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CNN Saturday Morning News
Dr. Oz's Free Health Clinic in Houston; Woman Impregnated with Wrong Embryo Gives Birth; More Rain for Flooded Southeast; Three Suicide Bombs in Pakistan; Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Firing Back at President Obama's Accusation
Aired September 26, 2009 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everybody from the CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia, this is CNN SATURDAY MORNING for the 26th of September. I'm T.J. Holmes.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everybody. Thanks for joining us. It is 8:00 a.m. in Atlanta, 7:00 a.m. in Houston. Appreciate you starting the day with us.
Dr. Oz, talking about him, you probably remember him from "Oprah." He is having a free clinic today in Houston at Reliant Convention Center there and this is a live picture, folks. People already standing in line to get some of those services, again, a free clinic, some 500 volunteers, doctors and nurses will be on hand and actually we're going to be speaking with Dr. Oz in the 9:00 a.m. Eastern hour. Don't want to miss that.
HOLMES: Also this morning, a woman is now, well, you can't really say she's the proud parent of a baby boy even though she just gave birth to this baby boy. You know the story. We've been talking about it for the past week or so, a woman found out she was impregnated with the wrong embryo.
She found out some 10 days into the pregnancy but decided she was not going to terminate that pregnancy. She was going to carry that baby for total strangers, gave birth to the little baby boy but a lot of people talking about this story, was that the right thing to do? Could I have done something like that? Could they have done something like that? It's a tough story all around.
NGUYEN: It really is. Send us your comments. We want to hear from you. What do you think about it? Would you have done it? Did she do the right thing? Send it to our Facebook page, our Twitter page, also our blog, cnn.com/betty, cnn.com/T.J. or weekends@cnn and we'll read your responses on the air.
But in the meantime, talk about adding insult to injury, Georgia residents hit hard by torrential rains that led to massive flooding and a lot of damage, well, they could get hit again but not as bad as last time. That's a little silver lining.
HOLMES: Still some of that water is sitting.
NGUYEN: Standing. HOLMES: For the most part we can get around but still a lot of places still struggling. So it's going to be raining again. Let's see a flash flood watch now for much of north Georgia. Fourteen counties have been declared disaster areas making it eligible for Federal aid. Some areas got nearly 20 inches earlier this week. The vice president was here, toured some flooded areas yesterday, met with residents who were forced out of their homes.
NGUYEN: And more rain on the way as we've been talking about for the southeast. Flood watches still in effect. Reynolds Wolf has been watching all this and you personally affected as well Reynolds at your own home.
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Absolutely, all over the neighborhood, all over parts of Atlanta we've been dealing with that. I know T.J. was out in the Vinings (ph) area, just seeing the floodwaters there firsthand.
Our executive producer Tenisha Abernathy, her neighborhood was flooded out. The stories go on and on. We've been dealing with this for quite a while. We've seen it happen all around the country even this year, earlier in the year in parts of Fargo, North Dakota, over in Moorhead same situation.
What we're going to be seeing today is a very similar set up in a few ways, meaning that rain is going to return. At times it could be fairly heavy. One key difference though is going to the potential storm track. A few days ago an area of low pressure that was setting up over this part of the area and we kept getting showers and storms moving across parts of Alabama and Georgia over and over again.
But what we're going to see this time instead of the rain moving over parts, moving over Atlanta, it looks like the storm track is going to be a little bit farther to the north. This area of low pressure pulling up most of the heavy rainfall into parts of the Appalachians, still north Georgia, north Alabama back into portions of the Appalachians.
Back even into parts of Pennsylvania, as far into Tennessee could see some heavy rainfall but for Atlanta, looking about one inch of rainfall or less, although there could be isolated amounts of say two to three inches in the highest elevations again as I mentioned, mainly north Georgia.
So yes, there could be some flash flooding in spots in very poor drainage, but in terms of it reaching the same magnitude of what we had last week or actually earlier this week, I don't think that's going to be in the cards for us, certainly some good news.
However, rain will be in the picture (INAUDIBLE) and parts of the four corners, Las Vegas and Phoenix back in the triple digits, Atlanta 73 with those scattered showers, could see temperatures cool down considerably into the afternoon. That's a look at your forecast. It's going to be a busy morning, a lot to share with you. The tropics are also starting to get active once again and we'll catch you up to speed in just a few moments. Let's send it back to you guys.
NGUYEN: Working hard for your money today, huh? Thank you Reynolds.
Three suicide bombs in Pakistan to tell you about, the attacks killed 15 people. The deadliest west of Islamabad in Peshawar. Eight people were killed near a state-owned bank and a military hospital in Peshawar. Another attack killed six people at a police station in the northwest frontier and a third blast killed one person near the Indian border. Just look at this damage. People, in fact more than 100 of them were injured in the three attacks.
Iran's leader firing back after President Obama accused his country of violating international agreements with his nuclear program. The president had strong words after learning that Iran has a second uranium enrichment plant.
Yesterday, that's when they learned it and Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad called President Obama's claims baseless in an exclusive interview with Larry King last night. Take a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD, PRESIDENT OF IRAN (through translator): Well, I believe he's made a mistake, a mistake. It's very clear. We informed the agency even before we were required to about the facility's operations, so how can he possibly accuse us of secretly engaging in an activity that did not take place? This is a big mistake, accusing us of an action that did not take place.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: All right, so obviously Iran isn't listening so what can be done in the face of such defiance? Well, our Elaine Quijano is live at the White House. She joins us now. And Elaine, what's the next move when it comes to Iran? We've heard what the president has to say, the Iranian president. What is the U.S.'s next move?
ELAINE QUIJANO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Betty, President Obama wants an investigation into this second nuclear facility. The U.S. and other countries, as you know, Betty, have long suspected Iran of trying to develop a nuclear weapon.
President Obama very much, of course, now wants Tehran to open this second site to international inspectors and on the heels of the G-20 summit in Pittsburgh, President Obama says that the world is more united than ever when it comes to Iran and he vowed that if Tehran does not cooperate, there will be consequences.
Here's how he put it this morning in his weekly radio and Internet address.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: All of the permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and Germany have made it clear that Iran must fulfill its responsibilities. Iran's leaders must now choose. They can live up to the responsibilities and achieve integration with the community of nations or they will face increased pressure and isolation and deny opportunity to their own people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QUIJANO: Iran has insisted all along that its nuclear activity is for peaceful purposes to generate power, but President Obama said that when it comes to the second facility, taking a look at its size and configuration, do not appear to be consistent with a peaceful program. Betty?
NGUYEN: So following this news about another nuclear facility, coming at a very critical time, Elaine, just before some crucial talks are supposed to take place, what can you tell us about those talks?
QUIJANO: That's right, on Thursday there's going to be an important meeting in Geneva, Switzerland. That is when the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council plus Germany are going to be sitting down with Iranian officials for talks. This is a rare event.
President Obama says that these negotiations are taking on added urgency. He says he's still very much open to the idea of U.S. engaging in a serious dialogue with Iran over these nuclear issues. However, he says that Tehran first needs to demonstrate, Betty, that it is serious by showing it's taking action, it's demonstrating that it has peaceful intentions here and of course, that means cooperating with the international atomic energy agency.
NGUYEN: Elaine Quijano joining us live this morning, thank you.
HOLMES: New era in global economics began this week in Pittsburgh. President Obama says the group of 20 economic leaders are confident with the efforts made so far to prevent future financial meltdowns. But as the two-day economic summit was ending, massive protests were taking place outside the University of Pittsburgh. Police say they had to break up the demonstrations because many of the protests did not have permits.
President Obama, he was center stage on the world stage this week. He was at the G-20 economic summit, also at the UN. Even though he got out of Washington still a lot of other political stories were making headlines and our deputy political director and friend of our show here on CNN SATURDAY and "SUNDAY MORNING," Paul Steinhauser joins us now from our Washington bureau.
Paul, another poll was making news just yesterday. We have a new senator.
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: We do. We're back up to 100 senators in the chamber. Paul Kirk is his name. He is a long time adviser, friend to the late Senator Ted Kennedy. You can see right there there's Vice President Joe Biden yesterday. He also serves as president of the Senate.
He swore in Paul Kirk as a temporary replacement for Senator Kennedy. Massachusetts now has two senators. Kirk, who was at one time also the head of the Democratic National Committee, he will now serve for about four months, T.J., until there's a special election in January, he'll serve for four months as U.S. senator for Massachusetts.
HOLMES: And it's always about politics here. It wasn't just about getting somebody in place just for the heck of it here. They could have presumably waited a few months and waited for the special election but no, there was a very important reason why. Democrats especially wanted him, including the president wanted to make sure that another senator was in that seat now.
STEINHAUSER: Yeah, all about health care. Let's talk about that and let's be honest. This was actually one of the last wishes of the late Senator Kennedy. He wrote a letter to the governor of Massachusetts and also top state officials there urging them to change the law because the law said no replacement until a special election which would mean early next year.
So he urged them to change the law. They did and they swore in Kirk because Kennedy did not want his party and his state to be down a crucial vote when health care comes up later this year, so therefore Paul Kirk now will be in the U.S. Senate and you would assume would vote on whatever comes to the full Senate when it comes to health care reform, T.J.
HOLMES: Let's step out of Washington for a second. Another big political story we saw the past week. What did Governor Paterson ever go to Barack Obama? This was just cold-blooded here. The governor is taking a shot at this awkward picture after news came out that the president doesn't want the governor to run again.
STEINHAUSER: That's what we all said, awkward moment there, yeah. You know, listen, presidents do this. Besides being the president of the United States you're also the head of your political party and you can say what you want and do what you want with your party. So this is nothing new but this one wasn't handled maybe so well.
Governor Paterson, you remember last year he was lieutenant governor. He became governor after Eliot Spitzer had to resign after a prostitute scandal. Paterson's numbers T.J. are very low now, very, very low. His approval rating, his match-ups next year, when he would be up for a full term, are low and the White House is worried that we would drag down the ticket so they're getting involved T.J.
HOLMES: Is he going to run?
STEINHAUSER: He says he's going to run but maybe now he's having second thoughts.
HOLMES: All right, Paul Steinhauser, always good to see you, always good to have you. We'll be talking to you again throughout the morning. Thanks so much. STEINHAUSER: Thank you.
NGUYEN: Still ahead this morning, we have much more on those floods in and around the Atlanta area. A special half hour as well devoted to health care reform.
HOLMES: We'll be looking the potential cuts to Medicare and how affordable some of the Senate plans are. That's ahead at 9:00 a.m.
NGUYEN: And a couple wanting to have a baby, boy, this is a story. They got their wish, but the wrong embryo was implanted. What would you do? It is our topic on Facebook and Twitter today. Send us your thoughts and as always, you can find us on cnn.com/newsroom.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: And another quick check now on our top story, the efforts to clean up the metro Atlanta area after those flash floods did all of that damage. WSBT reporter Mike Petchenik (INAUDIBLE), that's east of downtown Atlanta. What are folks thinking about all this cleanup they've got to do and now some places at least going to get some more rain and some flash flood watches?
MIKE PETCHENIK, WSBT REPORTER: Yeah, absolutely, T.J.. The good news is these folks are probably going to be able to get some Federal assistance. The bad news as you mentioned, we are expecting more rain. In fact, we've been out here all morning and we've already had some intermittent drizzle.
Let me give you a snapshot of what these folks are dealing with as far as cleanup. This is a pile of carpet from this house right behind me here. The woman who lives here told me she had to rip out three rooms of carpeting and she had some wood floors buckling as well. If you look up the street here in this neighborhood in Lithonia, Georgia, you can see those piles are pretty much dotting the landscape here.
A lot of people are dealing with this. They don't live in a flood plain here so these folks do not have flood insurance and therein lies the problem. They don't have money to pay for the repairs, several thousand dollars, several hundred million across the metro Atlanta area.
The good news is, though, as of this morning about 14 counties in the metro are going to be eligible for Federal disaster assistance. The vice president was in Georgia yesterday, surveying that damage and when he left last night, they announced that the 14 counties were going to get that help.
We understand as of this morning, about 4,000 people across the area have already applied. Of course, it's not a slam dunk. They have to notify FEMA and they have claims adjusters come out, take a look at the damage and see what the issues are. They can get low interest loans to pay for this stuff. They can also get money to help them with temporary housing if they need it. This area here in Lithonia is not as badly hit as some of the areas west of Atlanta where they saw just monumental damage from this 500-year flood -- T.J.?
HOLMES: Mike Petchenik, we appreciate you giving us a look at what's happened. That's just one, but several neighborhoods going through the same thing. Thank you so much. Quick, break right here, Betty and I are back on this CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WOLF: There are two iPods ...
NGUYEN: He is my iTunes store.
HOLMES: We'll tell the story later. Reynolds you were here earlier talking about beer. You're back to talk about wine.
WOLF: Is there any kind of message we're trying to send people today?
NGUYEN: What are you sending at 8:00 in the morning on a Saturday?
WOLF: I have no idea. Am I awake?
NGUYEN: You're sober though.
WOLF: Very much so, no question.
NGUYEN: I wanted to get that clear.
WOLF: Don't want to give people the wrong impression. On weekends we do like to relax (INAUDIBLE) many people like to relax across America and if you're looking for something kind of fun, kind of neat to do, why don't you head down to wine country, Anderson, California. It's like a smaller version of Napa Valley, a great place for wine, great place for adventure. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
WOLF (voice-over): To find amazing wines and charming vineyards drive past Napa to a hidden gem of the California wine country.
STIRLING KELSO, TRAVEL + LEISURE: The Anderson valley wine country is really reminiscent of what Napa Valley used to be 20 years ago. There's farm stands and family-run wineries there that are really fun to explore.
WOLF: Many wineries offer free tastings and the owners will often pour the wine themselves.
KELSO: The Standish wine company probably has the most photogenic of the tasting rooms. It's a 19th century wooden building that used to be used for drying apples. Esterlina vineyards and wineries is located in the hills. There are beautiful panoramic views wherever you are. Bowls of goldfish and Cheetos actually come with the tasting. So that's just another example of how beautifully that vineyard sort of breaks the rules.
WOLF: Beer is also available in the wine country. Anderson Valley Brewing Company has handcrafted brews and even Frisbees (INAUDIBLE).
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WOLF: We are hitting that alcohol thing pretty hard this morning.
NGUYEN: A little theme going on.
WOLF: One thing I'd mention about Anderson Valley, if you happen to go there, of the wise thing to do and all being responsible here and all, get a bunch of friends, go together and what you do is you rent a limo car. You take it easy, no one gets hurt, everyone has a good time and it's always fun. Takes a little bit of the load off.
NGUYEN: How did you expense that limo?
WOLF: Corporate account. It's all over research.
NGUYEN: Absolutely it is research. Thank you, Reynolds.
WOLF: You bet guys.
NGUYEN: We have a quick check of our top stories just ahead.
HOLMES: Also Josh Levs joining to us explain how a video game system is helping to save lives. Good morning Josh.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you guys. This is wild. The chip in this popular video game system is now being used to fight the top killer in the United States. We're going to show you how this technology combats heart disease.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: This is a picture, folks are starting to gather this early morning,, this is in Houston outside Reliance (ph) Stadium. They're gathering because there is going to be a health clinic eventually held in this huge place where people without insurance or who may be under insured, folks who can get help who maybe don't have the money, don't have the insurance to cover it right now.
It's being put on by Dr. Oz. You'll know the name, especially a lot of you all who watch "Oprah" and know he has his own show "The Dr. Oz Show" as well. But he put this thing together. Dr. Oz is on the line with us this morning. Dr. Oz, are you hearing me all right? This is T.J. in Atlanta. How is it going this morning?
DR. MEHMET OZ, CARDIAC SURGEON: T.J., it's going very well. Thank you so much for helping shed a light on this national emergency. I have to say it in those terms because I was in New Orleans in Katrina and the last time the city of Houston mobilized its health resources to the nature it's globalized today was during Katrina.
So a natural disaster which did this last time is now being paralleled of what would otherwise be an ordinary day in Houston and other cities around the country. This is the challenge we all have to pay attention to.
HOLMES: You called this a national emergency just then, Dr. Oz. How many are you expecting to turn out and go ahead and give the information because I know a lot of people are going to be listening and can try to make it over to you and interested to hear the hours, but how many are you expecting?
OZ: We're going to be open all day. I must say, this endeavor, we undertook the challenge (INAUDIBLE) in order to shed a spotlight on the problem together with the show. We had no idea that we'd be overwhelmed with thousands of requests, pre-registrants saying please, help me, do what you can to support me. I've fallen off the bus and I can't get back on. These are people with jobs who just have lost their insurance, mothers with lots of kids that can't get them all covered.
It's people like you and me, T.J.. And for anybody out there listening we'd love to have the opportunity to help you. We've got hundreds of volunteers, kind, wonderful people, which I celebrate today because this represents the American spirit of helping each other out of a jam. I think it again speaks to what we can do as a country to come together.
HOLMES: And I'm just explaining to our viewers here some of the pictures you are seeing are just people starting to line up in the early morning hours, video we're getting in just a little bit ago.
And Dr. Oz, it sounds like you were alluding to, yes, you're setting this up to help people who need it, but it's also an opportunity to shed more light on this issue of health care reform and people being underinsured and people without insurance. Do you still think, I mean certainly these are necessary to help people but you still think more of a spotlight needs to be shined on this issue of health insurance reform?
OZ: Well, we have a big debate that everyone's following in Washington on health care finance. But we need to change the debate a little bit, not to focus on the care of health because chronic illness drives about half of all of the costs of the system and people who are chronically ill who don't have coverage.
I give an example, I just saw someone outside. David is a 45- year-old (INAUDIBLE) just lost his job, his insurance rather. He still has a job. He's got a large hernia, causes pain, incapacitates him and makes him unable to work.
So if you can fix this problem which is a very doable thing and as a surgeon, I can tell you, it's not that challenging to fix a hernia, you put a working man back into the workforce. That's why it hurts me so much to look at people who I knew we could get back into the system and become contributors to society and unless we let them lie by the side of the road in anguish and that's what free clinics are about.
Imagine this T.J., four million people get their primary care through free clinics, 47 million uninsured. Many of them will shift to the free clinic system. I'm proud to be part of it, but it's not the way we should be delivering health care.
HOLMES: I guess even you, putting this one together I know it's a huge feat to try to get all of these people together and all these volunteers together. Many certainly willing to do it, but how big of a feat is it to put one of these on and is it sustainable quite frankly to keep these going the way you're talking about? Yes we do need these and they're helpful but is it just unreasonable to think that in so many places we can keep these up just because it is such a huge undertaking?
OZ: It took us a lot of effort. On the television show, I am a doctor so I brought all my producers and my medical colleagues together and we were able to do it, together with the National Association of Free Clinics, which is a great organization that runs these across the country. So, can we do to get America (INAUDIBLE) we will do them and by the way, even if we have true health care finance reform in Washington, we'll still need free clinics.
That stated, (INAUDIBLE) trying to get out there today is that we owe it to ourselves as Americans to help the least of us and when we have people who desperately need support especially for chronic illnesses, if we invest the money and allow them to get the kind of care they actually want and would take, it will save us money in the long-term. Remember, T.J., we cannot be a wealthy nation if we're not a healthy nation. This is essential for our country.
HOLMES: You know what? It seems like such a simple thing that we should all know we have to do and it needs to get done and looks like the country is trying to do it right now. Dr. Oz, again, like you said, a spotlight that needs to be shone on this issue even more so, even though we're talking about it day in and day out with numbers here and billions there and it needs to be shown in this human way that you're showing it down there.
Dr. Oz, we appreciate you taking the time out on the phone. I know it's going to be a busy day for you here, but thank you so much and good luck doc.
OZ: T.J., I just want to give a shout out to the wonderful people across America who volunteered their time. Remember, you look at someone in the eyes and tell them I care for you. I'm here for you. You're worth it and you can save a life.
HOLMES: Doc Oz, great words. We appreciate you leaving with us those. Thank you again so much. We're certainly going to be talking about, Betty, much more this morning in health care in our 9:00 hour. Glad we could grab him and get him on. We knew this was happening today. That starts I think 9:00. It's 7:00 Eastern so I think it might just be getting under way there so a busy day down there in Houston.
NGUYEN: People started lining up early too, hours beforehand so definitely there is a need. Much more on the health care situation coming up in our 9:00 hour. You're watching CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Three alleged plots all broken up by federal agents. The targets? New York, Dallas and Springfield, Illinois.
As CNN Homeland Security Correspondent Jeanne Meserve reports, the plots shine new light on domestic threats.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Bomb plots allegedly targeting New York, Dallas, Texas, and Springfield, Illinois, all unfolding in the same week. Although the FBI coordinated the stings in Springfield and Dallas, authorities say none of these cases is related. Some experts say it is pure coincidence that they broke almost simultaneously, but others say the calendar is a factor.
CHRIS VOSS, FORMER FBI NEGOTIATOR: It is in the vicinity of the anniversary of September 11th. It's also -- at the same time Ramadan was just over, so there are a variety of reasons that has heightened the fervor, if you will, of the people that would like to do these things.
MESERVE: This week also brought new charges in connection with an alleged plot to attack the marine base in Quantico, Virginia. That case in the alleged bomb plot in Springfield involved American converts to Islam -- proverbial home-grown terrorists who are often hard to detect.
CLARK KENT ERVIN, FORMER HOMELAND SECURITY INSPECTOR GENERAL: I don't think that this recent spate of incidents necessarily in and of itself indicates that homegrown terrorism is a greater threat today than it was a couple of weeks ago.
MESERVE: But at least one analyst disagrees. He thinks this could signal that the domestic terror threat is growing in size and severity.
PETER BERGEN, CNN TERRORISM ANALYST: There are a constellation of cases which taken together suggest that some of the kind of maybe self-congratulation we had that this was not really such a problem as it is, let's say in Britain -- you know, maybe we need to reexamine that proposition.
MESERVE: Some terrorism experts believe we should expect more domestic terrorism cases, but the situation will only get worse, not better. But they are encouraged that all of these alleged plots were short-circuited by law enforcement before they could be carried out.
Jeanne Meserve, CNN, Denver.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Well, cases like this show that one frontline in the war on terror is our own backyard. I spoke with Clark Ervin, the former Inspector General at the Department of Homeland Security, about whether homegrown terror threats are growing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ERVIN: It's really striking, Betty. We have amazing similarities between these two cases in Springfield and Dallas, aside from the timing, of course. Neither Springfield nor Dallas is typically considered a top terror target even though Dallas is a very large city.
NGUYEN: Right, so why these cities? You would think, you know, these large scale cities with mass transit, mass casualties and whatnot -- why these particular cities?
ERVIN: Right. Well, it appears to be opportunistic. It appears that both these fellows lived in Springfield and Dallas respectively and so they took advantage of where they were. It just underscores that every city in the United States, no matter how big or prominent, can be a potential terror target. That's an important lesson for us to take away.
NGUYEN: But it that part of plotting fear throughout the US, targeting places that some people wouldn't even suspect?
ERVIN: Yes. You know, I've often thought that if there were to be a successful terror attack, God forbid, somewhere in the middle of the country, not New York, not Washington, D.C., not Los Angeles, that everybody thinks of as a terror target, but in a place like Springfield, even in a place like Dallas, it would arguably have an even bigger psychological effect for precisely that reason.
NGUYEN: But why are we seeing this now? I mean, is it just coincidence or are -- are we seeing an increase in homegrown terrorism?
ERVIN: Well, you know, we -- I think it's really too soon to tell. It is striking that all of this is happening apparently all at once, right around the anniversary of 9/11. It appears that at least in the Zazi case in New York and Denver, and in the case in Dallas, that these attacks may have been planned for 9/11 itself.
That certainly appears to be the case in the Dallas one. And so here we are, eight years after 9/11 and it just underscores that we remain under potential attack here, and there are vulnerabilities that remain in the country that need to be shored up.
NGUYEN: And it doesn't seem like it's the same group. Let's go through these three different ones, the Zazi case, the one out in Denver and also connected with New York. How does that one differ from the other two?
ERVIN: Well, I think the biggest difference is that Zazi apparently had a direct tie to Afghanistan and to Pakistan. He was trained apparently by al Qaeda central, we call it, in the heartland there, to carry out an attack on the United States. And also, I believe this is the first time someone from Afghanistan, people from Afghanistan, all three have attempted to attack the homeland and this really just shows the nexus between the war in Afghanistan and here at home.
You know, a number of people are asking whether that war in Afghanistan is worth fighting, and I think the answer is yes because it has direct implications here at home.
NGUYEN: OK. What about the Smadi case?
ERVIN: The Smadi case is interesting. In that case we've got -- it's arguably homegrown and it's arguably not. It's homegrown in the sense that this person was already here, but he actually came to the United States from Jordan illegally. We don't know quite how he came illegally, whether he came with fraudulent documentation and was admitted or whether his documentation was proper, it's just he overstayed his visa.
My bet, it's the latter, and if so that's important because even though we do have a process now to check who comes into the country after 9/11, we still don't have a process to check out people, people who are supposed to have left, determined whether they've done so.
NGUYEN: And that's the case where Smadi in Dallas tried to set off a fake bomb, in fact. And then Finton out of Springfield, Illinois -- how is that one different?
ERVIN: Right. Well, arguably, that's the most worrisome one, Betty because this fellow I would call a classic homegrown terrorist because he was born in this country. He is a classic Anglo-Saxon American, an archetypal American. He was a convert to Islam, and therefore he is the kind of guy who could be walking down the street and probably most Americans would not even suspect that he would be tied to terrorism.
He was inspired by al Qaeda. He wanted to carry out a terror attack. He was particularly inspired by John Walker Lindh, the American Taliban caught after 9/11 on the battlefields of Afghanistan. So we have to be particularly vigilant against people who don't fit the terrorist profile.
NGUYEN: All right. So we've got three different scenarios here, all, you know, alleged to be a homegrown terrorist. As the general public, as officials trying prevent this, what can be done?
ERVIN: Well, I guess I'd say two things. As far as the government is concerned, we really have to give huge kudos to the FBI. They'd -- have done exactly the right thing post-9/11, to not wait until something happens so you're absolutely certain that you catch everybody and that you have an air-tight criminal conviction but instead to act quickly, and sometimes so quickly that you don't completely disrupt, you know everything you need to know because the number one priority is preventing another attack, and we need to continue that.
Secondly as far as we average citizens are concerned, the see something, say something campaign that you see in Washington -- where I am -- cities around the country, we need to take that seriously. When average citizens see something out of the ordinary, it's incumbent upon them to help the law enforcement officials by being additional eyes and ears. This is a big country, and every one of us has a role to play in securing the homeland.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: All right. And of course we're going to be -- continue following those investigations. There are several of them out there, dealing with plots against the US.
HOLMES: All right. Next, we're talking about video games, though. We're talking a turn to that. But it has serious implications here, provide hours of distraction, unfortunately, for a lot of kids.
NGUYEN: True.
HOLMES: But, now one -- one of those distractions has a medical purpose as well.
NGUYEN: Our Josh Levs has his eye on that for us this morning, something that we call the "Levs on the Lookout."
LEVS: Brand new animation -- all right! Well, let me tell you guys about this. I think this is fascinating. It's wild.
But to follow our technology stories live, cnn.com/tech, and check out this headline from just the other day, how Xbox can help fight heart disease. So I called the researcher. I want to explain to you all, because this is pretty incredible what they've discovered. In order to do this, I needed an image of a heart, so I found one here at 3dscience.com.
This is the idea. Heart researchers these days are creating heart models. What they're doing is they're zooming way in to one tiny little piece of a heart and they're saying OK, imagine that a few cells go bad right here or right here or right here, what would then happen? And they use this, these models, these animations, to predict heart attacks or predict arrhythmia, to predict these things, and heart disease is the biggest killer in America, so that research is huge.
But here is the problem -- doing it requires these massive, expensive super computers that a lot of places can't get their hands on. In steps this video game system, the Xbox. A researcher who also knows video games discovers that the chip inside this Xbox can let you do all that heart modeling way, way, way faster and for just a tiny portion of the price, much less expensively. You can do that heart modeling, predict potential heart problems.
I called the researcher, here's a quote he gave me. That a look at the screen here. He says, "The games consoles are literally the most powerful computing hardware you can get for the money." His name is Simon Carl. He's at the University of Warwick in England. And basically the idea here is that this game technology -- of course there's this economic incentive in the gaming world, right, to create the faster, better and cheaper kind of little chips in there. Well, now they're discovering a medical purpose, and here's what Time Magazine says about this. They're saying that this has, "the potential to," right on the graphic -- there you go, "has the potential to revolutionize the medical industry."
That is potentially how big this could be. So Betty and T.J., what we're seeing here in this story -- and a lot more info at cnn.com/tech, the story from Time Magazine -- what you can see here is that more and more scientific researchers now have reason to look at the gaming world, and say hey, can we maybe use some of their technology to save more lives? Pretty cool stuff.
NGUYEN: Well, you know, it sounds promising, really promising, but how soon can we expect to see researchers start to use this kind of technology?
LEVS: Yes. Well, that researcher, Simon Scarle, told me that he believes it could be within a year that more and more researchers will start to use this because they might just be able to grab the chip out of an Xbox.
But what more they'll likely do is copy the technology and look at the technology and say, OK, what's the gaming world coming up with that we don't have and start to discover how you can pack tons of information and graphics into these little cheaper chips which could ultimately be used in the medical world.
So we'll see some people use the chips. We'll probably see more researchers start to copy the technology, and that opens a whole new door for the medical industry, guys.
NGUYEN: All right, Josh Levs. As always, we appreciate it.
Speaking of the medical world, boy do we have a story for you today. A fertility clinic in fact implanted the wrong embryo into an Ohio woman and that woman became a surrogate, not something that she set out to do. She was trying to have her own baby, but instead she decided to go ahead with the pregnancy and have the child and actually give it back to the biological parents.
HOLMES: OK, she only found out -- actually, found out ten days later -- ten days after the embryo was placed, that it was the wrong embryo, so at that point she had the option of terminating that pregnancy. So of course, a lot of people think that maybe it was along the way and further down when she found out. No, she had the option, chose not to, chose to carry that child for another family, people that she did not know.
A lot of people had been responding to this on Facebook and Twitter, some people actually saying wow, she can probably certainly understand that other family was going through, trying to have a child and here is one that is theirs and she decided to do it for them.
NGUYEN: There are lots of different responses. Some say, well, yes, she should have custody as well of this child, you know, as well as the biological parents and then, you know, she should sue the clinic and this and that. We're going to get some of your responses, so send them into us -- Facebook, Twitter, you can reach us on our blog, cnnnewsroom.com/betty and /tj. There's so many ways to reach out to us. We'll read them on the air, coming up.
HOLMES: Of course, the city of Detroit has been hit hard. In particular, it's been hit hard by the recession, you know, with all the -- certainly the car companies up there. They've really taken a toll on them.
NGUYEN: And get this, unemployment there: 28 percent. That is staggering. But that isn't dampening the spirit of residents who are actually determined to make their city thrive again.
HOLMES: Also a little later this morning, your health care questions answered. A special half hour devoted entirely to health care reform.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Well, perhaps no American city has been hit harder by the recession than Detroit. Unemployment there, nearly 28 percent.
HOLMES: Despite a lot of those challenges, residents determined to make their hometown thrive again. CNNmoney.com's Poppy Harlow joining us this weekend from New York with more on "Assignment: Detroit." Good morning, Poppy. Good to have you on the show.
POPPY HARLOW, CNNMONEY.COM: Good morning, T.J., good morning, Betty. This is a special new project that CNN Money and Time launched this week -- a focus on a city, folks, right in our backyard that is struggling in an unbelievable way.
You've got people moving out of Detroit in droves, you've got a very high murder rate, you've got a school system on the brink of bankruptcy -- but what we found there in our months of reporting there is that there are residents trying to make it despite the hard times, trying to do what they can for the Motor City.
Take a look at one.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LIZ BLONDY, OWNER, CANINE TO FIVE: It's confusing. Detroit's kind of a weird place. It's definitely a dichotomy of, you know, people that pay $4 for a latte and people that pay $10 for a crack rack. It's weird.
This used to be -- we call it midtown now, but used to be called the Cass Corridor, and the Cass Corridor was traditionally a very rough neighborhood, lots of hookers, lots of drugs. Behind our amazing community garden that we have here, we have a building, pretty burned out, drug-infested, so I'd say it's about 100 yards away, maybe about 200 yards in that direction. We have a Starbucks.
I've got people standing in front of my business occasionally, asking my customers for money. It's very, very frustrating. I work very, very hard to make sure that that doesn't happen. We got security cameras installed. I doubt if I was in the suburbs I would have had to get security cameras installed to make sure that my customers' cars don't get broken into.
I -- I deal with the neighborhood. I deal with the challenges. I actually hope that in opening my business here I'm making the neighborhood a little bit better. I think I am.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HARLOW: You know, she certainly is making her neighborhood a better place. When you walk just around the block there, what you see mainly, T.J. and Betty, is abandoned homes, blown out buildings. It's really like a desert in the middle of a city that used to be thriving with 2 million people, now about 900,000 people live in Detroit.
But her business, profiting more month after month after month because she's put it in a place where most folks wouldn't dare open a business. So congratulations to her, and one of the success stories in a city that's been hit so hard.
NGUYEN: Yes, but is there a sense -- I mean, we're looking at what? Unemployment around 28 percent there...
HARLOW: Exactly.
NGUYEN: ... a sense of hope or just desperation?
HARLOW: You know, it's different. It depends who you talk to, and over the months of reporting there we've talked to a lot of folks. We talked to the mayor and the governor and they have a lot of hope. They're making really hard but necessary cuts, laying off thousands of teachers, thousands of city workers, trying to fill that budget shortfall that the city is facing.
But then I talked to Michael Moore this week, obviously, his new movie came out. He's from Flint, Michigan, you know, he's lived around Detroit his whole life and really doesn't have much hope for the city. So it depends who you talk to. We're following it for the next year, "Assignment: Detroit."
Go to this site, cnnmoney.com/Detroit. You're going to find all our coverage there -- Betty.
HOLMES: All right. Poppy, this weekend for us in New York. Thank you so much, Poppy. Good to see you.
Well, we're talking about Michael Vick. It's been a long journey. We've been talking about him for some two years. Well, this weekend, it happens for him. He gets to play in a meaningful NFL game. No preseason, this is regular season. He has been reinstated. What can we expect from him on Sunday?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, after two years of being in the news for a lot of the wrong reasons, Michael Vick is going to step back on a football field this weekend in a regular season, a meaningful game, for the Philadelphia Eagles. Now, do know that the starting quarterback for the Philadelphia Eagles, Donovan McNabb -- not sure if he's going to play, so a lot of people are thinking, "Whoa! Are we going to see Michael Vick in action?"
Well, let's talk to Sports Analyst and visiting expert at Harvard -- that cracks me up every time I say that, Betty. Yes, Rick Horrow, good morning to you. So -- you know we love you. We love you here.
RICK HORROW, CNN SPORTS BUSINESS ANALYST: You're minimizing my credentials if you're laughing every time you mention it. What's wrong with you?
HOLMES: And I'm sure Harvard is just cringing every time they hear that. No. No, we're talking about Michael Vick this weekend. He's -- he's been reinstated. He can play this weekend. We hear that McNabb is hurt, might not play, but that doesn't mean Michael Vick's going to be the starting quarterback?
HORROW: No. I've marched in a football coach now, right? There is an offense called "the Wildcat offense" that people here in Miami have perfected, and Michael Vick may run it, which means he may be in a whole bunch of different positions in a whole bunch of different places -- wide receiver, running back -- the guy sure can run.
HOLMES: All right. Is he going to get -- I mean, we actually didn't see the type of protests that we thought we would see in a lot of ways when he first was reinstated and when he -- when he first came back. We got the news that he was going to be picked up by the Eagles. So what kind of reception is he going to get and could this certainly help ticket sales around Philadelphia?
HORROW: In the most amazing conversation I've ever heard a couple months ago, Michael Vick said in a press conference "You only get one chance to make a second impression." And so here's his chance, and Philadelphia, by the way, the City of Brotherly Love, they will be an absolutely Brotherly Love city if he leads them to victory.
So I think they're going to give him a second chance. He's behaved very well. The Eagles, by the way, are worth $1.1 billion according to Forbes, with $250 million in revenue. Jeffrey Lurie, good friend, bought the Eagles in '94. Took a major risk. I think it's now going to start paying off.
HOLMES: All right, but what kind of shape -- I mean, what can we really expect from him? The guy hasn't played, you know, up to speed, that -- the NFL Football for quite some time. He was in a couple of preseason games, but not -- not the same game speed as regular season. How much can we really expect from him?
HORROW: He's minimizing his expectations. He says he worked out a lot over the past couple years, kind of hard to in jail, I suspect. He also has been in camp, has impressed the coaches with his desire, and he sure can run. So we'll see what happens. It will be a very, very interesting game, and the NFL is looking for blockbuster ratings to watch Michael Vick.
HOLMES: All right. And last thing here, still kind of Michael Vick-related, but there is something out there he might need to be worried about -- or some other players. It's called the madden curse: the Madden game. Every year, really one of the most popular games out there.
Yes, the Madden game -- whoever is on the cover has been cursed over the years with some kind of catastrophic injury or a bad season. Donovan McNabb, the year he was on it, he had a catastrophic injury. Michael Vick, he was on the cover one year, and he broke a leg, I believe it was. Who is on the cover right now? Who do we need to be worried about?
HORROW: You forgot Shaun Alexander, Seahawk MVP, broke his left leg. OK, Troy Polamalu, on the cover, six weeks out, probably. Larry Fitzgerald, on the cover, all right, of the Madden game. He's been injured as well. Co-coverees, both injury problems. Here's my Madden game -- is what I think of that.
HOLMES: Yes. Troy Polamalu, he was actually injured while -- and that was in the first half, not even the first quarter of the game against Pittsburgh. He's going to be out a while. So the game appears to be a curse. So we're keeping an eye on Larry Fitzgerald right now.
HORROW: Larry Fitzgerald, Troy Polamalu, you know, T.J. Holmes is on the broadcasting version, so you better be careful.
HOLMES: All right. Well, it's always dangerous around here, sitting next to Betty. She gets a little worked up.
HORROW: I'll say.
HOLMES: All right. Rick Horrow, always good to see you, my man. Enjoy the rest of your weekend.
HORROW: Good luck to your Razorbacks tonight. Talk to you next week.
HOLMES: Thank you, kind sir.
HORROW: All right.
NGUYEN: Yes. They need a little bit of that, don't they?
HOLMES: Yes, they do.
NGUYEN: But that's a whole and other story.
All right. Still ahead, a special half hour devoted entirely to health care. You have questions and we have answers for you today.
HOLMES: There we're taking a look at everything from potential cuts in Medicare to how much money we could really be paying for some of these plans that have are being thrown around. That's coming up, top of the hour. Stay here.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Hello, everybody from the CNN Center, this is CNN SATURDAY MORNING, September 26th. Good morning, everybody. I'm Betty Nguyen.
HOLMES: And hello to you all. I'm T.J. Holmes. It's 9:00 a.m. in Atlanta, Georgia, where we sit. 8:00 a.m. in Houston. Wherever you may be, thank you for being here with us.
And in this half hour as we do every Saturday at 9:00 a.m., we're focusing on health care. Something we have been keeping an eye on, a big health care clinic that's going on right now. A free clinic happening in Houston. This is put on by Dr. Oz, you know, the famous TV doc.
You know, he's rubbing elbows with Oprah, but he's putting on this clinic not just to help folks who are there, need some help, who are underinsured or don't have insurance but also to draw more attention to this issue of health care reform and put more of a face on who needs to be helped right now. Our conversation with him coming up in about 20 minutes.
But we do want to give you some of our top stories, some of the headlines before we get right into our health care coverage.
First here 50 people killed in three suicide bomb attacks in Pakistan today. Those attacks were in Peshawar in the northwest frontier, that's near the Indian border and also the attacks injured more than 100 people.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(SCREAMING)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get back, get back!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: This is happening in Pittsburgh. These are some of the big protests we saw outside, the group of 20, the G-20 economic summit. Police officers had to break up large gatherings of demonstrators, who police say didn't have the permits to be there. Meanwhile, the president, President Obama and world leaders confident with their efforts made so far to prevent future financial meltdowns.
Also, a terror suspect is back in New York this morning. Prosecutors say a police stop on September 10th derailed Najibullah Zazi's plan for a September 11th attack. He wanted to attack this year on September 11th. He was released but picked up again in Colorado last week. He's charged with conspiring to use a weapon of mass destruction, Zazi's attorney denies all the charges.
NGUYEN: Well, 15 years ago today, Congress abandoned the Clinton health care reform effort, and yet the fight for reform goes on. President Obama still faces many of the same obstacles that plague then President Bill Clinton. So can he succeed where Clinton failed? Who better to ask than the people at the White House at the time back in 1994.
Our panel today, Health and Human Services secretary under President Bill Clinton that being the lady right there, Donna Shalala, also Harold Ickes, then President Clinton's deputy chief of staff and Kenneth Thorpe who worked on the health care reform bill for the Clinton administration. Everyone, I do want to welcome you to the show. Thanks for being with us today.
Donna Shalala, let me start with you. 15 years ago this bill did not pass. Why not?
DONNA SHALALA, UNIV. OF MIAMI PRESIDENT: Well, there are a lot of reasons. Everything in politics is timing. It was a complex bill. We had trouble explaining the bill. We didn't have the kind of transparency that we have today. Everyone that had one problem with the bill got together with someone else who had one problem with the bill, built a negative coalition and at the end of the day, we couldn't either explain it or put the politics together to pass it.
NGUYEN: Yes, if you can't explain it, how are you going to sell it? That's a major problem there. Harold Ickes, let me talk to you. Was it a design issue?
HAROLD ICKES, POLITICAL ACTIVIST AND PRESIDENTIAL ADVISER: Well, I think partly a design issue but I think Donna put her finger on it. We spent much more time on the substance of health care reform as opposed to the politics of how we'll get it enacted. It strikes me that one of the lessons learned by the Obama administration is to pay much more attention to how to get this thing passed as opposed to the substance.
That's not to say the substance is to be dismissed. It's very, very important, but the politics of getting this passed is I think the most critical. Another lesson learned it seemed to me is to try bring some of the potential opposition in. I think the administration has done a very good job on that, and finally, it was not a transparent process and it's much more transparent this time.
NGUYEN: Kenneth Thorpe, you actually helped write that and it didn't even get out of committee, correct?
KENNETH THORPE, FMR. CLINTON ADMIN. WORKER: Well, that's right. If you look at today we have four committees that reported a major health care bill out, 16 years ago no committee reported any bill out. So the contract I think in terms of where we are in the process is quite dramatic.
NGUYEN: Well, do you think, Donna Shalala, let me go back to you, President Obama's plan is when we figure out which of the bills is going to be the one, has a better chance of getting passed because there has been so much public debate, town halls and whatnot, public forums, out there discussing it and getting the information out there? SHALALA: I do. I also think the situation today is much more critical, a much larger number of people without health insurance, and the costs have gone up dramatically. We have to both get the coverage and start to squeeze down on the cost for health care.
NGUYEN: Mr. Ickes, do you think also because we're in a recession that we're seeing a greater importance placed on a health care reform bill?
ICKES: Well, the answer is yes. The recession also brings other problems about how are you going to finance it. There's been much, a great deal of focus on how to pay for and how to finance. The president had said he's not going to increase the deficit by one dime with health care reform so financing is one aspect.
There's the whole other aspect of what I would call and I think Ken and Donna would call real health care reform. That is increasing or having better outcomes, which is something that sort of gets lost in the shuffle on this, in terms of the financing and the politics.
NGUYEN: Let's talk a little bit about the details of the plan that the president wants passed. Mr. Thorpe, you helped write the Clinton bill that did not get passed. What are some of your concerns or some of the things you actually like about the bills that are being tossed around right now?
THORPE: Well, I like two things. One is that I think that the proposals are taking head-on the two problems that Donna Shalala mentioned, which is the high costs of health care, and this would be a proposal that covers the uninsured. I think it's affordable. The president has said that he wants to spend about $900 billion over the next 10 years.
So the proposals in the Senate are fully paid for and what I like, which is very different than 16 years ago is that the scale of the problems are so severe today that everybody who really opposed health care reform 16 years ago, the health insurance plans, the pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, the health care providers in general, are all on board trying to pass this, because they see the magnitude of this problem is so substantial that we really do need to have a comprehensive national solution.
So I think if I'm looking at the tea leaves, I think things are lining up very favorably because everybody who could kill it and did kill it 16 years ago is still at the table negotiating and we continue to move ahead.
NGUYEN: So you think the climate is just ripe for some kind of reform to come out of this. Miss Shalala, let me ask you, when it comes to the details of this bill the president has really been pushing for a public option. Is that what's going to make or break this bill and what do you think about the public option?
SHALALA: Well, I like the public option, and I do understand the insurance company's objection to it. It's hard for them to compete against a plan that's run so efficiently that doesn't pay executives a lot of money, that doesn't have to produce profits. And so I like the idea of the private plans competing against a base plan, but I'm not sure it's going to pass at this point in time.
But there's no question that we have to hold the insurance industry, the pharmaceutical industry, all the parts of the system accountable. The public option is a very good way to do it, but I'm not sure the politics are there for it at this time.
NGUYEN: And Mr. Ickes I'm going to let you round out this. What do you think? What's your reaction to that?
ICKES: Well, I generally agree with Donna. I think we should have a public option for the reasons that she stated. I think the important thing to understand, however, this is a big free-wheeling system here. We've got $2.5 trillion, nearly one-fifth of the economy. People say, you know, we've got to rush this through. I think the Congress has done a very good job on it, the single most important thing is not weather the reform bill has X or Y or Z in it.
There have to be certain key elements in it and I'm sure there will be. The most important thing is to get something done to drive a stake in the ground to start changing the prism through which we start talking, going forward talking about health care. That will be the critical element.
NGUYEN: Well, there definitely is. We're looking at some video right now, a lot of talk going on, a lot of discussion, a lot of debate and some of it very heated. It's an issue that people were taking very seriously. Donna Shalala, Harold Ickes and Kenneth Thorpe, thanks so much for your time and your insight today. We do appreciate it.
ICKES: Thank you.
SHALALA: Thank you.
HOLMES: Well, I want Miss Shalala to know -- I was watching you drinking out of your University of Miami Hurricane cup. It's a fun time! Yes, for you guys right now big game today against Virginia Tech. They cracked the top 10 so I know that's keeping you smiling down there as well. Thank you so much. Good to have you guys on.
NGUYEN: Yes, thank you.
HOLMES: I couldn't help it. I was thinking look a sports guy.
NGUYEN: Yes, you were. That's all right.
But back to health care, all of your medical information available at the click of a mouse, is that a good thing or a bad thing though?
HOLMES: Yes. Doctors on board with this. We'll be talking about this issue of getting all those paper files into some kind of an e-file. Stay here.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WOLF: Welcome back to the CNN SATURDAY MORNING. We got a lot to talk about and the weather. It always seems to be that way during the weekends and today's going to be no different. Take a look. You'll notice across parts of the southeast you're seeing a lot of green that's popping up across the map, parts of Kentucky, back into Virginia, even as far south as Alabama and into Georgia.
Well that green represents either flash flood watches or warnings that are going to be in effect. The reason for it is pretty simple. You got saturated ground, we have a chance of rain back in the forecast, all because of this area of low pressure and this frontal boundary that's going to be marching right through the southeast and towards the eastern seaboard. That combined with your daytime heating and of course that moisture coming in from the Gulf of Mexico in the Atlantic Ocean could give us a good chance of rainfall.
In Atlanta, maybe an inch of rainfall, other places isolated amounts of up to two to three inches of rain. So in Atlanta you could see a little bit of flash flooding. Certainly, not of the magnitude that we have back on Monday and Tuesday but still flooding nevertheless. In terms of your high temperatures across the country, clear skies in the four corners.
And with that you can expect temperatures to march up to the triple digits for Las Vegas and into Phoenix, 105. In Dallas 87. Minneapolis 72. Boston and New York into the 60s and 91 in Tampa. Still feels like summer down along the coast.
That is the latest on your forecast. We've got so much more coming up straight ahead right near on CNN SATURDAY MORNING. See you in a few.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, within five years a doctor or E.R. nurse may be able to punch up your medical history on-line. No more paper files that only one office can use. Remember this promise here from the president. He made this before taking office in January. Listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: To improve the quality of our health care, while lowering its costs. We will make the immediate investments necessary to ensure that within five years, all of America's medical records are computerized. This will cut waste, eliminate red tape, and reduce the need to repeat expensive medical tests.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Now the president has set aside some $19 billion in stimulus money to help pay for this transition. Let's bring in tech radio talk show host Mario Armstrong. He is with us now. Mario, good to have you here with us.
MARIO ARMSTRONG, RADIO TALK SHOW HOST: Hey, T.J..
HOLMES: Good morning to you, sir.
ARMSTRONG: Thanks so much for having me in.
HOLMES: Let me talk with this $19 billion.
ARMSTRONG: OK.
HOLMES: Is that money being used and exactly what is it supposed to be used for?
ARMSTRONG: Well, here's the deal, the $19 billion is supposed to be able to help hospitals and physicians make the transition technically to move to electronic medical records or e-health records. So this is all being done before or by 2014, this has to be done, this transition has to be made so that $19 billion from the stimulus package has helped to infuse that.
Now Vice President Joe Biden just recently made an announcement not too long ago that they were going to put in some early money now right away and that was at $1.2 billion to help jumpstart this process.
HOLMES: All right. But is this something that doctors and hospitals, they even want to jump into? Is this something they want, is to turn the files into e-files?
ARMSTRONG: Look, here's the deal, T.J.. I think doctors get a bad rap. The stereotype of a doctor is that they're techno phobic, they're not into technology. Look, they love iPhones just like you and I love these things. They love gaming devices. But they're also running around in their hospitals with these laptops these days.
HOLMES: You got props this morning. I love it.
ARMSTRONG: I got props to show you. I want to show you how they get their work done. They're running around not with regular laptops but with actual tablets so that they can actually write down information. So these doctors are very tech savvy and they're excited about it.
Here is the problem, they don't want it to slow down how they get their business done. So the software needs to be fast, effective and accurate but not slow down their ability to get to patients.
HOLMES: All right. Let's turn to the patient right quick who is listening to this and wondering about their medical records now being out there electronically. Now we all worry, because so much stuff, smart guys like you can go out there and manipulate the system. Not saying you, but people who know how to pull some of your files and things like that. Now, how safe is this going to be and any chance that somebody's entire medical history could be wiped out?
ARMSTRONG: Now -- here's, you hit the number one nail of concern on the head, T.J., security is paramount. That is the largest concern that you're finding from people. I mean, look, people are having trouble worrying about their data as it relates to just stuff on the internet, let alone their whole health record. You know, what I mean.
So having that information out there is scary to a lot of folks but I'll tell you this, you see now, Google has actually offered to users the average everyday American can go to Google health and actually upload their medical history and they can import medical history from physician visits, from lab works, from x-rays. They can use this software already.
So I think we're at a time now that we're starting to see users might be a little bit more comfortable if they know that security is paramount in the privacy of their data is going to be taken cared of.
HOLMES: All right. Last thing here, I got to ask you to do this really, really quick, Mario.
ARMSTRONG: OK.
HOLMES: Does everybody need to be on board for it to work? Can I not have one office I go to, they use medical records online but this other office still use paper files. Don't we need to have everybody on board with it for it to be effective?
ARMSTRONG: Simple answer we need a national framework. We have some states that have been doing their own thing. In Maryland, they're starting to do their own thing. But we need a national framework because our data bases, our software needs to talk from one hospital and say Mexico to another -- and say Texas to another hospital that's in Boston, to a physician that's in California. So you're absolutely right, we have to have inner operability and everyone needs to be on the same standards.
HOLMES: Well, again, our tech guy, Tech Radio talk show host Mario Armstrong. Good to have you here to break down some of these complicates stuff.
ARMSTRONG: Thanks, T.J. My pleasure.
HOLMES: We will absolutely be seeing you again.
ARMSTRONG: Look forward to it. Thank you.
HOLMES: All right.
NGUYEN: All right. Well, still ahead, we are continuing our healthcare conversation. We're going to take a closer look at potential cuts to Medicare. That's a hot button issue.
HOLMES: A hot issue and the president says Medicare benefits will not be cut but that's not quite how the Congressional Budget Office sees it.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: All right. So a key issue in the battle over health care reform is Medicare. President Obama says a part of Senator Baucus' new bill Medicare benefits will not be cut because of it.
HOLMES: However, the Congressional Budget Office, the CBO, sees it a bit differently. CNN's Kitty Pilgrim takes a closer look at what's truth and what's fiction.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KITTY PILGRIM, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Reassuring words from the president that Medicare benefits would not be cut.
OBAMA: So don't pay attention to those scary stories about how your benefits will be cut.
PILGRIM: That's not how the head of the Congressional Budget Office sees it. Director Douglas Elmendorf testified the proposed Senate bill would cut payments to Medicare advantaged plans by more than $100 billion over 10 years. Medicare Advantage is a private plan that covers more than 10 million people. A trade group for 300,000 small insurers is concerned by the CBO testimony.
CHARLES SYMINGTON, INDEPENDENT INSURANCE AGENTS: If it cuts too deeply then that could push folks off the role and it's not only a matter of pushing folks off the Medicare Advantage roles, even those remaining beneficiaries, they may experience some negative impacts to their coverage.
PILGRIM: The White House says Medicare Advantage plans will still be paid more than traditional Medicare plans but the cuts will encourage efficiencies. Insurers are angry because the night before the bill markup, the government Medicaid office instructed them to cease sending what it called misleading and confusing information about the bill to clients.
We are instructing you to immediately discontinue all such mailings, it said and threatened compliance and enforcement actions. We believe that such communications are potentially contrary to federal regulations, the Medicaid office said. Insurers are describing the instruction as a gag order, one trade group estimates it went to 200 Medicare health plan companies.
ROBERT ZIRKELBACH, AMERICA'S HEALTH INSURANCE PLANS: Health plans across the country are now being forced to stop communicating with seniors at a time when members of Congress are considering legislation that will drastically impact the coverage that these very seniors rely on.
PILGRIM: Humana, the fourth largest health insurer, which received the memo issued this statement. "We also believe Medicare Advantage members deserve to know the impact that the funding cuts of the magnitude being discussed would have on benefits and premiums."
Kitty Pilgrim, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Still ahead thousands of people are turning this morning for a free health care clinic in Houston. It's free and it's necessary according to Dr. Oz, you know from the Oprah show. He's the man in charge of the clinic, we're talking to him after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: All right. Well, there is a health care clinic taking place right now in Houston, Texas and it's absolutely free. It's being headed up by Dr. Oz, and you may remember him from television, also with the "Oprah" show.
HOLMES: Yes, I got a lot of volunteers together to service thousands of people there. Hear now my conversation with Dr. Oz just a bit ago.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
VOICE OF DR. MEHMET OZ, CARDIAC SURGEON AND HEALTH EXPERT: That you for helping shed a light on this national emergency. I have to say it in those terms because I was in New Orleans in Katrina, and the last time the city of Houston mobilized its health resources to the nature that globalized today was during Katrina.
So a natural disaster being done last now, it's now being paralled of what would be an ordinary day in Houston and other cities around the country. This is the challenge we ought to have to pay attention to.
HOLMES: And you call this a national emergency just then, Dr. Oz. How many are you expecting to turn out, and go ahead and give the information because I know a lot of people will be listening and could try to make it over to you and interested to hear the hours, but how many are you expecting?
OZ: We're going to be open all day. I must say we undertook the challenge of a big free clinic in order to send a spotlight on the problem, together with the show. We had no idea that we'd be overwhelmed with thousands of requests and pre-registrants, saying "please, help me. Do what you can to support me. I've fallen off the bus and I can't get back on.
These are people with jobs, who lost their insurance, there are mothers with lots of kids, they can't get them all covered. People like you and me, T.J. and for anybody out there listening we'd love to have the opportunity to help you. We've got hundreds of volunteers, kind, wonderful people, which I celebrate today because this represents the American spirit of helping each other out of a jam. I think it again speaks to as what we can do as a country if we come together.
HOLMES: And I'm just explaining to our viewers, some of the pictures you're seeing. Just people starting to line up in the early morning hours. The video we're getting in just a little bit ago. And Dr. Oz, it sounds like you were alluding to yes, you're setting this up to help people who need it but it's also an opportunity to shed more light on this issue of health care reform and people being underinsured and people without insurance. Do you still think, I mean certainly these are necessary to help people but you still think more of a spotlight needs to be shined on this issue of health insurance reform?
OZ: Well, we have a big debate that everyone's following in Washington on health care finance. But we need to change the debate a little bit and not so focus on the care of health. Because chronic illness drives about half of all of the costs of the system and people who are chronically ill, who don't have coverage.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Well that completes our health care half hour. Join us next Saturday at 9:00 a.m. as we continue the health care conversation.
HOLMES: Yes, but "YOUR BOTTOM LINE" with CNN personal finance editor, Gerri Willis is coming up right now. Of course, Betty and I will be back at the top of the hour with more live news. Stay with us.
