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New Political Reality in Washington; Wildlife Mysteries in Arkansas; Stocks 2011: The Outlook; New Governors Being Sworn In Throughout the Country; Floodwaters Ravage Parts of Australia; New Afghani Talk Show Highlights Plights of Abused Women

Aired January 03, 2011 - 11:00   ET

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

JOE JOHNS, CNN ANCHOR: Live from Studio 7, I'm Joe Johns. The big stories for Monday, January 3, 2011.

Wildlife workers are trying to figure out what killed as many as 5,000 birds in Arkansas. One hundred thousand dead fish have been found in a 20-mile stretch of the Arkansas River. The bird and fish kills are 125 miles apart. Authorities say they are not related.

The Navy is investigating the commander of the USS Enterprise, Captain Owen Honors. He reportedly produced and appears in crude videos filled with sexual innuendo and gay slurs. They were shown on the Enterprise in 2006 and 2007. More from Pentagon Correspondent Barbara Starr ahead.

Three hours from now, Jerry Brown becomes California's governor again. He served in the '70s and the '80s. "The Governator," Arnold Schwarzenegger, departs office after seven years. He leaves Brown a projected $28 billion budget shortfall.

Other states, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Nevada, are also inaugurating new governors today.

The new year means a new political reality in Washington. Will that lead to governing or gridlock?

Congress convenes this week with Republicans in control of the House and a smaller Democratic majority in the Senate. On the GOP to-do list, making the House of Representatives more transparent, slashing federal spending, reducing the size of government, and repealing the new health care law.

Let's bring in Senior Congressional Correspondent Dana Bash and White House Correspondent Suzanne Malveaux.

Thanks to you guys for coming in, and Happy New Year, by the way.

DANA BASH, CNN SR. CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Happy New Year.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Happy New Year.

JOHNS: Dana, I want to start with you. What's the first item of business for the Republicans of this Congress? BASH: Well, the first thing they're going to do, Joe, is actually vote to make John Boehner the Speaker officially. That actually has to happen at the beginning. And then they're going to do something very interesting.

They're going to change some of the rules in the House. As you know, because you walked these halls for many years, the rules in the House mean a lot. And they're going to try to address the number one thing on that list that you had there, transparency.

First of all, some examples. No tax hikes can be used to pay for increases in mandatory spending. That's one.

Legislation must be public, online for three days before there's a vote. And every bill must include proof that it has some constitutional authority. That obviously is a nod to Tea Party activists who say that Congress doesn't really address the Constitution enough.

And on that note, another interesting thing, Joe, Congress -- the House, I should say, will actually read from the Constitution for the first time in history. That will happen on Thursday.

JOHNS: Good, Dana.

And President Obama is returning to Washington tomorrow.

Suzanne, do we know a little bit more now about what his strategy is for dealing with this new political reality of Republicans controlling the House and more of them in the Senate?

MALVEAUX: We do, Joe. We have a sense of this.

He's going to come back with some New Year's resolutions, and there are things that he's going to be emphasizing to the American people, making it very clear, even before his State of the Union Address, which is going to come at the end of the month. He's going to be emphasizing that the economy is number one here.

So he's talking about creating jobs, jobs, and jobs, more jobs. He's also talking about trying to reform the tax code, as well as invest in alternative sources of energy, innovation, education for the kinds of jobs that already exist in the economy, not the ones that are lost and are never coming back. And also a sense of fiscal responsibility, to actually cut back some of those programs that are perhaps wasteful or redundant, that those are ways that he can find some common ground with Republicans.

But make no mistake, Joe, another thing that he's going to emphasize to the American people is, look, Republicans, you have got control of the House. Expect that with responsibility comes some accountability. We're going to have to try to work together to get things done, if we can. You're going to be responsible as well -- Joe.

JOHNS: And a tossup question for both of you before we go. We know that health care reform is in the crosshairs again, and we know that the House of Representatives is planning to vote to repeal it, even though the Senate is probably not going in that direction.

When do we think we're going to see this vote? And the second question really is, if the Senate is not going there, why is the House going to do it?

BASH: It's all about the campaign, Joe. I'll take that one.

The House, we do expect them actually to take this up before the president's State of the Union Address. They do have the votes there. We do expect that. But as you said, the Senate, probably not.

So, ultimately, what we do expect is Republicans to try to keep their campaign promise to try to get rid of this health care law by working on the funding to try to use the power of the purse, defund certain aspects of the law, to make it harder for the Obama administration to implement it.

JOHNS: And Suzanne, is the president just playing catch on this or what? Or tennis?

(LAUGHTER)

MALVEAUX: Well, you know, he's going to go out there in full swing. I don't know if I can use a sports metaphor there -- I'm not good at these -- but, I mean, he's going to be out there in full force.

He's going to be arguing to the American people and arguing to the Republicans, saying, look, do you really want to take away the benefits that health care reform already affords people when you talk about prescription drugs, when you talk about coverage for children with pre-existing conditions? Are you going to be the ones to take those kinds of things away? He's going to get out there and try to be in front of this argument, and make the case that this should not be appealed, that it should be funded.

Another thing that the White House is doing is they're hiring a heck of a lot more lawyers, Joe, as you know, because they expect a lot of investigations, a lot of hearings to take place on the Hill regarding Congress and some of the administration's policies. Republicans believe that there's been major overreach of this White House. The White House is going to hit back real hard -- Joe.

JOHNS: Suzanne Malveaux, Dana Bash, thanks so much for that. And we'll be checking back in with you.

For some kids in southern California, the new year brings an extra day to play. Schools are canceled today because of a big winter storm.

Blinding snow forced the shutdown of part of Interstate 5, stranding hundreds of travelers. It also turned desert areas into a winter wonderland.

How often do you see palm trees covered in snow? I don't think I have ever seen palm trees covered in snow.

The Midwest is picking up after the weekend violent storms. At least seven people were killed by tornadoes that hit Arkansas and Missouri on New Year's Eve. At least 70 homes were upended in Missouri, which remains under a state of emergency. Thousands of people still without power.

(WEATHER REPORT)

JOHNS: It's the first day to get down to business in the new year. The markets have been open for more than an hour and a half and, let's see, the Dow is up 119 at the moment.

You're online right now, and we are, too. One of the top stories we're following on CNN.com is the death of Oscar-nominated Pete Postlewaite. He's been in some of Hollywood's top hits.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHNS: Time to go "Cross Country" and check stories our affiliates are covering today.

A shooting at a trailer park in western Ohio kills a sheriff's deputy. She was investigating reports of gunfire when she was shot without warning. Another officer was wounded in a shootout that followed. Deputy Suzanne Hopper was married and a mother of two.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERIFF GENE A. KELLY, CLARK COUNTY, OHIO: The deputy was investigating and saw a footprint, took out her camera to take a photograph of a footprint, and it appear that the door of the trailer opened and the person inside fired one shotgun blast, striking the deputy and fatally wounding a deputy. This is the worst day in my 24 years as the sheriff of Clark County.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JOHNS: A sad, sad story.

Moving to the East, heaps of garbage pile up on the streets of New York. Garbage collection was suspended during last week's blizzard, set to resume today. Investigators are looking into reports that four sanitation supervisors assigned to clean up bought beer instead and sat in their cars.

A spokesman says rock 'n' roll icon Chuck Berry is doing fine after collapsing on stage Saturday night in Chicago. He says the 84-year- old collapsed from exhaustion and is now resting at his home outside St. Louis.

Authorities in Arkansas are trying to solve a pair of wildlife mysteries. Testing begins today on some of the thousands of dead birds that fell from the sky in the town of Beebe, and officials are trying to figure out what killed about 100,000 fish in the Arkansas River near Ozark. Joining us via Skype from Little Rock, two guests from the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. David Goad is chief of Wildlife Management and Mark Oliver is chief of Fisheries.

First question to both of you, is there any reason to believe the bird and fish kills are related?

MARK OLIVER, ARKANSAS GAME AND FISH COMMISSION: No. Really unlikely that they are related.

JOHNS: The thing that's interesting, we looked at it on a map -- I don't know if we can show that right now, but it appeared to us that -- there you go -- there were a number of tornadoes, and these tornadoes occurred over the weekend within something like a couple hundred miles of where the bird kill at least occurred.

So is it possible the tornadoes had something to do with the bird kill?

I guess it's possible, but I think the weather event had moved through the area for the most part before this happened. It could have been. It's difficult to rule that out.

DAVID GOAD, ARKANSAS GAME AND FISH COMMISSION: We really won't know a whole lot about what's going on, at least until we can start checking some things off. We've got samples over here at the livestock and poultry lab. We'll be testing today and screening for diseases. We'll be screening for toxins.

If we can rule those out, then it will be just maybe x-rays to look at trauma. But, you know, one thing that could have happened that we've talked about is there was a huge fireworks display close to a known blackbird roost site, and those birds are asleep in the trees. And if they got flushed and they flew off and, you know, startled, and kind of went into shock, that could have caused an undue amount of stress, and that could have been what caused it.

JOHNS: All right. So that's at least one likely scenario for what happened to the birds.

But I have to ask you, Mark Oliver, what do we think happened to the fish?

OLIVER: Most likely it was disease-related. There was hardly anything but one species of fish that we found, freshwater drum, and they are probably in their winter habitat.

They're kind of crowded together right now in deeper water, and they probably had a disease go through them. We see that happen every now and then. This was a pretty large one, but usually when it's one species it's probably a disease.

JOHNS: All right. And we're really talking about 100,000 fish here. That's just an awful lot of the same species, which seems very unusual. But to you this is the kind of thing that's happened before, it's not that unusual? OLIVER: It really isn't unusual to see some species-specific diseases go through a population, and we've seen it with several other species, too. This is a big one, but it's probably a pretty big concentration of them. And usually when they're densely packed into their winter habitats when -- things like this may happen. So there are diseases that affect only a few species.

JOHNS: Now, how long will it be before we have a better idea of what you all think was the cause of both the bird kill and the fish kill? Are we talking about hours, days, weeks, months?

GOAD: For the birds -- sorry Mark. For the birds, it could be days. I mean, we should start hearing stuff back maybe this afternoon, tomorrow.

And we may send some to some different labs across the country. So we'll know something about the birds in a few days, I believe.

JOHNS: All right.

OLIVER: And it shouldn't be too long for the fish. We had some fish that were collected while they were dying, which is what you have to do to check diseases. And those are being taken today to a lab at one of our universities, the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, where they do a lot of testing of that sort. And so it should be as soon as they can run the cultures, we'll know if it was a disease or a virus or whatever. It shouldn't be too long.

JOHNS: All right then.

David Goad and Mark Oliver, thanks for joining us here on Skype. Quite a mystery you have going there in Arkansas. We'll be keeping in touch with you on this one.

OLIVER: Thank you.

GOAD: Thank you.

JOHNS: You've heard of walking on water. Tennis anyone?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHNS: When it comes to Wall Street, 2010 was a pretty good year for stocks. Look at the numbers. All the major averages jumped by double digits last year. The big question is, what's now?

Alison Kosik is on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.

Alison, what are the traders saying about the new year? Are people optimistic or are they bullish or bearish today?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: They're definitely bullish today, and for the rest of the year as well, Joe.

You know, you ask anybody here on the trading floor about stocks, about the economy, sure, they see the bulls definitely out. In fact, there was a CNNMoney.com survey that showed economists are even raising their growth forecasts for the year. That's also a good sign.

Yet one more good sign, more investors for the first time in eight months are buying into this market instead of taking their money out. That is also what's adding to the optimism here on Wall Street -- Joe.

JOHNS: So what do you think we should be looking for that could derail the recovery this year? Any idea on that?

KOSIK: I mean, no surprise, Joe, this isn't going to be a very smooth recovery. We know that from past experience so far.

Look at housing. Prices are down, sales are down in housing. We have got analysts predicting another double-dip recession in housing.

You look at the jobs market, we're not going to see a full recovery for years. And then, of course, we have got those lingering debt problems in Europe. Make no mistake about it, if those problems continue to crop up their head, we're going to see those problems come over here to the U.S., possibly, and that could cause problems here, because you have to remember, we are in this thing globally. This was a global recession -- Joe.

JOHNS: And for the record, before we go, what's the market doing right now?

KOSIK: We're doing real well right now. The Dow right now up 122 points, the Nasdaq higher by 48.

We've got a positive manufacturing report. You know, manufacturing actually has been a bright spot lately, so it's really good to see the manufacturing sector continue to improve -- Joe.

JOHNS: All right. Alison Kosik, I don't think I have said it yet, Happy New Year. And we'll be checking back with you.

KOSIK: Happy New Year to you. Sure.

JOHNS: You bet.

The NFL regular season has wrapped up, and here's a look at the playoff picture in case you didn't catch it.

The New England Patriots and the Pittsburgh Steelers are the top two seeds in the AFC. There's no surprise there. The Indianapolis Colts, Kansas City Chiefs, Baltimore Ravens, New York Jets also clinched playoff spots.

To the NFC, the Atlanta Falcons and the Chicago Bears are on the top of the heap. Also, Michael Vick and Philadelphia rounding out the NFC. The Seattle Seahawks, despite having a losing record, defending champion, New Orleans Saints, and the Green Bay Packers.

After 20 years in the NFL, Brett Favre appears to be calling it a career this time for real. Favre sat out Minnesota's final regular season game with a concussion. He says the time is now and he's OK with it. A sports rivalry played out this weekend on water. That's Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. It's part of the a PR event to launch the 2011 ATP tour, which began this weekend in Qatar.

Tiger Woods may not be at the top of his game, but he's still golf's top earner. "Golf Digest" magazine puts his 2010 earnings at close to $75 million. That's pretty good change.

What's all the buzz going on about the iPhone's alarm? Find out when we dial up hot stories trending today on the Web.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHNS: If it's trending online, we're tracking it.

CNN's Sandra Endo is here with the Web's top stories.

Sandra, what you got?

SANDRA ENDO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey there, Joe. Good morning.

Trending today, first some sad news coming out of the entertainment world, and this is trending on CNN.com and on Twitter today. The entertainment world is really mourning British actor Pete Postlethwaite's death. And he died of cancer at age 64.

Here, what some people are saying on Twitter, Joe. Take a look.

"Pete Postlethwaite, one of my favorites and in my favorite film ever, 'The Usual Suspects.' Bad, bad day."

And another tweet coming from people remembering him. "Rest in peace, Mr. Postlethwaite. You brought gravitas and dignity to your craft."

Now, OK, a lot of iPhone users, I hope you didn't wake up to your alarm clock using your iPhone, Joe, because a lot of people may not have started off this year right. The iPhone clock application had a malfunction, and a lot of these people relying on the alarm clock function, well, it didn't really work on January 2nd.

A lot of people missing appointments. Hopefully not late to work today, because Apple says it is investigating what went wrong. And supposedly, it is back on track today. So not a good thing, to be late to work on the first day of the workweek of the new year, right?

JOHNS: That's for sure.

ENDO: And lastly, trending on CNN.com, Facebook is off to a very prosperous start of the new year. Five hundred million dollars, an investment from Goldman Sachs and an unnamed Russian investor, well, that puts Facebook's worth to $50 billion -- $50 billion.

Now, that's more than eBay and Yahoo!. And, of course, putting pressure on the social network media site to go public. So we'll see if that happens this year -- Joe. JOHNS: Yes. When they get that money, they don't have to go public, right? I mean, that would help them -- what are they going to use the money for? Do you know?

ENDO: Yes, they're just going to be this big old monstrous rich giant. And the CEO, just in his 20s, worth billions of dollars as well. So a good year for him.

JOHNS: Great work if you can get it.

ENDO: Yes, exactly.

JOHNS: You bet. Thanks so much, Sandra Endo.

ENDO: You got it.

JOHNS: Water rising in Australia -- the fight against deadly flooding.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHNS: Raunchy videos are sending shock waves through the Navy right now. Embarrassing videos, images of sailors in sexual scenes, using anti-gay slurs shown to the crew of an aircraft carrier during a war mission.

Pentagon correspondent Barbara Starr joins us now.

Barbara, what's this thing all about?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Joe, you just have to shake your head, don't you? After all the scandals in recent years, one more now.

The U.S. Navy investigating the now captain, now captain, now the number one man on board the USS Enterprise. He was the CO, the number two, back in 2006 and 2007 -- Captain Owen Honors -- when he was responsible for making these videos, which show a number of things we can't show you on TV. Some simulated sex scenes, some activities, some curse words.

But we did clean up a bit of it so everyone can have a bit of a look at what we're talking about.

Watch and listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This evening all of you bleeding hearts and you (EXPLETIVE DELETED), why don't you just go ahead and hug yourselves for the next 20 minutes or so. because there's a really good chance you're going to be offended tonight. (EXPLETIVE DELETED). (EXPLETIVE DELETED). (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

Finally let's get to my favorite topic and something foreign to the gay kid over there, chicks in the shower. This is certainly the most popular video of any of (INAUDIBLE) movie videos. It's also the one that's landed me with the most complaints.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

STARR: What was he thinking? Well, who knows really. But now the Navy investigating, and clearly not just this man's activities, but, you know, an aircraft carrier has even more senior officers on board; the captain at the time, admirals on board, Navy lawyers sail with aircraft carriers. These videos were shown over the ship's video system, so an awful lot of people saw them.

Who spoke up? Who said something or did all these senior people know about this and not say anything? And in that case then, what was the command environment on board the ship? All of these things now being looked at and, of course, it's so critical because the Enterprise sails for the war zone in just a few days and Captain Honors currently remains in charge of the ship.

We'll see how long that lasts -- Joe.

JOHNS: Got it. So what is the Navy officially saying about this and a related question is, how easy is it to get rid of a guy like this, just you're out, put somebody else up there?

STARR: Well command in the U.S. Military, command, and especially of a ship, of a 5,000, is a privilege, not a right. So, of course, he may just simply be removed from his command of the Enterprise. The Navy has every prerogative to do that.

What they said in the beginning was a bit odd. There was a statement issued when the "Virginia Pilot," a local newspaper first published the videos a couple days ago, and it said, quote, that "The videos were not created with the intent to offend anyone. The videos were intended to be humorous skits."

They were said to be training videos. But then the current Navy leadership saw the videos and knew this was a problem, of course, ordered an investigation, had a new statement which said, quote, "Production of videos like the ones produced four to five years ago on USS Enterprise were not acceptable then and are still not acceptable in today's Navy. The Navy does not endorse or condone these kinds of actions."

All indications, Joe, are he was verbally reprimanded back when this happened. But what's at stake now, of course, is whether he is the appropriate person to be in command of an aircraft carrier of 5,000 people headed for a war zone -- Joe.

JOHNS: Barbara Starr at the Pentagon, thanks so much for this.

We checked the USS Enterprise's Facebook page and, of course, there's a social media buy in on this. Most of the posts are actually in support of Captain Honors.

Jimbo (ph) from Linden, Texas says, "Captain Honors' next job should be POTUS" -- president of the United States. Wendy (ph) in York Haven, Pennsylvania, writes, "All of you are my heroes. Thanks so much for sacrificing for me to keep my family, friends and community safe. I think Captain Honors rocks."

But an opposing view from Erica (ph). She says, "I know I'm a Navy spouse. I just think it was an overall abuse of power."

Australians right now are bracing for more flooding. Nine people have been killed across Queensland State since November. Thousands are homeless in a flood zone larger than the state of Texas.

Rachel Baker (ph) reports from a town that's about to be inundated.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

RACHEL BAKER, REPORTER (voice-over): Rock Hampton is bracing for its worst flood in two decades. In a town of 75,000 residents, nearly half of it is expected to be covered in water. The airport is closed and supplies are being trucked in. Because of the scale of the disaster, a new category of commonwealth assistance has become available.

ANNA BLIGH, PREMIER OF QUEENSLAND: This entitles small businesses and agriculture producers to grants of up to $25,000.

BAKER: There are also hardship payments for individuals.

JULIA GILLARD, AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER: And that provides access to emergency assistance; $1,000 per adult and $400 per family.

BAKER: The public relief fund has collected about $10 million in donations. In Rock Hampton, evacuation centers are ready and some residents have been ordered to leave their homes. But others are afraid to go.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: With looters and stuff, last '91 flood we were out at (INAUDIBLE) and we come into town from there and we just got robbed while we were out there. So we're not leaving this time.

BAKER: Extra police are on patrol, but for some life can go on as normal, especially with a boat.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My wife and I just went up and had a coffee and bought the paper. Something to do.

BAKER: Across Queensland, an area the size of New South Wales, is now flood affected. South of Roma, the flooded Condamine River is surging towards Surratt and St. George. North of Mt. Isa, a woman has drowned while trying to cross the Leichardt River. And a fisherman's body has been found at Tannum Sands. In some much need good news, weather forecasts show no flood-causing rain on the way.

Rachel Baker, 7 News.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

JOHNS: Not a good situation at all.

(WEATHER REPORT)

JOHNS: Now, we're going to have do some animal news. There you go. Let's check the best videos at the moment. A brand new panda cow is getting look-sees in Colorado. The black and white markings are the telltale sign of the miniature breed. It took four decades of selective breeding to create the panda cow. There are about 25 of them in all.

And, is this the happiest little guy in the world? I guess that's real video, huh? A zoo visitor caught this baby penguin jumping and hopping and dancing around in the snow. I mean, that's happy feet for real. Maybe the movie producers should think about a live action sequel starring this little guy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHNS: Taking a look at the top stories at this hour.

Firefighters appear to have the upper hand on a six-alarm fire that gutted this building in downtown Toronto. At least four firefighters were injured. It took 125 firefighters and 32 fire trucks to get it under control. Boy, look at those flames.

President Obama has signed a measure that guarantees government health care for September 11 first responders. Many have suffered respiratory illnesses and other problems.

Deadly flooding relentless in Australia. Nine people have been killed across Queensland State since November. And they're bracing for more. Thousands are homeless in a flood zone that is larger than the state of Texas.

Some experts predict a job boomlet in 2011, maybe two and a half to three million jobs. That's triple the 2010 gain. The CNN Money Team's Stephanie Elam is here with some top tips.

Stephanie, if you're one of the lucky ones to get one of these jobs, I guess the first chore is putting your finances back together, which probably wouldn't be very easy.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Yes. You know, Joe, for some people you want to like throw the party. But actually you might want to think about your money first and then party a little later.

But, you're right. As for a lot of people, today is the start of a new year and a new job, especially if you've had a long bout of unemployment. So, before you go on spending all the money that's coming in your new paycheck, it's time to prioritize and make some important decisions to get back on stable, financial ground. Just be a little smart about it, Joe.

JOHNS: All right. That makes sense. So the next question then is where do you start? I mean, there's all kinds of stuff staring you in the face, bills for miles. Show me the beginning.

ELAM: That's the thing. Most people feel daunted when they think about, well, how do I get back to where I need to be? So, take a look at where your finances have taken a hit during your unemployment. Chances are you'll need to replenish your emergency savings -- since you were probably tapping into them to stay afloat. No surprise there. So try to start saving at least three months of an emergency fund.

And with 69 percent of folks out there saying they're going to decrease debt as their number one 2011 money resolution -- that's according to the National Foundation for Credit Counseling, you've been paying with credit, well then, you need to wean yourself off of that. If that's what you want to do, stop using the plastic so much and start make a monthly budget with your new salary.

As for your retirement account, if you've been paying monthly bills instead of contributing, it's time to get back into the habit right away. Take that money right out, right into your 401(k) before you even see the money, Joe.

JOHNS: And then there's the issue of big expenditures, as well.

ELAM: Yes. Because, you know, there are probably some things you may have neglected over the time. And with workers out of work for eight months on average, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, it's important to begin to tackle tasks so they don't snowball into much larger expenditures down the road.

So we're talking about things like maintenance on your home or your car, or more importantly maybe for a lot of people out there, too, Joe, is medical care. If you've postponed it for you and your family, if you haven't been taking care of your health, it's time to get those checkups. Make sure you do all that so that you prevent bigger issues down the line.

JOHNS: Exactly. You want to cut it off before it all starts cascading even after you got a job.

All right. Thank you so much, Stephanie Elam. Checking back with you later.

ELAM: All right.

JOHNS: When we come back, how to balance your expenses while tackling your debt.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHNS: We're back with Stephanie Elam, even sooner than I thought.

We're going to have today's tips.

ELAM: I know. Surprise! I didn't go anywhere.

JOHNS: This is great.

Once you get a job, obviously it's time to balance your expenses. You got to also handle the debt. Now, you were just saying a minute ago that you probably have gone through your savings and, I guess, you're suggesting that you really have to make this a priority to get that nest egg back into shape.

ELAM: Yes, you really do. And it's a decision you have to make. And the earlier you do it, the better off because you've already been living within such tight constraints.

So if you've been out of work, you've probably been paying bills, and a lot of you out there have probably been paying with your credit card, as we were talking about before. But remember, those bills come due with interest.

So financial planners are telling us that's it's important to look at all your credit card balances, just lay them all out there, read all the fine print, and focus on paying down the cards with the highest interest rates first. Big balances cut into your ability to save. And, Joe, they can also do a number on your credit score. So you want to pay those balances down, and get that debt back in check.

JOHNS: You bet. All right, great. Thanks so much, Stephanie Elam. Good talking to you. See you again.

ELAM: You, too.

JOHNS: Today is swearing in day at several statehouses across the country. Wolf Blitzer, part of the best political team on television, live from the political desk in Washington.

Hey, Wolf, what's crossing right now?

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: A lot of new governors, that's what's crossing right now, Joe. Four new governors about to be sworn in today, including in California, Jerry Brown, who's going to be succeeding Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Democrat. He was governor as you remember a few decades ago. Now he's coming back in his early 70s for a second round as governor of California, the largest state in the Union.

Three other governors being sworn in today. In Nevada, Brian Sandoval, he's a Republican. In Minnesota, Mark Dayton, he's a Democrat. And in Wisconsin, Tom Barrett. He's a Republican. So there's going to be a whole bunch other governors. Over the weekend, Andrew Cuomo was sworn in as the new governor of New York State. Susan Martinez was sworn in as the new governor of New Mexico, becoming the first female Hispanic governor in the country.

By the way, Tim Pawlenty, the outgoing governor of Minnesota right now, he's about to launch a major book tour. A lot of people are seeing it as sort of a little bit of a cover for going out there and sounding out the possibility of running for the Republican presidential nomination. He's going to be promoting his back over 30 days.

But pointedly, he's going to be visiting Iowa, he's going to be visiting New Hampshire. He's going to several of the other key battleground states, including Florida, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. So a lot of speculation that this is an opportunity for him to check out the possibility of running for the Republican presidential nomination. We'll see whether Tim Pawlenty in fact does that.

Finally, I just want to let our viewers know later in "THE SITUATION ROOM," Joe, and I think you and a lot of viewers will be interested, the actor George Clooney is going to be joining us to discuss the lately situation in Darfur, in Sudan. As you know, he's passionate about the humanitarian plight of the refugees there and he's working really hard, he's got some new technology, some new social networking, some Google map information, live pictures coming in from satellites to help us better appreciate what's going.

He's trying to keep the Obama administration honest on this very, very sensitive human rights issue. So we'll have a good discussion with George Clooney, coming up later "THE SITUATION ROOM," 5:00 p.m. Eastern -- Joe.

JOHNS: Using Google, apparently, to try to find human rights abuses around the world. That's quite a story, Wolf.

BLITZER: What he's trying to on do is show the world the potential for genocide as it's about to happen or while it's happening so that people around the world, decent folks, won't be able to say, you know what, we didn't know, we had no idea what was going on. And that's why they were silent. Here's saying, ting the whole world will be watching. And he's trying to prevent the death, the slaughter, of a lot of innocent people.

JOHNS: Great. Thanks so much. And we will be watching, too, "THE SITUATION ROOM" later today. Thanks so much, Wolf Blitzer.

Your next political update in an hour. And for the latest political news, you know where to go, CNNPolitics.com.

And here's what we're working on for the next hour of CNN NEWSROOM. Wall Street powerhouse Goldman Sachs has just friended Facebook to the tune of hundreds of millions of dollars. Find out what that might mean for the social networking site.

Plus, the controversial roundup of America's wild horses in the west. It pits the government against animal activists.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHNS: You've heard the horror stories. Young girls in Afghanistan forced to marry much older men, often abused and treated as slaves. Now they have a forum that lets them share experiences and get help.

CNN's Arwa Damon takes us behind the maps.

ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is Afghanistan's newest talk show called (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE), which means, "The Mask." Women raped, beaten, abused. But now finally able to speak out. Their body language tells of all they've had to endure. The show was the creation of 28-year-old Sami Mahdi .

SAMI MAHDI, CREATOR AND PRODUCER OF "THE MASK": I was not very sure about the concept and the format. But I was very sure about "The Mask," because in Afghanistan, it's very difficult for a women to talk about their difficulties and their problems and the violence they are facing in their home.

DAMON: Yasimin (ph) was just 13-years-old, when she says her family sold her for around $1,000. Her husband and in-laws beat and tortured her.

This is against Islam and against the law, the show's religious authority reassures her. The studio audience also includes experts in human rights and the law.

MAHDI: I'm not sure we can make some difference for the victims, you know? But we can use the life of these individuals as an example and I'm sure we can make some changes in the life of other women. And I'm sure we can change the minds of men in Afghanistan.

DAMON: Sarayah (ph) tells of being forcibly being married off at the age of 15, to a known rapist who she feared would eventually come after their daughter. She believes her husband would kill her and their three children.

(on camera): Does the mask make you feel safe?

(voice-over): Yes, Sarayah responds, adding that she had no other option but to speak out for the sake and future of her children.

(on camera): It does come as something of a surprise that a man is behind this type of a concept.

How did it come about?

MAHDI: Whenever I go home and I compare my work with my mother, she is doing much more than I. Much more. But no one is paying attention and maybe there is a lot of mothers, thousands of mothers, who are living in the same situation. They don't have a tongue, they don't have a voice to talk about what they are suffering.

DAMON: So basically this half, with the (SPEAKING FOREIGN LANGUAGE) or the burqa, is showing how women have been suppressed and unable to talk. And this half is about their innocence.

MAHDI: Yes. It shows the reality of women. White (ph) and innocent.

DAMON (voice-over): Their innocence lost. But speaking out in hopes of protecting others.

Arwa Damon, CNN, Kabul.

(END VIDEOTAPE)