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Obama Reflects on Nazi Death Camp Visit; Sotomayor Nomination Brings up Unpleasant Memories for Sessions; Debris not Air France Wreckage; Job Losses Slowing Dramatically; Seaside Community in Fear after Couple's Murder; Boy Walks 1,200 Miles for Homeless Youth

Aired June 05, 2009 - 10:00   ET

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

HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Back now to the live pictures that we have been watching all morning long. Really incredible shots of President Barack Obama, who is standing behind the German chancellor, Angela Merkel right now, who is making a statement. They have just come out of the crematorium inside Buchenwald concentration camp and are now, as expected, making brief statements. These statements being made by the German chancellor right now.

Obviously - I thought that was in German, but it is not. Given the earpiece that the president is wearing, I thought there was some interpretation going on in his ear, but no. So, we will come back to these pictures when the president begins to speak and bring them to you at that time.

ANGELA MERKEL, GERMAN CHANCELLOR: ... for so many people here...

COLLINS: President Obama and a solemn march through history in Germany. As we have said, he meets with a modern day ally and relives the horrors of war as we said. At any moment now, he will be speaking at Buchenwald's concentration camp. This haunting symbol of hate, also has a personal connection to his family.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: First of all, I'd never traveled to one of the concentration camps. But this one has a personal connection to me. It's not only that I know Elie Wiesel and read about his writings. It's also that - and I've stated this before that my grandfather's - my grandmother's brother was one - was part of the units that first liberated that camp.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: That was earlier today. And now we take you to right now, where once again, German Chancellor Angela Merkel at the microphone with the president standing behind her. We expect him to speak shortly, so for now, let's go ahead and listen into some of the comments that she is making.

MERKEL (through translator): ... special responsibilities. We Germans have to shoulder with regard to our history. And for me, therefore, there are three things that are important today. First, let me emphasize we Germans see as part of our country's prison to keep the ever lasting memory alive of the break with civilization that was. Only in this way will we be able to shape our future. I am therefore very grateful that the Buchenwald Memorial has always placed great emphasis on the dialogue with younger people, the conversations with eyewitnesses, to documentation, and broad-based educational programs.

Second, it was most important to keep the memory of the great sacrifices alive that had to be made to put an end to the terror of national socialism and to liberate its victims and to rid all people of its yolk. This is why I want to say a particular word of gratitude to the president of the United States of America, Barack Obama, for visiting this particular memorial. It gives me an opportunity to align yet again that we Germans shall never forget that we owe the fact that we were given the opportunity after the war to start anew, to enjoy peace and freedom to the resolve, the strenuous efforts, and indeed to the sacrifice made in blood of the United States of America. And of all those who stood by your side as allies or fighters in the war.

We were able to find our place again as members of the international community through a forward-looking partnership. And this partnership was finally key to enabling us to overcome the painful division of our country in 1989. And the division also of our continent. Today, we remember the victims of this place, this includes remembering the victims of the so-called special camp too. A detention camp run by the Soviet military administration from 1945 to 1950. Thousands of people perished due to the inhumane conditions of their detention.

Third, here in Buchenwald, I would like to highlight an obligation placed on us Germans as a consequence of our past. To stand up for human rights, to stand up for human rule of law, and for democracy. We shall fight against terror, extremism, and anti- Semitism and in the awareness of our responsibility, we shall strive for peace and freedom together with our friends and partners and allies in the United States and all over the world. Thank you.

OBAMA: Chancellor Merkel and I just finished our tour here at Buchenwald. I want to thank Dr. (INAUDIBLE), who gave an outstanding account of what we were witnessing. I am particularly grateful to be accompanied by my friend Elie Wiesel as well as Mr. Burtron Hertz, both of whom are survivors of this place. We saw the area known as Little Camp, where Elie and Burtron were sent as boys.

In fact, at the place that commemorates this camp, there is a photograph in which we can see a 16-year-old Elie in one of the bunks along with the others. We saw the ovens, the crematorium, the guard towers, the barbed wire fences, the foundations of barracks that once held people in the most unimaginable conditions. We saw the memorial to all of the survivors, a steel plate as Chancellor Merkel said that is heated to 37 degrees Celsius, the temperature of the human body. A reminder where people were deemed inhuman because of their differences, of the mark that we all share.

Now, these sites have not lost their horror with the passage of time. As we were walking up, Elie said, if these trees could talk. And there's a certain irony about the beauty of the landscape and the horror that took place here. More than half a century later, our grief and our outrage over what happened have not diminished. I will not forget what I have seen here today. I've known about this place since I was a boy, hearing stories about my great uncle, who was a very young man serving in World War II. He was part of the 89th Infantry Division, the first Americans to reach a concentration camp.

They liberated Ohrdruf, one of Buchenwald's subcamps. And I've told this story. He returned from his service in a state of shock, saying little and isolating himself for months on end from family and friends, alone with the painful memories that would not leave his head. And as we see -- as we saw some of the images here, it's understandable that someone who witnessed what had taken place here would be in a state of shock. My great uncle's commander, General Eisenhower, understood this impulse to silence. He had seen the piles of bodies and starving survivors in deplorable conditions that the American soldiers found when they arrived.

And he knew that those who witnessed these things might be too stunned to speak about them or be unable to find the words to describe them. That they might be rendered mute the way my great uncle had. He knew what happened here was so unthinkable that after the bodies had been taken away, that perhaps no one would believe it. And that's why he ordered American troops and Germans from the nearby town to tour the camp. He invited congressmen and journalists to bear witness and ordered photographs and films to be made. And he insisted on viewing every corner of these camps so that and I quote "he could be in position to give firsthand evidence of these things if ever in the future there develops a tendency to charge these allegations merely to propaganda."

We are here today because we know this work is not yet finished. To this day, there are those who insist that the holocaust never happened. The denial of fact and truth that is baseless and ignorant and hateful. This place is the ultimate rebuke to such thoughts. A reminder of our duty to confront those who would tell lies about our history.

Also to this day, there are those who perpetuate every form of intolerance, racism, anti-Semitism, homophobia, xenophobia, sexism and more. Hatred that degrades its victims and diminishes us all. In this century, we've seen genocide, we've seen mass graves and the ashes of villages burn to the ground, children used as soldiers and rape used as a weapon of war. This place teaches us that we must be ever vigilant about the spread of evil in our own time. That we must reject the false comfort that others suffering is not our problem. And commit ourselves to resisting those who would subjugate others to serve their own interests.

But as we reflect today on the human capacity for evil and our shared obligation to defy it, we're also reminded of the human capacity for good. It permits the countless acts of cruelty that took place here. We know there were many acts of courage and kindness as well. The Jews who insisted on fasting (INAUDIBLE), the camp cook who hid potatoes in the lining of his prison uniform and distributed them to his fellow inmates, risking his own life to help save theirs. The prisoners who organized a special effort to protect the children here. Sheltering them from work and giving them extra food. They set up secret classrooms, some of the inmates taught history and math and urged to the children to think about their future professions. And we were just hearing about the resistance that formed, and the irony that the base for the resistance that formed and the irony that the base for the resistance was in the latrine areas because the guards found it so offensive they wouldn't go there.

And so out of the filth, that became a space in which small freedoms could thrive. When the American G.I.s arrived, they were astonished to find more than 900 children still alive. And the youngest was just three years old. And I'm told that a couple of the prisoners even wrote a Buchenwald song that many here sang. Among the lyrics were these. Whatever our fate, we will say yes to life, for the day will come when we are free. In our blood we carry the will to live, and in our hearts, in our hearts, faith.

These individuals never could've known that the world would one day speak of this place. They could not have known that some of them would live to have children and grandchildren who would grow up hearing their stories and would return here so many years later to find a museum and memorials and the clock towers set permanently to 3:15, the moment of liberation. They could not have known how the nation of Israel would rise out of a destruction of the Holocaust and the strong enduring bonds between that great nation and my own. And they could not have known one day an American president would visit this place and speak of them and that he would do so standing side by side with the German chancellor in a Germany that is now a vibrant democracy and a valued American ally. They could not have known these things.

But still surrounded by death, they willed themselves to hold fast to life. In their hearts, they still had faith that evil would not triumph in the end. That while history is unknowable, it arches towards progress, and that the world would one day remember them, and it is now up to us, the living in our work, wherever we are to resist injustice, intolerance and indifference in whatever forms they may take, and ensure that those who were lost here did not go in vain.

It is up to us to redeem that faith. It is up to us to bear witness, to ensure that the world continues to know what happened here. To remember all those who survived and all those who perished and to remember them not just as victims, but also as individuals who hoped and loved and dreamed just like us. And just as we identify with the victims, it's also important for us, I think, to remember that the perpetrators of such evil were human, as well. And that we have to guard against cruelty in ourselves. And I want to express particular thanks to Chancellor Merkel and the German people. Because it's not easy to look into the past in this way and acknowledge it and make something of it. Make a determination. That they will stand guard against acts like this happening again. Rather than have me end with my remarks, I thought it was appropriate to have Elie Wiesel provide some reflection and some thought as he returns here so many years later to the place where his father died.

ELIE WIESEL, BUCHENWALD SURVIVOR: Mr. President, Chancellor Merkel, ladies and gentlemen, as I came here today, it was actually a way of coming and visit my father's grave. But he had no grave. His grave is somewhere in the sky which became the largest cemetery of the Jewish people. The day he died was one of the darkest in my life. He became sick, weak, and I was there. I was there when he suffered. I was there when he asked for help, for water. I was there to receive his last words. But I was not there when he called for me, though we were on the same block. He on the upper bed and I on the lower. He called my name, and I was too afraid to move. All of us were. And then he died.

I was there, but I was not there. And I thought one day I would come back and speak to him and tell him of the world that has become mine. A speak to him of times in which memory has become a sacred duty of all people of good will in America where I live or in Europe or in Germany where you Chancellor Merkel are the leader with great courage and moral aspirations.

What can I tell him? That the world has learned? I am not so sure. Mr. President, we have such high hopes for you. Because you with your moral vision of history will be able and compelled to change this world into a better place. Where people will stop raging war. Every war is absurd and meaningless. That people will stop hating one another. Where people will hate the otherness of the other than expect it. That the world hasn't learned.

When I was liberated in 1945, April 11th, by the American army, somehow many of us were convinced that at least one lesson will have been learned that never again will there be war. That hatred is not an option, that racism is stupid, and the will to conquer other people's minds or territories or aspirations, that will is meaningless. I was so hopeful, paradoxically, I was so hopeful, that many of us were, although we had the right to give up on humanity, to give up on culture, to give up on education, to give up on the possibility of leaving one's life, the dignity in the world that has no place for dignity. We rejected that possibility. And we said no. We must continue believing in a future because the world has learned but again the world hadn't.

Had the world learned, there would have been no Cambodia, and no Rwanda, and no Darfur and no Bosnia. Will the world ever learn? That is why Buchenwald is so important. As important, of course, but differently at Auschwitz. It's important because here the large, the big camp was the kind of international community. People came there from all horizons, political, economic, culture. The first globalization, essay, experiment, were made in Buchenwald. And all that was meant to diminish the humanity of human beings.

You spoke of humanity, Mr. President, in those times it was human to be inhuman. And now the world has learned, I hope, and of course, this hope includes so many of what now will be your vision for the future, Mr. President. A sense of security for Israel. A sense of security for its neighbors, to bring peace in that place. The time has come, it's enough. Enough to go to cemeteries, enough to weep for orphans, it's enough that must come a moment. A moment of bringing people together. And therefore, we say anyone who comes here should go back to that resolution. Memory must bring people together rather than set them apart. Memories here not to soak anger in our hearts, but on the contrary, a sense of solidarity that all those who need us. What else can we do? Except invoke that memory so that people everywhere will say the 21st century, is a century of new beginnings filled with promise and infinite hope and at times profound gratitude.

To all those who believe in our tasks, which is to improve the human condition. A great man wrote at the end of his marvelous novel "The Plague," after all, he said, after the tragedy nevertheless, there is more in the human being to celebrate than to denigrate. Even that can be found as truth, painful as it is in Buchenwald.

Thank you, Mr. President, for allowing me to come back, to visit my father's grave, which is still in my heart.

OBAMA: Than you.

COLLINS: President Barack Obama and German Chancellor Angela Merkel listening to the very poignant words of Nobel Peace Prize winner and Buchenwald's concentration camp survivor Elie Weisel, along Burtron Hertz as well. That concludes the visit as we understand it at Buchenwald concentration camp. We're going to take a quick break here. We're back in a moment on CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: Twenty-three years ago, the Senate Judiciary Committee rejected one of Ronald Reagan's nominees to the federal bench. His name Jeff Sessions, who is now reviewing President Obama's choice for the Supreme Court.

CNN's Dana Bash has that story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Listen into what Republican Jeff Sessions told the democratic president's Supreme Court nominee.

SEN. JEFF SESSIONS (R), JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: You will get a fair hearing before this committee.

BASH: He is so emphatic because of his own experience. Twenty- three years ago, Sessions was nominated by Ronald Reagan to be a federal judge but was rejected.

SESSIONS: I am sorry that the Senate Judiciary Committee did not see fit to find me qualified for it.

BASH: He's now the tough Republican on that very committee.

SESSIONS: That is a very odd thing. Somebody says it gives new meaning to the word irony.

BASH: Irony bringing back memories he's tried to forget. SESSIONS: It was not a pleasant event. I got to tell you. It was really so heart-breaking to me.

BASH: Then a 39-year-old Alabama U.S. attorney, Sessions was accused of racial insensitivity. Calling a black lawyer "boy," a white lawyer a disgrace to his race and civil rights groups like the NAACP un-American. He was hounded by Democrats like Joe Biden.

SESSIONS: They may have taken positions that I consider to be adverse to the security interest of the United States.

SEN. JOE BIDEN, (D), DELAWARE: Does that make them un-American?

SESSIONS: No, sir, it does not.

BIDEN: Does that make the positions un-American?

SESSIONS: No.

BASH: Some democratic senators Sessions now serves with called him racist.

SESSIONS: That was not fair. That was not accurate. Those were false charges and distortions of anything that I did. And it really was not. I never had those kind of views, and I was caricatured in a way that was not me.

BASH: Sessions went on to win a Senate seat in 1996, but the allegations still sting.

SESSIONS: I think it was hard on us.

BASH: The parallel to today, some republicans charging Sotomayor as a racist, is eerie.

(on camera): When you hear that, do you hear Ted Kennedy and other democrats going through your head, saying Jeff Sessions is a racist?

SESSIONS: You know, that's such a loaded word. And I don't think it's appropriate.

BASH (voice-over): Sessions will ask tough questions about deep differences with Sotomayor on judicial philosophy. But also hopes to use her hearing to close the door on a painful part of his past.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Dana Bash joining us now live. So Dana, there's another sort of weird turnabout involving Senator Sessions and one of his former GOP colleague.

BASH: There really is. Until recently Senator Arlen Specter, Heidi, he was the tough Republican in the Senate judiciary committee and it's only because Specter switched parties...

COLLINS: Yes.

BASH: ... we all remember that, from Republican to Democrats. Sessions was bumped up, and he now has such a position of influence over the Supreme Court nomination. Well, you know, Specter may have helped Sessions now, but get this, Heidi, 23 years ago today, it was Specter who cast the decisive vote to block Sessions from his lifetime appointment to the federal bench.

COLLINS: Wow, yes, that is very odd.

BASH: It's very odd.

COLLINS: Hey, quickly, you hear anything about confirmation hearings while we have you?

BASH: Very good question. I've actually been checking in on that with both Senator Sessions's office and the chairman of the committee, Patrick Leahy, to see if there's anything new so far. Nothing.

COLLINS: Nothing. OK.

BASH: We are on it, and we're looking. We'll let you know as soon as we get an answer.

COLLINS: Yes, I figured we'd get the call from you. All right, Dana, thanks so much.

The world's top scientists are holding talks today on the swine flu, but the World Health Organization insists the meeting does not mean it is raising the pandemic alert level to phase six, the organization's highest level, indicating a global pandemic. Health officials say the H1N1 virus has killed 125 people worldwide. Nearly 20,000 people have been infected, more than half of them in the United States.

Reflections of war. President Obama in Germany touring a former Nazi death camp. For him, the visit is personal.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: President Obama took time out for a solemn reflection in Germany this morning. He joined German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel for a tour of the former German concentration camp at Buchenwald.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: We saw the ovens, the crematorium, the guard towers, the barbed-wire fences, the foundations of barracks that once held people in the most unimaginable conditions. We saw the memorial to all of the survivors, a steel plate, as Chancellor Merkel said, that is heated to 37 degrees Celsius, the temperature of the human the body. A reminder where people were deemed inhuman because of their differences, of the mark that we all share. Now, these sites have not lost their horror with the passage of time. As we were walking up, Elie said, if these trees could talk. And there's a certain irony about the beauty of the landscape and the horror that took place here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Here now, a look at the president's schedule. At 12:05 Eastern, he is expected to meet with wounded U.S. troops. That's at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center. That event closed to the media. Then, he travels on to Paris, where he'll spend the night. And tomorrow, the president takes part in ceremonies marking the 65th anniversary of the D-Day invasion.

North Korea is agreeing to hold a rare meeting with South Korea next week. The talks will focus on an industrial complex along the border operated by both nations. Similar talks in March abruptly ended after just 22 minutes. The meeting also comes amid rising tensions after North Korea conducted an underground nuclear test and a series of missile launches last month.

North Korea is banning observers from the trial of two American journalists accused of crossing into the country illegally. Laura Ling and Euna Lee are charged with committing unspecified hostile acts against North Korea. Their trial reportedly began yesterday, and a verdict could come at any time.

Both journalists work for Current TV, a media venture of former Vice President Al Gore's. Several senior administration officials tell CNN the U.S. is proposing sending either Gore or New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson to North Korea to try and negotiate their release.

Time is running out now to find the voice and data recorders from Air France Flight 447. The plane, as you know, went down somewhere in the Atlantic five days ago. And now rescue crews say the debris they recovered yesterday is not from the plane. They say it's nothing more than sea trash.

CNN's John Zarrella is in Rio de Janeiro now, where the flight originated. So, John, I imagine a lot of that news very devastating to the families, simply because of them wanting to be able to learn more about what happened here.

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's exactly right, Heidi. And in fact, several family members, we were told about 16 of them, were flown by the air force today down to a place to -- up to a city called Recife, which is where a military base is and where all of the information from the Brazilian military is coming out. And that they are actually going to meet with a pilot today, be briefed by one of the air force pilots on the difficulties faced in the recovery effort out there.

There are bad weather conditions, we are told, again, making the work of recovery even more difficult. And as you mentioned, some of that debris, the stuff, the debris that was brought up yesterday turned out to be sea trash. They found a pallet out there, a wooden pallet, and when they brought it up on board and put it on the ship, they found out that in fact, it did not come from the flight.

They also found what they were describing as a flotation device, an orange flotation device. That didn't come from Air France flight either. But the air force is saying that some of the other debris that they have spotted over the course of the last five days or so, they do believe came from the flight. There was wiring strewn across the water. There was a seat that they saw. And they believe those items did come from the flight. They are efforting to recover those today.

But very quickly, the way this worked was for the first several days, their priority was to find either survivors or bodies.

COLLINS: Sure. Of course.

ZARRELLA: Now they have gone on to start to recover the debris that they had been spotting for the last several days. So, yesterday was the first day that they actually picked anything out of the water. And it turned out that what they plucked out of the water was not from Air France Flight 447 -- Heidi.

COLLINS: Yes. And you know, though you would think that any bit of debris that they could find if they're able, as you were telling us, to confirm that it came from the flight would be helpful. But really, it's about the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder, which not much time is left.

ZARRELLA: Right. You know, you have 30 days when there's a pinging noise that comes from the flight data recorder and from the cockpit recorder. So, they really need to try and locate the body of the debris, the main impact area of the plane. They have not been able to do that so far.

And so, they have actually continued to widen out their search area. Now it's something like on the order of a couple of hundred square miles. Most of that is due to the fact that you have this drift factor, where a lot of the debris is drifting. But absolutely the priority, race against time to find those devices and to find the main body of the aircraft. But no luck so far -- Heidi.

COLLINS: All right. John Zarrella for us live from Rio de Janeiro. John, thank you.

With companies in no mood to hire, the unemployment rate jumps again. But employers aren't laying off as much either. So, we'll sort out the numbers in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: On Wall Street, the job market is in the spotlight. The government has released the biggest employment report of all. And it shows hundreds of thousands of people are still losing their jobs. But, there is some light at the end of the tunnel. Felicia Taylor's at the New York Stock Exchange now with some details on this report. OK, give us the good stuff, Felicia.

FELICIA TAYLOR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: OK, well, there is good news, but also some bad news in the latest jobs report. The good news is, the numbers are slowing down dramatically. Only 345,000 -- I shouldn't say only, but 345,000 jobs were lost last month, and that's far below expectations and down significantly from recent months. Job losses had peaked in January with a whopping number of 741,000.

The bad news is that the unemployment rate surged to 9.4 percent. Of course, that's a huge jump of about a half of a percentage point. It puts the unemployment rate at a 26-year high. So, we had an initial rally that started the trading day on the better than expected news. The Dow Industrials dipped into the negative side, but now are back higher by 41 points. The Nasdaq is also slightly higher.

COLLINS: Yes, all that in just about the first hour of trading. So, OK, job losses not so bad, but unemployment way, way up. The disconnect is what?

TAYLOR: Well, basically, you're taking a look at two separate reports, and they're based on different surveys. People are back in the work force still looking for work, if that makes sense. These people weren't counted as unemployed before. Why? Because they gave up hope and actually stopped looking for work. So, there's a time lag there.

Also, the unemployment rate doesn't really tell the whole story. There's the underemployment rate, and that counts people who worked part-time and those who actually dropped out of the work force. If you included them, the unemployment rate would be at a staggering 16.4 percent.

So, we've got the layoffs, which are slowing down, but the number of people still out there looking for jobs is high and remains at 9.4 percent. And there are people out there who are expecting that we could see double-digit unemployment by the end of the year at about 10, 10.2 percent -- Heidi.

COLLINS: Boy, I hope not. All right, Felicia Taylor, thank you.

A brutal double murder rattling nerves in southern California.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: We want to get you answers to your financial questions. Let's get straight to "The Help Desk." Jack Otter is a financial journalist, and Ryan Mack is the president of Optimum Capital Management.

OK, guys, let's get right to the questions. The first one comes from Cori in Chicago, who asks, "My husband and I owe about 105 percent on our home. And we're about three years into a ten-year interest-only ARM at 6 percent. We're doing OK in that we can make our mortgage payments every month, but we want to get into a fixed- rate mortgage. Any way we can take advantage of the current low rates?" Jack, help these people out because there's trouble coming if they don't make a change.

JACK OTTER, FINANCIAL JOURNALIST: Absolutely. I mean, good for them for trying. The guy who sold them that mortgage ought to come on your show and defend himself.

If they're doing so OK financially, they can actually take a lump sum and pay down the principal. I would love them to go to the bank and say, look, here's what we're willing to do. Now we want a fixed rate and we want you to give us no fees or something, really drive a hard bargain.

If they can't do that, I'd try to pay off every month a little bit of the principal. Eventually, they're going to get down. They're going to get their head above water. Prices might rise a little bit in the next few years, not a lot, but a little bit. They'll be in a better financial situation. They can refi the normal way.

WILLIS: They need a new loan, that's for sure, because that one's going to create some problems down the road.

Will asks, "My fiancee and I are going to close on our new house in October." Very exciting. "We're worried about the interest rates rising. Can you give us an idea as to whether the rates will jump higher than they are now by the time we can lock in our rates in late August?"

Ryan, if we could answer this question, we wouldn't be here. That's for sure.

RYAN MACK, PRESIDENT, OPTIMUM CAPITAL MANAGEMENT: Well, I actually think their rates -- they're going to be -- they are rising. They have been rising. And they're going to slowly be rising. As we turn from an economy that's low interest rates and a lot of government expenditure to gradually increasing interest rates and less government expenditure, one of the things that come with that is gradually increasing interest rates.

But we have to look at the variables that we can control as opposed to the variables we can't control. What is your FICO score? Is it 720 or higher, to get your interest rates payments down lower? Can you at least 20 percent down to avoid PMI payments and making sure that you can avoid that secondary loan? Maybe you can put additional piece of moneys down on points so you can lower your score that -- lower your interest rates that way. So, rates may be higher, but make sure you're in the best position to put money down on that piece of property.

WILLIS: Yes, it's really hard to time these rates here. So, great answers to difficult questions, guys. Thanks for the help today.

"The Help Desk" is all about getting you answers. Send me an e- mail to gerri@CNN.com, or log on to cnn.com/helpdesk to see more of our financial solutions. And "The Help Desk" is everywhere. Make sure to check out the latest issue of "Money" magazine on newsstands now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: An autopsy is planned today on the body of a child found near a river in Monroe, Michigan. Authorities are trying to determine if the remains are those of a 5-year-old girl who went missing on May 24th. Nevaeh Buchanan was last seen in a parking lot of her apartment complex.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This little girl was my son's very best friend in the world. He hung out with her every single day. And my son is a total tragic mess because of this. He has missed her every day that she's been gone. And now he's going to miss her forever.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: Authorities have scheduled news conference on the case for a little bit later on today. We'll stay on top of that story for you.

Police in southern California are searching for clues to a brutal double murder. A couple was stabbed to death inside their multimillion dollar home while their young son hid in fear. CNN's Dan Simon reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In Faria Beach, California, population 300, the only real crime was petty theft. But now after the stabbing murder of two prominent residents in this seaside town, neighbors are reaching for their guns.

ROBERT BIANCHI, HUSTED NEIGHBOR: But last night, now, I took it out and started sleeping with it under my pillow again.

SIMON: Brock and Davina Husted were married for 13 years. They lived in this $3 million beach house with their 9-year-old son and 11- year-old daughter. Brock owned a successful wrought iron business. Davina, a former beauty queen, was expecting their third child.

JOHN HUSTED, BROTHER OF BROCK HUSTED: They never had to go to sleep with their eyes open or look over their shoulders. They trudged forward with their family and enjoyed life.

SIMON (on camera): This is the back of the house, right on the beach. And police say the killer walked through that patio door, which had been left open. Right now investigators don't know if this was a targeted or random attack.

(voice-over): That Wednesday night in the living room as the couple's son watched the "American Idol" finale, police say the killer suddenly breezed by and walked a few steps into the kitchen.

CAPT ROSS BONFIGLIO, VENTURA COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: I have no information that the suspect tried to harm the children physically in any way. I mean, obviously, the emotional damage is tremendous.

SIMON: The boy would tell investigators the killer wore a dark or black jumpsuit and black motorcycle helmet. He hid during the confrontation. When it was over, authorities say he told them he found both of his parents dead in the master bedroom. They'd been stabbed repeatedly on their upper bodies. He grabbed his sister, who'd been asleep, and ran to a neighbor for help.

J. HUSTED: What keeps on coming to my mind is those kids that night. The horror they must have felt, the emptiness, the loneliness. That's -- I can't get that out of my head.

SIMON: Brock Husted's older brother says he has no idea who wanted the couple dead.

(on camera): Do you think this was targeted or random?

J. HUSTED: My gut's telling me that I leave it open. I look at one aspect of it. I said, you know, it's random. Somebody's beach house, lights on. There's, you know, plenty of people walking through there, transients, whatnot. And then I look at the other aspect, that it could be targeted.

SIMON (voice-over): At his parents' funeral, the boy who found his mom and dad dead struggles to help guide the caskets. Out of sensitivity, his face is not being shown. He and his sister are now staying with relatives as a seaside community lives with the knowledge that a killer is still on the loose.

Dan Simon, CNN, Faria Beach, California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: He was a prisoner at the Buchenwald camp during World War II. And today he is there with President Obama talking about remembrance and healing. Hear from Nobel Peace Prize recipient Elie Wiesel in the next hour of the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COLLINS: For one 11-year-old boy, a journey, a long one, begins with this simple vow: my house to the White House. Zach Bonner is walking more than 1,200 miles to raise awareness for homeless children. Today he is in North Carolina, about halfway on his trek from Atlanta and Washington. Now, the Florida boy has legs of steel and the heart of a champion.

Here he is now in true "Rocky" form. We caught up to him and asked him what gave him the idea to do this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZACH BONNER, 11-YEAR-OLD WALKING FOR THE HOMELESS: Well, I had seen a documentary on a woman. Her name was Peace Pilgrim (ph). And she had walked over 25,000 miles for world peace. And I came up with the idea for the walk from her. But my mom said I should wait until I was a little bit older to do the walk.

But in 2007, I found out that that November was going to be the first National Homeless Youth Awareness Month. So, we went ahead and did it that year. And we went from Tampa to Tallahassee, and in 2008, we went from Tallahassee to Atlanta. And this year, going from Atlanta to D.C.

COLLINS: Wow, yes. I mean, you just didn't want to wait. Your mom said, wait till you're older. You said, no way. I want to do it right now. How many miles do you walk a day?

BONNER: Well, we try to walk about 11 to 13 miles every day.

COLLINS: Wow.

BONNER: Yes.

COLLINS: Do you ever get sore? What shoes do you wear?

BONNER: Well, yes, you do get sore, but the first five (ph) days are the worst.

COLLINS: How about some of the people that you've met along the way?

BONNER: Well, yes. I mean, we get to meet a lot of cool people along the way.

COLLINS: What about some presidents? I think you've met some commanders in chief along the way too, right?

BONNER: Right. I met President Bush, President Clinton, Senior Bush. Yes, I've met a few presidents, yes.

COLLINS: Very good. Once you get to Washington, what do you hope to accomplish after all this?

BONNER: Well, kids from all across the country have been writing in letters, voicing their concerns on youth homelessness and youth volunteerism. So, we're going to deliver those to President Obama if he's willing to come out and receive them after these kids put in the time to write these letters. So, hopefully, he'll be willing to receive those letters on July 9th.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COLLINS: My house to the White House. Now, if you want to go ahead and follow Zach's journey, you can do that. You can see how it zooms in and out here. This is the actual map. Go to his Web site, zachtracker.com, and then just click on the tab "Where is Zach." So, we wish him the best of luck.

I'm Heidi Collins. CNN NEWSROOM continues with Tony Harris.