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CNN Saturday Morning News

More Than a Hundred Perish in Indian Plane Crash; Hawaii Special Election; Allegations Against Armstrong; A Golden Opportunity; Texas Textbook Controversy

Aired May 22, 2010 - 08:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

TJ HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR, SATURDAY MORNING: Hello there, everybody. Good morning to you all from the CNN center. This is CNN SATURDAY MORNING for this May the 22nd. I'm TJ Holmes. Glad you could be right here. It's 8:00 a.m. where I am in Atlanta, Georgia. And it's just after 5:30 in the early evening in southern India and that is where we have been following a breaking news story out of India where a passenger plane overshot a runway and burst into flames. A hundred and fifty nine people dead, but there are survivors. We will have a live report on the very latest coming up in just a moment.

Also, that oil spill. That oil is still gushing in the Gulf of Mexico. Can you believe it's been a month now? The live picture we have access to now. There it is. That has been going on for a full month now. That is a live picture. Again, every moment of every day that oil is seeping out into the Gulf of Mexico. BP has another plan, another way to try to stop it. The new method is called top kill. We're going to show you how that is supposed to work, hopefully will work. We want to give you an update on some of the stories making headlines.

The U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan, he's downplaying any ripple effect from the Texas textbook vote. Last night the state board of education approved changes to social studies curriculum introduced by conservative members of the board. The guidelines will be used to teach five million students in Texas for the next 10 years.

Arkansas state police have now identified two men killed in a shoot- out with police after the pair allegedly killed two police officers in west Memphis on Thursday. Civil rights groups say the two suspects, a father and son, may have had ties to extremists anti- government groups.

Emergency crews on the scene of a plane crash in Mangalore, just mentioning again, 159 people have been killed. We're also told more than 120 bodies have been recovered from that wreckage.

That Air India flight originated from Dubai. It was taking about the four to five-hour flight from Dubai over to Mangalore. It crashed while trying to attempt to land. We're told that it apparently did make a bit of a touchdown before veering off on the runway. We're told there had been a handful of survivors. Our Stan Grant is live for us from Dubai. Stan, hello to you once again. We were talking earlier hoping that we were going to hear about more survivors, but it turns, possibly it turns out that maybe we're not going to hear about anymore.

STAN GRANT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: TJ, it doesn't seem that way, does it? You just mentioned before, 120 bodies have now been recovered from that crash, 166 people aboard, including 19 children and four infants. Now, the flight, the Air India express flight, left Dubai at just after 1:00 a.m. Within a matter of hours most of those people, in fact, almost all of those people aboard have perished as it came in to land in the southern Indian city of Mangalore. As you mentioned it did apparently come in and touch down but then veered off and headed towards trees just away from the runway. It apparently then burst into flames. Of course, the investigation is continuing into that.

Now, most of the passengers aboard would have been Indian. They would have been leaving from Dubai, which has an enormous Indian population. Right about half the population here, perhaps as many as two million people come from India. most of them from southern India, most of them lowly paid migrant workers who were working in the construction industry here. Now, keep in mind that for many of these people, they don't in fact get to go home all that often, maybe only once every two or three years. Some of them it would have been a rare chance to go home and see family and friends, but of course, it has ended in the worst possible way. TJ?

HOLMES: And Stan, there was -- at least some speculation, at least, that maybe weather had something to do with this particular crash. Maybe the visibility was low. It might have been raining. But now the aviation minister there in India at least coming out and saying he doesn't believe weather had anything to do with it.

GRANT: That's right. Also there was also speculation that perhaps Mangalore may be difficult, a difficult airport to try to land in. That also has been refuted. The plane itself, a Boeing 737 was quite a new plane, perhaps only about a year old. Air India express is the airline. Now, that's a subsidiary of Air India. It's a budget airline and caters to many of these migrant workers that leave from here. Keeping in mind too, that Dubai is an enormous hub TJ. Around about 40 million passengers every year pass through here and sadly as we mentioned, for these passengers, ended in the worst possible way.

HOLMES: All right. Stan Grant for us live in Dubai. Stan, we appreciate you this morning. Thank you so much.

We want to turn to a major story we have been keeping an eye on here in this country for the past month now. Yes, oil has been leaking into the Gulf for the past month. President Obama is now establishing a bipartisan commission to investigate this particular spill and also prevent future spills. You are looking at a live picture of that spill that was made available to us all just in the past day or so. Scientists have different estimates from the ones we have been using really for the past several days and weeks. The scientists, many of them estimating somewhere between 1.5 to four million gallons per day leaking still. BP estimates that we had been using were at 210,000 gallons per day. Well, another method now going to be used to try to possibly stop that leak. It's called a top kill method. They're going to try that at some point early next week. Now, what in the world is this top kill method? Let's explain. It involves pumping fluid into the leak site. This would be thick, sticky liquid to try to clog this thing up and then the leak would be sealed with cement. This the Navy has been trying before. But the trick is that none of this stuff they're trying has been tried at this depth. We're talking about a mile down below the surface of the water. BP says again, the earliest they believe they'll be able to try this is on Tuesday of next week. Meanwhile, the government is telling BP to use less toxic chemical dispersants. This was the stuff that was supposed to use, they've been spraying really for a while to try to break up that oil. Scientists are already concerned about what impact these dispersants have on the environment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAMPBELL BROWN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Do we know, I guess, the long-term effects of the stuff that they are using right now? What, you know, the effects it has on marine life, on people? I mean what do we know about that?

CARYS MITCHELMORE, UNIV. OF MARYLAND CTR. FOR ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCE: Very little and that's the problem with any dispersant application. The long-term effects of the application of these out into the ocean, the long-term effects on the water column, how it affects the food web, how it affect organisms reproduction and the long-term consequences to a variety of species is a huge uncertainty and unknown right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Well, here's a question for you -- why are chemicals that are banned being used in some countries allowed in everyday product here in the U.S.? Watch "Toxic America," two night special investigation with our Dr. Sanjay Gupta. That's June 2nd and 3rd, 8:00 Eastern right here on CNN.

That live streaming footage of the BP oil leak, again a mile below the surface of the water, that is available to you at cnn.com/live. As long as the stream is up we'll be putting it there for you on the web.

We're keeping an eye once again on stormy weather. Bonnie Schneider in for us this weekend. Bonnie, good morning to you once again. Oftentimes on the weekends we don't have much stormy weather. We're talking about that really nasty, severe stuff, tornadic weather. Are we to that point yet?

(WEATHER REPORT)

HOLMES: We want to pass along some information we are just getting in here about one person that has been killed in West Virginia after a pipe bomb exploded outside of a nightclub. We are told this happened around 2:30 in the morning, that's Eastern time. This was in the town of Barbersville. This is in the southwest part of West Virginia. Several people from a neighboring apartment complex, mobile home as well and other houses had to be evacuated while they continued to search for possible suspects. But, again, the incident that told that someone brought explosive devices outside of a business and one of those devices detonated and killed one person. Don't know the age of the victim just yet. Early on in the investigation, but one person dead after a pipe bomb exploded in a nightclub in West Virginia. We're sure to get more information on that throughout the morning, we'll pass it along to you as we get it.

In Kentucky, he's the new nominee for the Kentucky senate and already he is sparking a bit of controversy. Rand Paul is calling someone un-American. Who is he saying that to?

Also, breaking news we've been covering out of India. Seven people survive a plane crash. We were told 166 were onboard. Amazing, Josh when we see pictures that anybody survived, but still, a great loss of life.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And we're getting some more information about the kind of plane, about the runway itself, about what may have led to this crash. Also the latest images from CNN, all of that is coming right up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Again, we are following the latest details for you on that breaking news story out of India. A jet crash that killed at this point 159 people, we're told. Josh Levs keeping an eye on some things for us. Good morning to you Josh.

LEVS: Good morning to you TJ and this has been the picture of the day, hasn't it? Let's take a look at this one again. This is one of the pictures early on of a child being rescued at the time we told from this plane. One of the many pictures that have been coming in. I will also let you know that we have heard and this does happen, that one child has succumbed to injuries but this picture got in. A lot of people really talking and it's incredibly striking. Among those who are survivors of this crash, it is possible, children among them, often after crashes we do hear that the survivors, the youngest ones, the small ones (INAUDIBLE) We have more pictures that have been coming to us throughout the day. We'll take a look at some of these and one thing a lot of people are trying to figure out right now is what could have led to this crash? It doesn't seem to make sense on the face of it in a lot of basic ways. It turns out that the weather was OK, relatively new plane.

I'm looking into the pilot, does seem that the pilot had a lot of hours of flying experience, but what we are hearing from Indian authorities is that there is now belief there may have been pilot error. So let's do this. Let's go to this animation we have of the runway there in Mangalore airport and then I'll bring you back to the map. What you're seeing here is what the runway looks like and from what we can gather, it's designed on a plateau, that can present some challenges in landing. It is believed that that could be the cause, but, again this is all very new and we have a lot of information to find out about this.

Let me do this. I want to show you all basics of where Mangalore is as well. I'm pulling up a map over here. So the plane was coming from Dubai. Mangalore is over here in this section along the southwest coast. It's in this area. It's a major international airport, has a lot of traffic all the time. So again, what could have caused this one plane to fly differently? A lot of people are looking into that now. Let's take a look at this at cnn.com while we're on the web here. We have a time line for you of various plane crashes over the years. Along with them, we have information about what ultimately caused it, what led to it. I'm going to say something I said last hour. The reason that these things are news is that they are rare. I've repeatedly done reality checks and looked into statistics of plane crashes. They are very rare and that's why they make news. So a lot of people watching up in airports or you have a flight coming up, don't want you to be fearful. Planes take off great, they fly great, they land great. Statistically, it is still the safest major form of travel that there is.

That said, we are all obviously trying to look into what could have been behind this crash, what caused it. It's a Boeing 737. Boeing now has a team headed to Mangalore to take part in the investigation along with Indian authorities and we will let you know every detail that we get as it comes in throughout the day. TJ, back to you.

HOLMES: Josh, we appreciate you again. We won't be far from that story at any point this morning. Stay tuned to us here.

I want to turn to another story that certainly had a happy ending. A lot of people out there are looking to adopt. Sometimes go through agencies and they have to wait months, even years trying to find a baby. That wasn't the case, though, for Seth Edlavitch and his wife Melissa xxx I believe that's right. Melissa xxx. They are new adoptive patients of a baby boy, but they found him, well, it will make sense to you. You probably -- it makes sense. We would hear this essentially, find him via Facebook. There's the happy family this morning. Melissa, Seth, good morning to you both and baby Noah. How old is Noah now?

MELISSA SEGAL, ADOPTIVE MOTHER: Noah will be 17 months next week.

HOLMES: Noah will be 17 months. Can you all still believe it sometimes when people say it out loud or maybe you all look at each other and say we got our baby via Facebook?

SEGAL: It's a pretty unbelievable story. We know it is.

SETH EDLAVITCH, ADOPTIVE FATHER: Yeah every day we're so happy.

HOLMES: Now, is this -- give a little background. I know it's a little painful background, quite frankly, about what you all were going through before you decided adoption was what you were going to need to do.

SEGAL: Well, we got married in 2005 and tried having a family pretty -- right away, actually. And after six months of not conceiving, we decided to do some testing. We found out that there were some fertility problems. So we did an IVF cycle and the first time it worked perfectly and we were actually pregnant with twins. And we were so excited and thrilled, and things were going pretty well until 20 weeks. I went into pre-term labor with absolutely no warning and we lost the babies.

HOLMES: As discouraging and Seth, I'll ask you, since Melissa's got her hands full over there. I'll ask you, at that point, how discouraging was the idea of adoption? Because I'm sure you all have heard stories about people -- it really is sometimes a long and painful process. People wait, really, months and even years sometimes to try to adopt?

EDLAVITCH: Yeah. You know, we -- what we did is we jumped in head first and we tried to learn as much as we could and we certainly had heard stories of people that it had taken years and we're a very positive couple. We just -- Melissa always says that the baby that you're meant to have will find you and we tried to be as patient as we could and we were so very lucky on how it all worked out for us.

HOLMES: Again, the story goes, I believed you all hooked up with someone via Facebook who had a friend who knew somebody and it kind of linked up that way. Would you recommend that that's the way that people should go because this was what's called a private adoption. People go through agencies often times and that's what often times put them in a waiting line, but would you recommend that people just go out there do it on their own. You have a wide reach on the Internet. Just do it that way?

SEGAL: Absolutely. Actually, the majority of adoptions are done privately. The agencies ones that you hear about more often.

EDLAVITCH: It's tough. When you do a private independent adoption like we did, you're responsible for doing all of the marketing. You need to reach out to people. It can be very challenging for people. We happen to be very open about our situation and we sent an e-mail to all our family and friends and that was what we were comfortable with. I highly recommend people pursue an adoption plan that they're comfortable with for them.

HOLMES: How expensive of a proposition because people think about certainly through an agency or private, how expensive of a proposition is it to go through, the method you all took?

SEGAL: Well, every state is different. In Maryland, we could only pay legal and medical expenses. So for Maryland it was a much less expensive route than an agency. But other states, you can pay living expenses as well.

HOLMES: All right. Yu all are going to go for another one via Facebook or Twitter or something?

SEGAL: We're looking right now. We're home city approved and looking to adopt another baby. We can't wait to have another one, a friend for Noah. HOLMES: You got a Facebook baby. Maybe you'll get a Twitter baby next, guys. Well, Melissa, Seth and Noah, tell Noah thanks for cooperating. I know he was getting a little worked up there but he held on better than a lot of our guests do, actually. Thank you guys so much for being with us and congratulations.

Coming up ahead, you heard Seth and Melissa there giving you some advice, but we're going to talk to an adoption attorney as well who has some tips on what you need to be looking for and looking out for when you're doing possibly a private adoption online. Stay with us, 20 minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: You met a couple just a moment ago. We just talked to, with their baby Noah, a baby that they found through a private adoption by putting a flier up on Facebook. They had a great, happy ending. But still there are some things people need to keep an eye on and watch out for, if you want it try something along those routes. To help us navigate this we are going to bring in Irene Steffas who is here. She's an adoption attorney. Thank you for being here with us this morning and again, it sounds like such a great, a happy story, but there's got to be some down side to this. There's got to be some warning out there that needs to go out to people who are looking and saying, hey it worked for them. Maybe it can work for me.

IRENE STEFFAS, ADOPTION ATTORNEY: I think the down side is from both sides. From the adoptive parents' side, they need to protect their privacy until they really know who they're working with and for the birth mothers. They need to make sure that the couple that they're working with has had an approved home study, that they're appropriate people to adopt the child.

HOLMES: And in your experience, who has the tougher decision to make as far as screening somebody? Is it the adoptive parents who need to really screen that birth mother or do you find the birth mother is really strict about screen who she's about to hand the baby off to?

STEFFAS: I have to tell you that recently birth mothers are saying, I would like the family to have a home study. I want to know about their criminal background checks. Are there any abuse records? I just recently have been working with a birth mother and she wants to know if there are any predators or sexual offenders in their neighborhood. So --

HOLMES: They pay attention here.

STEFFAS: Yes.

HOLMES: What about this method that worked for this couple, social media. Some would say it just seems a little odd. Maybe it's just the times we're living in now, that this is the way it's going to go, but you know what? As wide a reach as Facebook that all these sites have, why not? Where do you come down? STEFFAS: I think we have to accept the reality. We've got Facebook, Twitter, Youtube. Everyone's on it and that's how they communicate. However, it can be viewed as a Pandora's box. The state of Georgia and a number of other states say that you can only advertise online if you are working with a licensed child placing agency or an attorney.

HOLMES: Now, these private adoptions for a lot of people, you kind of hit on it there, but how well are they regulated by the government? It seems like so much of it is up to you, go out and do the work. As long as you get some legal papers in order, then you're fine. How much of it, those private adoptions, really regulated?

STEFFAS: They all have to go to court.

HOLMES: Have to be approved?

STEFFAS: You have to get a final decree of adoption. You're going to have a court reviewing everything from the very beginning in all cases.

HOLMES: Is this the way of the future? Is this the way we're going to go?

STEFFAS: I think so.

HOLMES: You think so?

STEFFAS: I do.

HOLMES: Simple as that. Irene Steffas, again a lot of people out there trying to adopt. You hear so many stories about how long it takes people. Maybe that is the route to go. Irene Steffas, we appreciate you coming in,. We needed your expertise this morning.

STEFFAS: You're quite welcome.

HOLMES: Thanks so much.

Again, we have been keeping an eye on two developing stories this morning. First, that passenger jet crash in India. At least 159 people have been killed. We'll give you updates there and also, the oil spill, that has been an ongoing developing story and it continues to develop, because oil continues to spew out from 5,000 feet below the surface of the water. That is a live picture you're seeing, every minute of every day for the past month, oil has been leaking into the Gulf. So there's a new plan to try to stop it. We'll explain it coming up. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Well, bottom of the hour here on this CNN SATURDAY MORNING. Hello everyone, I'm T.J. Holmes.

Some information we're just getting in out of West Virginia where one person is dead after a pipe bomb exploded at a nightclub. We're told this is just outside of the nightclub in Barboursville which is in the southwest part of the state. We're told it happened around 2:30 a.m. Eastern time.

According to police, they believe someone brought explosive devices and had them outside of the club, and one of them went off. Also telling CNN they have more of a theory about what happened, but were unwilling to elaborate just yet on some of those details. Police did have to evacuate an apartment complex, mobile home, two dozen houses as they searched for other possible bombs.

I want to give you a look now at some other stories we are keeping an eye on this morning. That big vote that happened in Texas, we have been anticipating it happened last night. The school board voted to revise some of the text for the history and social studies textbook there for the students in Texas. Critics say the changes could negatively influence the way children remember history.

Also, oil continues to gush into the Gulf of Mexico. It continues to gush, have been doing it for a month now. President Obama has ordered a commission to investigate this leak and also how to prevent leaks in the future. BP will try the newest way to stop the spill. It's called a top kill method. They're going to try that early next week.

And 127 bodies have been recovered and 159 people we're told are dead after a plane crashed in India. You're seeing some of the aftermath here. It's amazing as some of this video is, unbelievable crash site, seven people were able to survive the plane crash.

Now aviation officials do not believe that weather or low visibility had anything to do with the crash, and possible that the pilot, there was some kind of a pilot error here that caused that crash.

I want to go back to our Mallika Kapur. Who is on the line with us from India and now we've got -- we've got an update on the numbers.

We are told that one of the survivors is a child, at least survived the initial crash has now succumbed to his injuries and that child has died. So 159 dead, but a lot is going to turn to what the cause of this crash was, and Indian official saying, not the weather.

MALLIKA KAPUR, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right. We did hear from the Indian Aviation Minister within the last two hours. And he has said that the weather was fine. Those were his words. The weather was fine when the plane landed, or attempted to land successfully at Mangalore's Airport this morning.

He said that perhaps the pilot lost control. There has been a lot of speculation all day about what caused the crash, and I must remind our viewers that as of right now, the black box, the flight data recorder, that hasn't been found at the moment, and rescuers and search teams very much trying to find that and that of course, is pivotal. It will give clues about what might have happened.

But the Aviation Minister saying it's got nothing to do with the weather. Perhaps it's got something to do with the pilot losing control. A lot of people also raising questions about Mangalore's Airport and the terrain; Mangalore is a city of rolling hills. It's located near the western coast -- the mountain chain of the western coast of India.

It's got what's called a tabletop runway. A runway which have extreme edges on all sides, valleys on three sides which makes it quite tricky for planes to take off from or to land in and also makes it difficult for emergency services to get to it, should you need arise, as it did this morning.

So yes as of now very much and lots of questions being asked about what exactly caused the crash, but authorities are saying it's too early to tell exactly what went wrong.

HOLMES: All right, Mallika Kapur for us live from India. Mallika, we appreciate the updates and will continue to check in with you this morning.

I want to turn back to politics here in this country. You saw on Tuesday there were several primaries around the country that got a lot of national attention, but there's also a special Congressional election happening in Hawaii today.

Our deputy political director got the assignment to tell us about this story and he's live for us in -- oh, I'm sorry. You're in D.C.

PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yes, I'm in D.C.

HOLMES: We should have known better. But this is a -- this is a big deal, and this could be some bragging rights on the line here, if a Republican wins in the President's home state?

STEINHAUSER: Yes. Home state, this is even the home district where Barack Obama, T.J., spent a lot of his childhood when he was growing up, when he went to school, high school. It's Hawaii's First Congressional District, mostly around the Honolulu area.

What happened, the current Congressman, he stepped down. He's a Democrat, he's running for -- he's running for the governorship. So he stepped out. Well, here's what's going on.

Hawaii, this is, Barack Obama won this district by 70 percent to 30 percent in two years ago. It's a very Democratically-heavy dominated district.

But you've got three candidates there. The guy on the left, Case, the woman on the right, Hanabusa, they are both Democrats, the guy in the middle Charles Dijou a Republican. So the two Democrats are kind of splitting the vote. There's a family feud going on here, T.J. Neither Democrat would drop out for party unity.

So you've got the Republican probably going to come out on top because of this and you're going to hear a lot of bragging rights from Republicans because of that that they won Barack Obama's home district where he grew up.

But remember, they got to do this all over again in November. Whoever wins this has to defend the seat in November and then you would think there would only be one Democrat on the ballot.

HOLMES: Yes, yes, and Democrats are saying right now, they're really focused on what's going to happen in November. So they'll let them -- let them maybe have they're bragging rights for the next several months.

STEINHAUSER: Yes.

HOLMES: So let's turn back to Kentucky for a second, I want our viewers to listen to something from the GOP Senate candidate, Rand Paul. Now he had his -- his big victory in the primary on Tuesday. But it wasn't long after that some controversial comments about the Civil Rights Act.

Let's listen. And I'll ask you about it on the other side.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RAND PAUL (R), U.S. SENATE CANDIDATE: I don't like the idea of telling private business owners, I abhor racism. I think it's a bad business decision, never exclude anybody from the restaurant. But at the same time I do believe in private ownership.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST, "SITUATION ROOM": Now, I'll ask you a simple question. If you had been a member of the senate or the House back in 1964, would you have voted yea or nay for the Civil Rights Acts?

PAUL: Yes. I would have voted yes. I think that there was an overriding problem in the south that was so big, that it did require federal intervention in the '60s.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: All right, Paul. He seems to maybe to some have cleared it up by saying I would have voted for the Civil Rights Act, period. But at the same time, he's still saying you shouldn't be able to tell a private business what they can do which some are interpreting as well, what if they want to have a whites-only business? And so how is he going to reconcile that -- that conflict at least some other state?

STEINHAUSER: T.J., this has been the political story from Wednesday on when he first made these comments on some of the talk shows. And this is kind of in a way, that's almost a present to Democrats, a kind of a Christmas come early for the Democratic strategists. Because what they were hoping to do was paint Rand Paul, who has a lot of Tea Party support, who says he identifies with the Tea Party, they are try to paint him and other Republican candidates like him, and maybe as outside the main stream and this is kind of a gift to them, in a way.

Now, the key question is, how much is this going to hurt him at the polls in Kentucky in November? Will this hurt him with moderates voters, independents in the middle, who maybe not so happy to hear what -- what he has to say. That will be the big question mark. That is why this story is fascinating. We're going to hear a lot more about this. I'm sure you're going to see a lot more from Rand Paul as well -- T.J. HOLMES: All right. Paul Steinhauser, we'll see a lot more from you throughout the morning. Thanks so much. We'll talk to you again soon.

STEINHAUSER: Thank you.

HOLMES: Well, seven time Tour De France winner Lance Armstrong accused of using performance enhancing drugs. Now some accusations have popped up in the past, but we'll tell you who's making the charges now, and how Lance is responding.

Also, we're taking a look at the top five most powerful athletes in the world. Could you guess possibly who the top five are?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: We're taking a look at some of the stories making headlines this Saturday. Air India, 737, has crashed in India and 159 people have been killed. Over 127 bodies have been recovered so far. There are some survivors. The plane overshot the runway at Mangalore International Airport.

Also, the frustration continues over that oil spill that's been going on for about a month now. President Obama appointing a commission to investigate this particular spill and also to stop future spills. Some experts say that well head is gushing a whole lot more oil than originally thought; some saying up to even four million gallons a day.

And as a nationwide recall of Alfalfa sprouts; Caldwell Fresh Foods of California is recalling at least three of their brands because 22 people in ten states have gotten sick.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, all he does is win but some are making allegations that Lance Armstrong has been winning with the help of performance- enhancing drugs. Yes, the best known cyclist in the country, in the world, in some likelihood, that seven-time Tour De France champion now caught in the cross fire.

Well, the author of the book "Beyond the Box Score" and CNN sports business analyst Rick Horrow, here with us now.

Rick, good morning to you once again.

RICK HORROW, CNN SPORTS BUSINESS ANALYST: Good morning my friend.

HOLMES: We got another cyclist out there, Floyd Landis. Some people may have heard that name before because, you know, he's had some -- some wins, some big wins, the Tour de France win of his own. That was later taken away, but still, this is what he had to say.

He's saying, that, yes, he used and came out and admit the he used, but also saying that Armstrong used as well, but Armstrong is denying that. Let's take a listen first.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LANCE ARMSTRONG, CYCLIST: I remind everybody that this is a man that's been under oath several times and had a very different version. This is a man that wrote a book for profit that had a completely different version.

With regards to the specific allegations, the specific claims, they're not even worth getting into. I'm not going to waste your time or my time. I think history speaks for itself here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Well, Rick, is it that simple. It's not the first time that Lance Armstrong has had to deal with some kind of accusations but does it make a difference this time where the accusations are coming from, Floyd Landis?

HORROW: Well, it's certainly not that simple. This is he said/she said at the largest stage. Floyd Landis won the tour in 2006, stripped of his title, two-year suspension. Spent $2 million trying to get it back, has not. World Doping Association U.S.A. Cycling all said, we're investigating this matter because of his allegations but we're not going to talk until we finish the investigation.

HOLMES: All right, Floyd Landis, though, some -- in some way equate him to Jose Canseco, nobody was really paying attention to Jose Canseco in baseball for a while. Thought he's crazy throwing a lot of names out and in a lot of ways he turned out to be true. Is Floyd Landis going to be looked at one day, as maybe he was right and maybe he's credible?

HORROW: Well, because it happened to baseball we shouldn't automatically assume it's happening in cycling. But so far it's unfolding a little bit that way. Remember, Lance Armstrong, seven- time champion, connects with Sheryl Crow, beats testicular cancer. It's been a good life for the guy.

He stepped away from cycling for 3 years, then came back and finished on the podium at last year's Tour de France. So he certainly is a significant figure.

Number ten most powerful athlete on this power 100 list we'll get to in a minute.

HOLMES: We're going to get to that --

HORROW: So a lot of this issue has yet to be decided.

HOLMES: Yes. We'll get to those power top five we're going to talk about here in a second.

HORROW: Right.

HOLMES: but one other issue, unfortunately, having to do with still performance enhancers, HGH in the NFL. Santana Moss, receiver, a lot of people remember him from some Super Bowl fame a couple of years back. But he has now been connected to a doctor who the federal government is investigating for bringing this stuff into the U.S. Will this possibly, this sounds like one athlete, but a lot of saying this could branch out and lead to a change in the NFL?

HORROW: It's one athlete but it's another high-profile athlete. Again nothing has been proven, but the assistant of this doctor was said to be coming to Washington to meet with Santana Moss. Nothing, again -- it's all allegations at this point, but HGH is one of those items that is not tested today.

And both sides on the NFL labor and management issue say we have to collectively bargain for this, and that's the rub because there are a whole lot of economic issues on the table as far as the NFL is concerned. $9 billion business, they don't need this, quite clearly.

HOLMES: All right. Last thing here: we talked about the Power 100 rankings. We're going to do the top five, Power 100 athletes. At the top of the list, maybe a surprise to some, maybe not a surprise, tell me what went -- go through the top five for me and what went into these rankings?

HORROW: Well, first it's a list that we did with BloombergBusinessWeek.com and it's the top on-field U.S. current athletes; trustworthiness, awareness, appeal, influence and their on field activity. First time this kind of ranking has ever been done in this combination.

Number five, Peyton Manning; number four, Puljols of the Cardinals; number three, Phil Mickelson; number two, Lebron James; number one, Tiger Woods. Now let's remember, this was 2009. The 2010 list may look entirely different, my friend.

HOLMES: You know, Phil Mickelson, that might be one a lot of people are surprised. If they watched a little golf they know how big of a deal he is. But maybe come to a surprise for some people, but Phil's been doing his thing.

HORROW: Yes $50 million of endorsements and he has a lot to gain. Watch Drew Brees, by the way. This 2010 list will be very, very, very interesting.

HOLMES: All right. Rick Horrow, always good to see you, my friend. You enjoy the rest of your weekend.

HORROW: Yes, sir, next week, my friend.

HOLMES: All right. Thanks so much.

Well, for a lot of folks, maybe time to pull out some of that old jewelry, maybe that old class ring as well? A lot of people may be trying to sell their gold for a little extra change right now. We'll tell you how to get the best deal. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, the contentious vote last night to make changes inside Texas classrooms. That contentious vote, the whole debate has been in the national spotlight lately. We're talking about the state board of education in Texas. They, last night, approved amended guidelines for social studies and history textbooks.

Conservative supporters say the changes are designed to balance the school curriculum. Critics say the move is an attempt it rewrite history.

We are going to hear from both sides. We're going to hear from Jonathan Signs coming up at the top of the hour. He was in favor of many of the changes and also from Ben Jealous of the NAACP; he actually went down to testify in front of the board. They are both coming up for a debate about what happened last night. Again, that's coming up in just a few minutes.

This is going to be our topic today that a lot of people have a opinion about on our blog and on Facebook. We want to know what you think about it. Go to facebook.com or cnn.com/tj.

We're going to be reading and sharing some of your responses a little later this morning.

We are doing a half hour special on this topic. It really has gotten people involved. A lot of parents involved and interested. Stay with us for that special edition of CNN SATURDAY MORNING. Again, that's 9:00 Eastern, coming your way in just about seven minutes.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: Well, the gold rush is on for many people looking to invest in record high prices out there for this precious metal. And our Poppy Harlow has now your bottom line and will show you how to keep from getting ripped off.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, T.J.

Well, you know, just like you said, gold prices have been just around a record high right now. They're at more than $1,200 an ounce.

Why is that? There's a lot of reasons here. You have a very volatile stock market; the debt crisis in Europe. People are turning to gold actually as an alternative currency as a safe haven. So a lot of folks that have gold jewelry that they don't want, maybe it's broken or one earring out of a pair, now might be a good time for them to sell.

Even Sears this week said they're getting in the game. The company is teaming up with a third party. So at the Kmart and Sears stores they're handing out these envelopes where you can mail in your silver or your gold for cash.

And you probably all heard of these companies. Cash for Gold is one of them. They already do this, but if you're in the market to sell your gold, we really want you to be careful, because you can absolutely get ripped off. Here are some tips. First of all, make sure you shop around. Take your gold to more than one jewelry store and have it appraised. Take it all around. Then decide if you want to sell it in person or if you want to mail it in.

Also, you need to know the value of your gold. Check in the piece of your jewelry, your ring or your earring. See what it's stamped with; 14 karat, 18 karat, 24 karat gold. They really vary in value. The purer the gold is the more money you get for it. For example 14 karat gold is only 50 percent gold and then goes up from there.

Also you've got to do research, folks, on these companies before you just mail in your gold to them. You should check with your attorney general's office or go online, check with the Better Business Bureau. See the history of the company. See what kind of sales they've done before. Make sure they're completely legitimate before you mail off your gold, because it's worth more now than ever before. Make sure you're getting fair value for what you're selling.

A lot more of these tips on how to sell your gold; you can check them out online on CNNmoney -- T.J.

HOLMES: All right. And thanks to Poppy Harlow this morning on your bottom line, paying down your debt. Poppy Harlow has an action plan for you and your family. Plus, debunking the most common money myths; that's coming your way at 9:30 Eastern time.

We want to take look now at some of the stories that are making headlines this morning.

A tragedy in India where an Air India jet has crashed near Mangalore International Airport; 159 people killed. Several people survived as well, but just a handful. The plane crashed and burned after overshooting the runway. Investigators so far are saying it's possible pilot error.

Two Arkansas police officers killed at a traffic stop yesterday. The gunman later shot and killed by police at a Walmart parking lot. Now, the shooters are now identified as Jerry Cane and his 16-year-old son Joseph of Ohio. The sheriff warned of their resentment of authority.

Also, the White House frustrated with the month-old oil spills, the President is naming a commission to take a look at this. This is a live picture of that oil leak. This stuff has been coming out every minute of every day for the past month, but this is a live picture of it. But this commission now has been set up. One of the persons that's going to head it up is former Senator Bob Graham of Florida. The latest plan to stop the gusher is going to get underway sometime on Tuesday, we're told.

And tomorrow morning on "STATE OF THE UNION" with our Candy Crowley, she's talking with BP's managing director about the criticism of how BP is handling the Gulf spill. That's tomorrow 9:00 a.m. Eastern, "STATE OF THE UNION".

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) BEN JEALOUS, PRESIDENT, NAACP: Let's tell the truth as it was. Not as we want to remember it to be.

ARNE DUNCAN, EDUCATION SECRETARY: Curriculum in our country is always going to be decided at the local level. But what I will say is whatever Texas decides I do not think there will be large ripple effects around the country. People concerned about that, I'm actually much less concerned.

Textbook companies today have a real ability to customize textbooks and whatever the Texas board decides, I don't think that's going to impact education in other parts of the country.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The far right faction of the state board has demonstrated their willing in to undermine the quality of our children's education and drag our classrooms into the culture war.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Welcome back, everybody. Here on this CNN SATURDAY MORNING like we do every Saturday, we take this 9:00 Eastern half hour and we focus in on one topic that's affecting you. We dig deeper into an issue, and today we are talking about the new way the Texas board of education wants students to learn some topics, some subjects, including social studies, political ideology, history and education have collided there, and some say this is all in the name of balance. Some say it's in the name of a conservative slant. You might think you don't live in Texas, your kids don't go to school in Texas. So why should you care about it?

Well, Texas has about five million students, about 55 million actually attend schools in this country. But publishers, because Texas is such a large buyer of books, actually the second largest buyer of books in the country, because of that, publishers often tailor their textbooks for Texas, because the state is such a big consumer and then sometimes those books end up in other places, other states.

But some argue that point as well. We're going to get into that in a little bit. So Texas, taught in Texas, doesn't always stay in Texas. It's also taught in many other states. So there is a plan now to tweak history and social studies, textbooks sparking this national debate you've seen play out. The board actually voted yesterday.

We're going to hear from the president of the NAACP and also a supporter of these curriculum changes in just a moment. But first, let's get the update from News 8 Austin's Karina Kling. She has the update on the story.

KARINA KLING, NEWS 8 AUSTIN REPORTER: Yes, T.J., the state board of education voted 9-5 to adopt new social studies and history standards for Texas schoolchildren in all grade levels. It's been a process full of battles over political ideologist and a board split by political parties, but Friday the social conservative majority came out on top.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) KLING (voice-over): A few smiles from state board of education members early Friday morning as a show choir from the Ft. Worth area serenaded them before the anticipated final battle over a final vote on social studies standards began. It didn't take long for that tone to turn around and emotions to run high.

PAT HARDY, SCHOOL BOARD OF EDUCATION: I love kids, and I think when we start doing things that make life more difficult for children - I think that's where we are.

KLING: After more than an hour debating whether to include Thomas Jefferson and James Madison in high school world history standards dealing with influential philosophers, board members kept Jefferson but not Madison.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is embarrassing. This is totally embarrassing.

KLING: Criticisms over last-minute amendments and nit-picking word changes throughout the curriculum reached late afternoon Friday as the outnumbered Democratic contingent once again called for a delay to let the appointed experts and not the board make the final decision on a document they say is a completely new piece of work.

RICK AGOSTO, SCHOOL BOARD OF EDUCATION: This thing - in the trash.

MARY HELEN BERLANGA, SCHOOL BOARD OF EDUCATION: These books, oh, we don't want to read these. My gosh. They deal with Hispanics, Hispanics issues -

KLING: The debate surrounding religious freedom surfaced yet again as some democrats tried to add the wording barring the government from favoring one religion over another, in reference to separation of church and state. It failed. And one by one -

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We need to finish. We're done today.

KLING: The seven social conservatives and one other shot down any vote to delay. And shortly thereafter, an exhausted and divided board made their own history in voting to approve what will be in Texas kids' history books for the next 10 years.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KLING: New economic standards were also approved Friday, but with a unanimous vote over two days of board debate, more than 200 new amendments were offered up by board members. Those who wanted to delay say they will try and take up this issue again in January when a new board is in place. Back to you, T.J..

HOLMES: All right.

And the Education secretary Arne Duncan has weighed in on this as well. We read a statement we're getting from Arne Duncan that says, "setting curriculum is a local issue and we should keep politics out of it. Curricula should be written by educators who know the subject matter. Know the standards and know what it takes to prepare our children for college and careers in the global economy. We do a disservice to children when we shield them from the truth just because some people think it is painful or doesn't fit with their particular views."

Again that coming to us from the Education secretary.

I want to bring in two sides of this debate. I want to bring in Ben Jealous, who is the head of, the present CEO of the NAACP. Good morning to you. And also from Austin, Texas, --

BEN JEALOUS, CEO, NAACP: Good morning, T.J..

HOLMES: Jonathan Signs is a director of legislative affairs for the Liberty Institute, which is in support of these, some of these changes, at least. Gentleman, thank you both for being here.

This is an important discussion to have and that a lot of people are concerned about. There has been some misinformation out there as well. Please, try to clear some things up. Let me start with you, you, Ben. Just tell me, there were so many things that were talked about leading up to the vote yesterday, but as you have examined what actually was voted on and approved, tell me specifically what you have a problem with that the board did yesterday?

JEALOUS: Sure. This group wants the tea party to teach our kids. You know. They want to defend Joe McCarthy, as if that is up for debate. They want to say, you know, have kids think about whether the U.N. is a threat to human freedom. There's a slant that the U.N. is a threat to human freedom.

They want to lift up Phyllis Schlafly as if she's one of the great heroes, a short list of heroes in our country. That's the concern here. You know, they want to take the word slavery out of the Trans- Atlantic slave trade. So there's this weird kind of slant where they lift up people who hate, and they take some of the hardest parts of our history out. They don't want kids to know why Texas joined the south to fight in the civil war. I mean, it's -

HOLMES: Let me get Jonathan in here. Now, Jonathan, I know you'll take issue with several of those things. And again this is law and I encourage, and we need a way to post this for everybody to read, but there's so much in these amendments to read, but I will let you just take up and you just go ahead and respond initially to what Ben just said, but then also a couple of particular points I want to hit at as well. But you go ahead, Jonathan.

JONATHAN SAENZ, LIBERTY INSTITUTE: Sure, thank you for having me on. You know, this is interesting. We see this a lot and a lot of other issues. You heard the education secretary weigh in, who I'm sure probably hasn't read our standards. A lot of people that haven't read the standards and a lot of people haven't read what was approved yesterday. That's unfortunate and that's how misinformation is spread.

The reality is, you know, we have strong standards that parents, teachers, experts and professors from across the state are supporting. And you know, talk about balance -- what's not talked about is yesterday they've been absolutely involved in this from every step of the way.

JEALOUS: You threw out everything -

HOLMES: Hold on one second. Hold on one second, Ben. Jonathan, you finish, and Ben, I'll let you get back in there.

Jonathan, finish up.

SAENZ: Earlier this week Wallace Jefferson, the first African- American chief justice of the Texas Supreme court was added. Sonia Sotomayor, the first Hispanic female justice of the United States Supreme Court was put into our standards. And there's misinformation about the slave trade that Mr. Jealous brought up.

That issue was dealt with yesterday and the day before. It seems there are some confusion on how it was worded. And so the board voted unanimously to have it listed as a transatlantic slave trade.

(CROSSTALK)

HOLMES: Now, Ben - Ben, you tell me what you were taking issue with there.

JEALOUS: Sure.

Right up until yesterday they had sought to rename the slave trade, the Trans-Atlantic triangular trade and take the people out of it, and take slavery out of it. That's part of why we flew down. I'm glad to hear that last night they moved on that point. This process -

SAENZ: That's incorrect -

HOLMES: This process - now on that point - you know what, let me get in here, I want to make sure, because I read this thing as well and I did see Atlantic triangular trade in there, but then in the next, almost couple of words I saw the word slavery and there are other points -

JEALOUS: Right, and slavery.

HOLMES: But go ahead. What is the issue with that that you call it a triangular trade and then you're still talking about slavery and you used the word slavery. What's the issue?

JEALOUS: It's a euphemism. The reality is that slaves were central to that trade. There's a reason why it's called the Trans-Atlantic slave trade. And you take them out, you call it the triangular trade and all of a sudden people are put on the same level as rum and sugarcane and everything else. There's a reason why you call it the Trans-Atlantic slave trade.

HOLMES: Now Jonathan, is that a point there? Jonathan, is that at least a point? Why even change the name? I think we all came up calling this the slave trade. So why was it important, even though you got slavery in the curriculum, the word, why make that type of a change?

SAENZ: Sure. And that's the point I'm making. I think there was some confusion on the part of some of the board member, and that's why there's an opportunity on Thursday to talk about that, and that's when they talked about this issue. Everyone got on the same page. Voted unanimously, the process worked. And so that was before -

JEALOUS: No, it didn't.

SAENZ: Yes, it did work. All the people were onboard. And listen, I want to address this, because -

JEALOUS: The process was - you threw out the whole process. You threw out the whole process. Hundreds of teachers -

SAENZ: OK. OK.

JEALOUS: We're supposed to weigh in on the agreed upon facts, and you threw them all out. You brought in (inaudible) think tank to rewrite the books.

(CROSSTALK)

HOLMES: Jonathan. All right, Jonathan, on that point, though, I will let you answer, but on that point, some argue that none of the people on the board who were doing the actual voting are educators. They got these recommendations from committees full of educators -

(CROSSTALK)

JEALOUS: That's false. That's false.

HOLMES: OK. So - you go ahead, Jonathan.

SAENZ: Mr. Jealous, if you would allow me, please, OK. There are numerous members of the state board of Education that have years and years of teaching experience. One of the members, Pat Hardy, has over 30 years of social studies teaching. Barbara Cargill is a former teacher. Terry Leecher (ph) has teaching experience.

(CROSSTALK)

SAENZ: So let me make the point. Let me make the point.

JEALOUS: You threw out hundreds of teachers' recommendations.

HOLMES: Go ahead, Jonathan. Ben, let him finish. Go ahead, Jonathan.

SAENZ: And let me also say this, Mr. Jealous came to the last meeting. This issue has been going on for years -

(CROSSTALK)

JEALOUS: (Inaudible) threw out their advice, that's why I came down and took that completely out of hand.

HOLMES: Go ahead.

SAENZ: I'm going to make my point here, OK, because this is misinformation. All right. For 18 months teachers, professors, educators from across the state had been going to public hearings, have been visiting personally - no they didn't, they adopted many of those changes like -

HOLMES: So tell us about the -

SAENZ: Right, let me remind you what teachers did -

HOLMES: Jonathan, no hold that point. Hold that point, Jonathan. I'm going to let you have it. I need to take a quick break. Guys, I want to continue this conversation because it's important. Both of you have points, and we need to hear them both. If you would just hold on one second. I've got to get a break in. We're coming right back. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: And we want to continue our conversation. Again, this half hour we are focusing on what we saw happen in Texas. The state board changing some of the curriculum for students their and their textbooks. A lot of people fear this could have impacts across the rest of the country. Others saying that's not the case. Some saying this is taking too much of a conservative lean in education, others saying it's just about balance.

I want to rejoin NAACP presidency Ben Jealous who is joining us and also Jonathan Saenz, director of legislative affairs for Liberty Institute.

Gentlemen, this is a very important and passionate debate on so many sides, and I appreciate you all sticking around and continuing to talk about it. Jonathan, I told you I was going to let you finish up on the point that you were making. So you go right ahead. And Ben, I promise I'll let you get back in there.

SAENZ: Well, what's interesting is there are some that want to give the misinformation and the impression that teachers and professors and so on aren't supporting this, and many of them are. Teachers and professors from across the state have been talking with us. They've been talking with state board of education members.

And let me tell you what our state historian, Jesus De la Teja who is a history professor, in one of our fine state universities talked about. And he was one of the hand-picked six experts that got to work on this. He told me and other members of the committee that minorities, that women and religion are covered fairly in these standards.

And so, you know, people say, talk to the experts. There's one expert right there that talked about that. And so here's what happened during these hearings. You know, the 1957 Civil Rights Act was brought up for a vote to put in the standards and the Democrats opposed it. And so, it ended up passing. It's in there.

So, I think that there's some - there's some, that people that haven't, an effort, an agenda, to make this seem like there's something going on that's not. And part of that is because there's 10 Republicans on the board and there's five democrats.

They have a political agenda and they wanted to delay this vote until after our next elections so they can have an impact on the political nature of our board and then write the standards -

HOLMES: We're beyond that now. So the vote has taken place. Ben, I'll let you respond. Is there some point to be made there --

(CROSSTALK)

JEALOUS: This is not about Republicans and Democrats. The Republican secretary of education flew in from Houston to oppose these. This is about - this is not whether you have teachers who agree with you. And it's funny that you talk about yourself as if you're equal to the school board members. That's the whole point.

You have a spokesperson here from a far right wing think tank who's talking about how happy they are and how essential they were to the process, and, yes, there are some teachers who agree with you but the hundreds of teachers who are impaneled to come up with the agreed upon facts threw out the facts and you took the stuff from the think tank. The way that we teach our kids in this country is we take people from the left and the right. People like me and Ron Paige.

You know, the historian equivalent and they get together and say what do we agree on? What are the agreed upon facts and then we teach those to our kids. We don't teach our kids to defend Joe McCarthy. We know that's wrong. We don't teach our kids that Susan - not that much about Susan B. Anthony, a whole lot about Phyllis Schlafly? You know, look, this is -

HOLMES: Is there a point, Ben, let me ask, we're golng to wrap this up here in a second, but a point also that so many people are concerned that because Texas buys so many textbooks that these could end up in other places around the country but -

SAENZ: 40 percent of all states.

HOLMES: But at the same time, some are saying that the ripple effects including Arne Duncan saying those ripple effects aren't really going to be fed met. We have technological advances in printing. So they can really specify what's in several different districts, different districts in one state, you could have different books. Is this really going to have a ripple effect that some say it is?

JEALOUS: The answer is yes and yes.

(CROSSTALK)

HOLMES: Wait. I'm sorry. Jonathan, you go ahead and finish and Ben, I'll let you wrap it up. Jonathan, go ahead. JEALOUS: Technology is changed.

SAENZ: Now, Mr. Jealous, you had your opportunity, OK.

JEALOUS: 40 percent of all states -

(CROSSTALK)

SAENZ: (inaudible) You attack our group but then you put yourself on the same level as Rod Paige. You're not an education expert either. As a matter of fact - no.

HOLMES: Go ahead, Jonathan.

SAENZ: Mr. Jealous, your group, the NAACP is mentioned specifically in our standards. You're in our standards.

JEALOUS: That's not why I as there. I'm there for the truth.

HOLMES: Let him finish, Ben. Let him finish, Ben.

SAENZ: So not only is the NAACP in the standards, but so is Oprah Winfrey and so are many other minorities that have been added. Hillary Clinton is in there. You got Barbara Jordan, a black congressional -

(CROSSTALK)

JEALOUS: (inaudible) the quality of education.

SAENZ: No, it's about letting people know what's actually in the standards. That's what you don't want to do.

JEALOUS: It's a quality of education -

SAENZ: That's interesting about this.

JEALOUS: You guys violated the process that people agree with.

SAENZ: And so Mr. Jealous -

HOLMES: Guys, guys - gentlemen, gentlemen -

SAENZ: But some of other standards that were talked about was accurately talking about the separation of the church and state and giving students a chance to read the actual words of the Constitution and hearing from constitutional law experts about how that should be written and so that's what's in the standards now.

It's accurate historical information, and it's people like Mr. Jealous that want to just get into this issue and make it political.

JEALOUS: No, sir.

HOLMES: You know, gentlemen, gentlemen, we wanted to hear from both sides of this. But I think a lot of people will come walking away from this thinking that there's no way our education should be politicized in such a way. We have Democrats and Republicans on a school board and everything went along a party line vote. Quite frankly, there's something just wrong, a lot of people would say, about that. There should be up to educators and professionals.

JEALOUS: I agree.

HOLMES: And I think both would agree, but I think at the end of this conversation, I think what we need to tell everybody is go to the web site and read those standards for yourself. Everybody out there, we recommend doing that. I'll try to get that up on Twitter and Facebook here shortly. A link to it. But that's going to be so important, because this thing has been spun, quite frankly, out of control, and just about everybody is a little guilty in this thing.

Gentlemen, I appreciate you both being here. Jonathan Saenz and also Ben Jealous, good to have you as well. I wish I could keep you both the whole half hour, and we went over a little because we wanted to talk about this some more. But gentlemen, thank you so much and we will see you next time. All right.

SAENZ: Thanks, T.J..

HOLMES: All right. Josh Levs, also tracking what people are saying about this online. When it comes to kids and education, understandably people are so passionate, but there should not be that left/right when it comes to education. There's history, and that should be it.

JOSH LEVS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, right. That's where (inaudible) going into, to give you a chance to catch your breath after all that. Letting you all folks know that while T.J. is anchoring this half hour, I'm interacting with you online.

Here's how can weigh in with your views on this whole debate. We got the conversation going, the blog, also Facebook and Twitter. Let's show up these addresses, facebook.com/josh levs CNN. Same thing with twitter.

What I'm doing right now is I'm looking at your responses and coming up right after this short break I'm going to share some of what you have to say about this controversy.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(MUSIC PLAYING)

HOLMES: What to say? My previous guests had a lot to say. Our viewers have a lot to say as well. Josh, this is one of those topics. You talked about education, you talked about kids, you talked about curriculum, that will get a lot of people certainly worked up. But just passions on both sides of this thing, and politics unfortunately have come into it in such a way. But what are folks out there saying about this thing?

LEVS: They're saying a lot. You won't be surprised about that. You know, I try to do two things when I pull out comments to share with all of you on TV. One is to try to show both sides. The other is, I need to be honest to the balance of what we're actually getting.

So I'm going to tell you straight off the top, about 90 percent of what we're getting at the blog, at Twitter and my Facebook page, is slamming the decision in Texas. So if you're someone out there who agrees with it, we certainly want to hear from you, too. We want to hear all sides of this.

Let's start off with Facebook and see what we're getting here. David Martin "Why isn't there a national standard from which a school system can't deviate? There's too much political and religious ideology interfering with education although I agree on exposing the children to additional Thomas Jefferson education," referring to a specific we talked to you about in the Texas decision, you can read more at cnn.com.

Jean Klein, "So we start with a little revisionism, then censorship. What next? Banning of books?" Here's John Smart, "it's scary that the kids in Texas will be getting a warped education." And we got one more. "God bless Texas." That's from Douglas Rutokowski.

Let's get a couple more from the blog and from Twitter. "A bigot should not be allowed to pollute the minds of children by interfering with the teaching of science and history," that's from Simon. "his ruling in Texas, an abomination." That's from Sarah.

And look at this one from Michael Armstrong, "the NAACP doesn't make Texas law or write Texas history. We don't cow to activists like the North does." So as you can see we are hearing from both sides on all these.

You keep those comments coming, at Facebook, at twitter, at our blog, CNN.com/josh or CNN.com/tj. And no matter where you stand on the issue we want to hear from you and we also encourage you to take part in this discussion, to really listen to different sides on this.

Another benefit too, as T.J. was just saying before the break, if you go to those pages, you can read a lot more specifics about what Texas actually decided, and I'm going to post links to the specific decision as T.J. was suggesting, as soon as I get off the air.

So all the information you could possibly want will be up at those pages and, T.J., hopefully a positive and helpful online discussion will ensue.

HOLMES: Yes. And it's important - absolutely, to read. There's a long list of amendments. There were some 200 amendments proposed there. And that they passed was not necessarily what was first proposed but there's just so much in there. But I really would like for people to read it.

And I promise once again that we're going to put it up. The actual link for the board of education web site, and we will be able to allow everybody to go to it themselves. Josh, thank you so much.

LEVS: Thank you.

HOLMES: Also, a programming note here for our viewers. The next hour of CNN SATURDAY MORNING, President Obama is going to be delivering the commencement address at the prestigious West Point Military Academy. He's going to be talking to the cadets about their futures, which are about to start, many o them will be going into military service and will end up in Iraq, in Afghanistan. He's going to be talking to them about the future of those wars and also how to keep this country safe.

We will take his comments live in the next hour of CNN SATURDAY MORNING.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HOLMES: And a reminder, we'll be back at the top of the hour with more live news. And also, we'll be hearing live for the president as he addresses the graduating class of West Point academy. You'll hear those comments live.

But right now, "YOUR BOTTOM LINE" with Poppy Harlow.