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Violence Hits Iraq Before National Elections; Personal Finance Expert Gives Out Advice
Aired March 06, 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: The road to retirement, it may be a lot bumpier than you thought. Some people are working into their 70s, even 80s because they simply can't afford not to. A top financial expert joins us this hour with tips to get on the fast track to retirement.
3:00 eastern, an engineering feat strikes a chord with viral video. See why this video is making people shake their heads in disbelief.
At 4:00 eastern, two men with ties to the Vatican are accused of taking part in a gay prostitution ring.
Hello, everyone. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.
Bloodshed in Iraq on this day before the country's national elections, a car bomb killed at least three people in the holy city of Najaf. The eyes of the world will be on Iraq tomorrow when the country charts its future. CNN's Arwa Damon is live now from Baghdad. Arwa?
ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Fredricka. These elections are being called the most decisive moment in Iraq's history since 2003. The outcome will literally determine if Iraq stays on the path of democracy, if that's what you want to call it, if it emerges a more secular nation or if it shifts toward a path of being a more conservative and religious society.
The race is a lot closer than anyone had anticipated and we've been seeing all sorts of dirty politics, a very vicious smear campaign taking place.
For the voters themselves, they actually want the same thing in these elections in 2010 that they did back in 2005m the first time they cast their vote in parliamentary elections and that is, the basics. Things like electricity. They're still without that here in Baghdad for a large bulk of the day. They want water. They want jobs.
But of course, at the forefront of everyone's concern is security. Now, the Iraqi security forces have been undergoing heavy training by the U.S. military, especially when it comes to society bombers. That is amongst the number one threats here.
In fact, we already saw suicide bombers two of them in two separate attacks target the Iraqi security forces when they headed out to vote a few days ago.
And, remember, the Islamic State of Iraq, the umbrella organization headed by Al Qaeda has vowed to derail these elections, and they have gone so far as to issue a curfew telling people to stay home between 6:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. tomorrow or else face the consequences, Fredricka.
WHITFIELD: Arwa Damon, thanks so much from Baghdad.
Meantime, Iraqis in the United States and more than a dozen other countries are actually weighing in on the future of their homeland ahead of Iraq' national elections tomorrow. Iraqi expatriates are casting early ballots. This polling place right here is in Arlington, Virginia.
Voting is also taking place at six other sites in the U.S.
And Britain's prime minister in the heart of the battle zone in Afghanistan. Gordon Brown made a surprise visit to Helmand province today where British troops are battling the Taliban. He promised his forces 200 new patrol vehicles that can more effectively resist roadside bombs.
And a week after that monster earthquake devastated Chile, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is touring the devastation today. CNN's Karl Penhaul went along with army divers looking for bodies.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KARL PENHAUL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Army divers push off in a dingy. Their mission, search for bodies the tsunami dragged away. "If we find any bodies we'll take them back to the truck and take them to the morgue," he says.
They search at high and low tide along the coast and up river near Concepcion, one of Chile's hardest hit towns.
(on camera): We are sailing up the Mali (ph) River right now, and you can see how the force of the tsunami has dragged these fishing vessels about two and a half miles or four kilometers from where they were originally anchored.
From the air, you see the scale of the disaster. On the ground, you follow the trail of destruction. Ask fisherman Agustin Diaz what happened that morning before dawn. Even if you don't speak Spanish, you can hear the anxiety in his voice.
"As I ran out of the house, I saw two huge waves crashing in, one from the north and one from the west. They came together and rolled over the top of the trees," he says.
Across the river from his house, there's an island. He says up to 400 tourists were camping there as part of a summer festival. Diaz ran with his family to high ground but the tourists were stranded on the island right in the path of the killer wave. "There were horrible screams, people calling out for us to go and rescue them. They were crying for help but there was nothing we could do," he says.
Diaz says the screams stopped after the first wave rolled in. "I'm sorry, so sorry. I have grandchildren myself, and every day I saw children over there on the shore playing soccer," he says.
Morgue officials say they have recovered more than 80 corpses around Concepcion. But judging by local accounts of the number of tourists on the island, hundreds may still be unaccounted for.
Back on the water, pelicans are spooked by the dinghy's engine as army divers head out at high tide to resume their search for the missing.
Karl Penhaul, CNN, Concepcion, Chile.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: President Obama plans to meet with the Haitian President Rene Preval at the White House next. Mr. Obama pledged support for the island nation after an 8.8 magnitude earthquake killed more than 200,000 people back in January. Administration officials say the two presidents will meet at the White House on Wednesday.
All right, not ready to retire? Well, more and more seniors are staying on the job, but not necessarily because they want to.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: All right, the unemployment rate didn't get any better last month, but it didn't get any worse either. The rate held steady at 9.7 percent, but the economy continues to shed jobs, 36,000 in February. And that was 10,000 more than the previous month.
Staying on the job longer -- more and more older workers are putting off retirement, mostly because they simply can't afford to not work -- 72 percent of workers over the age of 60 are delaying that decision according to a survey by careerbuilder.com.
Financial planner Karen Lee joining us again with tips on how to get on the fast track for retirement. Boy, this is really something because, you know, people generally were looking forward to the golden years after 60-something retiring and now stretching out the work, you know, work ethic a little bit.
KAREN LEE, FINANCIAL PLANNER: It is true. And if you do have a good job and you're not miserable, maybe it is a good idea to stay put for another year or two, but if you're miserable and you really wanted to retire, I think there's some other things you can consider.
Maybe you can take a part time job or a lower stress job. Go ahead and retire and just dramatically cut back the expenses. Perhaps you can get your lifestyle low enough that you could still retire, maybe rent a room out in your home, anything you could do really. WHITFIELD: This is perhaps if retirement is right around the corner, but what if you're just starting out, looking big picture, let's kind of begin from there. You're just out of the college, you just got a new job.
LEE: Right.
WHITFIELD: You need to think about retirement now, right?
LEE: You do, Fred. And most people in the 20s, that's the last thing on their mind.
WHITFIELD: They'll be working forever.
LEE: One of my rules of thumb is if you could just save 10 percent of every paycheck you ever earn for the rest of your life no matter what you won't be worrying about your retirement in your 50s and 60s.
So for young people, start saving day one. If there's a 401(k) plan, of course save if there's matching.
WHITFIELD: You want to maximize on that matching.
LEE: Go beyond you matching. In your 30s, if you haven't started yet, you might need to bump that 10 percent number up a little bit and same thing in the 40s.
WHITFIELD: Maybe 15 percent?
LEE: I think so. And then in you 40s, I think a lot of times the impulse is upgrade the house and nicer car, and it would be bet tore stick to the savings guns. Reduce the exposure to stocks.
And then in your 50s and 60s, you actually need to be continuing to save, really reducing your exposure to the stock market and getting yourself into product that is are fixed and guaranteed.
The biggest thing I see retirees having trouble with, though, is getting themselves on a budget. So really work on getting those expenses down.
WHITFIELD: Thinking in large part, people feel like, you know what? I'm around and been doing this, I deserve this.
LEE: I've graduated, that's true.
WHITFIELD: Reward yourself.
LEE: When you're working and you're getting a paycheck, it is a lot easier to be frivolous with your spending. Once you turn that paycheck into the "play check" that we like to call it in retirement, you have really got to watch the spending.
WHITFIELD: These are all thing that are great when you a job. And then say you don't have a job. You are one of the many millions of Americans out of work, and there was an extension this past week of 30 days. What do you do with that extension?
LEE: Well, again, really we want to go further back than that. Everybody that's working should be anticipating the possibility of a layoff, a decrease this pay. Anyone who's currently on unemployment has this "I'm not sure how long it's going to last" mentality.
Get your spending as low as possible. And we're not talking about forever. We are talking until things get a little better. Get those savings down and make that unemployment stretch further.
WHITFIELD: You still think people ought to try to pinch off a little bit to save if they can?
LEE: It's tough in that situation with unemployment. That would be great if you could, and if you have a second income earner in the family, sure, keep saving.
WHITFIELD: Credit cards, that's gotten a lot of people in trouble in a very big way, but apparently there's a little bit of glimmer of hope in that we're talking about $8 billion of a drop of spending or of balances in credit cards in the past year.
LEE: The government's been tracking credit card balances for the last 42 years. Last year, for the first time, first time in 42 years, those balances went down instead of up. This is good. We're going in the right direction.
I'll tell you what I'm concerned about. As soon as things start looking better, rosier, I'm just worried Americans go back to the evil spending ways.
WHITFIELD: Yes.
LEE: We want to keep moving in this direction and we want to learn lessons from this bad time in our economy and not go back.
WHITFIELD: Wow. So the bottom line here is, saving, whether it's for retirement, for that rainy day. You know, you would hope that people save at least how much of their earnings if they're, you know, maybe they can't do 20 percent.
LEE: Ten, ten, at least.
WHITFIELD: Ten is good.
LEE: And when Obama was elected president he made the statement in one of his opening talks that -- and he said it, Americans need to learn to live within their means.
And I thought I'd change one word. They need to learn to live beneath their means, because we have to be saving for the economic cycles that are inevitable in any generation. You have expansion and contraction. Good times and bad times.
We're going to come out of this and be good times again. We need to keep saving in the good times because bad times will come again. WHITFIELD: We have a lot of e-mail questions coming your way. We'll take short break right now and then have some of those email questions and perhaps you can help people look to the future, save so they don't feel like they're working forever.
If you have got any questions to jot down real quick and send our way, you can. Send them to me at CNN.com/Fredricka, and we'll read some of these e-mails to Karen, and hopefully she'll get you on the right track toward retirement.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: A look at the top stories right now. We're learning more about the man who opened fire on two police officers outside the Pentagon. John Patrick Bedell had a history of mental health problems and run-ins with the law and also apparently had a degree in physics.
Bedell has killed -- was killed, rather, in that shootout, and the two police officers who were injured are expected to recover.
And more full body scanners are headed to airports across America. Starting next week, 11 of the nation's bigger airports are getting the machines, 19 airports already have them. The scanners are being for with funds from the federal stimulus package.
And another member of Congress is calling it quits. Congressman Eric Massa says he's resigning on Monday. Massa is a first-term Democrat from New York. He faces a harassment complaint made by a male staffer. And earlier this week, Massa said he was leaving Congress because of health issues. More top stories 20 minutes from now.
We're back with financial planner Karen Lee, and we've got some of your questions that you have been submitting to us online. James asks this first, saying "I've been interested in getting a credit card. What's the best one for a college student?"
LEE: So the answer is not necessarily which card. It's how you use that card. Too many people use a credit card as a tool to spend more than they earn, more than they have to spend.
A credit card can be a very useful tool for a college kid. It would help them establish some good credit, consolidate payments, pay just one bill, 30-day float on the money, keep your money in your own interest bearing account, and protection from fraud and theft.
So the key to ne us get a card, get a low limit no, no annual fee. Maybe a one percent cash back bonus would be great.
WHITFIELD: Yes.
LEE: But track it. Get online. Set up an online account and track those purchases and make sure you keep it to the amount that you know every month you can pay and pay those bills in full.
WHITFIELD: That's the key is making sure you pay it when it's due.
LEE: In a timely fashion. That's right.
WHITFIELD: All right, cool.
So Lydia says "I can't afford the student loan payments. Is there any company that will consolidate if your credit isn't necessarily that great?"
LEE: Right.
WHITFIELD: "Or is there any help at all for us college graduate that have these huge student loan bills that we can't afford?"
LEE: That's tough. I believe that the credit counseling firms don't normally take on the student loans as well, but if you have credit card in addition to the student loans, by all means, contact one of the national credit counseling firms because they can help you with those.
The biggest thing I would say for kids that are just going through school, reevaluate the level of student loans you're going to go after. Maybe go to a community college for a little while. Work while you near school, anything you can do to keep the loans at minimum.
WHITFIELD: We'll talk about that more in the next hour how to afford college these days and community college versus state university, four-year plan. We'll delve into that.
LEE: We do need to rethink what we're doing with funding college.
WHITFIELD: Exactly.
OK, and Kiran, this other Kiran, is asking "Just bought a rental property. When they pulled my credit report they stated that there are certain credit cards that automatically pull your score down. They recommended closing those accounts. Is it true that there are certain cards that we should avoid?"
LEE: You know, I'm curious on this one. I have a -- I try not to have too many store credit cards, because of course you can use your major credit cards. But there are some stores if you use their credit card they offer you wild discounts on their merchandise. So I hate to say don't use store credit cards.
And I'm not familiar with those pulling down your credit. I really believe it comes back to the timeliness of your payments, not missing them, and, again, pay them in full.
WHITFIELD: OK. All right, and then fourth question here. "For someone over 55, does it make it more sense to pay off your mortgage before retirement age, or is it better to make extra payments to your IRA or 401(k)? LEE: I think there's a couple of things to think about there. First of all, paying down your mortgage and ultimately having it paid off at retirement is a wonderful sense of peace of mind for so many retirees.
If you take it apart logically, sometimes it makes more sense to put money in an investment where it could grow faster than your home could grow. Also, you 401(k) ultimately becomes a liquid pot of money for you to draw income from where you can't do that from your house.
So I would say the answer is you have to evaluate the entire situation to tell you which makes sense, but you can't take away peace of mind from people.
WHITFIELD: That's true. I think people feel comforted knowing that the home paid for, especially if they lose their job or perhaps they didn't save as much as they thought they had for retirement.
LEE: That's right. No one can take their house away. And again, emotional peace of mind is a huge part, I think, of what we try to offer our clients in the financial planning world.
WHITFIELD: Excellent. Well, these are great answers to a lot of questions that we have gotten on our blog. I know this offers some relief to a lot of people.
LEE: Great.
WHITFIELD: Karen Lee, thanks so much for all of your financial expertise.
All right, well, they helped him sweep him into the White House, but now some young voters abandoning President Obama and the Democratic Party. We spoke with a couple of so-called millennials to find out why.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: A Democrat turned Republican is leading the GOP call today to scrap the health care bill and start over. In the Republican weekly address, Alabama Congressman Parker Griffith said the American public wants new legislation, but President Obama is calling on Democrats to come together and pass the reform bill now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Now, despite all the progress and improvements we have made, Republicans in Congress insist that the only acceptable course on health care is to start over.
But you know what? The insurance companies aren't starting over. I just met with some of them on Thursday, and they couldn't give me a straight answer as to why they keep arbitrarily and massively raising premiums by as much as 60 percent in states like Illinois. If we don't act, they will continue to do this. (END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. GRIFFITH PARKER, (R) ALABAMA: President Obama and Speaker Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid refuse to listen to the American people. For them, health care reform has become less about the best reforms and more about what best fits "Washington knows best mentality," less about helping patients and more about scoring political points.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: A new study finds that voters under 30 are retreating from President Obama and the Democratic Party. Many so-called millennial voters who helped put President Obama in office say they're still waiting for the change he promised. Susan Candiotti spoke with a couple of them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SUSAN CANDIOTTI, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Candidate Obama was the darling of the so-called "millennial voters."
OBAMA: A new generation is saying it's our time.
CANDIOTTI: Yet, Millennials, voters between 18 and 30, say they're still waiting for results.
MEGHAN CROSS: I'm disappointed that we haven't seen the kind of change that I think a lot of people my age were looking for.
CANDIOTTI: Meghan Cross is 23 and landed a PR job after graduating college two years ago. Dan Nainan is a 29 year old comedian and actor. Both identify themselves as independents who voted for Obama. Nainan went to his inauguration and even performed at some of his events.
(on camera): Are you still as big a fan?
DAN NAINAN, MILLENNIAL VOTER: I have to say I'm little disappointed. I don't know if I say this, but I feel like when you go home with someone and wake up the next morning and they're not quite what you thought you were, not as attractive.
CANDIOTTI: A new Pew Voter Research study of millennials shows their support of Democrats is slipping, their support of Republicans growing. In 2008, millennials favored Dems 62 percent of the time, Republicans only 30 percent. In 2009, millennials still favor Democrats, but that support slipped to 54 percent and rose to 40 percent for GOP candidates.
PROF. LARRY SABATO, UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA: It makes perfect sense because the electorate as a whole has become less enamored of President Obama and the Democrats since the high point of the election of 2008. CANDIOTTI: Studies show that love-lost among millennials is largely because their tech savvy president is seen as not having been able to do much about the sagging economy.
(on camera): Do you think he's spent too much of the political capital on health care compared to the economy?
DAN NAINAN, MILLENNIAL VOTER: I think that -- I think he is doing so at tremendous risk to himself, because if it failed he's going to look really bad.
CANDIOTTI: That unease might translate into backlash come midterm elections.
MEGHAN CROSS, MILLENNIAL VOTER: I definitely think that right now I'm leaning more Republican than I had been.
MORLEY WINOGRAD, CO-AUTHOR, "MILLENNIAL MAKEOVER": Millennials are much more interested in bottom line results, and that's what they're still waiting for.
CANDIOTTI: What do you think the Obama administration has to do to keep millennial voters like you in their camp?
NAINAN: Get something done. Accomplish something. Finish.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: And Susan Candiotti joins me now live from New York. How can the Republican Party take advantage of this apparent disenchantment among these millennials?
CANDIOTTI: Well, Fred, one of the analysts we spoke with, in fact, several of them said that they have to try to fashion their message toward the young people regarding certain issues such as lowering taxes, reducing the debt, and how to handle student loans, and to try to steer clear of some of the social issues that Republicans tend not do very well with when it comes to millennial voters compared to how Democrats deal with those issues.
WHITFIELD: So then the question goes, I guess, to the Democratic Party and the White House. What should they do to reenergize these millennials?
CANDIOTTI: Well, the suggestion is to refocus on social issues, just the opposite of what the GOP suggestion was, because this is an area where the Democrats have traditionally done well with the millennials, so to concentrate on issues including gay rights or immigration, that kind of thing.
And to also not lose focus about the economy, because everyone is worried about the loss of jobs, that kind of thing. So they must also guard against continuing what is regarded as this malaise, because if that results in people simply not showing up at the polls, then everyone is going to be hurt come midterm elections.
WHITFIELD: Susan Candiotti, thank you so much. From New York, appreciate that.
All right, what can Senator Scott Brown do for you if you're Senator John McCain? Help his reelection campaign. The newly minted Massachusetts senator and rising star of the GOP is now stumping for McCain. He appeared at a rally in Phoenix yesterday and has various appearances scheduled for today in Tucson.
McCain is facing his toughest reelection challenge yet. Former congressman and conservative talk radio host J.D. Hayworth has launched a primary challenge against McCain.
And the stars will be hitting the red carpet tomorrow night for the Oscars. But they'll have to share the spotlight with the show's two hosts.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: Hollywood heavyweights are anxiously prepping for the biggest event of the year, the Oscars tomorrow night. But the nominees aren't the only celebrities in the spotlight.
The hosts are also getting a lot of attention, as CNN's Brooke Anderson reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALEC BALDWIN, ACTOR, OSCAR HOST: Can't believe I'm saying this to the Gavin Valore, but Liz Lemon's too good for you.
BROOKE ANDERSON, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: They battled on television.
BALDWIN: Give me the brush.
STEVE MARTIN, ACTOR, OSCAR HOST: Stay back. I will paint you.
ANDERSON: Tangled in theaters. Now they're fracas moves to Hollywood's biggest stage.
MARTIN: Who's going to win?
ANDERSON: The Academy Awards -- Alec Baldwin and Steve Martin, co-hosts and comedic rivals.
MARTIN: You're so strong.
ANDERSON: And Hollywood's elite is eager to catch the confrontation.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm really excited that this show hosted by Jack Donaghy and the jerk. It's going to be awesome.
MARTIN: See that? Be somebody.
ANDERSON: Martin's two previous hosting stints give them upper hand, and he's putting the rookie in his place. MARTIN: Co-host is really a misnomer -- host, and this person, an associate host.
BALDWIN: Steve and his assistant, Alec.
Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Alec, would you get me some coffee? You know, when I first started --
ANDERSON: Kidding aside, the pair will take the job seriously.
BALDWIN: As I said to Steve, I would rather it be more to err on the side of being more dignified than funny, because you realize this evening is very important to the people who are there.
ANDERSON: But they're still expected to provide a few laughs.
MARTIN: Thank you, academy, for nothing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: All right, Brooke Anderson joining us live now on the red carpet. What is the academy doing to attract more viewers besides having these two very funny hosts. or co-hosts?
ANDERSON: I know. And Alec Baldwin there said he is going to err on the side of being dignified, Fredricka. I hope don't do that. I hope they bring on the laughs tomorrow night.
But in addition to that, the Academy expanded the best picture category to ten nominees versus the traditional five. The last time this was done is 1944 when "Casablanca" won, so this an effort to appeal to more people and allow more mainstream movies in this year.
They want the numbers as strong as when "Titanic" dominated in 1998, 55 million people watched then compared to 36 million last year.
I want to quickly run through the ten best picture nominees. "Avatar," "The Hurt Locker," "Inglourious Basterds," "Up in the Air," "Precious," "The Blind Side," "District 9," "An Education," "Up," and "A Serious Man."
My pick is "Avatar" because the sheer production of it is so impressive. It's James Cameron's special effects extravaganza, made $2.5 billion at the worldwide box office, making it the highest grossing film of all time worldwide and domestically.
But "The Hurt Locker" is a strong contender. This is a film about the elite army bomb squad unit in Iraq. It made about $19 million. Iraq war films sometime haves a hard time appealing to a broad audience. This has really broken through.
If there's a sleeper, it could be "Inglourious Basterds" from Quentin Tarantino. It's very disturbing at times but hilarious others. It's really a masterpiece from Tarantino.
Fredricka, ten best picture nominees, this really has allowed a number of films in this year to receive special attention that may not otherwise be in category, like "The Blind Side," "District 9" and like the animated film "Up."
WHITFIELD: All right, that will be keeping a lot of people at the edge of their seat, and that's good. That's exactly what the Academy wants, right?
ANDERSON: That's true, they want people to watch.
WHITFIELD: All right. Brooke Anderson, thanks so much on the red carpet as they try to get things dolled up there.
In the meantime "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT" hosts Brooke Anderson and A.J. Hammer will be live from the red carpet right here on CNN. Catch "Road to Gold" Sunday night 7:00 p.m. eastern and then "SHOWBIZ TONIGHT" live coverage continues at 11:00 p.m. eastern on HLN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: A look at our top stories right now.
Security is tight in Baghdad and other areas in Iraq as the country prepares for its national elections tomorrow. Some voters including Iraqis in the U.S. have already cast early ballots.
And on this day before the elections, more deadly violence. A car bombing in the holy city of Najaf killed at least three people and injured dozens more.
It has been a week since Chile was rocked by an 8.8 magnitude earthquake, and the aftershocks just keep coming. This is latest one. You can see the power lines swaying as the earth moves. Two aftershocks hit yesterday. The bigger one was 6.6.
Held captive for nearly two decades. Now kidnap victim Jaycee Dugard is speaking out in a new home video. In the video, Jaycee is seen cooking with her sister and mother and says she is doing well. Convicted sex offender Phillip Garrido fathered two children with Jaycee and he is accused of holding her captive in their backyard home for 18 years.
All right, a good song not only makes us want to tap our feet, it can also help lift our spirits when we're feeling down. In one woman's case, a popular hit is helping her battle an aggressive form of breast cancer.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KEITHA FAILE, CANCER PATIENT: As soon as I felt that, I mean, my heart dropped into my stomach when I was in the shower, because I just didn't have a real good feeling.
WHITFIELD: Battling cancer runs in Keitha Faile family. So when she began experiencing discomfort, she knew to consult her doctor immediately. FAILE: He sent me over to the breast center. I had marathon day. I went through a mammogram. I went through an ultrasound. They fit me in for a biopsy that afternoon. At that point, I knew that it wasn't good.
WHITFIELD: Keitha was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer, an aggressive type of a disease that can be more difficult to treat than other cancers.
FAILE: It's just a shock. It is an overwhelming -- it is a feeling of, oh my goodness, what am I going to do? It's a blow.
WHITFIELD: Strengthened by a song she had heard, Keitha was inspired to fight.
FAILE: That song is such an inspirational, powerful song. It hits home, and every time I hear it, it still brings tears to my eyes because anybody that's going through this just you can relate to it.
WHITFIELD: The song the "Fight like a Girl" but country music group Bombshel is one of many inspirations that keeps her fighting as is the case for many women.
KRISTY OSMUNSON, RECORDING ARTIST, BOMBSHEL: It's just so powerful to hear how people have adopted this song and, you know, taken it through their daily walk in life.
KELLEY SHEPARD, RECORDING ARTIST, BOMBSHEL: It is incredible to know, you know, something that we wrote that was so personal to us has impacted other people and they put their own spin on the song.
WHITFIELD: In one city, Atlanta, knowing the importance of inspiration for people fighting cancer, organizers of the Susan G. Komen foundation made "Fight like a Girl" its theme song for certain events.
KELLY DOLAN, ATLANTA EXEC. DIR., SUSAN G. KOMEN FOUNDATION: Cancer is a disease that takes power away from people, and anything we can do to gives back power to the survivor, that gives them strength and courage is very important.
FAILE: I'm fighting and you just have to have that positive mental inspiration and attitude to get through it.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WHITFIELD: And Keitha's treatment going very well, and her tumor has actually shrunk dramatically. She has a blog at Keithaslife.com where she encouraging everyone to share what inspires them.
And Jacqui Jeras is in the weather center. She'll be joining us momentarily to give you an idea of what the weather picture is looking like across the country.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WHITFIELD: All right, lots of weird animal stories to tell you about that we like to put around the water cooler conversation here.
Scuba divers in Florida spotted this shark with, as you can see here, a Frisbee ring around the neck. This diver who happens to be a veterinarian just knew what to do. He wrestled this shark and was able to, as you're about to see, free the shark of that Frisbee, and he went on the swim and everybody's doing just fine and he's happy that he got it free of the shark there.
Animal rescue number two, firefighters saved a little cat, a little black cat from a burning apartment in new Brunswick, Canada. It's a lucky thing they crossed its path because it was actually having little trouble breathing from taking in too much smoke when they found it, but nothing that a little oxygen wouldn't take care of right there -- lucky kitty cat.
All right, to downright ugly. Ah, poor thing. An Oklahoma man set a trap to catch this strange-looking creature after he saw it on the back porch. Some think it's a legend chupacabra, the monster that supposedly sucks the blood out of goats, but the people at the animal center seem to think possibly it's raccoon that has a bad case of mange, kind of sad.
All right, we're going to be right back with much more straight ahead in the Newsroom.
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WHITFIELD: All right, call them the visual currency of the Internet, viral videos. Josh Levs is getting ready to tally up a fresh batch for us. He had a little prelude earlier, but you've got more.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We have a lot of goodies. At 3:15, we'll have so many videos. I'll tell you about a dog one in a second. We're also going to be having the hot new music video with the ultimate Rube Goldberg machine, and also a guy play holographic heads as music.
And we need the sound. Listen to this.
(MUSIC)
LEVS: Really good, feel good video. Viral video.
WHITFIELD: We need that. We need to laugh a little.
LEVS: I had a lot of funky, serious ones. You need the Zen. We have the best feel-good video of the week in the entire viral video. I love that song. All of that is coming up at 3:15. We cull through Internet to find the best viral videos so that you don't have to. That was a quick shot.
WHITFIELD: That's great. That was a fun little snapshot.
LEVS: Bye-bye on that one.
WHITFIELD: Good. Thank you very much.
LEVS: We have so many good videos coming up for you. We have so many we're going to have to work to pack them into the segment at 3:15, Fred. That's coming up. Look at that.
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LEVS: That's cute. Josh, thank you.
All right. Well, they may not be able to say his name correctly --
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who are you writing to?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Government Snord-zanegger.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WHITFIELD: But second graders at a California elementary know what they want to tell Governor Schwarzenegger. Their letters are part of a national outcry over education cuts.
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(WEATHER REPORT)
WHITFIELD: All right, teachers and students nationwide came out this week to protest steep cuts in public education. Coast to coast from Berkeley, California, to Orlando, Florida, there were demonstrations against education budget cuts and tuition hikes.
The movement began in California where the biggest cut haves happened. CNN's Thelma Gutierrez tells us how kids at a Los Angeles elementary school join in these protests by writing letters to the governor.
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THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's no secret that the state of California is having money problems or that schools having a tough time surviving, but what exactly does the budget crisis mean to school children? We came to Wonderland Schools in Hollywood Hills to see what the kids had to say. After all, they're the ones dealing with this mess.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're cutting the library. They're cutting the music.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm really worried about it.
GUTIERREZ: The school has already lost office staff, an assistant principal, and they stand to lose several teachers at the end of the year. So the kids in this second grade classroom at Wonderland Avenue Elementary School are about to launch the protest in the way seven and eight-year-olds can. They're writing letters to the man in charge.
GUTIERREZ: Who are you writing to?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Government Snorznogger ...
GUTIERREZ: OK, so they don't know his name, but they have a serious message to send him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At my school, I would not want to lose the librarian, coach, teachers, and the nurse. I am concerned because people are cutting money from our schools.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I love my school so can you stop cutting budgets? I really want to keep my school.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm concerned that you will make our teachers, coaches, our mom and dad, and other people that are poor lose their jobs. Please don't make them lose their jobs.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So this is what I'm saying. Please don't take money from our school. I would even help you if you can do this one favor, so please can you do it, so I am begging.
GUTIERREZ: That's really good letter. I could tell you put a lot of thought into it. Yes?
All right, so here this letter is one of about 500 that were written here at the school. Where did the teacher go? Jodi Hoffman (ph) is the second-grade teacher here.
Jodi? If I could ask you a quick question.
JODI HOFFMAN, SECOND-GRADE TEACHER: Hi, sure.
GUTIERREZ: Tell me why this letter writing campaign? What are you hoping to do?
HOFFMAN: Well, we're hoping to show the governor how important schools are and how well the children are doing and how much they care.
GUTIERREZ: By writing to the governor, do you think you can make a difference?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, I do.
GUTIERREZ: Why?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't think that just parents should worry about it. I think that kids and parents should worry about it.
GUTIERREZ (voice-over): So, beware Governor, hundreds of letters are heading your way. They should be in your mail box soon. (on camera): I talked to the principle of the school. He says that 500 letters are now on their way to Sacramento. The students' next project? YouTube videos to California legislatures.
Thelma Gutierrez, CNN, Los Angeles.
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