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Coping with Tuition Hikes; Iraqis Go to Polls Sunday; Viral Video Rewind

Aired March 06, 2010 - 15:00   ET

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

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: And we'll have more on money and education straight ahead. But first, a look at these headlines.

A car bomb exploded in Najaf, Iraq today, killing three people and injuring scores more. There's been an increase in violence in Iraq going into tomorrow's parliamentary elections.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is in Conception, Chile to look at the damage from last week's earthquake. He pledged up to $10 million in relief and recovery aid.

And more U.S. airports are getting full body security scanners. Government officials say that 11 more airports will have the imaging machines by the end of the summer, bringing the total number to 30.

And just before the hour, we were talking about the uproar over public education budget cuts. With state governments slashing aid to education, some colleges and universities are raising fees and tuition.

Mariela Dabbah is an education expert and the author of "Latinos in College: Your Guide to Success". She is joining us from our New York studio. And also joining is Jose Bucio who attends a community college in Sacramento, California. Good to see both of you.

JOSE BUCIO, STUDENT, COSUMNES RIVER COLLEGE: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right. You're both going to help -

MARIELA DABBAH, AUTHOR, "LATINOS IN COLLEGE": Thank you, nice to be here.

WHITFIELD: Thank you. You're both going to help folks try to figure out how to afford higher education.

Jose, let me begin with you. You're at a community college in Sacramento. How difficult or easy has it been for you to make tuition?

BUCIO: Basically, I have to take out loans for me to - to go to college. I'm not able to get the - basically, like a basic financial aid or grants because of my income or because of the way budgets are.

WHITFIELD: And when you saw and heard that so many students were taking to the streets, protesting, whether it be in California, even across the country because of an increase in tuition, upwards of 30 in some parts of California, were you out there, too, protesting?

BUCIO: I wasn't actually protesting. I was more of observing. I figure this is a good - a good way for me to observe and see the way -

WHITFIELD: How helpful do you think those protests are ultimately going to be?

BUCIO: I'm hoping that it's really - it's really going to help. We need a voice and we basically said what we needed to say.

WHITFIELD: OK. Mariela, help folks understand, how in the world can they afford education? Is the best route going to be like a two-year community college similar to what Jose's doing?

DABBAH: Well, there are a lot of options. You know, two-year community colleges are a good entry, because then you can transfer to a four-year school, and there are even scholarships to help you transfer.

But also, I think you need to consider that - you need to consider a lot of other things besides cost when you're looking at a university, because there is some myths out there that private universities are going to be much more expensive in terms of the debt that you're going to incur by the time you leave than public colleges. And what happens is that many times the more selective schools have a lot more money to give in forms of grants instead of financial aid in forms of loans, so many times -

WHITFIELD: So then - stop right there. How do you find out about what kind of grants or loans might be available at a university that you're interested in?

DABBAH: Well, you know, if you look at the university's websites, they - you can check on their financial aid and you can call a financial aid adviser at the university and have a conversation.

I have met several students recently at a Harvard conference with students from all over the Boston area that were going for free rides to schools like MIT, Wellesley and - and Harvard, just because they had done their homework and they have applied to the scholarships and to the financial aid that they needed to apply to.

WHITFIELD: And -

DABBAH: But I also think we should look into other more creative ways of paying for college as well.

WHITFIELD: Such as what? What are some of your tips on that?

DABBAH: Well, some of my tips are, in some countries in South America, students do fund-raisers to pay for their graduation trips when they graduate high school, and they organize raffles and they organize concerts and parties where they charge a little fee and they collect money over the years to be able to make this trip.

So why not, as students in high school or in college, do the same so that you can create your own college fund? And then, as you're getting the money in, maybe you would put it on a - on a 529 plan so that you get your tax benefits from it.

That's one of the ideas that I would like to share with students who are strapped for cash.

WHITFIELD: And you have a couple others?

DABBAH: I have a couple of others.

And the other is there was recently a student who couldn't pay for his tuition in a school. He was already in college. He wrote a letter to all of the people he knows, asking for $2.50 for his college fund. And, of course, he got a bombardment of letters back, and he collected about $5,000 in 2 weeks, and he promised to give away pieces of his graduation gown to the investors once he graduated.

And there are other - other options, like micro lending, which are starting to happen slowly. And locally, if you want to find out -

WHITFIELD: What is that? What is micro lending?

DABBAH: It's - you request the amount of money that you need for whatever it is, you know? It started with micro lending for entrepreneurs in the poor countries, but now, I think, eventually, it's going to start working for education here. So you ask for the amount of money that you need and the organization matches you with people who are ready to lend you the money.

So there were some - recently, Harvard students started this to work with - from matching alumni from Harvard with students and they are called unithrive.org and you can look - look into it. And so they give you a zero percent interest rates for loan that they give you and you repay it once you graduate.

WHITFIELD: Wow! OK, do have like -

DABBAH: OK. Jose, are you hearing any ideas or thoughts -

BUCIO: Yes I -

WHITFIELD: They are. It's more of, I guess the time, a time thing as far as asking people for money.

But, yes, some of those - those ideas are - they're great, you know? I could possibly use these.

WHITFILED: OK, and it's - this is perhaps your last chance to ask Mariela a - a question or two about how you should proceed with your higher education if you got a question for her.

BUCIO: No, actually, I don't. She kind of just answered everything that I needed to know.

WHITFIELD: Well, perfect. BUCIO: I just want to make sure that everybody else in the country or, you know, as far as students younger than myself and the future, they actually know what's going on.

WHITFIELD: Excellent. Jose Bucio and Mariela Dabbah, thanks so much to both of you and let's hope that maybe going to college becomes one day much more affordable for more people so that we don't have to have conversations like this, because it definitely is a strain on so many individuals and so many families. Everyone agrees on that.

BUCIO: Yes it is. Yes.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much -

DABBAH: Exactly.

WHITFIELD: -- to both of you. Appreciate it.

DABBAH: Thank you.

BUCIO: Bye-bye.

DABBAH: Good luck.

BUCIO: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right. Experts are scratching their heads over the February jobs report. They thought the unemployment rate would actually go up, largely because of last month's snowstorms. Instead, it held steady at 9.7 percent, and while employers still cut 36,000 jobs, that was fewer than expected.

Some say that may mean unemployment has peaked and that it wouldn't be too long before employers start adding jobs.

All right. Things may be looking up for some General Motors dealers. When GM was fighting for its life last year, the automaker announced plans to drop about 2,000 dealerships. Now, it's sending letters to 661 of those dealers, telling them they can actually stay open.

The move is a reaction to a law Congress passed last month setting up an appeals process for dealers who think they were treated unfairly.

Iraqis get ready to pick the future leaders of their homeland, but a day before voters actually cast their ballots nationwide, a deadly explosion rocks one of the country's holiest cities. We'll take you behind the scenes for a back story on the early voting.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. One day before Iraq's national elections, a deadly car bomb killed three people in Najaf. The car rigged with explosives detonated near a Shiite shrine in the holy city today. Fifty-four others were injured.

Security officials in Iraq have been on heightened alert ahead of the parliamentary vote and they've seen an uptick in violence in other cities this week. Bombings have left dozens dead.

Insurgents have vowed to disrupt Iraq's election, but that hasn't stopped some Iraqis from going to the polls hours ahead of the crowds.

Our Arwa Damon goes behind the scenes for the back story on the early voting.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: These police officers are telling us now that their names were not on the list here, which means that they're not eligible to vote at this center. And they're saying that a number of their colleagues have been having this problem, as well but they're unable to find their name on the lists at any voting center and that they're being told to go home and basically haven't been able to cast their votes.

So this is the voting station. Here, you have observers from the political entities. A person has their identity checked once again as they sign a piece of paper and finally receive their ballot.

The ballot then ends up in one of these envelopes. The finger's dipped into the purple ink. It is special ink that is not supposed to wash off for a few days. And then, the ballots are placed inside a sealed box.

Now, those boxes will not be opened until after the rest of the Iraqi population has cast their vote on March 7th.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So tell me, what - what did you do today? What's happening today?

2ND LT. AZIZ, IRAQI VOTER: Today I'm coming around 8:00 in the morning. I'm coming to give my vote in for, you know, today for special voting for the all the Iraqi police and army just in coming today for give the voting - come to vote.

I chose someone and I think that he is - he is a good man.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Tell me (INAUDIBLE) this guy.

AZIZ: I can't tell you because - because of this is secret, you know? (INAUDIBLE) you know, maybe, you know, I'll let you know who is that. Everybody - you know him. I think I tell you now. He is 337 (ph) al Malaki (ph). I'm second lieutenant Aziz.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you so much Lieutenant Aziz. We appreciate it.

AZIZ: We thank you very much. Well, so nice to meet you again.

DAMON: So you've been hearing a lot of people complaining about how they aren't able to cast their votes because their names aren't appearing on any of the lists at any of the polling centers that they have gone to. This is very serious, and if we compare the process now to what we saw, say, in 2009 when Iraqis were voting for local governments, it feels much more chaotic and a lot less organized, and it is concerning because come March 7th, when the rest of Iraq is going to be casting their vote, what if they come across the same problem? That is going to create a lot of issues for the legitimacy and validity of these elections.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Arwa Damon there on the back story.

You could see more of CNN's behind the scenes reporting for back story online. Just click on to cnn.com/backstory.

All right. One day after defending the decisions that he made following his country's role in the invasion of Iraq, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown made a surprise visit to Afghanistan. Mr. Brown visited Helmand Providence and thanked around 4,000 British soldiers involved in last month's assault on Taliban strongholds.

He also stopped by an Afghan police training center and a forward operating base. The prime minister faces a tough reelection battle in June.

All right, the power of nature on display in a fierce way. Right, Josh?

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Fred, coming up in the viral video rewind in just a matter of second, we have one video today that's stunning and pretty serious. Take a look here.

It's video from on board a freight train in the middle of a tornado.

WHITFIELD: Oh my!

LEVS: We found out what precipitated this and what happened next and we will tell you, coming right up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: A look at our top stories right now, U.N. Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon got a firsthand look at the devastated city of Conception in Chile today. He's on a two-day visit to assess the damage from last Saturday's 8.8 quake.

Meanwhile, the aftershocks keep coming, some of them powerful and scientists say Chile could experience them for years to come.

Pakistan's Interior Ministry says a top Taliban commander has been killed in a military air strike. The strike's targeted militant hideouts in Pakistan's tribal region along the Afghan border. Officials believe the Taliban leader was among the dead.

Pakistan's military says more than two dozen militants were killed in the air strikes. And U.S. Congress is about to lose another Democrat, at least for now. Eric Massa says he will resign his House seat effective Monday. The New York freshman said he would not seek reelection in November due to health problems, but ethics officials are looking into a male staffer's complaint of harassment.

Guaranteed, they will make you laugh and you will want to share them with others. We're talking about the latest crop of viral videos.

LEVS: Love it.

WHITFIELD: Josh Levs has done all the hard work for you. He's been doing some digging.

LEVS: Pretty busy digging.

WHITFIELD: And rising to the top, all the best.

LEVS: Yes, and we have really good things for you today. We have a woman who was stranded in the airport and became a viral video sensation.

WHITFIELD: Oh, boy.

LEVS: We have a train versus mother nature, which everyone is completely fine, but still, it's pretty amazing stuff to see the beginning.

We're going to start off today with a music video that is now making the rounds. Let's go straight to that. It's from OK Go. You know, a lot of people have already seen this one, but I wouldn't be doing my job if I didn't point out this.

WHITFIELD: We want to see it again.

LEVS: This we got to see. This is the most amazing, ultimate Rube Goldberg machine. They do an entire music video all in one shot. It just starts with that little car you saw and it just keeps doing and doing and doing until - let's go to the next section I put in there. Let's skip ahead. You're going to see some more of the amazing things that happen.

Listen to this. They get a guitar to hit those little bottles that are timed to hit the chorus there, and eventually you see pretty much the entire room fall apart. Everything's banging into everything else, perfectly timed. Can you imagine putting this together?

WHITFIELD: No. It's incredible.

LEVS: It is incredible what they did to this.

WHITFIELD: Did you say how long it took them to put this together?

LEVS: Well, I have - there's a story actually on cnn.com about what they did from "Wired Magazine" that I've linked everyone.

WHITFIELD: Wow.

LEVS: That's right. And I'll show everyone -

WHITFIELD: All of it (ph)?

LEVS: Yes, all the specs on that. But they - they were getting a lot of publicity.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

LEVS: I'm going to show you now another musician that's going to shock you. Take a look at this next video here. This guy plays holographic heads. Listen.

WHITFIELD: Oh, my gosh. Where do people come up with these ideas? What in the world is this?

LEVS: Isn't it wild? This is a performance at the NeuroSonic AudioMedical Lab and is featuring this holographic Beardyman. That's what it goes by.

So these holographic heads are projected there and so he's basically coordinated it, so as he does those motions, they make the sound. Beardyman is apparently a London musician who's renowned for beat box skills.

WHITFIELD: Oh.

LEVS: And he has a cult following.

WHITFIELD: Oh, my.

LEVS: And now, speaking of heads - and I usually don't like prank videos, sort of a little creepy, isn't it?

WHITFIELD: Yes.

LEVS: Sort of freaky. But that's what the audience saw. That wasn't layered on for the video.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

LEVS: They actually saw that if they were there, the holographic heads.

WHITFIELD: Huh.

LEVS: (INAUDIBLE). OK. I usually don't like the - I usually don't like pranks. I usually skip those because they're annoying.

But this one is just funny. Look at this one. Take a look.

WHITFIELD: OK.

LEVS: She's asked to open up these bins and see what's on them very fast and watch what happens. WHITFIELD: Oh, that is cold.

LEVS: They freak out. And the guy kind of gets what he deserves because she bangs on his head. He throws it on his head. So they both get pranked.

WHITFIELD: I guess that is funny.

LEVS: I love that one. It made me laugh.

WHITFIELD: Oh, man. How are we going to go on?

LEVS: Oh, you know, we've got to go on. Well, this - this one is fun. I'll just take it from here. So the whole dodge ball is a great American sport and -

WHITFIELD: I watched dodge ball.

LEVS: -- there's this great, new viral video. That's - I watched that over Twitter, actually. But it's so much (INAUDIBLE). She's still laughing about the prank. Listen to this.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A history of greatness, great, greatness.

WHITFIELD: Oh, I can't take anything seriously now.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A history forged by the greatest leaders of our great history. Great leaders chosen not just by the people for the people and of the people, but by the ultimate test of greatness. American rules dodge ball.

LEVS: Here's what you're seeing. This is actually really interesting. This is like very interesting.

This is - all American leaders holding dodge balls and it's a video that's put together by Pnock, which is P-N-O-C-K. Narration by my buddy, Carl Kathlan (ph) in PR.

WHITFIELD: Oh.

LEVS: There'll be some (INAUDIBLE). I love him. Anyway, it was a promotional piece to generate excitement for this. So like college kids will get out and play dodge ball to support the Best Shot Foundation that fights pneumonia around the world from P-N-O-C-K.

WHITFIELD: Oh, I love dodge ball back in the day.

LEVS: You love dodge ball.

WHITFIELD: It was fun.

LEVS: They also gave you a magic countdown, the prank. I love that you hadn't seen it in advance. It was awesome (ph).

WHITFIELD: That was funny.

LEVS: We'll get a little bit of seriousness now.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

LEVS: This is going to help them. Take a look at this video. This is really making the rounds online.

This is a freight train in 2008, Northern Illinois, January of 2008. A tornado struck with winds up to 165 miles per hour. And this is a freight train, USA Union Pacific railroad was blown from the tracks. And after the first seven cars flipped over -

WHITFIELD: Oh, my goodness.

LEVS: -- and derailed, the rest of the train then comes hurtling toward them. It's coming right now, to the front of the train. The tornado - you're going to see it. It ends up coming in and crashing.

Now, I'm only showing you because everyone is fine.

WHITFIELD: Oh, my goodness. Yes.

LEVS: I wouldn't be showing you the middle of this thing if they were - if people were or, you know, killed in any way. Everyone is fine.

WHITFIELD: Man, that's incredible.

LEVS: But it's wild, right? I know.

WHITFIELD: The force of nature.

LEVS: Force of nature.

Now, we'll get to lift things up a little bit, right? We have the laughter now. I don't want to end on prank.

WHITFIELD: Looks like I was up on that one. OK.

LEVS: Fine. Let's do it then (ph). Now, we've got things calmed down.

WHITFIELD: OK.

LEVS: Now, let's take a look at this. This is the - the airport sensation. OK. Her name is Ashley Clinger. She was stranded overnight at Pittsburg International Airport.

WHITFIELD: Excuse me. OK.

LEVS: After missing her flight, she was stuck there. So instead of going to a hotel -

WHITFIELD: Oh, my God.

LEVS: She pulled out her little video camera.

WHITFIELD: No.

LEVS: And made a video. Now look. Watch her.

She's doing some ballet.

WHITFIELD: Oh, she's hilarious.

LEVS: And she'd had millions of views now on her part. Look at that.

WHITFIELD: She's like I got time on my hands. I got to make the most of it.

LEVS: Look at that.

WHITFIELD: She's hilarious.

LEVS: I'm loving her. And, you know, she stayed awake all night alone.

WHITFIELD: (INAUDIBLE).

LEVS: Yes. She's got some moves.

And in order to give you the ultimate - good? See? I'm really impressed with her.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

LEVS: She might have a feature in online dancing.

WHITFIELD: Yes. She - she just might be getting a call from a producer on Broadway or something.

LEVS: Wow. You know? Oh, see how long this one lasts. Maybe she'll last more than 15 minutes. That's something.

WHITFIELD: Oh, my gosh.

LEVS: And I promise you, I'd end on happy.

WHITFIELD: She is insane.

LEVS: Well, she is insane. But we love her.

WHITFIELD: Yes. Looks very, very humorous and fun.

LEVS: I promise we'd end on happy. We need happy, so we got to show the doggies really quickly.

WHITFIELD: Oh, yes, yes, yes.

LEVS: We go to go to the doggies. Take a look at these guys.

WHITFIELD: Going to the dogs.

LEVS: I love this song, too.

WHITFIELD: It's catchy.

LEVS: It's featuring the song "Chihuahua" by Swiss artist D.J. Bobo. Got to love these guys.

OK, every single thing, all of it is linked for you right now so you don't have to call and like where are these videos you just showed? It is all right up there for you right now at Facebook. Look at these doggies.

WHITFIELD: Oh my.

LEVS: And we're not even sure where they managed to get all the clips, but it's so viral.

WHITFIELD: The dog was wearing a can. Did you see that?

LEVS: I know. That was a little, tiny dog.

WHITFIELD: Yes.

LEVS: Teeny tiny.

All right. Let's go to the graphics so everyone knows where to find them. You got the Facebook.com. There it is, JoshLevsCnn. Everything's up there right now. You can see absolutely everything. You don't need to say where are the links? They're all right there and we'll go put them on the blog, and Twitter, too.

So there you go. Another viral video adventure.

WHITFIELD: I love that. I love that. That's nice, light humor for the day. And throughout the weekend because we know people end up loving this. They go straight to this address that you assigned.

LEVS: Well, admit it, when you're done here today and, you know, Don or whoever takes - is Don - as Don takes over today, you're going to watch the prank right here.

She's going to watch the prank again. So are you. I bet everyone is watching the prank right now. They're on my Facebook page.

WHITFIELD: That's cute stuff.

LEVS: (INAUDIBLE). All right. I got to go. Sorry.

WHITFIELD: All right, Josh. Appreciate it. Thank you.

LEVS: See you, Fred.

WHITFIELD: That was a good laugh. I was crying like, I was laughing so hard.

All right, you may be revealing more than you realize the next time you board a plane. Full body scanners are coming to 11 more airports nationwide starting next week, but are they really necessary? We'll take a look.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: The White House may be considering a stunning change of course on a very public pledge. A senior administration official tells CNN that advisers are now deciding whether to try the alleged 9/11 mastermind in a military court. In November, Attorney General Eric Holder announced that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed would face a criminal court in New York. Well, that sparked a firestorm of criticism from Republicans who said Mohammed should not be granted the protections of a civilian court. No decision has yet been made.

And necessary security measure or invasion of privacy? Depending on which way you see it, air travel is about to get more safe or more intrusive for millions of passengers. The Homeland Security Department is installing full body scanning machines at 11 more airports, first up, Boston Logan beginning on Monday and Chicago O'Hare the next week. And the rest will be deployed in the coming months. CNN homeland security correspondent Jeanne Meserve has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Coming soon to an airport near you, full-body scanners. Three of the machines are going into front-line operation next week at Boston's Logan Airport, where two of the flights hijacked on 9/11 originated.

The Transportation Security Administration says the machines will better detect devices like the ones sewn into the underwear of the alleged Christmas Day bomber, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, but are the scanners fool proof? What has testing shown?

GALE ROSSIDES, TSA ACTING ADMINISTRATOR: Our officers are identifying objects on the body that are comparable to what that threat was.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every time?

ROSSIDES: Our officers are doing a very good job and the...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every time?

ROSSIDES: I'd have to -- I'd have to get back to you, but, you know, we don't -- we have very, very good measures in place.

MESERVE: Civil liberties groups have dubbed the scanners electronic strip searches. The TSA has tried to address their concerns by blurring and deleting images and isolating the viewing station.

Passengers will have the option of choosing an alternative method of screening, like a pat down, and soon more travelers will face that decision. By this summer, the TSA hopes to deploy 150 of the machines in 11 cities. By the end of the year, it hopes to have 500 in operation, their deployment accelerated and expanded after the Christmas Day airline bombing attempt.

(on camera): If you're worried about whether the machines will lengthen security lines, the TSA says you don't have to. The scanners are not expected to increase the time needed for screening.

Jeanne Meserve, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Spin the dial, Come face to face with a stranger? That's the concept behind a new web site. How big a social gamble is Chatroulette?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: A Russian teen is the mastermind behind Chatroulette, the social connecting Web site that allows anyone with a mike and a webcam to talk to others around the world. Well, that raises a red flag with parents who wonder if this is a good past time for unchaperoned kids. Our Errol Barnett takes a look.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ERROL BARNETT, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Right now, I'm on Chatroulette.com connected via cam with an absolute stranger. The person you're seeing there is just one of about 35,000 people around the world using this site. You never know who they are, where they are or what they might be doing. Earlier, I connected with one young man in Taiwan. He speaks Mandarin, doesn't speak English, but I had my Intern Jackie (ph) translate the conversation. He says he enjoy it is site and uses it just for fun.

But some of the criticism of this page is that it's really not for young people at all because of what you might see. I have seen people being obscene. In fact, this blog says Chatroulette is the kind of thing to keep away from young people. You can see people like this possibly popping up on your screen.

Well, ironically, the person behind this Web site is just 17 years old and lives in Moscow. So, I connected via web cam with AndreTernovskiy to see how and why he put this site together.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDRE TERNOVSKIY, CHATROULETTE.COM CREATOR: I do it, because, because I like to chat with people around the world to get to know other cultures, to see what people are doing all over the world. And I have always had friends from other countries who I have been chatting to through Internet. And I thought it would be great to make a site to create people all over the world together to get to know people from other countries and other cultures.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BARNETT: The site has become so popular Andre's father is helping him keep things together, he's also been approached by possible investors. He also tells us they're working to eventually block people who have been flagged as inappropriate.

So, what do you think? Is this a dangerous development? Or an adventurous gamble connect with me on the social networks, just search ErrolCNN on Twitter and FaceBook. From the CNN Center, I'm Errol Barnett.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks, Errol. Here's another question for you. How's a responsible mother or dad supposed to protect their kids online? We're going to hear from an Internet expert with some tips for keeping your children safe.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: A look at the top stories right now. An Italian government official accused of corruption is appealing a judge's decision to keep him in prison. Angelo Balducci is accused of using a Vatican choir singer to arrange gay liaisons. Police uncovered the alleged sex scandal while investigating how Balducci awarded government construction contracts. Balducci also served as an unpaid papal usher for the Vatican.

And security is tight across Iraq on the eve of parliamentary elections. Insurgents have vowed to disrupt the vote. There was another uptick in violence today, a car bomb killed three people in the holy city of Najaf, dozens more were injured.

And a surprise for British troops in Afghanistan, today. Prime Minster Gordon Brown visted them at a base in Helmand Province, once a hotbed of insurgent activity. Now it's a place where many Afghan police are actually trained.

And before the break, we were talking about Chatroulette. The Web site that defies everything your mother ever told you about not talking to strangers, particularly in cyberspace. Child safety advocate and Internet lawyer Parry Aftab joins us now from San Francisco with tips how to keep your kids safe from those games like that.

Good see you, Parry.

PARRY AFTAB, CHILD SAFETY ADVOCATE: Good to see you, too Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: OK, well, besides being in the market for say a computer, a laptop, and it means buy one without a camera on it, how is a parent supposed to help their child navigate games like this to try to stay away from them, for example?

AFTAB: Well, two things. No. 1 parents need to think before they buy. If your kids ask for a new device, ask what it does. Xbox has a webcam. Who knew? So, find out what it does and make sure that you're talking to kids about what they can do with it and what they're doing with it.

WHITFIELD: OK. And now say you already do have the computer in your home and it does have a camera on it. How in the world, especially if you're a parent at work, how are you supposed to police whether your child is using that web cam and participating in a game like this which is really roulette?

AFTAB: It really is roulette only in this case we have six filled chambers instead of five empty ones, so I think that parents need to do is look for parental controls. Xbox has one built into it. There are a lot of parental controls you can use or the device itself might allow you to turn off the web cam with a password.

WHITFIELD: And so, what can happen, though in the case of your kid to go to a friend's homes and nothing to do if, you know, they're able to, I guess, in engage in all these activities and there is no similar enforcements?

AFTAB: Well, part of the problem is we expect, and this is a second part, we expect that the sites when they create the kind of technologies know what they're doing. The 17-year-old is great at coding, but has absolutely no idea what to do about risk management and best practices. He needs to learn. It's not just putting a report abuse button, but making sure something happens when you click it.

But aside from that we need to talk to our kids, make rules and let them know what happens when you break them. Talk to other parents. Do you have a webcam in you house, the same why we talk about not feeding our kids peanuts, we need to make sure that the kids are safe with the technologies.

WHITFIELD: In fact, let's look at that list of tips and advice that we put together based on your recommendations one more time. It says, of course, talk to your kids, have that kind of open discussion, so I guess the kids have that bell ringing in the back of their mind even when mom or dad is not home, like oh, this is something my parents wouldn't endorse.

Use the filter for the webcam, as you mentioned. Keep in it a local or central location, meaning, you know, a lot of kids want the computers in their bedrooms, and you're saying no.

AFTAB: Right. Computers can be in their bedroom, because cell phones aren't under our view all the time, but webcams snoub a central location because we did a survey of a thousand teen girls, 71 percent use them in their bedroom, 22 percent of them regretted what they had done.

WHITFIELD: You know, it is interesting hearing the story of how this game came about, we're talking about a 17-year-old kid. That is invention of a teenager. And so, your kids may be coming to you saying, you know, mom, dad, this was developed by a 17-year-old. How harmful could it possibly be?

AFTAB: There are lots of things 17-year-olds do they think are OK at the time but we need to recognize that the people we're seeing who are there are exhibitionists. Most of the time they're doing things that might teach our kids about sex education and biology, but not about meeting people in other countries. If you want to do something like this, set up other ways that you can communicate through chat and trusting meaningful places, but this is a loaded gun and it's against your kids.

WHITFIELD: All right. Internet lawyer Parry Aftab, thank you for joining from San Francisco.

AFTAB: Appreciate it. Thank you very much.

WHITFIELD: All right, well, some patients in Kentucky who can't afford health insurance are extremely lucky, third actually getting the care they need from the CNN Hero of the week.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. You punch that time clock. You do your job. And you head home. For a lot of people, work is just a routine part of life. But for some, it's a chance to actually help others. Our CNN Hero of the week, Dr. Andy Moore, the Kentucky surgeon is reaching out to a lot of 'm in his community who simply don't have health insurance.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When I went to go see Dr. Moore, this is what he had seen. Would you like to see it? I developed skin cancer from too much sun exposure. When I see this I just -- I have a hard time looking at this photo right now.

DR ANDY MOORE, PLASTIC SURGEON: This cancer was so far advanced, eventually it would have killed him. He felt that he could not afford to have the surgery. In this economic time, our friends and family can't wait. They need this health care now.

All right, bud. How you doing?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A little nervous.

MOORE: Yes. Well, you'd be a little crazy if you weren't a little nervous. That's OK.

Today he's now back for that operation to reconstruct his nose.

We're going to give you some joy juice to take care of that.

I'm Dr. Andy Moore. I'm a plastic surgeon.

They perform free surgical procedures on people that have no health insurance.

OK, let's let the good times roll.

When I started 26 years ago, now we just simply make the call to the hospital and say I've got somebody I'm going to do for free.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK, everybody. This is Michael Wiley.

MOORE: It just became more complex with computers and HMOs and insurance company. These people don't have health insurance, and I think it's our duty to reach out and help those type of people as often as we can.

Yeah. We just finished up with him.

It's about what I went into medicine for. It's about taking care of people and not necessarily expecting something in return for it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Wow, that's pretty extraordinary. So far, Dr. Andy Moore and his organization of treated more than 3,000 patients free of charge. And we have more on Dr. Moore and his entire family working in the O.R. at CNN.com/heroes and while you're there nominate someone that you think is changing the world.

Rattled nerves in Chile as the aftershocks just keep coming. We'll look at the situation on the ground one week after a devastating earthquake.

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WHITFIELD: Scores of aftershocks have rattled Chile after last weekend's massive 8.8 earthquake. Hundreds of people were killed. Aid is flowing in and the relief effort is getting underway. U.N. Secretary-general Ban Ki-moon visited the hard-hit city of Concepcion today, and he says the country will get field hospitals, temporary bridges and other International aid.

And the quake in Chile hit just weeks after a -- powerful tremors hit Japan and Haiti. People are beginning to wonder, are all these quakes related? Let's check in with Jacqui Jeras for some answers on that.

So, what's the answer?

JACQUI JERAS, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Not that simple. Yes, but no.

WHITFIELD: OK.

JERAS: You know, all the aftershocks and everything that we've been seeing now, Fredricka, obviously, are related. We've had about 200 of them in the past week. So, everything that you see here, what's happening here certainly related to the initial earthquake. Of course, you have the big one, and then it takes a while for the earth's crust to kind of settle in, and I guess, get comfortable, almost, so to speak, right? So it's at a stable place. So, we're going to continue to see these aftershocks, and this is certainly related, but a lot of people asked, and it certainly gets you thinking -- you know rges you've had one in Taiwan, we're have one in Japan, we had one in Sumatra and of course we had the one in Chile. Well, we did some research here and the USGS estimates that there are several million earthquakes each year.

WHITFIELD: Oh, my!

JERAS: Yeah, millions, but so many of them are so small, you would never feel them and we don't record all of them, necessarily. But in terms of large earthquakes, 8.0 and higher, we would say, only about one of these will happen a year. Seventeen maybe 7-point or more and about 130 6.0-magnitude earthquakes or more.

So, a lot of them happen, and you ask yourself, well, if we get one here, will that trigger an earthquake somewhere else? That can happen, but we don't think any of the big ones we've had lately, for example, Haiti versus Chile, are interrelated. So we go back and we look at plate tectonics and we know when we look at ring of fire here in the Pacific basin, this is where the majority of earthquakes occur across the globe.

So, if you get a shift on one part of the plate, it could maybe push toward the other part of the plate and conversely, you would get an earthquake over here if the plate started to move over here. So, that can happen at times.

And I just wanted to show you one other graphic to kind of help you understand how these plates move. You know, they move at a very slow rate, in fact, between about two and 10 centimeters per year, so about as fast and as long as your fingernail would necessarily grow. So, you think about the earth and its core, then you have the mantle or the hot lava, and then the crust on top of it. And we get this upwell, that heat moves up, spreads out and then cools down. So, parts of these plates are lifting, parts of them are subducting, and that's the ongoing process. You know, we look at the theory of Pangaea, we started out as one big plate, right, Fredricka? And then everything just spread out. We'll continue to watch these quakes. The more we cover them and the bigger they are, I think the more awareness that creates, as well.

WHITFIELD: Wow, that is fascinating stuff. Thanks so much, Jacqui, we appreciate that.

All right, Washington and budgets can sometimes be strange bedfellows. Meet a freshman congressman who's trying to set an example of living within his means one night at a time.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right, we're hearing a lot these days about runaway government spending. With Washington the heart of the problem and that our children and grandchildren will be forced to pay for this spending. But at least one congressman is doing things his way. CNN's Randi Kaye caught up with him.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RANDI KAYE, CNN NEWS CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For Republican congressman Jason Chaffetz of Utah, bedtime looks something like this.

JASON CHAFFETZ (R), UTAH: You just kind of -- it's tight, believe me, but you just kind of straighten it out like that, and it just fits ever so perfectly.

KAYE: On Capitol Hill, he catches Zs on a cot crammed into his office closet. Chafitz is known for his physical discipline, and his cot, which cost him just $44, is a message to Congress -- if more members tried this, too, he believes they'd have a different attitude about spending.

(on camera): You consider yourself a fiscal conservative.

CHAFFETZ: Oh, yeah.

KAYE: And you live like one.

CHAFFETZ: Well, the Chaffetz family has a budget, too.

KAYE (voice-over): A budget, he says, that doesn't allow for two homes, two mortgages or two cars. Flights home to Utah each weekend to see his family are covered by an allowance, but even on a congressman's salary of $174,000 a year, he says Washington is still expensive.

Representative Chaffetz says he didn't even look to rent an apartment here in D.C. because he didn't want to spend two grand on what he called a hole in the wall, and he didn't want to bunk up with other congressman like New York Senator Chuck Schumer does. He sleeps here at this townhouse.

What do you think of Senator Schumer and Senator Durbin and these guys who sort of bunk up together in their home? Is that for you?

CHAFFETZ: Those are not two guys that I'd want to bunk up with.

KAYE (voice-over): Chaffetz says he also paid for his own move from Utah to D.C. and took a pay cut from his previous job. So saving a couple thousand dollars a month by sleeping on a cot, priceless.

CHAFFETZ: I got three young kids getting ready for college. Are you kidding? I got real expenses at home.

KAYE: And staying in touch with his family isn't cheap.

CHAFFETZ: We got rid of our landlines at our house and went all mobile. So even my 9-year-old has a mobile phone and that way I can call her and I can text her and communicate with her.

KAYE: He likes to tell his kids about the cleaning crew that surprised him in the middle of the night. This sign put an end to that. But it's still pretty noisy.

CHAFFETZ: There's like this zamboni that goes down about 2:30 in the morning, cleaning the floors and you get use to it.

He's even use to showering all the way downstairs. In Flip-flops, he heads to the House of Representatives gym.

(on camera): So is this the glamorous life in Congress that you had imagined?

CHAFFETZ: You know, when you're there and you've got a big vote and everything's... yes.

KAYE (voice-over): Congress Chaffetz isn't sure how long he can live like this, but when the lights go out, life in Washington is a dream. Sleep well, Congressman. Randi Kaye, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)