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President of Toyota Issues Apology; Relief Effort in Haiti Continues; Former John Edwards Aide Releases Tell-All Book; Personal Finance Experts Offer Advice
Aired January 30, 2010 - 14:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: President Obama promises new action to create new jobs. Could one of them be yours? We'll ask the Dolans.
And a massive Toyota safety recall covers millions of cars. What should you do if you own one of them?
And the latest from Apple, the iPad. Will it change the way you read books, magazines, or perhaps newspapers?
So what we are looking at today, Saturday, January 30th. I'm Fredricka Whitfield and you are in the CNN NEWSROOM.
First up, a very dangerous brief freeze, a brutal winter storm barrels across the south bringing record snowfall, ice, and bone- chilling temperatures.
(WEATHER BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Meantime, the president of Toyota says he is extremely sorry. Akio Toyoda has offered an apology to millions of Toyota customers, owners of eight models covered by a massive safety recall. He insists that the cars are safe, but he says changes will be made to make the cars even safer.
Toyota is shipping new gas pedal parts to its dealers, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration blames unintended acceleration for five deaths since 2006. Toyota has suspended sales of eight models and says it will stop production until the problem is fixed. For a full list of the recall, go to CNNmoney.com.
Another Japanese automaker, Honda, has issued an unrelated recall involving 646,000 cars, 140,000 were sold in the United States as the Honda Sit. This recall covers 2007 and 2008 models, but not any later models.
Honda says extreme amounts of rain or melted snow can actually flood the master window power switch creating a fire hazard. It says the problem caused one death in South Africa and there are no reports of any injuries, however, in the United States.
What's next for Haiti? International efforts to rebuild the earthquake-ravaged country are in full force now, but it is nowhere near enough. And to make matters even worse, it's not even clear just how many are in dire need. Barbara Starr has that side of the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Desperate Haitians struggling for food, water, and shelter nearly three weeks after the earthquake. More than 100 countries and 500 relief organizations and 20,000 American troops are here. But it's still not enough for the more than 1 million displaced. Listen to the top U.S. commander.
GEN. DOUGLAS FRASER, COMMANDER, U.S. SOUTHERN COMMAND: We are still not up to meeting the needs of the Haitian people as far as the amount of supplies that are there. We don't have an accurate number of exactly who still needs shelter, who needs food.
STARR: Many Haitians are trying to get out of Port-au-Prince to go live with friends or family. Relief workers are trying to figure out who is left and who needs help. CNN's Christiane Amanpour spoke to Haiti's prime minister.
CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There are no heavy tents, where are they?
JEAN-MAX BELLERIVE, HAITIAN PRIME MINISTER: I don't know. It is a good question. Normally we have report that they were already sent 20,000 tents to Haiti and 20,000 on the way. The president himself asked to see the storage place and we only counted 3,500 tents.
STARR: The situation remains grim. The Navy hospital ship Comfort has almost no room for more patients. Medical capacity in Haiti is now being maxed out. And the bottom line -- no one can say how long it may take to meet the basic needs of Haitians or how much it may cost to do it.
Barbara Starr, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Let's talk about politics and scandal right now. An explosive tell-all book about former presidential candidate John Edwards on sale today. The book written by former aide Andrew Young includes scandalous details about Edwards' personal life including his extramarital affair with Rielle Hunter.
And you know this week he publically admitted that he is the father of her two-year-old child. We turn to CNN political editor Mark Preston. You stayed up all night last night reading this book on sale to the general public today. What are the bombshells?
MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: Let me tell you. Unfortunately, I did stay up late. I think I'm surviving on my eighth cup of coffee. We talked about politics earlier today unrelated to this.
But yes, this book hits the bookstores today and really probably not a very good day in John Edwards' household. He's been dreading for this book to come out. Andrew Young, his former aide who was very, very close to John Edwards has written a book where he recounts how John Edwards was able to carry on an extramarital affair at the same time he was seeking the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, which is an amazing feat that he was able to do so.
He was able to do so with the help of money from two big benefactors. One of them is Bunny Mellon and the other is a late, late trial lawyer, a gentleman who has since passed away. Bunny Mellon did not know what her money was being used for.
WHITFIELD: Let me ask you right there, then, because we know there is this federal grand jury investigation involving the allegations of the inappropriate use of campaign funds. Since you spelled out these two sources of the money that Edwards enjoyed or used, is that one and the same? Is this what I at the root of the investigation? Would that be considered campaign funds?
PRESTON: A very good question, and there is this federal grand jury investigation right now into how John Edwards was able to pay off his mistress, who is a videographer who had worked for him. We don't know. The grand jury investigation hasn't come out with any findings at this point. There haven't been any charges leveled against Mr. Edwards.
WHITFIELD: Because part of the investigation of the campaign funds really had to do in part with how much money he was paying Reille Hunter, even though she was hired as a videographer.
PRESTON: Absolutely right. And the author of the book talks about he, himself, has been questioned about some of those payments, who the checks were made out to. But again, we don't know right now where that investigation stands other than they are still investigating it.
WHITFIELD: Is it safe to go into the direction of what about this relationship between the former aide Andy Young, that he was complicit, was he not? He admits to being a cooperative participant in John Edwards' cover-up of the mistress, that relationship, but now this same person has penned a book and is making big money off this.
PRESTON: We'll see how much money he does make off it. This is an amazing story. Andy Young was this gentleman who really was idealistic. He thought that John Edwards would become president and he would do anything for him. And he spells it out very clearly in this book.
He even goes so far as to say he was the father of a child that John Edwards had with his mistress. So John Edwards had a child out of wedlock while still married and did not want to acknowledge he was the father.
He had Andrew Young step up and say he was the father. Andrew Young's wife -- it is amazing I can even say this. This is soap opera material. His wife agrees to go along with it and they crisscross the country with their children. WHITFIELD: Were there payments involved that Andy Young received payment and his wife and that's why they said yes?
PRESTON: Absolutely. And there was this idealistic idea this is for the better good. John Edwards is going to be president today, and financially we'll be taken care of.
So at this point, however, it doesn't appear he was taken care of at the end. John Edwards eventually copped to the affair. His wife knew about it. Andrew Young goes on to say in this book that Elizabeth Edwards knew about the affair for a lot longer than she had said. And at this point we'll have to see where the chips fall.
WHITFIELD: I guess one of the other headlines of the week, John Edwards, Elizabeth Edwards have legally separated as a result, in part, of these kinds of revelations coming from this book called "The Politician" from the former aide.
Mark Preston, thanks so much. Something tells me this is the beginning of these new cans of worms being opened. Thank you.
Of course, I want to mention Mark Preston actually wrote about this on CNN.com at much great length. Much more on the conversation we just had and the written word as well at CNN.com. You want to check out his story written there.
Meantime, let's talk about something else. Let's talk about money and the stock market closing lower this week. It's been up and down for investors for some time now. So is it time to jump in and invest? After the break that lovely couple right there have all the answers for your dollars. Ken and Daria Dolan straight ahead right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: The president focusing on the economy in his state of the union address Wednesday and again today in his regular weekly address. He says his new number one priority, creating jobs. So how might this affect you? Let's just ask the Dolans, shall we? There they are in West Palm Beach.
KEN DOLAN, DOLANS.COM: We are the scandal-free Dolans.
(LAUGHTER)
WHITFIELD: I like that. We are keeping it clean, keeping it safe today.
DARIA DOLAN, DOLANS.COM: That's right.
WHITFIELD: We hear the president reiterate this week in the state of the union address that jobs, jobs, jobs, it's all about that.
KEN DOLAN: A little late.
WHITFIELD: In what form, Ken, do you see this coming? KEN DOLAN: Well, Daria, you lead off first.
DARIA DOLAN: All right, the one thing I want to say is I think we need as Americans, we need to take a step back and in the words of Ronald Reagan, and I'm paraphrasing this and using it differently, the state of the union is rather like a pile of manure. There's a pony in there somewhere, but this one isn't the pony.
KEN DOLAN: That's a great start, Daria. We still see despite all the promises -- and by the way, Fred, it's important our viewers on CNN understand, we are very apolitical. We are political atheists. We only see things as we see them effectively from the street.
DARIA DOLAN: From the pocketbook.
WHITFIELD: Am I hearing you all say it can't be up to the president then to create these jobs?
DARIA DOLAN: The only thing that the government has been able to create in the way of jobs has been more government jobs. And the fact of the matter is government doesn't really create anything. Government is there to back-stop it when necessary. Government is certainly there to protect us and keep the rule of law over the land.
But the fact of the matter is, it is the private sector that does the creation. So this whole concept that the state of the union speech, we're going to make these jobs and we are going to spend and allocate more money we don't have to create them is bogus.
KEN DOLAN: It doesn't work.
WHITFIELD: So you don't believe, when the president said that the Recovery Act helped secure 2 million jobs that would have been lost in the past year, and he said they were in the education sector, there were teacher jobs, these were not government jobs.
DARIA DOLAN: Those were union jobs, which is the other problem, since only 12 percent of the nation is unionized. We are in a union because we had to as a condition of employment radio, but the fact of the matter is, then we are only creating for people that basically had some jobs and were saving them. Saving is not making them.
WHITFIELD: So I hear this and I'm unemployed or perhaps I'm employed but I am concerned about how long I might be employed, what do I do with this information? How do I prepare myself either for the market opening up or prepare myself for a market shrinking?
KEN DOLAN: Fred, that is an incredibly introspective question because it is crucial, because we don't believe there will be a great deal of job creation.
So my point is if I'm working, specifically I want to learn to do, I wanted to learn more skills at the job that I have. I want to increase my ability to do more than one job because, if I'm lucky and things continue bad, they are going to ask me to do more than I'm doing now. so increase your skills, even if you have to go back to school. Be more --
WHITFIELD: Flexible?
KEN DOLAN: ... flexible in your employment because you're going to be asked to do more.
WHITFIELD: Something else in the state of the union address we heard from the president talking about there are financial incentives for everyone to be more energy-conscious, to safeguard your homes, protect your homes. Isn't there a $1,500 tax credit if you do purchase or invest in certain things to improve on your home?
Is he promising or making a promise there will be even more than that in the coming months or years? What do we do to make our homes more energy-efficient?
KEN DOLAN: Fred, we have to take control. That's a great question again. Will there be tax credits? Will there be stuff we can do? Will it be a way we can save a couple of dollars in tax credits with energy? Maybe. But let's talk about three or four or even five things quickly of what you can do to take control to save money.
DARIA DOLAN: That's the way it should have been framed all along. What can we do? Not how much money can we get to be spurred to do something, which is this cash for caulkers situation.
KEN DOLAN: This is not brain surgery, Fred. Consider putting a plastic bottle of water -- people are going to say this is so simple. Put a plastic bottle of water in your toilet tank. You'll save ten gallons a day because of the water that it displaces. A stupid little thing like that.
WHITFIELD: How come I don't get that? What does that mean?
KEN DOLAN: Take a plastic bottle of water. Put it in your toilet tank. It will displace enough water to save you money, to save you water when you flush, and it could save you up to ten gallons per day because of the space it displaces.
DARIA DOLAN: Because the average toilet uses about seven gallons. This will displace about three gallons. So if you put that in the tank, the period of the day the average number of flushes in the average household, you've saved ten gallons of water. If you're paying for water, water is money.
KEN DOLAN: And let's heat up the water. An average bill per month is 25 percent to 35 percent in heating up hot water. Replace that beast...
DARIA DOLAN: Heating up water. That's redundant.
KEN DOLAN: What am I talking about? Replace that hot water beast in your basement and maybe consider tankless, tankless water. I'm not going to give you a brand name, but look at tankless water.
DARIA DOLAN: That can save as much as 50 percent on your heating bill because it only turns on and heats up immediately as needed.
WHITFIELD: Wow.
DARIA DOLAN: Also take a look, if you need to replace any of your old appliances.
KEN DOLAN: Energy Star.
DARIA DOLAN: First off, there is a little bit of a tax credit that's hanging on there regarding replacing inefficient appliances for new ones. But make sure you have an Energy Star recommendation on it. And if it's an appliance that uses water like a washing machine, look for water sense because these are water efficient products.
KEN DOLAN: And two other quick things. Consider buying a clothes dryer that has a motion sense that stops when the clothes are dry. What a simple idea.
DARIA DOLAN: A moisture sensor, not a motion sensor.
KEN DOLAN: I said moisture sensor -- no, I didn't. You're right.
(LAUGHTER)
And the last thing is you've got an old garage, an old refrigerator in the backyard hooked up in the back or even in the garage you don't use much. It can take up to $130 per year to run a refrigerator you use little or not at all, Fred.
WHITFIELD: OK. The stock market took a dip. It's been up and down. What do we do with this? I feel we are getting whiplash. We're nervous about it, then we're good.
KEN DOLAN: Speaking of motion sensors.
(LAUGHTER)
DARIA DOLAN: Very good.
KEN DOLAN: Thank you very much.
DARIA DOLAN: But here is the situation. If you look at the inflow from average people like us who tend to buy mutual funds as opposed to individual stocks, first off they weren't buying stock funds in 2009, they were buying more bond funds, short-term bond funds, things of that nature, very little stock participation.
So, ergo, you have to look at what happened in 2009 as being the professional investors in there because it wasn't the public's money.
KEN DOLAN: It's still not the public in there. It's the professionals.
DARIA DOLAN: And it is the professionals in there. And they can panic faster than grandma in Tulsa can when stock prices start going down, not to mention the fact if you look at all the money that flowed into the market last year, it isn't even all the traditional big money players.
Which hints to me, and I don't mean to be conspiracy about this, but it hints to me that maybe the Fed and Treasury were in there goosing up that, as well. They bailed out banks, they bailed out Detroit.
KEN DOLAN: Send all your conspiracy e-mails to Daria Dolan at conspiracy.com.
Also Fred, we are seeing an awful lot of private, non- institutional investors being paralyzed because they are concerned about which industries are going to be overtaxed and maybe overregulated. We see it as a very difficult market for the year. We take a lot of heat saying short-term instruments like CDs, bonds and bond funds...
WHITFIELD: There are a lot of other questions we are getting from folks on Facebook as well as blogs. So we are going to present some of those questions to you in a moment. Josh Levs will be around. Hopefully you can answer these questions directly. Not hopefully, we know you can because you do it every weekend.
Plus, the five deadly sins of retirement planning straight ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: A look at our top stories right now -- a possible change of venue for the 9/11 terror trial. The Obama administration planned to try Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four others in lower Manhattan.
But after a firestorm of criticism that a New York trial would be too costly and disruptive, two administration officials say the Justice Department is now considering other locations.
And in northwest Pakistan, at least 12 people were killed when a suicide bomber attacked a police checkpoint, 20 others were wounded. It happened in one of seven districts in Pakistan's volatile tribal region. Authorities say two of those killed were police officers.
And it wasn't the result they hoped for. Five inmates tried to break out of a maximum security prison in Texas -- it happened last night -- by jumping over a fence. But guards quickly opened fire. Three of the inmates were injured and are now being treated. The other two are back in custody.
We'll get another check of the top stories 20 minutes from now.
The Dolans are back in 60 seconds, so keep sending in your personal finance questions and we'll read some of them on the air and get answers for you, too.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK) WHITFIELD: We are back with Ken and Daria Dolan, our personal finance experts. Before we get to some of your questions coming from home, the Facebook as well as our blog, you are going to reveal to us the five deadly sins of retirement planning beginning with?
KEN DOLAN: And Fred, they are really, really basic. Like some of our energy tips, it's not brain surgery, but sometimes they are so obvious, people say I should have known that, kike getting started now. I've got time, I'm 45 or 52 or 58 -- believe me, look at this. It comes very quickly. Get started.
(LAUGHTER)
DARIA DOLAN: Also, a lot of people are saying, you know, I really don't want to contribute to my employer's 401(k) plan even when the employer matches up to a certain amount.
WHITFIELD: People say that, I don't want to?
DARIA DOLAN: They think they need that money.
KEN DOLAN: To get a flat screen TV to watch the Super bowl.
DARIA DOLAN: But they are giving up free money because if you are getting matched, even if you don't want to contribute, try and contribute up to that full max.
KEN DOLAN: It's free money.
DARIA DOLAN: Then you don't have to contribute beyond that but get the free stuff.
KEN DOLAN: I can't tell you how many times in our national radio show Fred over the years people made the mistake of putting all in one basket.
WHITFIELD: Diversify.
KEN DOLAN: Exactly right. Number three, diversify, don't put all your eggs in one basket. Learn the different alternatives.
DARIA DOLAN: Also, another mistake people make is they underestimate how much money they are going to need in retirement.
KEN DOLAN: Good one.
WHITFIELD: That's an easy one. You don't really know. It's so hard to predict the future, what you think you need right now to live, but you forget.
DARIA DOLAN, DOLANS.COM: And we also underestimate how long we are going to live. When people have a pension choice, should I take x or y, and they think they are going to live a shorter time than they actually do.
WHITFIELD: How do you know? KEN DOLAN, DOLAN.COM: You don't know. The old chestnut was you should get between 70 percent and 80 percent, 70 percent and 80 percent of your preretirement income in retirement to live the same lifestyle. Throw it out, chestnut, see you. It's 100 percent. You've got to understand it's going to cost more than you think. So go for 100 percent of your preretirement income.
DARIA DOLAN: And the deadliest of all the sins is jumping in taking that retirement money before you retire.
WHITFIELD: Do not touch it.
DARIA DOLAN: People change jobs and next thing you know they haven't rolled over the 401(k), pay taxes on it and they've spent it.
WHITFIELD: There are other questions people have. Josh Levs is here with us.
KEN DOLAN: The question man.
WHITFIELD: There he is.
DARIA DOLAN: The question daddy.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, dynamic Dolan duo, what's going on?
KEN DOLAN: Hi, Josh. Josh, I was in New York this week. I'm a little tired, so make them easy.
(LAUGHTER)
LEVS: It's not going to happen. I want to start off with something interesting. Zoom in for a second. I've got your Web site up behind me. Of course I do, Dolans.com.
I'll jump over to my blog here. I recently have this story. An economist was saying now is the time to start your own business, that history shows that now is a great time. I want you to see something here. All of these people are writing us asking for tips on how to start their own business.
So let's toss this at you guys. What should people know if they decide 2010 is the right time to start their own business, what are the top things to do?
KEN DOLAN: Good question.
DARIA DOLAN: Number one, if you've got a great idea for a business in your mind, run that great idea around people that you know and trust and get their opinions.
WHITFIELD: They're afraid someone is going to steal your idea.
KEN DOLAN: People are lazy, Fred. DARIA DOLAN: Exactly. You may think it will work like gangbusters, but when you put it out on the broader stage, everybody goes, not interested.
KEN DOLAN: Number two, do something you like, that you love, because very often you'll be doing it part time. Have passion for what you do. Be diligent. There are a couple of very good websites, score.org has great stuff, also smallbizdaily.com, very good.
I say 2010 is going to be the year of the entrepreneur despite the stuff coming out of Washington.
WHITFIELD: Besides the fact it's hard to get money? You need capital and money to start a business.
KEN DOLAN: It's very tough. There is money available at the SBA. It's getting a little easier at the banks. What you need to do, get a plan. Take the idea and get a plan.
DARIA DOLAN: If you don't know how to do that, pick up "Business Plans for Dummies." It will work you through it.
LEVS: We've got something online that will link to that. This is instructive. Some of the most successful companies in America were started by individuals during recessions.
KEN DOLAN: Absolutely.
LEVS: I want you to see this question from Lori. This gets this whole idea as we look ahead to tax time. "My husband worked 500 miles away from home and had to rent an apartment there, could we get some tax credit or deduction? What about the car he had to purchase to go there?"
DARIA DOLAN: Did the rent on the apartment, if he has to move this 500 miles just for business purposes, woe not be able to get a tax credit.
KEN DOLAN: Not a credit.
DARIA DOLAN: But more than likely he would be entitled to a tax deduction on a pro-rata share of the rent paid.
KEN DOLAN: In terms of the car, the two things you asked about. Could he deduct the cost of the car if he leases it? The answer is yes for the pro rata use while he's on the scene, not commuting. That doesn't work. People tried that. You're asking for trouble.
LEVS: Not your commute.
WHITFIELD: Everyone is open to that one, right?
DARIA DOLAN: As long as he purchased a new car. If he bought a used car, there is no credit for that.
KEN DOLAN: There may be deduction for business. DARIA DOLAN: I don't know why, but there's your tax code.
KEN DOLAN: The 2009 tax credit is for cars and trucks up to $49,500. It is a credit, but it is for new only.
WHITFIELD: You all are always so fantastic. Thanks so much. And of course, if you still have questions at home you want to send to the Dolans because we are out of time, sorry, guys.
KEN DOLAN: Bye, Fred!
WHITFIELD: Ken and Daria, you are the best. Josh, you, too.
KEN DOLAN: Bye, Josh.
DARIA DOLAN: Have a good week, everybody.
WHITFIELD: All right.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Florida Governor Charlie Crist says his state is at the forefront of the crisis in Haiti. His comments come after the U.S. reportedly suspended its medical evacuations of some earthquake victims due to lack of government funding.
Susan Candiotti has been following this story and joins us now from New York. Susan?
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fredricka. This is new information, really, and it is not good news for Haitians who are in need of critical medical care and who can't get that care from a limited number of doctors in Haiti who are trying to do, of course, the best they can.
The U.S. military is now suspending medical evacuations for Haitians. This does not apply to U.S. nationals, only to Haitians who need critical care. They will not be flown out anymore for now.
A Navy spokesman tells CNN they cannot fly Haitians out if hospitals in the United States cannot take them in. And then that spokesman added this, quote, "Some states are apparently unwilling to allow entry for Haitian nationals for critical care."
So what's going on and who is refusing these people? We know this. Florida's Governor Charlie Crist wrote a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on Wednesday of this week and said that he had heard about a federal plan to evacuate up to 50 critically ill patients a day, Haitians from Haiti, for an indefinite period of time.
And the governor says, look, we are reaching the saturation point and we have taken in 526 patients so far, mainly U.S. nationals. And then the governor added this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GOV. CHARLIE CRIST, (R) FLORIDA: We are trying to make sure that we don't overburden Florida. And I think it's important we don't.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CANDIOTTI: However, through a spokesman, Crist denies that he asked the U.S. government to stop airlifts for Haitians. However, he does say that he wants the federal government to start picking up some of the cost involved here, and he asked Secretary Sebelius to get that rolling.
A Navy spokesman however tells us that in the meantime they are trying to take care of as many Haitians as they can in Haiti on land and also on the USS Comfort. But for now the airlift for Haitians getting them out is off, it is suspended, and this is yet another burden on Haitians who are already suffering so much, Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: And Susan, by chance, do we know the other states that may have said we won't take any Haitian people?
CANDIOTTI: Fredricka, we are still trying to get down to the bottom of this to find out where these other states are, whether in fact what's happening on the government's end, who is saying that states won't take them? Crist is denying it, and to find out what Secretary Sebelius has to say about all this.
WHITFIELD: All right, thanks so much, Susan Candiotti. We'll check back with you. Hopefully some of those answer come to surface.
Let's check some of the other top stories right now.
Days after Toyota Motors' massive recall impacting millions of cars and trucks, the company's president is apologizing for making customers feel, quote-unquote, "uneasy." Eight models are being recalled for potentially faulty gas pedals and that could make the vehicles suddenly accelerate.
Toyota is promising it will fix the sticking pedal problem, although no repair procedure has been offered yet by the company.
And an emergency declaration is in place in several southern U.S. states battered by the winter storms. Snow and ice have crippled areas from the southern plains to Virginia and the Carolinas. Roads and highways are treacherous, and thousands of homes and businesses have actually lost power. They look like they are having fun right there.
And the snow is coming down hard -- that is the former president George H. W. Bush, emerging from the White House after meeting with President Obama. White house aides say the visit was strictly a social call. Mr. Bush was in town for the Alfalfa dinner. President Obama decided to skip the dinner this year.
A sorority that is a first of its kind in America.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) ALTHIA ALI, PRESIDENT, GAMMA GAMMA CHI: In many cases, people don't have the opportunity to interact with Muslim women. They see us as women who have on scarves who usually are voiceless. I think the best way to defy a stereotype is to show what you really are about.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: Female, Muslim, and Greek. Make sense?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Just like any other college sorority, it has a greek name. There is one thing that makes Gamma Gamma Chi different from all the rest.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: These are the sisters of Gamma Gamma Chi, the first Islamic-based sorority in the country. The women come together to support one another and do service projects in the communities. But there is no casual socializing with men and drinking alcohol is not allowed.
ALI: We are much like any other sorority except the big difference for us is that we do base it on Islamic principles and beliefs in all that we do in the organization.
WHITFIELD: Educational consultant Althea Ali founded Gamma Gamma Ki in 2005 to provide an alternative from traditional sororities for Muslim women in terms of a sisterhood.
Part of the sorority' mission is to provide a positive image of Muslim women and Islam in general by being visible in their communities, holding food drives, marching in peace walks, and offering educational sessions about Islam.
ALI: In many cases, people don't have the opportunity to interact with Muslim women. They see us as women who have on scarves who usually are voiceless. I think the best way to defy a stereotype is show what you're really about, and by interacting with people, you allow people to see you have the same values they do.
WHITFIELD: At this cafe in Maryland, prospective members socialize with current Gamma sisters from the Washington, D.C., chapter. The sorority has 50 members so far and five regional chapters, in Virginia, Philadelphia, Chicago, North Carolina, and Washington, D.C.
There are Hispanic, African-American, and Jewish sororities across the country. The sisters say there is a real need for sororities for Muslims.
KESHA ABDUL-MATEEN, GAMMA GAMMA CHI SORORITY: I do have friends that are in traditional sororities, but being in an Islamic-based sorority, we are able to be Muslim and not be ashamed or have to hide the fact that we are Muslim. We continue our practices as usual even when we are out in the community. We stop to pray. When we have events, we stop to pray.
WHITFIELD: Membership in the sorority is open to non-Muslims as well. And members have already started reaching out to others.
ALI: I came across a woman who told me she was non-Muslim but she really liked what we were doing as an organization and that our mission resonated with her.
And so she wanted to know how could she become a part of this organization, because we are trying to bring together people of like mind who have the same goals and aspirations, and this organization is a great way to help to do that.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: Say it isn't so, the ultimate in outsourcing, a pitch to replace Punxsutawney Phil with a robot?
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WHITFIELD: We are doing something a little new -- favorite stories from our water cooler this week.
And we're going animalistic here. First one, a German reptile collector is headed to jail a few months for trying to leave New Zealand with a load of lizards in his pants. Imagine that. Authorities say he was about to board an overseas flight when they found 44 native geckos in a hand-sewn package stashed in his underwear. Strange. You know what that probably feels like.
It's a proud tradition that dates back to 1886, but animal rights groups, or rather the animal right group called PETA says tradition is no excuse for cruelty. They want Pennsylvania's Punxsutawney Phil replaced with a robotic ground hog.
They say the bright television lights and the big crowds on Groundhog Day are simply too much for this shy little guy and that it's simply unfair to keep him all cooped up on display for the rest of the year. But Phil's keepers say, you know what, Punxsutawney is treated better than many children. That's what they say.
BONNIE SCHNEIDER, METEOROLOGIST: And Fredricka, this is a long- standing tradition. This will be the 124th year for Punxsutawney Phil. He always looks happy.
WHITFIELD: He looks happy. But how happy would everybody else be if he is replaced by a robot?
SCHNEIDER: And how accurate could his forecasts be? Actually, the forecast for Punxsutawney Phil is only 39 percent accurate. They're actually forecast is either cloudy or cold. It could go either way, six more weeks of winter or an early spring.
WHITFIELD: And that's right around the corner.
(WEATHER BREAK) WHITFIELD: This is a certainly public relations nightmare for Toyota. What can the automaker do if its name is no longer synonymous with safety?
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WHITFIELD: Drivers affected by Toyota's massive recall are reportedly closer to getting their vehicles fixed. The Associated Press quotes sources saying government regulators have approved a part to keep the gas pedal from sticking.
Parts could arrive to dealers by this week Thursday, or rather next week Thursday. That as Toyota struggles to deal with the fallout from the recall that's turned into a PR nightmare.
Here now is CNN's Deb Feyerick.
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DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As soon as he got word of the recall from Toyota headquarters, Maryland Toyota dealer Ben Messier and his sales team went into high gear figuring out which cars might have the faulty gas pedal.
BEN MESSIER, TOYOTA DEALER: The CTS pedals, which are the affected pedals, will have a one inch by one inch silver tab on the top left hand side of the accelerator arm. Look all the way down on top of the accelerator arm, right here is a little silver plaque. That right there says "CTS" on it.
FEYERICK: CTS disputes any problems with its accelerators, saying they were built to Toyota's design specifications. Messier meantime says the message from above was clear, protect Toyota's reputation.
MESSIER: Toyota mentioned our first concern is safeguarding the brand, making sure Toyota gets in front of this and takes care of the customers. We'll worry about selling cars tomorrow.
FEYERICK: But now with millions of cars affected, dealers in New York and New Jersey appear to have closed rank. We called more than a dozen Toyota dealerships and even went to visit several in person. All of them told us they were not authorized to speak about Toyota's problems and instead referred us to a central information number out of California.
When we called, a Toyota spokesman who handles quality design described the latest recall as a "customer satisfaction problem," telling CNN Toyota's strategy has been to be transparent and truthful about an accelerator problem they don't yet know how to fix but which they say is caused by an environmental condition.
