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White House May Write Health Care Legislation; Controversy Continues over President Obama's Speech to Young School Children; Former Attorney General John Ashcroft May Be Liable for Suit for Wrongful Detention; Actor Writes Book about Relationships in the Black Community

Aired September 05, 2009 - 10:00   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: What a story that is developing in Georgia: from petrified witness to prime suspect. You've heard the story: eight murdered, eight family members in this Georgia mobile home. Thing is, the guy who called 911 and reported it is now the prime suspect.

How did police crack the case? More details in a live report.

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: And who could have a problem with the president talking to the nation's school children? Well, apparently a lot of people. Some called it a presidential pep talk, some say it's brainwashing the youth of this country.

Two different views on Obama's speech - we want to hear what you think of this whole debate. You have been chiming in. We want you to continue to do so at our blog, Facebook and Twitter as well. We will be talking to you as you talk to us.

But good morning to you all from the CNN center on the CNN Saturday morning for September 5th. Happy Labor Day weekend to you, I'm T.J. Holmes.

BALDWIN: Good morning, I'm Brooke Baldwin in for Betty. Happy Labor Day. We're laboring so you don't have to. 10:00 a.m. eastern time, 9:00 for folks waking up in Chicago, 7:00 for you early birds on the west coast. Chicago always a shot out here. Thank you for starting your Saturday with us.

Let's get straight to some of the top stories here. I want to first talk about health care reform. And a pretty huge development we want to get right to. CNN has learned the White House is now considering writing its own legislation, and word is a new plan can come out as early as this week.

For more on that, Kate Bolduan live for us in the nation's capital. Kate, I know you have your sources. You have been working them. What are you hearing about the administration drafting their own legislation?

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, Brooke. Yes, pretty interesting developments going on. CNN has learned the White House is quietly talking about drafting its own health care bill, a sort of contingency legislation, if talks fall apart on Capitol Hill.

This move, a possible reversal in course for a White House that has long left it solely to Congress to write this health care reform legislation, as we have all been talking about.

The White House late Friday does stress that no final language has been written. A White House spokesperson saying in a statement, quote, "The president has been reviewing all of the various legislative proposals, but no decision has been made about whether formal legislation will be presented."

And sources close to the process say, again, that the plan -- this plan we're now talking about, is still unclear. But it is a sign, Brooke, in addition to this coming Wednesday's speech before Congress, that the president is clearly ready to get more involved in this.

BALDWIN: So still, though, Kate, a lot of questions, a lot of lacking in clarity as to what might be found inside this legislation. But explain, we're going to learn a new vocabulary here -- trigger option, public option. Might that be included? What does it really mean?

BOLDUAN: It sounds like we're making words up, but we're not. We promise.

This is what we're hearing. While things are moving, we're hearing the key to this is that the White House is leaning against including the public option that we've talked so much about in their draft and leaning now more towards something like a trigger option, as you mentioned.

This is an idea that moderate Republican Senator Olympia Snowe has long pushed for. The public option would not kick in unless insurance companies neglected to make necessary reforms. And these are reforms including stopping -- stopping -- that the insurance industry has long used, like using preexisting conditions to deny coverage.

And hence the trigger. If they don't make reforms, then the trigger kind of kicks in. And the Obama administration could send such a plan that we're now talking about to the Hill some time after the president's speech to Congress next week -- Brooke?

BALDWIN: Very interesting development there. Kate Bolduan on top of all things in Washington there.

BOLDUAN: All things Washington.

BALDWIN: Kate, thank you. You're on it. You're on it.

We're on it as well. We want you to watch Wednesday night. CNN will be carrying the president's health care reform address to a joint session of Congress live, write it down, 8:00 eastern time on Wednesday. HOLMES: That's Wednesday. But he has another big speech to make on Tuesday. The president will be talking to the country's younger folks, the students of this country.

You would think a school speech not going to be too stressful, is it? Well, it's turned into pretty political minefield here for the White House, and everybody seems to have taken a side on this thing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE GUTMANN, JR., LAW GOVERNMENT TEACHER: It's the president talking to students, you know. The embrace of technology as a young student, I would have been so excited as a kid to have the president talk to me, so I think it's a great opportunity for our students and we're going to embrace it.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Trying to bring his views to the school and, you know, with the school kids and things. No, I don't think it's a good idea for him to do that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Paul Steinhauser, a friend of our show, on CNN Saturday and Sunday morning. Explain to people what the problem is. It's not necessarily just the speech. It was the stuff that came along with it.

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Exactly, T.J., stuff that came from the Department of Education. They put it up on their Web site. It was kind of like a lesson plan that would accompany or go along with the president's speech.

And in it, this is the thing that did it. It urged students to write letters to themselves about how they can help the president. That's really what sparked all of this. It got on talk radio. And as you can see from some of the sound there, this is something people have been talking about across the country.

And conservatives, those on the right have picked up on this, and they say that the president may be trying to push his political agenda with students -- T.J.?

HOLMES: OK, and all of this controversy back and forth, do we remember what the actual intent of the speech was in the first place?

STEINHAUSER: Yes. The White House says this is all about trying to get the president to motivate the most of their time in school and to stay in school. The president points out that almost three in ten don't make it to graduation. It's more of a pep talk, they say, as school is beginning to students to make the most of their education.

HOLMES: OK. We want to put this up. This guy's been around a lot here. Steve Russell, the Republican state senator from Oklahoma. I'm going to give you a quote of what he said. We will put it up for our viewers to read. It says, "As far as our concern, this is not civics education. It gives the appearance of creating a cult of personality. This is something you would expect to see in North Korea or Saddam Hussein's Iraq," end quote. How did we get there?

STEINHAUSER: This is the climate we are in nowadays. We saw it with the health care debate in some of the town halls as well. There are some partisans on the extremes and they speak loudly and they get media attention.

And that is one of the reasons why these kind of events pick up steam -- T.J.?

HOLMES: And explain to us, this is nothing new. It's not like the first time a U.S. president has ever spoken to school children.

STEINHAUSER: No. In fact, the White House points out that Ronald Reagan back in the 1980s spoke to students and that George Herbert Walker Bush, the first President Bush, did it in 1991.

I will say if I remember correctly, there was pushback by Democrats in Congress in '91 when George Herbert Walker Bush made that speech.

HOLMES: Have we seen back in those cases -- I haven't seen it anywhere yet -- that any of those speeches, all of the other materials I get, these suggested materials accompanied any of those speeches by the former president?

STEINHAUSER: You know, that's a good question. I don't think so, but I don't have a good answer.

HOLMES: I deposit think so either. I'm sure would have heard about it by now. But I think that maybe a big part of the difference.

Finally, what is the White House trying to do now to correct what they think may be a little bit of a mistake here with this younger audience? Are they admitting that maybe we -- with some of the materials, the language at least, wasn't was it should have been?

STEINHAUSER: Yes. The White House sources say that the White house said it was "inartfully expressed." And that language about writing the president to help him out, that has totally been changed.

The other thing White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs says is that come Monday, what the president will be saying on Tuesday will be up online. So parents across the country, the White House says, can read the words the president will be speaking and make their own opinions as to whether they want their kids to listen in -- T.J.?

HOLMES: Well, two big back to back days for the president, two big speeches, two very different audiences, but controversy abounds.

All right, good to see you as always. Paul Steinhauser, appreciate you, buddy.

STEINHAUSER: Thanks, T.J.

BALDWIN: It's tough not to have any controversy though when it comes to the president these days, it seems.

But we are definitely hearing from you. You're blogging about it. You're writing on our Facebook pages, because we have been wanting to know what do you think of this whole controversy and the idea of the president submitting this lesson plan?

I want to read you a couple things here. First from Sharon. Sharon wrote in and said, "Are the people who are so upset about the president's address just as concerned about the curriculum in the schools? I am not even an Obama supporter, but I admire him trying to reach out to the younger generation and acknowledging them."

I kind of like this next one. Have you seen this? This is from McCartney. "President Obama can't speak to them, but they can watch "SpongeBob" and Hannah Montana all day? Puh-leeze."

HOLMES: That makes kind of a good point. Who would you rather the kids listen to, the president or SpongeBob?

BALDWIN: SpongeBob?

HOLMES: Also one more from Janice that says "I am not a Democrat nor Republican. It seems that no matter what the party is in control, the other party tries to its best to further undermine this other. Have we really come to this, to point of diminishing a "stay in school" speech?"

BALDWIN: And one final one from Steven T. -- "Many of these conservatives who oppose President Obama's speaking to students on Tuesday have forgotten President Reagan did the same thing back in the '80s. Mr. Reagan used his speech to push for his tax cuts."

HOLMES: We got another one from Glen that says "It sounds like "1984" to me. I don't approve." We get you, Glen.

All right, thank you all for sending those it. Keep them coming. We are reading them as they come in, so we do appreciate you chiming in this morning.

BALDWIN: All right, switching gears here, talking about what's going on in Georgia.

What an awful story. Nearly a week later police in southeast Georgia finally have a suspect in the murders of eight people in a single mobile home. Guess what? The suspect, the son of one of the victims.

Our own Sean Callebs is live for us this morning at the Glen County police department in Brunswick. Sean, it's so tough. This is an ongoing investigation, covering stories like this, you know it's tough to get police to talk. But are they given any kind of indication as far as the motive is concerned? SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No. That's one of the things -- and there are several -- that were simply kept in the dark. The police chief here in Glynn County holding a news conference last night saying he knows that people may be a little frustrated, but he's not going to talk about any kind of motive.

He said two significant pieces of information came out late Friday, and that is what led to the arrest of 22-year-old Guy Heinze, Jr. And Heinze was actually arrested right after making the 911 call. He was the one who found the victims in a mobile home park. He was charged with tampering with evidence, with obstructing justice, as well as possession of drugs.

The police chief said this is something that is really touched this entire area.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF MATT DOERING, GLYNN COUNTY, GEORGIA POLICE DEPARTMENT: It's the most heinous crime we have ever had in the community. I think we all know that. I think that speaks for itself.

Much more than that, I don't want to comment. I don't want to say anything that would be inappropriate. There's still a lot going on right now. The family's going through their grieving process, and I just want to leave it alone right there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CALLEBS: Heinze is accused of killing his own father, Guy Heinze Sr., as well as five family members and two family friends. He remains locked up here. He was arrested late yesterday and charged with the eight murders.

Many of the family members actually found out about Guy Heinze Jr.'s alleged involvement while they were at a visitation for seven victims who will be laid to rest here in Glynn County later on today.

Certainly a very gruesome crime, Brooke. Certainly something that people are talking about. They wonder if anybody else could be involved in this. Right now the chief is not talking about that possibility.

BALDWIN: Unbelievable to get that news and to think a three- year-old, another victim, in the hospital today. Sean Callebs live for us this morning. We appreciate it.

HOLMES: Security guards fell asleep on the job at one of the country's top terror targets.

BALDWIN: And one young man has just been given the green light to sue former Attorney General John Ashcroft. Yes, to sue the former A.G. We'll tell you why.

(WEATHER BREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER BREAK)

HOLMES: Up next -- we will be talking about a court case that could allow a man to sue the former attorney general John Ashcroft. We will tell you how the A.G. ended up on the wrong side of this major ruling.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Well, he was once the attorney general, and now he's experiencing a much different side of the law. Federal court just cleared the way for a man wrongfully detained to sue John Ashcroft.

Civil rights attorney Avery Friedman joins us this morning to flesh this who thing out. And Avery, first I want to just ask -- let's talk about the two parties involved here. We have Abdullah Al- Kidd, who was a converted Muslim. He was a star running back from the University of Idaho football team from Kansas, thrown into detention for 16 days.

And we have former Attorney General John Ashcroft.

AVERY FRIEDMAN, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: Yes, it's a five-alarm battle at least under the American constitution.

And late yesterday, Brooke, what happened was a federal court of appeals decided, three judges decided that the former attorney general may be liable in damages to this young man because he used the material witness statute to hold him and essentially arrest him.

And we are now, of course, in the second highest court in America in a precedent-setting case. So now the question is, does the Justice Department take the case to the U.S. Supreme Court, or does it go back for trial in the case?

BALDWIN: Let's point out some evidence here. You mentioned the federal material witness statute. Ashcroft has admitted using that statute to do things not permitted. I mean, that is -- it's self- incriminating.

FRIEDMAN: It's not good news.

But, again, let's all put ourselves back, you know, almost eight years ago next week and how everyone was feeling. The Justice Department felt justified in using any and every possible way of getting their hands on terrorists.

The problem in the Al-Kidd case is that the government had no evidence. So what they did is they converted the material witness law, where you have a witness against somebody else, to investigate someone where you have no evidence.

The three-judge panel said that this was "repugnant" to the constitution of the United States, used words like "ignominious," a very powerful position, and it actually puts John Ashcroft in a position of possible personal liability that he may have to pay damages to this young man.

BALDWIN: Let's remind people what happened to this young man, before we move forward, and see where he stands now. More than 15 months after he was released, he was forced to live with his in-laws, curtail his travel, report to a probation officer, lost his job, separated from his wife.

FRIEDMAN: Right.

BALDWIN: What's next for him? What might he stand to gain here after going through this entirely ordeal? What will he gain monetarily, et cetera?

FRIEDMAN: You know what, that's going to be a difficult question, Brooke, because we don't know how to measure violations of the constitution.

The court went on to say that our fourth amendment, our right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures, is 217 years old. So if the Justice Department doesn't take it to the Supreme Court, that will be the question for the jury, what is the value of the right to be free from government encroachment?

And that's a question that really has never been answered on these kinds of facts.

BALDWIN: And who knows if this might trigger an avalanche of other similar litigation if this thing goes through.

FRIEDMAN: Let me respond to that. There were about 70 people affected. Only a handful like Al-Kidd brought lawsuits. All of the rest are barred by the statute of limitations. Limited in terms of the people affected, but in terms of the federal constitution, enormous decision that came out late yesterday.

BALDWIN: Very interesting. Avery, thank you so much for joining us.

FRIEDMAN: Wonderful to be with you.

HOLMES: I want to take a look now at some of our top stories that we're keeping an eye on.

Up first here at the top, a U.S. commander in Afghanistan is personally taking a look this morning at the scene of a deadly NATO attack. The Associated Press reports General Stanley McChrystal is there with investigators. They're trying to determine if civilians are among the 90 people killed in that NATO air strike on Taliban hijackers.

BALDWIN: California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger wants to know who started this massive station fire that's burning near Los Angeles. And he is offering a $100,000 reward for information leading to an arrest in the case.

But it's not only an arson investigation, it is a homicide case. Two firefighters died last week while trying to fight that fire.

HOLMES: And the latest numbers from the Labor Department show the unemployment rate jumped to 9.7 percent in August. That's up from 9.4 percent in July. What it means is that 216,000 more people lost their jobs. That's the highest rate we had seen since 1983.

BALDWIN: Back in the day they weren't exactly welcomed into the workforce with open arms, but women today, they are definitely making up for some lost time.

Get this, according to the Labor Department, the ladies are on the verge of outnumbering men in the workforce. Statistics show women now hold just under 50 percent of the country's 132 million jobs. T.J. Holmes looking happy about that.

HOLMES: That's great. Why not? I think a lot of those women would be interested in our next guest.

All I have to say is one of "People's" magazines sexiest men alive will be joining us live coming up next. I'm looking at him right here in the monitor. There he is. It just has a good ring to it, doesn't it, brother?

That, of course, is Hill Harper. We're talking to this guy about his new book on black men and women and relationships. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, he is one of "People" magazine's sexiest men alive. He stars in the hit TV series "CSI, New York." And he's known the president since they were classmate back at Harvard.

Next week this bestselling author's third book will be released. There it is. it's called "The Conversation." The author is Hill Harper. We will have a conversation with him this morning.

Classmate of the president, you just hang in there. You keep working hard, and one day your career's going to take off, too, like President Obama's did. Hang in there, Hill. Good morning.

HILL HARPER, AUTHOR AND ACTOR: I'm working as hard as I can, T.J.

HOLMES: Good to see you. Are you all right this morning?

HARPER: I'm great. How are you?

HOLMES: I'm doing well here as well. This book, this is your third now, "The Conversation." This is about relationships, and people are supposed to take advice about relationships from a single guy, from a single man. Now, why should they be listening to you?

HARPER: The book is written from a single man's perspective. That's kind of the whole point. Anecdotally I have so many of my friends single, both men and women. And I just started to think about it, and I was like what is that about? And then I started to hit with some real serious data points. For instance, in 1966, over 84 percent of African-American children were being raised in two-parent households. Fast forward to 2006, that number dropped to 31 percent.

Another data point is that 70 percent of black professional women are single. I really started to ask myself, OK, anecdotally, all of my friends say they want to be in great relationships, but very few of them are. And then we have these numbers that are hard data.

I just wanted to say what's going on. And I as a single man, look at myself in the mirror and say, am I part of the problem?

HOLMES: Are you? Did you figure that out?

HARPER: Yes, I am. That's what I figured out.

And we talk about it in the book. The book is called "The Conversation," and the whole idea is I went out and interviewed hundreds of hundreds of people who have been married 70 years on down, and divorcees, single people, et cetera, to talk about these issues and talk about these things.

I understand there's a new relationship development in your life, which is very exciting, so you're not part of these statistic that I'm talking about.

HOLMES: I'm not trying to be a part of the problem anymore, obviously here. Yes, I'm trying to be part of the solution here.

And we're going to pull up a quote here from the book that hits on what you're talking about. It says "If we don't start addressing the issues between black men and black women, we will bear witness to the destruction of the black family. I won't stand by and be silent."

"The destruction of the black family," you mentioned some of those statistics just a second ago. How close are we to that destruction that you speak of? And if something's not done, we will see it?

HARPER: Well, we're close just in terms of building family relationships. And we see these numbers -- if the trend continues, over the past 40 years you see a decline in two-parent household in a distinct community, and that trend continues, then we are ostensibly bearing witness to the extinction of the familiar unit.

If we compare that to other distinct groups in the country, for instance, with Asian-American children, well over 80 percent are being raised in two-parent households, with Latino-American children, nearly 70 percent being raised in two-parent households, with African- American children, it's almost 31 percent.

And so that's a huge difference. So we have to ask ourselves, what's going on? And for me, I wanted to start digging up and investigating solutions. HOLMES: How -- I guess that statistic about black women. You should want a educated, professional women. But there are 70 percent of these educated, professional black women, as you said, that are still single.

What result did you find -- what was your conclusion there, because we know all sitting around us at the dinner table or out at night or whatever may be, have this conversation about black women always talking about they can't find a good man?

HARPER: You're absolutely right. so we hear that almost as a mantra. "I can't find a man. They're not out there." And there are all these problems finding a good guy with a job, et cetera.

To be honest what I started to find is that the women I interviewed that would say those things, it's almost like they're speaking them into existence. If you would say that, then that would be your reality.

There was a whole other set of women that would say, you know what, there's some great guys out there, there's great people. And they attract that. So it's almost as if you attract what you say.

And this book is not an investigative, serious study. It's a fun relationship book, it's a fun read. It's not trying to be some kind of social anthropological treatise.

It's a fun relationship book that's different because than other relationship books because it's written for both men and women. Most relationship books out there are written exclusively for women.

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: It sounds like -- I don't want to say it's a myth. But sure there are some knuckleheads, guys out there, no doubt about it, but, still, is so much of this just almost myth we continue to perpetuate in a lot of ways, and if you think it, you believe it, and it will be so?

HARPER: I have a chapter called "He Say/She Say," and there's so much stuff that's said as if it's almost true, and it astounds me.

But our reality is, if you actually go out in the world and you speak your truth into the world, and I think come into life and come at life with a really positive, open spirit, those are the type of individuals you will attract. And I'm sure since you're newly engaged, you can attest to that. And congratulations.

HOLMES: I absolutely can, and I appreciate you and I appreciate that, congratulations.

I want to get one other point here, I'm going to let you go, but this goes to the point we were talking about, and I'm not going to say her name, but a good friend of mine Rachel. She's watching this now and sends a text saying tell the CNN viewers "I'm smart, cute, and single. I'm a single black women and flash my picture up on the screen quickly." This is exactly who you're talking about, one of those professional women having a tough time finding a guy, and she's putting her plea in right now on the air.

HARPER: Absolutely. Part of what I'm trying to do is I travel around the country doing book signings and things, is actually even at the book signings bring people together, and ask who's single? What's going on?

HOLMES: I guess I wouldn't belong at that book signing. So I will skip it then.

Hill, good to see you. We will see you when you get here to Atlanta. You have a good Labor Day weekend, all right?

HARPER: Thank you, T.J., you as well.

HOLMES: All right, see you, buddy.

BALDWIN: I guess what we got out of that is ladies need to come to the book signing, ladies down in Atlanta. Ladies need to say, they are there. Some ladies out there are just thinking it's not that easy.

HOLMES: It's interesting to hear you attract that if you just believe. "Well, maybe he's going to be a bozo," if you have that in your mind, that's an interesting way to put it.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: It's all in the mindset.

HARPER: It's in the mindset and what you might attract.

BALDWIN: Great interview.

HARPER: It's a good conversation to have. Name of the book, "The Conversation."

BALDWIN: Still to come, we will talk about -- we're going to head out west and talk more about those massive wildfires. Firefighters, police try to find the arsonist who is to blame. Stay here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: For a small country, East Timor has certainly seen more than its fair share of bloodshed. But the biggest victims are the children who have fled the conflict into neighboring West Timor with no food, no parents, and, as you can imagine, no hope until a pilot took the time to give them the tools for a second chance at life.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GRACE ONG, CNN HERO: There was riots, buildings being burned, people just trying to save their lives. The children are supposed to have proper upbringing, and what they were having there was far from being normal. This is so devastating to me and my family. That's why we committed to go and to help.

My name is Grace Ong. I'm a pilot for Singapore Airlines. I created an orphanage to help the children in West Tego.

When we started, we only had four children, and we found even more that needed help badly. So we decided to build our own orphanage building.

Right from the beginning, we give them vaccinations, clothing, food. But we cannot give them anything more valuable than the proper education.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (via translator): When my parents die, I couldn't go to school. For me, he is an angel. I'm now in medical school.

ONG: We are able to provide and to teach them just be who you are, help others, and do it from your heart.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: And welcome back. I want to pause and take a look at some of the day's top stories, starting with the president.

He has an eye on your future. His weekly address to the nation this morning outlines an initiative where a retirement savings account is not a privilege just for entitled employees, but, he says, a right for working Americans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, (D) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: As part of my budget I proposed ensuring every American as access to an entire savings account through his are her job.

This plan would make it possible for workers to automatically enroll in IRAs through payroll contributions. And the budget simplifies and expands the tax credit for millions of families, matching half of a family savings, up to $1,000 per year and depositing the tax credit directly into a retirement account.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Well, Republicans talking about health care. In this week's GOP address, Minnesota Congressman John Kline argues that it's time for Democrats to reset the debate and go back to square one. He favors a competing plan that the Republicans came up with in June.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) REP. JOHN KLINE, (R) MINNESOTA: Our plan is designed to make health care more affordable, reduce the number of uninsured Americans, and increase quality at a price our country can afford.

We'll make sure Americans who like their health care coverage can keep it, a stark contrast with the Democrats' plan, which the Congressional Budget Office has said will shift millions of Americans out of their current coverage.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: And still to come, some timely advice for those of us who would like to squeeze in the end of the summer vacation or perhaps plan a fall getaway.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: So do you have a vacation on the horizon? Well, if you are planning on traveling, we have a little advice.

HOLMES: We do, and the planning part is the key to this vacation. Richelle Carey has more in this edition of "On the Go."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RICHELLE CAREY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Sever weather, medical emergencies, getting lost -- travelers need to be prepared for anything.

SARAH KANTROWITZ, TRAVEL + LEISURE: There are many unexpected things that can happen when you're traveling, in particular with regards to the weather. Travel insurance will help reimburse you for your expenses and help to bring you home.

CAREY: You should take extra care when traveling overseas.

KANTROWITZ: Many people worry about losing their passport when traveling. A great tip is to make a color copy of your passport and leave it your hotel safe. This way if you lose your passport, you'll be able to prove your citizenship at the U.S. embassy with less hassle.

CAREY: And make sure you can get cash when you need it.

KANTROWITZ: Before you leave for a trip abroad, change your ATM pin to a four-digit code. Most foreign ATMs only accept four-digit codes, and this will help if you need cash while you're traveling.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: You can't always trust what you read online, but one Web site is taking steps to cut down on the errors and the hoaxes. The latest Wikipedia update coming up next.

HOLMES: Also a little later, a rude awakening for two sleepy security guards. It's tough to go out at night and then go in to work the next day. We will tell you what happened to these guys who were working on one of New York's busiest bridges.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right. Does anyone have encyclopedias Britannica's in the house?

BALDWIN: When I was growing up, yes.

HOLMES: Everybody had them as a kid. The big volumes, we really don't have those anymore. Kind of tough to get through, compared to what we have these days, anyway. You try to find facts, just about anything, it was in there in the encyclopedia.

BALDWIN: And now we just jump on the computer. People want their information fast these days, so they turn to the Internet and sites like Wikipedia.

Well, as or Josh Levs tells us, that is not always the best place for accurate information.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Tens of millions of people use Wikipedia all the time, and it is one of the chief sources of information in the world. But because anybody can access it and pretty much write in anything, sometimes you can't quite trust it.

And there's this great list to check out from pcworld.com that named the 15 biggest Wikipedia blunders ever. The first one, check out this one -- "Robbie Williams eats domestic pets in pubs for money."

David Beckham, did you know he was a Chinese goalkeeper in the 18th century?

And this one, one of many examples in which celebrities were declared dead. Here it is, Paul Reiser is one of them who was declared dead. They named that as one of the top blunders ever.

In fact, I will show you this, one of my favorite stories on "The Onion," which is the satirical publication, is this -- "Wikipedia celebrates 750 years of American independence." And they are poking fun at wiki. They say according to the story, "The American revolution was in fact instigated by Chuck Norris, who incinerated the Stamp Act by looking at it, then roundhouse-kicked the entire British army into the Atlantic Ocean."

That one didn't actually make it on Wiki. They were just having fun. But you see the probably here, people can write in anything they want.

So what is Wiki doing now? Take a look here. This is from Wikipedia. They have created this color-coded system. And the basic idea here is this -- the more orange the text is, the less they're saying, you can trust it.

So over time, as text becomes more trustworthy, it will stop being so deeply orange and become lighter orange, work its way to pretty much straight up black on white.

Here's how they are doing that. They're taking a look at the history of people who go into these pages and put things in. If these people have a history of a lot of corrections or people complaining about what they put in, that will get alerted here.

Also, until a lot of people start to check out a page and seem to be OK with it, new text that is put on there will be that darker color. It will start to move into something can you trust more.

Now, we don't know if this will work or not, and we want to hear from you on this. Here's how you get in touch with us. You have our blog, also Facebook and Twitter, CNN.com/josh. Facebook and twitter, /joshlevsCNN.

Let us know, will this make Wikipedia more trustworthy for you? We want to hear your take on this and we will follow your responses right here.

Back to you.

(WEATHER BREAK)

HOLMES: Still ahead here in the CNN newsroom -- the latest from Afghanistan where that NATO air strike has killed dozens, including civilians. Stay here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right. We talk about unemployment numbers all the time, and more people losing their jobs. Sometimes they're just cutbacks.

These two guys we're going to tell you about now, they lost their jobs as well. Not because of any cutback necessarily, but because they were hired to protect the George Washington Bridge in New York, but they were caught doing something other than protecting the bridge.

BALDWIN: Yes, they were caught snoozing on the job.

By the way, this bridge here, this is a huge bridge, really considered a target for terrorists. These two guys caught by a bicyclist. CNN's Deb Feyerick has the story.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Joey Lepore loves riding his bike from New Jersey over the George Washington Bridge into New York's Central Park.

FEYERICK (on camera): You take this path every day?

JOEY LEPORE, OWNER, NEW YORK BICYCLE TOURS: Pretty much every day.

FEYERICK (voice-over): It was on one those rides across the bridge Lepore looked over at a security booth and saw something that alarmed him.

LEPORE: I saw a guy sleeping, and I thought, this is crazy that the guy's sleeping on duty.

FEYERICK: And he says it happened not once, but three times.

LEPORE: I got totally outraged. And I said, you know what, I'm taking a picture of this.

FEYERICK: Which he did, walking straight up to the security booth.

LEPORE: Imagine if I was a terrorist. Imagine if I had a gun in my hand. I could have opened up his door and blew his head right off. That's how close I was.

FEYERICK: Months before going public, Lepore says he reached out to the security guard.

LEPORE: I said, you know, I don't want to be a jerk and report this, but you got to promise me that you're not going to be sleeping while you're supposed to be guarding a bridge.

He said, no, no, no, it won't ever happen again, don't worry.

FEYERICK: But when it did, with another guard, Lepore felt there was a bigger problem.

LEPORE: If this guy worked in a deli and was sleeping behind the counter, I wouldn't care. But when you're protecting us and it's your job to have an eye out for anything that's potentially hazardous for us, our safety, then I take that very seriously.

FEYERICK: The port authority which runs the bridges says both guards have been fired for sleeping on the job. In a statement to CNN, the agency says it welcomes public vigilance and that "The port authority takes the safety of its passengers and facilities very seriously and has spent more than $4 billion on security since 9/11."

Although he feels badly about the firings, Lepore still feels he did the right thing, especially because a cousin and friend died on 9/11.

LEPORE: If I can do one thing to help one person stay alive, then I'll be very, very fulfilled for that.

FEYERICK: Neither the port authority nor the contractor that hired the security guards would release the names of the two men in those photos so we were unable to reach them directly. Then agency did confirm that sleeping on the job was the reason for termination.

Deborah Feyerick, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: From the CNN center in Atlanta, you are in the "CNN Newsroom." It is Saturday, September 5th. Good morning to you. I'm Brooke Baldwin sitting in for Betty Nguyen.

HOLMES: And hello to you all. I'm T.J. Holmes. It is 11:00 a.m. in the east where we sit, 8:00 a.m. out west. Good morning to you all.