Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
President Obama Visits Troops in Afghanistan; Debt, Taxes and Jobs; International Reaction to WikiLeaks; John Lennon's Son Remembers; Road to Recovery; Moms Buying Breast Milk Online; President Obama Makes Surprise Visit to Troops in Afghanistan; Unemployment Up to 9.8 Percent; Deficit Package Fails to Make It to Congress; More Than 40 Dead in Northern Israel Blaze; South Korea Takes Gloves Off; Studying What's Right and What's Wrong With Chicago Schools
Aired December 03, 2010 - 14:00 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."
You think Washington is fired up over WikiLeaks? Wait until you see how the rest of the world is reacting today.
Plus, beware. Your Internet use is being tracked, but the federal government is proposing new rules to protect your privacy.
And if you need a job, maybe you need to move. We have the list of hot cities for hiring.
But let's begin in Afghanistan, with an unexpected visitor.
President Obama turned up today at Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan, bringing holiday greetings to U.S. troops and personally awarding four Purple Hearts. He was planning to also visit Kabul, the capital, and President Hamid Karzai. That relationship is delicate, at best, and likely strained by those WikiLeaks cables depicting Karzai as "paranoid and weak, shrewd but insecure."
That meeting never happened. Bad weather forced Mr. Obama to stay at the Bagram Air Base.
Now, if you were with us last hour, you heard the president's live remarks to a force that he built up substantially over the past year.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We may face a tough enemy in Afghanistan, and we're in a period of tough challenges back home, but we did not become the nation that we are because we do what's easy. As Americans, we've endured and we've grown stronger, and we remain the land of the free only because we're also home of the brave. And because of you, I know that once more, we will prevail.
So thank you. God bless you. And God bless the United States of America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELSHI: This is President Obama's second visit to Afghanistan as commander in chief. And this has been the deadliest year of the war so far. He's expected to start the long trip home any minute now.
Rich or poor, employed or not, Republican or Democrat, or neither, every American has a direct financial stake in what's happening in Washington right now.
Let me start with -- just about everybody was a little taken off course by this. Everyone who watches the labor market stunned by the job numbers for November.
The smart money was looking for 150,000 jobs to be created. What we got was 39,000 jobs. Now, growth is growth, but that's pretty weak.
The unemployment rate rose, too, from 9.6 percent to 9.8 percent. That could boost the case, by the way, for extending federal job benefits, which the White House wants to do in exchange for the Bush- era tax cuts for everybody, including the rich.
Now, that would add trillions of dollars to the national debt, which took another blow, by the way, when the independent panel charged with restoring fiscal responsibility failed to fully endorse its own plan. Eleven of the 18 members voted yes. Yes, of course that is a majority. But under the rules, 14 "yes" votes were needed to send the plan for a vote at Congress.
So where does that leave us? Well, the Senate plans a couple of votes tomorrow on the tax cuts. But the real action, we think, is happening in closed-door talks with the White House. And its own vote notwithstanding, the debt panel says it has laid the groundwork for huge changes in taxes and spending that lawmakers cannot ignore.
So, for "Two and the Top," I turn to my "YOUR $$$$$" co-host, Christine Romans.
Christine, let's talk about the job numbers, first of all. A gain of 39,000 when we were expecting 150,000.
What do you make of that?
CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Right. Clearly, a disappointment, Ali. I don't know anybody who can try to spin this any other way.
I mean, you do have positive jobs growth for two months in a row. You just had last month revised upward to about 172,000 jobs created in October. But in November, only 39,000 jobs created, and 50,000 overall private sector jobs created.
That is the right direction, as you point out, but it's not enough. And that continues to be a problem.
When you look at the whole year for jobs growth overall, I mean, the trend is improving and the trend is what's important here. But improving very cautiously, Ali, and not improving as much as some of the other indicators in the economy would suggest.
Also, when you look just at that private -- again, you want the private sector creating jobs. We know that small businesses, businesses that employ less than 500 people, less than 100 people, they have been adding jobs. But it's private sector jobs growth, 11 months in a row now of positive jobs growth from the private sector. But it has been slow and it has been cautious, and it's not enough to keep the unemployment rate, Ali, from rising.
VELSHI: All right. I want to ask you about the president's debt commission. They had come out with some very broad-ranging proposals -- cutting the mortgage interest deduction, increasing retirement age, increasing some taxes, putting an increase in tax on gasoline.
What is likely to happen with this?
ROMANS: Well, here's what's interesting. Yes, it got a majority, the president's commission, but it's not enough to send those recommendations to Congress. But it's more than budget watchers had expected.
It's more successful in terms of the agreement there than people who watched this very closely had expected. And I think that's kind of a surprise.
So we'll see what kind of mission this gives the new Congress in January. But David Gergen, on our weekend show, which people can watch tomorrow at 1:00 on the East Coast, 3:00 on Sunday, he actually thinks they didn't go far enough in the first place, they weren't bold enough in the first place. And he talks about in terms of saving our country, Ali, that this is really -- this is going to be the story the history books are going to be telling someday, what we do with our deficit and our debts. And I think that's something remarkable for people to think about today.
VELSHI: All right, Christine. You're right, we have great discussions about this on our weekend show, on "YOUR $$$$$."
Take a look at that, "YOUR $$$$$," Saturdays at 1:00 p.m. Eastern, Sundays at 3:00 p.m. Eastern.
Christine also the author of "Smart is the New Rich," which you can get on bookshelves now.
All right. The man who outraged several U.S. lawmakers and plenty of other Americans is speaking out again. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange today conducted an online interview with "The Guardian" newspaper defending the document leaks.
Many here in the United States have denounced the leaks and believe Assange should be jailed. Republican Senator John McCain, for one, says the leaks are "an incredible breach of national security," but his opinion is by no means universal. To get a handle on what those outside the U.S. are saying, we're turning to CNN Senior International Correspondent Nic Robertson in Kabul and Atika Shubert in London.
Nic, let's start with you.
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the big word from Kabul is silence.
President Karzai was supposed to speak with President Obama, and it didn't happen. And I talked to his spokesman earlier in the day and he said he's not going to make any comments right now about this. And every other Afghan politician we've tried to call here to talk to about the leaks and about how they're implicated simply shutting up shop and not talking about it.
It is very sensitive, and so many people are implicated here, they just seem to be wanting to shrug their shoulders and pretend it didn't happen. I guess the same way they pretend that corruption is not really happening -- Ali.
VELSHI: Nic, is there some sense, though, amongst people in these countries that they like the openness that Julian Assange and WikiLeaks has produced by offering up all these documents?
ROBERTSON: You know, I think for a lot of Afghans, and for many others who watch Afghanistan, there is not a huge amount of surprise. I guess what's surprising is we're getting to hear it through sort of semi-quasi official channels, if you will, the official word on these things.
But Afghans here know that their government is corrupt. That's what's been laid out in these leaks. They know the people who are corrupt.
They know the former warlords are back in government. They know if you want to be a governor in a province here, then you can get the job by paying hundreds of thousands of dollars for it. They know top officials in the country have been walking out of the country with money.
So I think the reality here is it's no big surprise. I mean, that's probably really the home truth here -- Ali.
VELSHI: Right. All right, Nic.
Let's go to London. Atika Shubert is there.
What's the feedback, Atika, on the street and in diplomatic channels in Great Britain?
ATIKA SHUBERT, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, in diplomatic channels, certainly the British government is not happy with these leaks. But on the street is a different matter.
Julian Assange and WikiLeaks have tremendous online support, which may not be a surprise considering that's where a lot of WikiLeaks operates, of course. He had an online question-and-answer session with "The Guardian" British newspaper. He had a few questions there.
He was able to answer some of them, basically addressing some of the threats not only to WikiLeaks at the site, but also to him personally. He also said this is a matter for freedom of speech.
And he also said for those who are trying to stop WikiLeaks putting out this kind of information, that it's simply not going to happen. And to quote him directly, he said, "The Cablegate archive has been spread, along with significant material from the U.S. and other countries, to over 100,000 people in encrypted form."
This is something we have known WikiLeaks has done. All WikiLeaks has to do is send out the password key, and all of the information in its archives will basically pop up in mirror sites all around the world. So, basically, Assange is saying WikiLeaks is here to stay.
VELSHI: Wow.
All right. Atika, thanks very much.
Atika and Nic with world reaction to WikiLeaks.
Well, it's considered sacred ground where the nation's heroes are buried with honor. So the latest problems at Arlington National Cemetery are appalling.
Eight sets of ashes have been found in a single grave meant for an unknown service member. Saying it's most likely not a mistake, the Army launched a criminal investigation, the fourth cemetery probe in the last few years.
Shuttle Discovery's final mission is going to have to wait a little longer. It was originally set for liftoff last month. Weather and technical issues scuttled that. The next launch window, two weeks away, but NASA officials just came out and said that's not going to happen.
Those technical issues are fixed, but NASA still doesn't know what caused them and what they want to do. And they want to do some more tests. The new, very tentative window is around February the 3rd.
Well, a son remembers his assassinated father. Julian Lennon's heartfelt comments about John Lennon, coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC)
VELSHI: All right. He's John Lennon's first son. He's a musician in his own right. Julian Lennon's mother was John Lennon's first wife. In a revealing interview with CNN's John Roberts, Julian Lennon talks about his famous father and how he has lived with his death for the past 30 years.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Former Beatle John Lennon has been shot at his Manhattan apartment tonight. Police say that Lennon was taken to Roosevelt Hospital, where his condition --
JULIAN LENNON, JOHN LENNON'S SON: Hard to imagine it was reality. Still to this day, in so many ways, it still feels like a dream.
JOHN ROBERTS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): John Lennon's first son Julian was in Liverpool when he got the news.
LENNON: I came downstairs, all the curtains were closed. You know, found out what had happened and then, of course, you know, when mom arrived, we were in bits.
ROBERTS: He immediately flew to New York.
LENNON: Every person on that plane had the -- had the newspaper of dad's, you know, picture and John Lennon slain, murdered, and that was a toughie. That was a toughie.
ROBERTS: He went right to the Dakota for a tearful reunion with his 5-year-old brother Sean.
(on camera): You had a sense of responsibility, of duty as a big brother?
LENNON: Well, yes. Reminded me of something.
ROBERTS: What did it remind you of?
LENNON: Well, my life, you know. We were of similar age when he sort of left us. I mean, the first time around that it happened to me, at least, you know, he didn't pass away. But this was going to be tough on a little boy that had a great deal of love going for his father.
ROBERTS (voice-over): Love that Julian never received from his father as a child.
LENNON: To a degree I was abandoned as a kid, you know, twice -- if not three times in many respects.
ROBERTS: It was the height of Beatlemania and John was on the road constantly. Eventually he divorced Julian's mother Cynthia, moved to New York, and started a new family with Yoko Ono. Julian only saw his father a handful of times before his death.
LENNON: He obviously was trying to reach out later in life, no question about it. And he knew that, you know, I still was looking -- longing for that relationship with him.
ROBERTS (on camera): Do you feel cheated that you were denied that opportunity?
LENNON: Well, of course, I do. I mean, no question about it. It's beyond sadness that he's not around, obviously. But there's nothing anybody can do about that.
ROBERTS (voice-over): December 8th marks the 30th anniversary of Lennon's murder. His killer Mark David Chapman was just denied parole for the sixth time.
(on camera): Should he ever be released?
LENNON: I can't answer that. You know, there's supposed to be room in our hearts, all of our hearts for forgiveness. My own thoughts are personal on that and my own and will remain that way. That's for me and my own thoughts in my own quiet time.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VELSHI: And John Roberts joins us now.
John, he said he was abandoned a couple of times. What do we know about how much time Julian Lennon and John Lennon spent together?
ROBERTS: They didn't spend a whole lot of time together when he was a little boy. Of course, the Beatles were always on the road. As a matter of fact, when he was born, John and his wife Cynthia kept his birth a secret, not knowing how Beatle fans would take to a Beatle who was both married and had a child.
Then, over the years, it was very sporadic once in a while. And then when he was 8 years old, John picked up and left and went to New York City. And they saw each other rarely.
It was May Pang who was John's girlfriend after he and Yoko broke up for about 18 months who actually was instrumental in bringing the two back together. And what's most tragic is that John was really making an effort in the early part of 1980 toward having that relationship with Julian that he never, ever had. And then just when it looked like it was going to come from fruition, John Lennon was taken away from his son.
VELSHI: You mentioned his first wife who we don't know a lot about. Tell us a bit about her.
ROBERTS: Cynthia Lennon. The two of them met at a very early age in England. After John Lennon divorced her, she got remarried.
Julian Lennon talks in our interview about his stepfather, with whom he's not particularly great friends. But he remained very close with his mother.
And we should point out that Julian Lennon was in New York -- the reason we interviewed him was because he is now into photography, and he had a photography exhibit that was at one of the hotels down in SoHo. And on his opening night, it brought together for the very first time Julian and Sean Lennon, Yoko Ono, and his mother Cynthia, who came to the exhibit as well.
VELSHI: Wow.
ROBERTS: So the entire family got together for the very first time.
VELSHI: You really do know a lot about this. I'm going to just ask you based on what you just said, what is his relationship with his younger brother and with Yoko Ono?
ROBERTS: The two of them have a very good relationship. This is Julian and Sean. In fact, the photography exhibit, most of the photographs were of Sean Lennon, who is also a musician on tour in Europe.
Julian told us that when John was killed, he really felt the responsibility to go over to New York immediately and to be with Sean, because even though they were half-brothers, he said, "We're blood. And when you're a blood relative, you have to be there for each other."
But the two of them have a very tight relationship. His relationship with Yoko is not certainly as tight as that, but the two of them have affection for each other, and they see each other once in a while. But certainly it's a little more removed than the relationship -- quite a bit more removed than the relationship that he has with Sean.
VELSHI: Yes. John, you've got some great storytelling in here and some great reporting. So we look forward to seeing it.
Thank you, John.
And you can see John's documentary on "Losing Lennon," including exclusive recordings and rare interviews this Saturday and Sunday starting at 8:00 p.m. Eastern, only on CNN.
OK. This week the Federal Trade Commission proposed a "Do Not Track" option to protect your privacy on the Internet. Is it an idea that's long overdue, one that's incredibly obvious? Or could it kill the Internet as we know it?
That's coming up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC)
VELSHI: Excellent. I love any excuse to use some '80s music here.
This week, the Federal Trade Commission proposed a "Do Not Track" option for the Internet to protect our privacy when we're shopping or browsing online. With private data abuses and security lapses constantly popping up in the headlines, the idea of choosing to take yourself off the radar might sound very appealing, but the FTC's proposal does face opposition from both the tech industry, as you might expect, and from lawmakers who believe if it were adopted, it could open a Pandora's box of unintended consequences.
Joining me now to share his opinions on the FTC proposal is Shelly Palmer, a good friend of ours and the host of NBC Universal's "Live Digital With Shelly Palmer."
Shelly, good to see you.
I have to say, when I saw this, I thought, great, I signed up for the Do Not Call List for marketers. I would love to sign up for this. I thought it was a no-brainer, and why has it taken so long to do it in the first place.
And then I started to see that there was opposition to this. Somebody said to me if they put in this "Do Not Track" law, it could end the Internet as we know it, or at least the free Internet as we know it.
(LAUGHTER)
SHELLY PALMER, MANAGING DIRECTOR, ADVANCED MEDIA VENTURES GROUP, LLC: Well, first of all, this is FUD, fear uncertainty and doubt. The Do Not Call List makes a lot of sense because it annoys you. Somebody calls you, you have to pick up the phone, and there is actually a physical act which is unfortunate and annoying.
Here, "Do Not Track" makes no sense whatsoever. First of all, you cannot find an instance of any human being anywhere who has ever had anything bad happen to them because their data was being tracked.
Remember, this data goes into files that are terabytes. And for those who are not technical, that's a frighteningly large amount of data. And machines determine not who you are or what you're doing, but what you're more likely to want to look at.
So, to have a good, robust, emotionally satisfying experience online like going to a Web site, it looks at your behaviors. It looks at how you do what you do online, and then it serves you content that's relevant to your interests.
If you have take that away, everybody is going to be in a terribly worse situation.
VELSHI: I hear you, but in the world where we're talking about WikiLeaks all of a sudden, I'm not sure I want other people knowing where I shop, what I look at, who I communicate with.
PALMER: And, in fact, Ali, you're absolutely right. You don't want other people knowing that.
But if you and I decided right now to look at the behaviors that happened at the Ali Velshi computer terminal, it would take us days and a ton of computer power to finds which key strokes are yours. It would require such an effort.
That's not what this is about. This is strictly people fear- mongering. You are not going to have a better situation. You're going to have a worse situation. And here's why.
The unintended consequences get crazy. Data is important to advertisers, data is important to your Web experience. And what's going to happen is if you put together a "Do Not Track" list, and you make it that people have to opt into that, the only people who are going to comply are the people who do a good job right now policing themselves.
And still, everyone who does a bad job, and the untoward, and the under-classed, the people you really want out, will still put the cookies on your computer, will still put the beacons on your computer, because there's no way to enforce this. There is no good that can come of the FTC doing this -- none.
VELSHI: OK. So if I want some degree of security or some comfort -- I may just want comfort, that what I'm doing is private -- what are my options? And I'm going to ask you -- this is a two-part question.
What are my options? And what, ,if anything, should the FTC do? Should there be some law if you don't like this one that they're proposing?
PALMER: Actually, it's really easy. You simply turn off cookies and you turn of beacons in your browser. Every browser has the option to do that. If you don't know how to do it, you shouldn't be online.
If you are not tech savvy enough to understand that your car needs a key and you have to fill it with gas, you shouldn't drive a car. If you don't know where your security settings are on your browser, stop browsing the Internet if you're that worried about it, because you shouldn't be there, you don't know what you're doing.
Opt out and then see how your Web experience changes. And if you like it when you have no cookies and no --
VELSHI: You can't get anything. If you don't put your cookies on, you can't get to any Web sites that are of any value.
PALMER: Because no one should be this arrogant. Nobody cares who you are or what you're doing.
They're looking at the behaviors you exhibit, and that's what's important. You like BMWs, so you click on BMW ads. They're not going to send you ads for stuff that's like Volkswagens, then, or they're not going to send you ads for tampons because you're looking at BMWs.
When you turn off cookies, anything can happen because they're going to send you general stuff that's meaningless. I just think this is crazy and this is FUD-mongering.
VELSHI: So should there be any law? PALMER: Look, there should be guidelines and policies which, by the way, the industry already follows. Go to the Internet Advertising Bureau and look at the guidelines.
Every real live advertiser is already following them. And by the way, you can't find anybody who has been harmed on the other side of this. There is no person that has been harmed by this. I know the second you put "Do Not Track," I'd click it, Ali. I'd personally click it.
VELSHI: Something tells me I'm going to go back to my computer and there's going to be tweets and Facebook messages from somebody telling me they were harmed by it because their information was stolen. Their identity was stolen.
PALMER: I can't wait! I can't wait! Yes, but this is not about identity theft.
VELSHI: OK.
PALMER: This is about the behaviors you exhibit and the data helping to inform the decisions that advertisers and Web creators send you.
VELSHI: Got it. OK.
Shelly, good to see you, as always.
Shelly Palmer.
PALMER: Always good.
VELSHI: And I want to get the name of your show right. Host of "Live Digital With Shelly Palmer." You can catch that on NBC Universal.
Thank you.
(NEWSBREAK)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: I know a lot about some things, and I know nothing about other things. And this is one topic, breast milk. Health experts call it the perfect food for babies. I guess I knew that part. But when some moms can't carry -- can't produce their own milk, they turn to the web for help. That's the part I didn't know about, and it's caught the attention of the FDA. Our Senior Medical Correspondent Elizabeth Cohen joins me now with more.
Let's just start at the beginning, here. People using the internet to swap breast milk. What --
ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Right. It's so mind-blowing.
VELSHI: Yes.
COHEN: OK, a little Breast Milk 101 for you.
VELSHI: OK.
COHEN: OK. Everyone knows breast milk is the best thing that a baby can drink.
VELSHI: Right.
COHEN: Let's say, for some reason, you can't. Let's say your breasts were removed because of cancer.
VELSHI: Right.
COHEN: Let's say you're just not producing milk. Or you adopted your child.
VELSHI: Right.
COHEN: Tons of reasons you can't breastfeed. So, what do most women do? They use formula.
VELSHI: Right.
COHEN: Not as good as breast milk.
VELSHI: OK.
COHEN: So, some enterprising ladies have said, "Well, why don't I just buy some milk from somebody else?"
VELSHI: OK, so hold on. It's OK to have somebody else's breast milk?
COHEN: It is OK for a baby to drink another baby's breast milk.
VELSHI: OK.
COHEN: In fact, through the ages, you can read about it in the Bible, people --
VELSHI: And there were other people who --
COHEN: Had wet nurses.
VELSHI: Right, wet nurses, that's right.
COHEN: Right, or you have your sister do it, or you'd hire a wet nurse. So, think of this as electronic wet nurses.
VELSHI: OK.
COHEN: OK. So, you go out and you, let's say, go on a website. And you say, "OK, I want to --" One of these websites where women trade the breast milk. And we actually found that. We found this great site called Only the Breast.com. I love just that URL. Only the Breast. That's all they're going to do.
And, so, women are on there, and they're buying and selling breast milk, and it's crossing state lines, and all that kind of stuff. And this is clearly not the only site. If you do a Google search, there's tons of them.
VELSHI: Very interesting. OK. The FDA now getting involved. There's some concern?
COHEN: They don't like this idea.
VELSHI: Right.
COHEN: They don't like this idea. I suppose it's one thing if you're having your sister nurse your baby or something.
VELSHI: Right.
COHEN: But having it -- getting it from someone who you don't know, they say, how do you know that the woman you're buying it from doesn't have HIV?
VELSHI: Right.
COHEN: Then your baby could get HIV. How do you know that the woman pumped the milk, let it sit on the counter for two days, and then shipped it to you.
VELSHI: Right.
COHEN: That's not good, either.
VELSHI: So, do they want to standardize it, or they just don't want it happening?
COHEN: They're not threatening to arrest anyone or anything like that.
VELSHI: Right.
COHEN: They're just sort of putting out these suggestions that women instead should use Milk banks. OK, so now we're onto Breast Milk 102.
VELSHI: Yet another thing I didn't know.
COHEN: Yet another thing you didn't know. There's about a dozen, 10 or 12 banks in the country.
VELSHI: OK.
COHEN: Where women send the milk to the banks.
VELSHI: Right.
COHEN: The banks, then, pasteurize it and do all this other stuff to it, and then sell it to mommies who need it.
VELSHI: OK.
COHEN: Now, here's the problem. An eight-ounce bottle of milk, what do you think that would cost?
VELSHI: I have no idea.
COHEN: All right. $36.
VELSHI: Wow!
COHEN: That's more than, what? A drink in a fancy New York City bar, right?
VELSHI: If you had forced me, I would have said five bucks.
COHEN: No, 36 bucks. And remember, your kid is drinking a bottle, and then three hours later, drinks another bottle.
VELSHI: Oh, my gosh.
COHEN: Right. So that adds up.
VELSHI: And there's a market for this? This is actually happening at 36 bucks a bottle?
COHEN: At 36 bucks a bottle. But other -- but a lot of women are saying, "Forget it, I'm not spending 36 bucks a bottle. I'm going to get it from someone off the internet."
VELSHI: Wow. Right, right, right. OK, this is interesting. Lots I didn't know, here, and lots I'm learning, and now I'm getting the problem. So, the FDA is going to have more to say about this, or they're just putting guidelines up?
COHEN: The FDA is going to say -- have more to say about this. They're thinking about it. And we contacted women who do this buying and selling.
VELSHI: Yes?
COHEN: And we said, "Do you care that the FDA thinks what you're doing is not a good idea?" And they said, "Heck no, we don't care." They say, "We know these moms, we get to know them via e-mail, or we talk to them on the phone."
VELSHI: Right.
COHEN: And these women who they're buying the milk from, they're nursing their own babies.
VELSHI: Right.
COHEN: So they say, "They wouldn't sell us bad milk. They're nursing their own babies at the same time." And some women even try to pasteurize at home. That's kind of the latest thing, is they try to pasteurize the milk at home, just in case. So the women we talked to said, "We're going to keep on doing it, we don't care."
VELSHI: Well, yes. If the price at the milk bank is 36 bucks, forget it.
COHEN: Right, exactly.
VELSHI: There's going to be a market for it. All right, Elizabeth, thanks very much for that.
COHEN: Thanks.
VELSHI: The international community is rushing to Israel's aid right now to help fight the worst wildfire in that nation's history. And now, there's new information on what caused it. We'll have that for you, up next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: All right. Here are the latest developments in the day's big stories. President Obama surprised us and the troops today, showing up in Afghanistan for an unannounced visit to rally the troops and meet with commanders.
Back home, the US economy added 39,000 jobs in November, well below the 150,000 jobs analysts had predicted. The unemployment rate rose two tenths of a point to 9.8 percent, partly because more people resumed looking for work amid encouraging numbers the previous month.
Also, the big vote today on a plan to attack the federal deficit failed. The controversial package of program cuts and tax hikes needed the approval of 14 of the 18 members of a bipartisan commission in order to make it to Congress for consideration. They only got 11 votes.
Globe Trekking, now. We start in Israel, where a massive wildfire is threatening more lives. It's happening mere Haifa, Israel's third-largest city. More than 40 people are dead. As many as 15,000 have fled the area. We're now hearing more from Kevin Flower about the possible cause of the deadly blaze.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KEVIN FLOWER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): As firefighters battle one of the worst blazes in Israeli history, disturbing news that this fire may have been caused as a result of arson.
The Israeli police spokesman just telling us just a short time ago that they found suspicious objects at the location where this fire was started, leading them to believe that it was the result of arson and it was intentionally started.
There are aircraft from Greece, Cyprus, the United Kingdom, all helping to put water on this fire, trying to put it out. And even Turkey has provided two planes to help fight this fire. Of course, Israel and Turkey recently having a falling-out over a number of diplomatic issues. This, at least for the time being, bringing the two sides together.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VELSHI: Now to South Korea, where they are taking the gloves off, so to speak, with respect to their northern neighbor. The man nominated to take over as defense minister is promising air strikes if North Korea attacks again. Check out this quote. "I will use force to punish the enemy and to make sure it doesn't even dare think about it again."
You'll remember that North Korea lobbed dozens of artillery shells at a South Korean island last month, killing four people. That incident cost the last defense minister his job. The South Korean military response at the time was to fire a few Howitzers back at the North, but experts say that about half of their shells fell harmlessly into the sea.
It's a long road to recovery, as Chicago works to fix its schools. What's going on right now, and what's going wrong? We'll tell you some answers after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Over the past decade, Chicago's public schools have been some of the lowest performing when it comes to test scores.
But now, there's a little bit of light at the end of the tunnel. Currently one in every three schools -- that's about 47 out of 155 -- have managed to make it off the worst of the worst list. Test scores have gone up, attendance is up slightly in elementary schools, and the dropout rate has improved across the entire school district by about 10 percent. So now, 59 percent of students graduate in four years. Well, what's going right, what's going wrong as Chicago tries to fix its public schools?
Joining me is Elaine Allensworth. She is the senior director and chief research officer with the Consortium on Chicago School Research at the University of Chicago. That is a 50 cent title. But Elaine, thank you for being with us.
Boy, we were so focused on this some time ago. Not just the failure of the school system, but the violence that seemed to have been bred in part because of the result of the failure of the public school system. You've been studying this. What is going right, and what is going wrong in Chicago?
ELAINE ALLENSWORTH, SENIOR DIRECTOR, CONSORTIUM ON CHICAGO SCHOOL RESEARCH, UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO: You mentioned the graduation rates. The graduation rates have definitely been going right. We have more students getting through high school, more students taking the steps they need to succeed in college.
I think Chicago has really been leading the country in terms of focusing on the indicators that really matter for high school graduation and for getting kids to succeed in college. They've kind of gone beyond test scores to give schools information on early indicators of dropout, letting them know when students are falling off track, how they're doing, who's going to college, how they're doing in college, who's filling out their financial aid forms so schools can really reach out to the kids that need the help they need and give it to them when they need it.
VELSHI: To what degree is that information flow, which sounds fantastic, a big solution to the problem? In other words, we've heard about schools where the information is there. The resources just aren't.
ALLENSWORTH: Well, right. You need the resources to actually have solutions. But you need the data to know where to put that money. We've seen time and time again resources being used with no improvements in students' outcomes. So having the data, knowing where the issues are.
VELSHI: Right.
ALLENSWORTH: Knowing which students need the help, that's the first step. And Chicago has really been on top of figuring out what those indicators are, what they should be tracking, and giving schools that kind of information.
VELSHI: Let's talk about where we still can use a lot of improvement. What are some of the bigger areas that you haven't seen any improvement in the Chicago schools?
ALLENSWORTH: Well, you mentioned that many schools have gotten off the watch list. Unfortunately, the public statistics that are used for those lists are not very accurate. They're based on tests that are not necessarily consistently scored over the years. They have changing groups of students who are included in the statistics. They're given in different ways at different times of the year.
And so, following those kinds of statistics really can lead to a misleading perception of what's been happening in the schools. And so, when we look at the elementary and middle schools, we don't see the same kind of progress that we've seen at the high school level.
VELSHI: A lot of the things that you did indicate, though, where they had made progress seemed to be around and supportive of the actual core education that the kids get. So, information about whether they're potentially dropping off or whether they need financial aid or whether they're applying to colleges, it sounds to me that they're -- that's a different way of attacking the problem.
ALLENSWORTH: Right. It's really monitoring students closely and giving them the support they need when they need it. And the kinds of support they need. A lot of times, we throw money at schools in the hopes that we're fixing the right kinds of things, investing money in tutoring or mentoring, but not being strategic about where we're placing that money and really making sure that the kind of supports we're giving students are the kinds that they need. So, really focusing on the data and really focusing -- figuring out what it is that students are having trouble with and really helping them when they need it. That's really key to getting students to succeed in school.
VELSHI: Well, Elaine, thanks for sharing this with us. It's good to know there is some progress being made in Chicago schools.
Elaine Allensworth is a senior director and chief research officer with the Consortium on Chicago School Research at the University of Chicago.
Let me bring you up to speed with some of the top stories that we're following at CNN.
President Obama made a surprise visit today to Afghanistan. He spoke to U.S. troops last hour telling them they will succeed in their mission of defeating the Taliban. Mr. Obama also told them he wanted to spend a little time with them this holiday season.
The November jobs report shows employers added 39,000 jobs to their pay rolls. That's far short of the 150,000 that economists had predicted. The unemployment rate rose 0.2 of a point to 9.8 percent.
A Senate showdown is expected tomorrow on a pair of Democratic proposals to end the Bush-era tax cuts. One plan extends the cuts only to families earning less than $250,000 a year. The other raises the threshold to $1 million annually. Republicans vow to vote against any measure that doesn't include all taxpayers.
Well we all know it's tough to find a job, but easier in some places than it is in others. I'm going to show you where the hiring is the hottest after this break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: So the unemployment rate backsliding. We've been talking a lot about jobs today. For many people, they are hard to find right now, but there are places where the job search might be easier if you're willing to relocate.
Every month, the website juju.com puts out its job search difficulty index. Basically, they use the Labor Department's unemployment numbers and their own national database of job postings and come up with how many out of work people there are per job ad in the major U.S. cities.
So enough of that, let's get to the cities and some of them might surprise you. The city where it should be easiest to find a job right now is Washington, D.C. It's got a rate of just one unemployed person per job opening. Not too bad.
San Jose, California comes in at number two, even though its unemployment rate has topped the national rate recently. Interesting.
New York City is ranked number three with just over 1.5 job seekers per opening. Factor in the cost of living there, though, and that might bump it down on your own list.
And there are actually two number fours with the same person per job number. First we've got Baltimore. Don't believe everything you saw on "The Wire," it's a lovely city. And then there's Hartford, Connecticut, like four of our other top five, up in the northeast around the I-95 corridor.
Well, first speculation about Hillary Clinton, now questions about whether an outgoing Democratic senator will challenge President Obama in the 2012 primary. That's next in our CNN Political Update.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: Time now for a CNN Political Update and speculation about whether another Democrat will challenge President Obama in two years. Our chief national correspondent John King joins me with more from Washington.
John, what have you got?
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ali, this one you just mentioned is part of a little bit, you might say, Republican mischief.
Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, was on a conservative radio show yesterday talking about Russ Feingold, the Wisconsin Democratic senator just defeated in the election, saying, you know, maybe Russ will run for president against Barack Obama in 2012.
Well, Senator Feingold's chief of staff says, no, no, no. She says Senator Feingold is not running for president in 2012, any suggestion he's thinking of running, planning to run or interested in running is untrue. Senator Feingold is a strong supporter of President Barack Obama and wants to see him reelected in 2012. So period, end of sentence, end of equation there.
The biggest thing driving the debate in Washington today, Ali, is that jobs report. You've been talking about it all day, a very anemic report from the Labor Department. The economy added only 39,000 jobs in November, that's the worst number since September. Unemployment rate going up to 9.8 percent from 9.6 percent.
This is being talked about all over town, especially in the big debate over whether or not to extend the Bush tax cuts, extend them for everybody, cut it off at $250,000, the jobs report immediately impacting that.
And tonight, Ali, on "JOHN KING, USA" you've talked a lot about the president's commission on deficit and debt reduction, and they voted out the report today, a majority supported it, but not enough to force a vote in Congress, one of the Republican senators who said I don't like this, but I would like to move forward with it who voted yes, Tom Coburn, conservative Republican of Oklahoma, we'll have on the show tonight to talk about the big debt challenges and whether the Democrats and Republicans can be adults. VELSHI: Even if they got their 14 votes they would need to force a vote in Congress on it, the fact is that didn't mean and most people didn't think it was likely that their recommendations would make it into law. But there are some very valid suggestions in that report that are worth lawmakers considering.
KING: Absolutely, and everybody gets hit here.
VELSHI: That's right.
KING: Spending gets cut across the board, Social Security gets changed, Medicare gets changes. The tax code would be fundamentally changed, you might lose mortgage interest deduction but you'd get a lower tax rate overall as they get rid of some of the loopholes in the deductions. Everybody would suffer.
And Tom Coburn is one of the ones who at least had the courage to say, I don't want to raise taxes, but if it's the only way to have a bigger conversation, I'll keep an open mind. That's what we want to talk about with him.
VELSHI: That's all we can hope for.
Speaking of open minds, Russ Feingold was a guys who was largely thought of having an open mind. He was one of the more bipartisan in the Senate and that didn't help this election cycle.
KING: It did not. Worked with John McCain on campaign finance legislation in the past, has reached across the aisle some. Also, though, was a fierce and proud liberal opposing the war in Afghanistan and the war in Iraq. A very interesting guy who lost his election. A young guy. We'll see what happens to Russ Feingold.
VELSHI: We'll see.
John, good to see you, as always. Have a good show tonight.
KING: All right. Thank you.
VELSHI: CNN is committed to keeping you informed on all the political news. Your next update an hour away.
Well, we've been hearing plenty about hybrid and electric cars, but is a green popemobile in the works, too? I'll tell you about it after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VELSHI: All right, time for today's "Odds & Ends."
With the rollout of electric cars like the Chevy Volt, green cars are on a lot of people's minds these days, including the pope. According to the Associated Press, the Vatican says Pope Benedict XVI would gladly start using a solar-powered, electric popemobile. There are, in fact, several popemobiles scattered around the world and Pope Benedict just needs a green one offered to him. Moving on, teachers with eyes on the back of their heads are becoming a reality, sort of. NYU Professor Wafaa Bilal had a camera surgically implanted into the back of his head for a project called The Third Eye. The thumb-sized camera will take a photograph every minute for a year that will be transported to the Arab Museum of Modern Art.
It's definitely an original idea, but instead of implanting the camera, I wonder if he thought of using Velcro or a little duct tape or something like that. I'm very into technology, there won't be any implanted cameras in my head -- Brooke.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: What do I say to that, Ali Velshi? I don't know where to go, so I'm just going move on. Ali, thanks.
