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CNN Saturday Morning News
Coffee Party Kicks Off Today; Kansas City, Missouri Closing Almost Half of Their Schools; Counting the Votes in Iraq
Aired March 13, 2010 - 08:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Hey, there, everybody, from the CNN Center, this is CNN SATURDAY MORNING on this March 13, 8:00 a.m. in Atlanta, Georgia as we watched the sunrise a little bit earlier today. (INAUDIBLE) out there in Atlanta. I think it might be a little rainy here.
BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: A little rainy, I think so. It's TV magic, the sun rising, pretty pictures. Think it will rain. It was nice last week (INAUDIBLE) rain this weekend. Good morning, everyone. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thank you for starting your Saturday with us.
One of the bigger stories we're covering, we talked tea, now, we're talking coffee as in the new coffee parties. It's this grass roots movement. I think the founder was kind of saying it's an answer, maybe an alternative to the tea party. And all these people, they're gathering coast to coast in coffee shops to drink a little coffee and talk politics.
HOLMES: So we're going to break it down for you today, explain exactly who they are, what the mission is, have somebody in live from the coffee party to talk about what they're trying to do. That's coming up a little later. Plus, the president talking education today. He says American students losing ground in math and science. It's something he's said before.
Meanwhile, schools across the nation struggling to make ends meet. Kansas City, Missouri, a good example, closing almost half their schools. Still to come, more on the school closings in the president's weekly radio and web address.
BALDWIN: And for now, let's take a quick look at some of the top stories. Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger was admitted to the hospital in Seoul, South Korea today for what's been described as minor stomach troubles. Kissinger, 86 years of age. He is in Seoul for some kind of security forum.
HOLMES: The National Weather Service says it wasn't one but actually two tornadoes that touched down Thursday night in Polk County, Florida. A lot of that damage concentrated in a condominium resort outside Hayne (ph) City. Four units destroyed, another 20 damaged. Only minor injuries to report however.
BALDWIN: Counts the votes in Iraq. We know it's a 24 hour job. Iraq's election commission has 500 workers going through these things, ballots were cast last weekend and within just this past hour, we learned from CNN's Arwa Damon that Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki's coalition is now in the lead in several of Baghdad's voting precincts.
HOLMES: It was tea. Now, we're talking coffee. A new political movement that bills itself as an alternative to the tea party officially kicking off today. They said they want action, not rhetoric, in DC. Our deputy political director (INAUDIBLE) here on CNN SATURDAY and SUNDAY MORNING, Paul Steinhauser. He joins us.
Now, Paul, is Paul there? There he is. Good morning. Paul, I guess you were probably having a sip of coffee or tea or juice or something probably this morning. Everybody seems to be on this morning beverage kick. So what exactly are we supposed to see today?
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: The coffee party says that today's their big kind of national kickoff. They say they're going to hold about 300 to 400 events T.J. at coffee shops and tea shops I guess across the country. They've had some already in various cities across the country over the last two months, but today is kind of their coordinated, big event, 350 to 400. We're going to be at one of them right here in Washington to gauge to see how powerful this movement is.
HOLMES: All right. We saw all the tea party movement. Many people in their minds, feel like they're aligned with Republicans in a lot of ways. At least they have a lot of conservative stance on a lot of issues. So, is this supposed to be now the liberal answer, the party that's now aligned with Democrats, this coffee party?
STEINHAUSER: That seems to be a pretty fair description. The tea party is generally more conservative. This seems to be more of a progressive or liberal alternative to the tea party. They have some of the same grievances that the tea party members do. They both believe that the Federal government isn't responsive to you and me and average citizens and they want to fix Washington, but that's where they kind of differ in where they want to go.
They want to fix the Federal government, the coffee party and make it work for Americans. They don't want to downsize it, where as the tea party movement is more of a much smaller government. They want less big government, less Federal government. So they kind of differ on the goals. They have the same grievances T.J.
HOLMES: They're calling themselves grass roots as well. They got started on Facebook.
STEINHAUSER: They sure did. I spoke to Annabelle Park. You mentioned her. She's a DC-area woman said talked to her last week. She said it all started back in the beginning of the year. She was frustrated with the mainstream media's coverage of the tea party. She thought there was much to much of that. She started talking about it on Facebook, people started responding to her. She started a fan club. Now, they're at over 115,000 fans on her Facebook page. So it has definitely grown online T.J..
HOLMES: But there's 100,000 plus fans on Facebook is one thing, but are they going to grow to something that can actually be influential? STEINHAUSER: That is the question mark. Today will be a very big test to see if this movement really is going to have legs. Remember, it's way too early. We're only two months into this to say if this is going to be another tea party movement on the left. I think we're going to have today's first big test. What does the tea party say about the coffee party? This is interesting as well T.J.
They are a little critical. I spoke to a couple of tea party activists and organizers and they say they don't think the coffee party is organic or grass roots. They think it's actually from the top down and they also criticize Annabelle Park. They say that she was a volunteer for the Barack Obama in 2007 and '08 and they say that basically this is a response to the tea party. She admits she was on the campaign, that she volunteered for the Obama campaign, but she says the coffee party is not in line with the Democrats or the Republicans T.J.
HOLMES: Oh, goodness. Coffee, tea. If they start a mimosa party, I am all in. Paul, good to see you buddy. We're going to be talking to you again this morning.
BALDWIN: Now for a check-up on health care reform. Here's the deal. Both houses of Congress have agreed to move toward a vote and we're hearing a final vote could happen within 10 days, but House Democrats seem to be softening a tad to let the public review this final health care overhaul package online 24 hours. That's before it votes. Majority Leader Steny Hoyer says they will give the public as much notice as possible and that the proposed House and Senate bills have been online actually for 2 1/2 months. You can check it out.
President Obama and the Democratic leadership, they're expressing a pretty high level of confidence. I think Nancy Pelosi was saying she was exhilarated yesterday over health care reform. As for Republicans, not too much and they're turning to their newly minted Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown to apply the brakes here. He is making his big debut this morning, delivering his first Republican response to the president's weekly radio and Internet address.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. SCOTT BROWN (R) MASSACHUSETTS: To many members of Congress, the time for choosing is near. Do what the party leadership demands or do what the people have asked you to do. If my colleagues don't mind a bit of advice from a newcomer, I'd suggest going with the will of the people. After all, from the very beginning of this debate, the American people have called it (INAUDIBLE).
In every part of the country, Republicans and Democrats have agreed on serious, straightforward, common sense health care reform. They expect us in Washington to do the same, working together, acting fairly and by the rules and staying focused on the need to make the American economy as strong as it can be.
That is the business that brought me here on an unexpected journey to Washington and it's the responsibility of everyone sent here to serve our country. We can do better. And I challenge my colleagues and the president to do just that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: We'll be seeing him plenty I'm sure over the coming days, weeks and months.
Coming up next here, we're going to talk about one city's extremes. The city's troubled school district taking some drastic steps to ensure it's not failing its students and that includes cutting about half, closing can you believe this, half of their schools. Talking about Kansas City.
BALDWIN: Schools from Kansas City to Kansas, some people may think they're not in Kansas anymore. We'll explain.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: When you think of Florida, you think of sunshine, but they weren't seeing a lot of sunshine. Not one, but two tornadoes touching down Thursday night in Polk County.
HOLMES: Four condo units, you're seeing them here outside Hayne City were destroyed, another 23 damaged. Only a couple of minor injuries to report.
BALDWIN: But meteorologist Reynolds Wolf in the CNN severe weather center tracking the big story today, flood advisories. It was southeast, now moving up northeast.
(WEATHER REPORT)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Overhaul and no child left behind. Today in his weekly Internet radio address, President Obama says Monday, he's sending lawmakers a blueprint to update the elementary and secondary education act.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Under these guidelines, school that achieve excellence or show real progress will be rewarded and local districts will be encouraged to commit to change and schools that are clearly letting their students down. For the majority of schools that fall in between, schools that do well, but could do better, we will encourage continuous improvement to help keep our young people on track for a bright future prepared for the jobs of 21st century.
And because the most important factor in a child's success is the person standing in the front of a classroom, we will better prepare teachers, support teachers and encourage teachers to stay in the field. In short, we'll treat the people who educate our sons and daughters like the professionals they are. Through this plan, we are setting an ambitious goal. All students should graduate from high school prepared for a college and a career no matter who you are or where you come from. Achieving this goal will be difficult. It will take time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: President Obama says the nation that out educates us today will out compete us tomorrow.
BALDWIN: Some of you parents may have first hand knowledge of this. The rescission, having a pretty big impact on some of the nation's schools. In fact one school district in Kansas City, Missouri, taking drastic steps here. Its governing board ready to close almost half its schools at the end of this school year and cut 700 jobs. Reaction now from both sides of the equation in our sound of the week.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm asking you today to do is to give our children justice.
SUPT. JOHN COVINGTON, KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI SCHOOL DISTRICT: 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.
PRINCE JONES, WESTPORT HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR: I don't even have a high school legacy. I have nothing to go back to.
SUPT. PAUL VALLAS, RECOVERY SCHOOL DISTRICT: 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 fact. We haven't seen anything based on student achievement.
STEVE PERRY, CNN EDUCATION CONTRIBUTOR: If you don't think 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 for you Mac and see who you call. (INAUDIBLE) because we're losing.
COVINGTON: Closing schools and making the remaining schools much stronger academically is unquestionably the right thing to do.
JEANNE ALLEN, PRES., CENTER FOR EDUCATION REFORM: It is actually one of the best things we could be doing for kids in our country today because we've (INAUDIBLE) we have tolerated not just mediocrity, but failure.
DENEICIA WILLIAMS, PARENT OF STUDENT: I have a eight-year-old and a six-year-old that will be going to school with a 12th grader and I find that to be very inappropriate, very inappropriate. I don't feel like my children be safe.
COVINGTON: We were spreading ourselves far too thin, facing a $50 million deficit. If we didn't do something to take our school district off that trajectory, we could have easily gone into bankruptcy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm really sad. It's a great school. My son has had a lot of success here. It's a great learning environment.
VALLAS: 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 you're population has dropped 30 to 40 percent, at some point you've got to consolidate schools.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE) economic demise are the urban core, you will be remembered.
PERRY: Employees of the schools are not speaking up. We're in a dire financial situation and there are going to need to be some significant cuts.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Buildings don't count. Children do.
COVINGTON: It is just the scandal if not more so than a public school district 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. That's unacceptable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: I want to pass along a few headlines to you now. Two months now after Haiti's deadly earthquake, there are new health concerns for the thousands in camps around the capital of Port-au- Prince. Humanitarian groups say the nation's upcoming rainy season poses greater sanitation issues. More than half a million people are living in makeshift tent cities.
BALDWIN: Speaking of rain, flood warnings now in effect for four different counties in western Pennsylvania. Melting snow and days of rain there creating serious concerns with some of the runoff. In fact they're keeping a close eye on the streams, the creeks, the rivers. A state of emergency has been declared in Pittsburgh in advance of the Ohio River possibly reaching flood stage sometime by tomorrow morning.
HOLMES: Authorities say actor Corey Haim had a fraudulent prescription when he died that was linked to a major drug ring. The California attorney general's office says it's trying to find out how the former '80s teen star got that prescription. Haim died Wednesday at the age of 38. The exact cause not yet determined. Haim's mother now asking for donations from fans to help with transporting his body back to his native (INAUDIBLE) .
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right. What would make a city want to change its name? They're doing it to actually try to bring in a particular company. What company could make a city want to change its name? How about Google? Take a listen here first of all to exactly what Google is offering.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN KELLY, PRODUCT MANAGER, GOOGLE: We plan to provide fiber to the home service with speeds up to one gigabit per second for at least 50,000 and potentially up to 500,000 people. In the selected locations, we'll offer Internet connections up to 100 times faster than many Americans have access to today and at competitive prices.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Let's bring in our business, not our business, but our tech guru, Mario Armstrong. Got him mixed up here for a second. He was talking about a giga something. Now tell us first of all, break this down. A lot of cities right now are vying for this to come into their city. We're talking about Topeka, Kansas, they change their name to Google, Kansas, temporarily to try to get Google in. But again explain to us what exactly Google is going to do in whatever community it goes to.
MARIO ARMSTRONG, TECHNOLOGY COMMENTATOR: So the bottom line here T.J. is they want to create a new infrastructure for the Internet and make it super fast so 100 times faster than what you're currently used to today and possibly add cheaper rates.
And so what this could mean is people across the country could have a faster Internet connection, could do new types of applications that we can't even think about, things like downloading an HD movie takes hours now. That could be done in less than five minutes. Or a rural health clinic could stream out high resolution 3-D medical images to Johns Hopkins University specialists in Baltimore.
HOLMES: And we're talking about this like -- I mean cities are vying for this like it's their Olympic bid. We talked about the one city changing its name temporarily, but what else are cities out there doing (INAUDIBLE) ?
ARMSTRONG: People in St. Louis are bidding for this, Buffalo, as you mentioned Topeka, Kansas, all the way Seattle. Everyone across the country really is trying to vie their city for this opportunity. In Baltimore, they created a website called bmorefiber.com. They created a Facebook page, YouTube, Twitter.
They even have a text messaging campaign by a local company there called best of mobile (ph). So they're going all out. Cities across the country really see this as a significant economic development opportunity. It could create jobs and new technologies that can make things change in the city of Baltimore and other cities across the country.
HOLMES: You mentioned Baltimore. I know you talked to the mayor there and again, they went all out. They even have a Google czar to try to get Google in. Let's just listen to the mayor right quick and I'll talk to you about it on the other side.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR STEPHANIE RAWLINGS-BLAKE, BALTIMORE: I wanted to make sure that we had a point person that could work with all of our stakeholders, that would work with the city. My economic development arm of government is working on this application, but I also wanted someone with a tech background that was well respected in the tech community to help us pull all of those pieces together to make sure that we had a fantastic application for Google.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: All right, we understand, mayors, cities, they want it. But what about just the average Joe out there on the street, somebody in their community. Are they going to want this as well? What would it mean to bring in a big company like Google?
ARMSTRONG: Well let me ask you T.J.. Are you happy with your Internet service? Most Americans are not happy with their current Internet service. Some lack competition. They feel like there's not enough choice and one of the things that's different about this Google service and residents understand this, if they get the service in their area, Google is making it open so that other companies and other organizations could use that backbone to deliver other services. So in fact, it can create more competition, more choice and better Internet access connectivity and every resident wants that.
HOLMES: That sounds great, faster and cheaper. We all like that. When will we know? When does this contest happen (ph), they're going to announce?
ARMSTRONG: I'm holding the requests for information right here. It's a pretty big document that cities have to fill out with grass root organizers. This is March 26th is when this has to be filled out and sent in to Google and then they'll start making their choices as to a few trial locations across the country that they'll pick.
HOLMES: But we don't know the announcement time. That's in by March 26thh but we don't know exactly when their announcement might be soon thereafter.
ARMSTRONG: Soon thereafter, I'll get the scoop and make sure we deliver it right here.
HOLMES: And as always, that's why we have you here, our tech guy, Mario Armstrong, always giving us the scoop. He does that for us every single week right here on CNN SATURDAY MORNING so be sure to tune in for that. Quick break. We are right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Hey there everybody. Welcome back to the CNN SATURDAY MORNING. I'm T.J. Holmes.
BALDWIN: Good morning. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thanks for starting your day with us. It is March 13th. Got a lot going on, but first want to get you caught up on some of the top stories keeping our eye on for you, including this one. Former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger admitted to a hospital in Seoul, South Korea today for what's being described as minor stomach troubles. Kissinger is 86 years of age. He is in Seoul for a security forum.
HOLMES: A Federal court says there's not enough evidence linking autism in children to mercury in vaccines. This ruling means that families of children diagnosed with the illness won't be entitled to any compensation. Congress set up a special committee in 1986 to address claims over vaccine safety. Attorneys for the families say they will appeal this ruling.
BALDWIN: You are about to hear a whole lot more about this movement. This is a new political movement wanting you to wake up and join the Coffee Party. Heard of it? Organizers are launching this national kickoff today. And they're holding it to coffee shops from coast to coast. Coffee party activists say their goal, to change Washington by pushing for civility and cooperation within the government.
HOLMES: Well, this morning, nine provinces in Iraq have announced results in the voting for parliament. The vote count is a 24-hour process; it's been going on since the voting on Sunday. Our Arwa Damon tells us about the round the clock count.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARWA DAMON, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): 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 out.
In fact, there are all sorts of checks and balances put in to place to insure against fraud or any sort of manipulations. And also, the United Nations is keeping a very close eye on this entire process.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: And that was our Arwa Damon reporting from inside where some of the counting was going on.
She joins us now live.
Arwa, here we are all those days after the actual Election Day. Have we seen enough of the results trickle in that we're get an idea of which way this thing may go?
DAMON: Well, T.J., it's quite hard to tell at this stage because initially, they were going to be releasing these partial results once they had tallied around 30 percent of the votes, but now because of political pressure and because it has been so slow, they've begun releasing them say at 18 percent for example.
But based on what we know so far, Iraqi Prime Minister, Nuri al Maliki's State of Law Coalition appears to be in the lead in the five provinces. What is going to be interesting to watch though is how the votes in the predominantly Sunni provinces or those that have a high Sunni population end up of impacting the overall picture. Because remember, Iraq's Sunnis boycotted back in 2005 and now, they are out voting in full force.
So we're really going to begin to see that have some sort of an impact on this political dynamics here. And this election, the outcome of it, is really going to serve to determine if Iraq stays on this path of being a democracy, if that's what you want to call it, of being a more secular nation, or if it strays towards being a more religious or conservative state. The stakes here, T.J., are incredibly high.
HOLMES: And we have or seen some reports, some accusations of fraud, some vote rigging, but are they widespread enough that the election results could be in question at the end?
DAMON: Well, T.J., those allegations that we're seeing are being brought forward by the Iraqiya (ph) as that is headed by former Prime Minister Ayad Allawi. His is a secular lineup that is also cross sectarian.
They're also being brought up by the Iraqi National Alliance. That is the party that is dominated by the country's main Shia religious groups and it is backed by Iran. And they are alleging fraud; they are alleging manipulation of the final results.
Now, we've spoken extensively about this to the United Nations, to the independent high electoral commission and they are confident that this is not widespread and that there are enough checks and balances in place to prevent fraud from taking place.
But either way what is critical at the outcome of all of this is that these results be accepted by all because if they're not, it could potentially lead to more violence.
T.J., this is so very much a -- an unstable country where political parties do tend to solve their disputes at gunpoint instead of dialogues.
HOLMES: You know and sometimes, even with all the advancement and development and progress that country has made, we sometimes forget just how still unstable things are there.
Arwa Damon, thank you so much. We'll talk to you again.
BALDWIN: Jump-starting a tough economy. Though there is one city that's apparently getting the job done.
HOLMES: And see how close the tax deadline is coming up we're on the 15th that's around the corner. And get tips that could save you some time and of course, save you some money.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: CNN got us working day and night around here, but the Obama administration working day and night as well. They are trying to pump some stimulus money into economies to help of course, jump- start this economy, but it may take a while before a lot of people who are struggling feel things are really getting any better. Here now our Sandra Endo.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SANDRA ENDO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, T.J., the Obama administration is trying to point to successes in how their $787 billion stimulus plan is turning the economy around. But the truth is, there are some small victories out there, but still big battles to overcome.
(voice-over): For construction worker Cornelius Carey -- these are the sounds of economic recovery. This site means a steady paycheck; his first full time job in several years.
CORNELIUS CAREY, CONSTRUCTION WORKER: I lived on the street for a couple of weeks. You know, I have been through that too.
ENDO: To stay off the streets, Carey got some help from family, worked temp jobs and also relied on food stamps in order to survive. Now, Carey is one worker benefiting from this affordable housing complex being built in Baltimore. Thanks to $2.6 million in stimulus funds.
While jobless rates in many states are slowly improving, the Obama administration recognizes there's still a lot of pain.
SHAUN DONOVAN, HUD SECRETARY: We're going to keep pushing. We're going to do more. And we're not satisfied with the 9.7 percent unemployment.
ENDO: On this same site, reminders full recovery is still far off. For the head of M and N Concrete Company, without this project, his team of workers would be unemployed.
IGNACIO CHEVEZ, M AND N CONCRETE COMPANY: I would say I was one of the lucky ones in this case.
ENDO: But the recession already claimed dozens of jobs within his company. Going from more than 100 employees down to 15 and there's still worry down the road.
CHEVEZ: This is a good job for us. I'm grateful that it's there. Like I said, it filled a gap, but it's a temporary job. I don't know what will happen after this.
ENDO: This project, a promise of rebirth, but also an illustration of how fragile and how difficult economic recovery really is.
The White House says by spring, there should be more success stories to point to since most of the Recovery Act money hasn't been doled out, but for millions of Americans unemployed or on the brink of it, they're certainly up against the clock -- T.J.
(END VIDEOTAPE) HOLMES: Yes and our thanks to our Sandra Endo there. And of course you can stick with CNN. We here have our "Stimulus Desk" where we are putting that Recovery Act under the microscope finding out where projects in fact are creating jobs and where in other cases it's just wasting money -- Brooke.
BALDWIN: All right, let's keep talking about money, including the kind of money you've got to pay the government. That's right, tax time. April 15th, the deadline is just a month away.
And if you've been out of work, you won't exactly be off the hook here. If you've been collecting unemployment benefits, you still have to pay some back in taxes.
Roni Deutch, known as "The Tax Lady," is the author of this book; this is "The Tax Lady's Guide to Beating the IRS and Saving Big Bucks on your Taxes".
She's with us this morning. We love the idea, Roni, of saving money. And I'm going to throw a bunch of scenarios at you, a bunch of different questions that people may have. But really my first comment is a lot of people may be thinking, hang on a second if I've been unemployed and I've been you know, out of work, it's been tough, I've been collecting unemployment benefits, you mean to tell me that I still have to pay the government?
RONI DEUTCH, "THE TAX LADY": Isn't it awful to know, Brooke, that over 15 million people who are currently unemployed and probably receive some form of unemployment compensation have no idea that they're going to have to pay the IRS. Let's talk about what they need to know -- Brooke.
BALDWIN: Yes, let me actually -- if I can just start with this question, because this is -- this is the first one on that same thing, Roni. I'm currently unemployed -- this is the situation. "I'm currently unemployed and I've been collecting unemployment. Do I need a special form or anything when I file my taxes?"
DEUTCH: Yes. Absolutely, Brooke, here is what you need to bring with you when you file your taxes. You need to take that 1099-G that the government sent to you that told you exactly how much money you received in unemployment compensation. That's what you need -- going to need to take, Brooke, to your tax preparer so that they put the right amount of money on your tax return.
Because let's face it, the government knows exactly how much money they paid you ...
BALDWIN: Right.
DEUTCH: ... in unemployment compensation.
BALDWIN: They are certainly keeping track. So that's the form you have to use, but what portion of someone's unemployment benefits are actually taxable? DEUTCH: Thanks goodness we have a consolation prize, Brooke. Here is what you need to know. The first $2,400 is not taxable income. Let's do the math. If you Brooke are in the 25 percent tax bracket and you don't have to pay tax on the first $2,400, we just saved $600 in federal tax and another $240 in state income tax.
BALDWIN: Yes.
DEUTCH: So that's at least an $840 savings. But Brooke, let's face it, this is a good example of a bad tax law.
BALDWIN: Ok but -- and I think, my next question, you've kind of already answered it, though. But is there a chance I could still end up owing money even if I have zero income?
DEUTCH: You know what, Brook? If you had zero income, there absolutely is still a chance that you're going to owe the IRS ...
BALDWIN: Yes.
DEUTCH: ... because many people, Brook, did not just receive $3,000 in unemployment compensation. You and I know, they've received thousands and thousands of dollars. So you bet, unfortunately, they're going to have a big tax bill this April 15th.
BALDWIN: Ok, let's go from unemployment to people thinking about retirement. Question, "how can IRAs and 401(k)s work to my advantage when filing taxes. And what do I need to know here?"
DEUTCH: Finally, Brooke, we have good news. If you want to make a date with yourself in the future, the IRS totally supports it. How? They have traditional IRAs that you could put the $5,000 away -- that's of course, if you're making $55,000 single, head of household or $89,000 married filing jointly.
But that's incredible news.
Also, Brooke, if you're 60 years or older, you're going to be able to put a little bit more money in that traditional IRA.
Let's talk about the 401(k) plan or the 403(b), that's even better news, Brooke. You're able to put up to $16,500. This is pre- tax dollars. Again, you did not pay any tax on it. You're able to make a date with yourself in the future. And plan for your retirement all while you're paying less money ...
BALDWIN: Ok.
DEUTCH: ... to the IRS.
BALDWIN: Bottom line, you've got to be diligent. There are ways to save. Got to be honest, of course, the government knows what you've been getting. Roni Deutch, "The Tax Lady." Thank you very much.
DEUTCH: Thank you so much. BALDWIN: T.J., over to you.
HOLMES: All right.
Well, we got some serious flood concerns from Virginia to Massachusetts this morning. We're going to go live here in just a moment to a one major city that's under a state of emergency. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BALDWIN: Well, really the big weather headline this morning, serious flood worries for a lot of people in the north east.
HOLMES: Yes, Reynolds has been talking about it this morning and we're going to keep talking about it.
Reynolds, good morning again, sir.
REYNOLDS WOLF, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Hey, good morning. You know T.J., I know you're a big fan of boxing. Well, think of a heavyweight boxer with a one-two punch -- a one-two combination. First punch that we had yesterday was in parts of Florida with the heavy rain, the tornadoes.
Now, the hook that we're getting from the left side is going to be the heavy rainfall possible in parts of the northeast.
When we're talking about northeast, the big focus that we're going to be seeing is all from this area of low pressure that's going to intensify, work its way up from the Delmarva peninsula back up to the Jersey Shore and then even over towards Long Island Sound bringing in some wind and of course, that heavy rain fall.
Now, in terms of the precipitation, it is going to be fairly heavy back towards New York, New Jersey. And one place that may see plenty of rainfall could be right to the Keystone state of Pennsylvania, more specifically in Pittsburgh, where we have Kimberly Easton. She's with our CNN affiliate WPXI.
Kimberly, good morning to you. Just curious, what are the preparations are people taking for this heavy rain that may be on the way?
KIMBERLY EASTON, WPXI REPORTER: Well good morning. People are already taking preparations and precautions as well.
Let me show you something. This yellow caution tape here basically tells all for there's no end to the staircase which actually leads to the river walk along the Allegheny River. If you take another look, as you can see where debris has been floating along the river here.
But I want to show you a closer look at what Pittsburgh knows as the point. Now, the point is where the three rivers meet. The Allegheny River and the Monongahela River actually form the Ohio River. And we understand that is now under water there.
Now, we have learned that (INAUDIBLE) county are also closing because of flooding from the Youghiogheny River. Back in downtown Pittsburgh, the Mon (ph) wharf is expected to flood later tonight or tomorrow.
And we have gotten news on our historic St. Paddy's Day parade and it is set to get underway no matter what. It's the second largest parade in the nation and it starts promptly at 10:00 a.m.
Now we have also learned people living in low lying areas are extremely concerned about the creeks overflowing their banks and the people in Etna (ph) and Schaller (ph) as we speak are sandbagging. We also understand that there have been a total of at least six emergency centers opened and of course, we will be continuing to cover the situation as it continues to unfold.
Live this hour from Pittsburgh, Kimberly Easton, Channel 11 News.
WOLF: You know, Kimberly, the issue that we're seeing there of course, you've got all the snow pack that's all melted, the ground's saturated, the heavy rain. The last thing you possibly need in that part of the world.
Great job Kimberly.
Folks, we're going to have more coming up, not just of course the weather. We have all kinds of stories for you.
We'll see you in just a few moments on the other side of this break.
You're watching CNN SATURDAY MORNING. See you.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: You're taking a look at Fredricka Whitfield's team getting ready for her show coming up starting at the noon hour.
But right now, we got a big sports story to tell you about; it's the big question of when in the world will Tiger Woods be back on the course. We've got rumors out there flying.
Speculation is that Tiger could return as early as two weeks for now or possibly the Masters in April. To help us sort this thing out, Rick Horrow, our business sports analyst and a friend of our show here on CNN SATURDAY MORNING to help us sort this out.
Rick, it's been a while. Good to see you. First of all, what is the latest? Do we even -- do we know anything? Or we've got to go on the speculation and these rumors?
RICK HORROW, CNN SPORTS BUSINESS ANALYST: Speculation and rumors -- and by the way, just so you understand, Tiger apologized, he said I'm sorry 19 times in 13.5 minutes a couple of weeks ago. So he's tired; he's recovering just from saying all that. I'm not sure it's physically possible to do that.
Everybody saying he's coming back in two weeks, three weeks, four weeks, a couple of years; no one knows except for one person and he may not absolutely be sure. He's being seen practicing but the bottom line is the PGA Tour's uncertainty is what's killing it. So whether he plays well or not, the key is, get back so the business can get back in order.
HOLMES: What is the business of the PGA doing in the meantime? Is there a way for them to try to prepare and anticipate his return?
HORROW: Yes, try to find the other half of the viewers that are looking at other stuff in the meantime. The golf business, by the way, 1 percent decreased in rounds played for all of us and 5 percent decrease in merchandise. The business is waiting for Tiger.
And remember, when he came on tour, there were nine millionaires, now, there are 91. So even though he beats them on a regular basis, those guys sure want him back.
HOLMES: Ok, I think you just kind of alluded to it there, but are we talking about 50 percent of the golf audience has gone away?
HORROW: About 50 percent of the golf audience watching other stuff. But they haven't gone away for good, so if Tiger plays well, we're back on the story of chasing Jack Nicklaus's major tournament record. If Tiger Woods doesn't play well, then all the pundits come back and say see his image is tattered forever. No matter what, this becomes and stays the major story.
HOLMES: Ok, could it be a good idea for him to strategically pick where he comes back? You know inside, the guy competes and he -- you know he wants to be at the Masters, but could that be a good strategic move in that he could really be protected from the media in a lot of ways at that particular course?
HORROW: Arnold Palmer's tournament at Bay Hill is a friendly tournament that he's won a number of times, so how about that one. Then the Masters two weeks later, that's a great tournament because it's kind of insulated as you said. Then the major after that is the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach, where he's done very, very well. Then the major after that is the British Open at St. Andrews', 100th anniversary. He doesn't want to miss that.
Four good tournaments, everybody speculates he comes back at one of those and nobody really knows.
HOLMES: All right. I know we'll be talking about it when he finally does say when he's coming back.
Last thing here and let's do this quickly. Ben Roethlisberger, the superstar quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers, another accusation. No charges came from the one out west, I guess about assaulting a woman but now, one in Georgia, another assault accusation, you can call it. No charges yet. Is this a bad blow for Ben personally, of course, but also another hit for the NFL and its image?
HORROW: Well, bad blow if there's a charge and ultimately convicted. But remember he makes $10 million, $7 million on the field. He's got Campbell Soup and Nike as endorsers. He's the 15th most popular NFL player. Big numbers.
Steelers are worth over a billion dollars and the NFL is trying to clean up its image. Of course it's bad news, but this decision is far from over as far as Ben Roethlisberger is concerned.
HOLMES: All right. Rick Horrow our business sports analyst. Good to see you this weekend, buddy. We'll talk to you again soon.
HORROW: All right. See you next week, hopefully. Good bye.
HOLMES: All right. Brooke.
BALDWIN: All right. Gentlemen thank you.
Conflicted from childhood: all boy on the outside, but on the inside, a little girl. We're going to take a rare look at the lifelong gender identity struggle.
And move on over, TEA partiers, here comes the coffee party. You knew it wouldn't take long to have another party, right? New grass roots organization, all this from Facebook encounter, perhaps be an alternative to the right-wing fiscally conservative TEA group.
Coming up at the top of the hour, we will tell you how it all started and how they say they will be different.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, coming up in a ground breaking documentary we're going to show you this weekend; CNN telling the story of a private choice with very public consequences.
BALDWIN: We're talking about Steven Stanton; had a wife, son, an influential job as city manager of Largo, Florida. But then a newspaper revealed he was planning to become a woman. He was fired and made the change he had been moving toward really his entire life.
The CNN documentary is called "Her Name was Steven"; follows Steven's transition to become Susan, a journey now going back to early childhood.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
STEVEN STANTON, TRANSGENDER: I was never attracted to dolls and pink things and all that stuff. I loved digging in the dirt.
At that time, was feeling very different from other kids, not knowing what I was feeling. You feel that the outside doesn't match the inside in a very real way that is not easily understood.
I can't give a real good clinical definition of what a transsexual is, but for me at a very early age, I just knew that what was inside this presence, this feeling of being somebody other than what I was on the outside was real. It has been something I've struggled with for many years of my life.
I started keeping journals I think when I was about eight or nine. I was writing about feeling a sense of two presence in me even at a small age and tried to understand how that worked. When I was a kid I used to equate it to never feeling alone but never having friends.
I got out of my dirty clothes and placed my dirty little body in the soothing, hot water. I lathered my legs, arms and chest with a thick coat of white soap. I looked at my body floating in the water and imagined I was a beautiful nurse (ph). My legs looked so pretty and my arms so feminine, but I knew this was wrong. I was a boy and not a girl.
My dad was always distant. He worked very hard and very long. My dad made an ok salary, we were certainly not well off. My mom was a full time mom. She was a homemaker. I remember sitting down while I had her attention.
She was in the kitchen. I asked her, "Mom, if I had been a girl, what will my name have been?" And she said without delay, "It would have been Susan."
As soon as she said it would have been Susan, this explosive sound going off in my mind that my gosh, that is what it's name is. That's what my name is and what's what I've been feeling for so many years. I just knew it to be true and it was just a powerful sensation that I could feel. Even as a small child, that it's Susan. That it's Susan.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
And again tonight and tomorrow night, you can catch the broadcast premier of this documentary, "Her Name Was Steven," 8:00 Eastern, only right here on CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Hi there, everybody. From the CNN Center, this is CNN Saturday morning for this March 13th, 9:00 a.m. where we sit here in Atlanta, Georgia. It is -- what is it 7:00 in Memphis and 6:00 for people out in Napa Valley.
BALDWIN: Oh, nice.
HOLMES: I'm T.J.
BALDWIN: Good morning. I'm Brooke Baldwin. Thanks for starting your day with us. We're talking coffee this morning. We're moving the tea party aside. We're talking about the coffee party since the political activism brewing, if you will, they're calling it a grassroots movement. It started on Facebook and they're gathering, today is the day, they're gathering in coffee shops to talk politics coast to coast.
HOLMES: A lot of people have questions about who exactly are they, what are they up to, what's the mission exactly? For this entire half hour, we'll take a closer look at politics, their cause in particular, found out how they differ from the tea party movement.
BALDWIN: For now, let's take a look at some of the day's top stories this Saturday morning. First up here, former secretary of state Henry Kissinger was admitted to the hospital in Seoul, South Korea today with some kind of stomach virus. A doctor tells CNN all of his signs are normal. They will be keeping him there. They're watching him overnight. They might release him, we're hearing tomorrow. Kissinger, by the way, is 86 years of age. He is in Seoul for a security forum.
HOLMES: Well, the vote-counting process in Iraq, going on 24 hours a day now. Minutes ago, our Arwa Damon reported that the prime minister there, Nuri Al-Maliki, his coalition leading in five provinces (INAUDIBLE) has 500 workers going over all those ballots cast last weekend. They are vying for some 325 seats in Parliament.
BALDWIN: In Florida, not a whole lot of sunshine. In fact, they're trying to dry out in southwest Florida this morning after flash flooding. Look at this stuff, putting parts of Cape Coral just totally underwater yesterday. Drainage issues just adding to the problem for a lot of people. Cars, some of them found themselves in deep, deep trouble, literally, as you can see.
Meantime, the National Weather Service is confirming that it's not just one but two tornadoes that touched down Thursday night in Polk County and totaled 23 condo units that were either damaged or entirely destroyed.
HOLMES: We've got coffee talk now with a political agenda. There's a new option for voters who don't like what's happening in Washington, but also, they're not really in step with the conservative tea party, so you have a coffee option. Is the coffee party, who exactly are they? What do they stand for? They say they stand for a wake up call.
Here now, our Lisa Sylvester.
(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 World 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 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 hope this will be an independent political movement, independent of the two parties and really develop a 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 their (INAUDIBLE). We have to approach the entire process with the understanding that we already are a community. We have shared goals and values and then can get divided and separated over our differences.
SYLVESTER: But conservative bloggers see the 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 a grassroots 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 member to more than 90,000 in the last three weeks.
Lisa Sylvester, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Well, since Lisa filed that report, we have checked Facebook and they continue to add to their numbers. The coffee party fans on Facebook, now up to about 123,000.
BALDWIN: OK. So this new political movement officially kicks off today. Lot of questions. What will we see really in these coffee houses across the country. Who are these people? What will they be talking about? Let's go to the guy who probably has some answers, deputy political director Paul Steinhauser.
And Paul, I know you talked to Annabel Park, who founded this whole thing on Facebook sometime ago. The fans are growing. We're hearing today is the official day to kick this thing off. So when people sit and they're sipping their coffee, what will they be talking about?
STEINHAUSER: We'll find out soon enough. In fact, CNN, we're going to go myself, we're going to go to one right here in Washington, D.C.. For what Annabel Park told me when I spoke to her last week, and you heard a lot of this in Lisa Sylvester's piece just now, they have some of the same grievances, Brooke, as tea party activists do. That the federal government isn't really working for average Americans.
But where they differ is the goals. While the tea party movement -- the more conservative tea party movement wants to downsize the federal government, less big government. Coffee party members, they want to work with the federal government. They're much more progressive and they want to work to change it. So I think some of the grievances are similar, but definitely some of the goals are very different.
BALDWIN: What's the takeaway, really, from let's say, not just the tea party, but the coffee party specifically. Beyond the conversation. Will we see any kind of action brewing, if you will?
STEINHAUSER: Brewing, very good. Well, we have at the tea party -- the tea party movement now is about 14 months old. And you've seen they've been getting actively involved in some political campaigns. Of course, this is a mid-term election year. Tea party activist, some of them, many of them will be getting involved backing certain candidates. The big question is will the coffee party want to do that as well. It's well way too early to know.
I think today's the first big test though. How big will these coffee parties be across the nation. It's very easy to join on Facebook, but I think today's a very big test to see how successful they will be. And then where do they go from here if they want to actually just protest or do they actually want to take part in the political process. Big questions that will be answered later this year.
BALDWIN: And we're looking at pictures from that Facebook page for the coffee party. And Paul, if you can just speak at all to the role of social media, social networking when it comes to politics. It's playing a much bigger role.
STEINHAUSER: Well, social networking has changed so much -
BALDWIN: It's amazing.
STEINHAUSER: ... in politics. It has allowed average Americans to get much more involved in the political process and that is a good thing. But campaigns have to react to that because they don't control the message anymore, so now, social networking allows anybody to actually get their point of view out and if they're successful, get to a lot of people if things go viral.
So social networks have dramatically changed the way campaigns operate, how politics operate and how we in the media cover politics.
BALDWIN: Deputy political director Paul Steinhauser, we'll be interested to hear what they'll be talking about at these different coffee shops. Will check back in with you later today. I'm sure you'll be talking to Fred about that. Paul, thank you.
STEINHAUSER: Thank you. HOLMES: We're also keeping an eye on the weather situation and we do have confirmation now from the National Weather Service, that in fact, there were two tornadoes that touched down Thursday night in Florida, in particular, Polk County.
Damaged four condo units, it actually say it destroyed four units outside the city of Haines. Haines City, it is. Another 23 of those condos were damaged. I should say destroyed four units outside of the city of Haines. Another 23 of those condos were damaged. Only minor injuries to report.
BALDWIN: Reynolds Wolf keeping his eye on what's happening in Florida, also up the northeast corridor is flooding. Major issues especially we saw the live report from Pittsburgh.
WOLF: Yes, no doubt. It really is an East Coast day. Yesterday, we had a lot of the damage in Haines City, even is (INAUDIBLE) the day before. So it was a two day event that we were dealing with in terms of the rough weather in Florida. It may even be a two, maybe a three- day event in parts of the northeast. Not because of tornadoes, but rather flooding. We had a great deal of snowfall up there that we sometimes refer to as a snow pack.
Well the temperature's well above the freezing point. All that snow is gone, it's melted. So you have ground that's really really saturated. Now, with the additional rainfall, we could see anywhere from two to five inches of rain, we could see flooding. It is a real possibility.
And here's the big culprit. The reason why this area of low pressure, it's going to bring not only some heavy rainfall but at the same time, there's chance it could bring some very strong winds to the area. So anyone who happens to be trying to fly out of major airports along the east coast, good luck with that. You may have some delays to deal with.
Rain for the time being, heaviest near and parts of Long Island and back in Long Island Sound. Eventually we could see some of that extend towards Philadelphia and even into Pittsburgh, where we see some cells developing back towards Cleveland, near Wheeling, West Virginia, some rainfall there that could be very heavy also.
And the reason why we're seeing that rain is because this double- barreled area of low pressure. Back in the Central Plains, not rain, wind, is going to be the big deal. We could see wind gusts topping 30, 40 miles an hour in places like say Kansas City but then to the Rockies, we make that transformation on the other side of the frontal boundary where more moistures is going to be at the highest elevations.
The Rockies, could see some snowfall there. Same deal for the Wasatch range but in the Sierra Nevada, light snow, possibly near the 70. It's going to make some sudden clouds along much of the west coast. We could see some rainfall there too.
Now, very quickly, your high temperatures for the day, 55 in Denver. 58 in Billings, Montana. 51 by mud island in Memphis and Beale Street, saying. 58 degrees for Washington, D.C., 75 back in Miami. West coast we go, L.A. and San Francisco, 50s and 60s. 52 degrees in Seattle and 39 degrees in Salt Lake City.
That is a look at your forecast, we've got more to share with you coming up, just straight ahead. See you later.
HOLMES: Reynolds, we appreciate you, buddy. We'll talk to you again real soon. We'll continue to talk as well about coffee, the coffee party. Get togethers going on all across the country this morning, including here in Atlanta. One of the coordinators will be joining us live to tell us exactly what this movement is all about. It's 12 minutes past the hour. Stay here.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right. We have been talking this morning a lot about the coffee party. A kind of an answer to the tea party movement we've been seeing and Stacy Hopkins is involved now in this coffee party movement. Are we fair? Can we call it a movement yet? The coffee part?
STACEY HOPKINS, COFFEE PARTY, CHAPTER COORDINATOR: I believe you can. It has seemed to tap into a certain segment of the population and it's resonating among them. Because people are tired of saying the political inertia and non-movement in government and we're just fed up.
HOLMES: Now, you're one of the coordinators here in Atlanta. I know today is a big day, a big launch day, if you will, why did you get on board on the first place?
HOPKINS: I got on board, I've always had a slightly activist spirit. People who know me, know this. But I was really frustrated in what I was seeing in the political arena and the inability of government to do anything because of the conflicted rhetoric and the confusion that was, that we were seeing and I wanted to do my civic duty to help cut through that.
HOLMES: Now, a lot of people certainly affiliate the tea party with Republicans, with right leaning. Is it fair to call the coffee party a left leaning movement?
HOPKINS: Some people may want to portray it that way because we do seem to attract democratic and progressive minds.
HOLMES: You said some people. Would you portray it that way?
HOPKINS: No, I wouldn't.
HOLMES: You would not.
HOPKINS: Because we are open to everyone. We want to hear those conservative and Republican voices so that we can, because we do share a lot of commonality. We do not like big government. We want to see that done. We want to see the taxes reduced and spent more frugally. So we do have some areas where we have a general consensus and we can build upon that because there's strength in numbers actually.
HOLMES: So it sounds like there, you say you have a lot in common with the tea party, but from what we seem to understand, the coffee party was born to go, I guess, in direct conflict to answer the tea party. So how can you have so many things in common, but still, you're supposed to be the answer to them?
HOPKINS: Well, I think the coffee party rose out of the sentiment and the what we saw coming out from some of the -- or what was portrayed to us from the tea party movement and how that dialogue took over the political discussion, so it is fair to say that we could have come, we were -- it is a cause of it, but our solution is we want to work with government and help restore the democratic process in the hands of the people for whom the government works.
HOLMES: How are you going to go about doing that? It sounds like a broad statement or a broad mission. But how are you going to do that from sitting around and sipping coffee in the morning. How are you going to get to changing the political landscape?
HOPKINS: It's going to be a gradual process and it may not be as forceful or in your face as some would like to see, but I think it will be just as effective. You have to first start with having those conversations and opening up and having respectful and civil conversation. Then you take that to debate and then you take out of that debate, the solutions that come out of that and direct it towards action. So it's a three-pronged process that we're going to use in order to affect some change.
HOLMES: No, I heard you. You said it here and I've read plenty of places where you all used the word, civility.
HOPKINS: Yes.
HOLMES: There needs to be more conversations. It sounds like you're encountering the tea party, you find some of the dialect or some of the rhetoric on that side to be angry. Do you consider the tea party just an angry movement in some ways?
HOPKINS: No, I don't. The tea party, now, I won't deny that there's a faction that seems to have evolved out of that, but I think the original tea party, you know, came out of the Ron Paul supporters and they were concerned about the government and taxes and the Afghanistan war. And it just seemed that certain parties found that movement because they were against some things that the Obama administration was proposing. They founded a nice place to -- or conducive place for them to hold cover.
Now, that may cause the detractions that we see towards the coffee party, I mean towards the tea party, but I wouldn't say that everyone that we see that are those radical factions are the representation of the whole tea party movement.
HOLMES: All right. Last thing, before I let you go. Annabel Park, who is responsible for starting this whole coffee table movement, has gotten some criticism because she did in fact volunteer for the Obama campaign and a lot of people say that doesn't necessarily sound right. It sound like a Democrat taking on the tea party. It sounds like she's taking on the conservatives. You have a problem with that?
HOPKINS: No, I don't. And I think if we did six degrees of separation with everyone, we could find something to ...
HOLMES: Hers is like one degree though.
HOPKINS: It's really not. I mean, there are a lot of people who supported President Obama and worked for the campaign. There are some people who are with us who are independents or Republicans and they supported John McCain. It doesn't detract from their ideals and what they want to bring to this party.
HOLMES: Well, Stacey Hopkins, again coordinator for the Coffee Party, that is starting off today, the official launch. Where are you doing it here in Atlanta?
HOPKINS: Java Monkey on Ponce De Leon in Decatur.
HOLMES: Java Monkey in Decatur. All right. Well thank you so much for coming in
HOPKINS: Well, thank you.
HOLMES: Good luck. And I'm sure we'll be following up with you.
HOPKINS: OK.
HOLMES: Thanks so much.
HOPKINS: Thanks for having me.
HOLMES: All right. Brooke.
BALDWIN: Coming up, even more coffee talk in politics, including our own Josh Levs taking a look at how the coffee party movement is spreading on the web. Plus former U.S. secretary of state Henry Kissinger is hospitalized. We have an update on his condition, coming up here on CNN's SATURDAY MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: It's coffee time, as we've been telling you here this morning. National coffee party day. They're launching a big part of the group's political movement has to do with web.
BALDWIN: On the web- yes. Josh Levs has a look at the web angle.
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 retail 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'm getting coffee and common sense from a very nice lady who works at Dew drop in (ph).
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You don't have to fight to have a debate.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
LEVS: That's one of several videos that we'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 the clip from that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANNABEL PARK, COFFEEPARTYUSA.COM: I kind of lost 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, 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, the sense of frustration and in some cases, a sense of anger that shows up at some of these events."
Not to write that off. I encourage you to follow all sides on this at our web site, cnnpolitics.com. It's packed with stories about this and also is going to be following all sorts of events throughout the day, and in general and it's coming days and weeks watching what happens with this organization, coffee party.
And if you go into one of these events today, we would love for you to send us an I-report. Just go to ireport.com, send us your thoughts, your photos, your stories, you 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 on Facebook and Twitter, Josh Levs CNN.
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 the tea party organization has been doing? We'll keep an eye on all that and we'll share it right here on the air.
I'm Josh Levs, CNN, Atlanta.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Just an update for you, former secretary of state Henry Kissinger is in the hospital in Seoul, South Korea, where he was there for a security conference. He was admitted to the hospital having some stomach issues. Doctors are going to keep him overnight, keep an eye on him. But right now, we're told he's doing OK.
BALDWIN: All right. We will be back in about half an hour. For now, "YOUR BOTTOM LINE" with Poppy Harlow starts now.
