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Find Your Carbon Footprint Online; Designer Fashions Also Bulletproof; New Survey Says Employers are Watching Internet Us; Taliban Claims Part of Pakistan; Freddie Mac CFO Dies in Apparent Hanging; Plastic Bags Going Green?; Studio: Video Games Addictive; Jane Harman Incensed about Taped Conversations

Aired April 22, 2009 - 13:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: We are pushing forward on the swipes that keep on swiping. I'm talking about credit cards. Rates going up, limits coming down. A lot of people in Congress say there ought to be a law.

In parts of Pakistan, Sharia is the law, and the Taliban enforces it. Today they're pushing forward in the Pakistani capital. We're pushing forward on the fallout.

And hackers get the low down on America's newest fighter jet. The former head of U.S. cyber security, live with me in the NEWSROOM this hour.

Hello, everyone. I'm Kyra Phillips live at the CNN world headquarters in Atlanta. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

They are allies with al Qaeda, and they're killing American troops in Afghanistan. Now, for first time, Taliban militants control an area only 60 miles from the capital of Pakistan, a nuclear power and key U.S. ally in the fight against terrorism.

Here it is on the map. Take a look. The Buner district, along with the Pakistan capital of -- Pakistani capital, rather, of Islamabad is the latest advance by the Taliban in Pakistan. It also raises the very troubling question for the Obama administration: is Pakistan in real danger of falling to the Taliban?

Joining us from Islamabad to talk about it, CNN's Ivan Watson.

What do you think?

IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, what we have here is one of these incremental steps forward that the Taliban makes. They advanced from the Swat Valley. That's an area, Kyra, where the Pakistani government ceded control, effectively, to the Taliban. It agreed last week to allow the Taliban to have Sharia Islamic law in that area.

And now we have reports of hundreds of Taliban fighters setting up in Buner, about 60 miles from where I am in Islamabad, as the crow flies. They are broadcasting on FM radio there. They're telling people that they can't shave their beards. They're warning movie and music shops that they have to shut down. It really is a warning sign and a sign that basically the Pakistani government, it cannot take this approach with the Taliban to negotiate, because the Taliban then breaks the deal. And that's what some local Pakistani officials are saying, that the Taliban has broken its deal with the Pakistani government, and it is time for some kind of swift action in response.

PHILLIPS: You have the Taliban moving closer, and then al Qaeda, the terrorists responsible for 9/11, a lot of critics coming forward saying, look, they're operating freely inside our ally of Pakistan.

WATSON: Well, it's interesting, Kyra. I spoke with the Taliban spokesman in the Swat Valley on the phone yesterday, and he told me, among his many answers, he said that Osama bin Laden would be welcome in any area that the Taliban controls, because he is a fellow Muslim.

And this Taliban spokesman went on to say that he was not satisfied with having Sharia law just in the Swat Valley where the Taliban is operating right now. He wants that Sharia law to be extended all across Pakistan, Kyra.

And he issued a direct challenge to the Pakistani government, saying that anybody who does not agree with the Taliban's strict interpretation of Islam, that they are a non-Muslim. And we're really waiting for some kind of response from the Pakistani government to this challenge to the Pakistani government's legitimacy, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: And we'll wait for that, indeed. Ivan Watson, appreciate it.

Now, the Taliban threat to Pakistan also the hot topic on Capitol Hill. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says that threat -- threat goes far beyond Pakistan to the very heart of the U.S. And here's what she told the House Foreign Affairs Committee. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HILLARY CLINTON, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: I think that we cannot underscore the seriousness of the existential threat posed to the state of Pakistan by the continuing advances, now within hours of Islamabad, that are being made by a loosely-confederated group of terrorists and others who are seeking the overthrow of the Pakistani state, which is, as we all know, a nuclear armed state.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Clinton says that the main objective of President Obama's anti-terrorism strategy is to defeat al Qaeda and prevent its return to Afghanistan.

Now, America's love/hate relationship with credit cards. These days hate is winning out as banks scramble to boost their profits and minimize risk. They're jacking up fees, interest rates, and slashing balance limits even for card holders who pay their bills on time.

The Federal Reserve posted new regulations last year, but now a credit-card holder's bill of rights is moving through Congress. Among other things, it would bar arbitrary rate hikes on existing balances and bar the practice known as double cycle billing where interest accrues on balances that may have been paid off.

The measure may clear the House Financial Services committee today. An even tougher version cleared the Senate Banking Committee last month.

Democrat Robert Menendez sits on that panel and made his case on CNN's "AMERICAN MORNING."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ROBERT MENENDEZ (D-NJ), BANKING COMMITTEE: There's a difference between a credit-card holder who either defaults and/or is consistently late. There should be reasonable increases in that person. But for the wide universe of people who have not defaulted, are on time, and yet see their interest rates rise, it's just simply not acceptable.

And finally, you know, in essence as taxpayers, we're paying twice. We're paying once in terms of trying to help these financial institutions be solvent, and at the same time we're paying in higher interest rates that have no rational reason to our particular performance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: President Obama is due to meet with the heads of American Express, Capital One, Discover, Citigroup and others tomorrow at the White House.

Well, are you trapped in a credit-card nightmare right now? Skyrocketing rates. Maybe the company's giving you the runaround? Well, fill us in on our brand-new blog page: CNN.com/Newsroom. Just click on Kyra, go up to the top, and then you'll get all that stuff. You can leave your comments there, and we'll read some of it on the air.

Oh, and guess what else? I'm finally on Twitter. Better late than never. Thank you, Andreas. The name is KyraCNN, all one word. Follow me as I try to figure out how this thing works.

OK. We're getting foreclosure figures now for the first three months of the year, and the hardest-hit cities are clustered in just four states: California, Florida, Nevada, and Arizona. Las Vegas tops the list with 4.5 percent of its homes. That's 1 in 22 in some stage of the foreclosure process. That's seven times the national average, by the way. That data comes from the online marketer, RealtyTrac.

Well, nearly 700 Yahoo! employees will have to search for other jobs. The company plans to lay off about 5 percent of its workforce, thanks to online sales -- ad sales, that is -- that just aren't getting it done. Yahoo! also reported a sharp drop in first-quarter profits. But it still beat Wall Street forecasts, and its stock went up more than 4 percent. Well, we may not all be in the same boat, but we're surely in the same storm. Treasury secretaries aren't known for pithy quotes, but this one comes from Tim Geithner. In a speech this morning at the Economic Club of Washington, he says the U.S. bears substantial responsibility for the global meltdown but can't fix it alone.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIMOTHY GEITHNER, U.S. SECRETARY OF TREASURY: Never before has the world -- has so much of the world been simultaneously hit by a confluence of economic and financial turmoil. The International Monetary Fund now expects the economy to decline this year for the first time in more than six decades.

The 1.3 percent decline forecast by the IMF represents a sharp deterioration from the roughly 4 percent annual growth rates which the fund estimates is trend growth for the world economy as a whole. And lost output in this context could be as high as $3 to $4 trillion this year alone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Geithner also says that the pace of the decline may be easing, but recovery will take time.

No sounds -- signs, rather, of foul play, but plenty of questions today about the death of mortgage giant Freddie Mac's acting chief financial officer. Sources telling CNN that David Kellermann apparently hanged himself. His body is now at a Virginia medical examiner's office.

CNN's Kate Bolduan is outside the home there in Vienna, Virginia -- Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, there, Kyra.

Yes, as you said, police are saying no signs of foul play in the death of David Kellermann, the acting chief financial officer of Freddie Mac. But a source close to the investigation does tell us that he died of an apparent hanging in the basement of his home.

You can see the home right behind me. Now, police say they were called to the scene just before 5 a.m. this morning. I have been out. We've been talking to neighbors, Kyra, all of them saying they're shocked by these -- by the news of this tragedy. One neighbor even saying he was stunned silent that this could happen to what he describes as such a terrific family. Listen here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FRED UNGER, NEIGHBOR: Wonderful neighbor. He's just a delightful person, friendly. During the holidays it was their house that was always the most -- the most decorated with the most fun decorations, Christmas, at Halloween. They're just terrific, lovely people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Now, as you mentioned, David Kellermann's body is now with the medical examiner, who's conducting an autopsy. Police say that Kellermann's family was here at the time, and we've seen people coming and going. It looks like could be family, could be neighbors, all visibly upset. David Kellermann has left -- has a wife and a young daughter, according to the neighbors -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Are we hearing from the company, Kate?

BOLDUAN: We are hearing from the company. We had a statement earlier saying the company mourned the loss, really complimenting his ethics as a businessman and also complimenting him as a person.

In the most recent statement from the company, Kyra, let me read it to you, it says, quote, "Freddie Mac knows no -- knows of no connection between David Kellermann's death and the regulatory inquiries that were discussed in our recent SEC filing."

Now, this came from light in a March filing by the company that federal prosecutors in New York and here in Virginia, as well as the Securities and Exchange Commission were investigating the company. This, a company, Kyra, we've talked so much about. Major -- major mortgage giant who has asked for billions of dollars to stay afloat from the government as the subprime mortgage crisis set in.

PHILLIPS: Kate Bolduan, thank you.

Well, who hacked the F-35? Who didn't? America's newest state- of-the-art war plane is a tempting target for cyber spies. We're going to get the lowdown from the former head of U.S. computer security.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, who has time for work? You've got Facebooking to do, shoes to buy, stuff to bid on. Are you sure the boss is OK with all of that? After all, he or she probably knows every key that you're stroking. Work, play, and job security, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Earth Day in the Corn Belt. President Obama plugging his clean energy plans this hour in Iowa, site of a former Maytag factory that now builds towers for wind turbines. Live pictures of the president right now.

The White House sees wind as a win/win proposition, generating power and jobs. He's set to make remarks coming up soon. We'll take it live. The president is due to speak, actually, from the Trinity Structural Towers right there in the town of Newton at the top of the hour. You'll see it live.

If you're counting...

All right. If you're counting, this is day 93 of the Obama administration. The 100th day is just a week away, which leads me to ask, would it be cool to grade the politicians that you elected?

Join us on the president's 100th day in office for the CNN national report card. You and the best political team on television will rate the president, Congress, and state leaders next Wednesday night, beginning at 8 Eastern online and on TV.

Well, on this Earth Day, an unlikely product is going green: plastic bags. Trade group representing companies that make plastic bags is announcing a goal to make the bags from 40 percent recycled material by 2015. The group says its efforts will reduce waste by 300 million pounds a year.

Susan Lisovicz, by the way who's an avid recycler, at the New York Stock Exchange with all the details there.

Susan, even though the bags will be made from recycled material, won't they still just end up in a landfill?

SUSAN LISOVICZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kyra, some of them inevitably will, but you have to remember the mantra of the green movement, which is reduce, reuse, recycle.

California, New York, Rhode Island all have laws mandating that certain stores have on-site recycling bins for plastic bags. And at least four other states are debating similar legislation.

In Seattle voters decide this August on whether to charge 20 cents per plastic bag at stores. San Francisco, of course, we did lots of coverage on that, the first city to ban plastic bags.

And then there's a whole lot of grocery stores like Whole Foods that have banned them. It takes 10 cents off your grocery bill if you BYOB, and you know what that means, Kyra. It's bring your own bag. Bag.

PHILLIPS: Whoops. Not the BYOB that you and I are used to. All right.

LISOVICZ: We're OK with that, too.

PHILLIPS: That's true. You know, we talk a lot about doing things that make a difference, but does it really matter if we use a few less plastic bags?

LISOVICZ: Well, you know, Kyra, I'm always reminded of that movie "American Beauty," that scene where the plastic bag is blowing in the wind and it's so beautiful, that one plastic bag. But if there's 100 billion plastic bags, it's not so pretty, and that's how many we use, Americans use each year. They can take up to 1,000 years to decompose.

And there's an estimated 100,000 marine animal deaths each year because they confuse plastic bags for food. So, yes, they can probably make a difference, a few fewer in your life -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Knowing you, you've got yours with you. LISOVICZ: I do.

PHILLIPS: Do you? I knew it.

LISOVICZ: Here it is. My -- this has all sorts of holes in it. It's got to be about a year old, but I use cloth when I go to the grocery store. Of course, happy Earth Day, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Happy Earth Day to you, too. I'm very proud of you, Susan. You teach me a lot. All right.

Well, don't forget this weekend, Anderson Cooper and Dr. Sanjay Gupta lead us to the front lines of the battle for our natural resources. Don't miss an encore presentation of "Planet in Peril: Battle Lines," Saturday and Sunday night at 11 Eastern.

So you can't get your kids to put down their video games? A sobering new study may explain why it's so difficult to stop playing.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, important news for parents of kids who play video games. A new study says that some kids are showing signs of addiction. Your medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, is here with the breakdown.

We've talked about being addicted to video games before, but this is taking things to a totally different level, right?

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's taking it to a different level in that this was actually a pretty big study. It was a survey, actually, of more than 1,000 kids and teenagers. And the researchers tried to assess -- assess whether these kids had what they called pathological video game use.

And what they found is that almost 1 out of 10, nearly 1 out of 10 kids were showing signs of addiction. And what they meant by that is that, for example, a child might get really irritated if Mom and Dad said no more games or a child might play the games into the night and then have a hard time in school the next day. So they said these were signs that a kid really was having problems.

For example, if a kid is falling asleep in school, if their grades were going down, if they were lying about computer or video game use, if they chose video games over friends, if they stole money in order to play games, or again if they were irritable when somebody said, "Hey, you need to stop doing this." Those were signs that maybe something was kind of up.

PHILLIPS: So what's the gaming industry saying about it all?

COHEN: Well, the gaming industry makes the point that there is no such thing, technically, as video game addiction. And experts do certainly disagree on whether or not people are actually addicted to video games in the same way that one can be, let's say, a gambling addict or addicted to alcohol. But they also make the point that the vast majority of people who play these games do them just fine and that if parents see there is a problem, they should take them off of these games.

Now, the researchers, they themselves say these games really aren't the problem. It's how some of these kids use these games.

And, Kyra, I'll also say that the video game industry poked holes in this study. They didn't think it was terribly well done.

PHILLIPS: I remember it was Pacman, Centipede.

COHEN: That's how old we are. Right.

PHILLIPS: I saved all those quarters. I was addicted. I have to admit. My mom finally said, "OK, that's it. You've got to get involved in some other things."

COHEN: And that's the key. And if a parent tries to do that and a kid -- I know a kid where a parent tried to do that, the kid turned the furniture over in the living room. He was so angry. He pushed tables over. And this family had a terrible time getting the kid to stop. That's where you need professional help.

PHILLIPS: Wow. Yes, that's when you get someone to step in. Right.

Hopefully, I didn't go that far with my mom.

COHEN: I'm glad you didn't.

PHILLIPS: I would have been in big trouble. All right.

And speaking of it, which video game was that? These are...

COHEN: These look like fun.

PHILLIPS: These are much more advanced than what we had.

COHEN: Oh, yes. This isn't Ms. Pacman.

PHILLIPS: That's the Madden game, right? I like the driving games. All right. Anyway, I digress. See, it's still in me.

All right. Thanks, Elizabeth.

Well, this is one serious lawmaker. She says that she had no idea the government wiretapped her. The topic of her alleged conversation, let's just say she's got reason to be upset.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Live pictures right now. Any minute we expect to hear President Barack Obama at a wind turbine plant right here in Newton, Ohio -- Newton, Iowa, rather. He's marking Earth Day, also plugging his plans for clean energy. You'll see him live when we do, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

A Colorado congresswoman is fuming over reports that the government wiretapped her a few years ago and recorded her making a shady deal with a lobbyist. Jane Harman says that this is all news to her. She wants the Obama administration to let her see the transcripts so she can see what she said and make it public.

Homeland security correspondent Jeanne Meserve reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Congresswoman Jane Harman is outraged by reports that her conversations were secretly wiretapped in 2005 and 2006.

REP. JANE HARMAN (D), CALIFORNIA: I am offended by it. I think it's an abuse of power, and I want to make sure it's not happening to other people.

MESERVE: Sources say Harman was overheard talking to an investigative target whose conversations were being legally intercepted. "Congressional Quarterly" and "The New York Times" report that Harman discussed using her influence to reduce espionage- related charges against two officials of the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee.

In return, the person with whom she was speaking would lobby then-House minority leader Nancy Pelosi to appoint Harman chair of the House Intelligence Committee. Harman reportedly ended the conversation by saying, "This conversation doesn't exist."

In an interview with CNN's Wolf Blitzer, Harman did not deny it.

HARMAN: I have no idea what I might have said in conversations with somebody or somebodies. Wolf, this is four years ago. I have many conversations every day with advocacy groups. There's nothing wrong with doing this.

MESERVE: In a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder, Harman asked that the Justice Department "release all transcripts and investigative material involving me in an unredacted form" and says she'll make it public. The Justice Department is reviewing her request.

HARMAN: Let's see what I said and said to whom, and I did not make any effort -- this I remember clearly -- at all, ever, to influence our government at any level.

MESERVE: She did not, Harman says, contact anyone about the AIPAC case.

LARRY SABATO, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: This could be career- ending. She must be aggressive. She must fight it at every turn. She has to fight it on every front, legal and political, in the public forums and private forums. MESERVE (on camera): "CQ" also reports that after the intercept, the FBI tried to open an investigation of Harman, but Attorney General Alberto Gonzales pulled the plug, because he wanted Harman's help defending the controversial domestic warrantless wiretapping program, which she supported. The former attorney general had no comment.

And as for the alleged deal, Harman did not get the intelligence committee chairmanship, and the trial of the AIPAC officials is slated for June.

Jeanne Meserve, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Well, for nearly 30 years, police have been able to search your car during an arrest: no warrant, no problem. Now the Supreme Court telling cops to freeze. They've handed down a 5-4 decision, limiting warrantless car searches.

Justice Stephens, writing for the majority, says that police have essentially been misinterpreting a 1981 decision. This new ruling means that officers can only search a vehicle with -- without a warrant if the suspect could reach for a weapon or destroy evidence, or it's reasonable to believe there's evidence related to the crime at hand.

What if your boss showed you a list of all the Web sites that you visited today and how long you stayed on them? Would you feel OK about it? Or feel like apologizing? We're going to look at how this factors into the tough job market.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Earth Day 2009. Today's the day for the green generation. All sorts of activities worldwide about cleaning up the planet. For starters, do you know your carbon footprint? Josh Levs has an interactive way to find out. But first you have to pick a hairstyle, right, Josh?

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You've got to pick a hairstyle. People do not hear that one coming, do they?

PHILLIPS: No.

LEVS: I'll show you the hairstyle options, actually. You can help us choose. This is really cool. It's earthday.net. It's the central clearingplace -- the clearinghouse of all of Earth Day all over the world. People are visiting it like crazy. We know it's getting a lot of traffic.

And one of the most popular features is this, where you can calculate your ecological footprint. And you start off creating what's called an avatar. So, basically, you can choose if you're going to be a male or female. And let's do this for Kyra. And then over here, you have to pick what this person looks like, right? So, here's some funky hair. You like the funky hair? PHILLIPS: Yes, I like the funky hair.

LEVS: All right, I'm going to give her some green hair, and we've got skin color, and we've got crazy colored pants and crazy -- all right, there you go. So, now we've created -- oh, look, green pants. Nice. Very green.

PHILLIPS: Hey, I like that. It's perfect for green day.

LEVS: Awesome.

PHILLIPS: I'm Irish.

LEVS: Check this out. So, this is what happens. You follow this character walking around, and then you answer a series of questions that helps you determine the ecological footprint. So, how much meat do you eat? How often? You can say, oh, I eat meat occasionally. And you start off right here. We'll go through a few of the questions.

PHILLIPS: OK.

LEVS: You can go to the next one right here. See, it pops in some stores, then it says how much of what you eat is processed, not locally grown. Maybe three-quarters. It starts to calculate how much trash you're going to use on the next one, and it keeps bringing this animation that gets you to think about what your day is like.

We'll do this last one. Compared to the typical American, how much trash do you think you generate? you can say hopefully somewhat less, and there you go, that's about how much trash they're giving you for a week. And then it asks you some more questions, and ultimately, it brings you to this, your ecological footprint.

It's pretty cool. Over here, it says if everyone lived like you, we would need three or four planet Earths to provide enough resources to handle everyone. And a little bit to the right, let's pan here. It breaks your ecological footprint into a pie chart for you, how much of your waste basically, carbon, comes from services, comes from goods, comes from food.

So, it's just a chance to stop and think about how you affect the environment, and then, Kyra, it offers some ways to make changes. Pretty cool thing.

PHILLIPS: OK, so, that was my question, does it offer ways to make changes. Because after hearing all that, I'm wondering, OK, how do I change my habits? What do I do differently? Are other viewers jumping onto this?

LEVS: They are.

PHILLIPS: And what are you hearing from them?

LEVS: They are, yes. They're all over this. There's been a lot of talk about it. People are saying, hey, I learned some stuff from this. And we are hearing from viewers like crazy.

Take a look here. I'm going to start off with this, the brand new CNN NEWSROOM blog. Love it, Kyra. How cool is that. Lots of people weighing in here on the NEWSROOM blogs today. And as a part of it I'm just going to pull up one example.

We heard from Christine in Ocean City: "Happy Earth Day. I want to share a tip from going green. Instead of using paper towels I use a rag bin. Saves a lot of paper. Doesn't take up hardly any space in the washing machine."

Also have had a conversation going all day long on my Facebook page, Josh Levs CNN. This is Chad, who's very excited to do all this, talks about where he works and is going to be showcasing indoor worm bin and demonstrating how the public can compost with very little to work with. So, you know, it's just some helpful stuff.

And we're going to keep those conversations going. I think we've got a graphic for you here, show you how you can weigh in. We've got our e-mail, we've got Facebook, we've got that, and also we've got the brand-new, very exciting, Kyra, some good video of you on here, CNN NEWSROOM blog.

PHILLIPS: Well, we finally -- I got with 2009. I do have a page now, CNN -- what is it, CNN.com/newsroom, I believe it is, and we've got -- we can Twitter, and we haven't worked in the Facebook yet, but we're asking people for their, you know, story ideas, and we're going to have our interviews on there and there you -- aww, you found us.

LEVS: Check it out. we've got to show everyone there. I mean, come on.

PHILLIPS: There's my team. Yes, that's right.

LEVS: This is the Kyra team.

PHILLIPS: Can you show everybody? Yes.

LEVS: Yes, we're going to scroll down a little bit.

PHILLIPS: I want everyone to see the team picture. That's our morning meeting right there. Look at how chummy we are. Yes, we love each other.

LEVS: You've got to love this group.

PHILLIPS: Yes.

LEVS: So, check it out, everybody. Brand new blog. Lots of happy things to see. Video, post your comments, the works.

PHILLIPS: Thanks, Josh.

LEVS: Thanks, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Well, any minute now, we expect to see and hear President Obama at a wind turbine plant in Newton, Iowa. He's marking Earth Day, also plugging his plans for clean energy. You're going to see him live when we do right here on the CNN NEWSROOM.

And this weekend, Anderson Cooper and Dr. Sanjay Gupta take you to the front lines of the ultimate battles for natural resources. An encore presentation of "PLANET IN PERIL: BATTLE LINES" Saturday and Sunday night at 11:00 Eastern. Watch it, TiVo it, DVR it, Twitter it, Facebook it. What else, Josh? What else am I missing? Blog it.

Well, some of you may find it challenging to celebrate Earth Day outside today. Let's go to meteorologist Jacqui Jeras in the CNN weather center. Some parts of the country, OK. Other parts, not so OK.

(WEATHER REPORT)

PHILLIPS: Well, they're pricey compared to your average polo shirt, but can your clothes save your life? These can.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Imagine sleeping on a leather jacket that can stop a bullet. It's part of a new clothing design made by a Colombian designer. He shows our Deborah Feyerick his bullet-proof fashions in today's "Edge of Discovery."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): These designer duds aren't exactly what they seem. The clothes you see here are bulletproof. Yes, you heard right -- bulletproof. They're created by Colombia-based designer Miguel Caballero. You could call him "the Armani of armor."

MIGUEL CABALLERO, DESIGNER: Let me show this. This one I prefer to this one. This one is special for me. That is Italian leather.

FEYERICK: Caballero says his clientele includes heads of state, executives and celebrities who need to stay safe without sacrificing comfort and appearance.

NICK CHALKLEY, GENERAL MERCHANDISE MANAGER, HARRODS: Our customers are unsure what protection level they need. We actually show them these panels that have been actually shot in to with all of these different kinds of guns.

FEYERICK: His lightweight, flexible and fashionable clothes even caught the eye of Harrods Department Store in London.

CHALKLEY: Miguel has the only (INAUDIBLE) collection in the world. So, we decided to work with him because we've had lots of customers who have been contacting our by-appointment service, personal shopping service.

FEYERICK: But for bullet-dodging VIPs, protection comes at a price. Caballero's clothes can cost up to $10,000 an item. Deborah Feyerick, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Still got a job? Good for you. Want to keep it? Watch your mouse. If the boss knew how much time you spent shopping online or Facebooking, do you think he or she would be happy?

Our personal finance editor Gerri Willis here now. Gerri, maybe now is a good time to remind people that companies can and do know what their workers are doing on the computer every second of the day.

GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: Big Brother is watching. That's right, Kyra. If you're worried your boss is going to find out you're on Facebook all the time at work or you play games on your computer, guess what, you're right.

Most employers monitor what Web sites you visit. And nearly a third of employers have fired employees for misusing the Internet. That's according to the latest electronic monitoring and surveillance survey put out by the American Management Association and ePolicy Institute.

And you know what? It's not only the Internet. Almost 30 percent of employees have been fired because they misuse e-mail. Here is what else the report found. Sixty-five percent of employers use software to block certain Web sites. And if you're wondering what website are most often offensive to employers, of course pornographic, but also game sites, social networking sites and, of course, shopping and auction sites.

So, you really got to watch it. They're looking. They're watching what you're doing, every little mouse click.

PHILLIPS: Is there a way that we can see if we're being monitored, and we should probably talk about the legality of all this, as well.

WILLIS: Well, that is interesting, Kyra. Only two states, Delaware and Connecticut, are required to notify employees they're being monitored, but most companies will tell you that you're being watched either in the employee handbook, e-mail notices, or Intranet posting. Takeaway here is that whatever you do on your company computer is the property of your employer. Your employer has a right to monitor everything you do, and you should have absolutely no expectation of privacy when you're using your company's computer system.

And, of course, as we all know, Kyra, most of us out there are at-will employees. Most folks, they can be fired for any reason or no reason. You got to watch what your expectations are in the workplace because you may have fewer rights than you realize. PHILLIPS: Hey, and right now, this gives employers a perfect opportunity to say, look, we've been monitoring what you've been doing. We've got to make cuts. Your head's not in the game. You've been buying strollers on baby.com or you've been, you know, Facebooking.

WILLIS: Ouch. You've been watching, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Seriously, I mean, Kyra -- oh, really? You've been buying baby strollers, Gerri? Something you want to tell us about?

WILLIS: Yes. One of the makeup artists here is having a baby.

PHILLIPS: Oh, OK. Anyway, it's good advice because, really, it isn't...

WILLIS: And a good thing to watch.

PHILLIPS: Yes. Definitely. Gerri, thanks.

WILLIS: My pleasure.

PHILLIPS: Well, so many memos, so little time. We know about the memos that said some harsh interrogation techniques were legal. Now, word of a counter memo, one that said, hold on a minute. The guy who wrote it says his bosses tried to kill it.

And air turbulence leaves a passenger paralyzed. This story will make you think before you get out of your seat.

And another thing that we're working on today, our team's new blog. Check it out, CNN.com/newsroom. Just click on Kyra up top to get to our stuff. My girls Sonia (ph) and Carrie (ph) are getting a crash course in the blog business. The three of us are going to be posting stuff on the page and Twitter as well. And I can't believe I'm finally there. KyraCNN is the name, all one word. We can try and Twitter.

But Carrie and Sonia, they're my -- that's my P.M. posse right there. They're teaching me how to do this and to do it right. So, log on, share your thoughts, follow us and give us your story ideas. We'd love to hear from you.

A California woman sends a stripper to her high school reunion not as a dancer, but as an impersonator. Well, Andrea Wochter (ph) was horrified at the thought of going herself, so Cricket went instead. Fishnets, tight dress and all. The best part, when she ran into one of Andrea's ex-boyfriends, well, take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: ... an old boyfriend.

ANDREA WOCHTER (ph), SENT STRIPPER TO HIGH SCHOOL REUNION: Then she just grabbed him by the face and kissed him just on the face, just kissed him on the mouth. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Improvised.

WOCHTER (ph): Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, Andrea's a comedy writer, and she figured her reunion stunt would make a great documentary or TV show. So, guess what? It's all caught on tape and the title is "I Remember Andrea" and she's hoping it's going to win some film festivals.

And now, all the irony you need today. Police in Mexico say one of the brutal drug cartels is telling its smugglers to lay off the drugs and alcohol and lead clean family lives. Basically, be more like Donnie Osmond than Tony Montana. Authorities say that one cartel leader taught several thousand smugglers about ethics and personal improvement.

Hey, just because you kill or maim people, run drugs and turn young girls into prostitutes, well, that doesn't mean that you're a bad person, right?

Well, attention Wal-Mart staffers stealing stuff, then trying to sell it on the employee bulletin board, probably the quickest way to get rolled back to jail. Yes, not making this up. An employee at Wal-Mart in Montana allegedly did just that. A manager saw his post, reviewed the surveillance tape and saw the guy hauling off iPods and computers. He's now looking at felony theft charges.

The F-35 is a lot of things, but top secret it's not, not anymore. Hackers peek at plans for a cutting-edge warplane.

Also President Barack Obama getting ready to speak there in Newton, Iowa. We're going to take it live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Marking Earth Day and plugging his plans for clean energy, Barack Obama now speaking at a wind turbine plant in Newton, Iowa.