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NASA Briefing on Search for New Life Forms; Schools in Crisis; Cleveland Hometown Hero Returns in Role of Evil Villain; Politicians Continue Political Posturing as End to Benefits and Tax Cuts Loom Over Millions of Americans

Aired December 02, 2010 - 13:59   ET

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

ALI VELSHI, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Ali Velshi with you for the next hour. Here's what's on the "Rundown."

Life on other planets. We don't know yet, but we're about to know more and what we should be looking for. NASA has an announcement that's got the universe abuzz.

Plus, in "Q & A," with the world drowning in a flood of leaked documents, Richard Quest and I ask and answer, is exposing corporate secrets good or bad for business and for all of you?

And the search for answers to the education crisis. We just might find a few today with bright minds gathered right here in Atlanta.

Well, if you believe we're not alone in the universe, that somewhere, some kind of living thing must exist outside of our own tiny planet, today is your day. Any second now, NASA will make an announcement related to the search for evidence of extraterrestrial life.

Let me say right now, we do not expect to hear about real live aliens despite some of the Facebook and tweets I've had from those of you think that we've established that a long time.

Instead we think we're going to hear about microbes from a lake in Yosemite National Park. Scientists scooped up those microbes, took them a lab and what happened there might just rock your world. Remember this it's every chemical element known to mankind. I'll show this to you. Mark will help me.

This is the periodic table of the elements. Everything that's made. Every kind of life we know has these elements in it. The ones there in yellow only six of them, hydrogen up in the top corner, but then the five in yellow, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, carbon, sulphur, phosphorus, these are fundamental to supporting life.

The Yosemite lives and drives on arsenic, which is a deadly poison to the rest of us. It occurs all over the world, but not good for us. Now the knowledge that something, some being, some sort of life is using arsenic to survive could greatly expand the horizons of extraterrestrial search teams and they have been busy by the way. Just last month researchers found the first planet to come from outside of our Milky Way galaxy. This is an artist's rendition. Only yesterday, The journal "Nature" posted the news that the universe may have tripled the number of stars we first thought, the new astronomical number, 306tillion. How much is that? That is how much it is. I'm a business guy, can't even figure that out. Hope you have a widescreen TV to see that.

Let's talk a little about the implications of what we think NASA is going to announce momentarily. Again, we do not know for sure. Let's find out -- we'll find out together, but let's talk a couple of people.

Bill Nye, the science guy, also the vice president of Planetary Society is back. Dr. Jill Tarter is the director of the Center for SETI Research at the SETI. SETI stands for search for extraterrestrial intelligence. She was the inspiration for Jodi Foster's character in "Contact." Welcome to both of you.

Listen in with me, folks. We're going over to NASA and listen to their announcement. Let's listen in.

MARY VOYTEK, DIRECTOR, NASA ASTROBIOLOGY PROGRAM: From earth that was discovered that does something very unusual, this terrestrial life, but not life as we know it. This research was funded by the Astrobiology program, which is the research and analysis program in NASA that focuses on the origin and evolution of life, the distribution of life and future of life on earth to inform us as to how we might search for life and evidence of life in other places in our solar system.

NASA has had a long history of funding origin of life research. In fact, we're celebrating our 50th anniversary this year. The research that's going to be presented here today shows the goals of our program and our interest in the origin of life and life in the universe.

I would like to introduce Dr. Simon, the lead author on the paper to fill us in on what she did and what she found.

FELISA WOLFE-SIMON, NASA ASTROBIOLOGY RESEARCH FELLOW: Thanks, Mary.

Well, as Mary probably knows and as many of my colleagues would agree with, I'm always interested in exceptions to the rule. What I'm going to talk about here today is not that much different than another exception to the rule.

And so I've discovered -- I've led a team that has discovered, something that I've been thinking about for many years. I've been thinking about an idea of substitution. What does it mean to be substitution? What does it mean to be toxic? So I've led a team that discovered a microbe that can substitute arsenic.

All life that we know requires carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and sulphur and it uses those six elements and some of the critical pieces I think we're familiar with including DNA, RNA or the information technology, the protein which are the molecular machines and lipids, which separate you from everything else.

So by discovering, we discovered in our organism that can substitute one element for another in these bio-molecules. So I want to put that in the context of the who, what, where and how we did this and give us a little bit in an astrobiological context or life in a planetary context what this could mean to us on the practical and also a bit more esoteric levels.

I would like to introduce to you today the bacterium gfa-j1. These are not little pots to. They are microbes that scientists call bugs but they are not bugs. This is a bacterium that looks ordinary, this is a type of a micrograph that many of have seen but it's doing something extraordinary.

We'll talk about that. But first, let's find out where this microbe is from. You were looking at a map of Mono Lake, California. It's in northern California and east of the Sierra, just outside of the Yosemite National Park. It's a very interesting environment. We'll take a look at that. Please roll that footage. Mono lake has three times the salt of sea water, a pitch of 10 is basic like bleach and it's got very high levels of arsenic and teaming with life.

The seemingly inhospitable environment teams with life like bacteria and algae and is a major stopping point for migratory to birds on their way through the United States. We went to look for an interesting microbe and we went to an unusual place.

So let me tell you a little bit how we did this. If you want to look for an organism that can substitute one element for another you want to think where that is abundant. It's abundant in mono lake. We think about the periodic table. Arsenic life just below phosphorous on the periodic table they have the physical size that's very similar. Physical size of the atom.

Actually, the fact that this chemical similarity and other things that I would be happy they discuss at length with folks, but that chemical similarity lends insight into something that arsenic is toxic because it looks like phosphorus. So your cells and my cells and microbial cells, they can't tell the difference. That's very interesting to me as a biochemist.

So I went to look for this particular microbe. We took the mud from mono lake that we just we're introduced to and wanted to see if anything would grow if we took that mud and gave it an laboratory environment that was rich in everything it need, sugar, vitamins, not that bad for us, and we added no phospherous. This is not an experiment that most people might run, but it was driven by my question.

Is there a microbe on earth that could substitute arsenic for phosphorus and its basic bio-molecular constituents and so what did we find? We found that not only this microbe cope or ordeal with the toxicity of arsenic, but it grew and thrived. That was amazing. Nothing should have gone. Put your plant in the dark. It doesn't grow. So something grew. Now we wanted to find what was happening. So we measured the insides of the cell, we took the cells and measured the total arsenic concentration. Then we found that the arsenic was associated specifically with a band of genomic DNA.

So we isolated the genomic DNA and so we isolated the genomic DNA. I think a lot of have heard this kind of thing. We measured that there was arsenic there and then we could tell that the arsenic wasn't just stuck, it was in a type of chemical environment or nearest neighbors looked like it was behaving like phosphorous.

So it was associated. It was inside the cell. It's like sitting at a dinner table with you and your neighbors and we might see how you're around. Well, what should be in the place phosphorous? It looked like it was arsenic. We measured it as arsenic.

Let's look at an artist rendition of what's going on in that cell. Here we're seeing the beautiful elegant structure of the double helix of the DNA and what I want to highlight is the phosphate. That's the backbone we say and that's the light orange ball and it stitches together as we see the edges of the DNA. It holds together the DNA, the backbone.

What we think is happening, all the evidence we collected suggests is that instead of these we'll see these orange light orange balls disappear and represented by green balls we see that arsenic would be substituting for phosphorus and the backbone of the DNA. You can see how critical this component of the DNA might be.

So, what I've presented to you today is a microbe doing something different than life as we knew about it. I was taught all life we know on earth, all life we know of is here so far and if there's an organism on earth doing something different we've cracked open the door to what's possible for life elsewhere in the universe and that's profound. And to understand how life is formed and where life is going.

VELSHI: We'll keep listening to that.

Until this moment, I hadn't met anybody more excited about science than Bill Nye, but I think we've just heard - heard from her.

We're going to take a quick break. They will explain what she was talking about, what those microbes are and whether this means we've actually discovered alien life. When we come back we'll have more on this.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: All right, one of the best movies ever, "Close Encounters of The Third Kind." Let's talk about what we just heard though, it's important. I'm joined by Bill Nye, "The Science Guy"; also, the head of the Planetary Society and Dr. Jill Tarter, the director of the Center for SETI Research at the SETI Institute.

SETI stands for search for extraterrestrial intelligence. She was the inspiration for Judy Foster's character in contract. You both listen to this with me. First of Bill, you have been dethroned at the guy most excited about science. This woman, the astrobiologist that we just heard from was remarkably interested in this.

I want to talk about it for a second. I want to show you the elements, ingredients for everything chart. I want to show you where arsenic is. Right above it is phosphorous. You were telling us this about an hour ago. Just on the science, basically we found living, evidence of living beings that have swapped out phosphorous for arsenic, which we would think of as being toxic and we couldn't live with.

Tell us a little more about this.

BILL NYE, "THE SCIENCE GUY": It's arsenic for phosphorous not phosphorous for arsenic. It's all good. The thing that is striking, we didn't think that was possible. We thought it would kill you even if you're a microbe, we thought that would do you in. Trying to put arsenic with phosphorous but, apparently, if you're the right microbe it works OK.

So this gets to you ask new questions. Could it be that the elements, the requirements for making a living thing maybe aren't that hard. Maybe it's not as hard as we had heretofore thought. You and I rely on the same type of DNA. But perhaps you can put anything in that periodic column table if the conditions were right, everything over here you could put -- you could change one for the other, arsenic for phosphorous.

If you may remember there's a couple of science-fiction stories that has silicon exchange for carbon which is not so easy. This idea that it's to substitute things changes the way we look at living things and changes the way we think about what's possible.

VELSHI: Like your -- what you thought of as the possible world has now been expanded. There's a great description, bill of the science. Jill, let's take it out of the science realm and discuss the implications of this. First we were talking about microbes. They looked like potatoes. What does this mean in terms of alien life? By definition this is alien life because it's not like Bill said like everything else that we think of that is life.

JILL TARTER, DIRECTOR OF RESEARCH, SETI INSTITUTE: I'm not so sure I would go along with the alien life. This is an adaptation of life as we know it. Doing something that we didn't think could it. Just an indication that life is far more adaptable than perhaps we give it credit for.

But what this does, perhaps, is expand the habitable real estate out there. It's really intriguing and what would have been even more intrigue is to have, seen something that was on this planet a second genesis, independent evolution of a different type of life. What is being demonstrating is an adaptation, substitution, which is intriguing and fabulous.

VELSHI: Which means you don't think it came from somewhere else or it's a different sort of life than we've been used to? In other words not a sort of, it's hard to use this terminology it's not a life that exists parallel to life of organisms as we know it?

TARTER: No. I suspect on that panel as they go further, you will be hearing from Steve Benner who does synthetic technology, about some of the life he's creating in the lab. I don't think anybody is willing yet to say this is an independent life.

VELSHI: I see. OK. Interesting distinction, Bill, but as Jill said and as you said earlier, it could help us re-characterize what we think of as life. In other words does that mean that some of those planets we eliminated as possibilities for having habitable life we may have to re-evaluate and there's something out there that we didn't think about because we didn't think those environments could sustain life?

NYE: Well, there's very few planets that we eliminated the possibility of life. I got to else you in the scientific community maybe Venus. You know, you don't want to be Venus. That's bad for us as living things as we know it.

But there could be all kind of different types of life that no one of thought about and this experiment, this demonstration changes the way we look at things. No one would have thought you could live in arsenic very well until very, very recently, until the paper was peer reviewed.

It's very exciting and it changes the way we'll look for life elsewhere. Our argument is the more you know about this sort of thing, it affects the way you view what I like to call your place in space. Your life is enriched by knowing the earth goes around the sun, especially if you like your GPS or television or eating food growing in sign effect sophisticated ways. This is one more tiny step, perhaps, in our understanding of the role of DNA and how it affects life on earth.

If these sorts of microbes have evolved independently without the experiment, you know they did the experiment and showed it could be done. Well, now you might go looking for, let's say, for example an arsenic laid environment find them occurring naturally and then you might find another type of life a second genesis. Independent of us. It would affect the way we think everything about living things. It would change the world.

VELSHI: It legitimizes the stuff you do, Jill, because you have to have hope that there's something else out there that the rest of us are too small minded to even consider. Continue with the good work that you do Dr. Jill Tarter and Bill Nye, the science guy who has changed his bow tie in the last hour too. Exciting day. It's a new discovery.

Partisan bickering is the order of the day on the House floor right now as they debate whether to extend the tax cuts. Democrats want the BUSH ERA tax cuts extended only for the middle class families make under $250,000 a year. Republicans are adamant that the cuts should be extended for everyone.

A U.S. soldier was sentenced to nine years in prison for taking part in so-called sport killing of civilians in Afghanistan. Staff Sergeant Robert Stevens was busted down to private but loud to stay teenager. He'll cooperate with prosecutors. He was the first of 12 soldiers facing charges.

The defense could rest in the trial of a man charged in kidnapping Elizabeth Smart. Brian Mitchell is charged with kidnapped Smart in 2002 when she was 14 years old. Smart walked out of the courtroom yesterday during the testimony about Mitchell's desire to have children with his victims. Closing arguments are expected to wrap up by the end of next week.

All right, WikiLeaks is setting its sights on corporate world. Would pulling the curtain back on corporate world be bad for business? It's today's topic in Q and A with my pal Richard Quest after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: We're here together in the CNN NEWSROOM around the world.

Hello, Richard.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR & CORRESPONDENT: Hello, Ali.

Anything you can do, I can do better. Each Thursday Ali and I discuss the hot topics in business, in travel, in innovation and importantly nothing is off limits. Today, forget WikiLeaks, where WikiLeaks corporate secrets.

VELSHI: WikiLeaks is hinting that it has another document dump coming early next year, but this time they say it will be confidential communication at a large U.S. bank. So it made us wonder would spilling secrets about a bank or business be good or bad for business? Richard, I went first last time, so age before beauty, you go first now.

QUEST: Absolutely. Hair before those follicly challenged. We will go for 60 seconds and now. So at first blush, you think it's a good idea. Let everything out into the open, transparency, openness, secrecy. Get the illegal stuff out and then all of a sudden you remember whistle blowers.

Don't forget Proctor and Gamble in the 1940s. General motors and Volkswagen, Hewlett Packard spying on their board of directors. Even SAP and Oracle $4.3 billion was paid by U.S. companies last year in whistle blowers. Sound good so far.

But how would you like your secrets to be published somewhere? Never mind if it's not illegal, but just confidential, private, embarrassing, commercially sensitive. The truth of the matter is that secrecy and confidentiality is very good when it's yours, but of course when it's somebody else's let it all hang out. WikiLeaks should be well and truly plumbed.

VELSHI: We're talking about banks. There's no love for banks. Let me start 60 seconds from right now. WikiLeaks exist solely to publicize confidential and secret information on governments and business, pretty much to embarrass them with it as you said.

The website's controversial founder Julian Assange says he's going after a big U.S. bank next saying that exposing bad behavior among corporations will help ethical ones thrive. I'm curious as to what WikiLeaks might have that would take down a bank or two. U.S. banks are already up to their ears in scandal, faulty disclosure paper work, what more can WikiLeaks possibly reveal?

That big banks pay their executives more now than they did before the U.S. government bailed them out? Richard you can't embarrass somebody who has no shame. Unless WikiLeaks has something very special it may be promising more it can deliver. If WikiLeaks wanted to expose information relevant to public it's one thing. But Assange comes across as a man with a grudge.

QUEST: Once again, Ali, you've managed missed the point. The point is not whether it's in the public good, but whether or not it should be released. We'll argue about that in the future. All right.

VELSHI: I guess that means it's time for the quiz and the voice.

Hello, Voice.

THE VOICE: Gentlemen, it's time to put that expensive anchor TV dental work to the test. Here is question number one, "Time" magazine calls the WikiLeaks release of sensitive government documents is top leak of all time. What do they say is number two? Watergate? Valerie Plame as CIA agent? The McChrystal's war plan or "Twilight" movie details?

THE VOICE: Ali.

VELSHI: Watergate.

THE VOICE: Yes.

VELSHI: On the board early, thank you.

THE VOICE: You may remember the Watergate, deep throat revealed himself in 2005. Question, two are you ready in Julian Assange, is the public face of WikiLeaks. What use did he use when he started computer hacking at the tender age of 16. Was it A, Freedom fighter; B, Mendax; C, Moros; or D, Nemesis?

THE VOICE: Ali.

VELSHI: Take a guess at this, but given his general take on the world I would say D, Nemesis. THE VOICE: You would be wrong.

Richard Quest.

QUEST: I would say Mendax.

THE VOICE: Correct!

VELSHI: What is a Mendax?

THE VOICE: Contrary to popular belief Mendax is not a personal hygiene product for males. It's taken from the Latin of nobly untruthful. Fess up. You had no idea?

QUEST: Absolutely none whatsoever.

THE VOICE: All right. Next. Final question, gentlemen. It's one of the closest guarded corporate secrets of all time. What is the code name of Coca-Cola Classic's secret formula? Is it A, Merchandise 7X; B, Coke Plan X; C, redgold; or D, Formula Number 3. Richard quest for the win.

QUEST: I'm going Formula Number 3.

THE VOICE: Wrong.

VELSHI: We can't let Quest win on that. I'll call it B, Coke Plan X.

THE VOICE: Also wrong.

Quest.

QUEST: Merchandise 7X.

THE VOICE: It's correct. Merchandise 7X. The failed new coke formula was called Merchandise 7X-100.

Quest, you're the winner. Until next time, goodbye.

VELSHI: Remember we're here each week Thursdays on Quest Means Business, 19:00 GMT.

QUEST: And in the CNN NEWSROOM at 2:00 p.m. Eastern. We need your topics coming to our blogs. CNN.com/QMB or CNN.com/Ali. What do you want us to talk about next week?

VELSHI: See you, Richard.

QUEST: See you.

VELSHI: It's deadly and unlike any weapon of its type in history. The Army's new smart rifle being used in Afghanistan. We'll show you how it works and why it's so important next in "Globe Trekking. "

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Let me bring you the latest developments in the day's major stories.

NASA out on big announcement on possible life beyond what we know. Researchers say the strange bacteria that uses arsenic instead of phosphorous as one of its nutrient expands the scope of finding new life on earth and possibly beyond.

The House is expected to vote on extending Bush era tax cuts for those making $250,000 or less. Republicans called the Democratic move a stunt. The GOP wants extensions for all taxpayers.

And soccer's World Cup won't be coming to the United States any time soon. The tiny Middle East nation of Qatar beat out the United States, Japan, South Korean and Australia to host the world's largest sporting event in 2022. The 2018 World Cup was awarded to Russia.

Time now for "Globe Trekking."

The U.S. Army calls it a revolutionary weapon that makes American soldiers, in its words, more lethal and safer. I'm talking about the XM-25 Smart Rifle. It's now being used for the first time on any battlefield in Afghanistan.

The Army says the shoulder-fired grenade launcher can kill an enemy hiding behind walls or other cover. It uses an array of sights, sensors and lasers that read the distance to the target, assess elements like air pressure and then it sends the data to a microchip that's embedded in the shell before its launch. So, a soldier can program the shell to explode just over an enemy hiding behind a wall, showering lethal fragmentation over the hiding area.

Just a few of these rifles are in country now, but Pentagon plans to buy more than 12,000 of them beginning next year.

Let's take you to Russia now. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is outraged over the latest WikiLeaks. In one State Department cable released by WikiLeaks, Defense Secretary of State (ph) Robert Gates is quoted saying that Russian democracy has disappeared and the government was an oligarchy run by the security services. Putin dismissed the complaint, calling Gates deeply misled. Also in an interview with CNN's Larry King, Putin says he'll make a concerted decision about whether again -- whether he'll seek the presidency again in 2012. Robert Gates, obviously, is the defense secretary of the United States.

Our last stop, the Ivory Coast -- still no winner in the country's runoff presidential election. The constitutional council today rejected the results, this after the electoral commission had declared the former prime minister has defeated his rival, the incumbent president. The constitutional council says it took the action because the results were announced after a set deadline. One electoral commission member, a supporter of the president, became so outraged that he tore up the ballots. OK. Check out this tweet. It says, quote, "Hey colonel! Your scholarship -- your scholarship's the secret ingredient missing from my recipe for success! Got the grades, drive, just need the cash." How those few words got one student a whole lot of money -- coming up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: All right. In full disclosure here, I have as you might guess from my physic, an unnatural affinity for fried chicken. So, I'm just going to put that out there. Now, I'm going to tell you the story.

A student from Long Beach, California, had a tweet that was so finger-clickin' good that it won her a $20,000 scholarship. Seventeen-year-old Amanda Russell is the winner of the KFC tweeting contest. We told you about that. She beat out more than 2,800 applicants who tried to tweet their way to some college cash.

KFC said tweet 140 characters or less why you should get the scholarship. Here's her winning tweet. "Hey, Colonel! Your scholarship's the secret ingredient missing from my recipe for success. Got the grades, drive, just need the cash." Congrats to Amanda.

Meanwhile, KFC is giving out 74 more scholarships for next year. Check out KFCScholars.org for more information.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "WAITING FOR SUPERMAN")

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, you think that most of the kids here are getting a crappy education right now?

MICHELLE RHEE, CHANCELLOR, D.C. PUBLIC SCHOOLS: Oh, I don't think they are. I know they are.

GEOFFREY CANADA, EDUCATION REFORMER: Either the kids are getting stupider every year or something is wrong in the education system.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: If you haven't seen the movie, "Waiting for Superman," you should, because it's a cultural touchstone at this point. It's going to be something that people are going to be referring to whether you agree with the premise of the movie or not.

Now, the clip in there highlights some of the problems within the public school system -- public school system throughout the country. Education crisis is so bad in this country that one-third of American students do not graduate from high school and that number increases to 50 percent for Hispanic and African-American males. The United States is the only industrialized country where young people are less likely than their parents to earn a high school diploma.

Now, we have made this a point on our show, day after day, to look at ways to turn these stats around and to fix our schools. Joining me now is Judith Pickens. She's a senior vice president of the Boys and Girls Club of America.

Judith, thank you for being here.

JUDITH PICKENS, BOYS AND GIRLS CLUBS OF AMERICA: It is my pleasure to be here, Ali.

VELSHI: You have -- you have hosted today a town hall meeting where you tried to have discussions about what you can do. You hosted it here in Atlanta. Tell me who attended and what you discussed.

PICKENS: Yes. We had a wonderful town hall meeting at the Woodruff Arts Center, and it was co-hosted by Boys and Girls Clubs of America and participant media and Paramount Pictures spurred on because of the "Waiting for Superman" documentary.

VELSHI: You used that as part of the town hall?

PICKENS: Yes, we did. And we showed segments or clips from the film itself for our dialogue. It really was a rich discussion.

VELSHI: What did you come away with? What are some of the things that you took away from it?

PICKENS: Well, first of all, it was such a diverse audience of participants. We had business leaders, the faith-based institutions, community-based organizations, like Boys and Girls Clubs, but also Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, the YMCA was there. So, we were well- represented. The Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce was there. So, it was a great mix of participants.

And the purpose was to allow the community to understand that they definitely have a role to play. That none of us, because of the magnitude of this problem --

VELSHI: Right.

PICKENS: -- can settle it by ourselves. There is much work to be done.

So, the community at large has a role to play. You know, many, many years ago, the community used to be your extended family.

VELSHI: Right.

PICKENS: And the African proverb that it takes a village to raise a child holds more credence now than ever before.

VELSHI: Absolutely, it does.

PICKENS: So, we can't allow anybody to sit on the sidelines.

VELSHI: But what can all of these groups do? I mean -- and I sort of get that some of it's obvious. In Boys and Girls Clubs, for instance, just promoting the idea that people have somewhere to go, that have some supervision, that have activities is helpful because it keeps them away from not doing those things.

But what kind of learning did you get about what these different groups can do to support a failing education system?

PICKENS: Well, we can make sure that there's a supportive, caring adult in the life of a child.

VELSHI: Right.

PICKENS: Somebody can be there to mentor them, to believe in them, to tell them that you will graduate from high school, or you will go to college and you will get a good job one day. So, unless there's a caring adult that has high expectations for them, that can raise that bar, that believes in them, that can build their self- esteem, to understand that this is really a possibility that they can go to college, that's absolutely a necessity.

We need to take more time in the lives of our children. We can volunteer at a local organization like a Boys and Girls Clubs. We can have participation in church or any other civic organization. But there has to be caring adults in the life of a child. That is critically important.

VELSHI: All right. So, that's a good role for everybody else who watches these things saying, well, I'm not a teacher, I'm not a school administrator.

PICKENS: You don't have to be.

VELSHI: What can I do help solve the problem. Judith, thanks so much for doing that.

PICKENS: Well, we need them to be part of the education equation. You know, people just think of the schools or family or the caregivers, but the part of the community that is often overlooked is the community-based organizations.

VELSHI: It should everyone else.

PICKENS: Yes.

VELSHI: Good point. Judith, thanks very much for being with us.

PICKENS: Thank you.

VELSHI: Judith Pickens, senior vice president of the Boys and Girls Club of America.

PICKENS: My pleasure.

VELSHI: Let me bring you up to speed with some of the top stories we're following right now.

Only days to go before the Bush era tax cuts end. And House Republicans and Democrats have wrapped their debate today on whether to extend them for the middle class. That's for those people making less than $250,000 a year. Republicans want all taxpayers included.

The man convicted in the 2007 murders of a Connecticut woman and her two daughters will pay with his life. A judge says Steven Hayes wrote the sentence for himself in flames. Prosecutors say he and an accomplice raped and strangled the mother, molested one of the girls and then set their home on fire. Only the father escaped.

Senator John McCain says now is not the time to repeal the policy banning gays from serving openly in the military. But Defense Secretary Robert Gates disagreed during a Senate hearing today. Top brass from the Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines will address the committee tomorrow.

Well, Cleveland's former favorite son hits the hard court there tonight, debuting his first -- his new Miami Heat jersey in his old town. You better believe LeBron James former fans have a special homecoming prepared. A live update, straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: That's going to make a lot of sense to you, that tune, in just a second. The heat is on, indeed.

But first, the World Cup Selection Committee, the heat was on them. Their announcement today of future host countries has raised a couple of eyebrows, particularly for the 2022 tournament. The desert Emirate of Qatar beat out Australia, Japan, South Korea and the United States.

It'll be the first World Cup held in the Middle East. The first with state-of-the-art cooling systems at training, playing and fan venues. Why? Well, because it's hot there? Average high in June and July, when the event will be held, 106 degrees, but it's a dry heat they tell me.

And doing a 180 climate-wise, Russia got the nod for 2018. It knocked off three Western European rivals, England had also sought the Cup and there were joint bids by Spain and Portugal and by Belgium and the Netherlands.

Well, time may heal all wounds, but try telling that to basketball fans in Cleveland. It's been nearly five months since hometown star LeBron Kames did a fast break down to Miami, and tonight the city gets to welcome him back, their hoops hero turned evil villain.

CNN Sports' Mark McKay is in Cleveland with a preview. The heat is not on just yet, but it is going to get hot later on in Cleveland. What's going on, Mark?

MARK MCKAY, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Well, I can tell you, it's very appropriate, Ali, that you come to us with that, the heat son. How about "Heated Return: Will it be cheers or jeers tonight at the Q?" on the front page of the "Cleveland Plain Dealer." That's the question, we don't know whether it will be cheers, jeers, will it be silence. How will LeBron James be treated? We know how it was five months ago, Ali. Remember the scenes on the streets here in Cleveland when fans were burning LeBron's Cavs jersey after he came out with the infamous decision to go south Florida, to take his talents to South Beach. There was a lot of anger back then.

There is some feeling, certainly the feeling of the organization, Ali, that the Cavs have moved on, but have the fans? It really depends on who you ask. We're looking forward seeing how it will all come down here in the Q in the coming hours, Ali.

VELSHI: At the Q, at the Quicken Center, there are security concerns in Cleveland at the Q and with the teams. Tell me what's going on with that?

MCKAY: Well, first of all, every fan that walks in here for the past five seasons they've had to walk through a metal detector to get from the outside in. That is something the Cavs organization very so proud about here at Quicken Loans arena.

There will be added security, plainclothes officers along with uniformed officers. The NBA is adding security. They hope to be very airtight. And, of course, when it comes to concession you're not going to drink your alcoholic beverage out of a bottle or even a plastic bottle tonight, Ali. Everything will be put into the plastic cups. So that will be out of the way.

But there's an interesting question. We got to wonder about LeBron's pregame ritual. This could really set this place on fire. If he goes to the scorer's table and does what he normally does, Ali, which is the chalk toss, because that is literally to really fire himself up, it could it have an opposite effect tonight. LeBron is kind of silent on that whether, Ali, he will go and continue that ritual here at the Q.

VELSHI: OK, all eyes on that game. Mark McKay, you'll be on top of it and we will chat with you later on.

Mark McKay, at the Q in Cleveland.

President Obama welcomes some new faces to Washington, but not all of them could necessarily be considered friendly. Your CNN Political Update coming up right after the break.

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VELSHI: It is time now for a CNN Political Update and possible positive movement on those tax cuts we've been talking about. CNN chief national correspondent John King joins me now from Washington with the latest.

Debates wrapped up in the House, John?

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The House is voting, Ali, today. That's on one proposal, that's the Democratic proposal that they concede is a political vote just to essentially say the Democrats want to go on the record as saying they want to extend those tax cuts only for middle class Americans, and that everybody else above $250,000 should see their taxes go up.

But the big game in town are those negotiations. The administration has a team, the House Democrats have a team, the House -- Senate Democrats, too, plus Republicans from both sides who are beginning to hear a general outline emerging, although still a lot of details to work.

Most of the Democrats seem resigned, Ali, that they are probably going have to accept probably a two-year extension of the Bush tax cuts as it is. The question in return is what do the Democrats get? Do they get an extension of those unemployment benefits? Do they get any other job incentives that they want to put into the tax code?

And what we're beginning to hear, our correspondents and producers on Capitol Hill reporting, is a lot of jittery Democrats worrying that the White House won't stand in that fight long enough to get them everything they want. So Democratic jitters as those negotiations go out.

And here's another example of the jitters on the left. Moveon.org, you remember them, a grassroots Democratic organization, they spent a lot of money on campaign ads, they have volunteers and email networks all across the country, they are putting up a new TV ad and the theme of the ad is we want the old Obama back. And they have several of their supporters in the ad essentially saying what happened to that guy we helped elect back in 2008. Why is he making all of these compromises with the Republicans? One woman in the ad specifically says, Mr. President, please do not compromise with the Republicans about extending the Bush tax cuts. So you see some liberal anxiety.

And finally, the governor (sic), as you noted just before the break, did get a look out at the new political landscape. He invited the newly elected governors to a luncheon over at the Blair House right across the street from White House. And he made a joke saying that he sees some Democratic friends out there, but not as much as he hoped.

Now, why the joke? Because the Republicans, of course, made big gains in the governor's races as well as the races for Congress. But the president was saying, look, we'll have some partisan fights down the road. What he wanted the new state chief executives to know, and he said this, if you have a problem, call me directly and I'll help you out.

VELSHI: Part of the new bipartisan Washington.

Oh, I think, John, we --

KING: I got you back now.

VELSHI: I was going to say, it's part of the new bipartisan Washington, but tell me a bit about what you've got lined up for the show tonight, because you have an interesting discussion about taxes and deficits.

KING: Well, we're bringing in two leading conservative voices, Mike Pence for the House, who is thinking about running for president on the Republican side, Jim DeMint in the Senate, who many conservatives wish would run for president on the Republican side, he says he won't.

They have their own proposals today saying let's permanently extend all the tax cuts. They essentially want to do even more than the Republican leadership is trying to negotiate in their meetings, and so we want to talk to them about.

But then to the conversation we had earlier, OK, if you want to do that, and they don't have the votes for that, the president would probably veto that anyway, but if you're going have that discussion, that's going to cost Washington a lot of money. What about the deficit? What about the long-term debt? What tough choices would you make there? That's a conversation we want to have.

VELSHI: We'll tune in for it tonight, John. Good to see you, as always.

"JOHN KING, USA" tonight at 7:00 p.m. Eastern.

CNN, committed to keeping you informed on all the important political news. Your next update is just an hour away.

Well, why is Congress balking on extending those unemployment benefits? And how could the partisan bickering backfire for the economy? I'll tell you in my "XYZ" right after this.

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VELSHI: Time now for "The XYZ of It."

Congress is deadlocked over extending jobless benefits for millions of Americans suffering from long-term unemployment. If nothing is done, up to 2 million people could lose the temporary support they receive from the federal government, on average, $300 a month.

Now, again, what we're seeing is partisan posturing without fully appreciating the big picture. Republicans insist that any benefits extension must be funded with budget cuts elsewhere to address the party's concern about deficits. Meanwhile, Democrats are holding out for a deal that would include extending Bush-era tax cuts for the middle class while letting them expire for the wealthy.

And as lawmakers continue to bicker with each other, millions of Americans fret over their benefits possible running out. Three hundred may not sound like a lot of money, but that amount can be a lifeline for millions of jobless Americans and their families who are just trying to get by in a down economy.

What's more, the Congressional Budget Office estimates for every dollar spent on unemployment benefits, the economy gets back almost double in increased activity because the jobless immediately go out and spend their benefits on basic needs, fueling economic growth. On the flip side, allowing those benefits to drop now could inflict another blow to America's economy right when signs of recovery are starting to show.

That's my "XYZ." Brooke Baldwin takes it from here.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Ali Velshi, thank you.