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Offensive Success in Afghanistan; U.S. Leads Olympics With Six Medals; Evan Bayh Out of the Running

Aired February 15, 2010 - 11:00   ET

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

TONY HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. Are you kidding me? You get through that, you should be a supervisor. Right to supervisor grade.

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: There you go.

HARRIS: Kyra, you have a great day. Good to see you, lady.

PHILLIPS: See you tomorrow.

It is Monday, February 15th, and here are your top stories in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Can you believe this? From songs of praise to the sounds of gunfire, a church service turns to chaos as gunmen open fire.

Also ahead, a professor accused of killing three colleagues. New questions this morning about violence in her past.

Two commuter trains collide head on. Details of the deadly rush hour accident.

And cars, vans and trucks get all tangled up, a chain reaction crash on an icy highway.

Good morning, everyone. I'm Tony Harris. And you are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

I've got to tell you, so many questions this morning regarding a deadly shooting at the University of Alabama Huntsville. Police have charged Amy Bishop Anderson, a biology professor, with killing three of her colleagues Friday. Three others were wounded.

Melissa Davis' stepmother was one of the victims.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MELISSA DAVIS, SHOOTING VICTIM'S STEPDAUGHTER: She would always make sure she gave us a hug and gave us a kiss and tell us that she loves us. That was her normal routine.

I saw her the day before the incident, and that was her normal routine. She gave me a hug, told me she loved me. She would never let you leave without doing that. But she -- yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Melissa, thank you. DAVIS: She's a very loving person.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: Police are not releasing a motive, but we are learning some disturbing details about Anderson's past. Here's what we know.

In 1986, she fatally shot her brother. The shooting was ruled an accident.

Then in 1993, "The Boston Globe" reports Anderson was questioned in a mail bombing case targeting a Harvard professor. She was never charged.

Anderson was hired to teach at the University of Alabama in Huntsville in 2003. She had recently been denied tenure. Some who worked with her say she was very vocal about her disappointment.

Anderson now faces capital murder charges in Friday's shooting.

Coming up in about 10 minutes, I'm going to talk with a reporter from "The Boston Globe" about Amy Bishop Anderson, and specifically those mail bomb allegations.

Right now we want to get to our Atia Abawi. She is on the phone with us. And as you may know, she is embedded with U.S. Marines in Helmand Province in Afghanistan.

And Atia, good to talk to you. Tell us how this offensive, this operation is going.

ATIA ABAWI, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tony, I'll tell you that it's still continuing. The battle is still on here in the city of Marjah.

I am with the 1st Battalion 6th Marines Alpha Company. This is the main effort when it comes to the battle in Marjah. It combines the NATO forces and the Afghan forces.

But I'll tell you now, Tony, the brunt of the fight is coming from the U.S. Marines against the Taliban. And the Taliban themselves, they're not backing down.

It is considered that there might be around 600 to 1,000 insurgents in the city. And when we receive the shots when we're with the U.S. Marines, we see those coming from different areas. They're able to pop up in different parts of the city.

This is basically a ghost town in Marjah right now, at least in the area that we are, which is called Loya Charad Bazaar (ph). And in this bazaar, you can tell that people left on short notice, walking around the bazaar, sporadic gunshots both from the Taliban and then form the Marines themselves.

Civilians themselves afraid to come out of their homes, afraid to come out into the city. But we were able to talk to some today because they came into the position where we're staying with the Marines, and they came for help because some family members were injured. And they were saying that they're the ones being caught in the crossfire.

We're also hearing from other civilians saying that the Taliban are using their homes to fire against the U.S. positions throughout the area. And although the U.S. Marines are making some headway in the city, it's slow and meticulous, because there are IEDs, improvised explosive devices, planted throughout the roads, throughout compounds in the area. So it's slow and meticulous movement to prevent more casualties -- Tony.

HARRIS: Atia, a couple of questions come to mind.

First of all, I've seen some quotes from military officials describing the resistance to this point as being light to little. How would you describe the resistance that you've encountered?

ABAWI: Tony, it's easy to say resistance is light and little when it's coming from safe areas. When you're in the battle itself, when you're witnessing it with your own eyes, they may be sporadic, it may not be constant, but it's strong, it's there. There are small arms fire, as well as RPGs, rocket attacks. It's going on.

And it's easy to say coming from whether it be NATO headquarters or the Afghan government -- which I'm hearing from the Afghan government saying that they claim that they have some control in the city in Marjah right now. And I'll tell you from this viewpoint, is that there is no Afghan government control in the city of Marjah -- Tony.

HARRIS: Another quick one for me, Atia. Describe the size, if you could. Give us something that gives us a sense of the size of Marjah.

You describe a slow, meticulous march through the city. Maybe give us a sense of how big an area we're talking about, how big that city is.

ABAWI: Marjah is a fairly big area when you look at it in Afghan perspectives in the city size. It's not like an American city.

It's a city surrounded by farm lush land. It's a city that practically -- it was being built by the USAID back in the 1950s and '60s to help with the farming, help with farming what they would hope was fruit and vegetables. But lately, with the Taliban under control, it has been opium, it has been poppies.

And the city, it's a fairly large city when you look at it in Afghan perspective. It's around 80,000 to 100,000 in population size.

It's also an area that's had a booming narcotics industry because of this lush farmland that surrounds the bazaars. The bazaars in the district centers, primarily, they represent the city. But it's also the villages, the villagers, and the farmers out there. And you don't know sometimes. It's hard for many people to distinguish friend from foe because a Taliban fighter can easily put down his rifle and pick up a shovel and blend into the population -- Tony.

HARRIS: Well, I apologize. I've got -- I apologize, Atia. I've got one more quick one for you.

You mentioned that it's a city of about 80,000. Any idea of how many people decided to stay?

ABAWI: Well, it's said that the majority of the people decided to stay only because they had nowhere else to go. So what they're trying to do right now, the majority of the civilians, is hide inside their homes because they're sincerely afraid of stepping out into the gunfire. But some of them have to, to go to the wells to get water.

It's still not a city that has running water. They have to go to the wells to get the water. But they're not going to the stores because the storekeepers are not coming out.

But at the same time, even those families who felt safe inside their homes, their homes are being used as battlefields. The Taliban going inside some of these homes, launching attacks against the U.S. forces, because they're also aware of the tactical directive issued by NATO, which is that U.S. and NATO forces cannot launch an attack on to a compound or a building if they have any indication that one civilian may be inside of it.

So, obviously, it's making the job of the U.S. forces tougher. But they also know that no war in Afghanistan has ever been won without the Afghan support. And there's civilian casualties that has that support fading throughout various parts of the country -- Tony.

HARRIS: Boy.

CNN's at Atia Abawi embedded with U.S. Marines on this offensive in the city of Marjah.

Atia, appreciate it. Thank you.

This operation is billed as the largest since the start of the war in 2001.

Our Frederik Pleitgen is in the Afghan capital.

And Frederik, if you would, give us the sense of how this operation is progressing from the capital.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Tony, what NATO is saying and also what the Afghan government has been saying is that they feel that this operation is going fairly well. They're actually saying it's going quite well. We had a press conference earlier today by the Afghan government officials, also attended by the top NATO commander here in Afghanistan, Stanley McChrystal, where they were saying that they are now in control of large parts of the Marjah area.

Now, we heard from Atia just now that in control really is something that you have to define. It appears as though they've put soldiers in almost every part of that area of Marjah. However, it does appear as though -- and this is something that both the Afghan government and NATO have been saying -- that of course there are still possibly hundreds of Taliban fighters there doing the attacks that Atia was talking about, also possibly planning on mounting counterattacks. So, certainly that is something they are very much aware of.

What they said is that at some point in the coming days, they would like to take this operation into a new phase where they say they want to bring in government officials, Afghan government officials, to try to set up something like a civil administration. That is already going on, apparently, in some isolated parts, especially under influence of where British soldiers are. But they say they want to bring it in full scale, an Afghan civil administration, to start providing service to the people there to get the people on their side -- Tony.

HARRIS: Civilian casualties -- the idea here, Fred, was to keep civilian casualties low. And then we have this rocket incident. And maybe you can describe what happened here.

PLEITGEN: Exactly. Twelve civilians were killed yesterday when, apparently, a NATO rocket launcher fired upon a compound, killing these 12 civilians.

Now, we have some conflicting report from the U.S. military on what actually happened in that incident. Originally, NATO put out a press release saying that they had been taking fire from a compound close to there, and then decided to shoot at that compound with these artillery rockets. But those rockets had missed by about 300 meters, hit the wrong compound, killing those 12 people. However, now we're hearing from sources inside the military that, in fact, these soldiers were taking fire from that very compound, that they fired into that compound not knowing that civilians were inside.

But absolutely, Tony, the one thing that NATO has always been saying is that their prime objectives here -- and Atia was just saying as well, that their prime objective here is to minimize civilian casualties, ,because they know they cannot win over the civilian population if many civilians die in attacks like this one. They've been limiting their air power. They've been moving forward more slowly to try and minimize these civilian casualties.

Of course, an incident like the one that happened on Sunday is not something they need at all. And that's why there was a very public apology by Stanley McChrystal, the commanding general here in Afghanistan, towards the Afghan president, Hamid Karzai, who has always had inhibitions about possible civilian casualties. So certainly this is something that NATO and the U.S. military are taking very, very seriously -- Tony.

HARRIS: All right. CNN's Frederik Pleitgen for us in the Afghan capital of Kabul.

Fred, good to see you. Thank you.

Weather delays could be good news for an American Olympic athlete who almost missed her chance at going for the gold. We are live from Vancouver.

Rob Marciano is tracking weather. We will have the latest on a storm that kind of fizzled in the South but still messed up a lot of travel plans.

We are back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: And going for the gold at the winter Olympic games, the U.S. leads the medal race right now with six overall.

CNN's sports reporter Mark McKay is live from Vancouver.

Mark, good to see you, as always.

I understand the U.S. team made a little bit of history today. What can you tell us about that, Mark?

MARK MCKAY, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Well, we are looking for some cold weather here, Tony, to get things going up on Whistler Mountain. Yes, this is an event that we've been waiting for, anticipating. But the warm weather here in the Pacific Northwest has really pushed things back.

Bode Miller, you remember that guy, Tony?

HARRIS: Yes.

MCKAY: So many headlines made back in Torino for his partying. He didn't come up with a single medal. Looking to redeem himself a little under two hours from now, Tony, when downhill is scheduled to get under way at Whistler Mountain.

Four years ago, the U.S. team went into the Torino Olympics using the motto "Best in the World." They said it was a goal and not an assertion. Good thing. They only came away with two Alpine medals.

So, that disappointment in Torino being used as motivation here in Vancouver.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LINDSEY VONN, CRASHED IN 2006 WINTER OLYMPICS: Torino is definitely not what the U.S. was hoping for as a team. I mean, I know we had a lot of favorites going in. And for me, at least, the whole feeling of Torino was just bad.

JULIA MANCUSO, 2006 OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST: It was just one event after the next. Kind of the wrong things happening, and I think for a lot of the team it just was a bad day where everything didn't come together.

VONN: One race went by and the next race went by. We were still kind of thinking, OK, we could do something more. And by the end of it, we were just kind of -- you know, we were left depressed and sad.

MCKAY (voice-over): Whether it was crashes, missed gates or sloppy runs, the biggest disappointment by far was Bode Miller. He had been projected to win as many as five medals, but left Torino with nothing hanging around his neck but a bad reputation.

T.J. LANNING, U.S. SKI TEAM: Bode is a tremendous athlete. And it's hard to take anything away from him. It's just one week that he didn't perform in. And that could happen to anyone.

TED LIGETY, 2006 OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST: There's definitely the redemption factor, I guess, there. And the team's really looking for a lot of good races out of a lot of us. But, I mean, we're not really thinking too much about what happened in 2006. We want to move on.

VONN: I think we have a lot to prove. I mean, I think we still have not skied up to our potential in the last few Olympics.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MCKAY: Lindsey Vonn hoping to get back up on the slopes on Wednesday in the women's downhill.

Tony, you know, she made news even before the games began with a badly bruised right shin. That injury has progressed so much, that she's feeling a whole lot better that she can race in all five disciplines here at the Vancouver games. And as Kyra probably might have told you, she's been using a little cheese to make her feel better.

(LAUGHTER)

HARRIS: Yes, I know more about that cheese than I care to.

All right, Mark. Appreciate it. Thank you, sir.

You know, actor and director Kevin Smith is known as "Silent Bob" in his movies, but he wasn't so silent on a recent flight.

Smith says a Southwest Airlines pilot ejected him from his flight saying he didn't fit properly in a single seat. Smith insisted that he was still able to put both armrests down and buckle his seatbelt, which is Southwest's standard. He raised a bit of a stink about it on his Twitter page, saying, "I am way fat but I'm not there just yet."

Well, his furious fans sent him tons of backup, and Southwest Airlines actually apologized on its own Twitter account and gave him $100 voucher.

So, what do you think? Should Smith have been kicked off the flight?

Log on to the blog page here, CNN.com/Tony, and we'll share some of your responses throughout the program.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: And checking big stories right now.

A manhunt under way in San Francisco. Police searching for three gunmen who opened fire inside a church.

(GUNFIRE)

Can you believe this? The victims, two teenagers, they are expected to fully recover. Police say they are looking into whether the victims were targeted.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BISA FRENCH, RICHMOND, CALIFORNIA, POLICE: And this is in the middle of church service, 12:30 in the afternoon. Very brazen attack.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: If you can't be safe at church, where can you be safe at?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: This is a church. You know, to me it's like they committed a cardinal sin.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARRIS: A church. We will have more on this story as it develops.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton calls it a deeply concerning development. She says Iran's Revolutionary Guard appears to have gained so much power, it is effectively replacing the government, and that, in her words, Iran is moving toward a military dictatorship.

Clinton is seeking international support for tougher actions against Iran following Tehran's announcement that it has started enriching uranium at a higher level. She was in Qatar for the U.S./Islamic World Forum before heading to Saudi Arabia.

Senator John McCain facing a challenge from a fellow Republican. Former congressman J.D. Hayworth announces his candidacy next hour. He is going up against McCain in the Republican primary.

Hayworth bills himself as a consistent conservative. He and McCain have traded jabs, with each branding the other a big spender.

If you are keeping score on who is running for re-election and who is not, you can put Democratic Senator Evan Bayh's name in the not running column.

CNN political editor Mark Preston joining us now with details on this developing story. Wow. Boy, I missed the alert on this one.

What is going on here? What's Evan Bayh's story?

MARK PRESTON, CNN POLITICAL EDITOR: I'll tell you, Tony, I came in this morning, I grabbed a cup of coffee, I sat down. And when I got that telephone call from somebody who alerted me to this, I was as shocked as you are.

HARRIS: Yes.

PRESTON: No question about that.

Evan Bayh, a two-term senator, somebody who really struck a centrist pose here in Washington, D.C. You know, somebody who followed his father into the Senate. His father was in the Senate. Evan Bayh, this afternoon, is going to announce that he is leaving the Senate after two terms.

Now, I'll tell you, Tony, we are very surprised that he's doing it, but he was going to face a bit of a tough re-election, some would think. Another senator, a former senator, Dan Coats, was going to run against him. So, Evan Bayh deciding that, you know, it's time for me to leave.

HARRIS: What do we make of -- do you think he's caught up with this anti-incumbentism (ph) that seems to be just sweeping the country right now?

PRESTON: You know, it's something, I think, that played a little bit of a part in his decision. But the fact is, what I've been told, anyway, is that Evan Bayh never really felt that comfortable in the Senate.

He was a two-term governor. He was an executive. And we often see this, Tony, from governors who come to the Senate after their time expires back in the state.

They come to the Senate and they realize, you know, I don't have as much power as I once had. Plus, there's a lot of gridlock here in Washington. And when you're someone like Evan Bayh, who really works across the party lines, oftentimes you really take the wrath of the liberal base. And Evan Bayh was somebody who took the wrath of the liberal base.

HARRIS: Boy. All right.

Mark Preston, appreciate it. Thanks, Mark.

PRESTON: Thanks, Tony.

HARRIS: Take a look at this mess here, a 40-car pileup on Interstate 70 in Kansas over the weekend. Emergency crews had to climb over all these cars -- look at this -- to get to the injured. Man. At least 15 people were hospitalized. Later, there was another pileup involving 30 cars. That doesn't even seem real. They seem like toy cars. That 30-car pile-up was on Interstate 30. No one died in either crash.

Our Rob Marciano is tracking another snowstorm. He joins us in just a couple of minutes.

We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

HARRIS: Could the economy of a small European nation drag down the United States? We are talking about it, right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: You know, this may all be Greek to you. A small southern European nation has major debt problems that have shaken the global economy for more than a month now. So how could problems in far off Greece affect you? Stephanie Elam is in New York with details.

It's a good time to tackle this. The markets here are closed, and we've been talking about this for the last couple of days here, Stephanie. First, tell us how, how did Greece get into so much trouble in the first place?

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Tony. It's one of those things that you may think is really far off, but we do need to kind of understand how it plays into things. And a lot of the same things that caused the Great Recession, as we've been calling it here, actually hurt Greece as well.

Now, switching to the euro in 2001 gave Greece's government and its citizens access to credit that they've never had before. As a result, they borrowed and spent. It felt really fun and good, I'm sure, without worrying how to pay it back. This peaked in 2004 when Greece spent nearly 9 billion euros to host the Athens Olympics. Remember, that was a big deal how much they were spending, whether they were going to be ready in time. At some point you do have to pay it back and if you can't do that, well obviously creditors don't like that and that can become a problem there. So that's the issue here, Tony.

HARRIS: Yes and that's why so many people say hosting the Olympics are not a sure thing, not a good bet in many cases.

So, testify Stephanie, so why should we care about Greece here in the United States?

ELAM: The concern is about a domino effect. Sure, the Greek economy is small, but the fear is that Greece's problems could affect the 15 other European countries that share the euro. Economists worry about the debt issue spreading to what you may have heard of as called the PIGS -- Spain, Portugal, Ireland and Italy -- in particular. Those are the other countries they're really concerned about. They're Eurozone members whose economies are propped up by the stronger ones which you can find in France and Germany.

And the reason why we care here in the U.S., Tony, is this -- a weakened euro could impact demand for goods of United States' exports to Europe. And many see exports as a key way to help revive our economy here. And then there's this other general market psyche. The thinking is if Greece has too much debt, who's next? And we already know Greece is not the only one. Remember Dubai? Some people might also point to the United States.

Wall Street knows the Greek debt issue matters here. And you see here what the Dow has done so far in 2010, down more than 700 points since peaking on January 19th -- there you see it, now we're there -- when this Greek debt issue came to light. Now, the debt jitters pushed stocks lower for four weeks in a row. We got a slight bounce back last week, but analysts expect another rocky ride starting tomorrow and the reason, as you pointed out at the beginning, Tony, that I say tomorrow is because the markets are closed today for President's Day. So we will have to see how things go when trading begins again tomorrow.

HARRIS: Well, you see the slide there with the Dow, and you realize this stuff really does matter. Just how crazy interdependent and interconnected we really are.

ELAM: The world is so much smaller than it used to be, Tony. So something that may seem so far off with a country, you know, with Greece all the way across the globe --

HARRIS: I love the graph.

ELAM: The graph helps you out. It just makes you understand the world is much smaller now and we need to pay attention, and that's why we care here.

HARRIS: Thank you, Stephanie, appreciate it.

ELAM: Sure.

HARRIS: Vice President Joe Biden versus Dick Cheney -- they took aim at one another, separately, on the Sunday talk shows.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: Thousands of earthquake victims in Haiti are still being treated for their injuries, but the country's health system is on the verge of collapse. CNN's David Mackenzie spent a night at Port-au- Prince General Hospital where American doctors are spending many sleepless nights.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Emergency cases continue to stream into Port-au-Prince General Hospital all through the night. These tents have become the capital's main ER run by international doctors.

DR. EVA BAUER-SHEA, VOLUNTEER DOCTOR: Going to try to get him some insulin to take home with him if we can.

MACKENZIE: The trauma cases have subsided, but common ailments can kill.

BAUER-SHEA: I'll wait for the malaria kit and check her.

MACKENZIE: Malaria, dehydration, even diabetes dangerous in post-quake Haiti.

BAUER-SHEA: Do we have insulin that we can give him at all? We need to send him home with some insulin if we can.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have insulin? No.

BAUER-SHEA: No.

MACKENZIE (on camera): : Why do we have to be careful of the next few weeks, months and even years in Haiti when it comes to medical care?

BAUER-SHEA: If you drive through the streets of Port-au-Prince, you will see clinic after clinic after clinic that has been destroyed.

DR. FRED MARTIN, INTERNATIONAL MEDICAL CORPS: We had a trauma bed dedicated -- good to go.

MACKENZIE (voice-over): Dr. Fred Martin from Chicago is in charge of the night shift, among the group of doctors trying to keep the system from total collapse.

MARTIN: I see one bed back here. Two beds.

MACKENZIE: And just finding beds is a problem.

MARTIN: There's three. That's pretty good.

The main challenge has been the critical patients. There's been -- there have been times when the ICU has been overwhelmed.

Are you on call?

MACKENZIE: No one knows how many doctors and medical students that the earthquake killed.

(on camera): One of the big problems they have is, though that section is full of patients, the whole other part of this hospital that they would normally use have been sealed off because they're just too dangerous to access because of the quake damage. You can see they've blocked off this ward.

(voice-over): Elderly patients, mentally disabled and even hospital volunteers take refuge together in the gloom outside the hospital.

MARTIN: We're going to treat you for a parasite. One pill, it's easy.

MACKENZIE: It's anything but easy for the doctors, the job taking a physical and emotional toll.

MARTIN: I'm going on 24 hours. So my challenge tonight has been to remain alert so that I can take care of patients and not injure myself. And so far, I've been taking care of them, I haven't an injury myself, I'm still awake.

MACKENZIE: As dawn breaks, Dr. Martin is still at it; still treating patients for a second straight day without sleep and doing his best to care for Haitians in need until relief comes for the night shift.

MARTIN: So that's 24 hours. That's 26 hours.

MACKENZIE: David Mackenzie, CNN, Port-au-Prince, Haiti.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Extraordinary.

Checking our top stories right now, Senator John McCain is facing a challenge from a fellow republican. Former Congressman J.D. Hayworth announces his candidacy next hour. Hayworth is taking on McCain in the republican primary that is set for August 24th.

A source close to Indiana Senator Evan Bayh says he will announce his retirement this afternoon. Bayh, who was a democrat, has been in office since 1999. Before that, he was Indiana's governor.

At the Vatican today Pope Benedict XVI is meeting with bishops from Ireland. They are discussing child abuse allegations. It comes after a report detailing decades of widespread abuse by Irish priests. The report says some of the alleged abuse was covered up as late as 2004.

Coming soon to a credit card in your wallet, some big changes. Gerri Willis on what it means to you, just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: So the countdown is on. Just one week from today, unprecedented changes to your credit card. It's all part of the Credit Card -- hang on here -- Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act signed last year. Personal finance editor Gerri Willis is here to break it down.

Boy, that's a mouthful. Gerri, what will these --

GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: It sure is.

HARRIS: Man, how about these new changes? What will they mean for each and every one of us who holds one of these cards?

WILLIS: Well, hi there, Tony.

A bunch of perks are coming the cardholder's way. First off, issuers will no longer be able to retroactively hike your interest rate, making it easier to get out of debt.

Next, card companies are being forced to adopt better billing practices. You get your bill at the same time each month and no more midday cutoffs or due dates on weekends or holidays. And confusing double billing cycle, that is also gone.

But be aware, credit card companies can still raise your interest rate at any time, for any reason, after you've had the account for a year. And though a 45-day notice is required before making any changes under the new law, your card can still be closed or your limit lowered without your OK or your say in the matter.

And watch out for fees. With card companies trying to replace that lost revenue, well, they're everywhere. There are no restrictions on the types of fees that card companies can charge, from dormancy fees to annual fees, even a fee to receive a paper statement. So read everything you get from the credit card company -- Tony.

HARRIS: You know, you make -- you bring up an interesting point here. I can't remember if I even get paper statements in the mail anymore. If I do, is my bill going to look any different when it comes in the mail?

WILLIS: Yes, that monthly statement will look different, even if you look at it online. It will be easier to read with larger type, but it will also include two new important features.

The first will tell you how long it will take to pay off your card if you only pay the minimum balance each month. A lot of people don't know that. It typically is a very long time. And that's going to be contrasted against what it will take to become debt free in three years.

And to help people get out of debt, card issuers will be required to provide a toll free number for credit counseling right on your bill.

So there's going to be a lot more disclosure out there -- Tony.

HARRIS: Is there something I should do to better prepare myself for the changes?

WILLIS: Check your credit report, you want to know if it's accurate. You should do that ASAP. The new law restricts issuers from opening a new card or extending your line of credit without taking into consideration your ability to repay. Creditors will likely use income estimation models, big computer software models, along with your credit report. So head to annualcreditreport.com to make sure yours is correct. And, hey, keep a close eye on your mail over the next few weeks. Credit card companies are going to try to hide that info that you may need about new changes and rules, new fees. So you want to look for that even though it looks like junk mail.

And, of course, if you have any questions, send them to me at gerri@CNN.com. We love to hear from you.

HARRIS: Let me tease your show, your weekend show, cause It's so good.

WILLIS: Fantastic.

HARRIS: "YOUR BOTTOM LINE" -- right? -- every Saturday morning, 9:30 a.m. Eastern right here on CNN; correct?

WILLIS: Everything you need to know about your wallet, we'll have it all, 9:30 a.m. Saturday morning; that's right, Tony.

HARRIS: Do we repurpose that show either later in the day on one of our sister networks? I know it airs somewhere else, doesn't it?

WILLIS: If you don't see it at 9:30 on Saturday, you've missed it, Tony. So you've got to join us. And you know, I know you watch.

HARRIS: Yes, yes. Love the show. Thank you, Gerri. Appreciate it, see you tomorrow.

Doug Fieger, frontman for the power pop band The Knack -- remember The Knack? -- has died. Look, if you're of a certain age, you'll recall their 1979 hit "My Sharona."

(AUDIO CLIP, "MY SHARONA")

Remember this song? Yes, yes. All right, the song was parodied, it was sampled, and in 2005, it was reported to be on George W. Bush's iPod. Well, it's a great song. The Knack's manager says Fieger died Sunday at his home near Los Angeles after battling cancer. He was 57 years old.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HARRIS: OK. A war of words, Vice President Joe Biden and his predecessor, Dick Cheney, trading jabs over national security. Our Jeanne Meserve is at the CNN Security Desk in Washington.

And Jeanne, look, the back and forth here from the VPs, what got this started? It feels like we're in the seventh or eighth round of this.

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: That's right. It was the "Vice Presidential Smackdown Sunday Talk Show Edition," I think.

It started out with Dick Cheney, who had some very critical words about the Obama administration national security policies. Specifically, the decision to close Guantanamo Bay, the prohibition of certain sorts of interrogation techniques like waterboarding, and most specifically the treatment of the suspected underwear bomber, Umar Faruk Abdulmutallab. He criticized the decision to try him in a civilian court rather than a military tribunal.

Here's a bit of what Mr. Cheney had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DICK CHENEY, FORMER U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: It's the mind-set that concerns me, John. I think it's very important to go back and keep in mind the distinction between handling these events as criminal acts, which is the way we did before 9/11, and then looking at 9/11 and saying this not a criminal act, not when you destroy 16 acres of Manhattan, kill 3,000 Americans, blow a big hole in the Pentagon. That's an act of war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MESERVE: Well, the current vice president, Joe Biden, fired right back saying his predecessor was either misinformed or misinforming.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSEPH BIDEN, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Let me choose my words carefully here.

Dick Cheney's a fine fellow. He's entitled to his own opinions. He's not entitled to rewrite history. He's not entitled to his own facts.

The Christmas Day bomber was treated the exact way that he suggested that the shoe bomber was treated. Absolutely the same way. Under the Bush administration, there were three trials in military courts. Two of those people are now walking the streets. They are free.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MESERVE: Biden went on to say that hundreds of people tried by the Bush administration in the civilian courts were in jail. He said the Obama administration's fight against terrorism had been vigorous and had been successful -- Tony.

HARRIS: Well, Jeanne, were there any points of agreement between the two men?

MESERVE: Well, actually, Vice President Cheney acknowledged that some of the decisions about what to do with some of these terror suspects were tough and they were hard. He also did say that he supported the decision to send troops into Afghanistan. So a few points of agreement there, Tony.

HARRIS: All right, Jeanne Meserve for us at our Security Desk in Washington, D.C. Good to see you, Jeanne, thank you. And here's what we're working on for the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM.

We will hear from National Security Advisor General James Jones about how things are going with the NATO-led offensive against the Taliban in Afghanistan. And a 911 operator finds himself in an impossible situation when he takes an emergency call from his wife to save their baby.

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HARRIS: Teachers, politicians and corporate leaders say the U.S. is facing a real crisis here -- not enough students in math, engineering and science. So some teachers are taking on this heavy responsibility by going weightless? Details now from CNN's Brian Todd.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A bunch of teachers and a reporter in jumpsuits lying on the floor of a 747. It might seem an unlikely setting, but one corporate giant sees this as the frontline in its fight to keep America competitive in business.

This is the visual they want kids to see, their teachers floating out of control. It's a program called Weightless Flights of Discovery, run by the Northrop Grumman foundation, a division of that major defense firm. The company grabs science and math teachers from across the U.S. to get on these flights, videotape themselves having a blast at zero gravity, and show it to their students. Experiments are mixed in and are purposely part of the fun.

HENRI WHITSEY-JOHNSON, 6TH GRADE MATH & SCIENCE TEACHER: We did the Teacher Toss to see if body weight had any effect on the travel of time.

TODD (on camera): So you actually tossed a teacher?

WHITSEY-JOHNSON: We tossed the teachers.

TODD: That's cool.

(voice-over): How does it work? We're seated when the plane first starts to climb. Then, after we level off, we all have to lie on the floor of this padded cabin. We're taken on a series of so- called parabolas. The plane makes a steep climb, then practically dives for about 30 seconds.

(on camera): We have to lie on our backs. We're about to do the first parabola called a Martian Parabola. We're going to be at about one-third of our body weight when this thing hits its peak and then starts descending.

(voice-over): When the plane dives, we're at zero gravity.

Some of us adjust better than others. This is my pathetic attempt at a back flip.

Later, I crash into our photojournalist Phil Lyttleton (ph).

(on camera): Whoa!

(voice-over): I'm no match for this guy or this teacher practically crawling across the ceiling. Some have strong enough bearing to conduct real experiments while the rest of us are floating uncontrollably.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My students and I hypothesized that the bouncing swing would be unaffected with the loss of gravity, but the pendulum would be affected. And that's exactly what we're seeing.

TODD: After 30 seconds of weightlessness, you've got to hit the floor.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Coming down.

TODD: We do a dozen parabolas. The goal? Make science more attractive to kids. Northrop Grumman officials say they came up with this because of what they call a crisis in American industry.

(on camera): Is there an overall concern that American students are falling behind students from Asia and other places in science and math? Is that what's behind this?

CHERYL HORN, WEIGHTLESS FLIGHTS OF DISCOVERY PROGRAM: Yes, that is the basis behind the program. We want to ensure that there's continuous pipeline of engineers and scientists to come and work at Northrop Grumman and companies like Northrop.

TODD (voice-over): The company needs that pipeline because many of its divisions require strict security clearances and are therefore open only to U.S. citizens. Part of this collaboration with teachers is to wipe away the stigma of science.

ANNA SWENTY, HIGH SCHOOL SCIENCE TEACHER: I always tell them, you know, if you call someone a nerd, that's fine, but they're the ones going that are going to be making money down the road.

TODD: Northrop Grumman does this several times a year in different regions, has taken thousands of teachers on weightless flights. But whether it helps make America more competitive may not known for a generation.

Brian Todd, Dulles Airport, Virginia.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HARRIS: Man that, looks like fun.

All right, Silent Bob actor and director Kevin Smith not allowed on a Southwest Airlines flight because of his size, and tweeting loudly about it. If he could buckle his seat belt like he said he could, should he have been kicked off the plane? Here's what some of you -- OK, that was the blog question, here's what some of you are saying.

From Carrie, "I applaud Southwest and any airline that has the courage to stand up for passengers safety and comfort. BRAVO, I say!"

From Michael, "The airlines have known about this problem for years and have done nothing to redesign their seats. We have a bunch of flying sardine cans and the FAA needs to fore a fix."

Let's keep the conversation going here. If have you something you'd like to say on this or any topic really, tell us at Twitter, Facebook, or my CNN NEWSROOM blog, CNN.com/tony.