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Hometown Rallies for Captured Soldier; Brooklyn Teens to Visit South Africa on Journey for Change; President Obama Holding Prime-Time Conference About Health Care Reform; Iranians on Hunger Strike Outside of United Nations Headquarters in New York City; Surviving in the Deserts of Afghanistan

Aired July 22, 2009 - 13:00   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Time for us to go. We're pushing forward now with the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM with Kyra Phillips.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: All right, Tony, thank you so much.

Too much, too soon, or too important to wait? Two sides of the fight over health care in America, a fight that's raging in private, in public, in Congress, the White House. Maybe even your house. We're pushing forward to a prime-time pitch from the president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MALAAK COMPTON-ROCK, FOUNDER, THE ANGELROCK PROJECT: These kids have always been on the receiving end of aid. They've never been on the giving end of service. I think that's going to open up their world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: A Journey for Change: from the mean streets of Brooklyn to the shantytowns of South Africa. It's all part of "Black in America 2," and CNN's Soledad O'Brien joins me live.

And you can't fight a desert war without stocked (ph) water. That's more than a survival tip than a military secret. And our Ivan Watson shows and tells in Afghanistan.

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

So, how often does Congress do something that affects the well- being, physical and financial, of every person in America? Almost never. But that's what's happening as lawmakers try to make health care available to everybody while reining in costs.

It hasn't been happening as quickly or as smoothly as President Obama would like, so tonight he'll do what ordinary lobbyists can't and hold a prime-time, nationally-televised news conference. You'll see it live right here on CNN.

But before that you'll see the problems, the possibilities, through the eyes of a family doctor, a doctor who turned down his own employer's insurance coverage. He'll tell us what he has learned as a health-care consumer.

The president's not the only one doing news conferences, but the real work is taking place far out of sitting of the cameras, and that's the focus of our senior congressional correspondent, Dana Bash.

Dana, I understand there's been a big development. What can you tell us?

DANA BASH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Kyra. You know, we have been standing in front of this room here -- this is the office of Senator Max Baucus -- because that is where a group of bipartisan negotiators who really hold the fate of the president's plan in their hand, they have been talking.

And the development is that one of three Republicans in that room has pulled out of the talks. That Republican is Orrin Hatch of Utah. He told our congressional producer, Ted Barrett, that he actually informed the chairman, Max Baucus, just within the last hour that he has decided that, philosophically, he just doesn't agree with the way things are heading behind those closed doors.

Specifics, he said that he doesn't really agree with the idea of having an employer mandate -- effectively mandating that employers have coverage for their -- for their employees or an individual mandate, making it clear to every American you must have coverage or else or we're going to penalize you.

He also doesn't like the idea of expanding the Medicaid program, which is something that they have been talking about behind these closed doors.

So now, having said all of that, Orrin Hatch is a conservative Republican, and many people maybe were surprised that he was even negotiating with Democrats, but he was, and he has been for the past several months.

So, that just gives you a sense, the fact that he has decided to pull out, leaving just two Republicans in these bipartisan talks, gives you a sense of the fact that maybe they are making more progress. But also maybe the rubber is meeting the road and you have some, you know, Republicans who are looking at this and saying, you know, "It just isn't going to work for me." And certainly, in the case of Orrin Hatch, who has been a negotiator, that's what he said.

PHILLIPS: All right, Dana Bash. Thank you so much. We'll continue to follow-up with you, of course, as things develop behind the closed doors there.

Now, less than half the country now approves of President Obama's handling of his signature issue, make that one of his signature issues, but supporters still slightly outnumber the critics.

In our latest poll of polls, 47 percent of Americans say that the president is doing well in the health-care debate; 44 percent disagree. Mr. Obama's overall approval rating is higher: 56 percent in our latest poll of polls, but that's down from 61 percent in late June.

So stop me if you've heard this, but you've got a stake in what Congress and the president decides here. CNN's senior medical correspondent joins me now, Elizabeth Cohen, with the real-world impact of reform.

You started trying to explain it in the eyes of three make- believe insured, uninsured individuals.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right, right. Make-believe, but there are -- they have serious parallels in the real-world universe.

We wanted to answer the question, what does health-care reform mean to me? Because we are all stakeholders in this issue. Our health care will look very different once health-care reform is done.

But of course, "what health-care reform means to me," depends on who "me" is. So we have two "me's" that we're going to talk about right now.

First, we're going to -- I'm going to introduce you to Mary. Mary is 23 years old. You can tell from that cute little cap on her head, she just graduated from college, and she is looking for a job. Would health-care reform help her? Well, let's take a look.

Under the Senate plan, it would help her, because it would allow her to stay on her parents' insurance until she's 26 years old. So, she's got another three years to be with Mom and Dad. But under the House plan, that says that kids can stay with Mom and Dad only until they're 22. So Mary would do much better under the Senate plan than under the House plan.

PHILLIPS: I guess some parents would say, OK, that's a good thing. I'm more for the House plan because that...

COHEN: Right, maybe they don't want them. Right.

PHILLIPS: Right. That will push them to be more responsible for themselves. That's a whole other issue.

COHEN: Right.

PHILLIPS: What about -- let's talk about something that's a little more complicated. That's if someone has a pre-existing condition. We've interviewed a lot of people that have been struggling with cancer and other, you know, fatal diseases, and they've had a really hard time getting insurance to take care of them. They're concerned about this, obviously, as well.

COHEN: Right. It's just awful. I mean, these are folks who need insurance the most, and they can't get it, because they have a pre-existing condition.

So, let me introduce you to John. You can see that John has a bad back. He's a sad guy. He's self-employed, and he cannot get health insurance. So the question here is will health-care reform help him?

And the answer, according to really pretty much everyone, is yes. It will help him. Because no matter how you look at it, with all the various plans, all of them have some -- in some way, shape, or form will help people with pre-existing conditions. It can't get much worse, right? I mean, even just a bad back, if it's a really bad back, a lot of insurance companies will just say, "No, don't want to insure you. You're just too expensive."

PHILLIPS: All right, now in the next hour you are going to hit our third individual. Something we've been talking a lot about.

COHEN: Right. And that is, what if you're happy? What if you like your insurance? What will health-care reform...

PHILLIPS: And don't want anything to change.

COHEN: Right. And you don't want anything to change. What's going to happen there? This is really the mother of all controversies, because most Americans get their insurance through their employer. So, trying to tell them, "Oh, don't worry, be happy, you'll be fine," that's a little tricky, and that may be part of why the president's approval rating on this issue has gone down.

PHILLIPS: All right, we'll talk more about it more, then, very soon. Thanks, Elizabeth.

COHEN: Thanks.

PHILLIPS: He's a brand-new doctor, and he's turning down his hospital's health-insurance plan. Why would anyone do that? We're going to talk to him live.

And tonight a presidential news conference, 8 p.m. Eastern, 5 p.m. Pacific. Watch it with Wolf Blitzer and Anderson Cooper and the best political team on television. That's only on CNN.

A rare victory for gun-control advocates. Moments ago the Senate narrowly rejected the carrying of concealed weapons across state lines. The defeated measure would have given people with concealed weapons permits the right to carry firearms into other states with similar gun laws.

Now, the vote was 58-39, in favor of the provision, but it needed 60 votes to pass. It was offered as an amendment to a defense spending bill and marked the first significant defeat for the gun lobby this year.

Now, still a POW, still in the hands of the Taliban, but we still aren't sure just where Army PFC Bowe Bergdahl is being held. Probably still in Afghanistan, where he went missing three weeks ago, or possibly in neighboring Pakistan.

The Taliban released this video Sunday. Defense Secretary Robert Gates vows to do everything possible to get him back. And then friends back in his hometown of Haley, Idaho, describe Bowe as a tough, caring kid who'd do anything to help others.

CNN's Ed Lavandera spoke to some of them.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ED LAVANDERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is Bowe Bergdahl on a high-seas adventure. That's him in the green jacket. Before joining the military, Bergdahl found a job fishing for salmon off the Alaska coast. It was on this adventure that Dylan Fullmer first met his hometown buddy.

DYLAN FULLMER, BOWE BERGDAHL'S FRIEND: Bowe's a good kid. He's strong as an ox.

LAVANDERA: Fullmer spent almost three months on this boat with Bergdahl, sleeping in a crammed cabin. At night, Fullmer says Bergdahl dreamed of riding his bike around the world, hopping on boats, carrying only the bare necessities.

(on camera) He's telling you about wanting to bicycle around the world. What do you think of that?

FULLMER: This kid is crazy, you know? There's no land all the way around the world. And then he explained the whole boat process. But I just -- biking around the world, that's one heck of a feat right there.

LAVANDERA (voice-over): Those who know Bergdahl talk of his adventurous spirit. He worked for Sue Martin at this coffee shop, where "Get Bowe Back" signs hang in the window.

SUE MARTIN, OWNER OF COFFEE SHOP: He captures you. Bowe is not somebody in the corner. He captures you. You engage and he engages very well.

LAVANDERA: He's a renaissance man in the making. He learned ballet at this dance studio, took up the sport of fencing. An avid outdoorsman, he rode motorcycles, learned to sail on an expedition that took him from the Atlantic to the Pacific, all by the age of 23.

(on camera) It seems like he was fascinated by the world out there.

FULLMER: Yes. Wanted to go see it. Wanted to go see it.

LAVANDERA: Bergdahl waited tables and worked construction jobs to pay for these adventures, which sometimes involved long, rustic bike rides through the Idaho wilderness.

SHERIFF WALT FEMLING, BLAINE COUNTY, IDAHO: Bowe never owned a car. He doesn't like them.

LAVANDERA (on camera): Bergdahl's parents live a quiet life along this dirt road on the outskirts of Haley, Idaho. They live in this home, nestled here in the mountain valley. And it's here, we understand, that Private Bergdahl was home-schooled growing up. (voice-over) But what Sue Martin says she loves most about Bergdahl is the man who displayed quiet chivalry.

MARTIN: I'd go out to my car after a long day and a big snow fall, and Bowe would have been out there and swept the snow off my car. And I walk out there and, you know, it's just like, Bowe's been here. And he'd never say anything.

LAVANDERA: That's the Bowe Bergdahl the people in his hometown can't wait to welcome home.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LAVANDERA: And, Kyra, friends and family here in Haley, Idaho, are planning a large candlelight vigil tonight here at this coffee shop, which has essentially become the point of information on anything having to do with Bowe Bergdahl. And the sheriff here is urging people to show up on their bicycles, because he says that's what Bowe would do if he were here.

PHILLIPS: Let's hope the next gathering is a great homecoming. Ed Lavandera, thanks.

The dead, disturbed, and dumped; the living, furious and worried. Taxpayers, shelling out big bucks to sort it all out. Now, the only thing more certain than death and taxes, a lawsuit.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Going from the streets of Brooklyn to the shanties of South Africa. Kids who have little, meeting folks with even less. Meet the activist behind a Journey for Change as we look ahead to CNN's "Black in America 2."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, you've got to think there's a lot more where this came from. A lawsuit against Burr Oaks Cemetery just outside Chicago. Cook County has filed one, and commissioners want cemetery owners to pony up for the cost for the investigation, more than 300 grand.

Burr Oak is the place where four workers are accused of digging up hundreds of graves, dumping remains and reselling the plots. Thousands of people are wondering if their departed loved ones are resting in the right places right now.

Now, a look at some of tomorrow's leaders in the African-American community tonight. We're just hours away from the debut of "Black in America 2," CNN's special follow-up to last year's groundbreaking report. Once again, Soledad O'Brien is leading the coverage. She joins us from New York with a preview.

Soledad, it probably seems like forever. You've been working on this for more than a year.

SOLEDAD O'BRIEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I'm about to deliver the baby.

PHILLIPS: That's right. Here you go. That's the longest carrying of a child you've ever had.

O'BRIEN: Yes, yes, it is. These projects take a long time, but utterly worth it, this time around, in our second installation of Black in America, "Black in America 2." We wanted to focus on success. You know, what's the anatomy of success? What makes certain programs work? And so we had a great opportunity to take a look at people who were really making a difference within their own communities.

We have the story of a bunch of kids from Bushwick, Brooklyn, who got a chance to take a trip of a lifetime to South Africa, but what they were there to learn was more about themselves than the other people they met in South Africa. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LATOYA MASSIE, BROOKLYN RESIDENT: And we're walking. My name is Latoya. And this is my hood. I have friends that live here, you know, and partying and stuff. We're going to Bush League.

JEREMY BAKER, BROOKLYN RESIDENT: Everyone, my name is Jeremy Baker, 15 years old. This is where I hang out. Come over here. I'll take you to the basketball court.

O'BRIEN (voice-over): Latoya and Jeremy live around here, Bushwick, Brooklyn, just five subway stops from Manhattan. Bushwick weathered lootings in the '70s, then crack in the '80s. The neighborhood is improving, but wrong choices still litter the streets, a lure to many teens.

BAKER: This is the Salvation Army right here, as you can see.

O'BRIEN: One right choice is the Bushwick Salvation Army.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did you want to get in?

O'BRIEN: It's where activist Malaak Compton-Rock, the wife of comedian Chris Rock, has come with a big, bold plan.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Cheese!

O'BRIEN: She's going to select 30 kids, aged 12 to 15, and take them to South Africa. She calls it Journey for Change.

(on camera) Why did you focus on Bushwick? I mean, it's kind of, in a way, a classic inner-city neighborhood. It has crime, has drugs, entrenched poverty.

COMPTON-ROCK: Fifty percent high-school graduation rate.

O'BRIEN: Is that why?

COMPTON-ROCK: No. These kids come from the Bushwick Salvation Army community center, and it is a community center that my husband attended as a child. And he really always talked about it, being an amazing place and what if he didn't have it.

O'BRIEN: Malaak believes that the children on these streets limit their dreams and their futures. She wants to expand their horizons, not by exposing them to a better life, but exactly the opposite.

The plan, two weeks of volunteer work, in South Africa's shantytowns, where the poorest of the poor, the country's AIDS orphans, survive.

COMPTON-ROCK: These kids have always been on the receiving end of aid. They've never been on the giving end of service. I think that's going to open up their world.

I also feel that travel just gives you a sense of confidence, you know? I mean, some of our kids haven't left Bushwick.

O'BRIEN (on camera): What's your goal for them?

COMPTON-ROCK: Our dream, the goal, is to come back, and these kids are going to be our next leaders, our next civic leaders.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: The goal for Malaak also is to make sure that these kids, whatever change they experience in South Africa, can stick, that by taking them 8,000 miles away from their comfort zone, that they're able to grow and see a potential for what they could be one day.

PHILLIPS: Well, we're definitely looking forward to part two, because it goes off into different angles you didn't get a chance to tackle last time around, Soledad.

And if you don't mind, while I have you here, I just want to ask you about Skip Gates, you know, our beloved Harvard professor that you and I have interviewed a number of times, you know, arrested for disorderly conduct. You know, the charges were dropped, on Tuesday.

But you look at this picture of him in cuffs, and you're thinking, OK, what is wrong with this picture? This Harvard scholar, award-winner, tremendous author. And then you have these conflicting details from Gates, from the police officer.

Bottom line, was it racial profiling? I mean, you went to Harvard. You have an interesting perspective of having the diversity factor, going to this prestigious school. What's your take on this?

O'BRIEN: You know, I think the thing that -- that has been missing in some conversations is about the question of expectations. You know, you have to ask yourself, well, if it had been a police officer who went to a white professor's home, what would have happened? I mean, that's the only way to look at it.

And I think when you read the police report, there is a point in the police report where the police officer says -- hey, I'll read it to you. He says, "He appeared to be the resident but was very uncooperative." So, he's no longer investigating a breaking and entering. He recognizes, you know, Professor Gates as the homeowner.

And what this comes down to, to me, is there an expectation that this guy couldn't be in that home. This is a beautiful -- where he lives, by the way, beautiful neighborhood, beautiful home. Cambridge is the home to many of the Harvard professors. Is there an expectation that Professor Gates couldn't have been the guy who owned the home?

Later on in the police report, this is the police officer's own words. He talks about how he's now looked at his Harvard University I.D. And then goes on to call the Harvard University Police Department to come in.

You know, he was arrested not for breaking and entering, but for disorderly conduct, which you can't be in your own home. It's when you've come outside.

So I think there are so many questions raised.

But I'll tell you this. The feedback I've gotten from people who nod their heads and say, "Been there, my brother, been there." You know, been there, because there is an expectation that couldn't be driving that nice car. Expectation, couldn't be your house. Expectation, if there was a crime, must have been you. I think that resonates with people.

Harvard students, the Harvard black students who I spoke to a couple of months back, told me about how they were out in the -- one of the yards, the Harvard -- one of the Harvard yards, and they were all I.D.'d, asked to show their I.D., that they belonged at the school, because they were gathering together.

PHILLIPS: Already there was judgment, and...

O'BRIEN: I mean...

PHILLIPS: ... can you be a black student at Harvard?

O'BRIEN: Well, their expectation that they couldn't be there, couldn't be their school, too. I think that that is a very distressing, humiliating, horrifying, upsetting thing to happen.

PHILLIPS: All right. Now, that's from the student perspective. Listen to this exchange, taking it from the cop's perspective. It was an interesting interview on "AMERICAN MORNING." I want to get your reaction to this clip.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN ROBERTS, CO-HOST, "AMERICAN MORNING": The question here that a lot of people want to know is, if Henry Louis Gates was a white Harvard professor, would he have been treated in the same way? ROD WHEELER, FORMER HOMICIDE DETECTIVE/POLICE TRAINER: You know, I actually would submit to you, John, that he probably would have been treated the same way. The real profiling, the real race profiling, in this country, is not against African-American men that's the age of Mr. Gates. It's actually African-American young men, between the ages of 18 and 28 years old, which Mr. Gates doesn't fall into that category.

Now, was this a case of racial profiling? Based on the information that we know at this point, I would say no. In this case, you're talking about an officer that was experienced on the job, an officer who was responding to an actual call from a complaint.

So, I think, based on the training and the experience of this officer, it appears right now as if the officer did act appropriately. But I can understand, as an African-American male myself, I can clearly understand the feeling that Professor Gates had, although I must tell you, from being a police officer, no one really understands the position of that officer unless they're really on the scene of that incident.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

O'BRIEN: I can only go back to the police report, Kyra, which is...

PHILLIPS: Yes, I wanted to add -- I'm sorry, Soledad. I want to say that he's also a police officer, the gentleman we just heard from.

O'BRIEN: Right, right.

PHILLIPS: So, that's what made it an interesting clip.

O'BRIEN: Clearly he's knowledgeable. And I understand that. But I think, you know, to pose the question, which is would a white professor have been treated the same way? Would there have been an expectation that a white professor, when he said, "Hey, listen, my door is jammed, I came in." Lots of people have pointed out to me, people don't usually break in through the front door. Here you have this man who's dressed in -- you saw what he was arrested in slacks and a polo shirt, with glasses. He walks with a cane.

Once he showed his Harvard I.D., it wasn't, "Oh, excuse me, sir. I am so sorry. I'm in your home; I've got to go." It was more of a question of, "Let me call the Harvard police." That's not my words. That's the words from the police report.

So, I think that the questions raised touches a nerve, clearly, because if it can happen to Professor Skip Gates, and you pointed out his credentials. This man is probably the most renowned African- American scholar. You know, all the stars at Harvard campus, and there are many. He's at the top of the tier there.

PHILLIPS: Right. O'BRIEN: He has a burger named at him at a restaurant in Harvard Square. You know, he covers a lot of ground. So if it can happen to Skip Gates, then it can happen to anybody I think is a lot of the feedback that I'm getting.

PHILLIPS: Well, just a little side note, Gates extended an unusual offer to the officer. We were reading an exchange for an apology. He's offering personal tutoring sessions on the history of racism in America to the cop. So we'll follow-up, Soledad. We'll see if indeed...

O'BRIEN: And maybe -- and maybe a lawsuit, too. I would not be surprised. Maybe a lawsuit, too.

PHILLIPS: And maybe a book. All right. Thanks, Soledad. We'll see you next hour.

Our special programming does premiere tonight at 7 Eastern, starting with the live show, "Moment of Truth" with the CNN exclusive, just what we were talking about, Professor Henry Louis Gates, the first television interview since his arrest that we were just talking about. And then at 8 Eastern we're going to carry President Obama's news conference. Then join us at 9 Eastern for the first night of an all-new "Black in America" event.

Well, more than two years after the massacre at Virginia Tech, a major clue turns up. Could it change the way we look at the killer?

And do you have questions about health-care reform? E-mail us at mailtothechief@CNN.com or tweet us at KyraCNN. In our next hour, we're going to have Linda Douglass from the White House and Republican Congressman Phil Gingrey, who is also a doctor. They're going to answer your questions.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: It's a pretty rare and incredible sight in Asia. A total solar eclipse could be seen across much of the continent and parts of the Pacific. Chad Myers joins us now from the CNN weather center.

Now, Chad, it was supposed to somehow be disturbed by weather, right? Did it turn out to be OK?

CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: In Shanghai they did have cloud cover.

PHILLIPS: Got it. OK.

MYERS: They did. But now a lot of the other places that, really, people wanted to see it, it was completely clear. And it was a big swath across India, across China, and then down into the South Pacific.

Did you know that solar eclipses can only happen on a new moon? That's because the moon has to be here, and the sun has to be out there behind it. And so, when the sun tries to shine its light onto the earth, it actually gets a shadow, and that's the moon's shadow right there at the total eclipse, so that's why it happened yesterday.

Here's some video. I have a couple of clips. I'm not sure which one we're going to play first. There we go. Here's all of the people looking up in the sky, looking up at it. Hopefully, you had your protection goggles on there. There they are. Have them on there.

Now, this is a little -- I'm not sure if this borders on funny or cruelty, but at the zoo, the seal wanted to see it, too!

PHILLIPS: Come on, he's just as curious. Look at -- those are like Ray-Bans from 1986.

MYERS: I hope they were strong enough, because you're supposed to put like welding glasses on in order to see this. Anyway, a little bit of fun there at the zoo there in Japan.

(WEATHER REPORT)

PHILLIPS: Thanks, Chad.

MYERS: You bet.

PHILLIPS: Well, he's fresh out of med school and beginning his family medical practice, so why did a doctor in Minnesota turn down his own hospital's health-insurance plan? We're going to talk to him live, and he's going to explain.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Starving themselves for solidarity. Iranians here in the U.S. are on a hunger strike outside of the United Nations in New York. They're showing their support for Iranians thrown in jail after the historic protests in Tehran, over the country's presidential election.

CNN's Reza Sayah is there.

Reza, what do you think about the turnout?

REZA SAYAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Kyra, the crowd has been growing ever since 8:00 a.m. here at this street corner in New York City, right in front of the U.N.

Stars and celebrities are going on strike. Now, you may not recognize many of these stars and celebrities, but if you're Iranian or from Iranian descent, you definitely will. These are a lot of Iranian movie stars, singers, song writers, authors, who gathered here for this three-day hunger strike in support of the opposition movement in Iran. And they're also calling for the release of these individuals.

These names that you see here are detainees who were arrested after the controversial elections on June 12th. These celebrities have gathered here to put pressure on the U.N., to put pressure on the Obama administration to do something to help these detainees.

So, a lot of big names here, none bigger than legendary Iranian singer GooGooSh, who arrived here a couple of hours ago. She was mobbed here by her fans here, and this is what she had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOOGOOSHI, SINGER: I hope that the world can hear us and United Nations do something for our people and for our young generation and women.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SAYAH: A lot of people wearing green here, that has become the official color of the opposition movement. And pictures of Neda Agha Soltan all over the place. This is the 26-year-old who was killed during one of the protests here.

So this is one way, Kyra, they want to let the opposition movement back in Iran know that people here across the world are watching. One way to give some energy to the movement out there, so it will continue -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Yes. And I've been reading about it. And apparently it's encouraging other people to do the same around the country. We'll follow the effects of this and see what happens.

Reza Sayah, thank you so much.

Well, right house, wrong safe. CNN has learned that a murdered Florida couple had a second safe in their home with a jackpot inside -- $100,000-- but their attackers couldn't get it for whatever reason. They were in the house for about five minutes -- or four minutes, rather. Long enough to kill Byrd and Melanie Billings and haul out a smaller safe with jewelry, prescription meds and family documents. Seven men are charged with murder. Melanie Billings' biological daughter has told CNN she's about to move in and care for Billings' adopted special-needs kids. Nine were home during that attack.

A long-lost clue in the Virginia Tech shootings, now found. We're talking about the mental health records of the shooter Seung-Hui Cho. They finally turned up and a former worker at the school's counseling center had them. The records should offer more insight in to the man who killed 32 people and then himself. Virginia's governor says that the records will go public ASAP and lawyers for the families of the two victims actually found those records. They're suing the school and several others, claiming gross negligence in preventing the killings.

Back now to Capitol Hill and the major surgery underway on the health care in America. If you wonder why a Democratic president is struggling with a Democratic Congress over what's generally a Democratic issue, you should meet the Blue Dogs. That's Washington- speak for a fiscally conservative Democrat often from a conservative state or district.

CNN's Brianna Keilar is watching the Blue Dogs howl.

Brianna, who are the Blue Dogs and why are they powerful especially right now?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, they're not really blue and they're not really dogs, but they are a group of Democrats in the House of Representatives.

Now, back in the '90s when Democrats lost their majority in the House, there was a group of Yellow Dog Democrats, basically southern Democrats, who said they felt choked blue by the far left and the far right. This is the story that they'll tell you, Kyra, and so they call themselves Blue Dog Democrats.

Now, as Democrats have taken over some of these seats in typically Republican-leaning districts, the Blue Dogs have seen their coalition grow. They're now up to 52 members at this point in time, and they're pretty powerful because of the numbers they have.

So, on health care they've got many demands. But a couple of key ones that they want to see include cost saving and revamping incentives. Cost savings, what this basically means is that they want to see is the money to pay for health care come out of squeezing the fraud and the inefficiencies out of health care before you go on and start talking about taxing Americans to pay for it. And on revamping incentives, what they want to see is doctors and health care systems that are rewarded for quality of care and not for quantity of care.

So, there in particular are seven Blue Dog Democrats who have actually stood up to House Democratic leaders, they've said, hey, we are not in love with this health care proposal that's going through the House right now. We're not going to allow to it come out of a key committee for a full vote on the House floor until you start incorporating some of the ideas that we have and some of the changes that we want to make.

That's why, Kyra, we're seeing they've gotten so much attention. As you see Mike Ross, head of the Blue Dogs, why he was at the White House yesterday, with some other of these fiscally conservative Democrats, talking to President Obama. And we should say they reached a key breakthrough on just one point on cost savings. But we heard Congressman Ross say that's there's about -- that's only about one of 10 demands that they really want included -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. We'll keep track of it.

Brianna, thanks so much.

And here's sort of an interesting twist and story to health care in America.

A family doctor says no to his company's health care plan. Dr. Will Nicholson turned down his hospital's plan for a very special reason, though. He said he wants to learn more about the different health care options and how to become a more informed consumer.

He joins us now live from Minneapolis, to tell us about this so- called experiment that he's doing.

Now, Will, a lot of people would say, are you crazy? What if something catastrophic happens to you? What will you do? I mean, you're out of med school, you've got a great job, you're young. You don't want to do this to yourself.

DR. WILL NICHOLSON, FAMILY PHYSICIAN: Well, you know, I guess I do what everyone else does. I'm not going without health insurance. And I got to make it clear -- the hospital I work for, St. John's hospital, in Lakewood, Minnesota, has fantastic health insurance benefits, it's just that my patients aren't quite as lucky.

And the idea of this is to have to confront the exact questions you're asking me as a physician and as a patient and hopefully gain some insight in to how to better improve the system.

PHILLIPS: OK. So you're saying that you do have minimal insurance.

Like, do you have in case something catastrophic happens? Is that what you signed up for?

NICHOLSON: Yes, I've signed up for a high deductible plan which is a common product that a lot of the patients that don't get health insurance either through their employer or government use. It's one I don't know a lot about. So, I'm under one of those right now. It's not something I would suggest for most people or endorse at all.

PHILLIPS: But you want to see the challenges that you will, I guess, take on by having this type of insurance so you can understand what your patients are going through.

So let me ask you this. So far, it's only been, what, three weeks since you've been doing this?

NICHOLSON: Yes. Three weeks.

PHILLIPS: OK. Any surprises? Anything that you've learned thus far?

I mean, what has struck you?

NICHOLSON: I'm surprised at how complicated it is.

You know, the idea is to become a health care consumer. We hear a lot about empowering the health care consumer to make good decisions. Right now comparing all the plans that are out there, it's been very difficult for me to decide which is the best plan, what's the best value, what covers the services that I think are important as a family doctor and a patient.

A lot of times I feel like I'm purchasing airline tickets, where very similar products have very different costs and it's hard to determine why.

PHILLIPS: Now, you just finished your residency. So, I'm curious, did you learn anything in residency about the monetary side of insurance plans or anything about the insurance angle?

NICHOLSON: Yes. I went to residency and medical school through the University of Minnesota. And they have a big chunk of their curriculum is devoted to sort of bigger-picture health care issues. Social issues, health insurance issues, health disparities.

And it's through that kind of instruction that I've started to think about health insurance issues as something relevant to a physician, more than just paying attention to clinical medicine.

PHILLIPS: So, if you could spend five minutes with President Obama or a member of Congress about health care, as we get ready to watch this speech tonight, as all this back-and-forth is taking place on what kind of health care plan we should have, what would you say?

NICHOLSON: I'd only need 30 seconds, and I would say, put patients first. Do what I do every day in the clinic, or at least try to do. Put the patient first.

When you're making the new health care policies that are going to come out this year, don't put the lobbyists first. Don't put the campaign donation first. Don't put re-election first. Put the health and safety of your constituents and my patients first.

PHILLIPS: So, has a patient come to you that's not insured and said, doc, what do I do?

NICHOLSON: On a daily basis.

PHILLIPS: OK.

What do you tell them?

NICHOLSON: I tell them that they have a right to be disappointed in the system. And fortunately in Minnesota, we have some pretty good programs, sliding-scale clinics and I'm fortunate enough to have been working with organizations that do those types of things. But it's terrible every time I have to see a person faced with a tragic illness and a financial tragedy to follow it.

PHILLIPS: Final thought -- how are you going to keep this compassion? So many doctors get caught up in the money that they get from insurance companies and, you know, aren't as ethical, I guess we could say, as you are trying to be here?

How are you going to maintain that?

NICHOLSON: With all due respect, I think that doctors are, by and large, ethical and idealistic. Unfortunately our profession organizations may not have portrayed us that way all the time.

Most doctors are on the front lines, fighting the fight, advocating for the patients. The problem is that we spend so much time doing that, I think we lose track of the bigger-picture stuff. We're not active lobbying and we really need to focus our energies also on the big picture and making sure that everyone in America can participate in the health system.

PHILLIPS: I'll you what, Will. We're going to keep checking in with you because I want to hear how this experiment goes and get your insights in to other types of insurance.

Sound like a deal?

NICHOLSON: I appreciate that. That would be great.

PHILLIPS: All right. Dr. Will Nicholson. Appreciate your time.

NICHOSLON: The pleasure is mine.

PHILLIPS: And don't forget tonight's presidential news conference, 8:00 Eastern, 5:00 Pacific. Watch it with Wolf Blitzer, our Anderson Cooper and the best political team on television. Only one place for that and that's right here on CNN.

Wall Street, dancing in the streets over the numbers on the big board. Well, that might be a little stretch. But now may be the time to do something you've probably been really afraid to do. And that's actually open up the folder and take a look at your 401(k).

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PHILLIPS: Rugged mountains, vast desert, boiling temperatures. Nature has made Afghanistan one of the most unforgiving places on earth to fight a war. But American troops have come up with some pretty cool ways to cope.

CNN's Ivan Watson shows us how the Marines he's with are doing it.

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IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Take a look here. We're spread out in this desert here in southern Afghanistan, and I've got some great news. We've gotten through the hardest part of the day when the heat goes up to 130 degrees Fahrenheit. I don't know even know what that is in Celsius. But it's really, really brutal, because we don't really have a break from the sun.

As you can see, we're out in the sand here. Take a look at our office. This is cameraman, Joe Duran. This is his studio and his desk that he works at. I'm sure it is really good for his back. Come over here and take a look at where I'm going to sleep tonight. In this little bug net right here in the dirt between the two armored vehicles. Now, dinner, of course, is important and here we've got Lance Corporal Kyle Chapel by to tuck into food here. That is food in a bag.

What are you having tonight?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Beef stew.

WATSON: Beef stew. Mmm.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, yes.

WATSON: Delicious. Are you psyched?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, it's the fifth time I've had it this week. So, of course.

WATSON: Are you putting any seasonings in there?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not yet. Mom hasn't sent any.

WATSON: No seasonings. Mom, please send Lance Corporal Chapel some seasonings.

Now, a trick for surviving out here is something that we call -- the Marines call sock water. This is a sock. And inside this wet sock is a bottle of water. It may sound gross but believe it or not, if you put a sock in here and you run water down it and then the wind blows over it, it cools the water. It is natural refrigeration. And it makes water bearable and actually not hot to the touch when you are out in these 130-degree temperatures.

Take a look at this. The Marines brought in a piece of shrapnel from an air strike earlier today, 1,000-pound bombs that landed on the ground. Our electricity does not come from a wall socket. It comes from this armored vehicle right here. They are kindly sharing their electricity and running their engines so that we don't run the battery down.

Here's another look at how these guys, who are really are hosts out here, just keeping us alive with food and water. Everything is brought in by helicopter and relaxing in the shade here. You see another example of the sock water. See, everybody's doing it.

And this is what you do to get rid of garbage when you're camping out here like this. We are not in a five-star hotel. You end up burning your garbage. And as for other amenities, bathrooms, showers, well, I haven't washed this shirt in a couple of days. And the bathroom is the great outdoors here.

Anyway, that's just a little taste of what it is like operating with the Second Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion here in southern Afghanistan.

Ivan Watson, CNN, Reporting.

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PHILLIPS: Behind the scenes with our Ivan Watson.

Wall Street dancing in the streets over the numbers on the big board. OK, that's a bit of a stretch. But, this actually might be a good time for you to do what you haven't done in a really long time. And that's to go ahead and take a look at that 401(k). It might not be as bad as you think.

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