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Blagojevich Starts 14-Year Sentence; Syrian Uprising Began One Year Ago Today; Jobless Claims Hit 4-Year Low; Santorum To Puerto Rico: Habla Ingles; Pressure On For Gingrich To Quit; Ads To Scare Smokers; S&P Highest Since June 2008

Aired March 15, 2012 - 12:00   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 CNN headquarters in Atlanta where it's 12:00 noon, 9:00 a.m. in the West Coast. I'm Suzanne Malveaux.

I want to get you up-to-speed for this Thursday, March 15th.

The American soldier accused of gunning down 16 Afghan civilians in a late night killing spree has been moved to Kuwait now for his own protection. That's according to a defense official. Afghans are furious. Hundreds of people took to the streets today to demand the soldier be brought back to Afghanistan to stand trial.

Meanwhile, President Hamid Karzai wants U.S. troops to pull out of Afghan villages all together and return to the main bases. He also wants Afghans to take over their own security in the country by 2013. That's a year earlier than previously planned.

In northern Syria, this is what is going on right now. An army tank hit by a roadside bomb. Watch this.

The person who uploaded the video says it happened in the Idlib province. It is the new center now of this conflict. That is where the Syrian military has cranked up its assault on protesters. We don't know how badly that tank was damaged, or if anybody was hurt. The voice in the video seems to know what is about to happen.

Across Syria today, at least 46 people were killed.

President Obama, he is hitting back at critics who say that he's failed to find a solution to rising gas prices, notes that the upcoming election probably has a lot to do with what they are saying.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Every time prices start to go up, especially in an election year, politicians dust off their three-point plans for $2 gas. They head down to the gas station, they make sure a few cameras are following them, and then they start acting like we've got a magic wand and we will give you cheap gas forever.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: So the presidential Republican rivals -- they are seizing on this issue out in the campaign trail. AAA says the price for a gallon of gas is currently $3.82 now. This is the sixth straight day that it's on the rise.

And Memphis -- finally -- ready to give Martin Luther King, Jr. his own street. This is 44 years after he was shot there on a balcony. It was official announced today that a mile-long stretch of Linden Avenue will be renamed Dr. MLK Jr. Avenue on April 4th. It is the anniversary of the killing.

Former Illinois governor, Rod Blagojevich, he has just two more hours of freedom before he has to report to federal prison in Colorado. Today, he begins his 14-year sentence for corruption, including trying to sell a Senate that once was held by President Obama.

Here he is caught on tape.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

ROD BLAGOJEVICH (D), FORMER ILLINOIS GOVERNOR: I've got this thing and it's (EXPLETIVE DELETED) golden and I'm just not giving it up (EXPLETIVE DELETED) for nothing.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: His few hours of freedom, Blagojevich, what did he do? He shook hands with a lot hands at Chicago's O'Hare Airport before flying to Colorado.

So what is prison going to be like after the former governor of Illinois?

Joining us to talk about that is a friend of Blagojevich who also served time for taking payoffs when he was a former Chicago City official.

Jim Laski, he joins us here.

Thank you very much. You've been outspoken by this. I understand that you're a buddy of Blagojevich and you actually talked to him to prepare him to go to prison to find out what he's going to expect.

What did you tell him?

JAMES LASKI, SPENT 11 MONTHS IN PRISON FOR BRIBERY: Well, first of all, Suzanne, I appreciate it. I don't know if we're called buddies. We're political associates.

MALVEAUX: Oh, OK.

LASKI: But yes, I met him and I covered his trial for a radio station here in Chicago and, you know, we spoke to each other, we know each other.

I said to him a year and a half ago, I said, Rod, I said, you better pray to God that you don't have to go through what I went through? And he says, what do you mean? I said, the worst day of my life, bar none, was the day I said good-bye to my wife and my children. And I said you're not prepared for that, nobody is prepared for that.

He looked like a deer in headlights. And this morning when he came out, he looked like a deer in the headlights. He looked like he was shot out of a canon. And it was the toughest day of my life.

MALVEAUX: So what did you tell him to do? What did you advise him?

LASKI: I've told him, as I've said all along -- when you go to prison, you know, you're not Rod Blagojevich. Like when I went into prison, I wasn't Jim Laski. I was 1H413424.

And Rod Blagojevich will get one of these in a couple of hours. It's like your American Express card in prison. Don't leave prison without it. This is you use for your meals, your commissary, and everything else. And Rod Blagojevich will get this as soon as he gets to prison.

And he will get his strip searched. They will pack up his clothes that he wore today, send them back home, and he will get his ID and he's fingerprinting and he will get his uniform. It is time now to face reality and hope for the best.

And just try to get into a routine. Get into a routine where you either jog or you read or you do whatever.

But he can't campaign. He won't be on "Celebrity Apprentice". He won't be running for governor anymore. He won't be president of the United States. He'll be a number and he'll be in prison for a long period of time.

MALVEAUX: And you spent 11 months in a federal penitentiary for taking bribes as a Chicago official. What was the toughest thing about being in prison?

LASKI: Well, first of all, again, I left -- I have three children at home. I have -- my twin boys were 9 at the time and my daughter was 13. And that was the hardest thing.

I mean, I remember to this day -- and it still makes me a little queasy when I se him leave because I remember this was four years ago or five years ago I left. And it was the hardest thing was to say good-bye and then to get to prison and that first night when you're not sleeping in your own bed and you're thinking about, what is your family doing? What is my daughter doing, what are my sons doing?

I missed my daughter's graduation. I missed my daughter's confirmation. I missed my son's soccer season. I mean, all that stuff comes into play and you can't get that stuff back.

MALVEAUX: And, Jim, I want to mention to viewers, because it's happening right now, we're watching live pictures. This is actually in Colorado where they have choppers and they've got pictures of the vehicle that Blagojevich is in right now, kind of reminiscent of the O.J. chase, if you will, all eyes on the vehicle as he heads to -- heads off to prison.

This is really going to be one of those moments where, you know, he's used to a lot of attention here. He's not going to have that kind of attention as, as you mentioned, when he's in prison. Will he be a target, do you think, because he's been so notorious, really, on TV and all these other things?

LASKI: Well, Suzanne, I think his -- the best thing he can do is to try to lead a quiet existence. And it's just an existence in prison. It's very dehumanizing.

And he will learn very quickly that, you know, at 4:00, 5:00 this afternoon, he will be standing with the rest of the inmates in the United States doing a count and he'll be standing in front of his bed and he will be counted by a guard and that's the reality of it. And he will be counted for the next be 11 years and 8 months and that's the hard, cold, cold facts here.

And he's going to have to get used to the fact that he will not be able to come and go as he pleases, he won't have people drive him around, he won't be able to go out to dinner and he won't be Mr. Celebrity. And that's going to be hard.

And like I said, my best advice to Rod is to try to lead a very quiet life there. He gets 300 minutes a month to talk to his wife and his kids and I would treasure those 300 minutes each month to talk to my family.

MALVEAUX: Jim, you wrote a book called, "My Fall from Grace: City Hall to Prison Walls." Tell us why -- why do so many public officials do this, take bribes, payoffs? I mean, what is it about being in office that makes you vulnerable and go in that reaction?

LASKI: Suzanne, I was an idealistic kid out of law school. And I got political organization when I was right out of law school, very idealistic.

I didn't get in the business thinking I was going to take brides or do this and do that. I was in an organization where we had precinct captains and, you know, you do political favors and you get people garbage cans and you cut down their trees and help them with their voting. And I actually had an absentee ballot that I gave before I joined politics. And they knew how I voted because they opened up my absentee ballot in Chicago ahead of time.

I mean, Chicago -- when I got to prison, let me just say this, the inmates come up to me and said, where are you from? I said, I'm from Chicago. They said, oh, Chicago, daily corrupt politics and Al Capone. And that's what Chicago is viewed as.

As I said, I got into Chicago politics and it's been a culture of Chicago politics over the years that breeds this stuff and it's just not over the last five or 10 years. You can go back -- there's been 30-some or 40-some elected officials over the last 20, 30 years in Chicago that have sent to prison.

MALVEAUX: All right. Jim, we've got to leave there. Obviously, you've done your time. You've paid your dues there and we're going to be watching Rod Blagojevich do the same.

Thank you very much, Jim. I really appreciate your perspective there.

So, a rundown of some of the stories that we're covering.

First, while he was allegedly ordering brutal attacks on civilians, Syrian's president was also ordering up iTunes, expensive jewelry and fondue set. That's right. We'll reveal some of the secret emails from the Syrian leader.

And the candidate Rick Santorum tells Puerto Rico to habla Ingles in order to become a state. And a Republican Puerto Rican says, not a bad idea.

Then this hour, dramatic new anti smoking campaign, with a price tag $54 million, the largest and most graphic anti-smoking push. The big question, is this ad -- are these ads going to stop people from lighting up?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: Syria's violent and deadly uprising began one year ago today. And still, almost every day, dozens of people are being killed by Syria's military. It is one of the most brutal crackdowns on protests that we have since Egypt's revolution.

We're about to talk to Nic Robertson live in neighboring Lebanon. But, first, here's a look at how the brutality unfolded.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Close to 8,000 civilians killed, countless missing, thousands more injured, hundreds of thousands forced from their homes. Twelve months of unparalleled in the 21st century.

President Bashar al-Assad had the option: talks or tanks. He chose tanks.

Protests began in Syria's southern city Daraa following the arrest and killing of school children for scrawling anti-Assad graffiti.

It spread to other cities March 15th. It was a turning point for people desperately for an end to the repression and corruption of the Assad dynasty.

Activists were emboldened by the sweeping changes of the Arab spring.

In Egypt, after 30 years in power, President Hosni Mubarak was unseated in weeks. Similarly, in Tunisia, after less than a month of protests, President Ben Ali was forced to flee the country. And in Libya, the same week Syria's uprising started, a U.N. agreed and NATO enforced no fly zone was introduced.

But for Syria's protesters, no such international help, just condemnation of the regime. But the regime could still mobilize its supporters, mostly from the country's minorities, Alawite, like the president, and Christian. Without Assad, they were told they'd be killed.

By late fall, protests became resistance. The Free Syrian Army emerged but against one of the most powerful military machines in the Middle East. It needed weapons.

Unlike Libya's rebels, Syria's opposition force is tiny, poorly armed. They hold no territory. And so far have received very little international help.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MALVEAUX: Nic Robertson, he joins us live from London.

And, Nic, we know now that more than 8,000 people -- that is a conservative number -- are dead. There have been countless who have been injured.

Why is it now, a year into this, that the U.N. is so powerless, the international community is so powerless to stop this conflict?

ROBERTSON: I think it's all about consequences. What happens if you get -- if you do engaged in the conflict? If you do supply arms to the opposition? If you do call for an intervention force to go in?

There are political consequences in Washington and London and other European capitals. There isn't an appetite from -- in these countries to get another engagement and another Middle Eastern country, if you will.

And there are other consequences as well. We've seen that Russia is a strong ally to Assad, standing up, along with China, to the rest of the international community at the U.N. So, there's consequences of rupture of relationships there as well with the rest of the international community.

And as well, there seems to be a concern as well, what happens if you put arms in? Who gets those arms and does Iran, because it's an ally of Syria, get involved and escalate tensions in the region? There are many issues here, Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: And, Nic, I understand that the conflict may be moving now. We're talking about the city of Idlib and it could become the new Homs, the city where much of this conflict was centered around. Can you explain?

ROBERTSON: Idlib is close to the Turkish border, so there's an opportunity there for the Free Syrian Army to go across the border into Turkey to get some sort of relief from the fighting. To get supplies and weapons possibly and come back in.

So, Idlib is a place that gives them or potentially could give them some sanctuary. There's a lot of Assad's military forces in and around the city of Idlib. He knows he needs to hold that. he needs to seal the border with Turkey to stem any more of the Free Syrian forces getting in and weapons.

But he's also He's turning his attention back to this city in the south where this all began. Daraa, 30 tanks at least spotted heading towards that city yesterday.

Assad is absolutely intent on crushing any place that could nurture any kind of sort of military opposition to him. He will crush them all. That's what he's doing.

MALVEAUX: Nic Robertson, thank you as always for bringing the very latest on that hot spot, clearly, a tragedy that was unfolding there.

And now we know a British newspaper says it can show the president of Syria and his family apparently living the good life while people all over the country are suffering and dying. "The Guardian" is publishing e-mails today that they say were sent or received by President Bashar al Assad over the past year.

Now, according to those e-mails, the president and his family bought shoes, furniture and appliances from online stores, like Amazon. They also order Harry Potter movies, downloaded Western pop music from iTunes -- at the same time, protesters from across the country are being killed by this military crackdown.

The e-mails also show that President Assad asked for advice from Iranian and Hezbollah officials on how to handle the conflict. The messages were reportedly stopped after it became known that the hacker group Anonymous got into the Syrian government's computer system:

Now, the Guardian says that the disgruntled insider smuggled the president's email addresses and passwords.

Here's a snapshot of the job situation right now. Ten thousand people applied for just 230 jobs at a Kentucky plant. We're looking at a new jobs report.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: We have some good news. Number of people out of work filing for benefits for the first time is at a four-year low.

Report out today says that number dropped to 351,000 for last week. It is 14,000 fewer than the week before and actually better than what economists were expecting.

But many Americans, they're still looking for work. We know that. In Kentucky yesterday, 10,000 people applied online for just 230 jobs at a G.E. plant. There are so many applications it actually crashed the Web site.

Alison Kosik, she's joining us from the New York Stock Exchange.

So, I want to start of with that story first, Alison. You have all of those people who are vying for that amount of jobs there. What actually happened at that plant? How did that go down?

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's really amazing. You know, G.E. says its job's Web site was absolutely inundated with applications. It had 230 positions opened posted on that Web site for manufacturing positions in Louisville, Kentucky.

Now, it began taking those applications online at 6:30 in the morning yesterday. Some of the local jobs centers also pitched in opening up early to help people apply as well. But in two hours, Suzanne, 5,000 people put in applications for these jobs.

The Web site wound up shutting down for a few hours because of a glitch and it was then fixed. But by late afternoon, 10,000 people applied for these positions.

So, I know you're wondering why this stampede, because you look at Kentucky, the unemployment rate there is higher than the national average. It's at 8.8 percent. Just amazing.

MALVEAUX: So, why was G.E. doing all of this hiring? Is it a sign that the economy is actually coming back?

KOSIK: You know, part of it is, yes. The economy is coming back. It's picking up. There's more demand for products.

But there's something else happening here. G.E. is actually bringing back some of its jobs from China. The company told us today that it can now make more products more competitively here because labor unions have made concessions, new workers are actually being hired to make less money than the previous generation of factory orders.

Also, what G.E. is doing is using a manufacturing model that was developed in Japan. It's more efficient. So, what you've got here are jobs moving back here to the U.S. and G.E. is reopening old plants located in Louisville as well -- Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: And the positive jobs numbers, is it having any impact on the market today?

KOSIK: Kind of. You're seeing some modest gains here in stocks. The Dow is up 37 points.

You know, the Dow did have six days of gains so far this week. The Dow -- for the past couple of weeks actually -- the Dow's longest winning streak in more than a year. It's kind of normal to see a bit of a pause after the big run-up that stocks have made.

Certainly, all eyes are on shares of Apple. Apple hit a record today of $600 a share. It's back down a bit. It's now at $591.

Do you know it jumped $600 from $500 in 23 days? It's all it took. It's really jaw dropping, if you ask me.

MALVEAUX: Yes, absolutely. Alison, thank you. Great to see you.

Candidate Newt Gingrich says UPS can help track down illegal immigrants. We're breaking down some of the news from the campaign trail.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: We're three days before the Puerto Rican presidential primary, already a firestorm is brewing. Rick Santorum told Puerto Ricans they would have to adopt English as their official language if they wanted to pursue U.S. statehood.

Well, his comments, this set off outrage across the U.S. territory. But one Puerto Rican Republican says Santorum is dead on point.

Joining us: Republican strategist Danny Vargas and Democratic strategist Jamal Simmons.

Good to have you both.

Danny, you know, you're the one we're talking about here, the Republican and Puerto Rican. Why do you agree here?

DANNY VARGAS, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: Well, I don't necessarily agree. I myself am a Puerto Rican descent. And as someone who's pro- statehood myself, as someone who has seen the contributions that Puerto Ricans have made to our military and our economy and our society, I know how important Puerto Rico is.

But I'm a small conservative. I don't think we necessarily have to mandate everything at the federal level in terms of what state should do. We know New Mexico, for example, up until 1953, was considered a bilingual state.

We also know that, look, in the era of globalization, it's important to be able to speak more than one language. Yes, I think Puerto Ricans ought to learn English. I think it's for their best interest. And 90 percent of Puerto Rican parents what their children to become English proficient and fluent.

But I don't think we have to mandate it at the federal level. It's something that is going to happen naturally. It's the language --

MALVEAUX: So you don't agree? You don't agree with Santorum?

VARGAS: -- rather more important language of business.

I don't necessarily agree. I think, look, English is incredibly important but so is Spanish. So I think to the extent that Puerto Ricans can maintain the Spanish proficiency, increase English language proficiency, it's to the benefit of the island. But I don't necessarily think it has to be mandated at the federal level.

MALVEAUX: All right. So, in an interview, a newspaper interview, Santorum said -- he lays the stipulation. "Like any other state, there needs to be compliance with they and other federal law, and that is that English needs to be the principal language."

Jamal, weigh in here.

JAMAL SIMMONS, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, first of all, he's wrong on the facts. It's not federal law to have English as the official language of the country. It's the principal language of the country. It's the predominant language of the country, but it is not the official language of the country.

And I think that Danny is right when he says it probably makes sense for people in Puerto Rico to be able to speak English because it is the way -- language that they will use to do business and to use all of our government functions, and to help as we go back and forth.

But what's interesting to me is that Santorum stood on Puerto Rican soil and made this statement in front of people that he probably knew were not going to like it. How different is that in Mitt Romney who can't even stand up for things like college or separation of church and state without kind of -- you know, he gets all mushy when he tries to do that.

Santorum says what he believes wherever he is and it seems like Mitt Romney sort of says what he thinks is politically appropriate wherever he is. It's a stark contrast.

MALVEAUX: I want to turn the page if we can. There is a growing chorus if you will, louder for Newt Gingrich to drop out. He says he's staying in and he has got some ideas that -- provocative ideas.

One of them that he talked about was using FedEx to find illegal immigrants. Here's how he explained it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEWT GINGRICH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: You have FedEx and UPS moving 24 million packages a day in such a manner that at no extra cost you can track it on your personal computer.

Over here you have the federal government that doesn't work and the federal government today cannot find 11 million illegal immigrants even if they are sitting still.

So take these two comparisons. So one of my suggestions was, what if we were to mail a package to every person who is here illegally and then when it got delivered we would pull them up and we would know exactly where it was because we would be on UPS and FedEx.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Danny, does that make any sense to you?

VARGAS: Well, I'll tell you what doesn't make sense. We know that the federal government is one of the most massively inefficient institutions in the world. We've seen that they waste money. They are not necessarily affected in what they do.

So there is a lot of opportunity, a lot of room for being able to contract out services that the federal government doesn't in a massive way today. Not to the specifics of what Newt Gingrich just said in terms of being able to mail a package to an illegal immigrant.

It's being comical and to a certain extent, but there is an opportunity to be able to find ways to use the private sector, private sector initiatives and innovation and ingenuity.

To be able to handle some of the tougher problems that the federal government just hasn't been able to get their arms around because it's so inefficient in what it does.

MALVEAUX: Jamal, do you think that those kinds of comments appeal to anyone? I mean, who is he trying to attract when he makes comments like that?

SIMMONS: I tell you who he's trying to attract. He's trying to attract that Tea Party voter that seems to be so far outside where most of Americans really are. Most Americans are pretty decent people who want to take care of their neighbors and look out for people in times of need and they don't want to punish people for things they didn't do wrong.

But the Tea Party people seem to be sort of angry and they are angry at people who are a little bit different than them. And I tell what you is troubling for Newt Gingrich and what is going to hurt him and hurt all of the republican candidates is that it's very hard for Republicans to win the presidency without getting a considerable number of Latino votes.

George Bush in 2004 when he re-election got 41 percent of the Latino vote. In 2008, John McCain only got 31 percent of that vote. Right now, those Republican candidates are at about 14 percent, according to the latest polls. They can't win that way.

MALVEAUX: All right, Jamal, Danny, thank you both. Good to see you. We'll have you back shortly.

If you're ready to quit lighting up, these anti-smoking ads might do the trick. They are some of the most graphic ads we have ever seen from former smokers themselves.

And how do children get interested in learning? Here's what one school is doing with robots.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're spending a lot of time in our workshops working on new material for the Vegas show when we move into the Monte Carlo in October.

The blue man interacting with some robots on stage is a nice way for them to kind of take a look at how we are using technology and how is it using us?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not really about this cold machinery. It's ultimately about, you know, how can we use the robots to show something about the human spirit?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MALVEAUX: We're going to start seeing some very graphic images of smokers who lost limbs on TV soon. It is a new $54 million ad campaign from the CDC called tips from former smokers, intended to scare people. I want to warn you, the ads, they are pretty difficult to watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It began with my big toe. That was my first amputation that I had.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a vascular disease brought on by smoking.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My fingers started to go piece by piece.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: First it was my left leg.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Dr. Sanjay Gupta, he is joining us from New York. Sanjay, obviously these are very graphic ads. Some would say that there aim is to scare people, that that might work. Do you think that these are going to be effective in actually having people quit?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's a good question. It's the same sort of question that we posed to folks at the CDC as well. There's data on this sort of thing.

For example, Suzanne, remember those ads back in the late '80s, early '90s, about this is your brain on drugs. What we found was those sorts of ads probably weren't that effective.

If you actually measured illicit drug use specifically, but they have found other smoking ad campaign, not illicit drug, campaign around those, actually are somewhat more effective in areas where those ads run.

There are more attempts to quit smoking and more successful quit smoking success stories as well. So it does seem to have some sort of impact, but it's hard to measure what is directly attributable to those ads. As you said, those are pretty graphic.

MALVEAUX: Yes, and some people suggest there are more concrete ways like anti-smoking laws, cigarette taxes that might have a stronger effect on actually getting people to quit.

GUPTA: Yes, I mean, here in New York, there have been specific legislations surrounding smoking and you've seen smoking go down as a result.

Specifically with regard to kids and the cigarette tax, you see an impact. Every 10 percent or so increase in a cigarette tax, you see about a 3 to 5 percent decrease in smoking specifically among young people.

So you do have more measurable impact as a result of legislation and as a result of sin tax as well. Again with these ad campaigns, it's really hard to say how effective they are. It's a much more difficult thing to measure.

MALVEAUX: We all know folks, friends who smoke. If they see these ads, they decide, I'm going to quit, put down that cigarette today. Are there still immediate benefits if they just decide this is no longer for me?

GUPTA: I think -- yes, there is definitely immediate benefits. You know, the other point there is, should ads be focusing on the positive outcomes as a result of quitting smoking or the negative outcomes if you don't quit smoking?

This is always a debate in the public health meets advertising world. But take a look at the benefits that you get pretty quickly from stopping smoking, within 20 minutes if your heart rate can be modulated 12 hours.

Carbon monoxide levels, one of the more toxic chemicals, two to three weeks, you can see your heart disease risk starts to decrease. One year, you know, your heart disease risk cuts down by 50 percent. Five years -- you can look at the numbers here.

Within in 10 years or so your lung cancer risk almost starts to approximate what is baseline as if you have not smoked so some pretty significant benefits there very quickly.

MALVEAUX: That's pretty amazing and certainly a good incentive for those to try to quit.

GUPTA: Absolutely.

MALVEAUX: Thank you, Sanjay.

GUPTA: You bet.

MALVEAUX: We want to know what you think. Do you think these ads are actually going to help people quit smoking, maybe even stop a teen from picking up the habit? Send us your thoughts, facebook.com/suzannecnn or on Twitter @suzannemalveaux. We'll read your responses in the next hour.

KOSIK: Time now for the "Help Desk" where we get answers to your financial questions. Joining me this hour is Jack Otter. He is the executive editor of cbsmoneywatch.com and author of "Worth It, Not Worth It."

And Stacy Francis is a financial adviser and the president of Francis Financial. All right, thanks for coming in to both of you.

Let's get to the first e-mail, from Gerald in North Carolina. He's asking, I bought my house in 1996 for $141,000. I still owe $106,000 on a third-year fixed loan at 5.7 percent. I have about $70,000 in a regular savings account.

Here's his question, should I use that money to pay down and use it to pay down the home loan? Jack, what should he do?

JACK OTTER, EXECUTIVE EDITOR, CBSMONEYWATCH.COM: I think the first step should be to look into refinancing. He's got a 5.7 percent loan. Now, he could get a 15-year loan. He's got about 15 years left on his mortgage for less than 4 percent.

Now, he's been on this loan for so long. He's already paid a lot of interest. So he's going to have to run the numbers in a financial calculator. Maybe he just wants to stick with this one.

But please, go to something like shh.com. Run the numbers. Now the question of paying it off, you know, it depends. On the one hand, from a purely financial perspective, it's not at best move.

He's better off saving that money, maybe putting it into a 401(k) where he'll get a better return because the tax advantages or just sitting on it so he's got cash flow. In an emergency, that money's in the bank and it's safe.

KOSIK: All right, good advise there. Let's go to another one. From Mike in Maine, he's asking, I have a Roth IRA and an online brokerage account for investing in ETFs. Where should I park my different investment types such as bonds and ETFs to minimize my taxes? Stacy, what do you think?

STACY FRANCIS, FINANCIAL ADVISER: When we're managing money for a client, we take a look the overall tax impact because that can really eat into your overall return. We put all of the taxable bonds in our IRAs, in all of our retirement plans.

So that is actually saving you a lot of money in taxes. Then we take any of those stocks that have a lot of capital appreciation that might be taxed at 15 percent and we put it in that online brokerage, maybe a taxable account.

Because again, remember, interest from a bond is taxed at your federal tax bracket. Guess what, the growth and long-term gains on a stock are taxed at 15 percent. So if you can, again, try and put that high interest in your retirement plan and then put your stocks in your taxable accounts. KOSIK: All right, some great advice. Thanks for coming in. If you have a question you want answered, send us an e-mail anytime to cnnhelpdesk@cnn.com.

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MALVEAUX: S&P is in record territory. I want to bring in Alison Kosik, who joins us live from the New York Stock Exchange to explain what we have just seen.

Alison, perhaps some good news.

KOSIK: It is good news. The S&P 500, that is breaking that 1,400 mark for the first time since June of 2008. The reason why we watch the S&P 500, this is the broader index. It sort of is a better indication of how stocks are doing, better than the Dow, which only has 30 stocks in it. And we watch the S&P 500 because a lot of your retirement funds, your mutual funds, your 401(k)s, they really mirror how the S&P 500 is doing. So the fact that it's broken through that 1,400 mark is a really good sign as far as whether or not your portfolio's going to be a little fatter right now.

But the real question is, is whether this momentum can continue. First of all, can the S&P 500 close today at the end of the day when that closing bell rings, can it close at that 1,400 level or above and then stay above that level. Because the reason we watch these levels is because it's all about momentum. And once you sort of close at that level, that means momentum could stick around.

One thing I'm noticing is that financial shares are leading the way. Shares of Bank of American and JP Morgan Chase, those are two of the biggest gainers right now. They're up about 3 percent. Transportation stocks, they are also gaining.

So I know what you're going to ask, is why? Why is this happening? We're seeing stocks really have a run up lately because of the economic data in the U.S. is improving and mostly because that jobs data. That jobs data is getting better every time we get those reports.

Suzanne.

MALVEAUX: All right, that's great news. Alison, thank you very much. Appreciate the perspective there. Thanks.

There is controversy in the kitchen. Paula Deen's empire under fire as a former employer makes shocking allegations. Find out why some fans are sticking by Deen despite the scandal.

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MALVEAUX: When you hear the name Paula Deen, you probably thing two words, southern cooking. But now a new word is swirling around that famous name, and that is controversy. There's a sexual harassment lawsuit and the revelation that Deen has diabetes threaten the empire. Folks at "Saturday Night Live" put their own twist on Deen's problems. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE, ACTRESS, "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE": Let me tell you what, Seth (ph). This has been a doozy of a year.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE, ACTOR, "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE": Uh-huh.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It started with me getting hit with what my mama calls "the sugars."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you say "the sugars," do you mean diabetes?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I guess that's what northerners call it. Now I got to watch what I eat.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What about the claims that your brother Bubba would look at porn sites in the office he shared with the manager?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Listen, Seth, have you ever Googled on something for something and something else pops up for y'all?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What about the very serious allegation -- the very serious allegation of you using the "n" word?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hot butter and all, Seth, which "n" word is she talking? There's a whole bunch of "n" words?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, the bad one.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Like nutrition?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Deen is keeping quiet, but her fans, they're speaking out. Many are offering their support, including on cnn.com where your comments have made this the second biggest story ever on our Eatocracy blog. I want to bring in Kat Kinsman. She is Eatocracy's managing editor. She's joining us from New York.

You know, Kat, it's interesting because when this story first broke, my family -- I mean we were debating whether or not, you know, she was right, she was wrong about the diabetes and all of that, whether or not she should have revealed this. Why do you think this is so passionate? I mean so many people are weighing in on this.

KAT KINSMAN, MANAGING EDITOR, EATOCRACY: Well, first of all, I want to speak up in defense of the innocent victim, which is butter. And just a little bit of butter is really fantastic. And it's the excess of it that is the thing that is so polarizing about Paula Deen. Her fans love that her recipes are so accessible and delicious and really feel like home cooking. And her detractors see her as really profiting off promoting this lifestyle that is really dangerous and, in fact, ended up endangering her own health.

MALVEAUX: Yes. I mean, a lot of people see it very differently.

KINSMAN: Right.

MALVEAUX: "SNL" had a little fun at her expense, but there are some serious allegations here that they bring up. First, a former employee accuses Deen's broth of sexual harassment, and that Deen herself is using racial epithets. What do we know about these?

KINSMAN: Well, her camp has really closed ranks around her. She is -- she has a very tight wall around her. And they have just said that all of these allegations are false and they're really looking forward to their day in court.

The interesting thing that popped up was that the former employee -- HLN obtained a letter that she had written three months before she quit and in it it's a virtual love letter to Paula Deen and to her brother Bubba saying that without them and without their support she wouldn't be the woman she is today and that they really admire the path that she took from being, you know, sort of a depressed, impoverished mother, to making this multimillion dollar campaign. So it's really interesting to see that. And I've spoken with a fair amount of her fans and they are all just really waiting to see. This is all hearsay at this point. So they're all really just waiting to see what the -- you know, for their day in court.

MALVEAUX: And what is she accused of exactly?

KINSMAN: So -- well, she is accused -- they say that her brother did, in fact, created a hostile work environment that sort of promoted sexism and that he watched pornography. They're saying that she herself used some racial epithets. Again, you know, this is all hearsay. I would hate to find out that that was actually true. But they've really closed ranks around her, so we don't actually know the facts. We just know that a lot of her fans are sticking by her.

MALVEAUX: All right, Kat, good to see you. And also, you know, a very popular blog, Eatocracy blog. Thank you, Kat. Appreciate it.

KINSMAN: Thank you.

MALVEAUX: An amazing survival story. We're talking about a little boy buried alive and then rescued by what he says was an angel.

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MALVEAUX: It is a tragedy that could be the changing face of the war in Afghanistan. A U.S. soldier allegedly gunned down 16 civilians over the weekend. Today, Afghan President Hamid Karzai told Defense Secretary Leon Panetta that he wants American troops out of Afghan villages and back on the main bases. He also says he wants a faster turnover, demanding that Afghan security forces take charge by 2013. That's a whole year ahead of schedule.

Diplomacy in the country is also at stake. The Taliban said today they are suspending talks with the U.S. Back in September, President Karzai was much more optimistic about the diplomatic talks, as well as the timetable, and we spoke about it in Afghanistan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: Are you currently negotiating now with the Taliban?

PRES. HAMID KARZAI, AFGHANISTAN: We are engaged in a process of peace building in which both our international partners, namely the United States and Britain, and other countries, and also the Afghan peace council, are busy talking to some elements of the Taliban.

MALVEAUX: Is the Taliban offering anything right now? Are they cooperating? Are they saying, we are going to renounce violence, we are going to give rights, equal rights to women? What are you hearing now from the Taliban?

KARZAI: Some of them are, yes. Some of them are willing to talk. Some of them are feeling very much that this country is suffering and that this country's suffering must end. The majority of them are Afghans and they'd like to see this country do better.

MALVEAUX: What's the timetable here? How fast do you think they'll say, OK, we agreed to these terms, there will be peace?

KARZAI: As far as a desire on our part is concerned, the timetable is as soon as possible.

MALVEAUX: What does that mean?

KARZAI: It means, if it can be done tomorrow, we'll welcome it. But as far as the reality on the ground is concerned, surely it's going to take time.

MALVEAUX: months? Years?

Karzai: well, perhaps more than months. Maybe a year or two. That, too, if we can have a proper understanding with our neighbors in Pakistan, with Iran.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MALVEAUX: That was just six months ago when the stage for talks and peace was a lot more optimistic. Today, an entirely different scenario.