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CNN Saturday Morning News
Troops Home For the Holidays; Not Enough Workers; Herman Cain's New Economic Plan; Defunct Satellite Reenters; Troy Polamulo's $10,000 Call; China Outraged as Toddler Left to Die; Bon Jovi's Soul Kitchen
Aired October 22, 2011 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: Good Saturday morning.
The president of Iran says he loves you, it's just your government he has a problem with. We'll tell you what else he had to say in our exclusive interview.
Also, 14 million people out of work in this country, yet one business owner can't find 20 people to hire because some unemployed are gaming the system, at least according to this business owner.
Also, $10,000 for a single phone call. An NFL player is fined by the league. But when you hear who he called, you might think it was well worth it.
Welcome, everybody, to this CNN SATURDAY MORNING for October 22nd. 6:00 a.m. here in Atlanta, Georgia. 5:00 a.m. in Fayetteville, Arkansas. 4:00 a.m. Salt Lake City. Wherever you may be, we are glad you're right here. I'm T.J. Holmes.
U.S. troops will be home for the holidays and the war in Iraq will be over. That is the promise just made by President Obama, who says troops are coming home by the end of the year. CNN Pentagon correspondent Chris Lawrence has more on what this move really means for the future of U.S. involvement in Iraq.
CHRIS LAWRENCE, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, T.J., there are some important reasons why the president had to make this announcement. But there are some real risks with the decision as well.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
LAWRENCE (voice-over): Some 39,000 American troops are still spread out over 18 bases in Iraq, and they've all got 10 weeks to get out.
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Today I can say that our troops in Iraq will definitely be home for the holidays.
LAWRENCE: The U.S. military is running up to 400 transportation convoys a week and has moved out more than 1.5 million pieces of equipment. It was President Bush who signed an agreement with Iraq to remove all American troops by the end of this year. Obama made it a campaign promise when he ran for president. And one of his potential opponents for re-election questioned, quote, "whether this decision is the result of a naked political calculation or simply sheer ineptitude in negotiations with the Iraqi government." Those negotiations broke down in part because Iraq's parliament would not extend legal protection to American troops.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We talked about immunities. There's no question about that. But the decision we -- and the president will insist on, our troops having what they need, no matter where they are.
LAWRENCE: A Pentagon official said American troops are sometimes prosecuted in local courts where there's an established legal system, like Germany or Japan. But they would not want American troops tried in Iraqi courts under Iraqi law. Current and former Pentagon officials have been raising alarms about Iran's growing power in Iraq.
ROBERT GATES, FORMER DEFENSE SECRETARY: I am worried about Iranian influence.
LEON PANETTA, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE (ph): It's raised tremendous concern.
LAWRENCE: And now, with the absence of American troops, the U.S. will have to find other ways to blunt Iran's influence.
OBAMA: As I told Prime Minister Maliki, we will continue discussions on how we might help Iraq train and equip its forces.
LAWRENCE: The U.S. military won't have a standing presence in Iraq, but a senior defense official tells CNN, the Pentagon is not backing away from a relationship with the Iraqi military. He says they can invite new Iraqi officers to American war colleges or conduct combined training missions in a third host country.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
LAWRENCE: Now there will be a small number of American troops left in Iraq, about 150, but they'll be working under the U.S. embassy and its protection. Also staying in Iraq, American diplomats and nearly 10,000 private contractors -- T.J.
HOLMES: All right, thanks to our Chris Lawrence.
And a lot of families, families of those troops who are still overseas, some had deployments planned that are being canceled now. You can imagine how some of the families of those service members are reacting to this news.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GARY SYMONDS, SON FOUGHT IN IRAQ: It means that my -- not only my son come home safe and sound to us as a family, our family is whole again, and I'm very thankful for the job that him and all his fellow soldiers have done for us.
SGT. JERRY PUPPELT, U.S. ARMY: It's time to bring our boys home. It's time for them to come home to their families. They shouldn't have to be over there. SPECIALIST TIM KOSTER, 362ND MOBILE PUBLIC AFFAIRS DETACHMENT: Especially coming home around the holiday times, it's going to be -- it's going to be great.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: All right. Let's take a look back at the Iraq War, shall we.
This all started in March of 2003. You may remember President Bush went on television, live national television, to declare that, in fact, the U.S. was attacking in Iraq. Then it was the shock and awe, bombings in Baghdad. And on April 9th of that year, we saw that iconic toppling of Saddam Hussein's statue in Baghdad.
And in December of 2003, Saddam Hussein was captured. He would be executed three years later.
September 2004, the death toll for U.S. troops tops the 1,000 mark. The total number of U.S. troops who have died in Operation Iraqi Freedom, 4,421. More than 32,000 have been injured.
In January of 2007 (ph), the so-called surge was announced by President Bush. That committed an extra 20,000 troops to Iraq. At its height, more than 160,000 U.S. service members were serving in the Iraq War.
And you may remember this video from Baghdad. An angry Iraqi journalist throwing his shoes at President Bush. An ultimate insult. This is from December of 2008. The president was there making his last trip to Baghdad to sign a Status of Forces Agreement. That's actually the deal the U.S. and Iraq agreed to that set out the time line for U.S. troops to be out of Iraq by the end of this year.
Well, at five minutes past the hour now, let's turn to Libya. And we're getting more details about the death of former dictator Moammar Gadhafi. His body is now being held in cold storage right now. And by that I mean a meat locker in Misrata. His burial on hold right now. His family wants the body, but the United Nations and two other major human rights groups want an investigation. That's in response to questions about how the former dictator really died. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta talked about the joint operation that lead to Gadhafi's death.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LEON PANETTA, DEFENSE SECRETARY: It was a U.S. drone combined with other NATO planes that fired on the convoy. And that, I think, is a reflection of the partnership that came together in NATO and in Libya.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: NATO plans to scale back operations in Libya by the end of this month, but won't decide on when to end operations altogether until sometime next week.
Well, we love the people of the United States, just not the government. That's just one of the nuggets we're getting from a new interview with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. He spoke exclusively with our Fareed Zakaria about allegations that Iran was planning to assassinate a Saudi Arabian ambassador on U.S. oil.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAHMOUD AHMADINEJAD, PRESIDENT OF IRAN (through translator): Do we need really to kill the ambassador of a brotherly country? What is the reason and the interest behind that?
We are a civilized nation. We have a strong logic, and with this strong logic, we talk to all nations. We never have any intention to hurt Saudi Arabia.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: And you can hear the rest of the interview with Iran's president, including what he has to say about developments in Iraq, on a special edition of "FAREED ZAKARIA GPS." That is Sunday, 10:00 Eastern Time. 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time.
Also, the man first in line for Saudi Arabia's throne has died in a New York hospital. Crowned Prince Sultan was the defense minister and one of the most visible members of the royal family. He's also in his 80s. The Saudi government says the prince died from an illness. Wouldn't be specific, though. Over the past few years, he been reportedly been battling cancer.
We turn to politics back here in the U.S. now. And Herman Cain, he's got a lot of attention, a lot of traction with that 9-9-9 tax plan. But now he's trying to clarify it a little, at least when it comes to poor people.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HERMAN CAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: How do we deal with the poor? Those that are at or below the poverty level? We already had this provision in there and we still raise the same amount of money. If you're at or below the poverty level, your plan isn't 9-9-9, it's 9-0- 9. Say, amen, y'all.
CROWD: Amen.
CAIN: 9-0-9.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: You like that, amen, didn't you, over there, Reynolds?
The original 9-9-9 plan calls for 9 percent corporate tax, 9 percent income tax, 9 percent national sales tax. But Cain says if you aren't paying income taxes because you don't make enough money, it will just stay that way. Critics have said the 9-9-9 plan would mean higher taxes for a majority of Americans.
As for the poor, a new report released this week by the Census Bureau shows there are 3.3 million more people living in poverty in the U.S. than there were last year. And 46.2 million people have incomes below the poverty line. That's just over 15 percent of the population.
Well, nine minutes past the hour now.
One more study to confuse you about what to do with your cell phone. Another study, the largest of its kind now, talking about radiation and the link with your cell phone and if it can lead to brain cancer. Well, this new study says there is no link between cell phones and brain cancer. Again, this is the largest study ever done on this topic. Researchers looked at about 350,000 people, some of them have used their phones for at least 10 years. They found no noticeable increase in tumors.
But, Reynolds, all we've got to do is wait just a couple more weeks and I'm sure there will be another new study that tells us just the opposite.
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Yes, those things just pop out. I mean they fall out of the sky like leaves on a fall day. It's crazy how that happens.
Hey, and speaking of fall, I know we're getting deeper into that season, but we're still in the middle of hurricane season too. In fact, we're watching some development right now in the western Caribbean. This system that you see right behind me actually has about a 70 percent chance of further development according to the National Hurricane Center. If it does become a named storm, that name will be Rina.
Where will it be going? We'll let you know. Hopefully not Atlanta, the shot you saw there just a few moments ago. I'm going to give you your forecast for Atlanta and across the nation. It looks like it could be a pretty interesting weekend for you weather wise, especially in parts of the central plains. That and more coming up, T.J.
HOLMES: Reynolds, thank you.
And you might not want to, but I'm going to get you smack dab in the middle of an argument.
WOLF: Bring it.
HOLMES: That is going on today among the CNN SATURDAY MORNING staff.
WOLF: All right.
HOLMES: And it has do with Troy Polamalu of the Pittsburgh Steelers. He has now been fined $10,000, not for a nasty hit, not for something he did on the field, not a fight, but for a phone call he made on the sidelines. $10,000 for one phone call. But the debate is about who he actually called and should he be fined at all?
Stick around for this one, folks. And, please, start chiming in on Twitter at tjholmes. I'm going to get Reynolds in the middle of this and I want you in the middle as well. But it's fired a lot of our folks up here in the studio.
But first, let me tell you about this. Annoying words out there. It seems like a new tech word pops up every other day. Britain's "Computeractive" magazine, though, has a new poll. The top five words making the list, annoying words, "Twittersphere," "sexting," "tweet- up," "intexticated," and "de-friend." Which one of those is the most annoying to you?
And do you agree with the voters in this poll? I'll tell you after the break. It's 12 past the hour on this CNN SATURDAY MORNING. We're just getting started.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: We are really going at it today in CNN SATURDAY MORNING about this phone call that Troy Polamalu made. We're going to get back into that. He was fined $10,000 for making a phone call on the sidelines. More on that in a second. I want to get you involved in this.
But 13 minutes past the hour. Before the break we showed you five words, tech words that made this most annoying list. Which one came out on top in that group? Which one do you hate most? Which one don't you like on that list, Reynolds?
WOLF: Well, I'm afraid if I choose the wrong one, you might "de- friend" me. So I would say probably "intexticating."
HOLMES: That one is pretty annoying, but most people guessed -- or, excuse me, they picked "sexing." In a survey of more than 2,000 adults in the U.K., 24 percent of the folks said they did not like that word. But came in second, yes, Reynolds, "intexticated."
WOLF: Wow.
HOLMES: I didn't even know that was a word. That means being unable to concentrate on driving because you are texting.
WOLF: I'll be darned.
HOLMES: So, there you go.
Let's say good morning to Reynolds Wolf.
WOLF: Good morning, man. How you doing?
HOLMES: Fantastic. Man, I'm well. I'm doing OK this morning. Feeling good.
WOLF: Yes, I'm with you. Feel like a great morning. I wish I could say that things are going to start cooling down a little bit as we get closer to fall, but things are beginning to heat up in the tropics. We're not done with hurricane season yet.
HOLMES: OK. OK.
WOLF: Had a little bit of a respite, now things are beginning to crank up again, especially the western Caribbean.
HOLMES: Wait, we're almost done with that season, right?
WOLF: Almost. We've got till -- we've got till November 30th.
HOLMES: OK.
WOLF: It's a long season.
HOLMES: All right.
WOLF: And we've seen the season extend actually beyond that date. But it's been quite. It looked like it was going to start coming to a screeching halt. That's not the case.
HOLMES: All right.
WOLF: Let me show you what we're talking about, T.J. As we get to the screen and pop this bad boy up, what we're going to show you is this development that we have in the western Caribbean. Take a look at this deep convection. Here you go. Just give you your bearings. You've got the Yucatan Peninsula up here. If you've ever been to Cozumel, well, or Cancun, that's up here in this area. So you're well south of that area.
Take a look at what we have here. We see it's just some deep, deep convection. Some heavy rainfall expected for parts of Central America. The big concern with this possible development is that this may slowly drift to the north. And not just stop there. It has the potential of drifting even farther to the north. Perhaps moving up in a direction a little bit more into the Gulf of Mexico. Maybe even by next week. If that happens, it's anyone's ballgame as to where it might go.
And also, in terms of strength, keep in mind, that's also a pretty finicky thing to try to forecast and there's a chance this thing could fall apart altogether or could really intensify. But right now, the National Hurricane Center gives this about a 70 percent chance of further development. So, as you can imagine, all eyes are going to be on this system.
Also plenty to watch here in the U.S. First and foremost is what is happening in Dallas. Dallas/Ft. Worth today, you've got this area of low pressure tapping into a lot of that moisture coming in from the Gulf of Mexico. A pretty warm day, too, in Dallas. The highs going up into the lover 80s. So a very unstable atmosphere.
What that means for any travelers? If you happen to be going to Dallas/Ft. Worth, tough times traveling there. Could see some delays there perhaps as far south as Austin, San Antonio, but that's going to your rough spot in terms of weather. A mix of sunshine and clouds for much of the northeast. Kind of breezy for you in portions of the Great Lakes, which has been the case the last couple of days. Also a lot of wind in portions of the northern plains.
To wrap things up, the Pacific northwest looks rainy with highs in that region going up into about 56 for Seattle, 66 in Chicago, 76 in New Orleans, 68 in Atlanta and 59 in New York City.
That's a wrap on the forecast.
All right, T.J., let's send it back to you.
HOLMES: All right, Reynolds, thank you.
Let's do a little NBA here. A little NBA news.
WOLF: OK.
HOLMES: Seems there's no end in sight right now for this lockout. They've had three day now and some 30 hours of negotiations. They had a federal mediator in between them all. And still, nothing. We knew a possibility was there that the whole season could be lost. Most people were guessing they certainly would get it done by Christmas time with the big Christmas Day games when everybody's at home watching.
But things have gotten nastier. The rhetoric has gotten nastier. They are, right now, at a point where the players union will not agree to a 50/50 split of revenues with the NBA owners. That 50/50 sound like a good deal maybe to you and me and the rest of the world, but to the players who have been getting more than that, they couldn't go that low.
The NBA says it lost -- or the owners say they've lost $300 million at least last season and that only eight of the 30 teams made any money at all last year. So the structure has to change.
Now, to the other story that everybody, at least this morning, is talking about here. And I know you and I are on different sides of this one.
WOLF: Wolf.
HOLMES: But to the viewers here, $10,000 now is the fine that Troy Polamalu is going to have to pay. Now, this is the Steelers safety. Player of the year at one point as well. He made a phone call during a game. OK. There he is on the sideline on the phone. You can't do this. You're not supposed to be on the phone, and for good reason. But what he was doing here was calling his wife. He called her to reassure her that he was OK after he had a hard hit. He has a history of concussions. They pulled him out of the game. And he wanted to call his wife, who was surely watching, and tell her that he was OK. Now the league has rules. And what they did is said, hey, we have a apology against cell phone use on the sidelines -- $10,000.
WOLF: Pay up. Pay up. I'm sorry, man, I totally, totally disagree with you. I know you're a romantic at heart.
HOLMES: Yes.
WOLF: You think this is a great thing. I disagree. You know, during the break we chatted with our executive producer, Tanisha Bell (ph). She is with me on this one.
HOLMES: Oh, yes.
WOLF: Rules are rules.
HOLMES: Yes.
WOLF: I mean the thing is, you know, it's not like there's a mystery. She can see on television that he's going to be OK. Plus, you've got people on the team, the team doctors, someone can call her. No one argues the idea that he's reaching out to his wife. That's great. Everyone loves that idea.
HOLMES: Yes. Yes.
WOLF: But you don't do that during the game. You just don't.
HOLMES: Rules are rules. But there was a guy last week who flipped off -- he threw the bird to the sideline.
WOLF: Right.
HOLMES: :He got a $7,500 -- he got a less -- I think it was 5 or 70 -- his fine was less than the guy who just called his wife to say he's OK.
Now, women at home, if you know your man's not well, you want to hear his voice on the phone. You don't want some guy -- can you call my wife for me. You don't want that. I know rules are rules and there are reasons you can't have guys calling and giving injury reports. He called his wife, Reynolds.
WOLF: Well, then maybe for -- to pay less of a fine, maybe, like, say, for example, if I was an NFL player, I would have a code with my wife and I would say, look, baby, if I ever get hurt in a game, I'll going to flip you off in the stand, but it doesn't mean what you think it means. No, no, no, what it means is that I love you or that you're number one.
HOLMES: OK.
WOLF: You see what I'm saying folks? It's just silly. The whole thing is silly. But rules are rules.
HOLMES: Rules are rules. All right, folks, we want you to chime in on this. It's Twitter at tjholmes and you're at, what, reynoldswolfcnn.
WOLF: You got it.
HOLMES: All right. We really want to hear -- we've gotten this debate started. Should -- yes, rules are rules. Is the fine too high? Maybe -- is that what it is or what?
WOLF: His heart was in the right place. I do like that part. I do respect him on that.
HOLMES: Nineteen past the hour. A quick break. We're going to fight some more. We'll be right back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: About 21 minutes past the hour now.
And in Glendale, Arizona, tonight, they're going to be holding a candlelight vigil for a missing five-year-old girl. Jahessye Shockley is her name. She's been missing since October 11th. Family members say she wandered out of her home while her older siblings were supposed to be watching her.
Police say that finding Jahessye is their number one priority right now. They've investigated hundreds of leads.
Her grandmother is upset because she believes her granddaughter's disappearance has not gotten national attention and she says race is to blame. We'll be talking with little Jahessye's grandmother. That's coming up in our 10:00 Eastern Hour.
Also cadaver dogs have smelled something in the Missouri home of an 11-month-old girl who has been missing since early October. They call it a hit when a dog picks up the scent of a body. Baby Lisa's mother admitted recently that she was drunk the night the baby disappeared. Police did a new search of the home this week. That's when the dogs smelled something. No one yet has been charged in the case.
Also, a private ceremony happening today in Birmingham, Alabama, for Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth, the civil rights activist who helped lead the fight against segregation and co-founded the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. He died earlier this month. His body will lie in repose on Sunday at the Birmingham Civil Rights Institute. His funeral and burial will take place on Monday.
Well, unemployed but not trying to find a job. Are some people just scamming the system? One business owner in Colorado says it is happening, and because of that she's having trouble hiring people. That story next.
It's 23 past the hour.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, 25 minutes past the hour now.
Fourteen million people are unemployed in this country. So why is one business owner finding it so hard to add 20 new people to her work force? We get the story now from our affiliate KUSA in Littleton, Colorado.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ERIC KAHNERT, KUSA REPORTER (voice-over): PowerBridge in Littleton has created an in-wall power extension kit, an outlet that allows people to hang their flat screen TVs on the wall without seeing dangling cords.
SARA SABALKA, CEO, POWERBRIDGE: Last year we started working closely with Best Buy.
KAHNERT: Best Buy wanted the product in all of their stores by this fall.
SABALKA: We had to go into high gear.
KAHNERT: PowerBridge's CEO Sara Sabalka says she had to triple her workspace and workforce.
SABALKA: In mid September I started posting on Craigslist and I got inundated with resumes being sent to me.
KAHNERT: She set up dozens of interviews with qualified applicants to fill 20 assembly line openings.
SABALKA: And in that first day, I was expecting 40 people. One person showed up.
KAHNERT: Similar results the next week. And Sabalka began to panic.
SABALKA: We've got to get these kits built and out to Best Buy right away.
KAHNERT: The openings pay $7.50 to $8.50 an hour for full-time and part-time jobs.
SABALKA: I think that now it's becoming almost easier to stay at home and accept the unemployment checks than it is to go out there and work. And I think I was getting so many resumes because that's part of the unemployment process.
KAHNERT (on camera): In order for people to keep collecting their unemployment checks, the Colorado Department of Labor says people need to make and record five job contacts each week. And that includes filling out applications, faxing or e-mailing resumes to employers, and talking to employers on the phone or meeting with them face to face.
KAHNERT (voice-over): The Labor Department says not responding to an invitation for a job interview does not constitute failure to do a diligent job search. Sabalka filled those 20 positions but plans on hiring again next month.
SABALKA: If I'm not able to keep people here and employed and find enough people, we may have to outsource, which we really don't want to do.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Thanks to our affiliate there in Colorado.
Well, thousands of U.S. soldiers will be coming home for the holidays. The president called it a promise kept. Republican leaders calling it something else. You'll hear from them. Stay with us on this CNN SATURDAY MORNING.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: We're at the bottom of the hour on this CNN SATURDAY MORNING. Welcome back, everybody. I'm T.J. Holmes. Thank you for spending part of your weekend here with us.
Then, we do have some mixed emotions - mixed emotions over the president's announcement that 39,000 U.S. service members will leave Iraq by the end of the year. This full withdrawal would end one of the most controversial wars in U.S. history.
Some Republicans, including Senator John McCain, says America's enemies in the Middle East, like Iran, will view this as a strategic victory. Senior military officials say they hope to leave troops in Iraq until next year, but negotiations broke down with the Iraqi government over giving legal immunity to American troops. The president says he's making good on a campaign pledge to end the war.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: In Iraq, we've succeeded in our strategy to end the war. Last year, I announced the end of our combat mission in Iraq. We've already removed more than 100,000 troops, and Iraqi forces have taken full responsibility for the security of their own country.
Thanks to the extraordinary sacrifices of our men and women in uniform, the Iraqi people have the chance to forge their own future, and now the rest of our troops will be home for the holidays.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: Now, more criticism coming from Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina. He said, quote, "I feel all we have worked for, fought for and sacrificed for is very much in jeopardy. I hope I am wrong and the president is right. But I fear this decision has set in motion events that will come back to haunt our country."
Give you a look now at some of the stories making headlines. Take a look and listen to this. This is heavy fighting that continues in Syria. Security Forces continuing their crackdown on armed civilians. This is a YouTube video we're showing you of a neighborhood in Homs well known for their opposition to the Assad regime. The Syrian military is believed to be firing on homes in this neighborhood.
Also, the man first in line for Saudi Arabia's thrown has died in a New York hospital. Crown Prince Sultan was the defense minister and one of the most visible members of the royal family. He was in his 80s. The Saudi government says the prince died from an illness, but they were not specific. Over the past few year, he had reportedly been battling cancer.
And more than 1,000 - excuse me - 100,000 people in Bangkok taking refuge in emergency shelters as Thailand deals with its worst flooding in half a century. The prime minister is urging people to move their belongings to higher ground because they expect more water to pour into the capital. They had hoped that strengthening flood barriers and widening canals would keep area safe, but now they are hoping - or opening the flood gates to relieve pressure on dam and levees and to send the water towards the sea.
Well, Herman Cain, he's all about that 9-9-9 plan of his. It's the centerpiece of his campaign, but the plan has come under attack by a lot of critics, including some of his fellow Republican presidential candidates.
CNN's Joe Johns takes a look at how Cain is responding now to the criticism.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOE JOHNS, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): One thing to be said about Herman Cain, he makes eating crow look delicious. After fending off furious attacks on the biggest policy idea of his campaign, Cain finally broke down and admitted that his one size fits all idea to throw out the tax code and replace it with income tax, business tax and sales tax at nine percent was actually not for everybody.
HERMAN CAIN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: If you're at or below the poverty level, your plan isn't 9-9-9, it's 9-0-9. Say amen, y'all.
CROWD: Amen.
CAIN: Nine-zero-nine. In other words, if you are at or below the poverty level based upon family size, because it's a different number on each one, then you don't pay that middle nine tax on your income.
JOHNS: Cain also proposed creating economic opportunity zones to help depressed areas, and made his announcement using a depressed area in Detroit as a backdrop. All of this in response to the beating his 9- 9-9 plan has taken since he started looking like a top-tier Republican candidate in the polls. Like at the CNN Debate on Tuesday.
RICK SANTORUM (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: The fact of the matter is, I mean, reports are now out that 84 percent of Americans would pay more taxes under his plan. That's the analysis.
JOHNS: This is one of the guys who did that analysis, Robertson Williams of the non-partisan Tax Policy Center talking to us via Skype. He says Cain's original proposal would have placed a huge tax burden on poor people and the latest tweaks make it better, but don't solve the problem entirely.
ROBERTSON WILLIAMS, URBAN INSTITUTE: And he was very explicit a number of times saying there would be no special provisions for the people at the bottom. There would be no special provisions for the poor. Everyone should pay some tax, yet he changed that. He said that the poor would exempt income tax. But they still have to pay the sales tax.
JOHNS: And that's the other highly controversial piece of the plan, because there's no reason why a national sales tax starting at nine percent couldn't be increased. MICHELE BACHMANN (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: And anytime the federal government needs revenue, they dial up the rate.
JOHNS (on camera): The other thing that makes Cain's announcement so important is that he also rolled out a sweeping view of how to revitalize urban areas in his economic zones proposal. He is questioning whether minimum wage laws keep people from getting jobs, proposing more tenant control of HUD properties, and reviewing local permitting processes and zoning laws. Just a whole range of things that are going to get him a lot of attention and a lot of controversy.
Joe Johns, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Thirty-six minutes past the hour now.
And Michele Bachmann seems to be missing a few folks in her New Hampshire campaign headquarters. She had five staffers, and now reports say all five have resigned. One has joined Rick Perry's campaign. Bachmann has lost several high-profile staffers over the past few weeks. They've left for different reasons, including allegations that she doesn't have the money to sustain a national campaign.
The federal judge that struck down parts of Arizona's controversial anti-immigration law has now dismissed the state's legal challenge to the ruling. Judge Susan Bolton said Friday the state's claim that the federal government has failed to control the border and enforce immigration laws is without merit. Arizona Governor Jan Brewer says the judge's decision is frustrating but not surprising. Brewer wants the U.S. Supreme Court to hear the case.
Now, we do have a real-life hero to tell you about. Take a look. Because of her, the driver of that rig is lucky to be alive. With flames rising and diesel leaking everywhere, she ignored the possibility of a huge explosion and jumped in to help.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Forty minutes past the hour.
Now, a San Francisco woman being called a hero now and because of this. Check this out. This is all that's left now. We can show you here, a cement truck caught fire on the highway.
Keena Williams was driving with her 5-year-old daughter, she saw the truck in flames. Flames are rising, diesel leaking everywhere, she risked her life to get the driver out of the way before the whole thing could explode.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEENA WILLIAMS, RESCUED TRUCK DRIVER: My first instinct was to run over there and I try to put my arms under his arms, and I dragged him all the way to my car. And I had my towel and my coat over him because he was shaking and I was just trying to keep him warm and so I just comfort him while he was there because he - he was in pain.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She made all of the difference in the world because the truck driver was on the ground on the other side of the fire. So from our approach, we had to extinguish the fire and probably wouldn't have seen him on the ground if nobody else has stopped.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HOLMES: It's amazing what people - you always wonder what would you do in a situation like that, you hope you would jump into action like that. But, still, she risked her life and -
REYNOLDS WOLF, AMS METEOROLOGIST: Point taken and what a difference maker.
HOLMES: And her daughter is right there. So, good for her.
Reynolds, we need to duck again? Didn't we just get past one of these not so long?
WOLF: It seems like they're falling out of the sky all the time. We have one - what? I guess about a month ago, it was six tons.
This - what we're talking about is ROSAT. It's a German satellite that was launched back in 1990. And in 1998, the Germans considered it basically unusable. It was damaged. It was an x-ray telescope which is designed to help us understand the origins of the universe. This one is smaller. This one is only 2.7 tons.
HOLMES: Nothing to worry about. Nothing to worry about.
WOLF: Yes. What is 2.7 tons (ph), right?
Well, what's going to happen is its orbit is getting smaller and smaller. And, yes, sometime over the weekend, possibly later tonight, early tomorrow morning, it's expected to reenter the earth's atmosphere.
The good news is that the earth's atmosphere is very hostile, so when you reenter, there's a chance that things do tend to break up. This will break up. It's not going to remain intact. The problem is there will still be pieces that will likely make its way all the way to the earth's surface.
However the risk of anyone being hit is about one in 2,000. Pretty good odds. The world population, keep in mind, is about 6.775 billion. The risk of you being hit is about one 1 in 13 trillion. Yes, adds are on that you're going to be fine.
Many of these obviously will fall into the ocean, possibly the Pacific Ocean which is the earth's largest single geographical feature, but still very interesting.
This actually launched back in 1990 and it was a kind of a joint effort, of course, it's a German satellite, but launched also with the help of the United States and the U.K. But here we are, you know, fast forward, it's been up there for quite awhile, unusable, just circling the globe and it's turned up now. It's reentering, but it's causing a bit more attention as it comes back into the earth - or towards the earth as it was when it was first launched.
T.J., that's the latest we've got. We're going to keep our eyes on the heavens and keep our fingers crossed, but one in 13 million. I think - call me crazy, I think we're going to be OK.
HOLMES: OK. I hear you.
WOLF: But, you know, if it comes close, you can actually get on a cell phone and you can call your wife and you wouldn't get in trouble.
HOLMES: OK.
WOLF: You can tell her that you're OK. You weren't hit by the satellite.
HOLMES: You make - people have responded to this in a major way.
The story we were telling you all earlier - and Reynolds and I got into it about, we are on different sides of the story. Troy Polamalu, safety for the Pittsburg Steelers, is fined $10,000, folks, for making a phone call. You're seeing the play where he got hurt. He got his bell rung a little bit on that play. He goes to the sidelines, concussion-like symptoms. He calls his wife.
Well, you're not supposed to use a cell phone on the sideline for good reasons as to do with, you know, betting and bookies. And you just - you just can't do that. So he calls his wife to say he's OK. Fined $10,000.
Now, you have people like Reynolds, who are saying rules are rules, yes. Slap him with a fine. We've got others like our esteemed executive producer who says, you know what, he's rich any way, $10,000 is a drop in a bucket.
But you all have responded in a major way to me and Reynolds on Twitter this morning. And your - and, you know, Reynolds, I'm going to give you this. A lot of people - most are saying rules are rules. A lot of people are writing rules are rules. I get what you're saying.
But I want to highlight one from Jonell Lapierre (ph), who says, "Rules are rules, but I think the fine is too high. Super sweet that he was so considerate of his wife's peace of mind." That's all I'm saying.
WOLF: But you can still be super considerate and play within the rules. I mean -
HOLMES: How? How?
WOLF: -- during - I'll tell you exactly how it can be done. During a football game, obviously you've got halftime, you have when the game is over. But if it happened sometime during the first half, I don't know when it took place, but couldn't he call, say, couldn't he have a doctor call his wife and say, "You know what, Troy's OK. He's on the sidelines. He's going to call you at halftime."
HOLMES: If you bust your head on the side of this desk right now and you're bleeding from the head, Erin wants to hear from you. She doesn't want T.J. to call and say I think he's OK. She wants to hear your voice.
WOLF: Mrs. Wolf would laugh her booty off, OK, first and foremost, that's number one. And number two, she want you to call so she could laugh with you, because you're laughing right now. Then she would listen to my fool self in a little while, what's up, anyways.
HOLMES: It's amazing. You all have been responding to this one. We're going to keep this conversation and debate going. Plenty of other things going on this morning, but still one to talk about.
We're a quarter to the top of the hour now. And coming up, Christian conservatives are gathering in Iowa this weekend to hear what the Republican presidential candidates have to say, but one candidate's a no-show. Who and why, coming up. Stay with us.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: All right. Big weekend for Republican presidential candidates who are trying to reach out to the party's base in Iowa.
CNN Deputy Political Director Paul Steinhauser breaks down the event in Des Moines and tells us who's not coming.
PAUL STEINHAUSER, CNN DEPUTY POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Good morning, T.J.
The campaign spotlight is on Iowa today. Six of the nation's Republican presidential candidates are in the state. It votes first in the primary caucus calendar. The six, Herman Cain, Rick Perry, Ron Paul, Newt Gingrich, Rick Santorum and Michele Bachmann. They all speak at a Faith and Freedom Forum organized by a leading social conservative group.
You know, Christian conservative voters will play an influential role in determining which candidate wins Iowa's Republican caucuses.
One of the two candidates not in the forum, Mitt Romney, still be on the trail today in New Hampshire, the first primary state in the race for the White House. And Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal is up for re-election today. The popular Republican governor who's the overall favorite needs to win 50 percent of the vote in a nonpartisan contest to avoid a runoff next month - T.J.
HOLMES: All right. Thanks to our Paul Steinhauser.
And here's a question. What would you do if you saw a wounded child lying in the street? A story out of China has people outraged around the world. A 2-year-old girl, the victim of a double hit and run, but as she lies there bleeding, she is ignored by people all around her. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Well, we're about 10 minutes from the top of the hour. Nadia Bilchik with us with this "Morning's Passport."
This morning, it's an unfortunate story that everybody was talking about, outraged, but now it's kind of ramped up a little bit. A 2- year-old girl ignored in the street wounded after a hit and run. She was hit by two different vehicles.
NADIA BILCHIK, CNN EDITORIAL PRODUCER: Right.
HOLMES: And now, the little girl has died.
BILCHIK: It is so, so tragic. This is in the Southern City of Foshan in China. And a little toddler, apparently her mother had just dropped her off, and she seems to have run off.
HOLMES: Yes.
BILCHIK: Interesting circumstances there in and of itself. She is hit by one van and a surveillance camera gets this and another van.
But the extraordinary part, T.J., is that around 18 people passed by and nobody came to her rescue. So this has caused, as you said, huge outcry around the world and in China. And people are looking at why. Why only eventually did a scrap peddler come to her rescue, and a woman who eventually apparently looked around before helping her. And there are a couple of reasons.
Some of them are saying that it is not advantageous to help a person in need. So what has happened is in around 2007 a woman falls off her bicycle. The rescuer takes her to the hospital. The rescuer is then sued. So he got into trouble for helping her. So people are very concerned about if I help somebody, am I the one who gets into trouble? So this particular law has resulted - or this particular incident has resulted in should we have a good Samaritan law whereby if people do good deeds they are rewarded?
Also people are saying does the education system in China focus on nationalism versus helping each other? And a country where 1.3 billion people are all working to get ahead economically, what's happened to care and concern for each other?
HOLMES: So this is a culture that came from - and I don't remember the 2007 case, but I assume it got a lot of attention, a lot of national attention, so that really has altered people's habits in - just in the past few years or it kind of has it been like this for a while?
BILCHIK: Well, it seems that it's escalated in the last few years. But hardly unique to China. I mean, there were various incidents in New York a couple of years ago where patients were left lying in a hospital in New York City.
And in Manchester, England, where, again, you're looking at somebody there. That's the New York City Hospital -
HOLMES: I remember that video.
BILCHIK: -- and there she lay for an entire hour until people came to her rescue.
Manchester, England, a couple of years later, somebody is, well, left for 10 hours before somebody came to their rescue.
So all we can hope is that little Yue Yue (ph) that her death was not in vain and that there is some reward for good Samaritans. And that's the adage, you know, no good deed goes unpunished is not true.
HOLMES: All right. Nadia Bilchik. Rough "Morning Passport" or maybe it will get - get people there thinking, get people here thinking as well. Thank you so much. We'll see Nadia again this morning.
Well, we're about seven minutes off the top of the hour. And a unique restaurant to tell you about coming up next from rocker Jon Bon Jovi. Yes, it's unique because it's his restaurant but it's also what he's doing. You come on in and get a meal and pay what you can. Stick around.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
HOLMES: Good morning to New York City. Lady of Liberty, beautiful shot this morning of New York. We're listening to a little Bon Jovi there. And you know him, you know his music, but in one New Jersey town, Bon Jovi now is rolling up his sleeves and he's washing some dishes?
The rocker and his wife have opened up a community kitchen, pay what you can, if you can.
Phil Lipof of our affiliate WABC with the details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PHIL LIPOF, WABC-TV CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): His umbrella turned inside out by the wind and rain, but the smile never leaves Jon Bon Jovi's face. It is an exciting day for him and his wife, Dorothea, their foundation is opening, the Jon Bon Jovi Soul Kitchen.
JON BON JOVI, SINGER: This is a place based and built on community.
LIPOF: There are no prices on the menu. The idea, he says, is simple. If you can pay, great, leave a donation. If you can't, volunteer in the kitchen, somewhere else in the community and get a gift certificate to the restaurant.
BON JOVI: A 12-year-old is empowered because if they're coming and working in the garden and they take that gift certificate home that may be the meal that the family gets to go on and to celebrate.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bon Jovi and his wife ran two pilot programs in Red Bank to assess the community's needs and its response. Two years later, they renovated this former auto body shop and built the Community Kitchen. Helping to prepare the food is Anthony Servica (ph).
ANTHONY SERVICA, SERVES IN THE KITCHEN: I'm a firm believer in doing good things for others and good things will happen for you.
LIPOF: Anthony (ph) is a perfect example. He was out of work, donating his time at a Soup Kitchen. Bon Jovi and his wife came in. They met. Now, Anthony (ph) is employed full time.
(on camera): And Bon Jovi didn't just drop the money for this, pay for it and leave and let somebody else run it. He actually runs it and works in the kitchen.
SERVICA: He comes in, and for five, six hours straight will scrub burnt pots and pans.
LIPOF (voice-over): The menu is healthy and nutritious. Some ingredients grown here in the garden, others donated by a local whole foods, everything from Garden State gumbo, to pork chops and homemade carrot cake, and if he has his way there will be soul kitchens all over the country, even the world.
BON JOVI: There's a great need for them, both in urban and suburban environments. I've already had offers to increase our footprint.
LIPOF: But just like the mega star career he built, Bon Jovi says he's going to take it one step at a time.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HOLMES: Again, thanks to our Phil Lipof of our affiliate WABC.
Well, in the past, Bon Jovi's JBJ Soul Foundation has focused on developing affordable housing, but he says the recession made it difficult to move forward with those projects and thought opening a Pay-what-you-can restaurant will be another way to help people out.
