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Record Number of U.S. Poor; Get Clean, Stay Green; Sally Ride's New Mission

Aired September 16, 2010 - 14:00   ET

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

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello there, everybody. Top of the hour. New hour, a new "Rundown" for you.

I'm T.J. Holmes, in for Ali Velshi today.

She was the first American woman in space. Now Sally Ride wants a lot more women to follow her path to the stars. She's going to be joining me live to talk about her new mission.

Also this hour, he was shot in the head and blinded. Now a former gang-banger is opening the eyes of at-risk youth. You're going to meet him.

Also, you've heard the story probably about that TV reporter who is leveling some harassment allegations against the New York Jets. Well, a lot of people are talking about this story now and saying should what she was wearing to work have anything to do with this conversation?

Well, I had a conversation with some of my female colleagues about it, and they went off. I'll share my thoughts in today's "XYZ."

But first, we want to start with some new poverty numbers, a poverty report we got from the Census Bureau today. It kind of paints a picture we were expecting for it to paint.

It's a picture that you're probably already familiar with given the economic situation in this country. And what we're seeing is that in 2009, the poverty rate in this country has shot up.

It shot up to 14.3 percent. That's the highest poverty rate we've seen in this country since 1994. It is also the highest as far as just sheer numbers of people who are living in poverty now, the highest number of Americans living in poverty in the 51 years that they have been keeping track of such numbers.

Now, let me break down, what is exactly poverty? What does that mean these days?

Let's break this down for you this way. If it's a family of four making less than $21,954 annually, that is defined as poverty. For a couple making less than $13,991, and for an individual making less than $10,956, in those categories is defined as poverty.

Now, for the most part in just about every region of the country, we saw the rate go up, except for in the Northeast, where the number remained about stable. Also across the ethnic groups, just about every group except for Asians went up. For Asians, it remained about flat, as well.

I talked about these numbers, tried to get some perspective last hour from Professor Tim Smeeding. He runs a group at the University of Wisconsin at Madison that deals with poverty numbers. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PROF. TIMOTHY SMEEDING, DIRECTOR, INSTITUTE FOR RESEARCH ON POVERTY: It's a big hit. Many thought it would be worse, and will it be even worse next year, I believe, because we're still stuck in a recession.

As you mentioned, it hit virtually everybody, but it particularly hit younger people and kids. There was a big increase in poverty for kids that went from 19 to 20.7, almost 21 percent, and a big increase among younger adults 18-24, single parents, and an even bigger increase among children under the age of 6 where the poverty rate went up 2.6 percent to 23.9. So, essentially, what this all means --

HOLMES: Now, how do we explain those numbers with the young people? Yes, how do we explain those numbers necessarily. We understand the adults losing jobs, but how does that work?

SMEEDING: Well, they've lost jobs and they can't find work. Younger people who have less education are less able to get in to the labor market. Older, experienced workers are coming back if anybody is coming back. They're less likely to get unemployment compensation because they haven't had a permanent job for a long time.

And this big increase in poverty was despite the fact that many of them avoided poverty by moving back in with their parents or with their sister or brother. So, essentially what we're seeing is a lot of young people starting out their lives in their 20s having children and not being able to support those children, or to support themselves because of the lack of jobs.

HOLMES: Your prediction for next year? Are we going to continue to see these bumps or could we possibly stabilize?

SMEEDING: I think we're going to continue to see a rise. All of our extended unemployment insurance which has been effective in reducing poverty will be expired.

Jobless rates are still high and haven't come down at all for younger, undereducated workers, these young people we're talking about. Most of them who needed to move back in with their parents have. So I think it's going to be worse next year for them. And I can see next year going up closer to 15 percent.

HOLMES: Now, that doesn't sound too good there. But from the White House, looking on the optimistic side of some of these numbers at least, the president, making a statement today, said, yes, in fact, the poverty rate is up. Millions of Americans, meanwhile, were kept out of poverty thanks to the Recovery Act and other government support from last year.

Well, coming up, the first American woman in space is going to be joining me live. She doesn't have a mission to the moon necessarily scheduled, but she has another mission she's going to be talking to us about it in "Chalk Talk."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Clean, but not quite green. Talking about car washes here. But now the move is on to change the phrase to "Clean and green."

CNN's Paul Courson takes a look in today's "One Simple Thing."

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAUL COURSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): One easy way to tell whether your car wash is green, is to look at the way it handles the dirty water that comes off your car. Some newer facilities have actually figured out a way for it to be recycled.

DAVID PODROG, OWNER, MARITIME AUTOWASH: We have a state of the art re-claim system and we recover 95 percent of our wash water. That, combined with the better chemistry in the car wash chemicals, allows us to really take the environment in the hand when we wash cars.

COURSON: Running his own car through, he acknowledged some of the old chemicals are cheaper and worked better, but at a price.

PODROG: Acid and especially hydrofluoric acid is very dangerous. So we end up paying more for safer chemicals than we would for more dangerous ones.

COURSON (on camera): Is this where the water is getting recycled at this end?

PODROG: This is and now we're going in to our final rinse. This is fresh water that's being applied along with our waxes.

COURSON (voice-over): Business is good, offsetting higher cost. And customers like the green approach.

ARIKA PEVENSTEIN, CUSTOMER: The car wash is great because it's environmentally friendly, and I'm really big into that.

CHRIS RIVERA, CO-OWNER, CANTON CAR WASH: The customer demand is there but it's also just inherent to our generation, I think, where we want to be good to the environment. We've grown up in that.

COURSON: Today's filtration technology is so sophisticated that it can even make tap water cleaner than what you drink.

(on camera): The water's been filtrated pretty good. (voice-over): The reason they do it here is that when the water dries off, there are no spots left behind.

(on camera): As these cars go into the car wash, when the jets are washing the vehicle it's not just a random splash of water. It's a calibrated jet of water and the water goes into the recycling trough below.

(voice-over): They've even answered what to do about empty aerosol cans of window cleaner. One simple thing -- don't use them.

Treated wiping rags come out of a dedicated washing machine, moist and ready to use.

RIVERA: And we grab it, clean the window, and there's no throwing out of any aerosol cans.

COURSON: How do these car washes compare with using a garden hose in your driveway? Well, the International Car Wash Association says the typical person uses more water than a commercial car wash and that the dirty run-off can pollute ground water. That means sites like this can be better for the environment.

Paul Courson, CNN, Baltimore, Maryland.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: Well, the first American woman in space wants a lot more women to follow her lead. Straight ahead, the one and only Sally Ride joins me to talk about her new mission.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, in "Chalk Talk" today, the White House is throwing its support behind a new initiative aimed at getting kids excited about courses in science, technology, engineering and math. These are known as STEM courses, and this push doesn't come a moment too soon.

American students have fallen way behind other countries in performance in math and science. According to the Center for Education Statistics, the U.S. ranks 17th in the world in science, 24th in math. There's a serious problem here.

The new initiative called Change the Equation sets to do three things: improve STEM teaching in all grade levels, with a larger and more diverse pool of highly-capable teachers that includes more female teachers and teachers of color; also to deepen student appreciation and excitement for STEM programs and careers, especially among females and student of color; and to achieve a sustained commitment to the STEM movement from business leaders, government officials, as well as teachers.

And at the helm of this great STEM movement is none other than Sally Ride, former NASA astronaut and president of Sally Ride Science.

Ma'am, so good to have you here with us. Tell me, why are kids -- is it the kids in part? Are they just not excited anymore about these particular subjects?

SALLY RIDE, FORMER ASTRONAUT: Yes, that's exactly right. I think that for the last 20, 25 years, our society really hasn't put a focus on the importance of science and math education. And we're starting to pay the price.

You cited the numbers: 24th in math, 17th in science. I mean, that's not really who we are.

We're a country that became great as a result of our ability to innovate and engineer and explore, and we've lost that. And we need to get back to it.

And part of that is exciting the students about science and math and engineering, making it relevant for them so they understand why they should be excited about it, and also improving the teaching that they get in K-12. And it's absolutely critical. It's become a business imperative, which is why Change the Equation has stepped in.

HOLMES: Well, ma'am, where did we kind of lose our way? You said we used to have more family emphasis on it, kids used to be more excited. So where did we lose our way here?

RIDE: Well, you're exactly right about that, because when I was growing up, there was a very strong focus on science and math education. It was the heyday of the early days of the space program, and our country felt that it was vitally important to its future, to produce the next generation of scientists and engineers, and a skilled workforce that could support our innovation. And we just drifted away from that.

I don't think it was any conscious decision to move away from it, but we really have drifted away from it over the last couple of decades. And there have been two decades worth of national reports pointing out the problem and suggesting solutions, all of them suggesting the same solutions. And we just haven't had the national will yet to do that.

I think, finally, the corporate sector has said, OK, we've got to take a lead here and change the equation, is a CEO-led, CEO-driven, private sector -- private-funded effort to try to leverage all the investments that the corporate community makes in science and math education? Because they realize their future depends on it.

HOLMES: And, ma'am, we talk about Change the Equation, a program the president is going to be talking about. And it's kind of rolling out on a larger scale. You've been kind of doing this in a concentrated way, as well, and we can certainly make those improvements if we focus in on certain schools, certain areas.

But on a larger scale, do we need what you're kind of talking about, or kind of alluded to, we need dreamers? We need something to inspire young people like the space program. Kids need to see space shuttles taking off, kids need to know about missions to Mars. That stuff just needs to inspire a nation.

RIDE: You know, it's true, we do need inspiration for the kids who are growing up today. The space program did it for my generation. Maybe it will do it for this generation.

But I think that it's more likely that by making connections to the innovations that kids use every day, cell phones, all the other technologies that they've grown up with and are so familiar with, realizing that the basis for those devices and their ability to communicate lies in math, science and engineering, the environment and environmental changes, the kids are very tuned into issues associated with the environment and want to try to understand how to help solve those problems. A lot of those solutions rest in science and technology and engineering.

So making that connection for them is critical. And then also humanizing science and engineering so they don't think all scientists are old dead guys and they don't think all engineers are geeks that look like Einstein and wear pocket protectors, that an 11-year-old African-American boy can look to TV and see an engineer who used to look like him and realize this is a path that he could follow.

HOLMES: Yes. I know plenty of cool geeks out there, quite frankly.

(LAUGHTER)

HOLMES: One more thing here. We laid out some of the goals here of the program, the Change the Equation program, but is a lot of the emphasis going to be put on women or girls and minorities? And why is that important to do?

RIDE: A lot of it is going to be put on girls and under- represented minorities because we just can't afford to not use our entire population to help solve this problem. But maybe even more fundamentally, yes, we want to create the next generation of rocket scientists and environmental engineers, but even just basic living wage jobs of the future.

Fully 80 percent of the jobs over the next decade are going to require some background, some basic skills in science and math. So even for the students in school today to grow up and have living wage jobs, they need this background. And we want to make sure that the under-represented minorities and the young girls in school get this message so they know that science is important to them, it's important to their futures, that math is critical to their future skill set.

HOLMES: Sally Ride, it is an absolute pleasure to get to talk to you today. Thank you so much for spending some time with us, and good luck at the White House today. And we'll keep an eye on the program. Hopefully it makes the differences you're hoping it will.

RIDE: Thank you very much.

HOLMES: All right. Sally Ride for us today.

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right. A quick break. We're going to go "Globe Trekking" next.

The man who doesn't like to travel, he is cramming in a decade's worth of controversy into a four-day trip.

Stay here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right. We have been getting conflicting information about what's happening at Baltimore at Johns Hopkins hospital where a gunman shot a doctor there a few hours ago. The doctor went through surgery, expected to be okay. Well, now police are coming out after originally telling or putting out information that it was the police that shot the suspect.

Now it's been called a murder-suicide. So, now we're being told that in fact two people are dead and one of them is the alleged gunman who shot the doctor originally.

Again, the doctor we're told, is going to be okay. He is not one of the deceased here. But now this is being called a murder-suicide and the shooter is dead. The second person we do not know at this time. Police are expecting to give us another update with a press conference here shortly. When that happens, we will certainly be monitoring it. Hope to bring that to you live.

But the update is that now police are saying that this was a murder-suicide; two people dead including the alleged gunman who shot a doctor. The doctor, though, in surgery, expected to be okay. We don't know who the second deceased person is at this time. We will get back to you as soon as we get more information.

But right now, I want to take you "Globe Trekking." And Pope Benedict XVI, he is trekking around the globe just a bit. He just finished celebrating the first Mass of a four-day state visit to Britain. It's the first trip to Britain by a pope since 1982. It's the first official papal trip there ever. If you recall, the Brits and the Vatican had a pretty messy break up back in the 16th century. Today, thought, the Queen herself gave the pope a royal welcome.

Joining me now with more on the pope's visit is our Phil Black, joining me from Glasgow. Phil, we appreciate you being here. I see a crowd behind you there. There was so much talk about, possibly this pope was not going to be able to draw huge crowds. What have you been seeing so far?

PHIL BLACK, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, keep in mind, too, opinion polls show that most in this country are indifferent or even hostile to the pope coming here. But he's had a pretty good day, and it ended here in this park in Glasgow just a short time ago with a Mass where more than 60,000 people, they say as many as 100,000 people, gathered, came to share just a few hours of the pope's company.

His day started back in the Scottish city of Edinburgh when he arrived, greeted by Prince Phillip, the Queen's husband. He was then received with the official state welcome by the Queen herself. And that was when we heard from the pope for the first time today. Here's a sample of what he had to say to the British people.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POPE BENEDICT XIV: As we reflect on the suffering of the (INAUDIBLE) of the twentieth century, let us never forget how the collusion of God, religion and virtue from public life leads ultimately to a truncation (ph) of man and of society and (INAUDIBLE) of a person and his destiny.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACK: That was Pope Benedict XIV warning the British people against excluding God and religion from public life. It is widely believed that this country is doing more of that more of the time. It has been seen as increasingly secular. The pope has traveled here to tell the British people he doesn't think that's a good idea. T.J.

HOLMES: Will he see protests. Will these be within earshot and eyeshot of this pope as he's there?

BLACK: There was some today as he drove through the streets of Edinburgh for the first time in his Popemobile. There were some protests. Hundreds, maybe thousands of people there expressing their anger over the child sex abuse scandal. Their opposition to the Church's position things like abortion, contraception, and yes, there are more protests planned for when the Pope takes his tour to London in the coming days. T.J.

HOLMES: All right, Phil Black in Glasgow for us. We appreciate you hanging in there. I know it's loud where are you. Thanks so much, Phil, as always.

Coming up, he was left blind by a shot to his head. Now, a former gang member is on a mission to help at-risk kids see there's a better way to live their lives. We'll be talking with him next in today's "Mission Possible."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: In today's "Mission Possible," the fight to keep kids out of gangs in Dallas, Texas. Before I introduce you to our guest today, I want to take a look at some of these numbers. Nearly a million gang members in the U.S. They to belong to more than 20,000 gangs involved in criminal activities in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. The cops say these gangs are responsible for at much as 80 percent of the crime in some communities.

Lamont Levels is a former gang member. He was shot and left blind by members of the gang he helped form. He's now trying to keep at-risk kids from making the same mistake. And Lakerrie Owens is the founder and executive director of the Dallas-based Youth Conversion Center. They both join me now from Dallas.

Thank you both for being here. Let me ask you first here, Lamont. You said you want to keep the kids from making the mistakes you made. Why did you make those mistakes?

LAMONT LEVELS, STARTED A GANG WHEN HE WAS 12: Well, I had no guidance. I had no opportunity. I just had a lot of time on my hands to be involved in negative activity. So, I really didn't have a role model, like a father figure or uncle trying to help me stay away from the gang activity.

HOLMES: Lakerrie, is that always the situation and the story? I know I've covered these stories and youth and gangs before. And it seems like you hear that all the time. "I didn't have anyone, I didn't have anyone to turn to." And these gangs and some of these gang members provide that sense of community and leadership and sometimes father figures these kids don't have.

LAKERRIE OWENS, FOUNDER/EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, YOUTH CONVERSION CENTER: That is correct. And it's not the case all the time, but most of the time, it is the case where you have a youth that does not have a father in a home. As a matter of fact, does that have a mother in the home. They don't have the mentors that they can relate to. That's the difference.

You know, they come up with all different programs, but can the youth relate to that mentor that they have been assigned to? So that's why we've started our program so that we can get mentors in who can identify with that child, who can relate to their struggle, who may look just like they do and help them with their problems that they're having. So, that they don't result in the gang activity.

HOLMES: Lamont, how do you get at these kids. What is your message to them when you have one kid sitting down across the table from you? What is your message?

LEVELS: My message is mainly don't live the life that I lived. For I'm the truth. I'm a living testimony. I'm an example of what kids can become. I know kids don't want to walk around being blind for the rest of their life. I know a lot of kids don't want it walk around in wheelchairs. But most of all, the big picture is a lot of them don't really want to add to our penitentiary and cemetery population. It's just that after the incident happens or after they act, there's a horrible reaction. And by that time, it's too late.

HOLMES: Lakerrie, how powerful is it, not just to hear the experience or the words of someone like Lamont, but to actually see this man that I'm sure still has battle scars, if you will, and is sitting there blind? How much more powerful of an image is that than any words, any mentor can say to a kid?

OWENS: It is very powerful. Like he said, he is the truth. We're not just pulling out books, showing the kids refusal skills or talking about the life skills. He speaks the truth. He shows the tragic impact that it has on the individual, how it has on their family and their community. So, it is very powerful. I mean, we have people leaving after a presentation wanting to change and get their lives redirected. We have family members who want to come back, find out what else they can do to avoid their child getting into a gang. The youth ask questions: how can they get out of the gangs. So we, from there, it's a start. And so, his testimony is very powerful.

HOLMES: Lamont, last thing here to you. What is life like? What has life been like for you and your family since this happened to you?

LEVELS: Well, life has been -- it's been better. I used to think January 2nd was the worst day of my life, but I look back on my life now and I think that God helps you. And people got realize when God steps in your life, it's for a reason.

God stepped in my life that day, and he made my life more comfortable. No more running from the Officer Leroy Quiggs, who now that me and him has partnered up and we go out and talk to kids. No more running from the rival gangs. No more worrying about if I have to sleep with a gun next to my side or if I will get killed or if my kids will be in danger. I don't have to worry about none of that no more.

So, I can say my life has changed. It's an obstacle every day just being blind, but I'm up for the task. I'm up for -- if I can help redirect any child's mindframe, then I'm up for it.

HOLMES: Lamont, that is a great message. It's unfortunate that you had to go through what you had to go through to deliver that message, but amazing to hear. So telling that your life is in some way as lot better now that you have lost your sight. Amazing to hear that.

Lamont and Lakerrie, we appreciate you both being here. And for our viewers, you can learn more about Lamont Levels and Lakerrie Owens in their efforts to combat gang violence by going to my blog, CNN.com/tj. We thank them both if being here.

President Obama may have a name in mind to run his new Consumer Protection Agency. It's not ed henry. But still, Ed Henry still is looking out for you. I'll have you know that. He's joining us next. Stay here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: It's time for our "CNN Equals Politics" update. And our CNN senior political analyst, Gloria Borger at the CNNpolitics.com desk in Washington.

Thank you so much for bringing some civility to that desk. We had Paul Steinhauser and Mark Preston a little earlier, and they really brought the place down. So Gloria, good to see you.

GLORIA BORGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Oh, they always do. They always do. We miss seeing you on the CNN Express, T.J. You got come out with us again. HOLMES: I will be out again, but they say I kind of made a mess on the bus, so don't know if I'll be invited back. But please, what's crossing? What's crossing right now?

BORGER: You will.

Well, jobs, jobs, jobs. As you know, that is what this election is about, and after months of debate and pressure from the Obama administration, the Senate today finally passed a jobs bill with the help of two Republican senators. The price tag: $42 billion. Of course, the Republicans who voted against it say it's just another bailout that isn't really going to help small business.

And let's move on to Delaware. We've been talking a lot about the rock star in Delaware, Christine O'Donnell. Well, it's no secret that the state Republican chairman is not a big fan of hers. In fact, during the campaign, he said she shouldn't be elected dog catcher, right? Well, today he sent out a statement saying that of course, the state party would, quote, "work hard for all our candidates." But there was a name that wasn't in there. He didn't mention O'Donnell by name.

And we should tell our viewers that she's going make her first joint appearance with her Democratic opponent tonight at a voter forum in Wilmington.

And now onto another big state. California. And this may not be surprising, but it's quite important, and that is that Nancy Reagan has come out and endorsed the Republican candidates for Senate and governor, Carly Fiorina and Meg Whitman. She did that after she met with the two women earlier this week. So, again, not a surprise. But Nancy Reagan is the first lady of California politics and always will be.

HOLMES: Yes. We're used to talking politics and big things happening in California. It's amazing that little-bitty Delaware is making headlines these days, as well.

Gloria, good to se you as always. We'll talk to you -

(CROSSTALK)

HOLMES: -- see you on the road, I assume.

Let's head over to the White House with our Ed Henry for "The Stakeout" today. Ed, good to see you as always. Buddy, how is it going today?

ED HENRY, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good to see you.

It's going fantastic, you know. They're going to start a briefing here in a minute with Senator Menendez of New Jersey, so if I have to duck to the other side, you'll forgive me. He's meeting with leaders here about immigration reform, another big issue on the president's agenda. But he was also, as you know, talking about the economy today. HOLMES: What was he necessarily talking about? It seems like the president always talking --everyday it's about the economy because that's what's on everyone's mind. What was it this morning?

HENRY: I think you're right. I think we're pretty much practically every day about between now and November 2, you'll see the president talking about the economy in some form or fashion. I think today it was about exports. He reiterated his goal from the state of the union address to try to double exports within five years.

It takes a lot of hard work to do. We're not there yet. But he realizes that if you start exporting more goods, you'll be producing more goods right here in America.

I think the other thing they were paying close attention to here today is that there was a breakthrough in the Senate on that small business bill we've been talking about so much. It has billions of dollars in tax cuts for small business, but also billions of dollars in loans basically to get lending going again to small businesses. We've heard so much from small business leaders about how they want to hire more people. But they try get a loan to buy some more equipment in order to pay people, to hire more people, and the banks aren't going to give them a loan, so this will have billions of dollars in loan money to try to get these small businesses back on their feet.

HOLMES: All right.

The Consumer Protection Agency - let me turn the corner here -- we heard so much about this. This was supposed to be set up to look out for us. But nobody's running the doggone they think yet, and it's not up and running yet. What's happening there?

HENRY: Well, the White House says that's because they want to make sure pick the right person. And the person who will have sort of an advisory role, not actually get the job of the chief, is Elizabeth Warren. And my colleague Dan Lothian is reporting that the president will officially announce that tomorrow. So, again, another example where tomorrow we'll hear the president talking the economy again, in this sense because it ties back to the Wall Street reform bill. This consumer protection agency was created because of that.

There have been some resistance on the Hill, some Republicans saying they might not support Elizabeth Warren if a confirmation battle to actually be the head of this new consumer protection agency built out of all the bailouts and stuff to make sure consumers are being looked after. So, the presidnet found this way to make her a key advisor, reporting to him, but also to the Treasury Department in sort of setting up this new consumer protection bureau.

Liberal groups who think Elizabeth Warren is really somebody who's really taken on the banks in her oversight role in some of those bailouts. They think she's tough. They're happy that the president picked her short-term.

But there are some top Democrats like Chris Dodd on the Hill who are not quite as happy. They think it's not a good idea to have someone sort of an advisory, interim role. They'd rather see the president get forward with somebody who will permanently run that bureau. White House aides say you'll see that soon, as well. But in the short term, we're going to see Elizabeth Warren rolled out tomorrow. And that's something that a lot of the president's supporters in the progressive community are pretty excited about.

HOLMES: All right. Last thing, and I have to ask you to do this in about 30 seconds for me. This first lady flap?

HENRY: Well, it's interesting. There is this new book out claiming that about Carla Bruni Sarkozy claiming that she believes that first lady Michelle Obama when they were here having dinner a few months ago told her life in the White House is hell.

I can tell you, the French embassy in Washington put out a statement saying that's nonsense, that never happened. And we just got a comment a short time ago from the first lady's spokeswoman as well saying look, this never happened. First lady Michelle Obama never said life in the White House is hell, etc., etc. But this is the kind of thing that ricochets out there. It's a book that's coming out about the French first lady. They're doing all they can right here to tamp it down and say nonsense. First lady is happy being right here at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

HOLMES: It's kind of like what you have me, working at the White House is hell. So, kind of similar --

HENRY: It's a nice place to be. I can't imagine it's hell.

(LAUGHTER)

HOLMES: Ed, buddy, good to see you as always. We'll talk to you again soon.

HENRY: Good to see you, buddy.

HOLMES: All right.

Well, drawing a line to live by. How much do you need to make? The answer is our "Wordplay" today. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Today in "Wordplay," we're drawing a line in the nation's poverty line. This comes on the news that the poverty rate in the U.S. has jumped to 14.3 percent.

So, what exactly is the poverty line? It's defined as a level of personal or family income which classifies one as poor according to the government standards. It means how much you have to make to be able to put food on the table. The U.S. Office of Management and Dudget puts the poverty line at $21,954 for a family of four. That means you have to make $10.55 an hour if you're the only breadwinner.

The line was developed in 1963 by the Social Security Administration. That year, it was just $3,100 for a family of four. Coming up next, the "XYZ." Why some women in the NEWSROOM were discouraging me from writing this one.

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HOLMES: Got some women fired up in the NEWSROOM today. This started out with a conversation between me and one woman, and all of a sudden, there were six women chiming in in just a matter of minutes.

What got them all so fired up? Ines Sainz, there's a good chance you heard that name this week. She's the sports reporter from Mexico's TV Azteca that was allegedly subjected to cat calls and other adolescent behavior or harassment from some players when she was covering the New York Jets.

The NFL today sent out a memo or reminder to all of its teams, saying that women reporters are professionals that should be treated as such. But the part of the story that has a lot of people and women talking is this in particular. That picture. That was how she was dressed that day. That is how she generally dresses.

No matter what she's wearing, it is deplorable and unacceptable to disrespect any female reporter trying to do her job, especially in a male-dominated field and covering male sports, period. Nobody argues with that.

But the discussion I had today was about whether the way this particular reporter dresses should be a part of the conversation. The answer at least in from the discussion I had today is yes. Sainz is her name, Ines Sainz. She has admitted that she dresses that way because she wants to be attractive. And says this incident will not cause her to at all change her attire.

But there's a fine line of course between attractive and provocative and professional. You don't dress the same way for your meeting at work today as you're going to for your date later tonight.

One of my favorite sports reporters out there is Michelle TaFoyte. Beautiful woman. I can't imagine her ever dressing that way when she works, though. Many female reporters, though, came to Sainz's defense, saying women fought in court to get access to men's locker rooms, and an incident like this could set their efforts back. But still can you imagine any other reporters dressing like this for work?

There's also something else here you need to consider. Need to mention that Sainz works for Mexico's TV Azteca, where being a little sexy or provocative in your experience is not only accepted but apparently expected. On their Web site, they have their female reporters listed under the title of chicas. Seriously.

Sainz works for Mexico's TV Azteca, where being a little sexy or provocative in your appearance not only accepted, but apparently expected. On their Web site, they have hair female reporters listed under the title of "Chicas." Seriously. All those things together got us to this point. And, yes, it would be nice if grown men were able to control themselves and behave appropriately around an attractive woman. But, over time, haven't we, as grown men, proven that we're not that mature?

That's my "XYZ" for today.

Time for the LIST. It's Rick's.