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Terror Threat in Europe; Countdown to Election Day; Facebook Leaks Sensitive Info; Facebook Has Privacy Breach; NATO Intelligence Claims to Know Location of Bin Laden and Top Deputy; Jury Selection Begins in Chandra Levy Murder Trial; Rescued Miners and Families Celebrate Return Home; Citigroup Reports Third Quarter Profits; Blood Test to Flag Concussions; Ken Buck Links Alcoholism, Sexuality; Oil Disaster Six Months Later

Aired October 18, 2010 - 09:00   ET

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

KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, guys. Good morning. Good morning, everybody. You and Facebook more than friends -- it turns out the site is leaking details about you that you'd rather keep to yourself.

Rescued miners go back to the scene to pray. For others, it's just too soon.

Another politician expresses his view on homosexuality, makes an analogy to alcoholism, makes you wonder if this guy is running for office in 2010 or 1810.

I'm Kyra Phillips. Glad you're with us. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

We've got pretty disturbing new information about the threat of terror and the hunt for Osama Bin Laden this morning. The search has been going on for more than nine years, and there's never been anything like it.

The closest comparison may be this, the search for Saddam Hussein, when the Iraqi leader abandoned his palaces, and instead we found him cowered in a spider hole. There he was found disheveled and disgraced, but the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks has apparently not suffered the same indignity.

A senior NATO official says that he's no longer hiding in a cave as we first saw in his videos. Instead he's living comfortably in a home in northwest Pakistan under the protection of locals and some members of Pakistan's intelligence community.

Also, a new terror warning has much of Europe on edge and on guard right now. Saudi Intelligence Services warns of a new terrorism threat, and France could be the main target. According to the Intel, al Qaeda operatives in the Arabian Peninsula are plotting a possible strike.

We're covering all angles to both these developing stories this morning. CNN senior international correspondent Nic Robertson is in London with the latest threat from al Qaeda, and Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr is working her sources on the hunt for Osama Bin Laden.

Let's start with Barbara. She's in Kabul, Afghanistan. So put it in perspective, Barbara. Is Osama Bin Laden living the high life?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, the answer is really, who knows, Kyra. Most of the time, when you ask you someone in a position to know where's Osama Bin Laden? They say haven't seen, haven't heard anything about him in years.

When I came to Kabul and spoke to a senior NATO official, that's not the answer I got to my surprise. He says the assessment, the assessment right now, the feeling is as you might express, he's across the border in Pakistan, but as he said, nobody from al Qaeda is living in a cave these days.

His feeling, his assessment is that Bin Laden is in some area close to his number two, Ayman Al Zawahiri, both of them living in relative comfort, possibly in homes in the countryside in this very remote rugged region.

I said, so where do you think he is. He said if you asked me to draw a circle on a map, here's the circle I would draw based on what I know. He says he could have ranged as far as the very northern corners of the tribal region.

That's a place called Chitral up by the Chinese border, but he pointed to another area, the Kurram Valley. That is right across the border from Tora Bora, here in Afghanistan where Bin Laden fled in 2001 when U.S. bombs started falling, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: Barbara Starr, that's the story we'll stay close to that's for sure. I think a lot of people want to see this guy taken in.

Now those terror concerns that are rippling across Europe. For that, we turn to CNN senior international correspondent, Nic Robertson. Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, according to France's interior minister, this threat is active or about to be active. This information he says that came from Saudi officials within the last couple of days.

We talked to Saudis. They won't comment on this. What the French interior minister is saying, however, is this means that the threat is very real. He says that France is vigilant.

However, France is not increasing its terror threat level. It's at the second highest level right now, which is heightened red, the highest level is scarlet, but right now with the information they have, the French are not raising that warning.

What is significant perhaps here is what we're seeing emerging, if you take in the recent threats from the group in Hamburg in Germany, leading to sort of a Europe-wide travel warning from the United States. We're seeing perhaps here al Qaeda organize itself to target inside Europe. It can't pull up a 9/11 attack again, but it is looking to target on mainland Europe and that seems to be the picture that's emerging here.

Where did the Saudis get this information? They won't say, but they did say just a few days ago that a Saudi national, former Gitmo/Guantanamo Bay detainee had turned himself in?

Possibly this information coming from him, but as far as the French are concerned, this is a real threat, either in the process of being planned or about to be planned.

The interior minister also said in the past year two terror threat attacks inside France had been thwarted, 61 people in France remain detained on terrorism offenses. Nic Robertson, CNN, London.

PHILLIPS: Straight ahead, apparently you don't get to 500 million friends without a few data breaches. Next, we're talking about your Facebook account and how it might have leaked sensitive information about you, your friends, to strangers.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: We're just 15 days away from an election that could give Republicans big gains in Congress and that possibility right out of one-two punch White House punch last night.

President Obama and the first lady hit the campaign trail together for the first time since 2008. The first couple fired tens of thousands of supporters at Ohio State University. They challenged the crowd to get out and vote, reviving a popular slogan from just two years ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: In two weeks you've got the chance to say once again "yes we can." Now, look, let's be honest. This is a difficult election. This is hard, and it's hard because we've got through an incredibly difficult time as a nation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: CNN Election Express is rolling through the southeast this week checking on the mood of voters ahead of the midterms. T.J. Holmes is in Charlotte today. T.J.

T.J. HOLMES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning, Kyra. We're here in Charlotte. I'll tell you that's the 19th largest in the country, but don't let that fool you. No matter what city you are in, in this country right now, there's a good chance your money is tied up here in this city. Why?

This is a major banking hub in this country, only second to New York City's, $2-plus trillion in assets tied up here. You got Bank of America, the largest bank in the country that is headquartered right here.

You got Wachovia, which was taken over by Wells Fargo that was based right here, five of the largest 25 banks in the country were based right here in Charlotte, North Carolina.

So when you have an economic downturn that's based on banking, lending, mortgages, of course a place like Charlotte, the whole metropolitan area, including the state will be affected in a major way. That is what a lot of people are going to be going into the voting booth with here in just a couple weeks.

We talked to people here -- this is the second time we've come out in one of these week-long trips, the second we've taken about a month and a half. You find people, yes, of course, talking about their disappointment in Washington, D.C.

But what we found yesterday was a local business that's found a way to make it work in this economy, and they've taken it upon themselves in their own community to take care of their own community.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've been a chef in different restaurants of different calibers all across the country, and right now, during this economy, the price point is driving everything.

People are still going out to eat. The same people that didn't cook before aren't suddenly cooking suddenly now. They're just going to places that they can afford.

HOLMES: How is Charlotte doing today?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think people are concerned about what's happening with Bank of America. I do hear people talk about that.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The banking crisis hurt this city tremendously, not only the bankers, but there's lawyers that are affected by that. There's -- it trickles down the line.

HOLMES: It sounds like you have really local concerns.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, like Ed says, you talk about Bank of America, but you go back to schools, libraries, parks closing, and you see that happening or hear about that in other states, and all of a sudden it happens in your state and like, wow.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I feel lucky to be in Charlotte, because we -- if you look at it demographically throughout the nation, Charlotte is one of the best of the worst.

Our mortgage foreclosures have been, you know, they're high, everybody's are high, but we're not as bad as other cities in the nation. We're fortunate that that's been that way.

(END VIDEOTAPE) HOLMES: So the pickup on that theme there, the best of the worst, if you will, they had to look at it with some sense of success. Kyra, this is so telling that the bad news here is that, yes, it's 11 percent unemployment here in the Charlotte area.

That's higher than the national average. That's higher, of course, than the local average of North Carolina as well, the entire state, 11 percent, the bad news.

The good news, Kyra is that it's 11 percent, because just about a year ago it was at about 12.5 percent, so they've got to -- they've got to take the good news where they can get it.

But unfortunately, they're going the right direction, yes, but still unfortunately still pretty high. But we're just getting started as you know, Kyra.

First stop, we have four states, five different cities we're going to hit and hook up with Candy Crowley this weekend on Friday before she does that Senate debate on Sunday with those Senate candidates. So we are just getting started.

PHILLIPS: All right, we'll be following your trip, that's for sure. T.J., thanks.

Well, if you're on Facebook, listen up. "The Wall Street Journal" reports that most of the popular applications on the site like Farmville, have been sending profile names to advertising and internet tracking companies, and in some cases the names of friends are being sent too.

Facebook says it's taking steps to correct the problem and there's no evidence that any personal information was misused. Still we're talking about a potential problem for tens of millions of people. That's not what friends are for, right?

We'll talk about this with Paul Gillin. He's written a book on social media marketing and he's been a technology journalist since before the internet existed.

Thanks for joining us, Paul. I think I want to start out, you know, we know how big Facebook is. When you heard about this security breach, how big of a concern do you think it is?

PAUL GILLIN, SOCIAL MEDIA SPEAKER, AUTHOR: Well, it's just another Facebook screw up. You know, they are working in unchartered territory. You have to realize Facebook with about 550 million members now is trying to do things that nobody has ever done before.

They're trying to create software applications on a massive scale. They frequently make mistakes in the process. I don't believe this was an intention am act on Facebook's part. I think when you're trying to work on a scale that they are, it's inevitable there will be back doors that are left open.

PHILLIPS: What are marketers doing with this information? GILLIN: Well, I think they're doing less than we fear they're doing. We have the capacity today to collect huge amounts of information, but in fact very few companies really know what to do with that information.

They don't have the tools in place to create the kind of profiles that they would like to create. So the fact that the information may have leaked doesn't really mean anybody is doing very much with it.

I think the Facebook, you know, to their credit, has moved swiftly to plug this hole. I think it's unlikely we'll see people's identities compromised in any meaningful way.

PHILLIPS: You mentioned plugging the holes. You would think by now that they would figure out how to plug these holes, but is this something that we're going to have to continuously worry about?

Are these new holes that we never thought of? I mean, is there any way to get ahead of the game or no?

GILLIN: No, there is not. You will be -- we will be -- you'll be talking about stories like this for years, Kyra, I guarantee you. Because, when you're working on this scale, as I noted, there are so many switches and dials and complexities to building very large-scale applications -- software applications like this, that bugs are inevitable.

Microsoft is still fixing bugs in versions of Windows that were released ten years ago. The same thing will be happening with Facebook. It is simply a very large and complex project. There will be slip-ups.

I think the issue is how quickly do they act to patch them, and will their advertisers pledge not to misuse privacy information? That was the story, really, that wasn't reported here. Are the advertisers willing to say, "We will not take advantage of slip-ups, and will maintain Facebook users' privacy"?

PHILLIPS: True. And then, how do we know? How do we know that advertisers will be responsible for their actions? And I think a number of people have said, isn't there a less shadier way to get this information? Or are they just looking for any way to get what they want?

GILLIN: Well, many people who live online today live very public lives. It's amazing how much information when we're on Twitter, Facebook, and we may blog, and we may use instant messaging services. We share all kinds of information that we may not even know that we are sharing.

I think advertisers -- to some extent the wisdom of crowds will keep the advertisers in line here, because any advertiser who takes unfair advantage of access to private information like this, I think will be called out and pilloried in public for taking advantage of their customers. So I think it -- even if advertisers had this information available, I think they would have to be very careful what they would do.

Remember that Google knows a great deal about all of us, all of us who have Google accounts. Google knows an enormous amount about us, yet chooses not to use most of that information because they don't want to look like Big Brother.

PHILLIPS: And it's a good point. Bottom line, we all, too, have to take responsibility and know whatever is out there is out there. Nothing is 100 percent safe. You're always taking a risk, right?

GILLIN: When you post something on the internet, be aware the internet was designed to be a public sharing medium. It was not designed with privacy in mind. So you are -- when you're talking on the internet, anything you say can be copied, can be sent to other people, can be made publicly available. You have to be -- take responsibility for your own privacy.

PHILLIPS: Point well made. Paul Gillin, we'll keep talking about this for sure. Thanks, Paul.

GILLIN: Thank you.

PHILLIPS: Now we want to ask you, have privacy concerns made you reevaluate in any way the way you use social media and what you post online? Go ahead and post those comments on cnn.com/kyra. It's safe, by the way. And we'll talk about more about this in the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM.

From the bottom of a collapsed mine to the top of the world.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(PARTY MUSIC)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: We're going to tell you how Chile is honoring its newest celebrities and what they're saying about their two-month-long ordeal.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Checking top stories. So, you probably think your Facebook postings are going just to your friends. Think again. A "Wall Street Journal" investigation finds a privacy breach, that users' identity may be shared by a user's internet browser or app. That means advertising and data firms could know more about you than you want. The company says it's working on the problem.

NATO intelligence says that they know where Osama bin Laden and his top deputy are hiding. It's believed bin Laden and Ayman al- Zawahiri aren't living in caves, but rather in houses right next to each other in northwest Pakistan.

In Washington, jury selection today begins in the murder trial of Ingmar Guandique. He's accused of killing Chandra Levy in 2001. Her skull was found in a park more than a year after she'd disappeared.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Climbing to the top of the world. It's been a whirlwind week for Chile's rescued miners, many of whom went back yesterday where their 69-day ordeal began, San Jose Mine where a private mass was held in their honor. CNN's Karl Penhaul was there.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(PARTY MUSIC)

(MEN LAUGHING)

KARL PENHAUL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Happy to be alive. Back on his block, miner Esteban Rojas.

CROWD: Mario! Mario!

PENHAUL (voice-over): And miner Mario Gomez, happy to be home. Back behind his picket fence. The house is humble, but it's where his heart is.

MARIO GOMEZ, RESCUED MINER (through translator): "I've been married 32 years and rarely told my wife I loved her. I just wanted to tell her how much I loved her," he says.

PENHAUL (voice-over): In the first days after the mine collapsed, cut off from an outside world that nearly gave them up for dead, Gomez wrote a love letter to his wife. He promised he would make it home alive.

LILA RAMIREZ, WIFE OF RESCUED MINER (through translator): "I'm happy my husband is home and that we can wipe out the nightmare of waiting for more than 60 days. We can wipe the slate clean and begin our lives again," she says.

PENHAUL (voice-over): Gomez says he never doubted he would survive.

GOMEZ (through translator): "From the first moment, I thought they would rescue us. I never lost hope. Maybe that's because of my experience. I never lost faith," he says.

PENHAUL (voice-over): Even under the camera glare, he's not giving much away.

GOMEZ (through translator): "There are some things we cannot speak about, because there's a pact between us," he says.

PENHAUL (voice-over): Gomez says he and his 32 comrades have taken a pact of silence to keep most of the ordeal secret, at least for now. A few streets away, Rojas is barely talking either.

ESTEBAN ROJAS, RESCUED MINER (through translator): "Good, good, I'm happy. I never lost hope. God is great," he says. PENHAUL (voice-over): But his daughter, Stephanie, says she knows how he survived.

STEPHANIE ROJAS, DAUGHTER OF RESCUED MINER (through translator): "I think he got through this thinking about his family, that we were waiting for him, and we were never going to leave him alone. That gave him strength to make it back here with his family," she says.

PENHAUL (voice-over): Coming home may mean a poor house on a poor street, but these miners know they managed to cling to the greatest luxury of all -- life itself. Karl Penhaul, CNN, Copiapo, Chile.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PHILLIPS: New blood tests could help doctors figure out if our military men and women have suffered a concussion or a brain injury. It's a test that could be used in civilian life, too, for, say, kids who play football. We're going to talk about it in just a few minutes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: On Wall Street, earnings season is starting to kick into high gear, and it's when corporate America tells us all how they're doing. Today, one of the nation's biggest banks is reporting. Alison Kosik at the New York Stock Exchange. So, what do you think? Good or bad news, Alison?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Kyra, for once I've got some good news for you today. First, Dow futures were down 75 points this morning. Then, Citigroup reported a third quarter profit of $2.2 billion, and that's better than Wall Street had been expecting. It also marks Citi's third straight quarterly profit after the huge losses during the financial crisis.

So then, stock futures quickly moved off their lows, and Citi's shares are -- were up about two percent. Citigroup's earnings follows strong results last week from JP Morgan Chase, and we watch big banks closely, because access to credit and money is exactly what keeps this economy moving.

After the closing bell, we're going to hear from some heavyweights, Apple and IBM. Their results should tell us if everyday business and every Americans still have an appetite for technology.

In the meantime, Citi's results and $6 billion in merger activity should help the sentiment today on Wall Street.

As for the broader market, we are in positive territory. The Dow is up about two, and the NASDAQ higher, about two as well -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Alison, thanks so much.

Straight ahead, assessing the damage after the world's strongest storm makes landfall this morning. We're going to tell you where the typhoon struck and what it's leaving behind.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: "Charlotte's Web," the ageless tale of love and friendship. It's one of the most beloved children's classics of all time.

Well, now, some adults are able to hold on to more than just those magical childhood memories. Forty-two of the original illustrations went on the auction block in New York. Guess how much? Nearly $800,000.

The top draw, it seems, was the original cover art for the book. The winning bid for that, more than $155,000.

Checking the top stories.

Nearly half a billion people connect with friends on Facebook. But they also may be connecting with advertisers, whether they know it or not. A "Wall Street Journal" investigation finds that many of the most popular applications are secretly funneling your information to advertisers and online companies. If true, that violates Facebook's own privacy rules.

A senior NATO officials Osama bin Laden is living more openly and more comfortably than we ever thought. Source says intelligence agencies believe he's living in northwest Pakistan, not in the cave but in a house. And it may be protected by members of Pakistan's intelligence community.

And a super typhoon slams into the Philippines. Weather experts say it's winds up to 180 miles an hour, making it the strongest storm that the world has seen in years. So far, one person is confirmed dead, two others missing.

Senator John McCain's daughter is pulling no punches when it comes to one Republican. Meghan McCain slams Christine O'Donnell and the Delaware candidate's campaign pushes back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Senator John McCain's daughter won't be stumping for Senate candidate Christine O'Donnell. That became pretty obvious when the author and blogger slammed the Delaware Republican on ABC's "This Week."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MEGHAN MCCAIN, AUTHOR, "DIRTY SEXY POLITICS": Christine O'Donnell is making a mockery of running for public office. She has no real history, no real success in any kind of business. And what that sends to my generation is one day, you can just wake up and run for Senate, no matter how lack of experience you have. And it scares me for a lot of reasons. And I just in my group of friends, it just turns people off, because she's seen as a nut job.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: And the O'Donnell campaign pushed back with the statement, mocking what it called Miss McCain's vast experience in politics and running for office.

We're down to 15 days from an election that could change the balance of power in Congress.

Let's check in with our Political Ticker for all the latest stories.

Senior political editor Mark Preston -- hey, Mark.

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL EDITOR: Hey, Kyra, how are you?

You know, one of our top stories on the site this morning, in fact, is Meghan McCain attacking Christine O'Donnell as you just showed there on "This Week." Yesterday, in fact, the Facebook application that ties into CNNPolitics.com, more than 500 people have recommended this story for people to read.

You know, Meghan McCain has been known to be critical of fellow Republicans, including Sarah Palin, if our viewers remember, back when she just published her book a few months, "Dirty Sexy Politics." One of the things she said about Sarah Palin is that Sarah Palin brought trauma and stress to her father's presidential campaign, just has said some nice about Sarah Palin. But, certainly, Meghan McCain trying to be the voice, so to speak, of the next generation of Republicans.

You know, another story that is gaining a lot of attention now and it just happened just a few hours ago, was up in Alaska where a reporter was, quote/unquote, "arrested" by security guards for the Senate candidate up there, Joe Miller. Now, Joe Miller was at an event in Anchorage. This reporter went up, apparently asked some pretty heated questions. The security guards intervened. I should say they were private security guards interview. They pushed him away.

Apparently, the reporter must have pushed them back. Next thing you know, the reporter got cuffed and was led away from the candidate.

Now, Anchorage police are investigating the matter. But it's interesting to note, that up in Alaska, you can make a, quote-unquote, "citizen's arrest," much like you can anywhere else. But, again, police are investigating that, Kyra.

And as you say, only 15 days until Election day, and President Obama, Vice President Biden, Michelle Obama, all on the campaign trail over the next week. We're going to see them out west.

We're going to see -- Sarah Palin, in fact, was just out in California on Saturday. We'll see her in Orlando on -- this coming Saturday, with Michael Steele, for a big RNC rally. But primarily we'll see -- for Democrats, Mr. Obama and his wife, the first lady, out on the campaign trail, really trying to shore up those Democrats who are in some very tough reelection battles.

Again, 15 days to Election Day. Thirty-nine seats, if Republicans can pick those up, they'll take back the House of Representatives -- Kyra.

PHILLIPS: All right. Mark, thanks so much. We'll keep checking in with you. We'll have a political update about an hour.

Also a reminder: for all the latest political news, you can always just go to our Web site, too, CNNPolitics.com.

Well, our men and women in uniform are coming home from war with devastating injuries, missing limbs, PTSD, and depression -- just to name a few.

But this morning, we're focusing on TBI, traumatic brain injury. And the number of cases is staggering -- almost 50,000 between 2003 and 2007, according to a congressional report. And that number keeps growing.

So, the Army is looking at new ways to diagnose these injuries quickly and accurately. And the research could be applied off the battlefield as well.

CNN's John Roberts actually talked with an Army doctor who's helped develop a new test, a blood test.

And, John, that seems so simple for something that can be so difficult to find.

JOHN ROBERTS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It does, but they're applying simple medical science to this. And, you know, Kyra, the military has been so on the leading edge of developing new treatments for severe brain injuries. But when it comes to mild to moderate traumatic brain injury, it's much more to diagnose.

So, they took the idea that we have with heart attacks where you can take a blood test and see if there are cardiac enzymes in the blood stream the indicate a heart attack and apply that to the brain. Different types of proteins, they say, that get released when there's even a mild concussion to the brain.

I asked Colonel Dallas Hack, who's in charge of the investigation into the medical science just exactly how this might work.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS: Now, what about the window of effectiveness? How soon after a bump in the head or a blow to the head might you be able to detect this? And what's the outer limits? Let's say that you hit something within the past week, would it still detect it?

COLONEL DALLAS HACK, DIRECTOR, ARMY'S COMBAT CASUALTY CARE RESEARCH PROGRAM: Well, the test we are working on now, we have somewhere between two hours and 48 hours is where we've been able to see this. And we are doing more research to see where the limits are from there. And we are working on other proteins that will give us longer term results.

ROBERTS: Wow. So, what's the practical application of this in the military, then?

HACK: In particular, for a troop that's exposed to a blast injury, for instance, we then can take them to a battalion aid station and do a blood test and know whether they actually have brain damage and whether we can send them on another patrol or not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: So, John, it sounds terrific with regard to what it can do for our troops. Obviously, it still needs approval, yes? And then let's also talk about how this could move off the battlefield and to other type of fields, like the football field?

ROBERTS: Sure, they haven't even applied for an FDA approval yet, and that's process that might take a couple years. But can you imagine without having to put somebody in the CAT scan or an MRI to get an idea of whether or not they've had a brain injury. So, if you're on the football field, let's say, and there's a sharp collision -- there were a couple of those yesterday in the couple of the games -- you could a blood test to determine whether or not that player has had a traumatic brain injury, you might not get the results back quickly enough so that they could return or not to that particular game.

Or what about young children who are involved in the collision in football? There are of kids who get these minor brain injuries that don't even show up to the point where you might think that they were (INAUDIBLE). If a doctor had a suspicion, you can do a blood test. And if you saw those protein markers, you should have a good idea of whether or not they had some sort of concussion to the brain.

So, it holds a tremendous amount of promise. There are some doctors who are saying, let's not get ahead of ourselves here, the science is yet to be proven. But the Army, Kyra, at this point, very excited about the prospects of this.

PHILLIPS: Oh, yes, and how incredible would that be, whether on the battlefield or say the football field, even the stories we've covered, for example, Liam Neeson's wife skiing. You know, you hit your head, you think you're find, but you're bleeding inside your brain. I mean, this could be amazing.

ROBERTS: Sure. For example, you now, when Natasha Richardson had her fall in Quebec, in that ski resort, if they had given her that blood test a couple hours after that fall, they might have determined that she, in fact, did in fact have a brain injury that would eventually end up taking her life.

PHILLIPS: We'll definitely follow up on the research. That's for sure, and what the FDA says.

John, thanks.

ROBERTS: We'll keep watching it.

PHILLIPS: All right.

Another politician expresses his view on homosexuality, makes an analogy to alcoholism. It makes you wonder if the guy is running for office in 2010 or 1810.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, we thought dinosaurs were extinct. Apparently they are alive and well in politics, but their brains haven't evolved as well. Let's start our journey through Jurassic politics with a big, hearty shout-out to Ken Buck of Colorado. He's running for the Senate as a Republican. And he's got the whole sexual orientation thing figured out folks.

Check out this little exchange on "Meet the Press", David Gregory asked him if he thought homosexuality is a choice.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEN BUCK (R), COLORADO SENATE CANDIDATE: I think birth has an influence over like alcoholism and some other things, but I think that basically you have a choice.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: First of all, the alcoholism analogy a bit harsh there pal and a bit loaded. Secondly, does Buck really think being gay is a choice? Do you think kids like Tyler Clementi choose to be gay? That they choose to be harassed to the point where they decided that it was better to jump off a bridge? Or go hang themselves from a rope or shoot themselves in the head?

This is just another example of a boneheaded politician talking a topic he clearly knows nothing about. And he's not alone. Remember Carl Paladino last week?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARL PALADINO (R), NEW YORK, GUBERNATORIAL CANDIDATE: And I don't want them to be brainwashed into thinking that homosexuality is an equally valid or successful option.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Brainwashed? Another mind-boggling choice or words. Of course, the GOP candidate for governor of New York got a lot of heat for those comments and backed off, but the tone deafness is clear. Paladino and now Buck should know better than to make generalizations about sexual orientations especially in this climate of gay or perceived gay suicides. This whole bullying problem is sad proof that words can do unspeakable permanent damage to kids who are not brainwashed or making a choice, but struggling to figure out who the heck they are. It's why I hope more brave leaders, whether they are straight or gay, will come forward and speak out against anti-gay bullying and homophobia.

Leaders like Councilman Joel Burns of Fort Worth. He's gay, he's sincere and he's been there. Kids bullied him when he was a teen, something so traumatic, that he never told anyone until a public council meeting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOEL BURNS, FORT WORTH CITY COUNCILMAN: I've never told this story to anyone before tonight. Not my family, not my husband, not anyone. But the numerous suicides in recent days have upset me so much, and it just tore at my heart.

And even now there may be some political repercussions for telling my story, the story is not just for the adults who might choose or not choose to support me. This story is for the young people who might be holding that gun or the rope or the pill bottle. Give yourself a chance to see just how much life -- how much better life will get. And it will get --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: And it will get better, he says.

Burns is just what this national conversation about bullying needs, influential people with a voice and a platform to step up and speak out, affect policy and set an example. Not people like Paladino and now Buck, whose words will only further confuse and ostracize struggling teen.

Mr. Buck, let me ask you a question. If sexual orientation is a choice, when did you choose to be straight?

All right. Let's take a look ahead at what we're working on for you in the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM beginning with T.J. Holmes in the CNN Election Express live in Charlotte, North Carolina this morning. Hey, T.J.

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hey there, Kyra. A lot of people have been asking us, why aren't you guys in Charlotte? But the better question is why aren't you here? Your money sure is. We've got a live report from the CNN Election Express as we roll on coming up in the next hour.

ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: It just got a whole lot easier to save a life. New rules about how to do CPR, I'll have that at the top of the hour.

PHILLIPS: Thanks, guys.

CNN's newest show, "Parker-Spitzer", looking at the hot topics every week night; check out this exchange on bringing down the deficit in war time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARIANNA HUFFINGTON, CO-FOUNDER, POST: You guys have to get serious about our military spending. If you are serious about the deficit, you cannot ignore the fact that we are spending $2.8 billion a week in Afghanistan, on a war that's unnecessary. Propping up a corrupt regime, what's your excuse for that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I'm not a military expert.

HUFFINGTON: Oh come on that's just a cop-out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I'm not copping out and to say -- but I will say this we cannot have a functioning economy. I'm answering your question.

(CROSSTALK)

ELIOT SPITZER, CNN HOST, "PARKER/SPITZER": And this is fun for me, just watching you guys go at it.

HUFFINGTON: Afghanistan.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ok, my -- the point is that if we don't win the war against terrorism, none of this other stuff matters.

HUFFINGTON: And you think Afghanistan is critical to win the war --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes I do, I think this is critical.

SPITZER: Wait, wait, how many al Qaeda members are in Afghanistan?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How can we have a functioning economy if people are blowing up buildings and blowing schools?

HUFFINGTON: What does this have to do with Afghanistan? Where there are few of them --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's where the terrorist are --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PHILLIPS: Well, for more opinions, ideas and analysis, don't miss CNN's "Parker Spitzer" tonight at 8:00 p.m. Eastern.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: Well, this week marks six months since the Deepwater Horizon oil rig exploded and led to the nation's worst oil spill in history. Eleven men died in that April 20th blast. An estimated 200 million gallons of oil flowed into the Gulf of Mexico; all fishing and shrimping was banned.

It wasn't until July 15th that the well was finally capped, all but ruining the spring and summer tourism season for the Gulf States.

CNN's Rob Marciano has been looking into the effects of the massive oil spill. He tells us there's still plenty of oil to be found and most of it buried several inches beneath the sand.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: About a dime in size.

ROB MARCIANO, AMS METEOROLOGIST (voice-over): It was last spring when oil from the DeepWater Horizon spill made landfall in Florida. That's when we met Dr. Richard Snyder collecting surf and sand samples on Pensacola Beach. Now, nearly a half year later, we walk these same beaches again.

DR. RICHARD SNYDER, BIOLOGIST, UNIVERSITY OF WEST FLORIDA: Is that tar?

MARCIANO (on camera): Yes, look at that.

(voice-over): And the oil refuses to leave.

SNYDER: But the reality is that the oil is still there. There was such a large quantity of this material that came out, that -- that it just isn't going to go away overnight. Six months and we still got it.

MARCIANO: So his team of researchers continue taking samples, looking for lingering signs of oil and sea life like these tiny shell fish, and digging deep into the sand for hidden layers of oil.

(on camera): We'll go there?

SNYDER: That's it.

MARCIANO: Yes. And hammer down.

Austin Dixon shows me how to collect a core sample, which requires more manual labor than I prefer. In June I learned cleaning tar off the top of the sand is hard enough.

AUSTIN DIXON: This requires the touch of a surgeon --

MARCIANO (voice-over): Removing oily tar deep in the sand manually is nearly impossible.

So Perdido Key is pulling out the heavy machinery. This modified snow blower/farming sifter is called a sand shark. And it could clean up to a mile of eight foot wide beach per day.

(on camera): On this beach they are going to about six inches to clean the sand. But you can see here in the layers, well below the six-inch mark is the layer of thick, heavy tar. The question is do you bring in that equipment to go even deeper? Well, environmentalists are saying you may be doing more damage than good. JUDY HANER, THE NATURE CONSERVANCY OF ALABAMA: We now have oil being cleaned on our shores and what we have is machinery, actually out there, really disrupting the shoreline, disrupting the sand surface. Is the cure really worse than the symptom?

MARCIANO: Conservationist Judy Haner is concerned about big trucks plowing through sensitive sandy habitat.

(on camera): So how do we go about getting the stuff that's one two feet down?

HANER: Do we want to get the stuff that's one, two feet down? I think that's what we really need to have a strong conversation about.

MARCIANO (voice-over): The problem is oil that's away from oxygen and sunlight will remain in the sand for years, even decades. Early results from the sand core samples show very few chemicals harmful to humans, but oil compounds that get into the sea life and into the food chain is the bigger issue.

(on camera): So no longer is it a matter of what you can see scares you, it's a matter of what you can't see that scares you?

SNYDER: That's exactly right. It's mostly the material that we can't see --

MARCIANO (voice-over): What's certain is realizing the full impact of this oil spill will take far longer than the three months it took to cap the leaking well.

(END VIDEOTAPE)