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CNN Saturday Morning News
Louisiana Official Refuses to Marry Interracial Couples; Pakistan Under Militant Attacks; Health Care Reform Still a Struggle
Aired October 17, 2009 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: From the CNN center, this is CNN SATURDAY MORNING. Hello, everybody. It's October 17th. Good morning. I'm Betty Nguyen.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: And hello to you all. I'm T.J. Holmes. It's 8:00 here in Atlanta, Georgia, where we sit. It's 5:00 a.m. for you folks waking up in Santa Monica. Wherever you may be, thanks for starting your day right here with us. Unfortunately we have to start with a story that's a bit ugly and a bit controversial and can you believe this is happening in 2009 in the state of Louisiana?
NGUYEN: All right, let me lay it out there for you. Justice of the peace refused to marry an interracial couple and it isn't the first time this official has refused to marry mixed couples. Civil rights groups and even the Louisiana governor want this justice of the peace fired. We are going to hear from the couple coming up.
HOLMES: And we want to hear from you. What do you think of this? What should happen to this justice of the peace? Also any issues, people weighing in this morning as well with your thoughts on interracial marriages. Please, send it in to us. You know where to find us, Twitter, Facebook, also at our blog.
NGUYEN: And I'm going to take you to the Maldives where government officials are having an actual meeting, check this out, it's underwater. Why? We'll tell you.
In the meantime though we want to check some of the top stories that we are following for you right now. Three U.S. service members, they've been killed in militant attacks in Afghanistan. A statement from the international security force says two were killed in a roadside bomb attack in eastern Afghanistan. The other was hit by an explosion in southern Afghanistan.
HOLMES: To Pakistan now where they've had two bloody weeks of militant attacks. The country now has launched an assault on the Taliban and al Qaeda. Civilians have been fleeing the area ahead of today's offensive. Army and intelligence sources say 28,000 troops are involved. This offensive is aimed at militants in south Waziristan. That's along the Afghan border. This comes after terrorist attacks over the past two weeks have killed over 175 people.
NGUYEN: Hurricane Rick picking up some steam in the Pacific ocean. The hurricane was just upgraded to a category four storm. That happened about an hour ago. Look at this monster storm right here. It is carrying maximum sustained winds of 135 miles per hour and it's about 250 miles southwest of Acapulco, Mexico. We'll be following that for you closely.
In fact, let's bring in meteorologist Reynolds Wolf right now who has been tracking Rick and Reynolds, there's some talk that maybe this could get up to a category five storm?
(WEATHER REPORT)
NGUYEN: All right, Reynolds, we'll be talking to you shortly, thanks.
HOLMES: Nobody said this thing was going to happen quickly, health care reform, not a sprint necessarily. It's a marathon, a long, painful partisan marathon and this weekend President Obama says he can actually see the finish line, but he knows still going to be a pretty tough struggle.
Let's bring in our Kate Bolduan. Kate, I don't know if you're a runner, if you run marathons but I'm told that last mile or so is pretty difficult so I guess the president sees it kind of that way as well.
KATE BOLDUAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I will say just for my part the first mile is hard enough for me, T.J., but that is absolutely beside the point this morning. Yes, the president is working very hard this morning. He does seem optimistic about the chances for health care reform, but he is definitely trying to continue building momentum behind health care reform as the debate moves now out of congressional committee towards its next stage, which is a wider floor debate.
Senate Democrats and White House negotiators are set to continue closed door deliberations about the various plans, various proposals. Next week the White House as you know wants health care reform passed by the end of the year and in his weekly radio and Internet address this morning, the president is highlighting progress so far. The Senate Finance Committee passed its version of a plan just this week, its much talked about plan but the president definitely says he is aware there is still a long road ahead.
Listen here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: There's still significant details and disagreements to be worked out in the coming weeks and there's still those who would try to kill reform at any cost. The history is clear. For decades, rising health care costs have unleashed havoc on families, businesses and the economy and for decades, whenever we have tried to reform the system, the insurance companies have done everything in their considerable power to stop us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: The president as you hear right there, taking on the insurance industry this morning, saying very pointedly, in his address, accusing of it quote, filling the air waves with deceptive and dishonest ads, very strong words from the president this morning. The insurance industry and insurance industry trade report released just this week found that insurance premiums could possibly skyrocket under the much talked about Senate Finance version of health care reform, increasing much more than if no reform was passed at all.
The White House Democrats and health care experts have blasted this report as an inaccurate report but you hear this morning, the president seeming to take off the gloves as he is fighting to move his number one domestic priority forward. T.J.
HOLMES: It's always scary when reporters start using the phrase taking the gloves off.
BOLDUAN: I had to.
HOLMES: Kate Bolduan for us in DC at the White House, Kate, thank you so much. We'll talk to you again.
Meanwhile, on the Republican side, they are standing firm against the public option and in this week's GOP address, Texas Congressman Kevin Brady explains why his party could never go for the public option.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. KEVIN BRADY (R) TEXAS: The massive health care plan is being crafted behind closed doors in Washington will ultimately allow the government to decide what doctors we can see, what treatments the government thinks you deserve and what medicines you can receive. The Democrats' plans are loaded with new Federal mandates and higher taxes on insurance plans, treatments and equipment, all of which will be passed down to patients.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Now four of the five versions of health care reform, four of those five do have the public option. The one that was talked about as being the bipartisan one everyone is waiting for in the Senate Finance Committee, it does not have that public option. One Republican on the panel is Olympia Snowe.
She was the only Republican that voted for that bill and tomorrow morning 9:00, sure bet, health care reform will be one of the things that John King will talk about in a rare interview with White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel. He's going to be talking about health care, the economy, foreign policy, all that on "STATE OF THE UNION" again Sunday 9:00 a.m. Eastern on CNN.
NGUYEN: There are still no concrete results in the Afghanistan presidential elections, now almost two months after people there went to the polls. Recounts, fraud questions, those have dominated the election news and now the Afghan ambassador to the U.S. says a runoff is likely. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton talked with CNN's Jill Dougherty about the outcome that she foresees.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) HILLARY CLINTON, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: We're not positive what the election commission will recommend, but clearly, whatever their recommendation is, I believe should be followed and if that requires a second round, that is what should happen.
I think that the president is well aware of all the permutations, what can happen in the election. It is likely that they will find that President Karzai got very close to the 50 plus 1 percent, so I think one can conclude that likelihood of him winning a second round is probably pretty high.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Meanwhile in Washington, much of the focus regarding Afghanistan is on the military's request for 40,000 more troops. Our Pentagon correspondent Chris Lawrence looks at why that specific number of troops is needed.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): One hundred thousand American and allied troops are already fighting in Afghanistan. To understand why it's believed General Stanley McChrystal wants 40,000 more, you need to look at a map the way military strategists see it.
KIMBERLY KAGAN, ADVISOR TO GEN. STANELY MCCHRYSTAL: What 40,000 does is fill in the gaps around Kandahar, around Kost (ph), in Helmand (ph) province. It does not however cover the entire country.
LAWRENCE: Kimberly Kagan is an adviser to McChrystal. She says it's the minimum number to root out the Taliban and identify and protect potential Afghan partners, but the military's own counter insurgency ratio dictates it could take well over half a million troops to secure Afghanistan's 33 million people.
(on-camera): But General McChrystal is not applying this ratio to all of Afghanistan. He feels certain parts of the country are peaceful enough, like the north, or just not as important, like the west, that they don't need the same number of counter insurgency fighters as these areas do.
KAGAN: And that's what gets him from a figure of hundreds of thousands of troops down to a figure such as 40,000 or 60,000 troops.
LAWRENCE: Kagan says McChrystal would use those troops to turn the tide so the Taliban doesn't control every other town. She says 10,000 or even 20,000 troops just aren't enough.
KAGAN: It's not as though we can simply plug half as many holes with half as many troops and somehow seize the initiative from the enemy. On the contrary, half as many troops will probably leave us pinned down as we are.
LAWRENCE: The problem is, roughly 25 million Afghans live in thousands of small, rural villages, scattered all over an area the size of Texas. Up to 80 percent of the population could still be out of reach for coalition troops.
(on-camera): So when 30,000 American troops surged into Baghdad, that's where one out of every four Iraqis lived. Even if you take the top 30 most populated areas of Afghanistan, you still only account for 20 percent of the population. That's how rural and spread out it is.
Chris Lawrence, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: All right, things are a little, you know in politics can be a little whacky sometimes. We wonder what our politicians are doing. Look at what the politicians are doing in Maldives. They're having a cabinet meeting underwater. Maldives is an island nation southwest of Sri Lanka.
NGUYEN: All right, so let's give you the 411 on why this is all going down underneath the shoreline there. It's meant to attract international attention to global warming and in fact 13 officials plus the president there all in scuba gear and they in fact, were using hand signals to communicate with each other, because that was one of the first things they were asking about is like, OK, you're going to have a meeting underwater.
How in the world are they talking to each other? Well there you see and this is 20 feet below the surface, again, I don't know how much of this meeting was actually productive, except for the fact that it is drawing attention to it, because we're airing it and their whole goal was to bring attention to global warming.
HOLMES: They're talking about global warming and changes around the world to our climate and they talk about sea levels and they say sea levels there are rising, which means that their island is literally sinking. So the point being I guess that one day...
NGUYEN: ... they'll all be underwater.
HOLMES: Be underwater. It takes a while to connect the dots, but we did it now.
NGUYEN: We did it. All right, are people getting this though, dress codes in school. That's nothing new, but one all-male college may be breaking new ground with their list of banned items.
HOLMES: Let me just say I love this story. I love what they're doing. I'm glad they're doing it. Yes, you need to dress a certain way and present yourself, that story has me fired up.
NGUYEN: Especially when you look at what some of them have been wearing.
HOLMES: Yes.
NGUYEN: What are you thinking?
HOLMES: And the men who have walked on that campus before them. NGUYEN: And the history there.
HOLMES: And the history, yes. We'll tell you about it in just a second. Also we're going to be taking stock of the stimulus. Josh Levs has that for us, good morning to you sir.
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning to you guys. We got brand new figures that have come out showing where some of those billions are actually being spent, how to find out what's happening in your city with that money. We have it right here.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right, trillions, trillions of dollars being spent to rescue the economy and we are trying to keep an eye on all of those trillions.
NGUYEN: Yes and our Josh Levs joins us now with some new figures on how many jobs have been created so this actually is a little bit of good news, depending on what you say.
LEVS: It is, it's good news as a pretty big figure but we also need to reality check while we take a look at it, but this is really right at the crux of what we hear about in rescuing the economy. We follow this website, recovery.gov which shows a lot of information about what's happening with the money that's being spent and this week they posted new figures, right here, big green right there. They say the number of jobs that's been created by spending from the stimulus recovery, 30,000 jobs.
Stay on that for a second because you have to keep in mind jobs in this context are not often jobs where you get benefits and that last. These are often a week or two on a construction site. Still it is some paid work, it's been about 30,000. What happened is Federal contractors, those who have received these Federal contracts had to report this week, 30,000 jobs created.
You might want to know what's happening in your city so take a look at this. They have this great interactive map right here and what you can do is just click on your state -- just the keyboard here. Click on it anywhere. Let's zoom into New York for example, so you can weigh in and once you're within a state, go to this whole section of the country, everywhere you see anything green is a specific contract.
You can click on it, find out how many jobs have been created, find out which company got it, find out what they did with it and you can go all over the country plus you can even actually in some cases, you can reach over to the latest from Hawaii and Alaska. Those numbers are in too, lots of stuff coming through.
One more thing to tell you about though. Recovery.org is a private group out there and they have their own website going as well. They track these numbers and sometimes theirs are even better. So you got on your screen recovery.gov, also recovery.org.
And guys, we keep a close eye on this, because one thing we want to see, how much of this money is actually being spent, how many jobs are really being created and Betty and T.J., how many of those jobs actually last. All that information for now right here on your screen, recovery.gov. We posted links for you there at the blog, Facebook and Twitter.
NGUYEN: All right, appreciate it, thank you, Josh.
So while the politicians in Washington debate the future of health care, we have to focus on our choices right now.
HOLMES: For most of you including us right here, it's that open enrollment time, time to choose your health care plan for the coming year. We have some advice to make your choices a bit easier. Stay here.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: A quick check of some of the stories we're keeping an eye on here. Taking a bit longer to make that H1N1 vaccine than expected. About 30 million doses will be available this month. That's something but that's about 10 million fewer than expected, because they are seeing some manufacturing delays.
NGUYEN: Hurricane Rick, have you heard of this thing, just check it out, it's huge. You can't ignore it. It's a category four storm in the Pacific, maximum sustained winds of 135 miles per hour and right now it's moving toward the west coast of Mexico, really close to Acapulco and we're watching this storm because it could increase in size and intensity, so we'll stay on that for you.
HOLMES: President Obama sharing the stage with former President Bush, not that one, that one, the George HW Bush. This was at Texas A&M, President Obama attending a forum there. He was invited and hosted there by the former President, George HW Bush. In his speech the president said the government can only do so much without the help of volunteers.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Your most important employee benefit, that being health care, is up for grabs with open enrollment season right now. Gerri Willis joins to us walk us through this process and this year Gerri, it's a little different.
GERRI WILLIS, CNN PERSONAL FINANCE EDITOR: That's right. There are big changes under way in health care plans this year. So job number one, check to make sure your doctor is still in your plan and be sure that the drugs you take regularly are still in the formulary, that is, you can get the best price possible for them. Ask for help from HR for this. Also read the fine print when it comes to dependent coverage. Companies are raising contributions for dependents.
NGUYEN: Gerri, we've been hearing more and more about something that's called coinsurance. What is that?
WILLIS: You want to watch out for the phrase coinsurance. More and more companies are going back to this payment model. The idea behind coinsurance, you share a bigger chunk of health care costs. So when you go to the doctor or you have a procedure done, instead of playing a flat co-pay of say $15 or $20, you pay a percentage of the entire bill and that can get very expensive.
When choosing a health plan, make sure you compare the premiums and the deductibles for each plan and then find out if the plans have an out-of-pocket limit on your spending. A limit's a good thing. It means that if you have a contrastor (ph) fee, will you limit your spending. If there's no limit, you could be on the hooks for tens of thousands of dollars in bills.
NGUYEN: That is a lot to consider there. OK Gerri, thank you for that. What's coming up on "YOUR BOTTOM LINE?"
WILLIS: We'll introduce you to one family that wiped out $123,000 in debt in just 4 1/2 years, why didn't file bankruptcy and how they did it.
And money etiquette, from hostess gifts to birthday dinners, how to handle those sticky social situations. It's all coming up at 9:30 right here on CNN.
NGUYEN: Looking forward to it Gerri, thank you.
WILLIS: My pleasure.
HOLMES: About 28,000 Pakistani troops are on the move right now, headed into a major Taliban stronghold, developing story from overnight we'll go live to Pakistan to find out what's happening on the ground.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Hello, everybody and welcome back on this Saturday morning. I'm Betty Nguyen.
HOLMES: Hello to you all. I'm T.J. Holmes. Glad you could be right here with us today.
NGUYEN: Let's get started with the top stories today, things that we have been following for you overnight. The White House says we now have a $1.42 trillion deficit. We are in the trillions. That makes this fiscal year the worst since World War II.
HOLMES: Well more happy news to that, around Christmastime a lot of you want to travel Thanksgiving and Christmas. Last-minute deals not coming to you from the airlines, at least according to travel experts. They say that unlike last year when airlines slashed fares after a sharp drop in travelers, this year ticket prices already on the rise and not only will you pay more for a ticket, many airlines are also hitting you with this thing they made up called a $10 peak travel charge.
NGUYEN: Lovely. All right, so a delay in holding elections in Iraq will not affect the scheduled withdrawal of U.S. troops. The Pentagon plans to pull all combat troops out by August. That would leave 50,000 in advisory roles and those troops relieved by the end of 2011.
Washington's ambassador to Iraq says the Iraqi parliament must come up with a new election law in order to hold elections in mid- January.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CHRIS HILL, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO IRAQ: Well, first of all the parliament has been very busy this week. They've been working rather hard on it. From the embassy we've had a number of people over there talking to the various parties, various factions. So they have a draft, they have worked through some of the tough issues and there are a couple of tough issues on it. So their hope is to get this done.
Would we like them to kind of get this over with early rather than late? We would, but sometimes in this country there's a tendency to do things at the last minute. So we'll see.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: So a major military offensive against terrorism happening right now in Pakistan. About 28,000 troops on the move right now, making their way into Taliban-dominated territory.
Our international correspondent Reza Sayah has been following this developing story for us all morning.
Reza we know they are trying to target these militants who been responsible for some of these attacks we've seen over the past couple of weeks we certainly added to the casualty count there in Pakistan.
So has this offensive as well, is it now adding to that casualty, or those casualties we've really have been counting for the past couple of weeks.
REZA SAYAH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we have had some casualties T.J., on this first day of this much-anticipated ground offensive. According to the Pakistani army, four soldiers have already been killed and also 12 militants have been killed.
A senior military official telling CNN that these ground offensives started shortly after midnight after getting approval from the civilian government, officials telling CNN that all eight entry and exit points have been sealed.
In some of the skirmishes today according to officials it's been the Taliban that have actually been taking the fight to Pakistani troops on a number of occasions. Military check posts have been attacked and as we mentioned before, four soldiers have been killed.
This ground offensive according to the army is going to be backed by air power, we're going to be seeing jet fighter airstrikes, we saw them today as well. In those jet strikes targeting militant hideouts, 12 militants have been killed. Of course, this offensive is a defining moment for Pakistan, it comes after a wave of militant attacks over the past couple of weeks, killed more than 150 people in the militant attacks. On some occasions, really embarrassed Pakistani Security Forces, when armed militants actually infiltrated, got into Pakistani police stations and army compounds.
And of course, this offensive also has implications in Washington; Washington applying a lot of pressure on Pakistan to get tough on the Taliban here in South Waziristan. According to senior U.S. officials many of the attacks across the border in Afghanistan are planned, plotted and launched from Waziristan.
And of course U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates calls South Waziristan the epicenter of Jihadist activity. And that's why many analysts agree that this ground offensive is a must.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PERVEZ HOODBHOY, DEFENSE ANALYST: Now the situation has become critical, what we've seen is that suicide bombings have spread into all our cities, we've seen the extremists become stronger and stronger day after that day and that nerve center lies in Waziristan. We've got to go for it now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SAYAH: Now, troops moving in to South Waziristan has meant tens of thousands of refugees are leaving the battle zone and that's going to create another problem for the Pakistani government.
The U.N.'s refugee agency says already 80,000 individuals have left and registered for aid and they expect 24,000 more people to do so in the coming days and weeks.
28,000 troops have moved into South Waziristan, according to officials they'll be taking on up to 15,000 militants, but these are some of the most hardened militants, not just in Pakistan, T.J., but this entire region.
HOLMES: All right, our Reza Sayah we appreciate you as always, with the report this morning, thank you so much.
NGUYEN: Well, President Obama will be logging a lot of miles on the road next week. He'll be trying to secure victories for two Democrats locked in tight governor's races. The president will also be trying to convince doubters that his brand of politics will help Democrats stay in power, in State Houses and on Capitol Hill.
For more on this, let's bring in our CNN deputy political director Paul Steinhauser. Always good to see you, Paul.
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Good morning, Betty.
NGUYEN: Good morning. All right, first let's talk about New Jersey for a second, the incumbent Jon Corzine facing more of a battle than he expected, correct?
STEINHAUSER: Oh yes, this is a tough year to be an incumbent anywhere Betty, with the economy the way it is and unfortunately for Jon Corzine he's up for re-election this year. Virginia and New Jersey are the two states that hold the elections on that off year right after a presidential election.
And you're right, Corzine, he was down in the polls almost all year, he is now, even things out with his Republican opponent, Chris Christie the former federal prosecutor in New Jersey. Partially, because he's made gains but also because there's a third party candidate -- that's what making this race so interesting -- and that third-party candidate has kind of helped grab votes away it seems from the Republican, Betty.
NGUYEN: All right, well, let's get to his opponent, Chris Christie for just a second. I mean, is he running against Corzine or the Obama record?
STEINHAUSER: He's doing a little bit of both.
NGUYEN: Ok.
STEINHAUSER: In this case you do have that incumbent there, Jon Corzine, so he is running against Corzine and the tough economic times New Jersey has seen. But yes, this race and especially that one in Virginia are also seen in a national scope as the first real referendum on Barack Obama and what he's done on his presidency, Betty.
NGUYEN: Well, who is ahead in that race in Virginia?
STEINHAUSER: In Virginia you've got the Republican ahead.
NGUYEN: Yes.
STEINHAUSER: There is no incumbent in Virginia. The Democrat there is term limited and couldn't run for re-election. He's the -- Tim Kaine, the head of the Democratic National Committee, so you've got two candidates there, the Republican McDonald (ph) is ahead of the Democrat deeds.
That's why you're going to see the president down there in Virginia in two weeks and as you mentioned, Barack Obama's also going to be with Corzine in New Jersey this week. And you're going to see the vice president as well in both states again.
The White House really, even though they're not on the ballot, Betty, they've got a lot on the line in both these elections.
NGUYEN: And it's going to be interesting to see how effective those visits by the president will be in the races.
I got to ask you this, though, beyond these particular races let's broaden it out. And what does it mean beyond those states in particular? STEINHAUSER: Well, the Republicans, yes, because if you don't live in New Jersey or Virginia, why do you care, right?
NGUYEN: Right.
STEINHAUSER: Well, here's why. If the Republicans can win either of these Democratic seats away or both, they're going to say that they've got the momentum on their side. That this is the first kind of real test of Barack Obama at the voting booth, and of course, they're going to say they've got the momentum going into next year's big elections when all of the House, one-third of the senate and about 40 governors are up for re-election -- Betty.
NGUYEN: All right, Paul Steinhauser as always, we do appreciate it.
And tomorrow at 9:00 a.m., a rare interview with White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel; John King talks to him about health care, the economy, foreign policy and so much more. That's on "STATE OF THE UNION" Sunday 9:00 a.m. Eastern right here on CNN.
HOLMES: And now to my favorite story of the morning. You know I love this.
NGUYEN: You have been talking about, this...
HOLMES: I love this.
NGUYEN: ...fired up about it.
HOLMES: Yes, there is a new dress code at Morehouse College here in Atlanta, the all men's college here and it is about proper attire. It's called the appropriate attire policy that's put in place; they list several things that you can't do that anymore.
NGUYEN: No flip flops...
HOLMES: You can't go with flip flops...
NGUYEN: ...no saggy pants, pajamas.
HOLMES: Pajamas.
NGUYEN: People are wearing pajamas to school?
HOLMES: Women's clothes even they had to put on the list.
NGUYEN: High heels.
HOLMES: ...high heels. Something else, Betty, they put on here, number three on the list, no decorative orthodontic appliances...
NGUYEN: Like grills?
HOLMES: ...grills. You shouldn't have to tell a Morehouse man that, in my opinion you just shouldn't. All right, students, what are they thinking about it? Let's listen to one.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVAUGHN WATSON, MOREHOUSE STUDENT: Now, if you're at your leisure for someone to tell you how to be comfortable in your leisure is kind of stifling your freedom of expression.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Stop it, just stop it right now.
NGUYEN: This is not really leisure.
HOLMES: Not about that.
NGUYEN: They're going to school. This is a university full of history.
HOLMES: Yes, to think -- and we've been to this campus, we've been there several times and to see the statue of Martin Luther King on campus and then a kid walking by showing his underwear with a wife beater on and a rag that's just not appropriate. All right, you just shouldn't do it.
And they're talking about school functions, they're talking about classes. When you in you're in your dorm room, that's different, that's fine, but this can lead to you actually being kicked out of school.
NGUYEN: Yes.
HOLMES: You will get a warning, if you don't comply you can be kicked out. So they are taking it seriously and it is now in effect. And I love it.
NGUYEN: All right. You know what? We want to hear from you. Why don't you weigh in on this, what do you think about it? Hit us up on Facebook, Twitter, our blog and we'll be reading those responses on the air.
HOLMES: All right, we have thought long and hard here about implementing a dress code for Rick Horrow.
NGUYEN: Yes because some of those tie/shirt combinations well...
HOLMES: It doesn't work, so how is he doing this morning?
NGUYEN: He's doing all right.
HOLMES: Is that OK with him?
NGUYEN: Except for that little thing in his -- and what is that thing in his pocket?
RICK HORROW, CNN SPORTS BUSINESS ANALYST: Hey, come on.
NGUYEN: You've got bit by something, what is this -- are those teeth marks?
HORROW: This is my attempt at being sophisticated, all right.
NGUYEN: All right, you look fabulous. He's trying, he's trying.
HOLMES: Rick is coming up after the break, Rick is talking about all things sports related including the big story -- the biggest story in sports, something to do with a guy who is not even an athlete, he's a radio host.
NGUYEN: Yes.
HORROW: Yes.
HOLMES: Stay tuned for that, he's after the break.
HORROW: Yes.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: A look at some of the top stories we are keeping an eye on.
First here, three U.S. service members have been killed in militant attacks in Afghanistan. The statement we've got a short time ago from the International Security Force says two were killed by a roadside bomb in eastern Afghanistan, the other hit by another IED in southern Afghanistan.
NGUYEN: Well, there is a major military offensive going on right now in Pakistan. After two bloody weeks of militant attacks, Pakistan has launched an assault on the Taliban and al Qaeda. Civilians have been fleeing ahead of today's offensive. 80,000 people already registered for relief and army and intelligence sources say some 28,000 troops are involved.
Now, this assault is aimed at militants in South Waziristan which is along the Afghan border and it comes after terrorist attacks that killed more than 175 people.
HOLMES: And a live picture this morning, beautiful live picture of the Bay Bridge, it looked a whole lot different 20 years ago today, that is when a massive earthquake destroyed buildings and collapsed two sections of that bridge, it was called the Lomo Prieta quake, and the Lomo Prieta was a mountain that's based down in Santa Cruz some 70 miles away from San Francisco but still that was felt all up and down the Bay Area.
And it happened while the city actually was hosting game three of the World Series. You'll remember people live, saw the thing start shaking there at the baseball game. 63 people killed all together by that earthquake, thousands more were injured.
Well, turning to the world of sports now where the biggest story in sports we saw all this week had nothing to do with an athlete. It had to do with a radio host by the name of Rush Limbaugh, you may have heard of him.
His efforts to own an NFL team sidelined. But that doesn't mean of course that he has been silenced. He wrote an editorial in "The Wall Street Journal" about the controversy that erupted when he announced he was in talks to buy the St. Louis Rams.
Rick Horrow, our business and sports analyst who's worked closely with NFL in the past joins us here as always on Saturdays. Rick, it's good to see you here. A lot of people have their opinions about Rush Limbaugh and he's not a really a sympathetic character to a lot of folks.
But did he get a raw deal here?
HORROW: No, no and the reason why not is because it may be in much ado about nothing category, not his response and not the league's response, but there are six potential bidding groups for the Rams, they're not even formally for sale yet. He's one of many potential partners.
The NFL is financially solid enough, we can attract a lot of investors. They usually do their bidding quietly and then he's up for review later on. This is one of those things that's very premature and the rejection may or may not be appropriate but it's not one of those things that the NFL is focusing on right now to be honest about it.
HOLMES: Yes, but it seemed like they took some time to focus on it. A lot of people were talking about it. Rich Goodell took the time out -- the commissioner. And in Rush Limbaugh's op-ed that he wrote "The Wall Street Journal" -- I have a copy of it here. I'm just going to read one part.
He talks about "When Mr. Goodell, the commissioner was asked about me, he suggested that my 2003 comment criticizing the media's coverage of Donovan McNabb in which I said the media was cheerleading Mr. McNabb because they wanted a successful black quarterback, fell short of the NFL's high standard. High standard" -- question mark -- is what he writes.
Does he have a point there? This is a league that has welcomed back people who have been charged with murder. They have welcomed back Michael Vick, welcomed back guys who admitted using drugs, Randy Boss (ph) who hit a police officer with his car. Does he have a point there that Rich Goodell -- how can you talk about a high standard?
HORROW: Well, the commissioner's point is that there is a behavior requirement and everybody is willing at this point to allow for second chances to Michael Vick and others once they see what the standards are. There's a personal conduct policy.
But the rhetoric of who is right and who is wrong isn't appropriate for somebody who is outside the club and looking to get in. That's the bottom line. Especially since all of this is very premature as far as the St. Louis Rams being for sale. That's the point. HOLMES: So right there, there's a different standard if you're already in the club versus the standard if you're trying to get into that NFL club.
HORROW: I think that's probably what we're talking about and there's also a financial requirement here. Franchises are going for $1 billion and they can choose their partners based on financial and other considerations, this is that.
HOLMES: One thing I want to hit on here quickly a lot of leagues are going to be in talks, negotiations with the unions, the players and the leagues. Is there any threat of anybody striking and we're missing a season anywhere?
HORROW: Yes and it's not just the NFL. This is the first time in recorded sports history at least that I can find where all four leagues collective bargaining agreements with the players come up at the same time. They better get stuff done in 2010 or 2011 will be a lonely year for those of us who want to watch sports. The deadlines though may motivate the leagues to come to terms with this and move on.
HOLMES: All right. We're going to move on and go ahead and put your little pocket decoration back in. Betty didn't mean that.
HORROW: You know what? I was trying to be very nice to you guys. Both of you have major issues, you play Florida later today and Betty's team plays Oklahoma.
HOLMES: Yes, that's an issue.
NGUYEN: There's no issue with that. The Long Horns are going to take it home, there's no issue.
HORROW: Focus on the matter at hand, I was trying to be nice, be resplendent, be respectful to you guys and here's what I get, a T- shirt next week.
NGUYEN: Resplendent?
HOLMES: Oh, wow. See, you upset him.
(CROSSTALK)
NGUYEN: I did and I didn't mean to hurt your feelings.
HORROW: I'm pretty, you know, shattered by all of that but we'll talk about it.
NGUYEN: I know you are. You'll be ok.
HOLMES: Good to see you as always Buddy.
NGUYEN: Check the calendar it's 2009 but apparently there are still some places that won't let interracial couples get married, even in this day and age. Case in point, this Louisiana couple found out the hard way and their outrage has been felt across the country.
HOLMES: Tell us how you feel about this story -- we've been talking about it this morning -- a lot of you chiming in online, Facebook, Twitter and our blog. We will be reading some of your responses when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Yes, we kind of ...
NGUYEN: Well, two people tried to come together...
HOLMES: Over his dead body, I guess you could say. The justice of the peace, there, a white guy decides he doesn't want to marry an interracial couple.
NGUYEN: Yes. It's not the first time he has denied a marriage license. The couple was in fact devastated. You see them right there, a black man trying to marry a white woman. The judge said no. I'm not going to do it for you.
Here's Sean Callebs with the rest of the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEAN CALLEBS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Are you ok?
BETH MCKAY, BRIDE: It's just so hurtful.
CALLEBS (voice-over): Hurtful because she never could have expected what she heard from Tanjipahoa (ph) Parish justice of the peace Keith Bardwell, when she called Bardwell's office a week ago to handle her marriage ceremony.
MCKAY: He was the first one that I called, Keith Bardwell. And when I called, we were setting up a time for us to come over. And at the end of the conversation she said that she had to ask me a question. She asked if this was an interracial marriage.
CALLEBS: The answer is, yes. She is white; her then fiance Terence is black.
B. MCKAY: She said, well, we don't do interracial weddings or marriages.
CALLEBS: Beth said her jaw hit the floor.
(on camera): Is this something you feel was or is overt racism or was it -- was there any other reason behind this?
B. MCKAY: And it's -- it's over racism. And we are used to the closet racism. But we are not going -- we're not going to tolerate the over-racism from an elected official.
CALLEBS: Well, we found Keith Bardwell, the justice of the peace, tucked-away in a rural part of this parish.
(on camera): Now he has been a public official, a justice of the peace more than 30 years. We want to hear what he has to say about this entire controversy.
(voice-over): So about a mile down Bardwell Road, we found the Bardwell house that doubles as his office. This woman identified herself as Keith Bardwell's wife. She said he wouldn't talk and she demanded we not take any pictures.
MRS. BARDWELL: We have nothing to say to anybody because all of our words have been twisted and turned.
CALLEBS: We asked but never got an answer about what exactly she meant. So we left.
(on camera): But he's done this before. You said that he has referred people to you before.
TERRI CROSBY, TANJIPAHOA PARISH JUSTICE OF THE PEACE: He has referred people, interracial couples to me on one or two occasions. And then, of course, I've married interracial couples on my own.
CALLEBS (voice-over): Turned away by Bardwell, the couple turned to Terri Crosby, also a justice of the peace. Last week she married Beth and Terence under this archway. She calls them a wonderful couple.
It's also personal for Crosby. She has a granddaughter who's from a mixed marriage.
(on camera): Is this a racist area; what would you say?
CROSBY: Absolutely not. Absolutely not. I could never believe that this area is racist. No. I think that this is the most fair, loving people.
CALLEBS (voice-over): Beth works in marketing and wants to go back to college. Terence is a welder and it took four months for him to find work here. To them, this parish that's about 70 percent white sometimes feels like it's the 19th century.
TERENCE MCKAY, DENIED MARRIAGE LICENSE ON ACCOUNT OF RACE: It's disheartening. Seriously. It's 2009 and we're still dealing with a form of racism.
CALLEBS: Beth says they have received amazing support from friends and family. They see it as an opportunity.
B. MCKAY: I just think that God puts you in the right positions at the right time in order to stand up to people who choose to live their lives with hate.
CALLEBS: Sean Callebs, CNN, Tanjipahoa Parish, Louisiana.
(END VIDEOTAPE) NGUYEN: All right, so there you have it, the story laid out for you. What do you think, in 2009, about the situation there and the fact that it's been going on for 30 years he's been denying those marriage licenses.
So we've been getting a lot of responses in fact from you. I want to take you quickly to my Twitter page.
Don Glass (ph) says, "That's terrible, don't they have laws against that sort of thing?"
And Aurora12 (ph) says, "It's not his business. He should just do his job and perform the ceremony."
Quickly, I'll go to my Facebook page, Manny Whitlock (ph) says "He should go to prison for violating the law of the United States Constitution and the oath that he swore to behold."
So a lot of people really coming out against the justice of the peace for not giving these folks their marriage license simply because they are a mixed race couple.
We still want to hear from you. We want to hear some other responses. Some of you might actually agree with the judge and think he did the right course of action, but we want to hear from you so let us know what you think. Send it to Facebook, our Twitter pages, even our blog and we'll be reading those responses on the air.
HOLMES: The question I haven't seen yet, is it just black and white? Was it anything else? Or would it be anything else?
NGUYEN: That's a good question. That is just something that we haven't heard just yet.
But you know what, we are just minutes away from our half-hour devoted to health care reform, which is the latest medical news and then we've got a little treat with Alicia Keys.
HOLMES: Yes. She actually ties into the health care.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(ALICIA KEYS PERFORMING)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: That superstar with that super voice, making a major health issue the front right now and she's asking her fans for help.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: All right, so we have heard this recession being called a man session because men have suffered more layoffs but a new study says women, especially working moms are really feeling the pain.
Here's CNN's Stephanie Elam. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Betty. More than half of working moms say they are working more just to make ends meet. A new Citigroup survey finds 53 percent of working moms are pulling longer hours compared to 24 percent of women without children, and 33 percent of men. And the pain of this recession has been transformational.
The study finds 75 percent of women with children say the way they spend and save has been forever changed, that could have a major effect on the economy since women control 80 percent of all consumer purchases.
LISA CAPUTO, EVP CITIGROUP GLOBAL MARKETING: Women are an economic force that have to be reckoned with and they're going to account for half of the private wealth in this country by next year, and so if they're feeling that their spending and savings habit also be permanently changed with this economic downturn, that could have very profound, long-term implications.
ELAM: But it's not just working families that are cutting back. The study finds two-thirds of women with assets greater than $250,000 are also changing their spending habits, but when it comes to getting to the end of this recession, women aren't necessarily feeling optimistic that things are improving just yet.
The study finds three in five think the economy is going to get worse before it gets better. Lisa Caputo from Citigroup says one upside is that women have been reassessing. Many working moms are going back to school to improve their economic opportunities. She's encouraging women to save as they earn and plan for timeouts in life.
But there's no question this recession has taken a toll and I'm sure, Betty, if you talk to a lot of working moms out there, they'll tell you that they're still feeling a lot of pain from this recession.
Back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Hello there, everybody, from the CNN center, this is CNN SATURDAY MORNING for October the 17th. I'm T.J. Holmes.
NGUYEN: Yes. Good morning, everybody. Thanks for joining us. I'm Betty Nguyen. It's 9:00 a.m. in Atlanta, 8:00 in New Orleans, 6:00 a.m. early in Seattle. But we do appreciate you being here.
So this half hour as we've done for some time now is dedicated solely to health care, and coming we'll be talking about health care advances that could be in the palm of your hands. Yes, health care applications are now available on your phone, and we're going to look at how doctors are taking full advantage of that.
HOLMES: You know, I have admittedly been trying to find a way to incorporate Alicia Keys into any facet of our broadcast. NGUYEN: I know you have. You're a huge fan.
HOLMES: A huge fan. But we're going to be talking to her. I sat down with her not to talk about her music though but to talk about a health issue that she is definitely interested in, HIV/AIDS.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ALICIA KEYS, CO-FOUNDER "KEEP A CHILD ALIVE": I was wowed people that far away would know my music.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: That is the cutest little thing but it was that child in the faces of all of those little kids in Africa that captured Alicia Keys' heart and now she's joined the fight against HIV/AIDS. We'll talk about her efforts straight ahead.
NGUYEN: Before we get to the stories let's get quick look at our top story this morning. Three U.S. service members have been killed in attacks in Afghanistan and all three were victims of roadside bombs. Their deaths bring the total for U.S. troops in Afghanistan to 28 killed this month.
Hurricane Rick -- have you seen this thing? It's huge, churning out in the Pacific. It's now a category 4 storm with winds of 135 miles per hour, about 250 miles southwest of Acapulco but the storm is moving parallel to the Mexican coastline and Reynolds Wolf says it could weaken a little bit later this morning. We'll be checking in with him on Hurricane Rick in just a few.
HOLMES: Health officials say the H1N1 flu is hitting early and hitting hard and they're not as prepared as they had hoped. Only about 30 million vaccine doses will be shipped to doctors offices and clinics this month because of manufacturing delays. Now 30 million sounds like a good chunk but that's about 10 million fewer than expected.
Also, other H1N1 news, well perhaps the first time in the U.S., three pigs tested positive for the H1N1 virus. A second set of tests due back next week. Health officials say it's likely they picked it up from humans, while on display at the Minnesota State Fair.
They do want to remind people that even though when all of this thing started it was being called swine flu, you, however, cannot catch H1N1 or swine flu from a pig. You can't get it from eating pork. Eat your bacon, have a good breakfast. Just cook it, of course, but still you can't get it from eating swine, just want to make sure we clear that up.
NGUYEN: OK. So many months of arguing over health care reform have led to this very moment, the Senate and the House both working to merge versions of their bills, but as President Obama says in his weekly address, the fight isn't over.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: For the first time ever, all five committees in Congress responsible for health reform have passed a version of legislation. As I speak to you today, we are closer to reforming the health care system than we have ever been in history. But this is not the time to pat ourselves on the back. This is not the time to grow complacent.
There is still significant details and disagreements to be worked out in the coming weeks and there is still those who would try to kill reform at any cost. The history is clear. For decades, rising health care costs have unleashed havoc on families, businesses and the economy, and for decades, whenever we have tried to reform the system, the insurance companies have done everything in their considerable power to stop us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
NGUYEN: Our Kate Bolduan is live for us at the White House. You know, Kate, it sounds like the president is trying to keep the momentum on health care but are all sides playing along with him now?
BOLDUAN: I think you know that answer, that is they haven't up until this point and they definitely aren't. The fight does continue. The debate does continue, Betty, and what it really comes down to, we've been talking about it for months now is, what is the best fit, what type of health care reform is the best fit for the American people, and that is not an easy answer, if there is one answer at this point.
But the president and the White House wants health care reform passed by the end of the year. The president today as you just heard is touting progress as the debate moves out of congressional committee towards its next stage of a wider floor debate but Congressman Kevin Brady of Texas speaking for the Republicans today, he says the reform plans that are taking shape in Congress right now equal nothing more than increased government interference that will only drive up costs.
Listen here.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. KEVIN BRADY (R), TEXAS: The Democrats' plans are loaded with new federal mandates and higher taxes on insurance plans, treatments and equipment, all of which will be passed down to patients.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BOLDUAN: The Senate Finance Committee, a key committee in this debate so far, passed its version of a health care bill just this week, with very little Republican support, one vote in support to be exact. That is moderate Republican Senator Olympia Snowe of Maine. The Congressional Budget Office scoring and estimating the cost of this proposal say it could cost -- they estimate $829 billion over 10 years but also say that it would eventually reduce the national deficit by $80 billion. Now, Betty, going forward, Senate Democrats and White House negotiators are set to continue some closed door deliberations over the various proposals and various plans that are in the Senate side right now. They're going to continue that next week.
NGUYEN: All right. Kate Bolduan, we'll be watching it very closely as will you. Thanks so much.
BOLDUAN: Thank you, Betty.
NGUYEN: Well, the medical cost of treating HIV and AIDS can just be astronomical. Will health care reform make any difference in that category? We're about to go over what is and isn't in each bill.
HOLMES: Well, we're all waiting for some kind of reform to kick in and while we wait and while she waits, superstar Alicia Keys well she got a plan of her own right now and a message for her fans. She wants them to pitch in.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEYS: I believe the world does want to find a way to utilize themselves. Everybody wants to know how they can help another person, you know, but how and where and what do I do and how should I do it? So, if someone can tell you how then you want to step up to the plate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
HOLMES: Now that we've got your attention with her music, there's something else we want you to know about Alicia Keys this morning. We're going to show you another side. One that's all about saving the lives of HIV/AIDS victims in Africa, not about numbers, not about statistics but this is about the true faces in the fight against AIDS.
I caught up with the 12-time Grammy-award winning singer in New York talking about her charity, "Keep A Child Alive."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
KEYS: It's crazy when you think about it, how you can change the lives of people forever for the price of a pair of shoes.
HOLMES (voice-over): Alicia Keys didn't set out to do humanitarian work in Africa. In a way Africa came to her.
It was 2002, her first album was climbing the charts. She won Grammys for best new artist and song of the year but she never expected an invitation to perform in Africa.
KEYS: I was wowed that people that far away would know my music.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And I love you, I, I, I...
HOLMES: Maybe she knew that 40 percent of the population there was infected with HIV/AIDS but those numbers didn't really hit home until she came face-to-face with the people there.
KEYS: I started to meet kids my age and younger who were personally dealing with it, lost their parents, watched their parents die, and then had to raise their younger brothers and sisters if they're 14, and they're raising their seven and six-year-old brother and sister.
HOLMES: The people she met changed her life.
KEYS: Can you send an angel...
HOLMES: And ever since, this 12-time Grammy Award-winning singer has been working to change theirs.
KEYS: All they kept saying when I was leaving, "don't forget us, please don't forget us."
HOLMES: Within a year, Keys co-founded the "Keep A Child Alive" organization with filmmaker and activist Lee Blake. Their mission is to build clinics and provide kids and their families with medicine that will save their lives.
KEYS: Picture your brother, picture your mother, picture your daughter, picture your son and picture them suffering greatly. You would not tolerate it. You wouldn't? You would say whatever I have to do to change them I'm going to do it.
HOLMES: On December 1st, World AIDS Day, Alicia Keys will release her fourth CD "The Element of Freedom." She says it will show a different of Alicia Keys.
KEYS: I'm renewed and I'm reborn. So you will feel a different side of me, definitely a freer side of me, a more confident side of me, a stronger side.
HOLMES: The first single "Doesn't Mean Anything" is already out. She performed it for the first time live this week.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
HOLMES (on camera): Everybody knows about what you do behind the piano. But what do you want to be known for, maybe years down the road?
KEYS: I want to be known as an incredible global citizen, and a person who has made their mark in an inspiring, positive way.
I tell you one thing, though, they're going to make it through. And they're going to have something serious to say. They're going to change the world. We're going to change it. And I felt proud that that was my generation. This is my generation. We are about to do something really big. (END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: All right. Alicia Keys will also expand her charity work into India next year. While she's doing work in South Africa and India as well, we want to talk about the U.S. as well in the fight against HIV/AIDS. A lot to talk about health care reform these days, of course, but what about the proposals, how are they going to impact HIV/AIDS patients.
We're talking about it this morning. We're going to explain how this impacts all of us whether you have HIV/AIDS or not. Let's bring in David Munar. He is with the AIDS Foundation of Chicago. He's also living with HIV and determined to make sure lawmakers are held accountable and held to a higher standard. David, good morning to you, sir. We appreciate you being here with us. We've got five bills that we're looking at.
DAVID MUNAR, AIDS FOUNDATION OF CHICAGO: Good morning, T.J..
HOLMES: And do any of the five proposals we're looking at so far, you do believe that one or two or maybe three of them have the potential to be a game changer in the fight against HIV/AIDS, why?
MUNAR: I do, T.J.. I think having comprehensive health reform this year is critical. In the United States there's about 1.1 million people living with HIV, and the epidemic in the United States is one of inequality, one in three people with HIV in the United States is uninsured, and about one in two are living below poverty, on less than $10,000 a year. So proposals to expand access to health care will dramatically improve efforts to stop the epidemic.
HOLMES: You believe, you were telling me that you think the three in the House right now give you the best chance. Why do you single those out versus the proposal we see in the Senate as well including the Baucus bill?
MUNAR: Well, the three bills are similar in many ways. One of the things that's important in all three of the bills is expanding Medicaid for all low income people, regardless of whether they are parents or have no dependent children, and so those -- Medicaid expansion by itself to 133 percent of poverty around 14,000 annual salary would bring about 100,000 people with HIV into coverage, but the House bill is superior to the other bills.
It would provide national public option which we think is very important for the fight against AIDS and national exchange, and it has specific HIV provisions to make sure that benefits around health care happen immediately.
HOLMES: So you obviously, sounds like you see some hope in here and this could, moving forward, specifically target and change HIV/AIDS in this country. Let me ask you about something else while I have you here before I let you go, and that's about the HIV vaccine, there's so much news made about a month ago, the studies were done over in Thailand. Some debate about how effective and how productive really those trials were. Did you see that as a new hope? Did you see that as promising or now that some more news has come out about those HIV trials, maybe didn't sound as promising as it once did?
MUNAR: Well, the vaccine research study that came out is promising news for research but we're not going to see a vaccine soon, and we do have already powerful medications, which can control HIV and bring people, make people productive members of society, if they have access, which is why health reform is so critical.
About 500,000 Americans in the U.S. are living with HIV and do not receive regular health care and that could change, if we pass health reform and particularly the House bill.
HOLMES: Well, it sounds like access to health care an issue that so many others are dealing with, specifically here this morning talking about HIV/AIDS.
David Munar again with the AIDS Foundation of Chicago. So we appreciate you taking the time out with us and hope to follow up with you as these bills continue to move through Congress.
MUNAR: Thanks, T.J.
HOLMES: All right, Betty ...
NGUYEN: So in an emergency, the latest health care advances could be in the palm of your hands. Yes, finding doctors in strange cities, getting emergency room wait times. There is an app for that and so much more.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
NGUYEN: Well, Black Eyed Peas for you this morning with "Ring-a- Ling." Well, you know every Saturday, we dedicate this half hour to health care and right now we're going to show you how your iPhone and cell phones may actually be the key to finding a doctor, checking out E.R. wait times before you get to the hospital, even keeping a daily log of your calories. Who knew?
Tech radio show host Mario Armstrong is armed and ready to do a little show and tell for us this morning. As always, we love the props. OK. Mario, first of all, hospitals and social media, how is this actually helping the consumer?
MARIO ARMSTRONG, TECH RADIO SHOW HOST: It's helping these consumers in a major way. I mean, we've never seen this happen before. We're looking at hundreds of hospitals, Betty, are embracing social media and using it in a way to connect with patients.
So for example, patients may have concerns about going through surgery or going through the hospital and they're using Twitter to connect with these patients. For example, Children's Los Angeles Hospital put out a great treat recently saying, "hey, we see a lot of kids coming to our emergency room every year at Halloween time, here are some helpful tips that parents should think about before going out for Halloween."
So they're being proactive about sharing advice, tips and local communication and local information and news but they're also sending you emergency room waiting time updates so that you know. This is in a hospital in east Florida so you know whether or not it's a good time or a slow time at a waiting room near you.
NGUYEN: Well, if it's an emergency, you just got to go, you know. Really but I see the point, I mean, if they're going to tell you how long you're going to wait once you get there that is really kind of cool. What about I'm trying to find a doctor? How is it helping with that?
ARMSTRONG: Yes, it helps with that immensely. Because maybe you're traveling and when you're carrying these types of devices with you, whether it's an iPhone with you or whether you have the Blackberry with you, it doesn't really matter because now you have the information in the palm of your hand.
You have GPS, so things like Symptom MD, iTriage, these are applications whereby you can actually pull up local facilities near you. You can actually pull up symptoms that you may be dealing with, find the causes of those symptoms and then be able to navigate yourself to a nearby hospital or medical facility, if you can.
NGUYEN: OK. Lay it out for us, what are these applications that people are interested, which are the ones that they need that they'll go out and get?
ARMSTRONG: Symptom MD is what we're looking at right now.
NGUYEN: OK.
ARMSTRONG: Another one that's great is called i-triage. But the American Heart Association just came out with one that I think everyone should come out and pick up, and that is a pocket first aid application. And when you think about this week with Dr. Sanjay Gupta and his special series, talking about "Cheating Death," it's all about having information quickly and acting on that information.
So the first aid thing from American Heart Association has been powerful because it gives you the treatments, it gives you the procedures, and refreshes your memory on everything from CPR to the Heimlich maneuver. It's really powerful stuff.
NGUYEN: So you're not panicking when you're faced with something like that.
ARMSTRONG: That's right. Or just refreshing your memory.
NGUYEN: (INAUDIBLE) checking your calories or something like that with an app right now? What's going on?
ARMSTRONG: Yes. That's right. So I got a Coke can here. I don't know how -- Coke you drink but I can use my iPhone and use an application called Quitter and I can actually point it at the bar code here and it scans the bar code and it tells me that this can of Coke is going to give me 140 calories and now it's inside of my phone, and I can say how many cans I had that day. And I can do that with other food along the day and it help me keep a log of all of my calories in the palm of my hand.
NGUYEN: That is cool. That is really neat. All right, well, you may want to lay off a few of those, all right?
ARMSTRONG: Just a tad bit.
NGUYEN: Just a tad. I'm just looking out for your health. That's all.
ARMSTRONG: Hey, you know, I have -- you know, I brought in the backup granola bar to be on the safe side.
NGUYEN: Very nice. You're going to balance it out.
ARMSTRONG: That's right.
NGUYEN: All right. Mario, as always it's a pleasure. See you next weekend.
ARMSTRONG: Thank you, see you soon.
NGUYEN: T.J.
HOLMES: All right. A quick break. Be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: All right. So a vaccine for the H1N1 flu. It is coming. But in the meantime, many are donning those surgical masks, you know, as protection.
HOLMES: Yes but as our Homeland Security correspondent Jeanne Meserve reports the U.S. may not have enough of those things if a pandemic comes around.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEANNE MESERVE, CNN HOMELAND SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): During the cataclysmic 1918 flu pandemic, Red Cross nurses handmade surgical masks to help control the spread of disease. Now machines crank them out at the Prestige Ameritech plant in Richland, Texas. One of the few manufacturers in the U.S. 90 percent of production has moved to other countries where labor is cheaper and some say that has created a vulnerability right here.
MIKE BOWEN, PRESTIGE AMERITECH: If there is a pandemic, America won't be able to supply its own need.
MESERVE: Bowen and others fear that in a 1918-size pandemic the nations that make masks like China and Mexico would keep them for themselves.
REP. JOE BARTON (R), TEXAS: If push comes to shove, you take care of your own before you take care of others. That's just human nature, and for that reason alone I think we should buy more of these masks in the United States and we should encourage the capability to manufacture more of these masks in the United States.
MESERVE: The government estimates the U.S. could need three billion surgical masks during the H1N1 outbreak. Right now, the strategic national stockpile contains only a small fraction of that amount, 37 million. It's a yawning gap government officials acknowledge, one that was laid out in stark detail in this health and human services PowerPoint presentation two years ago.
Government officials say before they build up supplies, they want more evidence the masks provide effective protection but current guidance from the CDC recommends the use of surgical masks. and last year OSHA estimated a single health professional could go through close to 2,000 during a pandemic.
Bowen has been crusading for more domestic production of surgical masks. He could benefit financially but says this isn't just about business, it's about the nation's health and security.
BOWEN: Important things like face masks should be made in America and I think they'll finally realized what we've been trying to tell them for almost two years.
MESERVE (on camera): Hospitals, clinics and physicians are creating their own stockpiles of surgical masks -- a good thing, except manyfacturers are already having trouble keeping up with demand. And if H1N1 becomes more deadly, that demand will likely grow much larger.
Jeanne Meserve, CNN, Washington.
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NGUYEN: And there is more news at the top of the hour, we'll be joining you again. But right now, we're going to take you to "YOUR BOTTOM LINE" with Gerri Willis.
