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Six Arrested in Terror Scare in London; Great Teachers Plus Engaged Students Equals Higher Test Scores; Recognition Transforms CNN Hero of the Year; Chief Innovator Marks One Year; "Plan B" Drill Reaches Chilean Miners; Lady Gaga: Calling All Senators; Wordplay: Westminster; XYZ: It Was a Bad Call...That's All

Aired September 17, 2010 - 13:59   ET

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

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Top of the hour here, we have a new "Rundown." Hello to you all. I'm T.J. Holmes sitting in today for my good friend, Ali Velshi.

Well, he is taking police accountability and community policing to a whole new level. He's drawn plenty of praise but also plenty of fire. We're talking about the San Francisco police chief, George Gascon. He's going to be live with us this hour.

Plus, it's a simple math problem, but hundreds of kids in one big city's school district couldn't answer it. What in the world is going on in our classrooms? We'll take a look at solutions.

Also, he wasn't safe, he wasn't out. He was just acting. So why are people now calling Derek Jeter a cheater? I've got some things to say about his latest performance in my "XYZ" today.

But up first this hour, 500 years after Britain slammed the door on the Catholic Church, some historic doors are now being opened to Pope Benedict XVI. Westminster Abbey's for one.

As we speak, the pontiff is taking part in a multi-faith prayer service in one of Britain's most famous churches, a place no pope has gone before. Earlier today, he paid a call on the archbishop of Canterbury, the spiritual head of the British Anglicans, and this visit, too, at the archbishop's palace. That was also a first.

The theme of the day, if you didn't catch it, building bridges and reaching out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POPE BENEDICT XVI: -- the increasingly multicultural dimension of society, particularly marked in this country brings with it the opportunity to encounter other religions.

For us Christians, this opens up the possibility of exploring, together with members of other religious traditions, ways of bearing witness to the transcendent dimension of the human person and the universal call to holiness, leading to the practice of (INAUDIBLE) in our personal and social lives.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Now, the pope started his day among his own flock at St. Mary's University College in London, but even there he scheduled a public meeting with leaders of other faiths.

We're also learning more about a possibility security scare between London street cleaners and a suspected plot. And we have also gotten word of another new arrest in this case.

CNN's Atika Shubert has been on this story for us. She joins me now on the phone from London.

Atika, have they been able to definitively make a connection between this so-called plot and the pope?

ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the police haven't directly linked it. What they have been doing, however, is they reviewed the pope's security as a result of new information and these arrests.

We have also confirmed now that a sixth arrest has been made. Apparently, that came out of their searches at a residence in north London. So that brings it total men arrested to six.

We do understand that a number of the men were actually working here with a local cleaning company of street cleaners in central London. That's coming from the Westminster City Council. But we don't have any more information as to what this alleged plot might be or what these terror-related activities would be.

HOLMES: Do you know what got police on the trail of these six men now?

SHUBERT: Well, what we know is they got a tip-off. They got some new information that came in quite recently, because police sources tell CNN that previously, there wasn't really any indication of a threat or any sort of looming threat to the pope. So this was very recent and new information that's come in. And that's what prompted the arrests.

HOLMES: All right. We have a papal spokesperson as well. Again, we heard from them that they are not necessarily changing -- they reviewed, but not changing the pope's schedule.

Let's take a listen here, Atika.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REV. FEDERICO LOMBARDI, VATICAN PRESS OFFICE: What we know is not much more than what you know, but we can say that we are totally confident in the work of the police, of Scotland Yard, and we have no particular preoccupation. The police has already said that the formation that they have until now collected demonstrated there is no need to change anything about the program of the pope.

(END VIDEO CLIP) HOLMES: And again, Atika, as we heard there, they didn't know a whole lot either, but didn't see any reason to change the pope's schedule.

One last thing for you. I know we don't know a whole lot here, but can we assume that if they moved ahead and made these arrests, have they given us any indication that possibly something was imminent?

SHUBERT: Certainly, they felt it was serious enough that they had to act quickly. And probably, in part, that was prompted by the very fact that the pope was here. They didn't want to take any chances. They were already on high security alert and they decided to move ahead. But we just don't know the details yet. We'll have to wait and see what comes out of this.

HOLMES: All right. Atika, we know you are working it for us. We do appreciate you.

Atika Shubert for us in London.

Thank you so much.

We're going to turn back to politics here in the U.S. now.

A lot of political rallies we see around this time of year getting close to the midterms. We saw a couple of competing political rallies in D.C. not long ago. But we're not done with those competing political rallies just yet.

In this hour's "Sound Effect," we have different kind of political rallies here competing between two guys who play newsmen on TV, a couple of funny guys here. They are jumping head first into the partisan political fray with rallies at the nation's capital.

We're talking about Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. Jon Stewart is going to have what he calls a Rally to Restore Sanity, while at the same time, Stephen Colbert is going to have a March to Keep Fear Alive.

Now, these rallies are going to allegedly take place in Washington on October 30th. Both of these Comedy Central hosts explained what they were doing last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JON STEWART, "THE DAILY SHOW": Tonight I announce the Rally to Restore Sanity.

(APPLAUSE)

STEWART: It is happening, people! It is happening! It is happening! A real gathering!

We will gather! We will gather on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., a million moderate march, where we take to the streets to send a message to our leaders and our national media that says we are here! We're only here, though, until 6:00 because we have a sitter.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN COLBERT, "THE COLBERT REPORT": Ladies and gentlemen, it is on, October 30th, on the Mall, because now is not the time to take it down a notch. Now is the time for all good men to freak out for freedom!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: All right. There, they teed it up for us here.

We don't know exactly if it's going to happen yet. It's still unclear about that.

We have checked, though. We did get word from the National Park Service today. They say yes, in fact, both camps have submitted the applications. No final decision has been made just yet.

The announcements though come just weeks after conservative talk show host Glenn Beck, he hosted that much publicized Restoring Honor Rally on the National Mall. He was urging large crowds there to turn back to God and return America to the values on which it was founded. That event drew criticism for its timing and for its location.

It was on the 47th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I have a dream" speech. Then in counter to Glenn Beck and his rally that same day, Reverend Al Sharpton and his National Action Network held a Reclaim the Dream rally as well.

Look at that. Hundreds of kids in one big city's school district couldn't answer a simple math problem. We're going beyond the numbers though in "Chalk Talk." That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right. In "Chalk Talk" today, we know American kids lagging behind a lot. You hear a lot about this in the news, lagging behind other nations when it comes to math skills. But just how far behind are they lagging? Let me just give you one little example here.

Take a look at this -- what should be a simple math problem, 301 minus 75. Now, can you work out in your head very quick which answer it should be, A, B, C, or D?

Well, this is in a sample question from a national test given to fourth graders. The answer, correct answer -- hope you got it right at home -- is A, 226. But just one out of every three students in Detroit got that right.

We know, clearly, we have some kind of a problem here, but it goes beyond numbers. There are educators out there as well that are making it a point to raise Americans' math and science test scores.

Joining me now, one of those people on the front lines, Tom Luce. He is CEO of the National Math and Science Initiative.

Sir, thank you for being with us.

Should every fourth grader in this country get that answer right? That's not a complicated math problem for a fourth grader, is it?

TOM LUCE, CEO, NATIONAL MATH AND SCIENCE INITIATIVE: No, it's really not. And they have to, because the future of the country really depends on remaining the innovator of the world. That's where the best jobs come from. And if we're not going to catch up in math and science, we're not going to fix our economy.

HOLMES: Do we need to change how we are teaching to students these days? Because it seems we have started to lag behind. Is that because students need to be taught to differently these days? We have just fallen off in our standards these days when it comes to teachers and our priorities.

LUCE: Well, clearly, the key is not necessarily curriculum, it is having a great teacher in every classroom. Every bit of research shows, when you have a teacher who's properly trained, properly equipped, and you have high standards, you are going to have youngsters who learn. That's what we're proving in high schools and middle schools every year. In 230 high schools across the country, we are tripling the performance of math and science, and we are doing it in one year.

HOLMES: Now, how are you able -- and we want to put those numbers up you're just mentioning there. But the National Math and Science Initiative, are you focusing more so -- you're talking about these numbers, these results you can show. Are you doing that with the initiative by focusing on the teacher?

LUCE: Yes. We are focused on the teacher in terms of recognizing teachers, giving them better training, paying them incentives for results. But we also incentivize students.

You know, incentives work. And the other thing that works is our youngsters will never exceed their own expectations. If we tell Johnny to perform at a three-foot level, that's the level they'll perform. If we raise the bar to eight feet, they will jump it.

HOLMES: Now, the teachers you speak of here -- because we have these conversations all the time about the caliber of teachers -- are you taking teachers who are already in schools and giving them proper training, or are you identifying -- it looks like you want to answer me there. Go ahead. I'll let you jump in there.

LUCE: Well, we've got two programs. One takes the existing teaching core and gives them better training, and we're producing immediate results. Our second program changes the way we are going to train the next generation of teachers. But even right now, with the existing teaching core, we can produce dramatic results if we just focus on programs that work.

HOLMES: What would happen if we took every teacher and every school in this country and put them through your program?

LUCE: We would produce these dramatic results. We'd produced them in every single school we have been in regardless of student population. We'd produce dramatic increases with minority students, female students, rich students, poor students.

We'd do it in every kind of school. This can be done.

HOLMES: Well, Tom, it sounds like problem solved in our education system. We just need to implement your program and put every teacher through it. Why can't we get something like that done?

LUCE: Lack of public will. Plus, we have this thing in education about trying new programs.

What we need to do is find the programs that work and then replicate them and duplicate them across the country. Let's focus on what works instead of keeping trying to reinvent the wheel.

HOLMES: All right. And we have this graphic up, last thing here. Two hundred and twenty-nine schools now, plans to expand. And can you keep it up? That's a lot of schools you are in right now, it sounds like.

LUCE: It is, but we can keep this up. We have about 22 states where people want to expand this program. We need parents to demand higher standards, demand that teachers be incentivized to get more training. But this can be done.

HOLMES: Well, Tom Luce, again, with the National Math and Science Initiative, who on our air today has solved the problem of education.

They just need to listen to you, Tom. We appreciate you being here. Thanks so much.

LUCE: Well, I don't know about that. Thank you.

HOLMES: No. We appreciate you being here.

LUCE: Take action.

HOLMES: Take action. All right, sir. We appreciate you coming on. And really, with the work you're doing, congratulations on that. And you enjoy your weekend, sir.

Well, coming up, our CNN Hero battling illiteracy in the slums of the Philippines, but his weapon to combat it? A simple pushcart. You'll meet him coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, all year we've introduced you to remarkable everyday people who are changing the world. And in just one week, we will reveal our Top 10 CNN Heroes of this year, 2010. Only one of those 10 will become the CNN Hero of the Year, but, still, they are all heroes.

We wanted to check in now with our Hero of the Year. You might remember him and his story. Efren Penaflorida, he has had a truly remarkable year. A young man from the slums of the Philippines now has a national voice and is challenging his countrymen to unleash the hero within.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ANDERSON COOPER, HOST, "ANDERSON COOPER 360": The CNN Hero of the Year is Efren Penaflorida.

(APPLAUSE)

(voice-over): From the slums of the Philippines to the stage of the Kodak Theatre in Hollywood, Efren Penaflorida has come a long way.

EFREN PENAFLORIDA, CNN HERO OF THE YEAR: We are the change that this world needs to be.

COOPER: For 12 years, Efren and his team of volunteers have pushed their mobile classrooms through the streets of their neighborhoods, teaching kids who never make it to school. But after being named 2009's CNN Hero of the Year, Efren became a national hero.

PENAFLORIDA: This is really overwhelming.

COOPER: Upon his return, Philippine President Gloria Arroyo presented him with one of the country's highest honors. Over a year, the pushcart classroom model has been replicated more than 50 times across the Philippines and inspired the construction of an education funded in part by the CNN Heroes grant.

PENAFLORIDA: Before pushcart, they see it as a symbol of poverty. But now they see a pushcart as a symbol of hope and education.

COOPER: Recently, Efren has had his story told in six countries and languages, and can be seen weekly in his own search for heroes on Philippine television. A young man from the slums has turned the attention of a nation toward a common dream.

PENAFLORIDA: My fellow Filipinos, they're unleashing the hero inside them.

Thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HOLMES: So who will be the CNN Hero for the year 2010? You decide. Vote now, CNN.com. And then next Thursday, we will be announcing this year's top 10 heroes on CNN.com, 1:00 p.m. Eastern Time. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(WEATHER REPORT)

HOLMES: Well, coming up, from his first day on the job he knew what he wanted to do. But folks aren't always ready for an outsider's ideas. We're going to be talking to that outsider, the police chief out in San Francisco credited with shaking things up a bit. And it's possibly working.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: From beat cops to detectives, most of them wanted their chief promoted from within. Instead, they got George Gascon. He is San Francisco's first outsider police chief, if you will, since the '70s. Then he recently marked his first year on the job kind of an eventful year, marked by innovation, reforms, a little bit of stubbornness and frequent a little scandal as well.

They call that a year, huh, chief?

He joins us now from San Francisco.

Sir, thank you for being here with us. You got one year under your belt. What would you point to as your proudest accomplishment in year one?

CHIEF GEORGE GASCON, SAN FRANCISCO POLICE: Well, T.J., there's several. One of them is, quite frankly, the work of the men and women of San Francisco Police Department we have done. You know, a lot of people were apprehensive of having an outsider coming in and how well it was going to fit and what was going to be the response of the men and women of the organization, not only to an outsider, but, quite frankly, a different way of doing business.

Frankly, it's been an incredible success. The men and women of the organization are very working hard. The community really embraced not only what we are doing, but also working with our officers.

So, I think that that would be the area that I'm most proud of, is the way that people have come together and how well the department has reacted as well as the community.

HOLMES: Well, how long would you say it took for people to try to just get on board? I mean, that kind of delays you getting some of the work started because you just had to convince some people whether that's within your own department or in the city?

GASCON: Yes, you know, interestingly enough, there was some resistance early on by some folks. But I have to say, by and large, people came around very quickly. The majority of the officers were willing to give me a chance and willing to try new things. And, frankly, we have been going at a very fast pace for the last 13 months. And we will continue to do so, quite frankly, for -- certainly, for the next two or three years.

Reforming an organization is a journey that takes several years. But, I have to say that I'm very pleased with the response both internally as well as externally. The community has been incredible on their support.

HOLMES: And, sir, you have a very ambitious goal, you and Mayor Newsom out there -- dropping the serious crime in that city by 20 percent by the end of this year. Are you on track?

GASCON: Well, you know, obviously, it was a stretch goal. I think that sometimes you are better at pushing really hard and trying to achieve greatness than settling for much less. It is unlikely that we will reach 20 percent in all serious crimes. However, homicides last year, we were able to reach over 55 percent reduction. This year, we are at a very close rate to maintain that, which actually puts us at a homicide rate per capita that would takes us back to the early 1960s.

But, overall, we are looking at right around 10 percent reduction in crime for this year. That comes on the heels of a -- of under 10 percent for last year. So, if you put combined, probably the last 18 months, by the time we end up this calendar year, we're going to be looking at very close to the 20 percent, but certainly not 20 percent in the last 12 months.

HOLMES: And, sir, you brought some new ideas, some -- I guess some might call it off the wall, some might call it just a little off the radar of innovations to your police department. And one those that got attention was these civilian investigators, not necessarily employees of the police department, but civilian investigators who would go out and take a look at non-violent crimes.

What is the reaction you are continuing to get to that? And how is that program working out for you?

GASCON: Well, T.J., the business models for policing are going to evolve. And they are evolving very quickly. And the question, quite frankly, for people in the profession is: how effectively do we embrace the opportunities that are being offered and deal with the economic challenges that we are facing.

Policing in 21st century and another 20 or 30 years, quite frankly, is going to be very, very different to what it is today. The economic models that we have today are no longer sustainable. And that goes, quite frankly, beyond the current economic crisis.

So, one of the areas that I'm pushing, the professionals certainly in the San Francisco Police Department, and I did so in Mesa, is the fact that we're going to have to -- our labor force is going to look very differently. We are going to have to ensure that we have our sworn officers, the people that have power of arrest, the people that can deal with incidents that required the ability to carry a firearm and to use force, that set of skills and those individuals are going to have to be reserved for primarily dealing with high visibility enforcement, you know, working with the community, walking foot beats and handling emergency calls.

And the nonemergency stuff, quite frankly, increasingly, is going to have to go to another type of employee. And unlike what many other places have been doing in the past where they may have perhaps pieces of it being handled by a civilian employee, maybe the forensic collection, others may have people that take reports. What we're trying to do is we're trying to combine that it into a single classification and be very customer service-driven.

HOLMES: Wow. Well, sir, you are trying new things out there, only a year under your belt. We'll see how it goes after year two. But congratulations, really, on some of the innovations you put in place.

Certainly, not everybody is in favor of them. And there's some criticism, as always, there will be. But also, people are giving you some credit out there as well.

But, Chief, we appreciate you taking the time with us. Good luck out there. We'll talk to you again, soon.

GASCON: T.J., thank you very much. Take care.

HOLMES: All right. We got some cheers from the miners who are trapped underground in Chile. They are happy and they are cheering because Plan B is working well. We'll explain exactly what Plan B is as we globe trek -- next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, time for us to go "Globe Trekking" now. And we head to Chile where there is good news for those 33 miners that have been trapped since August 5th.

We want to head to our Karl Penhaul who is there for us.

Karl, tell us the good news. But even though we got some good news, doesn't necessarily mean they're going to be coming out anytime soon.

KARL PENHAUL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Exactly, T.J.

It is good news for the drill teams. There are three drills working to rescue the miners: Plan A, Plan B and Plan C. And this morning, a drill from the Plan B team reached down to the workshop, very close to the shelter where the miners are.

Now, they are saying that we're not the Plan B team anymore. We are Team Rabbit because we've been able to barrow through the half mile beat to the miners faster than the other drills. But let me put it in perspective for you because that Plan B drill had a head start. There was a pilot hole of about four inches (AUDIO BREAK). And they drilled down and today, with a 12 inch drill bit, they have reached the shelter where the miners are.

Let me show you what a 12-inch drill does. It will make a hole roughly (AUDIO BREAK) it's not big enough to get a man through (AUDIO BREAK) man back to the surface.

So, what they've got to do now is put another drill bit down, widen that 12-inch hole to 26 inches. Now, the 26-inch hole, and let me again put it into perspective, would be about this diameter. That is about 26 inches. It would be a squeeze, but they believe that they can get the miners up through that hole.

So, this is what they now have to do. Today's success, they've got to build on that and they've got to widen that hole. It's not as easy as it sounds and it certainly isn't quick. This is what the mine's minister had to say about what happens next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAURENCE GOLBORNE, CHILEAN MINING MINISTER: We are eating here donut. And in this part, we are eating the center part of the donut, which is smaller. And now, we have to eat the whole part of the donut. So, it's a lot more material that we have to remove. It will take more time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PENHAUL: So, it's very much a layman's explanation, saying that we have to go on now. We have to eat the rest of the donut. Now, it's taken two weeks to drill that four-inch hole into a 12-inch hole. But the company that is behind the drilling operation here says it is going to take more than two weeks to widen this hole and actually hoist the miners back to surface. It still could be somewhat of a long wait.

Predictions are that the miners could be out by that hole or one of the other holes by around the end of October or the start of November, T.J.

HOLMES: Yes, even though we got some good news, it's still a long haul for those miners.

Karl, we appreciate you and we appreciate that demonstration really, helping our viewers understand what's happening there. Thanks so much.

We want to turn to politics now. It's time for our "CNN Equals Politics" update. Our CNN senior congressional correspondent, Dana Bash, is here with us.

Dana, always goods to see you.

Does Paul Steinhauser have to be in every single one of these shots behind you? Does he have to be there?

DANA BASH, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: He likes his face time. Smile -- smile for the camera, Paul.

HOLMES: Goodness graciousness.

BASH: He's there. HOLMES: All right. What you got crossing, Dana?

BASH: We love -- we all -- we all love Paul.

What's first on the ticker -- we actually want to update something, T.J., that we reported in our ticker update a couple of hours ago. It's right here. And that is that Christine O'Donnell is no longer meeting with the head of the Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee, John Cornyn. We initially reported that, for first time, that the two are going to meet.

But it turns out O'Donnell is, I mean, let's face it, she's effectively standing up John Cornyn. She postponed. We are just told by a GOP source not too long ago, because she has a lot on her schedule and she is going to give a speech to the Value Voters Summit going on later this afternoon.

So, she doesn't have a lot of time to meet with him. But their staff is going to meet. They hope to reschedule that personal meeting later, at a later date.

The Value Voters Summit, this is the summit where a lot of conservatives are giving a lot of red meat to their people out there, conservatives. We have, I think right now, the members of the Family Research Council speaking. Earlier, we had a lot of would-be presidential candidates, potential, from Mike Huckabee to Mitt Romney and even Rick Santorum. So, we're watching that. And you can find that live on CNN.com/live.

Back to you, T.J.

HOLMES: All right. Dana, we appreciate you guys as always. We'll talk to you soon.

And coming up after the break: Lady Gaga, have you heard? She's taking on Congress. Ed Henry is now taking on Lady Gaga. The stake out, just one of Gaga's little monsters -- coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: All right. Time for "The Stakeout." Time for Ed Henry. He's at the White House for us, as always.

Buddy, good to see you.

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

HOLMES: We saw the live event from the president a short time ago with Elizabeth Warren who he is making one of his advisers, an adviser as well to the Treasury secretary. Before she came out with the president, she was hanging out with you, I understand.

HENRY: Yes, you know, I bumped into her at the Northwest Gate out there on her way into the White House. It was funny, she had this backpack, I took a little picture and put it on Twitter. She had a backpack, it looked like her first day at school. She was pretty excited, like she was ready to go charging in.

And there's a lot of people saying, look, the president didn't make her the full time director of this agency. Is she going to have the power to get the job done, get this new office set up? I asked her that question. And she basically said, look, I'm very confident, we're going -- that she's going to have the power based on the conversation she had with the president and the authority he's going to give her. And she said, I'm excited to get some things done.

So she's charging forward. There are some republican critics on the Hill that are upset that the President Obama sort of bypassed Senate confirmation process by appointing her in this special role and they're asking a lot of questions about it. But she's ready to charge ahead.

HOLMES: All right, and I'm sure you picked this up in the president's comments today. When the president came out, before he started talking about Elizabeth Warren, he took a moment -- we saw the poverty numbers come out, yesterday. And you know, everyone was saying it's just a sign of the times, but the president used the poverty numbers we saw yesterday to try to once again push Congress and tell them why they should be approving or extending the tax cuts for people who make less than $250,000.

HENRY: Yes. Yes, but what's interesting is that he was talking about tax cuts, but yet we're talking about middle-class tax cuts for people making under $250,000 a year. I went less than a mile from the White House yesterday to find some people living in poverty. They are at a home, it's sort of subsidized housing by SOME, which is So Others Might Eat, it's a nonprofit here in Washington.

Take a listen. When I asked these two people who are unemployed right now what they think about talk about tax cuts for people making about $250,000 a year.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN POWELL, UNEMPLOYED: First off, it's more demoralizing. It's a perfect lesson in humility. And the biggest adjustment that I have a problem with in the beginning is being able to separate your wants from your needs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENRY: OK. So that was a shorter clip than we wanted to use, but basically he went on to say, look, I can't imagine what $250,000 is. That gentleman I met was basically making a few hundred dollars a month from Social Security benefits, he's partially disabled.

I spoke to another woman there as well at this home that this nonprofit is helping them. But it gives you an idea, you have one in seven people right now living in poverty, over 14 percent, highest in decades. So, this is yet another challenge we are seeing out of this Great Recession.

HOLMES: One more thing, I'm not sure how to make the transition, Ed, to this last topic.

HENRY: It's a hard one.

HOLMES: How does Lady Gaga make it into "The Stakeout" and into a conversation about Congress?

HENRY: Well, you know, Lady Gaga has started tweeting. You know, the White House is very interested in this "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" debate, the interest in trying to overturn it so that homosexuals can serve openly in the military. Lady Gaga has decided to enter this debate. I haven't seen her get involved in another political debate quite like this.

A few days ago, she tweeted Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and said you better move forward on this. He tweeted back -- actually, I think, his staff did -- saying, look, we're moving forward, there's going to be a vote in the Senate in a few days.

Now she's got a YouTube video where she's going after Senator McCain. And at one point, she called into Chuck Schumer's office from New York. Take a listen to what she did.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOICEMAIL RECORDING: Your call has been forwarded to an automatic voice message system. The mailbox belonging to --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Senator (INAUDIBLE) office

VOICEMAIL RECORDING: -- is full. Good-bye.

LADY GAGA, ENTERTAINER: I have called both of the senators that operate in my district. I will not stop calling until I reach them and I can leave them this message.

I am a constituent of the senator. My name is Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, also known as Lady Gaga.

I'm calling to ask the senator to vote with Senators Harry Reid and Carl Levin to repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" and oppose John McCain's shameless filibuster. We need to do this for our gay and lesbian soldiers and finally repeal "Don't Ask, Don't Tell."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HENRY: She's pushing Senator McCain doesn't want to see it overturned. But you got to love that moment where she gives a long name, most people don't know her real name, and then she says, "Also known as Lady Gaga." I'm sure Senator Schumer was glad to get that voicemail from her.

And you've heard that song, "Bad Romance," maybe we should do a twist as "Bad Bromance" or something.

HOLMES: You know, they will listen to her because she's got a voice and millions of fans and millions of followers out there. HENRY: She's got a megaphone.

HOLMES: She has a huge megaphone.

Ed, always good to see you. We appreciate you, as always. Buddy, you have a good weekend, all right? Talk to you soon.

HENRY: You have a great weekend. See you, T.J.

HOLMES: Well, coming up next, we've got some "Word Play" for you straight ahead. Today's term manages to marry city, church and canine. Seriously.

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HOLMES: Time now for a little "Word Play" and this one is a proper noun. The emphasis on proper.

It's a place the pope made history today. A place no pope had gone before. We're talking about Westminster. It's new territory for popes because of that nasty little business, you know, back in the 16th century, Henry the VIII and all that.

But if you have been to London, you have been to Westminster. Britain's Parliament meets in Westminster Palace. Britain's most famous church where the pope just wrapped a historic service is Westminster Abby.

Westminster is also the name of the section of London where you'll find Westminster Palace and Westminster Abby.

On this side of the pond, where do you hear Westminster all of the time? When there's a dog show. You know, the Westminster Dog Show. Love this thing, it's a good dog show.

But the way, it's minster, it's not minister. Minster is the title given to special British churches.

And that is your "Word Play."

Well, you know him, you know him well. He's a future hall of famer, Yankee shortstop, one of the greatest. He's won so many awards, but now some are saying another award he should win is the Oscar. Why are some now calling Derek Jeter a cheater? It's uncalled for, I say, and you'll hear it in my "XYZ."

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HOLMES: Derek Jeter the cheater? Say it ain't so. The Yankees shortstop and future hall of famer was "Sports Illustrated"'s "Sportsman of the Year" last year, but this week some are accusing him of lacking sportsmanship after kind of a strange incident at a game this week.

Let me set this up for you. Jeter was up to bat Wednesday night against the Tampa Bay Rays. And you see what happened here, a pitch appeared to hit him. So by rule, he gets first base.

But as you can see here now, it didn't hit him, but he reacted immediately as if he had been hit. The trainer and the manager even come out to attend the injury. But again, the thing is and the replay clearly showed he wasn't hit by that pitch.

The ball hit the end of the bat, but Jeter certainly made a convincing case with his acting that he had been hit. And you see him, he's not injured, he's not hit, but he's faking it. He's playing it off real well. Even after the game he bluntly admitted he was not hit by the pitch.

The story now has blew up into a whole debate about sportsmanship, honor and cheating. What happened here -- Rick -- Rick is already reacting behind me. What happened here is the umpire missed the call. That's it. How much Jeter's acting played into that we'll never really know.

Jeter did exactly what baseball players are taught to do and what athletes in other sports do all the time. You remember watching the matches during the World Cup? Players were flopping around all the time, screaming in pain when they went down. Didn't even stub a toe. Why? They're trying to get a call.

What about in basketball? Some players have made a career out of flopping, trying to fool the refs into calling a charge.

Then what about football? You always see a receiver go down. He knows that ball hit the ground first, but still he jumps up, throws the ball in the air like he just made the catch. Why? He's trying to fool the ref.

What Jeter did here is not a matter of sportsmanship, this is a matter of gamesmanship. Jeter got game. He's a savvy veteran who made a brilliant move, some are saying, in the middle of a pennant race to help his team in a critical game and it worked. This ain't golf where players are expected to police themselves. Jeter didn't break or rule, he didn't even bend a rule.

Listen to this -- six out of the top 15 on the all-time homerun list in baseball have been linked to performance enhancing drugs. You might want to give Jeter a pass on his performance.

Rick, that's my "XYZ. " Let me have the list now.