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Broken Government: What's Working, What's Not?; New Credit-Card Rules Go Into Effect
Aired February 22, 2010 - 13:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks very much, Brooke. I'm Ali Velshi. I'll be with you for the next two hours today and every day. I'm going to try and give you a level of detail on the things that matter to you, a level of detail that allows to you make decisions about your spending, about your voting, about your security.
We have got a lot to talk about today. Here's what I've got on the rundown. President Obama is putting out his own health-care plan while the ones in Congress collect dust. The plan he laid out three hours ago allows the government to block excessive rate hikes by insurance companies. We'll explain what it means.
In New York, a government source tells us that terror suspect Najibullah Zazi could plead guilty in the next hour. Zazi is accused of plotting to blow up homemade bombs in New York City. Our security desk has new details, including his alleged plan to attack a New York subway station.
And in southern Afghanistan, allied forces are saying sorry. And they're starting an investigation after a NATO air strike reportedly killed 27 civilians. A senior U.S. source says NATO believed it was targeting Taliban insurgents. We're live in Kabul with that story.
Toyota facing new subpoenas and new allegations, according to internal papers from last year. Toyota staffers bragged of saving a bunch of money by negotiating a more limited recall in the acceleration of these Toyota Camries that we've been talking about.
Today, Toyota has received a federal grand injury subpoena and one from the federal Securities and Exchange Commission for documents related to its gas pedal and brake problems.
All right. I want to talk to you about broken government. It's something that we're covering all week here on CNN. Let's talk why about we're focusing on broken government, and this is coming directly from you, the viewers.
This past week, we took a poll on broken government. Let's break down the results. Eighty-six percent of Americans surveyed said yes, they believe that government is broken. Fourteen percent says they don't believe government is broken.
The same poll was taken in 2010. Then -- I'm sorry, 2006. Back then, 78 percent said that government is broken; 22 percent said it wasn't. I also got a number of comments on my Facebook page last weekend, over the weekend, about this. We asked you about this. And I want to give you a voice on air. Here are a sample of some of the responses I've had.
Rolando says, "I think we should not have career politicians. These career politicians are out of touch with their constituents and are only concerned about getting reelected and keeping the lobbyists happy. We should clean house and bring in new blood."
John says, "The proper fix has always been the vote and a citizenry exercising that right. We do not change the rules or the system in order to compensate for our collective laziness or ignorance."
Michael says, "It seems more and more that both parties vote for special interests and not for what the American public wants. I know I can say for myself, that I am tired of excuses for things not getting done."
Finally, Kim says, "The government's not broken. Schools are open, people are getting Social Security checks. Snow is cleared. Cops are busting people for speeding. Is the Congress in gridlock? Yes. Is it polarized? Yes. Are they corrupted by money? Yes. Is any of this new? No."
Well, let's talk about exactly what is broken and what is working. Let's bring in our good friends, Roland Martin and Christine Romans to talk about exactly what's working and what's not.
Roland, you were on -- welcome to both of you, by the way. Roland, you were on my show last week where you made a point to say, in fact, it's not government that's broken. It's voters that keep electing these people for term after term after term.
ROLAND MARTIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Right.
VELSHI: Let's ask this. What's broken in our government?
MARTIN: Look -- look, for me, I think I'm sick and tired of voters being stuck on stupid.
And here's what happens, Ali. Every time we have this conversation, people always say, "Don't say that, don't insult the voters. It's not their fault." But the recent election we saw in New York City, 20 percent turnout. Atlanta, 22 percent turnout. Detroit, 19 percent turnout. Houston, 19 percent turnout. Here were mayoral elections in those cities, and frankly, a mayor has a larger impact on a person's life where they live as opposed to the president.
And so you're telling me we are electing people with 19 and 20 percent turnout? There's a fundamental problem. And when you have incumbents -- congressional incumbents being re-elected at a 90 to 95 percent clip, that means the same people in that will poll who complained about government keep sending them back every single year.
So when will Americans start saying, "Wait a minute. Maybe it's not them. Maybe it's us."?
VELSHI: Christine?
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Well, this voter apathy and mistrust of what's happening is clearly because people think that there's a short-term revolving door for these people, that they only think in very short-term election-to-election chunks of time.
And so that makes you say, well, what's the point? We're not going to look at debt, the big debt issues of this country. We're not going to look at long-term structural imbalances. We're only going to look at the very short term.
But this president, he's trying to heal this big partisan divide right now. The big issues are even longer term and are going to require even more effort and more of a sales job. It just shows what a -- what a difficult position he and, frankly, Congress are in to try to change the big issues, Ali, which you and I both know are debt, debt, debt.
VELSHI: Debt and jobs. I mean, that ultimately is what it is.
MARTIN: Ali, but it's not just debt. When I had my radio show in Chicago, people would call in and they would say, "I want more city services."
VELSHI: Right.
MARTIN: And I would say, "OK, great." Then I would say, "How are you going to pay for it?"
They said, "Well, they could find the money somewhere."
I said, "What about increasing taxes?"
"Oh, no, I don't want my taxes increased."
The American people are oftentimes hypocrites. They want more city services, more county services, more from the state, more from the federal government, and then they say, "I don't want taxes increased."
The reality is this here: we get our money, as a government, from taxes, from the revenue. And so you can either increase fees or increase taxes. So at some point, the American people in the cities and the counties and the states and in this country, they have to say, "Wait a minute. We can't keep asking for more, more, more and then say we don't want to pay for it."
VELSHI: Hold that -- hold that thought.
MARTIN: There's no pot of gold out there anywhere.
VELSHI: So -- so Roland, you're saying a lot more has to be done at the local level. And we're looking at "Broken Government" this week. We're looking, by the way, at states and local, as well. Christine, you're talking about the debt and jobless issue. If Roland wants more taxes, people actually have to be working.
We're going to come back, and we're going to ask you both if you were the president, what you would do strategically now to try and deal with this.
Roland, you probably would say put a little more pressure on those cities to solve those problems or on voters.
Christine, I want to hear what you think the president should be doing to tackle this debt. We're not talking politically; we're talking strategically.
And when we come back, I'm going to bring in our good friend Nick Ragone, who you both know, who has written books on the presidency. He's a bit of a presidential historian on the side of his normal job. We're going to talk a little bit about strategy and the president when we come back in this conversation.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: All right. Let's take a look in our continuing "Broken Government" coverage.
A poll that CNN and Opinion Research Corporation has just conducted. Take a look at this. We asked our respondents, are federal officials honest? Twenty-two percent said yes; 75 percent said no.
Now, we also wanted to go back in history to see how -- what people thought back in the day about presidents. We also asked, did George Washington ever lie to the public while he was president? Seventy-four percent of respondents said yes; 22 percent said no. Almost the same numbers.
And he asked the same thing about Abraham Lincoln. Did Abraham Lincoln ever lie to the public while he was president? Seventy-one percent said yes, and 26 percent said no. Very interesting.
Let's go back to our panel. But I want to add Nick Ragone to the conversation. Nick Ragone is the author of several books on politics and the presidency including his latest one, "Presidents' Most Wanted." Nick Ragone joins us from New York. He's a public relations executive board but writes these books and studies presidential politics in his spare time.
Nick, again, strategically, strategically speaking, what does the president need to do to convince people that Washington isn't broken, that politics isn't broken, that government isn't broken?
NICK RAGONE, AUTHOR, "PRESIDENTS' MOST WANTED": Well, there's two issues here. One is there's divided government and broken government. I think Roland brings up a good point. We've had divided government. In fact, most of the 20th Century, we've had a Congress of one party and a presidency of another. So that's pretty normal. I think what's different here is that it seems to have grinded to a halt. If you look at 1981, Ronald Reagan had a Democrat half of Congress. He went right to the people, to the boll weevils -- remember them -- and talked about tax cuts and got it.
In the mid-'70s, Richard Nixon, very unpopular, Vietnam, Watergate. He compromised. So there's things to do to get things done.
But I think this broken government that you hit on, Ali, is a little bit different than divided government. And that's where it's disconnected from regular people.
VELSHI: Christine, what do you think? I mean, are we -- this is a debate we're going to have all week. And we're getting it on Facebook and Twitter and on e-mails. Are we confronting broken government? Are we confronting frozen government, you know, a very partisan Congress, which we know we've got the most partisan Congress since 1953. What's the problem and how, if you are the president, do you strategize around it?
ROMANS: Well, first, I keep hearing that it's -- it's a toxic environment. Some former congressmen are saying it's the most toxic environment they've ever seen. But I'm sure you've -- I've heard that before, that it's never been more partisan than it is right now.
The challenge for this president, the challenge for the president and this Congress, frankly, and our leaders, our elected officials, whether as Roland says, you choose to elect them or not, for all the people who haven't done anything about it in the polling place, the challenge for them is to sell to the American people the tough decisions that have to be made going forward. And I think that has not been done.
We have tough decisions right now. I mean, the stimulus was a tough decision, and some people -- some people are still second- guessing it, and the president is still having to kind of sell it in hindsight.
But imagine this: the stimulus, $800 billion. Imagine, Ali, the day in the very near future where you spend $800 billion every year just to pay the interest on your debt, and you're paying it to other countries mostly. Think of that. I mean, how are the American people going to like that investment for something that they really don't get anything back for?
So these are big things and these -- these -- our elected leaders are going to have to take tough leadership...
VELSHI: Roland, what...
ROMANS: ... positions on and have to sell it to the American people.
MARTIN: Ali, let me give...
VELSHI: Yes.
MARTIN: And as Christine talked about selling to the American people, I'm going to give you three or four examples very recently.
Ali, in the last two weeks, I've spoken to the Las Vegas Urban League, the Black Student Conference at Georgia Tech, Triumph Church in Detroit, and the Southwestern Black Student Leadership Conference at Texas A&M in College Station, Texas.
And I asked all of those audiences, "How many of you supported this president, supported change in the campaign?" Literally 90 percent of the hands went up. But then when I asked the question, "How many of you attended one health-care town hall meeting last year," literally it was 18 to 20 hands. And you're talking about audiences of 500 to 1,000 people.
And so I said, "Now wait a minute. So you went to the polls and then what, you went to sleep? You did nothing?"
We have people right now, every day who are watching, who complain about our schools, Ali, but don't go to PTA meetings.
VELSHI: Nick, I want to ask you...
MARTIN: People right now who complain -- and so people have to stand up and be involved and not just depend on a politician.
VELSHI: Yes. Let's talk about those examples you cited, Nick. And you went back, and I know you've written about things even earlier than what you cited, Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon. What does the president do to change behavior? What does he do to motivate the behavior of voters in a situation like this?
RAGONE: Well, really, Ali, there's two models. One is you go right to the people.
Woodrow Wilson in 1918, 1919 wanted to get the League of Nations as part of the treaty to end World War I. He went right to the people, and he lost. The Senate killed it. So there's that model where you go to the people. Again, Reagan did that very effectively.
The other model is to compromise. Clinton did it in '94. He lost the Congress. He came back and he compromised on welfare reform, on the budget, and he got surpluses. He got welfare reform. He co- opted those issues.
Bush had to do it in '91. Nixon's done it. So there is a model there: either you go to the people and try to go directly to them and win it, or you work inside the beltway and compromise.
The problem that I see here is that compromise isn't working. The Republicans don't want to play with that, and the president hasn't made a forceful enough case from going to the public. So either he's going to work this through. He's got to compromise with Republicans and get something done. Or he's going to go back to the people and try to get his agenda. VELSHI: Excellent conversation.
MARTIN: He has to challenge the people.
VELSHI: Right.
MARTIN: He has to challenge the people.
VELSHI: Well, we've got you doing that. That's -- that's what we've got. You and Christine are going to be here all week. That's what your job is.
MARTIN: But he has to challenge.
VELSHI: All right. Good to talk to you, Roland, as always.
Nick, great to talk to you. A lot of great information in your book.
Christine Romans, you stay right where you are. New credit-card rules go into effect today, which affects a lot of people. We're going to talk about that in just a moment.
A reminder that we are doing "Broken Government." We're digging into it all week long here on CNN, and we're offering some solutions to the stalemate in Washington right now.
As I said, Christine will be back in just a moment to talk about the new credit rules that go into effect today.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: All right. We talked about those few times -- I don't think you can get enough of this conversation because everybody in the country almost has credit cards.
Let's go back to Christine Romans, my co-host on your money" to talk about brand-new credit-card rules that are going into effect today -- Christine.
ROMANS: OK. You probably notice this already in the mailbox. You've either got an alert from your credit-card company or you're already seeing these changes in your credit-card bills. These are the important new protections that you have starting today.
There will be no interest-rate hikes on your existing balances. They cannot do that. If you have $1,000 balance on your credit card, they can't hike the interest rate on that $1,000 balance. They can only hike the rates on the balances going forward, and they have to give you 45 days notice for that.
Overall, Ali, this should save you and me and all those other credit card consumers about $10 billion annually from what we pay on those rate hikes and some other fees, as well.
Now, there are unintended consequences, of course. Some things, loopholes that you are going to probably still be able to see some of these things. On company cards, for example. These changes are just for consumer credit. They're not for a small business credit card, not for a company card.
So that -- those are shut out of some of these important protections.
VELSHI: Right.
ROMANS: Late payers. You and I talk about this all the time.
VELSHI: Yes.
ROMANS: If you're two months late, if you are three months late, you're not going to get any protection.
VELSHI: Right.
ROMANS: You know, the credit-card company is going to look at you as a risky borrower, and they're going to raise your interest rate.
Also, some risky borrowers might simply be shut out. If the credit-card company is not going to be able to use you as a cash machine...
VELSHI: Right.
ROMANS: ... why are they going to give you a credit card? That could be something that you see, as well.
VELSHI: Big -- big developments from -- for students, for college students. A lot of people are just not going to be able to get a credit card as easily as it's been done in the past.
ROMANS: And it has been an American way of life, frankly, for about 20 years. You go on campus and you go to the book store, and there's a card table set out front. And if -- get a free T-shirt. Get a -- you know, a squeezy bottle to -- I'm showing my age, maybe -- to sign up for a credit card.
That will be no more. You're going to need a cosigner who has good credit if you're under 21 to get your own credit card.
So look, if your parents have shot their credit or are going through a foreclosure or something, and you need a little extra money to get through college, you're not going to be able to get some help from your folks. You're going to need, you know, your own job or a cosigner with good credit. It's just going to be harder for people under 21 to get a card.
For some people, this is going to be -- this is going to be chilling at a time when you're trying to raise the money.
VELSHI: Yes.
ROMANS: For other people, look, the reason why they're doing this, Ali, is because kids have $3,000 on average.
VELSHI: Yes.
ROMANS: Sally Mae found last year $3,000 in credit-card balances in college.
VELSHI: Yes.
ROMANS: And they're graduating with another $20,000 in student debt and not really learning the important basics. So they're trying to shut off that -- that machine of getting you hooked on these credit cards young and hooked on the fees.
VELSHI: All right. There will be some changing behavior. We'll have to get used to these new habits, particularly if you're under 21. But remember, you've got to pay your bill. Otherwise, these protections go out the window.
ROMANS: Yes.
VELSHI: Christine, great to see you. Welcome back. So good to see you. We're going to be seeing you every day here, not just on "YOUR $$$$$" but talking about "Broken Government."
Christine Romans, my co-host on "YOUR $$$$$." You can watch it Saturdays at 1 p.m. Eastern and Sundays at 3 p.m. Eastern.
All right. Let me bring you this hour's top stories. They include an expected guilty plea within the hour from Najibullah Zazi. He's the Denver Airport shuttle driver who allegedly plotted to blow up New York subway stations around the eighth anniversary of 9/11. A government official tells CNN Zazi plans to plead guilty in a court hearing set for 2 p.m. Eastern. We'll get more on this in a moment from the CNN security desk in Washington.
Lufthansa wants a court in Germany to force its striking pilots back to work. Hundreds of flights have been grounded on day one of what is meant to be a four-day walk out. Lufthansa's partner airlines, Continental, United, U.S. Airways, are having problems as a result, as well.
And have you seen Andrew Koenig? He's an actor you may remember from the '80s sit-com "Growing Pains." Well, he's 41 now. He went missing eight days ago in Vancouver, British Columbia. Police say he's recently been despondent, and family and friends are concerned for his well-being.
Want to take a break. When we come back, we'll tell you what's going on with weather around the country. Stay with us. You're watching CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Here at the weather center with Chad Myers. I used to think that it didn't snow a whole lot in Texas.
CHAD MYERS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. Right.
VELSHI: I'm beginning to think either I wasn't paying attention or it's just snowing a lot more in Texas than it used to.
MYERS: Is that the song, "It Never Snows in Texas"?
VELSHI: That's right.
MYERS: I don't have that jingle in my head, but -- they put the other one in there -- it is going to be snowing again, west Texas...
VELSHI: Yes.
MYERS: ... all the way through Albuquerque. And then, in the higher elevations -- they'll take it in Taos (ph). They'll take it in Snow Bowl.
VELSHI: Yes.
MYERS: Absolutely. But then when it runs through Texas and Oklahoma, they're going, "Uncle! Enough! Enough already. We're done with this winter already."
And coming up on "Off the Radar," it will be something else I want to talk about. I'll just briefly show it to you. The Gulf of Mexico is very cold. What does that mean for hurricane season?
VELSHI: I thought -- I thought when it's warm, it means that there are lots of hurricanes.
MYERS: Right. That's right.
VELSHI: So I'm on the right track?
MYERS: You're on the right track.
VELSHI: All right, good.
MYERS: We'll tell you in an hour. We're going to go "Off the Radar" in an hour.
VELSHI: That was just a tease.
MYERS: Here comes the snow, Albuquerque and Oklahoma city, and probably a couple inches for Dallas. We're talking about Lubbock and Midland and those areas there.
VELSHI: Right. Which gets cold. Those areas get cold.
MYERS: They do. It's tough to get the moisture in place to get snow.
VELSHI: Yes.
MYERS: And so when you get snow in the benches (ph) here in Albuquerque and also near El Paso, people are going, "Wait a minute. I didn't sign up for this."
VELSHI: Yes.
MYERS: Rain showers in Jacksonville. This is the cold front here. It's going to get colder in Atlanta. But -- because we had a beautiful weekend.
VELSHI: I know. I wasn't here. I landed last night. I managed to actually get a flight.
MYERS: Dude!
VELSHI: But I landed last night and thought, this is what I thought it's supposed to feel like around here.
MYERS: Right, right. And here's the snow as it comes into, I would say, even the Arklatex (ph) for tomorrow afternoon and so on and so on.
VELSHI: Very good. We'll check in with you. We're going to find out what hurricane season looks like.
MYERS: At least the beginning of it. When the waters don't get warm...
VELSHI: Right.
MYERS: That says something.
VELSHI: All right. Very good. Very good.
We're going to -- I think we're taking a break right now. When we come back, we're going to talk about the expected plea by Najibullah Zazi, who is expected sometime in the next half an hour or so to get into court in New York City and then plead according to the charges -- charges filed against him that he tried to blow up subways in the New York City area.
Also in, Afghanistan, we are a couple weeks into this Operation Moshtarak. We're going to take a look at how Afghan troops are holding up as a massive offensive against the Taliban enters its second week, when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: I want to take you to Vancouver. Mark McKay is standing by there. He's covering the Olympics for us.
Now, Mark, last night was a tough night for me, the Canadian U.S. hockey finals. We'll talk about that at the back end. But it's getting big. I mean, every one of these nights, there's a great exciting final up. And we've got more of that today.
VELSHI: That's right, Ali. Yes, we're looking at the ice dancing finale from Pacific Coliseum. Canada has the lead going into the free skate program. United states, though, very much in medal contention going into the finale tonight.
Meryl Davis and Charlie White, they sit currently in silver-medal position, but it's the 2006 silver medalists from Torino, Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto, just off the podium in fourth.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEN AGOSTO, OLYMPIC ICE DANCING COMPETITOR: In our sport they always announce it Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto. You know, it's always the lady's name first. I don't know why. That's ridiculous.
MCKAY (voice-over): They've been together so long on the ice, it's hard to imagine them apart. Tanith and Ben, a union that started with a bang.
AGOSTO: I'm looking this way to watch for traffic, and I just started going. And then I hear Tan go, "No, no, no, no, no, no!" And just like the car was still there.
TANITH BELBIN, OLYMPIC ICE DANCING COMPETITOR: It was so typical of us, too, because I remember I said, "No, no, no, no, no," and smash it (ph). And the first thing I do is, "I told you to stop!" And we're like an old married couple, like 14 and 16.
MCKAY: Teamed up as teenagers 11 years ago, the 2006 Olympic ice dancing silver medalists sometimes find their friendship easier to describe than their partnership.
BELBIN: The best chemistry is indescribable. So I feel like what we have is that -- is that case.
MCKAY: Belbin's on-ice intensity is tempered by Agosto's enthusiasm off it.
BELBIN: I don't think that anybody else could handle me on the ice, to be honest. I can be temperamental, and I'm -- I'm a perfectionist.
MCKAY: That pursuit of perfection led them from their long-time home in Detroit to this rink outside Philadelphia. Searching to find something new in themselves, they changed their coach and approach.
AGOSTO: There was just no denying we felt like something was missing and we were not feeling like we were satisfying ourselves with our skating. And so we knew we had to make a change.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We knew we could be better but didn't know what direction we should grow in. And being with a certain coach for so long, I think it's hard for them to see after awhile how you can change.
AGOSTO: This is the best we've been skating, the strongest we've ever felt. But of course, it's not enough. As our coach would say, it's close to well but not enough.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's right. Yes. MCKAY: Those new coaches, Gionatti Carpotesov (ph) and Natalia Lynechuk (ph) are former world and Olympic ice dance champions themselves. They know the exact pressure their pupils will face in Vancouver, and place it on them everyday by training current world champions Oksana Domnina (ph) and Max Shabalyn (ph) on the very same ice.
AGOSTO: Everyday is a little bit of a competition, so it really helps us because when we go to the Olympics or World Championships, it's nothing new. We're on the ice with the world champions right now. What's the big deal?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We've always sort of been a little bit timid when the time comes to lay down. Sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn't. It's sort of an all-or-nothing year for us.
AGOSTO: We had a silver medal in Torino, and it was wonderful. When we think about it, where else is there to go? There's only one direction.
MCKAY: Just like that fender-bender so many years ago, it's straight ahead and hoping not to crash.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MCKAY: (INAUDIBLE) and Ben (ph) used to skate -- train with the current silver medalists up there on the podium or hope to be on the podium before the night is done, Ali. Meryl Davis and Charlie Whitefoots (ph). All to skate for tonight in ice dancing here in Vancouver.
VELSHI: All right. We're 30 years after the miracle on ice. The U.S. win over the then-Soviet Union. What are the chances looking like for the U.S. and Canada in terms of hockey gold?
MCKAY: Well, both aren't out of it. The United States as you know, much better shape after that 5-3 win here in Vancouver last night over Team Canada. The United States goes in as the top seeded team in the quarter final round.
Tougher road, though, for Canada if they hope to bring home hockey gold. Canada meets Germany next, and if they win that match, they'll face off likely against Russia. Ali, we didn't think a Canada/Russia match would come before the gold medal round.
VELSHI: That's right. Well, we're going to watch that very carefully. Mark, good to see you again. Mark McKay. We'll talk to him in the next hour. He's bringing us the latest from the Olympics.
I want to take it to our senior international correspondent now, Ben Wedeman. He's in Kabul. He's got the latest on a mission that is meant to take back the initiative for NATO troops in Afghanistan. But before we get to this Operation Mushtarak, Ben, let's talk about something that happened over the weekend. Very disturbing. Twenty- seven Afghan civilians killed by a NATO air strike. What's the latest on that? BEN WEDEMEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: What we understand, Ali, is that early Sunday morning, coalition forces were alerted to a convoy of cars that was heading south from south central Afghanistan to what they thought was the area where Operation Mushtarak is taking place.
They thought they were Taliban fighters. Aircraft struck those cars, but when coalition forces turned up, they didn't find dead Taliban fighters. They found dead civilians. Twenty-seven, including four women and one child.
Now, Stanley McChrystal, the general who leads coalition forces in Afghanistan, called Afghan president Hamid Karzai to apologize. The Afghan government has reacted fairly angrily, saying this sort of incident is simply not justifiable. The Taliban also chiming in, saying that they say that this sort of incident in which civilians are killed is only going to strengthen their ranks...
VELSHI: This is an issue. Let's listen to a response we have from an Afghan government official in a time when they are trying to win the hearts and minds over of Afghan civilians. Listen to this response.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HAKIM ASHER, DIRECTOR OF GOVERNMENT MEDIA INFO: We are deeply concerned about civilian casualty in Afghanistan. We -- actually this is unacceptable for the government of Afghanistan, and we need more and close coordination with NATO and ISHA forces.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: Ben, the issue here with this Operation Mushtarak, which we've been covering for the last two weeks -- this is the biggest offense. If it's a joint NATO and Afghan offensive.
What's the learning that we've had in the last two weeks? There seem to be some concerns about the ability of the Afghan troops to actually play a bigger part in a mission like this? We're finding some inequities between the NATO and Afghan troops. They're cooperating, but maybe the Afghan troops aren't up to speed. Tell us what you know.
WEDEMAN: Yes, Ali. The whole point of this operation, among other things, is to show how much the two sides, the coalition and the Afghan national army, are working together. That's why it's called Operation Mushtarak, which means of course, together.
But the reports from down there would indicate that they are together with the coalition forces in the front and the Afghan forces in the back. The problem with the Afghan forces at this point is the quality of their sort of mid-level field officers isn't all together what was hoped for. There's a high level of illiteracy. So, they have problems reading maps.
Many of these troops don't even come from the south of Afghanistan. They come from the north. So, even though really the mantra of the coalition throughout this operation has been the togetherness, the cooperation, working together, it appears that the coalition is still really carrying the heaviest load of all at this point.
VELSHI: Ben, good to talk to you. We'll keep up to speed on this with you and your colleagues in Afghanistan. Senior international correspondent Ben Wedeman in Kabul.
When we come back, we are expecting in less than half an hour from now, Najibullah Zazi to plead guilty, or at least that's what we're hearing. We'll go back and check in with Jeanne Meserve at our Security Desk in Washington to find out what we know now about this potential terrorist attack on American soil.
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VELSHI: Okay. The Feds have called it the most serious terror plot since 9/11. Now, less than six months after a Colorado man named Najibullah Zazi drove a rental car to New York where he allegedly plotted to set off bombs around subway stations, we are awaiting a court hearing where Zazi is expected to plead guilty. That we're expecting to happen within the next half an hour.
CNN's Jeanne Meserve is keeping watch at our Security Desk in D.C. What do we know, Jeanne?
JEANNE MSERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Ali, I wouldn't hold your breath about that 2:00 hour. Sometimes these things slip and slide in the federal court system...
VELSHI: Sure.
MESERVE: But sometime this afternoon, we do expect him to enter a guilty plea.
You'll remember, this was the case that really ramped up concerns about domestic terrorism. Najibullah Zazi, a limousine driver out in Denver, was arrested in September, and charged with allegedly plotting to bring bombs into New York City and blow them up on the anniversary of 9/11.
Now, a law enforcement source tells me today, that he was going to target multiple sites within the New York subway system. At the time of his arrest, we reported that he was carrying with him video of Grand Central Station.
Just to refresh your memory about this case, this was the guy that the they had surveillance tape of out in beauty shops in Denver where he allegedly was buying chemicals he was going to use to make the explosive TATP. They also went into hotels and motels in the Denver area and believed, law enforcement did, they'd found a place where he had cooked these chemicals into explosive form.
But as far as we know, the chemicals and explosives have never been found. He was charged with conspiring to use weapons of mass destruction. It could have carried a life prison sentence. But as we are now reporting, apparently he struck a plea bargain with investigators. We don't know any the details yet. We hope to learn a lot more this afternoon whenever he makes that court appearance.
VELSHI: OK, good advice. So, we may not be at 2:00. That is what we were initially told. What do -- do we have any information then? You're saying we don't really know what that plea means, what he's pleading guilty to, if he pleads guilty to something?
MESERVE: Nope, nope, we don't have any clue if this means he was cooperating or not. And we don't know the specifics that this plea agreement is going to lay out. We're waiting to hear all of that.
We have been looking for the court documents online. Last we saw, something had been entered on Pacer, the electronic court record system, but it's sealed at the moment. We don't know if that seal will come off later today.
VELSHI: All right, we'll keep a close eye on it with you. Jeanne Meserve at our Security Desk, in New York.
Checking the top stories now, a possible black mark -- another possible black mark for Toyota. An internal Toyota document reveals that staffers boasted of the company saving $100 million by negotiating a more limited recall for Camrys and Lexus ES cars. Also, the company said today U.S. prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation into Toyota's safety problems.
In Texas, officials have charged two men with arson in a church fire, and they believe the suspects are linked to nine other church fires in the area. The two are also suspects in attempted break-ins at three churches earlier this month.
And a federal judge has conditionally approved a $150 million settlement between the Securities and Exchange Commission and Bank of America. It has to do with B of A's purchase of Merrill Lynch two years ago and the huge bonus to Merrill lynch employees before that merger was finalized. The SEC alleged B of A lied to shareholders that it wouldn't pay bonuses.
Parents have a lot of things to worry about today's high-tech kids. Sexting online, strangers and school spy software? Yes, that's what one family says. You'd better believe they are suing. We'll weigh the issues with our legal analyst, Lisa Bloom, when we come back.
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VELSHI: Well, it's a problem a lot of students and parents think they'd like to have. A well-to-do school district buys more than 2,600 Apple laptops with a little camera in them and gives one to every high schooler to use. That's what happened in Lower Marion, outside of Philadelphia. It's actually prompted a federal lawsuit. One student's family alleges school officials used special tracking software in the computers to watch him via web cam at home. Listen to this. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HOLLY ROBBINS, STUDENT'S MOTHER: It was an invasion of privacy. It was as if we had a Peeping Tom in our house. I send my son to school to learn, not to be spied on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: The school says hang on. That's not what we do here. The FBI, however, is investigating if any federal wiretapping or computer intrusion laws were violated.
Let's bring in CNN legal analyst Lisa Bloom, joining me from L.A. Lisa, the school says it gave out a lot of these laptops, a lot of them got lost, which is not unexpected, giving them to students. And they say they had software which activates these web cams so they could find the computer. And they said they did it -- just trying to see here -- 42 times in the past 14 months, but only to find missing, lost, and stolen laptops. What do you think of this?
LISA BLOOM, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, the question is, did they intrude into the homes of their students by actually looking into those homes? Whether they had a good justification or not, the state cannot enter into any of our homes unless it is invited or has a warrant. And it can't do that by electronic means such as by a web cam.
So, I think the school is in a heap of trouble. They may have had a good reason, they may have had a justification, but they went about it the wrong way. In addition, parents should have been notified this was a possibility when the school gave out the laptops. Parents said yes, there was a terms of use claus they had to sign, but it was vague. And they had no idea that the school could actually be looking inside the homes...
VELSHI: If that was made clear, would that make it allowable? If everybody said -- if the school said we have software on here we can activate remotely and we can look into wherever that laptop is to try and find it if it gets lost, would that made it acceptable?
BLOOM: Maybe, Ali. Maybe. I mean, it can't be buried in the fine print. If the parents really did understand that at any time, the school could switch a button and could look inside to students' homes including in students' bedrooms, which is where most students keep these and spy on them at any time and the parents really consented to that, maybe. I don't think parents would consent to that if they really did understand it.
VELSHI: I think if they knew that was happening, the kids could have put a piece of tape over the camera.
Here's where the plot thickens a little bit. The student who's suing says his vice principal confronted him in November and said the school thought he was engaging in improper behavior and cited a laptop photo. So, the issue with the school district is they're saying they're only using this to look for lost computers. He's saying -- we don't know where this is going in the courts and we don't know what's been proved here -- but he's saying they're looking at it for behavior. That's a different can of worms all together.
BLOOM: It is, Ali. Again, whatever justification the school might have, it cannot go into students' private homes without an invitation or a warrant.
You know, the police might have lots of good reasons to come in our homes all the time, but they can't do it unless they have an invitation or warrant, or there's other extreme circumstances not present here. That's what our right of privacy as Americans is all about, and it's enshrined in the federal Constitution, the state constitution and federal wiretap laws. That's what the FBI is investigating here, and I think rightly so.
VELSHI: All right. Let me just tell you what the school district has said in response to that allegation. They said, "We believe the administrator at Harriton has been unfairly portrayed and unjustly attacked in connection with her attempts to be supportive of a student and his family. The district never did and never would use such tactics as a basis for disciplinary action."
Now, that's interesting wording. They're not saying it didn't happen. They're saying, "We wouldn't use that as the basis forever disciplinary action." What's the take away here? Because we'll probably see similar cases to this over the next few years. Somebody gives you a computer to use. I didn't even know somebody could remotely activate a web cam on it...
BLOOM: Right.
VELSHI: I guess you've got to be careful and maybe carry some tape with you.
BLOOM: Well, I'll tell you, having covered a lot of the sexting cases, I don't think students need web cams, period. I don't think they need camera phones, I don't think they need web cams. Usually because they use them in knuckle-headed ways. And now, the take away is anytime we get a computer with a web cam from an institution like a school or corporation, it can be remotely activated. So, buyer beware. I would turn it off. I would tape it over. OrI would ask for a laptop that doesn't have the that technology.
VELSHI: Very interesting. All right. Lisa, great to see you as always. Thanks very much. Ouor legal analyst, Lisa Bloom.
All right. We want to take a break. When we come back, this is a very important new report that's come out that has linked a popular diabetes drugging to tens of thousands of heart attacks. And the report says the drugmaker and the government might have known these safety concerns for years and didn't tell anybody. We'll have that when we come back.
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(MUSIC PLAYING) VELSHI: We think about broken government and health care, we're thinking about health care reform. But this may be an example of something very specific. You may have heard about this and you may not have. Our senior medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen, is here with a fascinating story about a drug called Avandia, very commonly used to treat diabetes.
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. And some say this is a scary story for folks who are using this. This is a drug that's been in the news for several years, Ali, because the people who take it seem to have a higher rate of heart attacks.
So, there is a report that's just coming out of the Senate where some FDA doctors said, well, gosh, how many more heart attacks are happening because of Avandia? They found 500 heart attacks a month, or more than, because of Avandia, and more than 300 cases of heart failure because of Avandia.
VELSHI: The fascinating part here is a bunch of parties to the whole thing have known about it for some time. That's the mystery.
COHEN: Exactly. That's what people are up in arms about. So, that there is some evidence -- evidence is probably too strong a word, but there are thoughts that GlaxoSmithKline knew about this -- there are some papers that indicate that they knew about this and actually tried to suppress it, tried to make sure the public didn't find out. And also some thoughts that the FDA knew about it, because two doctors wrote to the FDA, people in charge and said, look, take it off the market, and they didn't.
VELSHI: And somebody who did the study, Dr. Steven Nissen from the Cleveland Clinic -- we've heard of him many times -- authored a study in 2007 looking at heart risks. Listen to what he says about this.
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DR. STEVEN NISSEN, CLEVELAND CLINIC FOUNDATION: We have a problem within the agency, within the FDA. And the problem is that the people responsible for approving drugs in the first place are the same people that have to decide to take a drug off the market. And they just aren't willing to do that because it's an admission that they made a mistake in the first place by approving the drug.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COHEN: All right, and Ali, I want to get in here with GlaxoSmithKline...
VELSHI: Sure. Yes.
COHEN: ...they say, look, the FDA approved the drug. In 2007, they confirmed it should be on the market. And here it is in their own words. "The scientific evidence simply does not establish that Avandia increases cardiovascular ischemic risk or causes myocardial ischemic events." They say this data is baloney. VELSHI: All right. And this is, by the way, not atypical. This sometimes happens. One study shows something. And somebody says, that's just not the case. We don't actually have a definitive word on whether it does or doesn't?
COHEN: You know, it's almost never definitive, but the study which shows the drug is fine was done by the people who make the drug. That's important to know. The studies that show it's a problem were done independently. I think that's important to know.
VELSHI: All right. Our senior medical correspondent, Elizabeth Cohen. Thank you very much for that.
We'll continue talking about health care. We'll break down the president's health care reform plan. It's brand new, by the way. He posted this about four hours ago. I'm sure his people posted it about four hours ago. He's getting reaction from Capitol Hill. We'll break that down as soon as we come back.
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VELSHI: One of the things we're doing this week is looking into how government is broken and how it can be fixed. And boy, the health care reform agenda really underscores some of the brokenness or partisanship of government. Four hours ago, President Obama posted a new proposal for health care online. This is ahead of a bipartisan meeting, a summit, if you will, that he's holding for several hours on Thursday, which we'll be covering live.
He posted this online. Let me tell you a bit what the president's proposals are. He's like he's not leaving it to Congress now. He's putting forward what he'd like to have.
Number one, he'd like to eliminate special Medicaid deals for states. Working a plan out that treats all states the same, eliminating any kind of special deals. You remember what a big deal this was. Any kind special deals made with senators for particular states in exchange for their support.
You will recall Senator Ben Nelson of Nebraska worked out a special deal exempting the citizens of Nebraska from paying increased Medicaid expenses under the president's new plan. That goes away.
The other thing, he'd like to close the Medicare prescription drug donut hole. This is where you're covered to a certain extent. Then you have to pay for drugs until you reach another level where you are covered. This closes the gap for senior citizens who have to pay for prescription drugs.
The Senate and House bills both address this in different ways. Partially closing the hole, the president has a plan to fill the hole entirely.
Another thing the president wants to do, he's posted, is he wants to create a new health insurance rate authority. A new provision for the federal government to regulate insurance companies when they hike premiums. It gives the secretary of Health and Human Services new authority to review rate increases, and that authority comes in the form of a seven-member board made of doctors, economists, consumer and insurance representatives to review insurance premium hikes. The board would provide an annual report to recommend to states whether certain increases should or should not be approved. But the secretary of Health and Human Services can overrule that report.
This is -- a lot of this is about insurance oversight. That's traditionally a state responsibility. But states that beef up their consumer protection programs would be eligible for $250 million in federal grants.
