Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Undocumented Students Have to Put Their Education Goals on Hold; Young Voters May Carry Iranian Presidential Election; Homeless Advocate Talks About Stereotypes Against the Homeless; How to Track Legislators' Expenses With Public Funds; Congress Passes Unprecedented Regulations on Tobacco; Anne Frank's Image Age Progressed To Show What She Would Look Like on her Eightieth Birthday; How to Recycle Your Old TV and Other Apparatus Due to Digital Switch; TSA Rejects Applicant Because of HIV Status; George H.W. Bush Celebrates Eighty-Fifth Birthday

Aired June 12, 2009 - 14:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, we're pushing forward this hour on America's best and brightest, some of them, anyway, in search of a dream. The high-achieving college kids I am talking about aren't America's. They come from other countries as very young children, illegally, and some never knew it until it came time to drive or work, or try to find scholarships or grants.

Wherever you stand in the passionate debate on immigration, you'll want to meet the people our Thelma Gutierrez met in Los Angeles.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): At 22, Nancy is modest, but just so impressive. No doubt one of the best and brightest from this year's class of college graduates.

(on camera): How are you doing in school? Do you get good grades?

NANCY, UNDOCUMENTED STUDENT: I think so.

GUTIERREZ: What did you get in Writing?

NANCY: I got an A.

GUTIERREZ: Race and Gender?

NANCY: An A.

GUTIERREZ: What was your GPA here?

NANCY: That would be, like, a 3.8.

GUTIERREZ (voice-over): Nancy wants to get a doctorate in education, she wants to teach. Elite grad schools want her.

NANCY: "Dear Nancy, I'm pleased to inform you that you've been admitted at the Harvard Graduate School of Education."

This one's from Brown University. This one's from Columbia University.

GUTIERREZ (on camera): It seems as though you're going to have a fantastic future. The world is your oyster, isn't it?

NANCY: Right. It looks like that from the surface.

GUTIERREZ (voice-over): But digging deeper, Nancy is trapped. She grew up completely unaware of a secret. She's in the country illegally.

Because of her immigration status, Nancy doesn't qualify for financial aid or any other government assistance. Unlike her peers, she can't work legally. So Nancy tutors and baby sits for cash to pay her tuition at UCLA.

But Harvard at $50,000 a year is out of the question. And so are student loans.

(on camera): You can't afford to go?

NANCY: No, I can't afford $50,000.

GUTIERREZ: How about your mother? Can she help?

NANCY: My mom doesn't make enough for her to pay my education.

GUTIERREZ: What does your mother do?

NANCY: She's a nanny.

GUTIERREZ (voice-over): When Nancy was a child, he mother applied for legal status for both of them. After several years, her mom was approved. But because of an attorney's error, Nancy was not. Her mother reapplied but because the process takes so long, Nancy turned 21 and was no longer eligible.

(on camera): When did you find out you were not American?

NANCY: My senior year in high school. I wanted to get my driver's license. I was talking to my mom. At first she was kind of hesitant to tell me. My life really flipped upside down.

GUTIERREZ: Were you angry at your mother?

NANCY: I was. I was angry at my mother, I was angry at the immigration system.

GUTIERREZ (voice-over): 2.5 million kids are in this legal limbo, afraid of being deported.

Nancy took us to UCLA to meet her classmates. All great students, and yet none of them can drive or even get on a plane because they cannot get a driver's license.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How many mathematicians, engineers, law students...

GUTIERREZ: Through no fault of their own, these academic stars find themselves in the white hot center of the immigration debate. They all share the same last hope; it's called the Federal Dream Act. If passed, it would create a path to legalization for college students.

Nancy's mentor, Professor Paz Oliverez, says they deserve a chance.

PAZ OLIVEREZ, FUTUROS EDUCATIONAL SERVICES: These aren't students who just want a free ride. In many cases, they really want to give back to the country.

LUPE MORENO, CALIFORNIA COALITION FOR IMMIGRATION REFORM: I have no compassion for them.

GUTIERREZ: Lupe Moreno is with the California Coalition for Immigration Reform, a group that calls immigrants who are not citizens invaders. She calls the Dream Act ridiculous and waste of taxpayer money.

MORENO: Your dream act is our children's nightmare. It's our nightmare. You have broken the law. Your family has broken the law. And you need to go address that with your country.

NANCY: I've never been to Mexico. I don't know Mexico. I think home is here.

GUTIERREZ: Where is home for these academic stars, these future leaders? The law is the law. But it's a fair question. Do we want to turn our backs on the best and the brightest?

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Thelma joining me now live.

So, what's Nancy going to do? And is she going to be able to attend grad school, Thelma?

GUTIERREZ: Kyra, Nancy says she lost a lot of sleep over that decision -- Harvard, UCLA, Brown, Columbia. But she feels that she and her mother will be able to raise that money so that she can go to UCLA.

But Kyra, even if Nancy is able to eventually get her Ph.D., she won't be able to work. No school or university will hire her because she is undocumented.

PHILLIPS: Wow. Well, the Dream Act that was first introduced in 2003, as you mentioned, what are the chances of it passing?

GUTIERREZ: Kyra, right now the hope is that it will become part of the larger immigration reform package that is supposed to be debated next week. Now, President Obama has said that he supports a path to legalization for college students just like Nancy. And as Nancy argues, she says, her mother is also a taxpayer, and she says American taxpayers have been paying for her education from kindergarten all the way through high school. So do we stop now when she has the greatest potential to contribute to the tax base?

PHILLIPS: Wow. Well, you sure were great with those students. You got them all to talk, and very comfortable. And it was fascinating listening to their stories.

Great reporting, Thelma Gutierrez. Thank you so much.

So what do you think about these so-called underground undergrads? Should they be able to get federal grants to go to college?

Tweet us at KyraCNN, and we'll share some of your thoughts a little later in the newscast.

Now to Iran, where young voters may well carry the day. And what a day.

Twice, the government had to push back the closing times of polling sites because so many people turned out to vote for president. That stake is not just the office, but the fate of Iran's crippled economy and, to some extent, its thorny relations with the outside world. The world is watching, and that includes President Obama.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We are excited to see what appears to be a robust debate taking place in Iran. And obviously after the speech that I made in Cairo, we tried to send a clear message that we think there is the possibility of change. And ultimately, the election is for the Iranians to decide.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, it's late there now, just after 10:30 at night. But earlier today, CNN's Christiane Amanpour sent us this report straight from Tehran.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Turnout at the polling stations we have visited is heavy, and we're getting word that it's heavy around other polling stations as well. People have been waiting in line since 8:00 a.m., when the polls opened. It's unusual, because generally people start coming out mostly in the mid-morning and in the afternoon. This time around, though, they have been lining up even before the polls open, and many have been standing in line already under the boiling sun for several hours, and they expect it to take even several more hours before they can actually cast their votes.

In very unscientific personal exit polls that we've been doing, we can see at the stations that we've been at that more people seem to be voting for the challenger, Mir-Hossein Mousavi, than for the president, Ahmadinejad. And if the rallies and street demonstrations, or street campaigning, are anything to go by, many are saying that it could be decided in the first round. Mousavi campaign himself has said that they have conducted their own poll overnight. They expect a record turnout by perhaps more than 80 percent, with some 79 percent casting votes for their candidate.

It's way too early for us to be able to say anything close to who is going to be the winner, or whether or not it will be decided in a first round. People who are coming out are telling us that this, by and large, is not a vote for a candidate, but a vote against the president's last four years in power, that this is shaping up to be a referendum on President Ahmadinejad's four years in office.

They say that he has not met his promises to improve their economy and to improve their ability to get a living wage. Others say that they don't want to see their country held in contempt by countries and the international community.

It's a proud people. They say they want to be able to travel, they want to be able to have good relations with the rest of the world, including, they say, with the United States. Many, many of the voters we are talking to, whether they're men, women, older or younger, say they want a change.

Now, President Ahmadinejad's support comes from mainly the rural areas, the poorer areas, the more religious areas. He spent the last four years traveling around the provinces, handing out cash benefits, making life in terms of benefits for retirees slightly easier, helping build hospitals and schools. And that's where he has been wooing his support.

And we are waiting to see how the vote goes in those areas.

Christiane Amanpour, CNN, Tehran.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: So where does a homeless man stash his stuff when he goes for a job interview? It's a very real question for homeless job seeker and blogger Eric Sheptock. He's today's "30 Second Pitch."

You will meet him right here in the NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, Eric Sheptock has traveled a tough road. He says his parents tried to kill him when he was an infant. He ended up in foster care. He was adopted, but life still did not get any easier.

At the age of 25, he quit his job, and that began a downward spiral and on-and-off homelessness for the next 15 years. But he's not your typical homeless man.

He sings in the choir at the Church of the Epiphany in downtown Washington, D.C. He's an activist who is passionate about his causes, including helping other homeless people, and he has a blog. In fact, his next post is going to be about the difficulties of finding a job if you're homeless. Eric Sheptock joins us for today's "30 Second Pitch."

Eric, good to see you.

ERIC SHEPTOCK, HOMELESS JOB SEEKER: Good to see you.

PHILLIPS: All right. Now, you know if you go on a job interview, you've got to turn the hat the other way around.

(LAUGHTER)

SHEPTOCK: I don't know about that. This is a characteristic of me.

PHILLIPS: OK. That's true. You don't want to be anything else but yourself. You're right.

How did you end up in D.C.?

SHEPTOCK: Well, in 2005, I came up the coast from Florida over the course of 25 days. I left on Bush's birthday, July 6th. I got here 25 days later, on July 31st, and I began protesting Bush because I didn't like his dishonesty and how he went to Iraq based on lies.

And then about 10 months after I got here in D.C., these two ladies came to the homeless shelter where I was staying at and they said Mayor Tony Williams is going to close his shelter, so what are you going to do about? You know, you have nowhere to go.

And so about a dozen guys at the shelter at that time formed a committee, the Committee to Save Franklin Shelter, which got incorporated into Rahone (ph) Incorporated, a nonprofit. That's gone under at this point. But anyway...

PHILLIPS: So basically, you came as kind of an anti-war advocate and you were staying in a homeless shelter, found out that was at stake, so you became an advocate for your homeless shelter. So, basically, you have got this spirit in you of advocacy, correct?

SHEPTOCK: Correct.

PHILLIPS: OK. So -- and I know you have tried to get a job. You have talked to everybody else there staying at the homeless shelter, and you've blogged about it.

Talk about going to an interview. Why is that tough? Because you have got to bring all your stuff with you and people stereotype you. Talk about some of the other challenges as you guys do try to find work, how tough it is.

SHEPTOCK: Well, there's a lot of different challenges. For one thing, many of the programs feed during the hours that most people would be at work. Like, where I eat breakfast, they feed at 9:30 a.m. Most folks would be at work at that time.

And then oftentimes, you get dinner about 3:00 or 4:00 in the afternoon. Most folks wouldn't even be home from work at that time. And so you have to choose between working and eating in many cases.

Then, the check-in at the shelters oftentimes is 3:00 or 4:00 in the afternoon. And so by the time you get off work, you have got nowhere to sleep. And so you have to sleep outside.

And then you don't have money to ride the bus to work for the first couple of weeks. You don't have money for lunch. When I began my new part-time job, I actually went to work hungry a few days because I didn't have any money to buy food.

PHILLIPS: Wow.

All right. And I know that you recently did get this part-time job as a janitor. But your story is so amazing, and I think it's incredible how you have been enterprising with blog and Twitter and Facebook, and you go to the public library and you do this on a regular basis. And you are an advocate for others there in the homeless shelter where you are living.

So I want to give you a chance to do a 30 second pitch. We have got your e-mail, EricSheptock@yahoo.com. We are going to bring that up on the screen.

And so have you thought about your pitch? You're going to have 30 seconds. Are you ready to go?

SHEPTOCK: Sure.

PHILLIPS: All right. We are going to start the clock.

Eric Sheptock, tell your future employers what you want.

SHEPTOCK: First of all, you should go to my blog, which is my name, EricSheptock.com.

My first love is homeless advocacy. Second to that is just happening the poor in general. And I've done a lot of manual labor. I can drive a forklift. I have done a lot of freight handling.

And I'm a really hard worker. But I want things that can use my leadership skills and also my originality. And I think I'm very creative.

PHILLIPS: Yes, you are creative. And yes, you do have originality.

I'm going to give you five more seconds because I walked over your clock.

One more thought?

SHEPTOCK: Well, that's pretty much it. I mean, I was at the end.

PHILLIPS: Does that sum it up? All right. You were at the end. I love it.

Eric Sheptock -- EricSheptock@yahoo.com. You really do have an incredible story. I hope you keep moving forward and keep blogging and twittering and working on your Facebook.

Will you let us know if you get any bites for a job?

SHEPTOCK: Sure.

PHILLIPS: All right.

Eric, thanks for your time.

SHEPTOCK: All right. Thank you.

PHILLIPS: All right.

Well, unfortunately, Eric is just one of the estimated 14 million people who are currently unemployed. And with that many out looking for a job, it's important to stand out from the crowd. And a new survey shows just how creative people are getting.

You see how creative Eric is.

(BUSINESS REPORT)

PHILLIPS: It's good to be in the U.S. Senate. Free travel is just one of the perks. But why are two senators apparently flying more frequently than their colleagues?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, think of the frequent flyer miles Senators Charles Schumer and John Cornyn are racking up. Politico reports that the New York Democrat and Texas Republican have each spent more than $140,000 of taxpayer money on travel in just the first half of this fiscal year. That's about 10 times more than some of their colleagues have spent.

We asked them to explain why. Here is the statement from Senator Cornyn's office.

"The media reports are intentionally misleading and fail to mention that the fact that the expenses were for transportation, lodging and meals for Senator Cornyn's entire staff of 59. For the last six months, Senator Cornyn has more than 24 million constituents, and he makes every effort to stay connected to all of them."

And from Camp Schumer, "Unfortunately, since many parts of the state are not accessible by commercial air travel and there is virtually no air between upstate cities, he relies on a very small propeller plane to make multiple stops per day across upstate New York, and hundreds of visits each years. We wish commercial air carriers served all parts of New York that Senator Schumer visits, but they simply don't."

All Senate offices are provided a set budget. Some choose to invest in mass mailings and office equipment, but Senator Schumer prioritizes in-person outreach to his constituents." Well, if you're wondering what your senators or representatives are doing with your money, you can check out this Web site. We found it online, LegiStorm.com. It's founded by Jock Friedly. He actually used to be an investigative reporter. Now he puts those skills to work tracking down documents, financial disclosures for members of Congress and to their staffers.

So what we did, we went up to the Web site, here, the main Web site, checked out Senator John Cornyn, and you can go down and see all his financials and travels, et cetera. Nothing from 2009 is on here yet.

Then we over to Senator Chuck Schumer. Same thing -- trips approved, trips taken, the staff that traveled with him, and all the financials there. Still, nothing for 2009 in there. If you want to go to that site, legistorm.com, you can look at salaries, trips, financial disclosures, gifts, foreign gifts, earmarks about all your senators and representatives. Check out that Web site. It's worked well for us.

America's relationship with tobacco will never be the same. If you were with us last hour, you know Congress has passed and President Obama is eager to sign unprecedented regulations on tobacco in all its forms.

For the first time, tobacco will fall under FDA authority. The Feds won't be able to ban it, but they will have a say in additives, including tar and nicotine. They can ban the use of flavors, which are primarily used to hook kids and limit advertising aimed at children and teens. To make it harder for underaged smokers to feed their habits its, the measure mandates face-to-face purchases. The president couldn't wait to sign -- sing its praises.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: This kids' tobacco bill would be the fourth piece of bipartisan legislation that I have signed into law over the last month that protects the American consumer and changes the way that Washington works and who Washington works for. So I look forward to signing it. I want to thank all the people in the House and Senate for working so hard to pass this bill in a bipartisan way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, Atria Group, the biggest of the big tobacco firms, calls the new regs an important step but doesn't much like the curbs on advertising.

And the Holocaust Museum in D.C. back -- it's open to visitors now. It opened a few hours ago with a new horror to remember. Right there at its front door, the shooting that left a museum security officer dead and an 88-year-old white supremacist charged with murder. CNN cameras were the first inside the museum after the attack. On the Web site, the museum proclaims "a renewed commitment to the urgency of our mission." She would never make it to 20, let alone 80. Anne Frank's diary revealed all of promises, hopes and dreams she held. If she'd survived the Holocaust, she would turn 80 years old today. To mark the milestone, a new view of Anne. Here is CNN's Don Riddell.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DON RIDDELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: This is the face of a lady celebrating her 80th birthday. But sadly, the image is a work of fiction because Anne Frank died at the hands of the Nazis in a concentration camp when she was just 15. Through the words of her diary, she remains very much alive.

GILLIAN WALNES, THE ANNE FRANK TRUST: What it really feels like to be hated, she articulated so well. She carried the burden of the world on her shoulders.

RIDDELL: And penned her diary while she and her family were hiding from the Nazis in this tiny Amsterdam attic. They were betrayed and ultimately taken to the concentration camp.

After the war, her father, Otto, was torn about whether to publish it.

EVA SCHLOSS, ANNE FRANK'S STEPSISTER: He came to show it to us. He read always a few passages out of it, but he always burst into tears, really, was too emotional for him.

RIDDELL: Eva Schloss survived the Auschwitz camp and is one of Anne's oldest friends. She said she called her Mrs. Quack Quack because always she talked so much. Little did they know that Anne's words would be one of the most personal and tragic accounts of Jewish life under persecution.

JAN SHURE, THE JEWISH CHRONICLE: Anne put such a human face on the Holocaust, which otherwise is such a vast tragedy that it's almost incomprehensible. She makes it real, the day-to-day life of being in hiding, which I don't think any of us can imagine.

RIDDELL: Her message is as relevant today as it was more than 60 years ago.

WALNES: We heard on the news just this week about the terrible shootings at the Holocaust Memorial Center in Washington. There is still hatred out there. This is the week that the British national party who (INAUDIBLE) the politics of hate, had two members elected to the European parliament. We have to be ever vigilent.

RIDDELL: To mark the occasion of her 80th birthday, the Global Anne Frank Trust have released this digitally enhanced image of how she might have looked had she lived.

SCHLOSS: We all like to remember her how she was, this lively, wonderful young person. This is a very nice grandmother, but (INAUDIBLE) the pain of having lost perhaps a mother and sister. This feels to me like a woman who hasn't experienced much in life. RIDDELL: In her diary, Anne wondered how she would have been as an 80-year-old woman, saying she would be terribly forgetful, but the world will never forget her.

Don Riddell, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: Lydia Schaefer has a productive new life in the United States, but her mom in Ethiopia is never far from her heart. She's making a difference by putting aside two days of pay a week to help educate Ethiopian children. Meet Lydia Schaefer, a CNN hero.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN news.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

LYDIA SCHAEFER, CHAMPIONING CHILDREN: I like my job. I get to talk to different people. I work in Washington, D.C. But I'm from Ethiopia.

When I go home to visit, it is so different. These children, they are hungry to learn. They have to walk three hours to go to school. One of the little girls, she was walking the last child. She got killed by a hyena. I know I have to do something.

My name is Lydia Schaefer. I built a school for my village in Ethiopia. I was working two days for the school, four days for me. I saved my tips.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: She made huge sacrifices. She sold her home. All those (INAUDIBLE) are important. In 2006, the school is finished. We have eight buildings, 16 classrooms, a library, lavatory. It's not beautiful but it is good.

SCHAEFER: In 2006, the school was functioning (ph). We have eight buildings, sixteen classrooms, library, laboratory. It's not beautiful, but it's good.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because of Lydia, now, I am continuing my education, which is a good chance for me. I am grateful to Lydia.

It feels really good to learn. I don't feel like I give up a lot. I really work with my heart.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: If you would like to help Lydia Schaefer, or if you know someone who is doing something so extraordinary that they deserve to be a CNN hero, go to CNN.com/heroes. Remember, all of our CNN heroes are chosen from people you nominate. Tell us about yours.

Rabbit ears go the way of the dinosaur. Say good-bye to television as you once knew it. Digital broadcasting begins today for everyone. We're going to tell you how to now dispose of that antiquiated TV for a better tomorrow -- or rather, antiquated. (LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: Stations all across the country today stopped broadcasting in analog and made the switch to digital. TV sets with rabbit ears will only work with a special converter box. If you want to trash your old TV instead, what's the best way to do it? CNNMoney's Poppy Harlow has some options.

Hey, Poppy.

POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: Hey, there Kyra. Yes, a lot of folks -- I think my home in Minnesota, my family sells a lot of rabbit ear TVs.

The problem with throwing them out, they can have lead or toxic materials that leak into groundwater. So it can be dangerous when they end up in the landfill. Six manufacturers offer these free take- back programs. Take a look if you have one of these TVs. Sony offers 274 drop-off locations across the country. Samsung has 170 and LG, Panasonic and Sharp Toshiba have about 280 recycling locations across the country. So, you just surf their Web sites. Krya, I have to tell you. I did this. I searched some Web sites. It is hard to find. You have to write in the search box "recycle my TV," and that'll direct you to the right place.

PHILLIPS: What if your old TV wasn't made by those specific companies?

HARLOW: That's a problem. Most the programs will take back other brands. They will charge you to do that. There are some retailers dumping in here. Best Buy will charge you $10 to drop off any TV 32 inches of smaller, but they give you a $10 Best Buy card in return. Wal-Mart will use Samsung's program for all of it's in-house brands, Kyra. And then you can also go to earth911 -- that Web site is right here. Type in your zip code. It will tell you all the drop- off locations near you. Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. What about the old TVs, are there more recycling options? Some would consider this to be dangerous, right?

HARLOW: It is dangerous for the environment. One of the main obstacles is cost, right? All the states don't mandate this. It cost companies money to recycle them. There are six states now that ban you from throwing out your old TV. Five more have passed bans. You can see them there. All the green ones already have those bans. The yellow ones have passed them. They're not in effect yet. In the meantime, though, we could see a lot of folks throwing them out. Don't do that. Don't throw out are old ones. Just go online and try and find a recycling location. Pay the ten bucks if you have got it.

PHILLIPS: Ten bucks is nothing. It is worth it. Thanks, Poppy.

HARLOW: Sure.

PHILLIPS: The TSA. Three initials you know well if you fly. Three other initials are keeping a qualified guy from getting a job there. HIV. Is that right? (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: We want to get your answers to your financial questions. Let's go straight to the Help Desk. Donna Rosado is a senior writer with "Money" magazine, and Stacy Bradford is a financial journalist.

All right, guys. Let's get right to work. Patsy asked, "I have a 40- year bloom mortgage at 5.99 percent, and get a 4.52 percent, 30-year fixed mortgage, should I refi, even though my monthly payments would go up by about $185 a month, or just stay in the mortgage I have and pay more on the principal?" Stacy, I get questions like these all the time. What do you think?

STACY BRADFORD, FINANCIAL JOURNALIST: If she can actually get a 30-year fixed at 4.25 percent, she should grab it. There's no question about it. Yes, her monthly payment would be a little bit higher now, but she will know what that monthly payment is for the life of the loan, and it will never change.

HARLOW: That is so attractive, don't you think so, Donna? DONNA ROSADO, SENIOR WRITER, "MONEY" MAGAZINE: It's a terrific rate, and I think Stacy brought up a good point. Rates are going up -- if she can get that 4.25, that is tremendous. She probably would pay a bit more in points or fees to get that, but I agree with Stacy. If you can do that, more power to you.

HARLOW: OK, Eric asked, "I applied for refinancing on March 13. It's June, and my refinancing application is still not closed. How long should the process take? I've sent in every document requested within one business day." Donna, my heart goes out to this viewer. This is so frustrating.

ROSADO: And it's such a situation that is not unusual at all. My husband and I refinanced earlier this year, and it took us several months, as well. With record-low interest rates, mortgage rates this spring, the volume of applications and many first-time home buyers, as well, really flooded banks. It is taking longer to get refinancing.

HARLOW: But these rates have come back up.

ROSADO: Well, that's the good news for this person, that with rates going back up, the loan volume has really come down. There's fear -- so he should be able to -- it should be a process, but the key for him is to make sure that he's locked in that rate. If he applied in March and he can hold on to that rate, he wants to make sure that rate is locked in, because rates are going up and he may have to pay for an extension, but I think it would be well worth it.

HARLOW: All right. And so always, you want to make sure you're getting the right kind of loan. That 30-year fixed, that is luscious. Thanks for your help today. Great answers, tough questions.

The Help Desk is all about getting your 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 you check out the latest issue of "Money" magazine on newsstands now.

PHILLIPS: Well, it's a story we're going to keep pushing forward. Operation Orange Tree, a big child porn sting in Florida that's hauled in 77 suspects. Three Oranges are still out there. Take a look at these guys. Call the cops if you know where they are.

Law officers tell us five sex abuse victims were rescued during the sting. And this detail will make your skin crawl. We are told several suspects had a videotape that showed how to molest children and avoid getting caught. Florida's new software made the sting possible. John Walsh of America's Most Wanted told me yesterday that every state needs it now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN WALSH, HOST, AMERICA'S MOST WANTED: My wife always called child pornographers and molesters terrorists, terrorists of children. Some of these guys were repeat offenders, were convicted sex offenders back out on the street. I really hope that other states -- state legislators and on the federal level -- they realize how insidious these people are and well-organized these people are. This software is available for free. It should go to every police agency in the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: The sting in Florida netted suspects ages 17 to 83.

The Transportation Security Administration. You know it well, not just because TSA screeners check you and your bags every time you go to the airport, but because they have probably frustrated the hell out of you at one time or another.

And you have some reason to feel that way. Screeners have been busted for inappropriately screening you. Use your imagination there. They have been fired for stealing your stuff. Four years ago, the Department of Homeland Security began a probe into the TSA's hiring practices because people with shady pasts were getting jobs there.

Well, now the latest saga. Michael Lamar applied for a job with the TSA, and they rejected him. Why? Because he is HIV positive. Here is what the TSA told him in a letter. "Based on the current requirements of the job and the results from your recent medical evaluation, it was determined that you could not perform this TSO job safely, effectively, and efficiently."

Really? But Michael passed all their tests with flying colors. He is former military and even worked with the NSA, the National Security Agency. As for his health, Michael's lived with HIV for 19 years. He recently did a 165-mile bike ride to raise money for HIV research. Sure doesn't sound like an unhealthy guy. According to Lamar, TSA officials told him this was for his own good. That, as a baggage screener, he would be in enclosed spaces and highly susceptible to infection. Of course, you could say that outside of pretty much anyplace outside his own house. The ACLU has filed a complaint, and the TSA says it is reviewing the facts and that in the past, it has cleared HIV-positive people for the application process. We are going to follow up on that case.

So, what do you think? Government-sponsored discrimination veiled in a medical excuse, or should Michael Lamar be rejected because he is HIV positive? A lot of you weighed in on our Twitter page.

Mfresendez says, "I can't believe the ignorance of people. HIV is scary, but we can't force people to hide because of a disease. Should we fire people with cancer, too?"

From Justincaseinc. "Please. We need to discuss the real facts of HIV more. The stigma hasn't changed since the '80s. Absurd."

And MarieMauer asks, "Don't we have anti-discrimination laws regarding HIV? Why does the TSA even know his status? It should be confidential and irrelevant to the job."

And finally, from Veritaz, "HIV in an employee is a very uncomfortable situation, highly contagious, same as TB or H1N1."

Well, we wanted to read that one and just clarify for people who may have seen it online. Tuberculosis and swine flu can be transmitted through the air. HIV cannot. For more information, go to cdc.gov/hiv.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WOLF BLITZER, HOST, THE SITUATION ROOM: In recent days, a huge brouhaha over David Letterman's jokes involving your family and your daughter. He says he made a mistake. He says, yeah, it was probably in bad taste. He shouldn't have done it. Are you willing to forgive and forget?

SARAH PALIN, GOVERNOR OF ALASKA: I will always forgive whomever is asking for forgiveness. It goes beyond, though, David Letterman's crude, sexist, perverted joke about a 14-year-old girl being quote, unquote, "knocked up by Alex Rodriguez." I think he's, like, 30- something years old. I think that that's -- pretty perverted.

It goes beyond that. Not just that joke. This insinuation that it is okay, it is acceptable to talk like that, and then that it is acceptable for the media not to provide the American public, the listeners, the readers, the full context of that joke. Letterman says, hey, I wasn't talking about her 14-year-old. David, my 14-year- old was there with me at the game. She was the only one there with me. It wasn't my older daughter, who is in college and take caring of her young family. It was my 14-year-old. So for the American public not to be given the full context of what that joke was about, I think that is quite unfortunate.

(END VIDEO CLIP) PHILLIPS: You will see more of Wolf Blitzer's interview with the Alaskan governor. That's tonight on "The Situation Room" at 6 p.m. Eastern.

Many happy returns and one exuberant landing for President Bush the first. Bush 41, as he is also known, turns 85 today, and not the way most people turn 85. He made a habit of celebrating these kind of milestones by jumping out of planes. This time with my colleague over at HLN, Robin Meade. She actually got to jump with him. We couldn't let her get away without telling us about it. Robyn?

ROBIN MEADE, HEADLINE NEWS ANCHOR: Hi, Kyra. Before this landing of his that you're going to see here on the piece of tape, before he did this jump, I interviewed him. I was like, why are you doing this? You are 85. Is this good for an 85-year-old? He was like, hey, I just want to show people that 85-year-olds have a lot to give and he said something along the lines of it is better than sitting in a corner and drooling.

He has a great sense of humor. Obviously, a great sense of adventureism. Here he is, skydiving at 85. I talked to him a lot on the plane on the way up there. Just cool as a cucumber. I actually went first. Here is the tape of me going first, because I wanted to be on the ground when he landed to ask him a few questions and get his response.

I've never done this. This was his seventh jump. This is my first. I was mostly concerned I didn't want to face-plant live on TV. So I didn't do that. I was happy about that. The Army's Golden Knights, a premier parachute team -- they're the ones we jumped with. President Bush has jumped with them before, so they know him. This is kind of old hat for him.

I don't care how many times you jump out of a plane, it's still exhilarating, I'm sure. The first time he jumped out of a plane was during World War II, and he had to, he had to ditch his plane because it had been damaged basically by enemy fire. So he said the first time that he jumped out of a plane after that, he wanted to do it on his own accord, basically. He talked about that today. So, now, he is doing it obviously because he still enjoys that. I wanted to show you a little bit of the tape of when he landed. I grabbed him again to get his reaction. Barbara Bush was there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MEADE: Well, Mr. Bush, what do you think?

GEORGE H.W. BUSH, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I liked it, I liked it. I would be glad to do it again. How about you?

MEADE: That was something else. Mrs. Bush, this is my first time jumping. What do you have to say about him?

BARBARA BUSH, FORMER FIRST LADY OF THE UNITED STATES: I thought he was great. He was old hand, but you came in like a lady.

(LAUGHTER)

MEADE: No skidding across on my knees. I came in like a lady, she said. So, is Barbara going to let you do this again?

G. BUSH: Not until my 90th birthday.

B. BUSH: Why not?

MEADE: Barbara, are we ever going to see you do this?

B. BUSH: Never.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MEADE: So, never. She has always said that. No. No, it won't be me. President Bush's son, Jeb Bush, and President Bush 43, they came over and talked, and I don't see any inclination for them to jump either.

(LAUGHTER)

PHILLIPS: I saw him steal a kiss with you after that jump. I still think that was the highlight of his 85th birthday. Robin Meade, congratulations.

(LAUGHTER)

I don't know how could we go from you jumping with the forty-first president to Rick Sanchez, but we're going to try to do it. Rick takes it from here.