Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Saturday Morning News
Coffee Party Kicks Off With Global Gathering; New Orleans Hotel Owner Offers To Host Canceled Prom
Aired March 13, 2010 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hey there, everybody. From the CNN Center, this is CNN SATURDAY MORNING for this March 13. I am T.J. Holmes.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. I am Brooke Baldwin. Thanks for starting your Saturday with us.
It is bright and early, 6 a.m. here in Atlanta; 3 a.m. -- people, I like how they say, still partying in Vegas.
HOLMES: Yes.
BALDWIN: You probably haven't gone to bed, so good evening, I guess, to you.
This morning, it's all about this cup of coffee with a cause. What are we talking about? Nope, not the "tea party" this time. We're talking about the "coffee party." It's this grass-roots movement. It's kind of this alternative, some are saying an answer possibly to that "tea party" (INAUDIBLE).
HOLMES: And what they're doing today -- this is essentially their kick-off. They're doing this all around the country today.
So exactly who are these folks? What exactly do they want? We'll be breaking it down for you this morning.
Also, the highlights of your high-school years.
BALDWIN: Really?
HOLMES: Yes. We're not talking about graduation. Prom. That's a big deal. But prom got canceled at one high school all because of one couple. We'll explain this couple and the controversy coming up.
BALDWIN: But first, a quick look at some of the stories we're following for you from overnight.
Just within this last hour, we are learning here at CNN that former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was admitted to a hospital in Seoul, South Korea today. In fact, the state-run news agency is reporting that the 86-year-old Kissinger was admitted for some kind of minor stomach troubles.
HOLMES: Also, one after two -- twin suicide blasts killed at least 39 people in Pakistan, another one today. At least 13 people dead, dozens more injured. The violence comes as Pakistan cracks down on Taliban militants. Today's attack was at a security checkpoint near Mingora. That's about five and a half hours north of Islamabad, the capital.
BALDWIN: The count goes on in Iraq. Iraqis voted just last weekend for the 325-seat parliament, and election officials are saying that the counting has been kind of slowed down by computer problems and the volume just of all the work.
Iraq's electoral commission says seven of the 18 provinces have reported preliminary results.
HOLMES: And Corey Haim's death has been now linked to an illegal prescription-drug ring in California. The attorney general's office says the former child star's name came up during an ongoing investigation into phony prescription-drug pads.
The coroner has not ruled on exactly what killed Corey Haim. He died early Wednesday after collapsing in an apartment he shared with his mother.
Meanwhile, his mother and the rest of the family now asking for donations from fans to move the body back to his home in Canada.
BALDWIN: Brewing up a plan. All across the country this morning, people are gathering for that jolt of java and a lot politics.
The so-called "coffee party" -- it's kind of this alternative to the "tea party" group, trying to rally, organize more groups today.
Our Lisa Sylvester has more on the movement.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LISA SYLVESTER, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Coffee with a side of politics. The "coffee party" is branding itself as the alternative to the "tea party" movement.
Sunday, a small group gathered at the One Worlds Cafe for the first meeting of the Baltimore chapter.
Among them Geralyn MacVittie. She says she's tired of rhetoric coming from conservatives.
GERALYN MACVITTIE, BALTIMORE COFFEE PARTY: I don't think the -- the moderate people -- I don't think the more reasonable people, whether they agree with me or disagree with me, are being heard.
SYLVESTER: Members lean to the left and share common goals: stop the shouting and get things done in Washington.
KRIS SIELOFF, BALTIMORE COFFEE PARTY: We want to operate -- using civility rather than hateful rhetoric.
KEVIN ZEESE, BALTIMORE COFFEE PARTY: I'm hopeful this will be a independent political movement, independent of the two parties, and really develop pressure to push the Democrats as well as the Republicans in the right direction.
SYLVESTER: The national group has taken off. Weekly meetings around the country, from St. Louis, to D.C., to Knoxville, Tennessee.
Annabel Park is the founder.
ANNABEL PARK, COFFEE PARTY FOUNDER: We are trying to change our political culture. We're not trying to start a third party.
We have to approach the entire process with the understanding that we already are a community. We have shared goals and values, and that we can't get divided and separated over our differences.
SYLVESTER: But conservative bloggers see the coffee group as a watered-down version of the tea-party movement. They say Park is a political operative who has worked as a volunteer for the Obama campaign in 2008 and before that for Democratic Senator James Webb's campaign, and dismissed the Coffee Party as not populism, but political fraud.
JIM HOFT, ST. LOUIS TEA PARTY: It's driven from the top down. It's not a -- it's not a grass-roots movement coming from the bottom up.
SYLVESTER: But the coffee movement now has more than 60 groups nationwide. And on Facebook, the number of fans has grown from 9,000 members to more than 90,000 in the last three weeks.
Lisa Sylvester, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BALDWIN: Want to get you a quick update. Actually, since Lisa filed that report, which wasn't too long ago, we checked Facebook, and the number of coffee-party fans on Facebook has now grown to 115,000- plus.
And, in just about 10 minutes' time, we will get to our Josh Levs to tell us just exactly how the movement is spreading on the Web.
(WEATHER REPORT)
BALDWIN: All right. So it's what most high-school seniors really look forward to: prom. But one school completely canceled the dance for everyone just because of one student. She's gay; she wanted to bring her female date.
HOLMES: Yes. Coming up, meet a man who's now offering to host the special night since the school won't.
Also, a lot of people worried about getting sick on an airplane. You'll learn why. You want to think twice about being one of the first passengers to board the next time you fly.
Stay with us. Eight minutes past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC, SHERYL CROW, "ALL I WANNA DO")
HOLMES: Yes. All they want to do is have their prom. But it got canceled. So there's a new venue now -- a different state, but still, students at a high school in Mississippi could end up getting that prom after all.
BALDWIN: So why did the school in Mississippi.
HOLMES: Yes.
BALDWIN: ...cancel the prom? Well, it was a big old controversy in this tiny town, after a date one of the students was bringing, and what she wanted to wear.
But a hotel owner in New Orleans has a pretty fast solution. Camille Whitworth from affiliate WDSU has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEAN CUMMINGS, HOTEL OWNER: Hey kids, the end of your high- school experience should not be laced with negativity and public- policy decisions and legal skirmishes.
CAMILLE WHITWORTH, WDSU CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The message from Sean Cummings is clear: Prom should go on, despite the controversy surrounding it.
We met inside of his International House hotel, a possible venue for the high-school party.
CUMMINGS: We're just bummed out that the kids were penalized and she was penalized.
WHITWORTH: Cummings is offering it all to students at Itawamba County Agricultural High School in rural Mississippi: the place, transportation to and from New Orleans, and a high-school party he says they'll never forget.
CUMMINGS: I admire her for standing for something and standing up like she is. And she needs to know that there are a lot of people who support her, and the students need to know that there are a lot of people who feel like they are being wronged. And -- and wrongly so.
WHITWORTH: The prom was canceled when the school district found out a lesbian student, Constance McMillan, planned on bringing her girlfriend as her date. In a school memo, it states, "Dates must be of the opposite sex."
CONSTANCE MCMILLAN, STUDENT: That's really not fair to -- to the people that are gay at the school.
WHITWORTH: McMillan says she was also told she wasn't allowed to wear a tuxedo. The American Civil Liberties Union backs her up.
MCMILLAN: I'm not going to pretend. I wasn't raised like that. I was raised to be proud of who you are, and I don't think that you should have to hide who you are to go to a school event.
WHITWORTH: Cummings agrees. That's why he offered to help.
CUMMINGS: It's a disappointing and yesterday.com way of thinking.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: All right. This has got a lot of people talking, of course. You probably have some comments about it. Please send them to us, on our Facebook page, also on Twitter.
Or give me -- I haven't updated it with the question just yet. I'm going to get to it; I'm a little behind. But on Twitter and Facebook, you can go ahead and start sending your comments in to us and I will post the appropriate question here in just a second.
BALDWIN: A little slow on the go this morning?
HOLMES: A little -- a little slow. A little behind.
We do want to remind you as well, tonight and tomorrow, a popular local official with a secret igniting a national media storm. A private choice with very public consequences. CNN's broadcast premiere of "HER NAME WAS STEVEN." That's tonight, 8:00 Eastern.
BALDWIN: All right. So we have spent the last year discussing the tea party. OK, so put tea aside today. We're talking coffee.
Today, is the national coffee-party day. But don't reach for the cup of joe just yet here. Coming up, we'll learn about the new grass- roots political movement that's really sweeping the Internet. That's where it started, on Facebook. And it's gaining thousands of members fast.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC, MILEY CYRUS, "PARTY IN THE USA")
HOLMES: Well, it's actually a coffee party in the USA.
BALDWIN: Nice.
HOLMES: Some -- some people prefer their tea. Some people prefer coffee.
It's national coffee-party day. What's that? A lot of people are asking, 'What in the world is this?' It's a new political movement kicking off a nationwide push, and it's happening today.
BALDWIN: And the Web is a huge part of this whole thing.
Josh Levs has more on that.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the organization is calling it "national coffee-party day." And this organization, the coffee party, is largely about the Web.
It began as a Web venture.
If you take a look at the Web page right now, one of the main things you see is this map that talks you through where all these different events are happening today, what kinds of events are going to be there. They also show you how you can start events in your area, how you can get involved. A lot of Web reach-out going on.
There's also a video that shows you what they feel this is all about.
Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think people need to come together over a cup of coffee, over something simple.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Coffee and common sense.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I drink coffee and common sense from a very nice lady who works at the Dew Drop Inn (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You don't have to fight to have a debate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: And that's one of several videos that you're seeing at coffeepartyusa.com.
Another video is from the woman who founded it, who actually talks about how the Web was at the core of how this whole thing began.
Take a look at a clip from that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PARK: I kind of lost it and started ranting on my Facebook page about frustration I felt, listening to news coverage that made it seem like the "tea party" was representative of America. I completely disagree with this, and I started writing comments about it on my Facebook page, and then there was a flurry of instant feedback from other people who agreed with me and similarly felt pent up and frustrated.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: Now, when you look online, you also see criticism of coffee party, this organization. You see some people pointing out -- very quick to point out that she was someone who worked for the Obama campaign during the presidential campaign.
Other critics saying, 'Hey, don't write off what people in the tea party are feeling, this sense of frustration, and in some cases a sense of anger that shows up at some of these events,' not to write that off.
And I encourage you to follow all sides on this at our Web site, CNNpolitics.com. It's packed with stories about this. It also is going to be following all sorts of events throughout the day and in general in the coming days and weeks, watching what happens with this organization, coffee party.
And if you're going to one of these events today, we would love if you send us an i-Report. Just go to i-Report.com, send us your thoughts, your photos, your videos, whatever it is you have to say about that.
And one more way to get involved: We have a conversation going at my blog right now, CNN.com/josh. We're also talking about it at Facebook and Twitter, joshlevscnn. What do you think about this organization? What role does it play? What do you hope it will achieve, and what differences do you see or what differences interest you between the coffee party and what the tea-party organization has been doing.
We will keep an eye on all that, and we'll share some of it right here on the air.
I'm Josh Levs, CNN, Atlanta.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: And we will have a guest coming up a little later this morning to talk about the tea party, one of the main -- excuse me, the coffee party. Sorry. The coffee party, one of the...
BALDWIN: Coffee.
HOLMES: ...Atlanta organizers is going to be here with us in studio.
Meanwhile, on to President Obama now. He's tweaking his schedule, delaying his trip to Asia just so he can push for health care.
BALDWIN: Yes. Now, he's leaving a week from tomorrow, pushing it back three days.
Also this morning, the Republicans newest, freshest face in the Senate, blasting President Obama's plan in the GOP radio address. We will take a listen to Senator Brown.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Let's take a look at some of the stories we're following for you. No settlement yet for about 10,000 people, all these plaintiffs who got sick while working at Ground Zero after the September 11 terrorist attacks. Just yesterday, a federal judge surprised a lot of people in that courtroom, postponing a decision on a proposed $657 million settlement for all those workers.
HOLMES: Well, do you all remember that movie, Goldie Hawn, "Wild Cat," she played the female football coach, coaching a bunch of high- school kids. Well, we got a real-life one going on now.
There she is, the head coach now of Calvin Coolidge's senior high football team in D.C. Yes, next time they hit the field, there will be a woman the plays.
Natalie Rudolph (ph) -- Randolph is her name. She's a former pro- football player. Actually played for the D.C.-area women's pro team. She is now the new head coach at that high school, believed to be the only woman coaching a high-school football team in the U.S.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CAMPBELL BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Why do you think it's taken so long for women to move into this role, to become head football coaches?
NATALIE RANDOLPH, COOLIDGE HIGH SCHOOL HEAD COACH: Because, you know, women's football is fairly new in relation to how long men have been playing football. So, you know, it's a matter of time. And we -- as we get further along in the sport, you know, these type of things will come.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Well, a sports-advocacy group calls his move "historic," and Randolph says a woman -- being a woman had nothing to do with her getting the job.
BALDWIN: A federal judge says there is not enough evidence linking autism in children to mercury in vaccines. This ruling basically means the families of kids diagnosed with the illness will not be entitled to compensation.
Congress had set up this special committee back in 1986 to address claims over vaccine safety. Attorneys for the families say they will appeal the ruling.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC, FRANK SINATRA, "AS TIME GOES BY")
BALDWIN: Your favorite.
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: I -- I need -- I need some Courvoisier. I know we do (ph) -- whenever I listen to Frank, I always -- that and a -- you know, a nice cigar.
HOLMES: Just the 6 a.m. not really the -- right in time, in the mood for some -- you know, he likes to keep it upbeat.
BALDWIN: Time goes by. Time. Daylight savings.
WOLF: Daylight-savings time, guys. We get to -- we spring forward. We spring forward into action.
This is something that was brought forth by -- by one of our founding fathers, Benjamin Franklin, who had the great idea of -- of -- of actually in -- of kind making the day a little bit longer for people, so they'd have more time to get out there and work the fields, because we were truly an agrarian society back at the -- you know, the 1700s.
HOLMES: You are so smart. I love it.
BALDWIN: Thanks, Mr. History Buff (ph).
WOLF: Yes, but I -- I will say this to -- of Mr. Franklin: He was obviously not a big fan or -- of us, of -- of -- of newscasts, morning newscasts. Because, I mean, come on. That -- that hour.
BALDWIN: (INAUDIBLE)
WOLF: It makes such a different.
Now, we have had people on the team over the years that have had actually slept in a little bit. Any chance either of you guys might be sleeping in that -- or maybe missing out (INAUDIBE)
BALDWIN: Sleeping in? I think I've -- (INAUDIBLE) the opposite.
WOLF: Yes.
BALDWIN: I came in early one time when we gained an hour. That -- that wasn't fun.
WOLF: It's always -- yes.
Well, we were talking yesterday, and T.J. and I have had this conversation over the years -- there's got to be a way that we can actually do just the, you know -- add the hour. You know, just go from -- but if we do that every weekend, then, sure enough, we'll start waking up at 2:00 afternoon. And you can't have a morning show at 2:00 in the afternoon.
(LAUGHTER)
WOLF: You know, CNN afternoons would be a good thing. But, you know, still a bit odd.
HOLMES: I love your logic and how you break it all down for us.
BALDWIN: Hey, (INAUDIBLE) sleep.
WOLF: That's why I'm here guys.
BALDWIN: (INAUDIBLE)
WOLF: But we're going to have more on, of course, the severe weather that's been hitting the Northeast. Florida's been pummeled over the last couple of days, but now it's going to be parts of Pennsylvania, New York, maybe even up towards Massachusetts, where we could see some flooding. Two to five inches does not sound like a lot, but it could be devastating for a lot of people.
HOLMES: All right. So we'll see you here shortly. Right back. All right. Thanks, Renny.
WOLF: You bet, guys.
BALDWIN: Thank you.
All right. CNN SATURDAY MORNING will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Hey there, everybody. Good morning again on this CNN SATURDAY MORNING. I'm T.J. Holmes.
BALDWIN: Good morning. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thanks for getting up with us, starting your day.
HOLMES: Some of the top stories we want to keep an eye on for you this morning.
A flooding situation going on in Pennsylvania. Some flood warnings in effect. Melting snow, several days of rain threatening to send rivers and streams over their banks. The mayor of Pittsburgh declared a state of emergency already. The Ohio River could reach flood stage by tomorrow morning.
BALDWIN: There is a new political movement that wants you to wake up and join. What are they called? The coffee party. Basically, organizers are launching this national kick-off today, holding hundreds of events at communities' coffee shops across the country.
Here's the big thing they want you to know: This brew movement has a different taste for politics than the more conservative Tea Party. Coffee Party activists say their goal is to change Washington by pushing forth civility and cooperation in government.
HOLMES: Well, we continue to wait for results from Iraq's election. Iraqis voted last weekend, you may remember, for the 325- seat parliament. Election officials say the counting has been slowed by computer problems and the volume of the work. Iraq's electoral commission said seven of 18 provinces have reported at least some preliminary results.
Let me get your check-up now, on your health care here, in the U.S. Both houses of Congress have agreed to move forward on a vote. We are hearing a final vote could happen within 10 days. President Obama was planning a trip to Australia and Indonesia next Thursday, but he's pushing it back a few days, just in case he needs to make a final push for support of that health care reform.
The president, Democratic leadership are expressing confidence over health care reform. Republicans, not so much. They're turning to their newly minted Massachusetts senator, and savior, some would say, Scott Brown, to apply the brakes. He makes his debut today delivering his first Republican response to the president's weekly radio and Internet address.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. SCOTT BROWN, (R) MASSACHUSETTS: In January of last year, unemployment hit 7.2 percent, and our economy was hurting badly. But early in President Obama's term, he and the Democratic leadership of Congress made takeover of health care their first priority. Today, times are even tougher across our nation when it comes to our economy. Nearly one in 10 Americans are still out of work. And still, the president and Congress are focused on ramming through their health care bill, whatever it takes, whatever the cost.
Maybe you remember what President Obama promised in the State of the Union Address. He said he was going to finally focus on jobs and the economy for the remainder of this year. I applauded him for that. Well, here it is. It's almost spring, and what is he out there talking about again? That same 2,700-page multitrillion dollar health care legislation.
So an entire year has gone to waste. Millions of Americans have lost their jobs, and many more jobs are in danger. Even now the president still hasn't gotten the message. Somehow, the greater the public opposition to the health care bill, the more determined they seem to force it on us anyway.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: So as we move forward and we talk about this potentially historic health care bill, you're going to hear this one word, "reconciliation", a whole lot as this thing really heads toward a showdown. So here is an explainer. Reconciliation, what is it?
It's a measure to pass contentious budget legislation, while avoiding a filibuster threat. What they need is a simple majority, 51 votes in the Senate. It was used back in 1989 to pass the Medicare overhaul for physician payments. In 1996, it was used to pass the welfare overhaul and it was used to enact the Bush tax cuts, both in 2001 and 2003.
HOLMES: The pages of history being reworked in Texas. No matter where you live, what is happening in Texas could affect you. What is happening specifically at a Texas state board of education. They're affecting their textbooks there, and it could affect textbooks wherever you are.
Give you a little background here. This is 24 hours ago, not long ago the state board of education took a preliminary vote to adopt new standards for social studies, history, and economic classes. Those changes could possibly dictate what goes into text books distributed across the country, because Texas buys a whole lot of textbooks. You know, it is a pretty big state. Publishers tend to, therefore, adhere to the standards in Texas.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STATE REP. LEO BERMAN, (R) TYLER, TEXAS: What goes in the textbooks in Texas is going to affect textbooks -- 90 percent of the other states in the United States.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BALDWIN: Well, the vote was very contentious and ultimately successful for conservative members of the Texas school board.
HOLMES: Some students clearly not happy with what's going on there. And our Tom Foreman thumbed through some of the pages to explain what the changes are exactly.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (on camera): This is about a basic question. What do we want in textbooks when we are teaching young people about this country? Does it tilt liberal or conservative, or stay in the middle? And right now the battleground is Texas.
PROTESTORS CHANTING: Save our history! Save it now!
FOREMAN (voice over): In Austin, heated words. The state school board is in hearings over the content of new textbooks and some conservative board members want it moved to the right. For example, since textbooks include sections on Democratic President Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal, which expanded government, they also want a favorable light shined on Ronald Reagan's vision of a smaller government, and the political power surge by conservative groups. Don McLeroy is leading the charge.
DON MCLEROY, TEXAS SCHOOL BOARD: What we have the history profession that the experts seem to have a left wing tilt, and so what we were doing is try to restore some balance to the standards.
FOREMAN: More examples of what those board members have wanted out. Too much talk about Thomas Jefferson and The Enlightenment, which stressed reasoning and science over faith. In, more recognition of the contributions of religious leaders, like Moses to American ideals. Out, calling the U.S. government democratic, like the party. In, calling it a constitutional republic. Out, capitalism, which some board members fear has been turned into a dirty word; in, free enterprise.
(On camera): And on it goes with these board members wanting more praise for conservative icons like the Phyllis Schlafly, leadership qualities of Confederate General Stonewall Jackson. And event the cultural value of country music.
(Voice over): Not all of these measures have survived, but even the discussion has many more liberal Texans furious.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's not fair for public schools students to have the personal and political ideologies and agendas of the conservative state board members crammed down their throats and into their textbooks.
FOREMAN (on camera): All of this matters because the almost 5 million students, Texas buys a lot of textbooks, and that helps push publishers in terms of what they make available for all the rest of us. Electronic publishing is mitigating that factor just a little bit. But for the time being, as Texas schools go in large part, so go the rest of the nation's schools. And right now Texas seems set on going to the right.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Well, thank goodness, Reynolds, they have not changed your weather textbooks.
WOLF: Yes, I wish we could change the weather forecast and give some sunshine to parts of the Northeast. Because today, it is going to be just the opposite. Some heavy rainfall, possibly some flooding. I'll bring you the full story in just a few moments. You're watching CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right. We've got some pictures here to show you. This out of Florida, Polk County, in particular. This community is what? Haines City.
WOLF: Haines City.
HOLMES: Four condos there destroyed. We do have confirmation now from the National Weather Service, it was, in fact, two tornadoes.
Reynolds, explain this. Sometimes people usually suspect it is a tornado, you see all the damage. But what do they have to do to officially confirm that it was one?
WOLF: What happens, the number one way to do it is they have someone come in from the local National Weather Service office and take an aerial observation. What they look for are a couple of signature marks, for example, trees going in one direction and the damage going in the other, which would indicate rotation. If it is all in one direction, straight line winds, if you see any evidence of rotation, possible a tornado. That's what they're leaning toward.
HOLMES: They had two, only a couple minor injuries to report there. So that's a good thing.
WOLF: Absolutely.
HOLMES: That's not the problem today. Won't have to worry about tornadic activity. WOLF: Exactly. The focus is really going to be in parts of the Northeast. If anyone has a plan of maybe going on a picnic in parts of Pennsylvania, not today. Today's not the day for you. You're really going to have to stay inside and obviously watch out for that flooding potential. It is going to be a great threat for a lot of people.
I think we also have some video of what's happening on the other side of the Great Lakes. Not towards Cleveland, but over towards Chicago. We have video from parts of what's happening in Chicago getting ready for the big event. We're talking about, well, you see a little bit of green there from the lights?
Well, you are going to see green in Chicago thanks to St. Patrick's Day. They're going to, I believe at 11:30 they start turning the Chicago River green. Which is always an interesting time, but amazingly enough, can't imagine why, people go to the event, have fun and then instantly forget a lot of what happens there. Crazy stuff, great holiday.
And speaking of green, let's go back to the flooding situation. You see this area in green parts of the Northeast into parts of Virginia and West Virginia, those are your floods, watches and warnings. You had all the snowfall from a very strong winter system that came over there, several, in fact, over the winter season.
All that melting, because temperatures well above freezing, and then you have the snow pack that has melted, the ground is saturated. And 2 to 5 inches of rainfall possible for today, which is going to give you the flooding situation. And that's going to be a big danger not just for today but possibly for tomorrow.
(WEATHER REPORT)
HOLMES: Thanks, Rennie.
BALDWIN: Thanks, Reynolds.
HOLMES: We'll see you shortly.
BALDWIN: That's the new hand sign.
Have you taken a cab in New York City lately? Pretty much everyone has, right? Well, guess what, you may have been overcharged.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, a couple of the headlines we're keeping an eye on. Just in the past few hours that we learned that former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was admitted to a hospital in Seoul, South Korea. The state-run news agency reports that the 86-year-old Kissinger was admitted for minor stomach trouble.
BALDWIN: One day after twin suicide blasts killed at least 39 people in Pakistan, another one today. At least 13 people are dead, dozens more are injured. The violence comes as Pakistan cracks down on Taliban militants and today's attack was at a security check point near Angora, about five and a half hours north of Islamabad.
HOLMES: Well, the next time Calvin Coolidge Senior High School football team in D.C., hits the gridiron, a woman will be calling the plays from the sideline. Yes, the school has named Natalie Randolph, a former pro-football player, as the team's new head coach. Believed to be the only woman coaching a high school football team in the U.S.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why do you think it's taken so long for women to move into this role to become head football coaches?
NATALIE RANDOLPH, COOLIDGE HIGH SCHOOL HEAD COACH: Because women's football is fairly new in relation to how long men have been playing football. So, you know, it's a matter of time. And we -- as we get further along in the sport, you know, these type of things will come.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Now, a couple of the members of the board who are making a decision about hiring a new coach said it wasn't even close. She actually blew them away because so many coaches came in talking about Xs and Os. She came in talking about programs to help the school with mentoring and getting grades up. So, absolutely it was not even close. A sports advocacy group called the move historic. And, again, Randolph said being a woman really had nothing to do with her getting the job. She just blew them away.
BALDWIN: Yes, apparently she was a rock star track member ...
HOLMES: Yep.
BALDWIN: ... pro with the D.C. Divas. You go girl.
HOLMES: D.C. Divas, yes. A lot of people didn't realize this, but there is a pro woman's league out there.
BALDWIN: Yeah, I didn't realize.
HOLMES: She played for it. And I think it's still going in some cities, I believe.
BALDWIN: Some cities.
HOLMES: And one city, though, New York City, you've been there I'm sure a lot of you have and you probably took a cab ride. And you probably got taken for a ride in another way. Cabbies seriously overcharging you, and we do have a number now to know how much you've been overcharged.
BALDWIN: So over the past two years, what they've done, the city's taxi and limo commission said that cabbies overcharged riders- total, here-8 million bucks! What do they do? They switched -- they were sneaky, they switched the meter to double the rate. How did they figure out that these cabbies were actually doing this? GPS. It found more than 1.8 trips where passengers were charged the higher rate.
And I was looking, just trying to get a little more on this. And apparently to combat the overcharges, they're going to put this new system in the cabs so you know when you sit in the back of the New York cab, and they have the big screen, with some of the news. There'll be an alert if you're being double charged.
HOLMES: Cabbies were against some of the new rules, the GPS, I know they didn't like when they had to start using credit cards. Another way of monitoring that they didn't appreciate, maybe there was a reason.
BALDWIN: Checks and balances.
HOLMES: They didn't want those checks and balances, $8 million.
Well, we've got Reynolds Wolf coming up in just a second. Something we come to look forward to here on Saturday and Sunday morning, the weekend events with Renny.
BALDWIN: And this weekend, we have-sure we're doing this? Naked bike ride?
HOLMES: Naw, it is uncomfortable for guys to ride.
BALDWIN: We won't go there. And some other events if you want to actually keep your clothes on. Kind of my vote.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WOLF: That's actually me playing the lute.
BALDWIN: You're so talented. You can dance and sing.
WOLF: I can do it all. I can.
HOLMES: I got a note from one of our writers saying we're calling your wife to get your meds.
WOLF: You think so?
BALDWIN: Simmer down now, Reynolds.
WOLF: It is a good morning. This was a full pot of coffee this morning.
What you're hearing the beautiful sounds of some Irish music today. And fittingly so because it is, again, the day for the St. Patrick's Day parade in Chicago. Sure, it's going to be March 13th, but come on, it's the 17th here in Chicago.
At 11:30, is when they're going to have the-I guess it's called "The Dyeing" of the -- OK, The Dyeing. We have got a-not dying as in, you know, departing.
BALDWIN: Chicago expert in the studio. WOLF: He knows what I'm saying, exactly. Not only is it the one of the big things in Chicago, we also have the Rattlesnake Round- Up, that is going to be in Sweetwater, Texas. That gets underway, and it'll include the second largest cook-off in Texas.
BALDWIN: Cooking off, of the rattle ...
WOLF: I do believe they'll be serving the snakes.
BALDWIN: Wow.
WOLF: Not the ones you're going to be seeing, but they'll be serving some of them out there.
Also not to be forgotten. This is a big one too, The Naked Bike Ride. It is the World Naked Bike Ride today, in the southern hemisphere, June 12th in the Northern Hemisphere. It is an annual event to celebrate cycling and the human body. It demonstrates the vulnerability of bicycles on the road.
HOLMES: What?
BALDWIN: Why do you got to be naked?
WOLF: I don't know. Because to me it makes you even more vulnerable. Plus, if you're a dude, let's be honest here. And I know half the audience are guys and if you're driving around. You know how guys like to have the bicycle that has the center bar because the dude's bike, you brake too fast and you happen to be naked, and you move forward. You instantly go from becoming a bass to a soprano, in the choir. I mean, singing the high points of Ava Maria, becomes one of those really simple things.
But in a look at these three events, the St. Patrick's Day Parade, the Rattlesnake Round-Up, and the Naked Bike Ride, knowing that we are in a worldwide recession, why not combine all three of those parties in one place? Where you have naked people, snakes, and you have St. Patrick's Day in a central location like Austin, or something?
HOLMES: We'll send you live to cover that one.
BALDWIN: Yes, I'd like to see that, or maybe not.
WOLF: No other mention needed after something like that.
HOLMES: I think we've got some video to show, folks. I don't think it's of anybody riding a bike naked. I don't think we're going to have that video at all. But take a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(CAR TIRES SCREECHING, CRASH)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WOLF: Wow!
HOLMES: Yeah. We're showing it to you because we can tell you at least the police officer here is OK. But coming up next, we'll tell you exactly what was going on here.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right. Airline safety always a big concern. Most people think about airline safety as far as taking care of the planes, making sure they're up to snuff. Well, some of the risks associated with flying actually start with the air you breathe on the plane.
BALDWIN: How clear is that air? Allan Chernoff has been investigating the so-called fume events, affecting cabin air quality. Let's take a look at him as he tests the air quality on one particular plane.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Could the air onboard your next flight be toxic? Ventilation air comes through the engine, so an oil leak can result in engine oil mists containing neurotoxins to seep into the cabin.
(On camera): So we are going to test the air onboard this plane. I am turning the air monitor on, and for 90 minutes it will sample the air. Toxins in the air would leave residue on the surfaces of the cabin. So I am swabbing here to bring samples back to the laboratory so we can determine if indeed there have been any toxins in the air here.
CHRIS VAN NETTEN, TOXICOLOGIST, UNIV. OF BRITISH COLUMBIA: Let's have a look.
CHERNOFF (voice over): Toxicologist Chris Van Netten, at the University of British Columbia, has studied air quality onboard planes for years.
VAN NETTEN: We'll take this out, very carefully.
CHERNOFF: Van Netten places the air filter and alcohol swabs into test tubes. His research associate, Tim Ma, adds solvent to extract whatever chemicals our samples captured. And they also analyzed some of producer Laura Dolans's hair to see if it collected toxins from the seat back cushion.
Tim runs the resulting chemicals through a mass spectrometer, a device that measures molecular weight and chemical composition. The finding, our swabs of the air cabin surface do contain the neurotoxin tricresyl phosphate, known as TCP, which is in engine oil.
VAN NETTEN: It's the pattern that nails it down to the actual engine oil. Because this is the pattern you find in engine oil, and this is the pattern you find in the swab sample that you took from the aircraft.
CHERNOFF: Tim Ma (ph) has analyzed surface swabs from 40 different flights and says he almost always finds TCP.
(On camera): And on virtually all of them, you find it?
TIM MA, UNIV. OF BRITISH COLUMBIA: Pretty much so, yes. The wipes are at significant levels.
CHERNOFF (voice over): Significant, but not large. The biggest amount we found, 44 billionth of a gram, not enough to have any health consequences. Our air samples do not show any traces of TCP, that means toxic residue has collected on the surface of the cabin from either a prior fume event, or from gradual continual accumulation of toxins.
VAN NETTEN: There is a fair amount of remnant material floating around literally in the ventilation system, this comes out on a regular basis. And that's what you are measuring.
CHERNOFF (on camera): So even if the flight you are on has not had a fume event, there are toxic fumes in that ventilation system, and it's coming out?
VAN NETTEN: That is exactly the case.
CHERNOFF (voice over): Van Netten explains, his research shows that when engines are shut down some oil can leak overnight. When a plane starts up in the morning, a mist of oil can spread through the cabin.
(On camera): You don't want to be the very first person on the plane in the morning when they turn it on?
VAN NETTEN: That's what pilots are. Pilots are the ones that turn on the engine.
CHERNOFF: Laura's hair shows traces of TCP as well, though only one trillionth of a gram.
(On camera): Her hair probably picked it up from the seat, right?
VAN NETTEN: Yes.
CHERNOFF: Right? That would say to us, when you get off that plane, you should take a shower probably, right?
VAN NETTEN: You should take a shower anyways.
CHERNOFF (on camera): The two leading manufacturers, Boeing and Airbus, which both use the same ventilation system, acknowledged fume events can occur. But they say the system provides good and safe cabin air quality. Again, Chris Van Netten says the amount of toxins we found on the cabin interior are not going to cause health problems. The people at greatest risk are those who actually work onboard the plane, the pilots and flight attendants.
Van Netten says crews should be equipped with air monitors so they can measure toxicity levels, especially if there were to be a fume event.
Allan Chernoff, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(MUSIC)
HOLMES: Hey there, everybody. From the CNN Center in Atlanta, Georgia, this is CNN SATURDAY MORNING for this March the 13th. I'm T.J. Holmes.
BALDWIN: Good morning, I'm Brooke Baldwin.
Got a lot going on, including big story we're covering for you. We're talking coffee, not just because we're drinking it this morning, because a lot of people are raising their cup of coffee this morning. They're talking politics. This is a big new movement. It's called the Coffee Party.
Today is the official kickoff, if you will. People are drinking coffee, talking politics throughout the country this morning.
HOLMES: Yes, I know what you're thinking. We're just talking about tea. But we're talking about coffee this time.
So, who exactly are these folks? What do they want? We'll be breaking down the Coffee Party for you.
Also this morning, talking about President Obama. He's saying students in this country are losing ground when it comes to math and science. Not happy with our educational system and says we're falling behind other countries -- something you heard him say before. But he's talking about it again this morning in his weekly Web address.
BALDWN: We get to those stories in just a moment. But first, some of the top stories from overnight.
Just in this morning. The former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was admitted to a South Korean hospital today. The country's state-run news agency is reporting the 86-year-old Kissinger was admitted for minor stomach troubles. We'll let you know if anything develops or his condition changes throughout this Saturday morning.
HOLMES: And flood warnings in effect in parts of western Pennsylvania. Melting snow and days of rain creating serious run-off for area creeks and waterways. Pittsburgh's mayor has declared a state of emergency. The Ohio River could reach the flood stage by tomorrow morning.
BALDWIN: And as we mentioned, this brand new political movement started on Facebook wants you to wake up, join the Coffee Party. Organizers are launching this national kickoff today, planning hundreds of events at coffee shops throughout the country.
And here's what they want you to know: This brew movement, if you will, has a different taste for politics than the more conservative Tea Party. Coffee Party activists say their goal is to change Washington by pushing for civility and cooperation within the government.
HOLMES: Take a look now at what happened to a rookie cop in Kansas City. He was OK, I should tell you, but that was him on the ground there. A 24-year-old police officer is rolling on the ground after being hit.
He had just pulled over -- check this out -- pulled over one suspected drunk driver. So who hit him? A second drunk driver plowed into them. Both drivers now hauled in. One, of course, is facing a few more charges than the other.
The police officer ended up with a few cuts and bruises, but otherwise he is OK.
Let's turn back to what we mentioned a moment ago, education reform. On Monday, the Obama administration will send Congress its blueprint on educating kids today for careers tomorrow. The president talked about it this morning in his weekly radio address.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, WHITE HOUSE VIDEO)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Our prosperity in the 20th century was fuelled by an education system that helped grow the middle class and unleash the talents of our people more fully and widely than in any time in our history.
We built schools and focused on the teaching of math and science. We helped a generation of veterans go to college through the G.I. Bill. We led the globe in producing college graduates and in turn we led in producing ground-breaking technologies and scientific discoveries that lifted living standards and set us apart as the world's engine of innovation.
Of course, other nations recognize this and are looking to gain an edge in the global marketplace by investing in better schools and supporting teachers and committing to clear standards that will produce graduates with more skills. Our competitors understand that the nation that out-educates us today will out-compete us tomorrow. Yet too often we fail to make inroads in reforming and strengthening our public education system.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: The president also said what matters to the country isn't what happens to the next election, but what we do to lift up the next generation.
BALDWIN: Well, speaking of education ...
HOLMES: Yes.
BALDWIN: ... some states are really taking this issue seriously when it comes to the call for reforming education. HOLMES: Yes. Good place to start looking, Kansas City, Missouri, where you have heard a lot about them the past couple of days. That dramatic move aimed at improving student performance when school district now deciding to shut down about half of its schools. Here's what teachers and students are saying in our sound of the week.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm asking you today to do is to give our children justice.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need to do something very radical to make sure that our financial and human resources are being used in a way that's going to assure that young people are getting the kind of education that they need.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I have nothing. I don't even have a high school legacy at all. I'm nothing. I have nothing to go back to.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's making a courageous decision, a bold decision, a decision that needs to be made.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I deserve a right to be able to make a rational choice based on facts. We haven't seen any facts based on student achievement.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you don't think that the rest of the world is beating our behinds in the academic arms race, think of the following, go to the doctor and see where your doctor comes from. And if that doesn't work, call tech support for your IBM or your Mac, and see who you call. But you're not going to call somebody from here because we're losing.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Closing schools and making the remaining schools stronger academically is unquestionably the right thing to do.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is actually one of the best things we could be doing for kids in our country today because we -- for far too long, we have tolerated not just mediocrity but failure.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have an 8-year-old and a 6-year-old that will be going to school with 12th graders. And I find that to be very inappropriate, very inappropriate. I don't feel like my children are going to be safe.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were spreading ourselves far too thin, facing a $50 million deficit. And if we didn't do something to take our school district off that trajectory, we could've easily gone into bankruptcy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm really sad. It's a great school and my son has had a lot of success here. It's a great learning environment.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: In many districts, their obsession with keeping every school open despite declining student population results in educational services being delivered in a much more inefficient manner. If your population has dropped 30 percent to 40 percent, at some point, you've got to consolidate schools.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Those who have aided and abetted in the economic demise of the urban core, you will be remembered.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Employees of the schools are not speaking up. We're in a dire financial situation. And they're going to need to be some significant cuts.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Buildings don't count, children do.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is just as scandalous if not more so than a public school system to fail to adequately educate children and as a result of that relegate them to a life of poverty that their families have been in for three or four generations. And that's unacceptable.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: All right. I want to turn to Iraq -- elections there. We still don't know the results of them, but the vote count is 24-hour process right now. Eighteen provinces voting but seven have announced early results in the voting for parliament.
Our Arwa Damon now takes us inside and tells us about this around-the-clock counting process.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Behind the glass here is where the most important part of the process is taking place. It's the data entry center, 500 employees working in two shifts around-the-clock.
The data is entered twice so that should there be a discrepancy, it will be flagged up. In fact, there are all sorts of checks and balances put in place to ensure against fraud or any sort of manipulation. And also, the United Nations is keeping a very close eye on this entire process.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: All right. And that was our Arwa Damon. Now, we want to bring her in live now.
Arwa, good morning to you. I want you to first remind our viewers here in the U.S. why this election is important to the U.S. And also, give us -- I guess just the latest about these numbers coming in, and any indication that there will be a new administration there for the Obama administration to deal with?
DAMON: Well, good morning, T.J. To address your first question, the bottom line is that what happens after these elections, the type of government that forms is really going to serve to determine the kind of country that Iraq becomes. Does it become a more secular nation? Democratic, if that's what we want to call it, friendly towards the west, or does it shift towards being religious conservative and even more pro-Iranian than it is right now? And either way, you also have the factor that if the government that emerges is not accepted by all, there will be more violence because we do know that this is fundamentally a very violent nation. And all of that directly impacts U.S. troop withdrawal.
And now, quickly, to update you on results, we do now have results for Baghdad. This is only based on 17 percent of the tally. However, it does show that Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's State of Law coalition is in the lead. Remember, he's running on a nationalistic platform, trying to portray himself as the man who brought security and stability to Iraq.
Second place for Baghdad is the Iraqi National Alliance. That is the alliance that is dominated by the country's main Shiite religious parties and it is directly backed by Iran. And then in third, we have a secular line up, Iraqiya, headed by former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi.
But we caution that these numbers could change because it really depends on which voting centers they've been tallying at this state. So, it is a bit premature to determine exactly who may have won the prize Baghdad, T.J.
HOLMES: All right. And one more thing before we let you go quickly here -- you just mentioned there could be more violence if the results aren't accepted by all. There have been some accusations out there already about possible fraud. But have those things been so widespread that we could see results that aren't accepted by everybody? And, I guess, in more of a widespread way?
DAMON: Well, T.J., that really is at the very core of everyone's concern here. Look, the blocs that bringing forward these allegations of fraud, of perhaps miscalculation, of manipulation of the tally, they are among the frontrunners here and this is a very tight race. And it just gives you an idea of just how tense and bitter to a certain degree the atmosphere is here.
The problem is that anything that is going to throw the outcome of these elections into question is actually going to probably highly likely end up resulting in some sort of violence. There are already groups who are outside of the current political process that are saying that if they're not happy with the way the government emerges in their perspective, as sectarian as this one, they're going to resort to more violence, as well.
Remember, democracy, still this whole concept, is very young here. This is still a nation where people are much more accustomed to battling out their political disputes at gunpoint and by using bombs -- T.J.
HOLMES: All right. Arwa Damon for us -- covering the election now, almost a week after those elections. Arwa, we appreciate you as always.
Bringing our Reynolds Wolf now for a quick moment. We're going to be talking to him a lot this morning about still and it seems like always severe weather, Reynolds.
WOLF: Yes, I know. This is of different flavor. You know, the last couple of weeks, we've been talking about, of course, some winter weather. We've been talking about the heavy snow.
Well, a lot of the snow in the northeast is gone. Temperatures expected to go up into the 40s and 50s today. Everything is going to melt. The ground is saturated.
Now, we have the potential of heavy rain. And with that rain, we could see some flooding.
Coming up: we're going to let you know what places might get hit hardest. That's coming up in a few moments.
BALDWIN: Reynolds, thank you. Also, we know times have been tight. Let's say you own a home. You can't quite afford your mortgage, but you don't want to go into foreclosure. What do you do? There's a new program that will actually pay you to move out. Clyde Anderson is here to explain.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right. Reynolds, we've got some issues. I'm not sure where to start with the issues.
We've got issues in Florida. We've just seen with the two tornadoes that have been confirmed down there. A little damage, but nothing -- no major injuries. That's good to hear.
But now, we got a flooding situation going in Pennsylvania. That's the main area we're going to be talking about?
WOLF: Yes. I mean, you got clean up in Florida and then you have the potential disaster that could come in parts of Pennsylvania, New York, even over to New Jersey, maybe even Massachusetts before all is said and done.
HOLMES: How long are we talking about they're going to be under the gun? We're seeing some video here now of some of this flooding situation. The Pittsburgh mayor even has declared a state of emergency right now. But how long under the gun?
WOLF: Well, right now, we got the flood watch that's going to be in effect until about tomorrow morning. I think we're at 9:00 local time. Problem is, though, if you have flooding, of course, those can always be extended by the local national weather service offices.
But it was that so much snowfall in parts of the northeast, record-setting snow, all that is melting. So you've got the ground that's completely saturated. You think of the sponge, you fill that with water and you put more on it, it runs off. That's the situation today.
HOLMES: Now, if the snow wasn't there and they were just getting the rain that they are getting, would this be enough? WOLF: Non-event.
HOLMES: Non-event.
WOLF: It makes all the difference. It makes all the difference. The saturation is really going to be the key. And that's a good point you bring up. And it could be a big problem for a lot of people.
Right now, another place where you could see some issues would be Washington, D.C. T.J., we've got a nice shot there of the Capitol -- kind of an interesting shot. Look at that. You got the flag right there in the foreground, you see the wind's blowing obviously. In the background, the Capital dome.
And there's the fog, the mist that we've got. And that mist is going to get traded for some heavier rainfall that will be possible today. And the big player, the big weather player for this is all of this area of low pressure that continues to sweep its way up of the eastern seaboard.
This really is going to be the big kicker that we have for a good part of the day. It's all going to bring some heavy rainfall and the potential flooding, but also windy conditions. So any flights you have, maybe at LaGuardia, maybe at JFK, or any of your -- any of the airports up at D.C., maybe Reagan National, you might have a few issues to deal with today.
In terms of the flooding, take a look at the areas that we have here on this map. Everything you see that is shaded by dark or even light green, that's where you have your warnings, your watches, your advisories. Two to 5 inches of rainfall expected today. And we're looking at that not only for places like Philadelphia, but Scott, our photojournalist here is right here from the Pittsburgh area, actually Altoona, yes, you could see some heavy rainfall there today.
And with that in mind, here's the big reason why we're going to see of it because of those warm temperatures in the 50s and into the 40s melting all the snow and the additional rainfall saturate conditions.
We've got a big forecast for you coast-to-coast. We're going to share it with you throughout the morning.
Stay tuned, but now let's wrap it up and send it back to the anchors at the desk.
HOLMES: All right.
BALDWIN: Thanks, Reynolds.
WOLF: You bet, guys.
HOLMES: Thank you, buddy.
BALDWIN: We've been talking a lot about the struggling home market, making it very difficult for people, really, across the country, do a lot of things, but in particular, sell your house, even if you're willing to take that sale at a loss.
HOLMES: Yes, some help, may be on the way. A new federal plan essentially pays people to get out of their homes. A quarter past the hour, right after the break, we've got our housing expert coming up to explain this one.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Got some news for you right now out of Iraq. Just a couple of minutes ago, our own Arwa Damon was reporting that Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki's coalition is now in the lead in Baghdad's voting precincts. Iraq's election commission has 500 workers going all through these ballots that were cast.
HOLMES: All right. You heard a lot of talk about the Tea Party, now, the Coffee Party. Organizers hope to establish more chapters today at coffee houses around the country. Coffee Party activists say they want to promote cooperation with the government.
BALDWIN: And word just in this morning, former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was admitted to a South Korean hospital today. The country's state-run news agency is reporting the 86-year-old Kissinger was admitted for some kind of minor stomach troubles. But as soon as we hear any update in his condition, we'll pass that along to you -- right here on CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
HOLMES: All right.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right. A lot of people trying to sell their homes, kind of impossible when you're upside down the way a lot of people are. Well, how about if you got a little help? If you got a check -- a $1,500 check to get you out of that home?
The Obama administration wants to now pay people to get out of their homes, to sell their homes. In less than a month now, homeowners facing the possibility of foreclosure may sell their house through a short sale and get paid to relocate.
Our financial analyst Clyde Anderson is here this morning to explain how you can take advantage of this program.
Remind just a quick update. Remind people what a short sale is, in the first place.
CLYDE ANDERSON, FINANCE EXPERT: Short sale is, it's actually when you're upside down on your house. Meaning, that you owe more in that house than the house can sell for in an open market right. So, say for example, you know, if your $150,000 home, meaning $150,000 loan on it, and it only can sell for $130,000 based on the comparables in the neighborhood, you're going upside down and you need some help, or you're going to take a big loss.
HOLMES: All right. So, the short sale. Now, how common are these in the first place, the short sale right now? ANDERSON: Actually, they've become more and more common.
HOLMES: OK.
ANDERSON: Banks are being inundated with them and that's part of the issue. They've gotten so many and taken banks so long -- a lot of times somebody will have a seller and the seller end up walking away because they can't wait that long for bank's approval.
HOLMES: Now, we're hearing from the federal government, Obama administration is trying to do so much to help people stay in their homes. Now, we've got a program to help you get you out of them.
ANDERSON: Right.
HOLMES: All right. So, explain how you qualify for this thing in the first place.
ANDERSON: Pretty much how you qualify, you have to have purchased your home before 2009.
HOLMES: OK.
ANDERSON: Your gross debt to income ratio is more than 31 percent, the house has to be under $729,000 -- those are pretty much the requirements. And it really looks like that you're not going to be able to make that mortgage payment, like foreclosure is pretty much inevitable. You pretty much qualify for it.
HOLMES: OK. Now, the trick here is going to -- I mean, how does this program incentivize a lender to go ahead and do a short sale? Because they are taking a loss, as well.
ANDERSON: Right. And, you know, the whole of making home affordable program, the modification piece came out last year, and that has not gained enough traction. So these are the people that have not been able to qualify for that, are now open for this option.
And so, what they're doing is giving lenders $1,000 incentive to do the program, plus if you have a second mortgage in place, which they weren't doing before, they were offering them $1,000 as well to say, come on, let's go ahead and let's do the short sale and let's get something instead of nothing.
HOLMES: You can see the look on my face when I hear that, and a lot of people going to hear this, as well. A thousand bucks, if you've got a $200,000 home, you owe that much on it ...
ANDERSON: Right.
HOLMES: ... maybe it's worth $130,000. What incentive if the government throws $1,000 here or $1,000 there at a lender, what is going to be the incentive for them to jump into this program and take that loss?
ANDERSON: What they're hoping is the volume, because again, there are a lot of them out there.
HOLMES: The volume.
ANDERSON: You know, we're talking about millions and millions of foreclosures. So, when you think about that, you know, that $1,000 will actually add up for a servicer to give them an additional incentive. I mean, you think about it -- foreclosure's going to cost more than actually to get this house off the books.
HOLMES: All right. What is -- and there's got to be a one -- what's the downside for people actually short-selling their home? What's the downside to a lot of people always concerned about their credit, first of all?
ANDERSON: Right. That's big. You're going to take a big hit.
HOLMES: A big hit?
ANDERSON: It's almost like a foreclosure on your credit.
HOLMES: So, it would be just as big a foreclosure?
ANDERSON: It's going to read probably as a pre-foreclosure, a lot of times how it showed up. But a lot of times, it can drop your credit score 100 or 200 points.
HOLMES: Wow.
ANDERSON: So, it's a hurt, but it's an alternative and it's way to get out of the house instead of having go to that whole foreclosure procedure.
HOLMES: And last thing quickly -- the $1,500 we're talking about.
ANDERSON: Yes.
HOLMES: It's going to come -- a lot of people think, oh, what this, some tax refunds, tax rebate I got to wait on?
ANDERSON: No, they're giving money directly to you. It's $1,500, and relocation expenses. So, they're really giving you some money to help you move, you know, and get out of that property, and have a smooth transition if you can have a smooth transition at that point.
HOLMES: $1,500 won't pay for two guys and a truck to move you out of the place sometimes. But, you know, that's something, and that's something else for people to look into. It's another option at least. That's great.
Clyde, good to see you.
ANDERSON: Glad to see you. Welcome back and congratulations.
HOLMES: Thank you, thank you, thank you. Clyde, of course, here with us every Saturday. He's here to answer your financial question. You can send e-mails to us. To our -- we haven't corrected that graphic yet. Can we straighten Clyde up on that graphic please?
His Web site, FinancialLifeConnection.com -- Brooke.
BALDWIN: Yes, I like that. He's kind of like -- yes.
All right, guys. This morning, it's all about a cup of coffee with a cause. We're talking about this Coffee Party. It's a grassroots movement. It's being billed as an answer to the Tea Party. And they're gathering all over coffee houses across the country today.
So, who are they? What do they want? What's their mission?
All of that coming up in the next hour of CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC)
BALDWIN: So, we told you this morning about the story out of Mississippi. This Mississippi high school is essentially canceling this prom because one of the students, a girl, wants to take another girl to prom and she also wanted to wear a tux. The school is saying no way. ACLU is suing.
I got a couple of Twitter responses I just want to share with you. The first one from Laqbobby, "I think they should be allowed to go as a couple. This is 2010, right?" Wealthdocinternational says, "A truly stupid response by school officials." And newsjunky365, "The school is being ridiculous. Why are they punishing their students when no crime has been committed? It's 2010."
HOLMES: And just about everybody on my Facebook and Twitter sites are echoing that same sentiment.
BALDWIN: Yes, I tried to find something on the other side, but I got nothing so far.
HOLMES: All right. Well, we will be sharing more. Please continue to share with us. Brooke and I will be back at the top of the hour with more top stories when CNN SATURDAY MORNING continues.
BALDWIN: But for now, "SANJAY GUPTA, M.D." starts now.
