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Same-Sex Marriage Ban Back in Court; Concorde Trial: Airline Welder Blamed; China's Government Hackers; HSBC Accused of Helping Madoff; Democrats Meeting on Tax Cuts; Facebook Facelift Can Affect You; House Democrats to Meet with White House; Huckabee Draws Contrasts with Palin; Rep. Rangle on the Situation Room Tonight

Aired December 06, 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: Well, I'm Ali Velshi with you for the next hour. Here's what I've got on "The Rundown."

What did an airline mechanic who never even worked on the Concorde have to do with the fiery crash? A French court's shocking verdict.

Plus, the death penalty goes on trial in Texas. Have innocent people been wrongly executed?

And an alleged drug cartel hit man who's only 14 years old. Yes, you heard me right.

Well, for the past year, if you didn't like the laws regarding same-sex marriage in California, you only had to wait a little while until they changed. But after lawsuits and rallies and protests and petitions and a statewide referendum, we're running out of places to fight this battle. And that means the stakes are getting higher. A huge fight is getting under way right now, and the outcome could change the laws in your state, too.

A federal appeals court in San Francisco is hearing arguments for and against Proposition 8, a voter-passed measure that renders same- sex marriage illegal. Its backers are appealing a trial court ruling that Prop 8 violates the equal protection clause of the Constitution. It's almost certain that the Supreme Court will have the final word. But until then, I want to show you where we stand as a nation.

Thirty-seven of the 50 states define marriage as between one man and one woman, but you see the states in green in the middle and over on the right side. Well, those are states, plus the District of Columbia, which allow same-sex couples to wed. New Jersey, in the middle there, in orange, allows same-sex civil unions, and the states in yellow, which we have to pull out to see because they're mostly on the West allow -- they basically give spousal rights to unmarried couples.

California is a case study all in itself. And there it is. In May of 2008, the state Supreme Court said same-sex marriage is legal, but November of that year, Proposition 8 passed. It was a voter -- a statewide voter referendum. And in May, 2009, the state Supreme Court refused to strike Proposition 8 down. Well, in August, that finally happened. And that brings us to today.

For "Two at the Top," I call on CNN senior legal analyst Jeff Toobin.

Jeff, I understand only half of today's session is about the merits of Prop 8 in itself.

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN SR. LEGAL ANALYST: Well, actually, we're in the middle of the argument right now, and zero percent of the argument so far has been about the merits. It has been all about the procedure.

The argument in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals before a three-judge panel has all been about the paradoxical situation that Proposition 8 is in right now, because the usual defendants when you challenge a law of the state are the governor and attorney general of that state. But the governor and attorney general of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jerry Brown, both agree with the plaintiffs that Proposition 8 is unconstitutional.

So the issue is, can anyone defend the law? And do the people who presume to defend the law -- the clients who are there, the lawyers who are representing them -- do they have standing? Do they have the legal right to be there?

That's really what the entire argument has been about. And there has been no discussion so far about whether Proposition 8 is in fact constitutional.

VELSHI: And this also brings up a topic you and I have talked about on other topics, and that is when it's a voter referendum -- when the voters decide something is a law, and the state officials, the elected officials don't support that law, is it more or less of a law, or is it the same type of law?

TOOBIN: Well, that is very much what the -- what is the backdrop to this argument. I mean, certainly, it is a law.

The referendum policy exists in California. There have been many referendums passed, some supported by officials, some not. But here you have a situation where the constitutionality of one of those referenda is before a court.

And the question is, who can defend it? Who is legally allowed to defend it?

What David Boies, the named lawyer for the plaintiffs, is saying is that these people who came in to defend it don't have the right to do it. And, in fact, if no one comes forward, then no one gets to defend it. That's the plaintiff's argument.

VELSHI: And that's David Boies you're seeing on the screen right now. What an interesting legal argument, Jeffrey. Thanks very much for giving us some clarity on that.

And of course we'll continue to follow this closely.

Hey, it's "Sound Effect" time. Sound from this guy, by the way, really does have an effect. He's Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, one of the most powerful people on the planet, even in good economic times.

Ben Bernanke has made friends and enemies with his varied approaches to boosting credit and juicing the economy, but unemployment has barely budged. And in an interview with CBS' "60 Minutes," he didn't predict any breakthroughs anytime soon.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BEN BERNANKE, CHAIRMAN, FEDERAL RESERVE: Between the peak and the end of last year we lost 8.5 million jobs. We've only gotten about a million of them back so far, and that doesn't even account the new people coming into the labor force. At the rate we're going, it could be four, five years before we are back to a more normal unemployment rate, somewhere in the vicinity of, say, 5 or 6 percent.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: Well, is the Fed now printing money to bankroll a recovery? Bernanke has something to say about that, and you'll hear it in our "YOUR $$$$$" segment about 10 minutes from now.

After a weekend of back-and-forth bickering, the Senate finally seems on track for a tax deal. Here's what we're hearing about it.

The Bush tax cuts would remain in place for everybody, from baby- sitters to billionaires. Democrats had wanted to limit that to households making up to $250,000 a year. By the way, that's a live picture of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in the Senate right now talking about this.

Senate Republicans blocked that plan on Saturday, but the GOP is now expected to go along with an extension of unemployment benefits, one of President Obama's main demands. The White House is looking to get this all done by midweek, and as we understand it, there is a meeting under way right now at the White House between Vice President Joe Biden and Democratic leaders.

(NEWSBREAK)

VELSHI: OK. The Concorde -- flying it was part status symbol, part convenience because it was so fast, and part excitement. All of that changed in July of 2000.

At Paris's Charles de Gaulle Airport, a departing Concorde bursts into flames. The sleek, supersonic jet plummets to earth, killing all 109 people aboard and four on the ground. Just a handful of years after the crash, the planes were mothballed, they were retired. But the story doesn't end there.

It's now a decade after the Air France Flight 4590 disaster, and a French court has placed the blame on Continental Airlines and one of its mechanics. This is interesting, because the plane wasn't a Continental flight. It was an Air France flight.

A court says that they were criminally responsible for a metal strip falling off a Continental jet, landing on the Charles de Gaulle runway, being kicked up by the Concorde's tire and rupturing its fuel tank. Continental, by the way, is calling this ruling absurd.

Let's take a hard look at this now with Mary Schiavo, aviation attorney, former inspector general of the Department of Transportation. She joins us now from Charleston, South Carolina, via Skype.

Mary, thanks for being with us.

It does, to the outside observer, seem like a strange connection, that the mechanic on a plane that took off ahead of this Concorde is responsible for something that happened in the Concorde. Where do you stand on this? Because there were known issues with the Concorde. So who's to blame for this?

MARY SCHIAVO, AVIATION ATTORNEY: Well, according to the court, of course, Continental is because of the dropped part. It seems strange, and, of course, everyone knew that the Concorde was vulnerable to what they call FOD, which is Foreign Object Damage from debris on the runway. But in this case, the real back-story is the part was a bogus part.

It was a part that was made out of the wrong metal, it was fabricated by somebody who didn't really have the right to make the part in this way. And the amounts that were awarded were small, two million euros, approximately, total. So it was largely symbolic, but it was symbolic to really bring under control or policing some of the loosey-goosey practices in the aviation industry.

VELSHI: And the implication here, by the way, the connection to Continental and this mechanic, is that this was supposedly a known problem on that plane, and that that mechanic and Continental should have dealt with it so that that piece didn't fall off, causing damage to the Concorde.

SCHIAVO: That's right. And not only did they not deal with it, they didn't fix it, and fix it so it stayed fixed.

They manufactured a part themselves. They made a part out of the wrong materials. It didn't wear like it was supposed to.

That particular part was actually supposed to wear, and it was made out of titanium and it wasn't the proper material. And this came as a time when, worldwide, we were trying to crack down -- the world's aviation industries were trying to crack down on bogus parts, which is what this is. And they were trying to make sure that people used approved parts, good parts, et cetera. So, in many ways, it's a symbolic verdict because all the victims' families have been paid, have been compensated. The amount awarded in this trial is, of course, going to Air France and some other parties. But it certainly is an important holding in that they looked at it very seriously, what happened here.

VELSHI: Continental, in its response, calling this ruling absurd, has brought up the idea that because Air France was a government-owned company at the time, and it seemed easier, it almost implied there was some scapegoating going on here. Now, Air France and EADS, the company responsible for the Concorde, have both paid out to families in the past.

SCHIAVO: Well, and a lot of that is not understanding the French system. I've worked many cases of air crashes concerning France and the French system, and this is the way they do it. It takes 10 years to get through this French system, and often they do charge criminally in a crash.

And at the end of the hearing, which is a judge-tried case, they do a lot of this kind of thing where they will find some people responsible. What's amazing is they found the employee responsible, but not the supervisor and no one from the manufacturer. That's a bit irregular, but we have to remember back in the United States, after the ValuJet crash, they were charged criminally, and in the end only one count held. But it was a symbolic achievement, to actually charge someone for criminal misconduct in bringing down a plane.

So Continental needs to understand the French system better. This is not unusual for France. But like I said, it is very important for the holding in this case, and it's unfortunate for the mechanic. But then the mechanic should not have been doing what he did.

VELSHI: All right. What does this mean? Usually when we look at investigations -- not necessarily court cases, but investigations of airline crashes -- we are all looking for things that will prevent this kind of thing from ever happening again. Did this court case adequately achieve that?

SCHIAVO: This court case did achieve that. Now, in the United States, we don't usually criminally charge people after an air crash. But what the court has done is made it very important for people not to manufacture parts for airlines and maintenance folks, not to manufacture parts not in accordance with the strict standards of aviation.

And that did send a message loud and clear. And it was something that the world was trying to crack down on, which is bogus aircraft parts. We want the parts to be what they're supposed to be, out of the proper material. This does send a message, and for that reason it can be helpful.

VELSHI: Why then are we looking at such light penalties? The mechanic/welder was given a 15-month suspended prison sentence. Continental, as you mentioned yourself, it almost seemed token, the fine.

SCHIAVO: Right. Well, actually, there were a lot of things that went into this.

The mechanic wasn't actually there. There had been a subpoena issued for him. They took his deposition here.

So, from the start, they were treating it a little different, and kind of a symbolic case. But people have to remember, in this country, with the crash of ValuJet, I think the fines ended up being under $100,000. It was a small fine, but it was very important to the aviation industry.

So, like I said, the fellow wasn't actually in court, the only person who was convicted. But it certainly was harsh on him.

VELSHI: And Mary, in the time since this has happened, have we actually taken care of most of these issues of incorrect parts?

SCHIAVO: Well, no. It's always a problem. We have to battle against it all of the time.

And, of course, we did take care of the other issue. Continental argued in the trial that everyone knew that the tires on the Concorde did have weaknesses and the fuel tank wasn't reinforced. And obviously, those problems have been alleviated because the Concorde is no longer in service.

But people are much more careful about debris on the runway. The United States Air Force, even before this, actually does runway walks, where they walk down the runway and check for free objects on the runway that can injure the plane.

So, it did achieve more safety in that we're very conscious of it. And we do know that we always have to fight against the temptation to put a part on a plane and do it in a hurry so we can jerry-rig it and make it -- get it up in the air. That will be a constant battle as long as there's aviation.

VELSHI: Right. And we've all been on many planes where something hasn't happened, the plane has not taken off because someone has got an indication there's a mechanical problem. And when we're delayed for that, Mary, I'm always happy to sit there a little longer and say get whatever it is fixed and we'll get up when we finally do.

Mary, good to see you.

Mary Schiavo is an aviation attorney. She's a former inspector general of the Department of Transportation.

Again, we did tell you that Continental has said they do not agree with this ruling and they find it absurd.

OK. Next, we're going to tell you all about the latest bombshell from WikiLeaks, allegations that China has been hacking into U.S. government and Google computers for nearly a decade. Stay right here on CNN for more.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks opened a window into a controversial censorship battle in China. According to cables, China has been hacking into U.S. government and Google computers for nearly a decade. And the hacking of Google has allegedly been overseen by top officials in the Chinese government.

Deb Feyerick has been following this story. She's live with us from New York.

Tell us, Deb, what these cables reveal.

DEBORAH FEYERICK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, what's so interesting is these U.S. diplomatic cables show just how far China was willing to go in an attempt to censor China.com, China Google, basically.

They targeted Google both politically and economically, trying to censor the information and the site, and access to the people that were trying to get onto it. Clearly, their attempts to censor actually backfired. More people became interested in Google China.

Now, at the same time they were doing this, it also appeared that they were sanctioning sophisticated attacks from freelance hackers, people who were outside the government who were working in conjunction with Chinese officials. The conclusion in one diplomatic cable, "Use of its private sector in support of government information warfare objectives, especially in its ability to gather, process and exploit information."

That confirming the relationship between Chinese officials and private individuals.

The Chinese were also very interested in U.S. data. And in one attack in 2008, they actually broke into a system in the U.S. with a document that they had titled "Salary Increase Survey and Forecast." They were able to get 50 megabytes of data, including a whole list of names and private passwords which they were able to access. Other attempts did not prove as successful.

But the cable shows that while they were doing this, Ali, they were really trying to shut down or at least limit what Google was providing. And it was a personal nature, because the top Chinese official in charge of propaganda had actually gone on to the site, Googled himself, and found very critical descriptions.

The diplomatic cable that was attributed to one United States economic minister saying he "noticed the link from Google China's homepage to Google.com, which he reportedly believes is an illegal site."

Therefore, to gain control, the Chinese official basically tried three things. He tried recruiting three Chinese ministries to put pressure on Google. He also accused Google of working with the U.S. government in trying to "foment peaceful revolution," and also pressuring Chinese telecom companies to withdraw from any business dealings they were having with Google. And clearly, that was a big deal since Google was trying to make inroads into its mobile Internet service in that country -- Ali.

VELSHI: All right. Once again, a series of events that have exposed something we sort of had some sense of, some inkling of.

I think it was interesting, that Chinese official who Googled himself on that Google. He went to the Chinese site and found a link to Google.com, and then he Googled himself and found --

(CROSSTALK)

FEYERICK: Right. Imagine if they had lauded him as a hero. Then, probably, Google China would have been much bigger than it is today. But, unfortunately, it didn't go in that direction.

(LAUGHTER)

VELSHI: That's right. All right, Deb. Thanks very much for that.

Deb Feyerick in New York.

(NEWSBREAK)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Hey, I want to tell you about Consumer Reports' annual ranking of wireless carriers.

AT&T is now the worst carrier, according to Consumer Reports. AT&T has been ranked the lowest, by the way, for a few years, but it's tumbled even further than normal. The nation's largest wireless network received the worst possible rating in 8 of 9 categories that the magazine studied, including overall value, voice service, data service, phone service, staff knowledge, and resolution of issues, among others.

Readers gave AT&T an overall score of 60 out of 100, which is six points below its score a year ago and nine points below the nearest competitor, which is T-Mobile.

You can read more about this on CNNMoney.com, but AT&T coming in dead last in Consumer Reports' annual study of wireless phone companies.

(WEATHER REPORT)

VELSHI: All right. A 14-year-old boy arrested in Mexico says he was a hit man for the drug cartels. He may, by the way, be a U.S. citizen.

"Globe Trekking" up next. VELSHI: At half past the hour, here's what's happening right now. The legality of California's ban on same-sex marriage is being put to the test this moment in San Francisco. A three-judge panel from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals will decide if a lower court was right to declare Proposition 8, which banned same-sex marriage, unconstitutional.

The Senate apparently making strides toward a tax deal, though neither side is happy with the compromise they'll likely be making. Expect the Bush tax cuts to continue for all income levels and for employment benefits to be extended into the new year.

And U.S. attorney general Eric Holder says he's authorized significant actions related to the criminal investigation of WikiLeaks for publishing U.S. diplomatic cables. Holder says Americans lives have been put at risk.

"Globetrekking" now. Let's start with Mexico with a story that shows just how ruthless drug wars are getting. A 14-year-old boy is accused of being a killer for a drug cartel. CNN's Nick Valencia has the story in Mexico City.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): In one of the most shocking stories in Mexico's drug war, a 14-year-old is being held by federal authorities in Mexico City, accused of ruthless killings on behalf of a Mexican drug cartel.

(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

VALENCIA: The teenager, who goes by the alias "El Ponchis," was caught Thursday night just outside of Mexico City as he tried to board a flight with his sister. He said his eventual destination was the United States where he told reporters he has relatives. He also said it was his home country.

(SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE)

VALENCIA: Analysts say the case offers a glimpse into Mexico's drug gangs, which are increasingly recruiting youth to help with their turf battles.

SYLVIA LANGMIRE, DRUG WAR ANALYST: Mexican youth is in a state of crisis right now. Many of them have very few educational prospects and therefore very few economic or job opportunities. Even if they were to stay in school. So what happens is you have a huge pool of millions of kids with nothing to do. And they see the glamour of the narco lifestyle. And this makes them a pool of recruits essentially for drug cartels.

VALENCIA: On Sunday, the U.S. State Department was still investigating the authenticity of the claims the teen was a U.S. citizen. They told CNN they were working with customs and border protection on the case. If true, "El Ponchis" this would be the second high-profile case of an American working for the Mexican drug cartels. In August, American born drug trafficker Edgar Valdez Villareal, alias "La Barbie" was caught by the Mexican Navy. He is expected to be extradited to the United States.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

VELSHI: And that was Nick Valencia in Mexico City.

Next we go to Geneva, Switzerland, where diplomats are trying to rein in Iran's nuclear program. Officials from the U.S., China, Russia, France, the UK and Germany are meeting with Iranian officials amid fears Iran is trying to develop nuclear weapons. Today's meeting comes just one day after Iran pronounced it's now producing yellow cake, which can be used to produce nuclear fuel.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALI AKBAR SALEHI, IRANIAN NUCLEAR ENERGY CHIEF: Iran has become self sufficient in the entire fuel cycle, starting from the exploration and then mining and then turning into yellow cake and then into converting it into UF-6 and then enriching it and turning it into fuel plates or fuel pellets.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VELSHI: Our next stop Venice, Italy. Venice is known for the romantic canals that wind through the city, but bad weather and high tides left most of the city under water.

There are also floods across the Adriatic Sea in Albania. Thousands of Albanians had to be evacuated from their homes.

The L.A. Times broke ground as the first newspaper to publish a database that graded teachers based on their students' test scores. Now they're taking this process a step further. I'll fill you in about it after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: Just in to CNN. We're following this whole development on the tax cut debate in Washington very closely. Earlier, we told you that Brianna Keilar had learned from two congressional aides that a number of congressional leaders were headed over to the White House to meet with vice president Joe Biden while the president was in North Carolina to discuss a way forward on tax cuts and a way to solve this impasse going on.

We now have more information on that. Two Democratic congressional aides tell CNN that top Democrats will meet with President Obama himself in the 3:00 hour, about 20 minutes from now, when he returns from North Carolina to discuss tax cuts. We're expecting Reid, Durbin, Pelosi and Hoyer all to be there to discuss the issue with the president.

The White House would like to get it worked out within the next few days. What they'd like is swap support for extending the tax cuts for everybody, not just the families that earn under $250,000, for Republican support of extending unemployment benefits that are expiring for millions of people. We'll keep you posted as we have been all day on developments on this front.

Okay. Do you remember Michelle Rhee? She's the former chancellor of D.C. schools who kicked up controversy when she fired hundreds of teachers as part of her approach to fix the broken schools. I spoke to her live on this show last month about her appearance in the movie "Waiting for Superman," which talks about ways to fix our schools.

Now, she's back in the spotlight. Earlier today, she announced that she's launching an education advocacy group. Her new Web site just went live a few hours ago, and from the tone of the group's mission statement, it sounds like she's talking -- taking on more of a political role in her efforts to clean up the country's education system. Part of the mission statement on the Web site reads, "Together we'll demand that legislators, courts, district administrators and school boards create and enforce policies that put students first. We'll make sure politicians and administrators recognize and reward excellent teachers, give novice teachers the training they need and quickly improve or remove ineffective educators."

She will be unveiling her new ideas this afternoon on "Oprah."

OK. Another controversial move done in an attempt to fix schools is a series of stories printed in The L.A. Times. Back in August, they were the first to release a database on 6,000 teachers, rating them based on their students' progress on standardized testing. Now they're taking on the L.A. school district in how they go about laying off teachers. According to the report, hundreds of the district's most promising and best performing teachers were laid off simply because of seniority rules.

Joining me now is Jason Song, one of the reporters at The L.A. Times who broke the story. Jason, good to see you again. Thank you for being with us.

JASON SONG, REPORTER, "THE LOS ANGELES TIMES": Thank you for having me.

VELSHI: All right, Jason, tell me about this. You found in this database that you're releasing about 190 of the teachers who were laid off ranked in the top fifth in raising scores, and more than 400 of them ranked in the top 40 percent. Any explanation other than seniority rules as to why they were let go?

SONG: No. The way things work in Los Angeles as they do in many school districts throughout the country is that when hard budget times come, teachers are let go based on seniority. In other words - in the case of Los Angeles, if you have less than two years, you will be the first to be shown the door when there is a budget shortfall.

VELSHI: Now, A.J. Duffy, who is the president of the United Teachers of Los Angeles, say the seniority-based layoffs are the only fair way to do it and any exception to that would be what he calls, quote, "an act of disloyalty." What's the reaction been to the paper on that?

SONG: What we did was we wanted to see what we could find out by using the database that we compiled. We want to see what would happen -- basically where some of these layoffs were happening and what schools were the hardest hit.

What we found is schools in the poorer parts of town were the ones that took the greatest hit when it came to teachers being let go. And we look at one school in particular, John Lathy (ph), which is located in the Westlake area, which is just south of downtown. We found a lot of teachers there were performing extraordinarily well in terms of the value-added scores. In other words, how well they could get their students to perform on standardized tests compared to how they performed in previous years. And we found that school performed extraordinarily well when it started several years ago, but when these budget layoffs came, the school's performance dropped precipitously.

VELSHI: Jason, when we first talked about this, when you first put out that first database, there was criticism of The L.A. Times that you have chosen a particular measurement, a particular measure. And that is the success of the students on standardized testing. Other people argue there are other things that should be measured in terms of student success. What's the response to that?

SONG: We agree with that completely. As we said when we first put out this database, this is just one measure of a teacher. Even in value-added, the staunchest supporters say it shouldn't count for everything. It should be only part of an overall, comprehensive evaluation process.

But we discovered in talking with (INAUDIBLE) around the country is that more and more, people feel there should be a measure of objectivity when it comes to teacher evaluations. We thought it would be in our readers' best interest to present this information to the public with all the necessary caveats reminding readers this is just one measure of a teacher's effectiveness.

VELSHI: And what do you hope to achieve with this ongoing series of expositions about teachers and public education in Los Angeles?

SONG: We believe it's our role to educate the public and to give readers access to information they have couldn't have gotten before. So, in the case of the numbers -- the test scores that we received from the district, L.A. Unified had had the numbers for a long time, for years and years but never done anything with them, never released them. So, parents had no idea of how well their children's teachers were performing on these standardized tests. We felt that it's our job to fry and make this information available to the public and present it in a way that they could understand and use to make their own decisions.

VELSHI: Jason, good to see you again. Thanks very much for joining us. Jason Song is a reporter with "The Los Angeles Times." Taking a look at the latest developments in our top stories. A very public black eye today for AT&T. According to a new survey by "Consumer Reports," AT&T is the nation's worst wireless carrier. The magazine says customer satisfaction scores have tumbled since last year. Among other things, the survey found that that AT&T iPhone customers were much less satisfied than owners of other smartphones.

A major London bank is being accused of assisting convicted swindler Bernard Madoff. The court-appointed trustee liquidating Madoff's former investment firm has filed a $9 billion lawsuit against HSBC Holdings. The suit claims HSBC helped with Madoff's Ponzi scheme by creating a network of feeder funds. HSBC says the accusation is unfounded.

Democrats are discussing a possible compromise on extending Bush- Era tax cuts. Sources tell CNN that President Obama will meet with Democratic leaders next hour. Mr. Obama has just arrived back in Washington after a short visit to North Carolina.

Facebook just got a face lift, but you should be careful with some of the new features. We'll show you how you can make it work for you and what you might have to watch out for when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: All right. Facebook just got a little friendlier, if you will. We want to tell you a little about this. Jessica King works with me and to make this all relevant because Jessica is going to help us with this, you have to know Allie.

Allie is my floor director and makes sure I'm where I need to be standing that I have everything I need and everything is generally in order. So we're using Allie's Facebook page and Jessica's Facebook page as an example to show you what has changed on Facebook.

The main change you'll see is when you to somebody's home page, a lot of the detailed information that was listed down here is right at the top. That's the first obvious thing. What else happens?

JESSICA KAY-KING, CNN SEGMENT PRODUCER: Right, so you have the vital stats. You can see her friends, but what's neat is you can press see friendship. You're going to see myself and Allie's friendship with it. There we go. So you can see our wall-to-wall, what we have written back and forth to each other. If we had new pictures tagged they would be here.

VELSHI: OK, your common friends are here.

KING: Right and so you can see who we have in common. This is a really neat feature. It makes it a lot more friendly. You can see that we've been friends since April. That's a neat feature.

VELSHI: If I hit see all, I would see everything that you have posted on each other's walls since you've been friends. KING: That's the caveat because this could be a problem for potential job prospects. If you put something on your wall or something on Allie's wall that was incriminating a few years ago, then a potential boss could see that. So that wouldn't be good.

VELSHI: If you were getting a job or applying for a job where a potential boss knows a mutual friends with yours they can see what your exchanges. So the thing it brings to mind is that this is neat and it's friendly and it's social, but you have to be cautious about the stuff that you're putting out there for everyone to see.

KING: Which we always know. You just check your privacy settings and make sure they're how you want them to be and tailor them to your needs.

VELSHI: Until now anybody could have gone and gotten this information, but you'd have to be determined to get it. You have to really search for it. Here you can press this one button friendships and I can start to see this exchange and see how good friends you and Allie are.

KING: Yes.

VELSHI: All right. Gladly nothing incriminating between Jessica and Allie so you can keep your jobs. Thanks so much, Jessica. Check your Facebook settings. It's easy to check. Just to make sure you have what you want going out to other people.

OK, we're hearing of a meeting at the White House with house Democrats on tax cut. We're going to Washington for a political update and find out who is at the meeting and what might come out of it on the other side of this. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

VELSHI: It is time now for the CNN political update. Wolf Blitzer host of CNN's "SITUATION ROOM" and my good friend is in Washington for us right now. Hello, Wolf.

WOLF BLITZER, HOST, "THE SITUATION ROOM": Ali, thanks very much. There's a lot of political news happening right now, news that affects every American especially at the White House right now. I know you've been reporting about this meeting the president and vice president had with the Democratic leadership right now.

It seems to be a meeting that potentially could set the stage for a compromise agreement with the Republican leadership in Congress that would allow all the tax rates to continue for middle class and for wealthy earners at the same time, at least for the next year or two.

President and the Democratic leadership at least based on everything we're hearing, they're saying, you know what? We might accept that compromise provided that the unemployment benefits continue for another year or two for the long term unemployed.

Also, that the middle class tax breaks that were approved as part of the Obama administration stimulus package over the past couple of years, that they remain in effect as well. So it's a sensitive issue.

It's one that the Democratic base, especially liberals aren't happy about, people earning more than $250,000 a year and people that earn more than a million dollars a year get the reduced, the Bush-Era tax rates as opposed to going back to the 39.6 percent, which was the tax rate during the Clinton administration.

But it maybe - they may have no choice if they want to see the tax rates continue as is for the middle class, 98 percent or so of taxpayers out there.

Another story we're following and we'll have much more by the way 5:00 p.m. in "THE SITUATION ROOM" what is actually going on at the White House right now. Mike Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, the former Republican presidential candidate, he's saying you know what?

He's complaining that he's not getting enough attention, certainly not enough attention as former Governor Sarah Palin is getting. He's not very happy about it. I just don't understand how it is that a person can read these polls day after day and the narrative is constantly everybody but me, he told the politico web site.

Whether I do it or not -- meaning running for president -- the fact is if one looks at the overall body of information that's available today, nobody would be in a better position to take it all the way to November.

He certainly seems to be jealous that Sarah Palin is getting so much media attention. He's not and he's pointing out that what he tweets on Twitter or does something on Facebook, it certainly doesn't get the pickup by the media that Sarah Palin gets.

Finally -- and Ali, I think you'll be interested in this and a lot of our viewers will be as well -- I sat down a little while ago with Charlie Rangel, the Democratic congressman from New York who has been censured as you know.

We went through all the issues of why the House Democrats and Republicans overwhelmingly voted in favor of censure. He had his chance to respond to that. Also, these new suggestions, these allegations in "The New York Post" that he's improperly using his political action committee to pay for the legal bills.

So we went through all of that and a lot more. The interview will air at 5:00 p.m. Eastern in "THE SITUATION ROOM." Ali, I think you and our viewers will be interested.

VELSHI: Yes, I mean having lived in New York, you know, it's interesting because you know so much about Charlie Rangle and certainty some people on the national stage really knew him as the chairman of the House Ways And Means Committee, but he's a political legacy in New York and in New York City and in Harlem.

He's a very interesting story and this whole ordeal has really shown sort of his fortitude in the face of these accusations. It will be very interesting to see how he responds to your direct questioning. We'll be watching that, Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Ali. Thank you.

VELSHI: Wolf Blitzer in "THE SITUATION ROOM." Remember to watch that about Charlie Rangel. CNN is committed to keeping you informed on all political news. Your next update is just an hour away.

When oil gets more expensive, can gas be very far behind? Well, if you filled up your tank recently you'll know, it can't. I'll have some thoughts in my XYZ after the break.

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VELSHI: Time now for the "XYZ." A new national survey says the average national price for a gallon of gasoline could hit $3. For a lot of you around the country you're already paying that much more. That takes me back to 2008 when the price spiked causing Americans to run away from gas guzzling cars and trucks in numbers never seen before.

You'll recall, gas prices hit a national average of $4.11 a gallon back then. Oil was almost 150 bucks a barrel. Oil is now around $90 a barrel. In places like China, India and Brazil oil demand is up and only expected to increase as those developing countries grow their economies.

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, Americans consumed almost 19 million barrels of oil per day during 2009, more than double what China consumed. So we are the world's biggest consumer of oil while other countries don't consume as much as we do their rates of consumption are increasing.

You can't control global demand for oil. You can only control your consumption. Three bucks a gallon is just a number, but it's a number that could look pretty good a year from now if these trends continue the way they're going. That's my "XYZ." Over to Brooke now with the NEWSROOM.