement. He gave an exclusive interview to John King today on CNN's "State of the Union." CNN's Kate Bolduan takes a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In his first television interview since leaving the White House, former Vice President Dick Cheney criticized President Obama telling CNN's John King Mr. Obama is endangering the country by dismantling Bush era policies on terrorism.
JOHN KING, CNN HOST: Do you believe the president of the United States has made Americans less safe?
DICK CHENEY, FMR. U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: I do. I think those programs were absolutely essential to the success we enjoyed of being able to collect the intelligence that led us defeat all further attempts to launch attacks against the United States since 9/11.
BOLDUAN: Cheney defended the Bush legacy, but was conciliatory towards President Obama on Iraq for listening to his commanders on the ground. At the same time Cheney called Iraq a success.
CHENEY: I guess my general sense of where we are with respect to Iraq at the end of now, what, nearly six years, is that we've accomplished nearly everything we set out to do.
BOLDUAN: The former vice president criticize the Obama administration for using the economic crisis to justify and force sweeping changes to health care and environmental policy. Cheney rejected the claim the Bush administration is to blame for the faltering economy even though they came into office with a budget surplus and left with a deficit of $1.3 trillion.
CHENEY: We ended up with two wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Some of that still very active. We had major problems with respect to things like Katrina, for example, all of these things required us to spend money that we had not originally planned to spend and weren't originally part of the budget. Stuff happens, and the administration has to be able to respond to that, and we did.
BOLDUAN (on-camera): Cheney said he disagreed with President Bush's strategy on Iran and North Korea but was careful not to criticize his former boss. There was, he says, deep disagreement however over his former chief of staff, Scooter Libby. Cheney said Libby was left hanging in the wind and deserved a pardon after being convicted of perjury. President Bush refused. Kate Bolduan, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: And more on the vice president, as we talk to our senior political analyst, Bill Schneider, coming up.
NASA, well, it's growing more confident for the launch of the space shuttle "Discovery," that it will actually go off without a glitch in about three hours from now. Repairs have apparently taken care of dangerous leaks - of a dangerous leak rather that forced them to scrub an earlier attempt.
Our John Zarrella is at the Kennedy Space Center in what appeared to be very sunny skies thus far there in Florida. So what's the latest on what might be the other hitch, the uninvited guest?
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Fredricka. You mean the eighth astronaut, the unauthorized astronaut. Well, yes -
WHITFIELD: Exactly.
ZARRELLA: NASA actually has found out that on the backside here of the space shuttle on the giant external tank about a third of the way up there's a little black bat who has attached himself to the vehicle. Now, NASA is hoping that when shuttle "Discovery" lifts off that the bat will actually fly away, hopefully plenty of time to get away, but they don't believe it poses any danger to the vehicle itself. The astronauts have just passed by us here at the press site. They are on their way out to launch pad 39A for that launch of "Discovery," 7:43 p.m. Eastern time this evening. Now, the mission is a 13-day mission. Three space walks involved in this mission to the International Space Station. One of the big things they're going to be doing is they're going to be deploying solar arrays, the last set of solar arrays, so the space station will have full power, meaning they can actually have six people instead of the three permanently in orbit in the space station. And I have a gentleman joining me today, Carter Reznick from Boeing, and Carter, let's show the viewers out there. We don't get to see this - this is a piece, right, Carter?
CARTER REZNICK, BOEING ENGINEER: This is.
ZARRELLA: It's thin, small material, thin.
REZNICK: Right. This represents about 1/400th of one of the blankets. There's two blankets on each solar array. We'll be slipping up 15 kilowatts of power for the space station.
ZARRELLA: And this literally folds up like this, and it would be five panels wide and --
REZNICK: That's right. And when it stretches out it's 82 panels long and the whole thing when it folds down according to style, it's only two inches thick.
ZARRELLA: Two inches thick. And when it's fully deployed, it's like 115 feet.
REZNICK: 115 feet.
ZARRELLA: And these are the collectors up here on the front?
REZNICK: Right. So the sun hits the solar cells here, and the electrons move around inside the matrix and provides power into the collectors on the back side and then it flows over here onto the side where the electricity flows down into the space station.
ZARRELLA: That's absolutely fascinating. So Fredricka, for our viewers to get an idea, just look at this. It's amazing how thin it is and, yes, and the fact that they can produce so much power for the space station. Again, once this last set of arrays is up there, right, Carter, then at that point they will have full power for the space station.
REZNICK: Full power, about 120 kilowatts for the space station.
ZARRELLA: Great. Thank you so much for taking some time to show that to us. And Fredricka, you know, we're going to have Japanese astronauts flying, Koichi Wakata. He'll be up there. He's actually going to stay on the space station. Sandra Magnus, who has been up there is coming back down. Koichi Wakata, the Japanese astronaut will actually be up there for about 2 1/2, three months until he comes back down on a future space shuttle flight. But again, everything looks good. Keeping our fingers crossed, about 3 1/2 hours now to lift off and of course, we're going to carry it here live on CNN. Fredricka. WHITFIELD: Yes, all right. Fingers are crossed. Let's hope it all works out. I like that solar panel. I want something like that on my rooftop and everybody else's rooftop.
ZARRELLA: Very cool.
WHITFIELD: Maybe we can make an arrangement with NASA.
ZARRELLA: We'll see if he can outfit your roof with some of that.
WHITFIELD: I like it. Thank you so much, John. Appreciate it.
Now, let's talk a little bit more about the weather and whether it could indeed impact the scheduled shuttle launch. Let's find out from Jacqui Jeras focusing on that. Hey, Jacqui.
JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: You know, overall things look pretty good. We got some scattered clouds across the area. If there would be one weather-related issue that could hold it up, it would have to do with what our ceiling is and what percentage of cloud cover that we have out there. You know, the sky has to be 75 percent clear in order for the shuttle to be able to take off, and we have been seeing you know, a little bit of buildup off shore, a couple of showers here and a couple of cumulus clouds.
If these are within 11 miles, you know, that could be enough to hold it up. But right now they're far enough away, and we're hopeful that that's going to be the end of it, but it will be a situation that we'll be watching very closely. Now, the probability of the launch will be lesser over the next couple of days because a big cold front that's been bringing in all the lousy weather across the southeast, this is going to be sinking southward.
So we're going to see increasing cloudiness over the next couple of days. So if we don't take off tonight, it's going to be, you know, less of a probability because of the weather. So we're going to say an 80 percent chance due to weather-related reasons that this will be able to take off. You know, a couple clouds, that's about it. All the rain staying well up to the north, we think. Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: OK. Thanks so much. That's a pretty positive outlook. Appreciate it, Jacqui.
All right. Church downsizing, a shortage of priests and a tough economy. Shutting down dozens of parishes in one city.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Police in Miami say a gunman barged into a birthday party today and killed four people before turning the gun on himself. The Associated Press says the victims included the gunman's estranged wife, her mother and daughter and the daughter's boyfriend. It was the boyfriends' birthday that they were celebrating.
Going on this hour in Alabama, funeral services for two of the 10 people killed during a gunman's rampage last week. Deputy Josh Miers is burying his 31-year-old wife, Andrea, and 18-month-old daughter, Corine. Miers joined the pursuit of the gunman, Michael McClendon without even knowing that his wife and daughter had been killed. McClendon turned his gun on himself as officers were actually closing in on him.
A test of faith this morning in Maryville, Illinois. Parishioners of the First Baptist Church returned to the pews for the first time since their pastor was killed while giving his Sunday sermon one week ago today. The suspect, Terry Sedlacek has been charged with first- degree murder and is being held without bail. Today's guest preacher recalled when his church in Texas was the target of a gunman's deadly rampage 10 years ago.
The economy is taking its toll on America's churches. The Catholic diocese in Cleveland has announced plans to eliminate 52 parishes by July of next year.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROB THOMPSON, CATHOLIC CHURCH PARISHIONER: Unfortunately, this is a very active parish in the community. We do a lot for the community of Christians here in the city, but we also do a lot for the neighborhood in general by having AA meetings here, our school issues by another schooling group. We have a meal for the poor every week. We have very successful Lenten fish fries and activities here for our parish.
MARY THERESE SLOTA, CATHOLIC CHURCH PARISHIONER: We don't want the spirit to die. We don't want this community to die because we are the church. This is a beautiful building, and we love it, and we've worked together to keep it in good shape, but we are the church, and we hope to continue.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: The bishop in Cleveland says more than 40 percent of the churches are operating at a deficit. Also factoring into the decision, fewer priests.
All right. Banks that took billions in taxpayer bailout money are now profiting by charging fees to many out of work Americans. CNN investigates.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: All right. You know, the fees those banks charge for using debit cards. They can nickel and dime you in a hurry. Well now, get this, a lot of states are actually paying out unemployment benefits with debit cards, but there's a catch. Drew Griffin of our Special Investigations Unit reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SPECIAL INVESTIGATIONS UNIT CORRESPONDENT: Where are we?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is west Philadelphia. GRIFFIN: Steve Lippe didn't mind taking us on a little tour of his neighborhood. The salesman has plenty of time on his hands after being laid off in January. He also has plenty of time to read the fine print on his bills, and when he read this fine print, he became livid.
These are the fees attached to his unemployment benefits, actually to a debit card he got from the state. When he filed for unemployment, Pennsylvania gave him the option, wait 10 days for a check or get this card immediately.
STEVE LIPPE, UNEMPLOYED SALESMAN: You have no choice but to accept the debit card. I was livid that this situation existed. I just couldn't believe it. You know, it's an outrage to pick a word. It's obscene.
GRIFFIN: 30 states run similar programs contracting with a dozen big banks to distribute unemployment benefits on debit cards, and allowing banks to charge fees to the unemployed. The contracts do allow a limited number of free transactions but that's not good enough says New York Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney.
REP. CAROLYN MALONEY (D), NEW YORK: Fees should not be attached to unemployment benefits that the taxpayers are paying for to help Americans, particularly these fees should not be attached by banks that are getting TARP money or being supported by the tax dollars.
GRIFFIN: Keeping them honest, we went to JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, and Wachovia, who all referred us to state governments, including Pennsylvania, where Steve Lippe is being charged. Pennsylvania's acting secretary of labor is Sandy Vito. Her staff invited us to Allentown where Vito was participating in this public meeting. Afterwards we were promised she would answer our questions about debit fees. But when the meeting was over, Vito was running from our camera. Suddenly too busy, her staff said, to talk to us.
GRIFFIN: Hi, Miss Vito. Drew Griffin with CNN.
SANDY VITO, ACTING LABOR SECRETARY, PENNSYLVANIA: I don't. I'm sorry.
GRIFFIN: We just have one question?
VITO: I don't, I'm sorry.
GRIFFIN: As she dashed out the door, her press secretary tried to explain why unemployed workers in Pennsylvania were being charged fees to get their unemployment benefits.
TROY THOMPSON, PENNSYLVANIA LABOR DEPT.: The distribution system for getting individuals their benefits has been improved by the use of debit cards.
GRIFFIN: Lippe says he's learned to be careful when getting his money, trying to limit his activity, but on the day we met he was charged 40 cents just to check his balance. You're not getting much, are you?
LIPPE: No, I'm not getting much, but the banks are getting $1.50, $3.50 times here how many thousands of people who are unemployed receiving benefits over 30 states as it turns out.
GRIFFIN: He says he's already being taxed on his unemployment benefits, charging him additional fees just to access the money is just one more insult, he says, to people who can afford it the least. Drew Griffin, CNN, Philadelphia.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: All right. Startling numbers of people don't have jobs, but that doesn't mean that they don't have hope. Next weekend we feature stories of optimism in these tough economic times. One person we talked to in this series happens to be the Georgia Labor Commissioner, Michael Thurmond. He was at the largest job fair in the state's history.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: It is major. When you look at the numbers, 598,000 jobs lost in January nationwide. February, 697,000 jobs lost. People are feeling really, I guess, depressed, and they're at a loss. They're not sure how to grapple with these numbers, and when you're one of those 697,000, you're wondering how am going to get back on my feet?
MICHAEL THURMOND, GEORGIA LABOR COMMISSIONER: First of all, I'm not just the commissioner of labor, I'm the commissioner of encouragement, the commissioner of hope, and the commissioner of inspiration. My primary job is to help people see that even in the most difficult times, do not give up hope. Don't give in. Don't give out, don't give up.
WHITFIELD: Why are you such an optimist?
THURMOND: Well, because I look at my own life. I grew up poor. We raised shire crop cotton in rural northeast Georgia. My daddy worked in the fields all of his life. The one thing that he kept was the true faith and a belief that tomorrow would be better than today. This is America. This is the greatest nation on the face of the earth. We faced greater challenges than this recession.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: All right. Next Saturday afternoon join us for "Jobless, not hopeless." We will follow people from the day they step into a job center until the day they get actually a job. "Jobless, not Hopeless" begins at noon Eastern next Saturday, followed by a great round table discussion at the 4:00 Eastern hour that day as well.
The Taliban defiant as ever, now a new threat from a top commander. Our Paula Newton spoke to him in an exclusive interview. We've got it for you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) WHITFIELD: Gassing up and getting ready for liftoff. The shuttle "Discovery" is poise to begin a delivery mission to the International Space Station. NASA engineers repaired "Discovery's" external fuel tank late last week but there's another problem today. A wayward bat refusing to leave the launch site.
And AIG's latest bonus bombshell is generating criticism from the White House to Congress. The insurance giant is paying out $165 million in bonuses today. The president's top economic adviser calls that outrageous. AIG received more than $170 billion in bailout money from taxpayers.
And what do you think about the AIG bonuses? An i-reporter from Sparks, Nevada, had a view choice words for AIG chairman Edward Liddy and other company executives.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GARY KUHRY, I-REPORTER: To put it in perspective for the upper echelon, OK, that means 18 holes of golf, average par is 72. You guys had 504 strokes to finish that 18 holes. Damn, you failed, OK? And you don't give raises for failure, OK? You don't give bonuses and raises for failure. I'd like an answer from Mr. Liddy on these facts and this commentary. Thank you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: All right. He's hot and so are a whole lot of other people. AIG's collapse last year helped send the economy into a tailspin. So all week we're taking an in-depth look at the money meltdown that's changing your life. Who can lead us out of this crisis? What do all the numbers really mean? And where are the jobs? "Road to Rescue, the CNN Survival Guide" all this week on CNN.
World financial leaders are vowing to do whatever is necessary to fix the global economic crisis. They met this weekend near London to lay the groundwork for next month's G-20 summit of world leaders.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TIMOTHY GEITHNER, TREASURY SECRETARY: You are seeing the world move together at a speed and on a scale without precedence in modern times. All the major economies are putting in place substantial fiscal packages. The stronger the response, the quicker recovery will come. And that's why the United States has passed the largest, most comprehensive recovery program in decades.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: The G-20 was formed 10 years ago to promote financial stability in the wake of the Asian and Russian financial crises. It includes the eight richest countries, Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, and the United States. The g-20 accounts for 80 percent of the world's trade and represents two-thirds of its population. A split decision at today's OPEC meeting in Austria. OPEC oil ministers will not cut their production quotas, but they will say that they will crack down on countries that exceed those quotas. Right now OPEC countries exceed their production quotas by 800,000 barrels a day. Ending that overproduction could reverse the recent downturn in oil prices.
In his first television interview since leaving office, former Vice President Cheney blasted the Obama administration on security. Cheney went one-on-one with CNN's John King in an exclusive interview on "State of the Union."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN KING, CNN HOST: Do you believe the president of the United States has made Americans less safe?
DICK CHENEY, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT: I do. I think those programs were absolutely essential to the success we enjoyed of being able to collect the intelligence that led us defeat all further attempts to launch attacks against the United States since 9/11. I think it's a great success story. It was done legally and in accordance with our constitutional practices and principles. President Obama campaigned against it all across the country and now he's making some choices that in my mind will, in fact, raise the risk to the American people of another attack.
KING: Is the president of the United States trying to brazenly deceive the American people?
CHENEY: Well, I think they've taken liberties.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: OK, joining us from Washington now, CNN's senior political analyst Bill Schneider. So Bill in a reaction to that statement in particular from Cheney that, yes, we are less safe?
BILL SCHNEIDER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: That's a very sensational charge. It reflects the frustration a lot of Republicans feel that their party and their candidate did not run hard enough last year on the argument that the Bush administration did keep the United States safe from further attacks after 9/11. That's a very arguable proposition.
In the interview with John King, the former vice president said he had seen reports specifically arguing that certain planned attacks were not carried out because of information that was gathered using these techniques. Is that true? I think historians want to look at the evidence there and sift through it and find out exactly what attacks were prevented and exactly what evidence was gained through these techniques, which were, of course, discontinued by the Obama administration and that will help us evaluate exactly what he said, but it's a very sensational charge.
WHITFIELD: And that's on security, and he also had some comments as it pertains to the financial crisis that this country is facing, and I guess what should be blamed on the Bush administration.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KING: The president says, well, we have a lot to do, but it's not my fault. I inherited a mess. Did you leave him a mess?
CHENEY: I don't think you can blame the Bush administration for the creation of those circumstances. It's a global, financial problem. We had, in fact, tried to deal with the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac problem years before with major reforms and were blocked by Democrats on the hill, Barney Frank and Chris Dodd. I think the notion that you can just sort of throw it off on the prior administration, that's interesting rhetoric, but I don't think anybody really cares a lot about that. What they care about is what's going to work and how we're going to get out of these difficulties.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: And I suppose, bill, it should be of no surprise whether it comes from Cheney or perhaps former President Bush, there had to be a response since so much has been said and blamed on the previous administration for kind of laying the groundwork for this financial mess that we are in as a country.
SCHNEIDER: This is what's known in Washington as the blame game. It goes on all the time. The vice president, the former vice president says you can't blame the Bush administration for the financial situation, but you certainly can't exonerate the Bush administration for the lax financial regulation that occurred on his watch other the past eight years.
You know, there's a lot of blame to go around, and to say that this was a global problem, it certainly was, but it started in the United States. The Democrats have some responsibility here. The Republicans were in charge, both Congress and the White House, for most of the past eight years, so you can't exonerate them from responsibility for what happened.
WHITFIELD: CNN political analyst Bill Schneider thanks so much. Always good to see you.
SCHNEIDER: OK.
WHITFIELD: A massive show of civil disobedience in Pakistan. Anti- government demonstrators defying a ban on rallies clash with authorities in the town of Lahore. Protesters threw rock at riot police who shot off rounds of tear gas. Several people were hurt. Demonstrators were part of an anti-government march to the capital of Islamabad.
On to Afghanistan now, a top Taliban commander has issued a new threat to foreign aid workers. He spoke to CNN's Paula Newton in an exclusive interview. She's in the Afghan capital of Kabul.
PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's the top commander, field commander, from Hellman Province in southern Afghanistan. After a day or two of negotiation when he heard the questions we had, he did agree to speak to us by phone. His name is Mohammed Hanafi and some of the topics, it was a far-ranging interview, but it's important to note specifically on the issue of foreign aid workers, he definitely determined that there is a new threat against them. He says that they are collecting information against them, and he says that the new Taliban constitution, which he says has now been prepared and been issued, means that when they get these foreign aid workers, they can either kill them or hold them in exchange for other Taliban prisoners.
He says, quote, "If we get someone that is how we will deal with them under our new constitution. Very chilling, indeed. I think a lot of the foreign aid workers in this country have always assumed they had some measure of protection because they say over and over to the Taliban that we are here to help the people. We are not here to fight a war. We are not here to be spies for coalition forces.
Clearly the Taliban saying that foreign aid workers do not belong in this country. Also interesting, the Taliban reiterated something that has been confusing. Some said the Taliban will allow girls to go back to school if again they reach power in Afghanistan, but this commander saying in his opinion not. He says in my opinion, the Taliban aren't allowing girls to go to school because the Taliban want women to preserve their respect by staying in their homes, not to work as laborers for others.
And clearly tough lines still coming from the Taliban. You know, it was an interesting conversation. When we were trying to set up the phone calls, although these were Afghanistan numbers, Afghanistan mobile numbers, when we tried to call over and over in the days prior, the recordings came in Urdu, Pakistan that means. And it seems to be where a lot of the commanders are now.
WHITFIELD: Paula Newton there reporting from Kabul.
Turning now to the drug war in Mexico. A tip led police to nine partially buried bodies in the desert just outside of the city of Juarez. The victims included seven men and two women. State security official says all the victims had been tortured. Juarez, which is just across the border from El Paso, Texas, has been hit by a wave of drug- related violence, and in response thousands of Mexican troops have been sent to the city.
This type of drug-related violence was the focus yesterday afternoon when we picked -- as we usually try to pick a hot topic issue to drive discussions with you on Saturdays. We brought together a panel to answer your concerns about the violence on our border. Among them, a member of the El Paso, Texas, city council.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD (voice over): Have you seen deaths related to these drug cartels and, if so, in a big way?
EMMA ACOSTA, EL PASO, TEXAS CITY COUNCIL MEMBER: Well, what we see is every day when you pick up the newspaper, we'll see murders occurring ten, seven, five, every single day. Last month in February we had over 200 murders that occurred across the border, and we are so -- in such close proximity that Juarez, wherever you stand in El Paso you can probably see our sister city of Juarez, Mexico.
WHITFIELD: Are you afraid?
ACOSTA: It is so close to us I think for me to say, no, I'm not afraid would be inaccurate because obviously the violence is there. It's happening within our eyesight, so we need to be concerned and we need to make sure that our law enforcement agencies are actually working together, and they are.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: That was Emma Acosta, who is a city county member in El Paso, Texas. Next Saturday's discussion driven topic will be employment, join us for "Jobless not Hopeless." We will follow them from the day they step into a job center until they get a job. It will be followed by a live hour-long discussion involving you at 4:00 p.m. Eastern next Saturday.
Home foreclosures are a nightmare for most, but for some it's an opportunity.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Lose a home to foreclosure, its one family's tragedy, but for another, it's a chance at home ownership. Our Tom Foreman reports foreclosure auctions are booming.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): In the port town of Portsmouth, a few hundred souls are searching the shipwrecked economy for gold lining up to bid at auction on scores of foreclosed houses. Bad news for some --
DARLENE SHELTON, LOOKING FOR HOME AT AUCTION: It's a very nice neighborhood.
FOREMAN: Good news for others, like Darlene Shelton, a government worker who rents but wants to buy a place to share with her two grown daughters, one in college and one laid off from a teaching job.
What do you like up here?
SHELTON: Well, the porch is nice. With some renovation I can just turn this into a sit out screen porch. It needs a lot of work but it's nice.
FOREMAN: Realtytrac says more than 5,000 homes in Virginia went into foreclosure in January. And here, just as it is all over the country, that is bringing out investors, developers, hopeful families. Trent Ferris sees them all.
TRENT FERRIS, REAL ESTATE DISPOSITION, LLC: The fact that they're here, they see an opportunity, that's really what this is, a phenomenal opportunity.
FOREMAN: This is a big house.
SHELTON: Yes.
FOREMAN: Darlene, divorced but recently remarried, spends most of her time at her husband's place in D.C., but having a house in her hometown for her girls matters. So she's picked out two possibilities.
SHELTON: They've done some work in there to it.
FOREMAN: It's tricky. She's not been inside. She's hoping they'll go for $25,000 to $50,000 each and she's failed before. Two times you have tried this and you haven't gotten a home yet?
SHELTON: No, nothing that would fit my budget and something I feel like I could fix up and put together.
FOREMAN: Do you feel lucky today?
SHELTON: Yes, I do.
FOREMAN: At the auction the big bidders hit hard snatching the best properties. Darlene waits, watches, and then her houses are up. And for Darlene the third time is still not charmed. Each goes for twice as much as she can afford.
SHELTON: It happened very fast. The bids, they start off at $1,000. Then they jump to $50,000. You don't get a chance in between --
FOREMAN: You were out almost as soon as it started.
SHELTON: Yes.
FORMAN: But she vows to be back, like many of the others who are rebuilding the real estate market one bid at a time.
SHELTON: Well, I have faith. I know it's going to come back up.
FOREMAN: Tom Foreman, CNN, Portsmouth, Virginia.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Politicians do it, so do celebrities, and journalists, so why shouldn't second graders twitter?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Talking in church can be frowned upon, but twittering is highly encouraged at one church in Seattle. One visitor says church etiquette has not gone by the wayside, it's just evolving.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LICHLIN PAYNE, CHURCH VISITER: About 10, 15 years ago you couldn't wear a hat in church, and now you can get out your mobile phones and iphones and you can twitter. So these things change and we've got to move with the times.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: All right. The twittering goes on throughout the whole service, and it may pop up on facebook or the church's official twitter page for everyone to see.
Second graders are also getting in on twittering. Kara Medazuski (ph) with affiliate WLBZ in Bangor, Maine, reports.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MRS. WHITE, TEACHER: We're going to go check our twitter account this morning as a class.
KARA MEDAZUSKI (ph), WLBZ: Two months ago Mrs. White said this in her classroom; she'd get a bunch of blank stares. Now every student's eyes light up.
WHITE: Does anybody remember the name of the class we're twittering with?
MEDAZUSKI (ph): Debbie White's second grade class is exchanging tweets with Tim Thompson's second grade class at Green Central School.
WHITE: Claire can you read this?
(UNIDENTIFED FEMALE): Hi, my name is Morgan. I have three dogs.
CLAIRE WILLIAMSON, SECOND GRADE TWITTERER: I like talking to our friends, and it's like you're getting connections to make new friends.
MEDAZUSKI (ph): White says she got interested in using the micro blogging site in her classroom after she heard about an eighth grade class writing a story on twitter. She knew there were lessons in the Website for her students.
WHITE: Teaching writing is very difficult but it's an essential skill. It's how we communicate primarily as humans and more and more so with the digital world because most of our communication that way is through writing.
MEDAZUSKI (ph): The kids caught right on.
JENNIFER NOYES, SECOND GRADE TWITTERER: The first time I was just like it's just some instant messaging blog, but now that I'm actually twittering, I did it myself, and I have done it more, I really like it.
AVERY WILD, SECOND GRADE TWITTERER: You get to talk with people, like you get to see what they're doing and then type in what you're doing, and then they write back what they're doing, and you kind of have this little connection instead of talking to each other, you can just type. It's like pen palling.
MEDAZUSKI (ph): While most of the students are early adopters of the technology, some of more hesitant.
ZIVI OSHER, SECOND GRADE TWITTERER: On the computer you could accidentally press the wrong letter, and then you'd have to go back.
MEDAZUSKI (ph): A proofreading lesson goes along with every tweet. White adds twitter doesn't just motivate her students to write, it helps her teach them about online safety and digital citizenship.
WHITE: It begins that whole piece of what we're going to share online. We're not going to share a picture of us being incredibly goofy unless that's the point of what we're doing.
MEDAZUSKI (ph): There's also lessons in math. Twitter messages have a limit of 140 characters, and spelling.
And the students learn about things that weren't on the lesson plan. Last week Mr. Thompson's class was learning about Wilma Rudolph.
WHITE: Do you think we would have learned about Wilma Rudolph if we hadn't been twittering?
(UNIDENTIFIED MALE): No.
MEDAZUSKI (ph): So while twittering might be fun and something for adults and teenagers these students say no way it's for us, too. Giving them one more door to information and learning.
Kara Medazuski (ph), Youth Center.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: This is so scary. I'm scared. Second graders tweeting. All right. You'll be scared of this, too. Prom season across the country, but can you imagine going to one wearing not a regular dress or a regular tux, but instead all of your wear is made out of duct tape.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Welcome back to the NEWSROOM where really right now it's the chat room, which means you join Jacqui and I in a little chitchat about all kinds of interesting novel things going on. I guess our selection, they're all kind of economy-related sort of.
JACQUI JERAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A little bit.
WHITFIELD: We can begin with one couple getting rather inventive on the whole joblessness front out of San Francisco. She says I'm going to help my husband get a job, and we're going to put it online. Here we go.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(UNIDENTIFED FEMALE): My husband needs a job.com.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: That's great.
JERAS: She said she got tired of watching her husband try all kinds of social network sites and that he's been getting turned down. He's 30 years old. He has a master's and wanted to help him somehow, so she --
WHITFIELD: And his resume is on line and this is Mike Stern. They said we're going to take advantage of this and hopefully this will help him land a job. Apparently he's had a lot of calls so far, at least 20-plus.
JERAS: And he will get more now. Hopefully he'll get a job as well.
WHITFIELD: Let's hope so.
All right. Somebody who has a job but somehow he doesn't like clothes, golfer Henrik Stensen. What was he thinking? Down to his skivys. This is professional golfing at the Doral Golf Club, the ca championship.
JERAS: This is what happened. His tee shot landed in the mud and the only way he was going to get it without losing his stroke was getting into the water. That I understand but --
WHITFIELD: Do you?
JERAS: Pull that back up.
WHITFIELD: You understand that? I am not buying that. This is a professional golfer.
JERAS: This is a lot of money at stake here. He had 15 more holes to go. You don't want to go 15 holes with wet shoes. You really don't and not wet pants.
WHITFIELD: Take off your shoes and socks, roll up your pants.
JERAS: But did he --
WHITFIELD: He wanted to show his body. Let's be frank. We know that. We know that wouldn't work in all sports. You might not be able to finish without clothes on.
JERAS: But here is my favorite. I love this one.
WHITFIELD: I do, too.
JERAS: The prom. Everybody loves the prom. Everybody wants to go to the prom. Not everybody can afford a dress or a tux to go to the prom.
WHITFIELD: So why not make your own.
JERAS: Absolutely.
WHITFIELD: With duct tape. Stuck on prom. No kidding.
JERAS: Look at these pictures. These are amazing outfits. I had no idea you could do duct tape in like black and yellow and pink and bright green.
WHITFIELD: I know. And Bonnie Hall who is out of Swansboro High School in Georgia. She was among the contestants. They made a really cute outfit out of purple and black duct tape. Bonnie is actually on the phone with us because we couldn't get enough.
JERAS: This is a contest for a scholarship, so people could actually get money to go to college by doing this.
WHITFIELD: Bonnie, you're with us. Real quick, how long did it take before you and your boyfriend got your outfight together?
BONNIE HALL, SWAINBORO HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT (via telephone): Actually it took me and my boyfriend, took us about I would say about 12 weeks actually.
WHITFIELD: Really?
HALL: To get all our stuff done.
WHITFIELD: Where did you get your idea from?
HALL: There was a music video.
WHITFIELD: There she is.
JERAS: There.
HALL: And I loved it, and it was a ballet dress, and it was just really, really pretty, and I wanted to -- and that was me right there.
WHITFIELD: Wow. How did you do it, Bonnie?
HALL: Ma'am?
WHITFIELD: How did you do it?
HALL: I laid out the duct tape on tissue paper like you wrap gifts with, and I laid it out and I stripped it on there, and then I pleated it, and it took a lot of time and a lot of fingers are just numb.
WHITFIELD: Wow. And the winners will be announced in June. Bonnie, thanks for being with us. Sorry the phone line was a little tricky there. But nice outfit. She even put tulle on hers to give it a frilly look.
JERAS: Some of them looked really good.
WHITFIELD: Yeah.
JERAS: Really good.
WHITFIELD: Really good. Thanks for being in the chat room.
JERAS: Sure. WHITFIELD: And thanks for being our audience in the chat room. Did you know Diahann Carroll, everyone knows her name and face, and she was the first black woman to star in her own television series. It was called "Julia" back in the day. Don't miss Don Lemon's very candid interview with African American Diahann Carroll tonight at 7:00 and 10:00 pm Eastern.
Next on "GPS," an exclusive interview with the man President Obama wanted to head the international -- the National Intelligence Council. Why did he withdraw? That is next on "GPS."
