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Police, Firefighters Let Man Drown; How GOP Race is Shaping Up; Obama Meets with House Republican Leaders; Allegations of Child Torture in Syria; Home Prices Hit New Bottom; There's a Pill For That
Aired June 01, 2011 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Live from Studio 7, I'm Suzanne Malveaux. I want to get you up to speed for Wednesday, the 1st of June.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's damn frustrating. That's how --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: A family member trying to understand how budget cuts led to a man's death in San Francisco Bay. Alameda police and firefighters stood by and watched the man drown because they're not certified for water rescue. Alameda cut its water rescue team two years ago to save money.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ROSEMARY MCNALLY, ALAMEDA, CALIFORNIA, RESIDENT: What were they thinking when they did nothing?
ADAM GILLITT, ALAMEDA, CALIFORNIA, RESIDENT: This just strikes me as not just a problem with funding, but a problem with the culture of what's going on in our city, that no one would take the time to help this drowning man.
CHIEF MICHAEL NOONAN, ALAMEDA, CALIFORNIA, POLICE: Could we have done more when the gentleman became unconscious? Certainly, there's that opportunity for us to have gone out and do more. We're looking at that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Alameda officials say now they'll reinstate the water rescue training.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
911 OPERATOR: 911, what's your emergency?
CINDY ANTHONY, CASEY ANTHONY'S MOTHER: I called a little bit ago the deputy sheriff. I found out my granddaughter has been taken. She has been missing for a month. Her mother finally admitted that she's been missing. (END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Casey Anthony's mother Cindy breaks down on the stand in an Orlando courtroom. The jury hears Cindy Anthony's 911 call to report her granddaughter Caylee missing. She told the 911 operator her daughter's car smelled like a dead body.
Prosecutors say Casey Anthony killed her daughter and buried the body in nearby Woods, and then pretended that she was missing.
Sarah Palin tops off a meeting with Donald Trump with a visit to the Statue of Liberty today. Her "I'm not running for anything bus tour" stopped by Trump's New York penthouse last night. Later, Palin and Trump discussed the Republican presidential field over pizza.
Trump has already said he's not running. Palin is on the fence.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SARAH PALIN (R), FMR. VICE PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: What do we have in common? A love for this country and a desire to see our economy get put back on the right track, making sure that we have a balanced trade arrangement with other countries across this world so that Americans can have our jobs, our industries, our manufacturing again.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you support Sarah Palin as president?
DONALD TRUMP, CHAIRMAN & CEO, TRUMP ORGANIZATION: Well, she didn't ask me for that. She's a terrific woman. She didn't ask me. But I will tell you, she's a great woman, and a terrific woman, and a good friend.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: President Obama is meeting with dozens of House Republicans at the White House right now. They are trying to find some common ground on spending cuts. Republicans insist on $2 trillion worth of cuts before they'll agree to increase the government's ability to borrow money. The debt ceiling must be raised by August 2nd or the U.S. will default on its bills.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And there's a gorgeous view of the space shuttle Endeavour as it's coming in for a landing. Gear down and locked.
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MALVEAUX: After 25 space flights spanning two decades and 122 million miles, Endeavour returned to the Earth overnight for a final time. The shuttle will spend its retirement at a Los Angeles museum.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MARK KELLY, SHUTTLE COMMANDER: I really want to thank my crew members, who did such a spectacular job on this flight. I could not have done this without them. They all, every single one of them, just performed flawlessly.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And our commander, we want to thank him, too.
KELLY: Oh.
So thanks for coming out. It's great to be back. And have a good morning. So long.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: NATO today extended the Libyan military mission another 90 days. The alliance launched airstrikes and a no-fly zone in March to protect civilians and to pressure Moammar Gadhafi to step down. Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen says the move sends message to the Libyan regime -- NATO will complete its mission.
In Yemen, several generals who have defected say the regime is trying to kill them. They say four missiles hit their meeting site last night. They say nobody was hurt. A senior figure in Yemen's Defense Ministry tells CNN that the general's allegations are not true.
Well, today is the first day of hurricane season. Government forecasters predict a busy six months ahead in the tropics, as many as six major hurricanes. That is triple the number in an average season.
Here's your chance to "Talk Back" on one of the big stories of the day. Today's question: Has Congressman Anthony Weiner said enough on the Twitter photo scandal, the controversy?
Carol Costello with more.
What do we think? It's been a back-and-forth, not a lot of answers to some questions, basic questions.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's a complicated issue, Suzanne.
You may have heard about the indelicate photo of a man in his underwear sent from Congressman Anthony Weiner's Twitter account to a college student. Weiner, an outspoken liberal Democrat, says his account was hacked. If that's true, it's a crime.
So why not alert the police to help get to the bottom of it, or even to say, hey, that photo is not of me? Which Weiner has yet to do. He seems incapable of a yes or no answer.
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DANA BASH, CNN SR. CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Can you just say why you haven't asked law enforcement to investigate what you are alleging as a crime? REP. ANTHONY WEINER (D), NEW YORK: You know, Dana, if I was giving a speech to 45,000 people, and someone in the back of the room threw a pie, or yelled out an insult, would I spend the next two hours responding to that? No.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you send it or not?
WEINER: If I were giving a speech to 45,000 people, and someone in the back threw a pie or yelled out an insult, I would not spend the next two hours of my speech responding to that pie or that insult.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: Did you follow her on Twitter? And if so, how did you find her, what was the reason?
WEINER: Do you know, I have I think said this a couple of ways, and I'll say it again. I'm not going to permit myself to be distracted by this issue any longer.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: OK. I know, a right-wing blogger with questionable tactics did break the Weiner Twitter story. But before we start referring to this as just another partisan political fight, maybe it's worth asking, should the congressman have to answer these questions? After all, don't we demand that of our public officials? Or is the issue, as he says, just a distraction?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WEINER: I'm not going to permit it to continue on for three, four, five or six more days. If that's not satisfactory to you, I apologize.
But I think that what people really want to talk about are things like the debt limit vote tonight, or things like the oppressive disparity between the very well-to-do in this country and people that don't have as much. Or the fact that it's more and more difficult being the middle class in this country. That's what I'm here to work on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COSTELLO: So, the "Talk Back" question today: Has Congressman Weiner said enough on the Twitter photo?
Facebook.com/CarolCNN. I'll read your comments later this hour.
MALVEAUX: All right, Carol. Thank you very much. COSTELLO: Sure.
MALVEAUX: Here's a rundown of some of the stories we are covering in the next couple of hours.
A man drowns in the San Francisco Bay while firemen and police do nothing. I'll talk live to the fire chief to find out why.
Also, the new face of the Syrian uprising, a 13-year-old protester, tortured and killed.
Plus, is it better to rent or to buy a home? Well, some are asking the questions, and some questions you should ask yourself before committing.
And finally, "CNN In-Depth: Medication Nation," how taking too many pills can lead to a disaster.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: Here are your choices for today's "Choose the News."
First, if you've got a computer, chances are you're doing it already, using one of the greatest innovations while at the same time putting your personal information at risk.
Second, gas prices are dropping, but they're still about $1 more a gallon than they were a year ago. So that's pushed a lot of commuters to try slugging their way to work.
And third, a 9-year-old boy in Joplin, Missouri, opens up a lemonade stand, but not for himself. It's for the people who lost everything in that tornado.
You can vote by texting 22360. Text 1 for "Cloud Computing Concerns"; 2 for "Slugging to Work"; or 3, "Joplin Lemonade Boy."
The winning story will air in the next hour.
Outrage in Alameda, California, after a suicidal man drowned in the San Francisco Bay. Because of rules and regulations, firefighters and police stood by and did nothing.
The story from reporter Ken Wayne with our affiliate KTVU.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KEN WAYNE, REPORTER KTVU (voice-over): Members of the public spoke out about the Alameda Fire Department's reaction to the drowning of a man at a city beach Sunday. Due to a lack of funding for shore- to-water rescue, firefighters said they had no one properly trained to go into the water. So they stood by and watched as an apparently suicidal man treaded water just offshore and then drowned.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It just strikes me as unbelievably callous that nobody there with any sort of training could strip off their gear and go and help this person.
WAYNE: One witness said there were about two dozen first responders, and not one of them got their boots wet.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ask the fire unit or the police department and also the Coast Guard, what were they thinking when they did nothing?
WAYNE: Alameda's interim police chief said if it had been a child, officers would have jumped in. But in this case, it was a large adult, so they were concerned about officer safety.
NOONAN: It's muddy out there. We don't want them sinking. We don't want them in distress.
WAYNE: Fire officials now say they will restore funding for water rescue training by July, and tonight the mayor said there are immediate changes.
MAYOR MARIE GILMORE, ALAMEDA, CALIFORNIA: In the future, the fire department's command who are on the scene will have the discretion to send swimmers into the water as circumstances allow.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: Alameda's interim fire chief, Michael D'Orazi, is with us on the phone.
Chief , first of all, like that woman in the piece said, if you could just simply explain, what were you thinking when there's a man who is treading water for an hour, struggling for his life, and then drowns and your crews just watch?
MICHAEL D'ORAZI, ALAMEDA INTERIM FIRE CHIEF: Yes, Suzanne. Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you this morning.
But Monday's situation presented itself as very difficult and very regrettable. But on two levels we had to take under consideration the circumstances.
First of all, this scene was a crime scene. The police department was in charge of the scene, obviously. Under those circumstances, we have to defer to their judgment based on what they have experienced.
They felt that going into the water initially might not be the best idea because they were unsure if this individual was armed, the stability of the individual. So that is on one level.
And on a secondary level, which is something that we in the fire department have moved to change immediately, there was a policy in place that pretty much precluded our people from entering the water. And that's something, as I stated, that we have already changed, and we will be putting into effect a new policy which allows our incident commander discretion under these circumstances. MALVEAUX: With all due respect here, why not say to heck with the policy, we have got an emergency on our hands, a man's life is at stake, we're going to deal with the paperwork and the legal fallout later?
D'ORAZI: And, you know, that's understandable. And I can certainly understand that. And if our people had entered the water and said we have to do this because there's a situation that presents itself where we can make a difference, then I wouldn't have an issue with that.
What I am saying, though, is that the policy that was put into place has changed, and there won't be any question about that in the future. Under the same circumstances, again, though, with a crime scene, with an individual who could be unstable and potentially dangerous, we would have to take that into consideration before we attempted a rescue.
MALVEAUX: As a firefighter, isn't that part of the job? It's a dangerous situation, we might meet up with somebody who's dangerous, but we're going to take the chance anyway because we've committed ourselves to saving lives?
D'ORAZI: Absolutely. And, you know, I know, Suzanne, that those firefighters who were on the beach yesterday, they were incredibly frustrated by this whole situation, because I know them. They wanted to get in. They wanted to take action.
They want to do their jobs. And they feel like they're handcuffed. So it's really an untenable situation for our people.
MALVEAUX: If this was your father who was in the water, who was drowning, would you say this was a frustrating situation? Wouldn't you get those crews in the water to save him?
D'ORAZI: You know, I'm sure that if that was something that was touching me personally, absolutely. And I understand the feeling from the community. I understand, obviously, the family. We feel terrible for the family of the individual.
But I can't go back and change the circumstances that took place on Monday. I can only change the way we do things going forward. And I have initiated that process, and we're going to change it.
MALVEAUX: Does it worry you at all -- I mean, these guys are following the rules, they're following policy, but does it concern you at all that there was a lack of compassion, of humanity, that not a single one of those first responders got into the water? It took a good Samaritan, a woman, to try to and save him, and ultimately she could not. It was too late. It was a whole hour that that man was treading water.
D'ORAZI: Yes. And you know what? I really don't agree that there was a lack of concern and compassion, because I've talked to these people and they are incredibly concerned and frustrated, again, over the whole situation. And yes, I know they wanted to go in there and make a difference. And that's why we're moving forward and we're going to use this situation to make ourselves better, to make sure we don't have this happen in the future.
MALVEAUX: You certainly are trying to make the situation better. Clearly, that is not going to bring back this man's life. Is there anything that you have to offer his family besides an apology?
D'ORAZI: You know, I wish there was something I could offer them besides that, but there is nothing that I can do to change the circumstances that took place on Monday. All I can do is let everyone in the community of Alameda know that the fire department is moving forward to make sure that we don't put our people in this type of a situation ever again, that we have the discretion to do what we know we need to do to take care of these types of rescue situations.
MALVEAUX: Chief D'Orazi, we appreciate your time, coming on and explaining just what happened here. Obviously, a very tragic situation. Thank you, Chief.
D'ORAZI: You're welcome.
MALVEAUX: Sarah Palin's bus tour is making a detour. She stops in New York to talk pizza and politics with Donald Trump.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: Two of the most highly-publicized people not officially running for president sit down over pizza to talk politics.
Sarah Palin and Donald Trump met in New York for what Trump called a low-key dinner. They discussed the potential field of GOP candidates. And Trump recently announced he was not running for president after weeks of political grandstanding. Palin, who is on a mystery bus tour, won't say whether or not she is running.
She talked with CNN's Peter Hamby about last night's dinner with Donald Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PETER HAMBY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: How was the dinner?
PALIN: Dinner was great. We had great pizza.
Wasn't that good?
It was real New York pizza. And that was fun to get to be there, yes. Thank you.
HAMBY: What's been your favorite part of the trip so far, Governor?
PALIN: Oh, my goodness. We always love the OTRs. We love getting to just hop off the bus and meet the nice folks who are the hometown characters, basically, in some of these small towns that we get to stop in. I love it.
HAMBY: Did you get to talk folks, like when you just pull over to coffee shops, is that something that would be an asset to you? I mean, other candidates --
PALIN: That's what I'm most comfortable doing. I know that. I love being able to.
HAMBY: A lot of people don't realize in Alaska you were sort of known as a retail politician. I mean, if you do run -- I'm not going to ask you if you are going to run, because the answer is going to be the same -- would that one-on-one kind of interaction still be possible for you as a global celebrity now? Is that something that you would be able to recapture?
PALIN: Man, I would hope I never get -- I would never lose that ability or that desire to get to be with that one-on-one relationship with people. I think it's the most valuable thing that a person, a professional politician, anybody can have, is that desire to have that one-on-one relationship with people.
That's how you learn and grow and figure out what the needs and concerns are so that you can know what to concentrate on to help meet those needs. So, yes, if someone was to lose that, you'd become a typical politician, and that's pretty tragic in my eyes.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: Palin has not officially entered the race, but here are the Republicans who have decided to run: former House Speaker Newt Gingrich; Texas Congressman Ron Paul; former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty; former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson; and businessman and radio talk show host Herman Cain.
There's going to be one more official candidate soon. That is going to happen tomorrow. Former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney will formally announce his intention to seek the GOP nomination.
Well, some Republicans like Palin are in the spotlight, while others like Romney seem to be taking kind of a low-key approach. Well, next hour, I'm going to talk to a Republican strategist about the different tactics.
Syrians rally around a 13-year-old boy and against the brutal regime they believe tortured him to death. We're going to hear tough talk from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MALVEAUX: Here's a rundown of some of the stories that we are working on next.
A young demonstrator becomes a poster child for the Syrian uprising after being tortured and killed.
Then, with housing prices at new lows, is it better to buy or to rent? We're going to tell you some questions you should consider.
Then, at 11:56 Eastern, when taking too many medications hurts more than helps. Our "CNN In-Depth: Medication Nation."
Well, a 13-year-old boy has become the new face of the two-month- old revolution in Syria after alarming video surfaced on YouTube of the child's mutilated body. It appears to show that he was tortured before his death. And the video has angered activists and drawn sharp criticism from the United States as well.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HILLARY CLINTON, SECRETARY OF STATE: I, too, was very concerned by the reports about the young boy. In fact, I think what that symbolizes for many Syrians is the total collapse of any effort by the Syrian government to work with and listen to their own people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: CNN's Arwa Damon has been following this story for us. And a warning -- some of you may find the graphic images of injured children upsetting.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On April 29th, anti-government protesters tried to break the Syrian army siege on the city of Daraa. Eyewitnesses at the time described how security forces indiscriminately opened fire on them.
(GUNFIRE)
DAMON: Dozens were killed and wounded. Countless others detained.
Among them, say his family, was 13-year-old Hamza, separated from his father in the chaos. A month later, the family received their son's body, Hamza's face bloated, purple.
This video posted to YouTube catalogs each of his wounds, much of it too graphic to broadcast. The narrator points out multiple gunshots before moving to his head. And even more shocking, his genitals were mutilated.
CNN cannot independently verify what happened to Hamza or the authenticity of this video. After it was initially broadcast, Hamza's family was threatened. Now they are too petrified to talk, even to close friends.
Razan Zaitouneh, a prominent Syrian activist who we reached via Skype, says she has no doubt it's real and that the regime had a message in releasing the boy's body.
RAZAN ZAITOUNEH, SYRIAN ACTIVIST: They want the people to see this. They want the people to get scared. They want the people to know that there is no red lines, everything, no matter how awful it is, could happen to their family members if they continue to participate in this revolution.
DAMON: But far from cowing people, the video has only made them bolder.
(CHANTING)
DAMON: Demonstrations to protest comes as death erupted. Even children took to the streets, risking a similar fate, vowing that his blood was not spilled in vain.
Activists say they are not surprised that the regime could have committed such cruelty and claim it's not the first time a child has been targeted.
This 11-year-old boy was allegedly shot in his home. This video shows the body of a child lying in the street amid intense gunfire, as others try to recover his body. And here, children lie wounded in hospital after security forces allegedly fired at their school bus.
The Syrian government said Tuesday there will be an investigation into Hamza's death, but a medical examiner told Syrian TV there was no evidence the boy had been tortured, and he claimed the condition of the corpse was due to decomposition.
Hamza's death has prompted international outrage. A Facebook page calling itself "We are all the martyr, the child Hamza Ali al- Khateeb" had 60,000 followers by Tuesday. The face of this 13-year- old from a village in southern Syria, now the symbol of an uprising.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MALVEAUX: CNN made repeated attempts to reach Syrian authorities for comment on the death of Hamza al Fatib (ph). Syrian TV also said President Assad had met members of the boy's family.
We're going to get to Arwa Damon in a moment, but first I go to the White House. This is where House Republicans just wrapped up their meeting with President Obama dealing with the debt ceiling as well as spending cuts.
This is Eric Cantor.
(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
REP. ERIC CANTOR (R), MAJORITY LEADER: But we can also get people back to work.
We know that our chairman of the Ways and Means Committee Dave Camp is hard at work at putting together a tax reform plan. I asked the president hopefully that he will work with us to do so and keep out of the discussions surrounding the debt limit and in the Biden talks, any notion that we're going continue crease taxes. It's counterintuitive to believe that you increase taxes on those individuals and entities you're expecting to create jobs.
REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R), MAJORITY WHIP: It's a unique opportunity where the entire conference got to convey what they're listening to across America. The president laid out from a debt discussion, but from the conference he heard about jobs. He heard about unshackling the burden of regulation on to small business to get them working again, from Wisconsin to West Virginia to members across the way.
What I heard from this president, that he wanted to sit down and find real cuts now. He said there need to be entitlement reform and we will work with him towards those ends to direct when we create new jobs, put us on a path to pay off the budget, on a balanced budget, and pay down the debt, as well.
REP. CATHY MCMORRIS RODGERS (R), WASHINGTON: I want to thank the president and the speaker for bringing us together today for this important discussion.
You know, every generation of Americans has been proud to pass on a better country to the next generation. And yet for a lot of Americans right now there's a question in their gut as to whether or not our children and our grandchildren are going to have more opportunities. And the foundation that we lay for them is so important and we can't take for granted that we're just going to continue to have that strong foundation from which opportunity and innovation and ingenuity take place.
Our tax policy matters. Our debt matters. Our energy policy matters. And whether it was our vote last night on the debt ceiling or the conversation today with the president about job creation, we are committed to taking the steps necessary to ensure that that next generation has more opportunities.
REP. JEB HENSARLING (R), FINANCIAL SERVICES COMMITTEE: Any day Republicans and Democrats are actually having a dialogue, this is a good day. What the president heard from Republican members of the House is that jobs are jobs number one. That is our job. And unfortunately, the greatest impediment we have to jobs today is a lack of confidence in the future.
Republican House members were able to share with the president that the job creators in our district feel that the regulatory burden, much of it coming from the president's administration, creates a lack of confidence in the future.
Tax policy that is not competitive, a tax burden than is too high creates a lack of confidence. And then last but not least, a debt burden. The president heard from Republican members of the House that we know that the debt burden is going to lead to high taxes which leads to low unemployment.
Unfortunately what we did not hear from the president is a specific plan of his to deal with the debt crisis that could actually be scored by the Congressional Budget Office. But we hope there's still an opportunity to work on the drivers of this debt that is costing us jobs, because Republicans know that until we have the confidence that we can solve this debt crisis by dealing with the drivers, our entitlement spending, that we're not going to get the kind of jobs that the American people want or demand.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to take a couple of questions.
QUESTION: Mr. Cantor, you mentioned the ADP report. Did the president have a response to that? Did he respond to your concerns?
CANTOR: The president admitted that we've to look at growing this economy. The discussion really focused on the philosophical difference on whether Washington should continue to pump money into the economy or we should provide an incentive for entrepreneurs and small businesses to grow.
So I think the president was well aware and admitted the fact that private sector job creation is not enough. He did mention that a lot of the losses were in the public sector. Again, our message is to focus on growth in the private sector. That's how we're going to help bring down the deficit and get people back to work.
QUESTION: Did the president talk about additional spending?
CANTOR: Well, the president talked about a need for us to continue to quote, unquote, "invest" from Washington's standpoint. And to a lot of us that's code for more Washington spending, something that we can't afford right now.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)
RYAN: That's not exactly what I said.
(LAUGHTER)
RYAN: That wasn't exactly what I said. I just said, we've got to take on this debt and if we demagogue each other at the leadership level then we're never going to take on our debt. We have a debt crisis coming and we want to deal with this.
If we want to grow jobs in the economy and we have to get our spending under control, we got to get our debt under control and if we try to demagogue each other's attempts to do that, then we're not applying the kind of political leadership we need to get this economy growing and get this debt under control. That's basically what we were saying.
QUESTION: Was it confrontational?
RYAN: No, not at all.
QUESTION: Did he stop calling your plan a voucher plan?
RYAN: I simply explained what our plan is, how it works. It's been misdescribed by the president and many others. And so we simply described to him precisely what it is we've been proposing so that he hears, from us, how our proposal works so that in the future he won't mischaracterize it.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) RYAN: He didn't mention one way or the other.
QUESTION: What was the point of this meeting today? Was it negotiating, was it (OFF-MIKE) was it public relations?
REP. JOHN BOEHNER (R), HOUSE SPEAKER: I think it was an opportunity for clearly our members to communicate directly with the president about our ideas, about how to get the economy going again, how to create jobs, and our ideas about how we solve the debt problem that's facing our country.
I told the president, one more time, this is the moment. This is the window of opportunity where we can deal with this on our terms. We can work together and solve this problem. We know what the problems are. Let's not kick the can down the road one more time. Now's the time to deal with it.
Thanks, everybody.
(END COVERAGE)
MALVEAUX: You've been watching the Republican leadership at the White House after a meeting with President Obama. A lot of things obviously for them to discuss.
Our own Brianna Keilar is there, and I noticed, Brianna, standing on your perch there, that you were overlooking that group, that gaggle of Republicans who shouted a couple of questions there. And one of the things that is debatable, a contentious issue right now is whether or not to raise the debt ceiling, the amount that the United States can borrow, whether or not that's attached to spending cuts and that some of the Republicans are insisting.
Where do we go from here?
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: From here, and this is what we're hearing from the White House and what we're also hearing from the Hill, Suzanne, is that the future of this really rests in those negotiations that at least for now Vice President Joe Biden is leading with congressional Democrats and Republicans on deficit reduction and items that will be attached to increasing the debt ceiling. Right now the Treasury Department says the debt ceiling has to be increased by August 2nd for the U.S. not to default on its loans.
So what you're hearing right now, this is, of course, the Republican side. House Republicans, almost all of them meeting with President Obama. Pretty unique situation. By my count this is the only the third time in Mr. Obama's presidency that he's met with all House Republicans. And, of course, one of the big sticking points in this, and you certainly heard Republicans say they voiced this to the president, has to do with increasing taxes.
One of the things the White House would like to see is an increase on taxes of wealthy Americans and Republicans are against that. They say that's going to hurt small business, that will ultimately hurt the economy. But you have the White House saying some spending cuts but there need to be an increase in taxes.
We heard from House Speaker John Boehner there, Suzanne, that this was a frank and productive meeting. I don't know if you could hear the question that I shouted at Paul Ryan.
MALVEAUX: I did.
KEILAR: I was trying to get it just how confrontational, perhaps, this meeting was. The answer to my question, I asked him if he sort of confronted the president on his leadership. He said that the point he was making that we can't demagogue, we can't get into politics, we need to solve this problem.
But what we're really waiting for right now, as well, from the White House is say readout of this meeting that went on for more than an hour, almost an hour and a half. And shortly at about 12:30, we'll be getting a briefing from White House Press Secretary Jay Carney. We'll be getting some answers from him on this and his side.
MALVEAUX: OK. Excellent, Brianna. We did see you ask that question, by the way, from up above. So that was great. Thank you very much.
We're going to have more news after this quick break.
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MALVEAUX: A 13-year-old boy has become the new face of the two month-old revolution in Syria, after an alarming video surfaced on YouTube of the child's mutilated body. It appears to show he was tortured before his death. The video has angered activists and drawn sharp criticism from the United States, as well.
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HILLARY CLINTON, SECRETARY OF STATE: I, too, was very concerned by the reports about the young boy. In fact, I think what that symbolizes for many Syrians is the total collapse of any effort by the Syrian government to work with and listen to their own people.
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MALVEAUX: Arwa Damon now joins from us Beirut, Lebanon.
And Arwa, we noticed a man who was on Syrian TV and said that he was the boy's father. He came out and he actually praised the president.
And I want our viewers to take a listen real quick to what he said.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (through translator): What can I say? Best president ever. Thank god he gave us everything that we've ever asked for. (END VIDEO CLIP)
MALVEAUX: Arwa, that seems kind of strange coming from the father of that tortured child.
Do we have any information whether or not this actually is the father and why he would say something like this?
ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Suzanne, we've been trying to independently ascertain that. And as I'm sure everyone can appreciate, it is incredibly difficult, given that we have not been granted access into Syria.
We did, however, manage to speak to a number of activists who did say that they do in fact believe that is 13-year-old's Hamza's father. They believe that this statement came about as a result of coercion, as a result of a threat. We've been trying to reach the family for days now and have been unable to do so. We've simply been told that they are not speaking to anybody at this stage. They're not even talking to their close friends. They said to be absolutely petrified -- Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: They must be very scared.
We saw video, Awra, of kids marching in your story. Can you tell us how this has impacted the young people there who are part of this movement?
DAMON: Well, you can only imagine what it must be like for the children who are constantly being exposed as activists to various military crackdowns where they go out on the streets, they continue to demonstrate. And these children are by and large very politically savvy, even though this uprising really just began around two months ago.
We ended up meeting a number of children up in northern Lebanon who had fled from Syria, and the trauma they had experienced there was quite visible. We spoke with their aunt who said that even if they just heard a firecracker going of outside, they were afraid. If they saw dark vehicles resembling those of the Syrian authorities, they were terrified.
So one can only imagine the toll this is taking on the country's youth at this stage.
MALVEAUX: Do they believe they could be targeted, too, now?
DAMON: Well, most certainly. If anything, this has been a regime, according to activists, that has proven time and time again, it does not differentiate between the age of the demonstrator.
When I was speaking with a number of activists, specifically about the case of 13-year-old Hamza, they were actually not surprised that the government would be so cruel towards someone so young. They said that this has been a regime that has a history of indiscriminate brutality. And while a lot of people might be shocked by the image of this child, opposition activists are telling us this has actually been happening in Syria for decades, not just under current President Bashar al-Assad but under his father as well. So for them, this is nothing new.
The difference they say now, though, is it is actually being talked about and now you actually have a very active uprising against this regime, Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: Arwa Damon, thank you very much. Excellent reporting.
We'll be back after this quick break.
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MALVEAUX: Home prices are at new lows, down more than 30 percent from their peak just five years ago. That could mean quite a summer clearance sale for buyers. Our Alison Kosik is here to tell us why it is better to buy or to rent this market.
Alison, what do you think?
ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Suzanne, you know, it is really something to consider, especially since we're in a double dip in home prices across the country. Many feel this recovery in housing is a long way off. A recent study from Realty Trac and Trulia shows that 54 percent of Americans say the housing market won't recover until 2014.
Now, of course, if you are thinking about renting versus buying, there are a few things to consider. We talked with Carmen Wong Ulrich, she's the author of "The Real Cost of Living." She says you want to consider these five questions before you even start on the path to owning a home. Do you plan to stay in the house for more than five years? Do you have job security? Do you have six to eight months of living expenses saved outside of your down payment? Do you have 10 percent to put down? And is ownership important to you personally and financially?
So if you answered "yes" to the questions, home ownership may make sense to you. But you really shouldn't feel you have to rush into the market, since historically, Suzanne, the housing market hasn't even really bounced back overnight, Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: So if you really have your heart set on buying a house, what can you do to lower the costs a little bit?
KOSIK: You know, the best way is to make sure you have all your financials in order. You know, take a look at your credit score. John Ulzheimer from Smartcredit.com says an elite score sits around 760. And of course, the higher your score, the low interest rate you'll earn from the mortgage company.
Also, Ulrich has some other simple advice like buying less house than you think you can afford. You want to be able to pay the mortgage if you suddenly have extra costs in your life, if you lose a job or if you have unforeseen medical expenses -- Suzanne.
MALVEAUX: All right, Alison, thanks. Great advice. Thanks as always.
Today's "Talk Back" question: Has Congressman Weiner said enough on the Twitter photo? You responses are straight ahead.
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MALVEAUX: The pressure is mounting on Congressman Anthony Weiner to answer questions about the photo that was posted on his Twitter account, which brings us to today's "Talk Back" question and Carol Costello with your responses -- Carol.
COSTELLO: Most of our Facebook friends on the side of Anthony Weiner.
Our "Talk Back" question: Has Congressman Weiner said enough on the Twitter photo?
This from Michael, "Yes, enough already. Considering the same people who are feeding this also got a woman fired as a 'racist,' you know you're working for the bad guys here. Don't we have wars and deficits and housing meltdowns to worry about?"
This from Paul, "Why don't we spend our energy exploring the extent to which politicians of both parties are bought off and compromised by lobbyists and corporations to influence policy? To me, that's a much bigger issue."
This from Ryan, "If he was a Republican, there would be an uproar of insults and madness on this Facebook thread from you Liberals."
And this from Kyle, "We should focus on the issues, not the personal life of politicians. People get hacked on Twitter every day, there's no reason to report it."
Please, keep the comments coming, Facebook.com/CarolCNN, and I'll be back in about 10 minutes with more.
MALVEAUX: And, Carol, I understand Congressman Weiner is going to be now on "THE SITUATION ROOM," he's booked later today, "AC 360." Clearly he's going to come out and I don't know if it's answer more questions, but he's going to put himself in a position for more questions.
COSTELLO: I think what he needs to do is just come out and say "yes" or "no" to questions, and that would put this thing to bed and nobody would probably talk about it anymore.
MALVEAUX: Do you really think?
COSTELLO: I do think. I really do. It's because of the way he answered these questions which seemed evasive that has kept reporters on his trail, let's say. MALVEAUX: Well, he knows les he's going to get the questions. It'll be very interesting to see this afternoon what he does with them.
COSTELLO: Yes, and like if somebody did hack his Twitter account, doesn't he want to know who did it? Even if a right-wing conservative operative? I mean, it is a crime. So why not have police investigate it?
Maybe he'll answer those questions. I'm sure those questions will be posed to him.
MALVEAUX: If Dana Bash has anything to do with it, absolutely.
COSTELLO: Exactly.
MALVEAUX: All right. Thanks, Carol.
COSTELLO: Sure.
MALVEAUX: Well, it starts with one medication and then another. Before long, it is a prescription for disaster.
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ALESANDRA RAIN, TOOK MULTIPLE PRESCRIPTION MEDICATIONS: This is how you lose your life. For me to see this, you know, just brings back the 10 years of suffering.
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MALVEAUX: Hear from a woman who learned the dangers firsthand. CNN "In Depth: Medication Nation."
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MALVEAUX: This week we're going "In Depth" on Medication Nation. Americans have been led to believe by doctors, advertisers, the pharmaceutical industry that there's a pill to cure just about everything. Well, CNN networks looks into the politics as well as the pills.
So you go to one doctor for a problem, you get a prescription. You go to another doctor for something else, you get another medication. Well, that is what some experts call prescription multiplication.
Senior medical correspondent Elizabeth Cohen has the story of one woman who learned about the dangers firsthand.
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ALESANDRA RAIN, TOOK MULTIPLE PRESCRIPTION MEDICATIONS: This is how you lose your life. For me to see this, you know, just brings back the 10 years of suffering. ELIZABETH COHEN, CNN SENIOR MEDICATION CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): What went wrong? Alesandra Rain says too many doctors, too much medicine.
It started when Rain had trouble sleeping. Her family doctor prescribed sleeping bills. A few weeks later, she developed bronchitis. So a pulmonologist put her on antibiotics.
Then, she had a rapid heartbeat. A cardiologist gave her medicine for that, and it didn't end there. Depression soon followed. A psychiatrist prescribed antidepressants.
And on it continued until eventually Rain says was seeing six different physicians, taking 12 different types of medications. Each month, taking hundreds of pills, spending more than $900 on prescriptions.
RAIN: But you just take them without thinking. You know? They just become part of your day.
COHEN: According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, Americans spent more than $234 billion on prescription drugs in 2008, nearly six times more than in the early 1990s. The average American fills 12 prescriptions a year.
MICHAEL WINCOR, DIRECTOR OF CLINICAL PHARMACOLOGY, USC: When you're on 20 drugs all at the same time, you'd want to question whether or not that's really necessary. The general direction has been, keep adding. Just add another drug and another drug and another drug.
COHEN: A trend, he says, is dangerous.
Rain now runs a company that helps others taper off their prescription drugs. She says her tipping point was when she realized despite all the new medications, she wasn't getting any better.
RAIN: And I just kind of looked in the mirror, and I was pitiful. My skin was gray, I was real emaciated. And I just said, I don't know who I'll be off all these pills, but I've got to find out.
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SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN ANCHOR: Elizabeth Cohen joins us live now.
Boy, Elizabeth, that is an amazing story, that woman's story.
Is it true? Did she really need all of those drugs?
COHEN: She says that she really did need some of them. There's no question. But she says looking back, she didn't really need all of them, and she wishes she had asked her doctor at the time, do I really need this prescription? Is there another way we can address the problem?
MALVEAUX: How in the world did she get off of all of those medications?
COHEN: You know what, Suzanne? She went cold turkey, and she does not recommend that. It was really a mistake. There's other ways to go off medicine more safely. And so let's talk about these "Empowered Patient" tips.
First of all, you should start off by going to one pharmacist, because that pharmacist knows everything you're taking and can tell you if there are interactions between different drugs.
And secondly, here's what you also ought to do, is when you're prescribed a drug, ask, what's the exit strategy? And what I mean by that is, say to the doctor, will it be tough for me to get off of this drug? And if so, how are we going to get me off of this drug?
And thirdly, ask the doctor at every follow-up visit, do I still need this drug? Sometimes a doctor prescribes a drug for you to take for, let's say, a month or two, but you keep taking it because maybe they forgot to tell you. So, every follow-up visit say, do I still need this?
MALVEAUX: All right. Elizabeth Cohen, great advice. Thank you very much.
COHEN: Thanks.
