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Carnage in Syria; California Rules Same-Sex Marriage Ban Unconstitutional; New Details In Powell Murders; Almost 50 Percent of U.S. Gets Government Check; Teen Killer: "Murder was Amazing"; 100,000 Sex Offenders Ignore Registry; Obama Campaign Reversal

Aired February 07, 2012 - 15:00   ET

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

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, here we go, hour two. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

A couple stories we're watching for you, first and foremost, the carnage in Syria. How much longer will the world keep watching?

Also, same-sex marriage is one step closer now to the U.S. Supreme Court.

And one of California's largest schools sidelined all of its teachers.

Time to play "Reporter Roulette."

Want to begin with the federal appeals court in California upholding a lower court's ruling that proposition 8 or Prop 8, the state's ban on same-sex marriage, is unconstitutional.

Dan Simon live in San Francisco.

Dan, you have been talking to people there. How are they reacting to the news?

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, obviously they're very happy about it. They expected this, quite frankly.

And we should point out a little more than three years ago, a majority of California voters said they were against same-sex marriage. Well, in this case the federal appeals court said the majority doesn't rule, that Proposition 8, which defined marriage between a man and a woman, is unconstitutional.

From here, Brooke, most legal observers think this case will ultimately be headed to the Supreme Court. It does not mean the fact that same-sex marriage got a victory today that couples can now start getting married tomorrow. This ruling is effectively put on hold while this appeals process continues -- Brooke.

BALDWIN: So ultimately we will be looking for the next big step to be the U.S. Supreme Court. Dan Simon in San Francisco, Dan, appreciate it. Thank you very much.

All right. Next, we're going to talk a little bit more about Syria.

To do that, I want to go to senior national correspondent Nic Robertson London.

And, Nic, we heard out of the White House daily briefing from the White House spokesperson, Jay Carney, saying there will be a transition in Syria. Can you bring me up to speed and tell me about the foreign minister from Russia being there today?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: He went there and he took along his head of foreign intelligence with him, and really what he is going to do on the surface it appears is to back up President Assad, saying that Assad is committed to reforms, that he's committed as well to having the Arab League monitors stay in the country, that they should expand their mission.

But really it appears to be on the surface of a rubber stamp approval of what Assad is doing in the rest of the country and in the city of Homs in the north and Zabadani, less than half-an-hour's drive from Damascus itself, it has been the military on an offensive against the civilian population, the opposition.

A visit by the top -- essentially the top Russian diplomat is not changing anything on the ground right now, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Given the fact we saw over the weekend with China and Russia blocking any U.N. action, at least thus far, is there, Nic, anything else other world leaders can do to stop the Assad government from wiping out the opposition altogether?

ROBERTSON: One of the things they are doing is trying to sort of unify the opposition and get them to agree to sort of at least discuss and talk through issues and formulate sort of a coherent, unified vision of what their next step should be.

That's one thing and that takes a long time. The last time the international community got them together, which was a few months ago, they brought them all together around a table and then the opposition became more divided. But there are some practical things that are going on as well.

We heard the British foreign secretary describe how the British government would be contributing specialized communications equipment to the opposition. We don't know what the details of that are, but certainly one of the driving forces for the opposition, it has been to get that YouTube video out, upload on to the Internet video shot on cell phones, and it appears Britain at least and others are helping the opposition in getting those kinds of videos out of the country to keep their message alive, show what's happening where journalists can't get to.

So there are some moves, but these are nothing like the moves that were envisaged in a Security Council resolution that would have called on Assad to begin to transition from power. It's nothing like that, Brooke.

BALDWIN: Nic Robertson in London, Nic, we will be watching the story of course day in and day out. Thanks so much.

Next on "Reporter Roulette," an elementary school in Los Angeles is up and replacing all 150 members of its staff, all the way from teachers to janitors. In fact, this is all because of two teachers at the school who have been accused of lewd acts with their students in the classroom.

Casey Wian has been covering this for us in L.A.

Casey, what about the school here, Miramonte Elementary School? What do they say about the decision to basically replace all of the teachers?

CASEY WIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It was very clear last night in a meeting with very angry parents of students at this school.

They met with school district officials and it's clear the parents have lost trust in the school, have lost trust in the district. So the superintendent said that he had to make the decision to basically replace the entire staff, move them to a different school, a school that's still being constructed as they're retrained and evaluated, and as this investigation continues.

When school reopens on Thursday, there will be a new staff that has also been vetted teaching at Miramonte. Here's what the superintendent had to say at last night's meeting.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN DEASY, LOS ANGELES SCHOOL DISTRICT SUPERINTENDENT: I also am in the process side by side with the police of dealing with an investigation. We have to ask questions and we have to take staff out and you have to do an investigation, as I'm sure you understand. And that is profoundly disruptive to the school. I can't have any more surprises at Miramonte.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIAN: Now, Superintendent Deasy also sending a letter to all Los Angeles Unified School District parents urging them to report any suspicions of child abuse at their schools.

That may seem obvious, Brooke, but it's one of the issues that is being talked about here. Many of the families at Miramonte are immigrant families, from countries such as Mexico, where teachers are regarded as unapproachable, almost like doctors, almost like second parents. And parents are not used to questioning what they do.

They have learned in a very tragic way that that's not the way things happen here in the United States, Brooke.

BALDWIN: I talked to one parent last hour. She's furious and she's yanking her 7-year-old out of school. And I think there are a number of parents like her.

Casey Wian in L.A., Casey, thank you so much. And that is your "Reporter Roulette" on this Tuesday.

Halfway around the world, kids are dying and their parents and their neighbors are being slaughtered. Rockets are hitting living rooms and bombs and bullets are tools of mass murder.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARWA DAMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Numerous videos broadcast to YouTube showing how indiscriminate violence -- that's how the activists are describing it -- are targeting everyone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Families, civilians, they're sitting ducks as the Syrian government kills its own people. We're going to show you some haunting scenes from inside the massacre as civilians beg the world to listen. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: I want to talk more about the carnage engulfing Syria right now. You heard it right here just about within the last hour. The White House today accusing Russia of giving solace to President Bashar al-Assad as he murders his own people.

A Russian envoy arrived today in the capital city of Damascus as the killing reached new heights.

Going to begin here with CNN's Arwa Damon reporting from Beirut, Lebanon.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DAMON: The images emerging from Syria couldn't be in starker contrast.

State television broadcast massive crowds leaving Syria just as Russia's foreign minister arrived for meetings with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.

Well, at the same time, opposition activists continue to say that Russia and China's position, the international community's inability to unite on Syria is simply emboldening the regime, saying that the crackdown that the activists have been experiencing, especially in flash point cities like Homs, has reached unprecedented levels, a crackdown than began over the weekend.

One opposition activist who I just spoke to from the city of Homs was in complete and utter despair, talking about in his neighborhood, for example, there were no phones, no communications. He said he had to risk his life just to get to another area where he could make some sort of a satellite connection to try to speak out to the outside world.

Numerous videos broadcast to YouTube showing how indiscriminate violence -- that's how the activists are describing it -- are targeting everyone. Children are dying by the day. Parents in sheer and utter anguish over the fact that they're unable to protect their loved ones and activists wondering how it is that day in and day out they continue to upload these images to YouTube, the world is watching, and yet it is unable to come to some sort of resolution.

Russia for its part wants to try to push forward some sort of dialogue that would resolve the crisis in Syria, but activists continually say that the Assad regime is not one that they can negotiate with any longer and any sort of peaceful -- or any sort of resolution, for that matter, to the Syrian uprising appears to be one that is not going to materialize for a long, long time.

Arwa Damon, CNN, Beirut.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Arwa, thank you.

I want to continue the conversation now with Hala Gorani of CNN International live in Washington.

Hala, do you think the White House is right? We heard from White House spokesman Jay Carney last hour saying it's not a question of if, but when that transition -- he used the word transition twice -- is coming to Syria, that President Assad can't last. Do you see that?

HALA GORANI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I don't know if anyone can make that prediction with any kind of time frame, although when you look at the situation in Syria, you do see pockets of complete disaster and bloodshed such as Homs.

We have been seeing these videos. These are pockets within a city controlled by the rebels, the Free Syria Army, as they call themselves, and the Syrian regular army has been mounting a massive assault against these pockets of resistance. What does it mean for the regime? Does it mean that it can't last, that it won't last?

Perhaps. But the time frame is a whole lot longer than opposition activists would want and that perhaps some people in Western capitals are predicting, Brooke.

BALDWIN: We can talk all we want about the when and if and how the Assad regime will fall, but in the meantime, there are perched in Washington. What about Washington and the rest of the world? What should they be doing now that they aren't doing to save these lives?

GORANI: The question is, should there be intervention or not, really, is your question, Brooke, and this is a question that was posed before Libya. NATO forces got together and decided that it was doable and that it was something that had a chance of success in Libya.

However, the conversation is extremely different regarding Syria because you have Russia and China against any form of intervention or even condemnation in a U.N. Security Council resolution, and also the picture is a whole lot more complex. Syria is strategically positioned very differently from Libya.

What was doable in Libya might not be doable in Syria. The question now -- and you heard U.S. Senator John McCain, for instance -- is what do you do? Do you start arming the rebels? Do you start providing humanitarian assistance? Do you establish humanitarian corridors?

I think what activists are frustrated with is there is no serious discussion as to how to address this situation right now. It's all very theoretical at this stage.

BALDWIN: You bring up the arms. It's my next question is we have seen the Syrian opposition kind of marching through the streets to actually now taking up weapons. Are they getting help from outside Syria, do we know?

GORANI: Well, we have a sense based on conversations we have with some sources that , yes, they are starting to get armed, perhaps, with small arms at this stage.

This isn't something they will be able to stand up to the regular Syrian army with, but yes, and the defectors, when they do leave with the ranks of the army leave with their weapons as well, and we have seen images of them manning a tank here and there. But are they armed to the degree that it would require for them to really resist the Syrian army and their tanks and their planes and their helicopters, et cetera? No, not at this stage.

BALDWIN: Not at this time.

GORANI: But I think the question is also, Brooke, which is important for Americans and anybody interested in Syria to ask is what happens when you start arming the rebels and the defectors? What situation are you prepared to live with for years to come in Syria?

And that's not for or against. It's a question that needs to be asked as to what scenario you're looking at going forward there.

BALDWIN: What would a post-Assad Syria look like? We will see. Hala Gorani, appreciate it. Thank you.

Now this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSH POWELL, FATHER: Chuck Cox has used my sons as nothing but pawns in the media to elicit hatred of our family, to elicit hatred of me, which has had a deeper impact on my sons than it has even had on me. It has had an impact.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Hmm. Chilling words from the father who police say killed his own sons and himself. Now Dr. Powell's in-laws say there were warning signs and big red flags. In just a moment, I will speak live with the family spokeswoman. She has called on police to arrest -- she had called on police to arrest Powell.

That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Josh Powell is probably the most despised father in America right now, and just last August, he gave this interview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POWELL: I took my sons to a class this morning to learn about predators.

QUESTION: Why predators?

POWELL: Because I had the opportunity.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: As we all know, in the end, Josh Powell was the predator the boys needed protection from.

Autopsies show Powell used a hatchet on 5-year-old Braden and 7- year-old Charlie before blowing them and himself up at his Washington home Sunday. Powell gave the boys' toys and other belonging ahead of time. The boys had been on a court-ordered visit that was supposed to be supervised, but deputies say Powell locked out the social worker moments after he set the home on fire.

And 20 minutes before this scene, "Good Morning America" reports he left a voice-mail for his brother, his cousins and other family members. Take a listen.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

POWELL: This is Josh. And I'm calling to say goodbye. I am not able to live without any sons and I'm not able to go on anymore. I'm sorry to everyone I have hurt. Goodbye.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Police have been investigating Josh Powell in the disappearance of his wife, Susan, stemming from three years ago, and Susan's family believed an arrest was about to happen before Powell killed himself and his two small boys.

Joining me now is Anne Bremner, the attorney for the Coxes. That is Susan Powell's family.

Anne, just first here, I understand you were there with Susan's father, Chuck, who had full custody of the boys when he learned the most horrendous of news, that Josh had murdered them. I'm imagine they're just devastated.

ANNE BREMNER, ATTORNEY FOR SUSAN POWELL'S FAMILY: I think I was one of the people that informed him. And then of course he confirmed it with the police.

But I had a press call, so I wanted to make sure I got to check and others wanted to, too, before he heard it somewhere else, this horrific, unthinkable news.

BALDWIN: Our thoughts condolences go out to the family here.

BREMNER: Thank you.

BALDWIN: I want to ask about Susan's father, Chuck Cox. He told ABC's "Good Morning America" that was there was one warning sign. Here it is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHUCK COX, FATHER OF SUSAN POWELL: The only warning sign I saw that he appeared to be cooperating more with the DSHS workers and the case workers. And I remember that he seemed to be cooperating more with my daughter before she went missing. So that was a warning sign to me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: That was one warning sign, he says. Was there anything else, behavior or otherwise, that would make the family believe he was capable of something like this?

BREMNER: Well, I think, first of all, the best predictor of future violence is prior violence. They're convinced and I'm convinced that he killed Susan, his wife.

The police issued search warrants. They had probable cause. But there were other things in his life, with the pornography with his dad and the voyeurism of young children next door. And there's a noose hanging from the ceiling. His brother opens the door naked in the house when the police are there and all sort of things.

Total projectionist, like you said, that: I took them to learn about predators. He is the predator. I'm sorry about everyone I hurt. And then he takes a hatchet to his kids and sets them on fire. This is his last phone call. There were so many things with him and going even way to his childhood in terms of hurting animals and viewing pornography.

We found it in the divorce file, Chuck did, of his own parents. So this was somebody that was beyond scary and beyond vicious. And now we saw the final result on Sunday. But could you imagine, could the family imagine he would really do something quite like this? Never. Who could ever imagine the unthinkable?

BALDWIN: And then the boys who, from what I have read and seen, they didn't want to see their father. Their grandparents had custody, right? They didn't want to go, but they had to. It was a court- mandated visit.

(CROSSTALK) BALDWIN: And I want to play one more sound bite. This is what Denise Cox, Susan's sister, said about filing a lawsuit here on CNN.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DENISE COX, SISTER OF SUSAN POWELL: I'm not sure. I haven't actually talked to my parents about that. We feel -- well, I feel the state did the best with what they could, but they just didn't have the right information to change the visitations. And I don't think they understood how serious and how mental Josh was.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: So one couldn't imagine, Anne, but as an attorney as well, would they have a case if they want to go after the state?

BREMNER: Well, absolutely, and maybe there needs -- they always say, there should be a law. This could be Braden and Charlie's law that you can't have someone that is a verified suspect of a homicide with their mother with visitation, custody, et cetera.

But that aside, when you look at DSHS or CPS or the state, they had visitation in a neutral, secure setting. And you can do that. You can have two-way glass. You can have armed security when you have high-risk parents. They had that. But somehow they decided to put visitation back in Josh's home.

And presumably they knew all of these things. So was it foreseeable that something would happen that would harm these kids? Absolutely. And that's something that basically needed a lawsuit, foreseeability, negligence, failure to adhere to a duty.

And what a horrible cost to these kids and this entire family. These little boys ran to their dad. They loved him. And he had a hatchet, set them on fire. It's the most horrific thing I have seen in my whole career of 29 years. I was a DA with murder cases and everything else. I know the whole world is stunned and horrified and so saddened by the loss of these little boys.

BALDWIN: I know you said at the top of the interview that you, the parents, are convinced that he had a hand in the disappearance of Susan, and I had also read interviews with her parents that they had said that even the boys -- I think maybe one of the boys had drawn a picture of their mother in the trunk of a car. Is that true?

BREMNER: Yes.

And also they had said, mommy is in a mine and as recently as Christmas were saying things like, if we go to the mine, we can find mommy. They have searched mines in Utah in this case -- excuse me -- Nevada -- and done searches in Utah.

Out of the mouths of babes. They were vocalizing and they were saying things that happened to their mother. And the police knew this. This was part also of when you're looking at the other case for custody, and of course in the custody case, Chuck and Judy had said in declaration that they believe that Josh killed their daughter, the mother of these children.

BALDWIN: Again, our thoughts with this family. Absolutely, absolutely evil.

Anne Bremner, I appreciate it. Thank you for coming on.

BREMNER: Thank you so much.

BALDWIN: Still ahead here, hear why one college has slashed tuition 22 percent after a troubling discovery.

Plus, a man accidentally shoots himself in the head with a nail gun. Look at that X-ray. Find out what he worried about the most at that very moment.

Also, an alarming number of Americans rely on the government. The thing is, it's not just the poor. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: If it is interesting and happening right now, you're about to see it "Rapid Fire."

Let's go, beginning with Karen Handel. The vice president of the Susan G. Komen For the Cure Foundation has now resigned, this after she came under fire in controversy over funding for Planned Parenthood. Komen reversed its decision to withdraw funding for Planned Parenthood just last week and Komen CEO Nancy Brinker released this statement, and I quote, "We have made mistakes in how we have handled recent decisions and take full responsibility for what has resulted, but we cannot take our eye off the ball when it comes to our mission"-- end quote.

Now take a look at this little/big one, China's biggest baby ever weighing in at more than 15 pounds. His mom says she felt a little off during her pregnancy, but she said she didn't need anything totally out of the ordinary, and, yes, doctors delivered him by C- section.

And now to this. Imagine this being your X-ray and your head. A man accidentally shoots himself in the top of his head with a nail gun. His name is Jeff Luptak. He was just working on a house in North Dakota when he shot himself with a 3-inch-long nail. The nail was lodged between the left and the right hemispheres of his brain. And all while this was happening, he was worrying about his family.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFF LUPTAK, ACCIDENT VICTIM: That's all I could think about was what would happen if -- to my daughters and my wife if I would be gone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: It took two doctors to pull that nail out. Luptak is expected to make a full recovery. Ouch. You always hear about the high price of college tuition, right? How about this one for you? One college is actually cutting tuition big time. This is the University of Charleston in West Virginia, slashing tuition for new students by 22 percent this year. It did this after enrolment dropped for the first time in a decade. University officials hoping the lower rate will help attract more students to Charleston.

And new numbers out today show how many Americans get a check from the government and the figure is alarming.

Let's go to Alison Kosik, who is live in the New York Stock Exchange.

Alison, nice to see you again, by the way.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Brooke.

BALDWIN: We're talking a lot of people. Nearly half the country here.

KOSIK: Yes, when you talk about half the country, guess how much that equals? It means more than 148 million people, Brooke, are getting some type of government assistance and that includes everything from Medicaid and food stamps to social security, Medicare or unemployment benefits.

Now part of the reason that it's gotten so bad up to this point is because of the weak economy. People, they can't find a job. Also, millions of baby boomers, they're hitting that social security age, although that's not need based.

Still, listen to this. All of these programs, guess how much that adds up to? $2 trillion with a T. That's government spending, money going to Americans for public assistance. That number is up 75 percent from ten years ago.

One researcher who looked at this issue said, you know what, we can't afford to keep spending like this when you consider where our debt levels are, and this is the very reason why, Brooke, we're seeing this controversy really play out in this presidential race with lots of talk about the safety net and an entitlement society. Brooke?

BALDWIN: Yes, $2 trillion is quite a chunk of change.

KOSIK: A lot of money.

BALDWIN: Alison Kosik, thank you. Yes.

It was amazing. I'm quoting here. This teenager, she had just written those words on the same day she murdered a nine-year-old girl, her own neighbor. Now is this teen learning her fate? You're hearing her chilling thoughts straight from her secret diary. Sunny Hostin is all over this one. She's on the case next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BALDWIN: Chilling journal entries of a convicted murderer read aloud in an open court. They were written by a Missouri teenager who killed her nine-year-old neighbor. Elisa Bustamante pleaded guilty in January to murdering the girl and then burying her out in the woods. Bustamante was just 15 at the time.

Sunny Hostin is "On the Case."

And Sunny, first these diary entries, give me a sense, if you would, just exactly how in detail and how chilling they are? And what's the point in reading them out loud in court?

SUNNY HOSTIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, they are remarkable. She describes the killing as a pretty amazing experience, and at the end of the entry she says, "Got to go to church now, LOL."

BALDWIN: Wow.

HOSTIN: So, of course, the prosecution is trying to prove that she is this cold-blooded killer who took enjoyment in killing her nine-year-old neighbor, and this is a sentencing hearing, Brooke, because she already pled guilty to second-degree murder. She's facing life in prison with the possibility of parole, but the defense in this case is really very interesting.

The defense in this case says this is an emotionally disturbed girl suffering from severe mental illness who received an increased dosage of a prescription, rather, of Prozac and that the Prozac may have led her to commit this murder.

Now, we heard a lot of testimony from psychiatrists, one that said that is nonsense. Of course, Prozac doesn't make someone a murder, in fact, it lessens that sort of rage. And then we've heard from other folks that have said, no, that could have been a part of this. So we're hearing all of this so that the judge can determine what the sentence -- what the appropriate sentence will be in this case. But, Brooke, I've got to tell you, this is something that I've just never, ever seen before. We're talking about a young girl, a teenager, killing her nine-year-old neighbor.

BALDWIN: So you mentioned on one side of the sentencing spectrum could be life. On the other side, what could it be?

HOSTIN: Well, you know, it could be probation. It could certainly be medical treatment. But there's no question that the prosecution in this case and the nine-year-old's family, quite frankly, is really seeking the fullest extent of the law in terms of sentencing. So she's really looking at a significant amount of time.

Second case here, and this is a story out of Texas where this teenage girl has been found not guilty in the shooting death of her father. Our affiliate KHOU is reporting that the jury was deadlock last week, but finally came to a verdict.

Here's a quick refresher on the case and why do you think it took so long? HOSTIN: This is the case that I've been watching for quite some time. A 12-year-old girl kills her father while he is sleeping with a gun. She shoots him, and her defense in this case is self-defense because she says that he had been abusing her sexually and physically for a long time.

Her mother has been a staunch advocate for her daughter, and it has torn apart the mother's family and the father's family. It's interesting, I think the reason that it took so long is because it's such an emotional case. I have rarely heard of a self-defense case work, be successful, when the victim was killed in their sleep. So this is just a fascinating case, and I've been watching it quite closely.

BALDWIN: Which begs the question, you know, could this set some sort of precedent?

HOSTIN: Well, that's the thing. People are saying, what does this mean for victims of abuse?

BALDWIN: Right.

HOSTIN: Is this giving the victims a license to kill? I think that goes too far, Brooke. I don't think that's going to happen, but it's certainly I think, it's something we're going to see more of, perhaps, in terms of the defense of victims of abuse coming out and harming their perpetrators.

BALDWIN: Sunny Hostin, thank you very much. Now this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did you think you could hide?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Leave me alone.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: U.S. marshals on the hunt for sex offenders who could be living next door to you. CNN takes you along for the ride as the feds carry out a raid. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Thousands of sex offenders are on the run, and some could possibly be living in your neighborhood. I say this in part because 100,000 are ignoring the mandated registry. They are attempting to just disappear into society.

CNN's Sandra Endo rode along with the U.S. marshals as they try to track them down.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SANDRA ENDO, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A registered sex offender could be living right next door but you may not even know it. This team of U.S. Marshals is on the hunt to find the ones who are in hiding.

ROGER WILSON, U.S. MARSHAL: We approach a house as if someone is inside that wants to do us harm.

ENDO: State Internet databases list where these registered sex offenders should be living. But oftentimes, they're somewhere else.

WILSON: It's hard to find guys if they don't want to be found.

ENDO: A new report by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children shows the number of registered sex offenders nationwide grew 23 percent over the last five years. Out of roughly 750,000 registrants, nearly 100,000 of them fall off the map and don't comply with registry requirements.

(on camera): It must be frustrating. A lot of times you knock and no one is there.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, definitely.

ENDO (voice-over): During this sweep, finally, marshals get a good lead on one alleged fugitive. They arrest this sex offender, who says he was convicted of statutory rape, and served his time. But marshals caught him at a different address from what's listed on the registry.

(on camera): Did you think you could hide?

ROBERT STANKIEWICZ, REGISTERED SEX OFFENDER: Will you leave me alone, man?

ENDO: He later tells CNN he knew he was violating the rules. But finds complying with the registry is difficult.

(on camera): And you said this is ruing your life. How so?

STANKIEWICZ: One is I can't find a job. I have to deal with people seeing my picture on the Internet and everything.

ERNIE ALLEN, NATIONAL CENTER FOR MISSING AND EXPLOITED CHILDREN: It's not enough to say go forth and sin no more. There needs to be a meaningful system in place for their benefit, as well as society's benefit.

ENDO: How are you going to live your life now?

STANKIEWICZ: We're trying to live it better. Try to do what I got to do to stay out of this mess.

TOM MCDANIEL, U.S. MARSHAL: It's definitely good to get a guy like that off the street, actually.

ENDO: Like all that work paid off.

MCDANIEL: Correct, yes. Back to work and on to the next one. Hopefully, we can grab them, too. ENDO (voice-over): Sandra Endo, CNN, Baltimore.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BALDWIN: Just in case you missed that statistic. Let me repeat it. We're told there has been a 23 percent increase in the number of registered sex offenders just in the last five years.

Now this.

(VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Kid rock. Certainly not shy when it comes to his Detroit roots. He even have a "Made in Detroit" T-shirt line. That's a little bit of a problem here, and one columnist is calling the singer out?

Plus, did you hear what the Obama campaign is hosting tonight. It involves Scarlett Johansson, and some Republican say it proves the president is out of touch. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

POPPY HARLOW, CNN MONEY.COM: Time now for the "Help Desk" where we get answers to your financial questions.

Joining me this hour, Donna Rosato. She's a senior writer with "Money" magazine. David Novick is a certified financial planner and an adjunct professor of finance at New York University.

Thank you both for being here. We appreciate it.

Donna, mortgage rate question for you. Regina from Washington wrote in, "I have a 30-year fixed mortgage at 5.6 percent. I am trying to refinance with my credit union. They insist on refinancing me for 30 years at four percent instead of 15 or 20 years that I want. Their closing cost is almost $10,000. How can I get better terms?"

DONNA ROSATO, SENIOR WRITER, MONEY: Well, everybody, of course, wants to refinance today because rates are so low. And, of course, if you can lop a few years off your loan, you're going to save a lot in a short time. But not everyone is going to qualify for those low rates or short term loan. You need to have a good credit score of like 70, 60 or higher.

And for a shorter term loan, your monthly payment is going to go up, so you have to look at what your debt-income ratio.

HARLOW: OK.

ROSATO: So she should talk to the Credit Union and find out what's holding her back, but she can definitely shop around. Those closing costs sound very steep. They should really be 2-3 percent of the loan value. So look at, improving your credit, reducing her debt, but shop around a little bit. She should be able to get better terms somewhere else. HARLOW: Yes. I think she thinks her Credit Union is going to be the best term.

ROSATO: Not all.

HARLOW: So, absolutely, look around.

David, question for you comes from James in South Carolina. James wrote in, "I'm retirement age. Should I use my 401(k) to pay off my two cars and my house so I can retire debt free? I would have about $10,000 left over."

Obviously, he has to think about the tax implications.

DAVID NOVICK, CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER, "PROMETHEUS CAPITAL MANAGEMENT": Well, that's the first thing is that he's going to pay tax based on his going tax rate, whatever that is.

If he has other money available, I would probably advise him to use that first because of the tax implication. The other thing is that he'll exhaust most of his retirement saving, what's he going to live on.

HARLOW: Right.

NOVICK: And, finally, if the rates aren't that high, it may pay for him to just keep the loan to terms. So he may want to look at those factors before deciding on his 401(k). I'd probably suggest he look at other alternatives.

HARLOW: All right, good advice, guys, thank you so much.

And, folks, if you have a question you want answered, just send us an e-mail any time to cnnhelpdesk@cnn.com.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Today's "Political Pop" starts with some rock. Politics have fuelled some of Kid Rock's music. He prides himself on his Michigan roots, even buy the clothing line "Made in Detroit." But a columnist with a Detroit Free Press is calling him out. She is Susan Tompor. She writes that only some of these T-shirts in his clothing line are even made in the U.S.

She found "Made in Detroit" products with labels at red, Made in Dominican Republic or Made in India, Made in Honduras. Some even has labels telling where the shirts are made. Tompor writes that Kid Rock's fashion line told her that "Made in Detroit" is working toward using more shirts actually made in the U.S.

And President Obama couldn't get quite enough of 14-year-old science fair project. The teen made a marshmallow launcher, of course. So when the president saw it today at a White House Science Fair, he asked to see it in action. The commander-in-chief actually got to push the button. Here you go.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Oh! Whoa! Let's go look.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Marshmallows in the White House, ladies and gentlemen. In fact shot across the state dining room right before the launch. The president warned that the boy from Phoenix, quote, "The secret service is going to be mad at me about this."

And staying with the White House theme here, the Republican National Committee says a New York Fashion Week fund-raiser for President Obama is in bad taste. It released a Web ad, calling it inappropriate during a time when the economy keeps struggling. Tonight's event is co-hosted by Ironman 2's star Scarlett Johansson and "Vogue" editor Anna Wintour. The Obama re-election campaign says all the designers involved volunteered their time to design products for the president's campaign in accordance with election laws.

Coming up next, President Obama, he once called it a threat to democracy. So why is he suddenly given his blessing towards super PACs and private campaign cash. This is a big, big time reversal. Jessica Yellin, she is all over it. She's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: Thought you want to be a stuntman? This might make you think again. It might make you cringe. Look at this. Here it goes. Motorcyclists, if you didn't catch that. He got caught on the wires. This is a guy at a circus in Michigan. Gosh off the ramp. Watch it again with me. And there's the cable and there he goes. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KATRINA VANWELL, WITNESSED CIRCUS ACCIDENT: Almost like he was in slow motion. Just as he went up and he hit, and he just went, bam. And you just hear those big loud crash and you just see the bike falling down and him falling down. And it was just -- it was scary.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: The stuntman was rushed to the hospital. We're told he was OK. Also a shriner dressed up as a clown hurt in the crash as well.

And the Super Bowl champion New York Giants got a heroes' welcome in New York City today. Eli Manning and company, taken a victory lap through the streets of Manhattan. Ticker tape and all. Listen to the cheers. Thousands of fans out in full force cheering the team that won the Super Bowl. Just about 48 hours ago. And according to Nielsen ratings, the game was the most watch TV event in U.S. history. How about that?

Well, well, the Obama campaign is now down at 180. It has decided to urge backers to help finance one of the dreaded super PACs that just happens to be supporting the president's re-election. In the past Mr. Obama has derided these groups as wolves in sheep's clothing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: Every one of these groups has run by Republican operatives. Every single one of them. Even though they're posing as non-profit groups with names like Americans for Prosperity, the Committee for Truth in Politics, or Americans for Apple Pie."

BALDWIN: The president also called super PACs a threat to our democracy. Let me bring in Jessica Yellin. She is our chief White House correspondent.

So Jessica, why the 180?

JESSICA YELLIN, CNN NATIONAL POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the Republicans, Brooke, are borrowing a line from the Obama campaign's talking points and saying the president will do anything to get re- elected.

Essentially the campaign says the president had no choice because they were facing an avalanche of outside spending on the Republican side. My sources in Republican super PACs project that they'll spend up to $400 million between their super PAC and outside arms to try to defeat the president. And the president's campaign says they cannot unilaterally disarm when they face those odds, they had to join it.

BALDWIN: So as they are joining, the Obama camp has also vowed, as you mentioned, transparency and saying that they're not going to take money from lobbyists. So what happens to that?

YELLIN: Gone.

BALDWIN: Gone.

YELLIN: I mean, the campaign won't take money from lobbyist, still they say, but the super PAC will take money from lobbyists, from even corporations. They can take unlimited amounts of money from any kind of organization, as long as it's a U.S. organization.

And the new policy means that now cabinet members, staff in the White House, and senior campaign officials can attend events for these super PACs to send out the message they won't explicitly fund raise, but top campaign fund-raisers believe that they were given a message that they should now get their donors to contribute to the super PAC after they've gotten their donors to give to the campaign, Brooke.

BALDWIN: While we're on the subject of money and while I have you, Ms. Yellin, I do want to ask about the news today. The Obama campaign pledging to return some $200,000 in contributions collected by the family of a Mexican fugitive. They're talking to folks, but then the administration. What's their explanation for letting this one just totally slip through. YELLIN: Well, the campaign says that they have 1.3 million donors. They do their best to vet everybody, but some slip through the cracks. And that the "New York Times" put an investigative team on this one. They found it as soon as it was called to the attention of the campaign. They returned not only the money of these folks, but also everybody that the people aligned with this fugitive family. Anybody that they raise money from, that money was also returned, Brooke. So that's their explanation.

BALDWIN: OK. Chief White House correspondent for us, Jessica Yellin, thank you very much.

YELLIN: Thank you.

BALDWIN: And before we go here, we just wanted to mention again the story of Josh Powell reveals more evidence of how evil a father he was. Here he was in an interview. This is an interview he gave back in August of last year.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOSH POWELL, ALLEGEDLY KILLED SONS: I will protect my sons. I will protect my sons.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Those were the words. They just absolutely steam with hypocrisy after autopsies show Josh Powell used a hatchet on his little sons, 5-year-old Braden and 7-year-old Charlie before blowing them all up in his home in that massive explosion.

So ABC'S "Good Morning America," they obtained the final words Powell spoke, this is via a voicemail to his family members that he apparently left 20 minutes before the house went up in flames.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

POWELL: Hello, this is Josh. I'm calling to say goodbye. I am not able to live without my sons and I'm not able to go on anymore. I'm sorry to everyone I've hurt. Goodbye.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: A little bit of the back story here. These boys were at the center of this nasty custody dispute between Powell and the parents of his wife, Susan. Susan had disappeared and she's been gone ever since 2009. So her parents were the official guardians, the legal guardians of little Braden and Charlie who were on a court- mandated visit to Josh Powell this past Sunday. It was supposed to be supervised. And deputies say Powell actually locked the social worker out of the house.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUDY COX, SUSAN POWELL'S MOTHER: They didn't want to see their dad when it came time, but daddy's waiting for you. I encouraged them and tried talking them into going, but they clearly did not want to go.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Judy and Chuck Cox also say the boys were starting to remember new details of the mother, one of them even drawing a sketch of the mother in the trunk of a car. At the time, Braden was just 2 and Charlie was 4. The Cox's daughter says the family was expecting police to arrest Josh soon.

And now "THE SITUATION ROOM" with Wolf Blitzer starts now. Wolf?

WOLF BLITZER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Brooke, thanks very much.