the church is the building. as far as material things, they're gone but we have the people. ♪ oh lord have mercy on me >> we are rebuild this church and we will rebuild this church and we will rebuild it right here. we still have our belief and we still have our future and i still have my belief in god and i will never, ever not have that. >> amen. >> go in peace, serve the lord. thanks be to god. thank you all. >> an may mazing story. "cnn newsroom" continues right now with joe johns in for ali velshi. she's riding, rolling, tweeting, teasing, but is sarah palin running? the former alaska governor and gop running mate is spending her memorial day on a bus tour bound for new england, presumably, we think, new hampshire. i say presumably because her sarahpac website isn't saying

where she'll stop until she's been there. she turned up this morning at the national archives in her words highlighting america's foundation and contemplating a run for president in 2012. yesterday palin hit the streets with rolling thunder, the motorcycle rally honoring america's m.i.a.s and p.o.w.s. but we think she'll be in gettysburg, pennsylvania later today. jim acosta, she's used the word "foundation" a lot this morning. is she laying the foundation for a presidential run? >> reporter: well, you know, we're not hearing a whole lot, to be quite honest, because that is the game they are playing right now inside the palin staff. it is sort of a game of "catch me if you can," "follow the bouncing bus." some are calling this "the palin mystery bus tour." i think some of that is by design. they want to generate some buzz and media attention obviously. and the former alaska governor

is doing a lot of that on this memorial day, hitting the national archives this morning, then heading to mt. vernon. she may hit another historic site in between there and gettysburg but this is all in sort of a state of flux. and not to mention the fact that her potential presidential campaign could be in a state of flux. reporters asked her earlier this morning what are her intentions and she gave a very interesting response. take a listen. >> do you think you could beat obama in 2012, sarah? >> oh, i think that any republican candidate is re, very electable. i think americans are ready for a true change, change to get our country back on the right track. >> does that mean you're interested in running? are you going to run? >> you know, we're still kind of contemplating that. >> the key words there, she is contemplating that. i can tell you if she is going

to contemplate it, there are a lot of folks out here in pennsylvania right now who would be very supportive of that, joe. we are hours away from her potential arrival at gettysburg. there's already a pretty decent crowd gathering. we talked to a few folks in this crowd and they'd like to see her make this run. it is no surprise, as you know, joe, in some of the recent polling that's been done, the go up fol-- gallup folks did a national survey that took into account donald trump is not running for president and mike huckabee is not running for president and sarah palin showed a respectable second in that polling. obviously she and her staff see that and they capitalize on that, she's sucking up all of the oxygen. >> we have taken a poll and it is pretty clear she's bunched right up there at the top with several others, including rudy giuliani who's also not in the

race. so doing pretty well for a person who's not declared anything. this is very atypical campaign apparatus, if you will. do you think that anybody else could get this kind of mileage out of so little organization? >> reporter: i don't think so, joe. i think this is vintage palin. that is why you have folks john john mccain, her former running mate. we all remember there were some tense moments between her staff and john mccain's staff during the 2008 presidential campaign. but he's maintained pretty good relations with the former alaska governor. he was on one of the sunday talk shows yesterday saying he thinks she could run and win and beat president obama in a potential 2012 field. folks like mitch mcconnell said yesterday on one of the other sunday talk shows that the obama white house can celebrate and do touchdown dances all they want at this point at the prospect of sarah palin getting into this race, but remember 1980 the carter folks were very optimistic, very happy to see

ronald reagan running against them and they paid the price come november of that year. she is not to be underestimated at this point. she can certainly make a lot of noise in this campaign and she seems to be doing that right now, joe. >> touchdown dances. that's a pretty good way of putting it. thanks, jim acosta in gettysburg. we'll be watching you. so tonight on "john king usa," john king is aboard the cnn express, he's following sarah palin around. if anybody can figure out whether she's inching closer to a run, it will be him. "john king usa" tonight, 7:00 eastern right here on cnn. president obama is leading the nation's tributes to fallen service members. something all presidents do on memorial day. it is a tradition but he's also making some major changes in military leadership as you may have seen right here live on cnn. the commander in chief today introduced his picks for chairman an vice chairman of the joint chiefs of staff and chief staff of the army. the man to the president's

immediate left is army general martin dempsey who the president wants to replace the retiring chairman mike mullen. it was just last month that dempsey became army chief of staff. sew wasn't considered the favorite for the top job. all the nominees require senate confirmation, of course, which the president says he hopes will happen as swiftly as possible. from the rose garden, mr. obama traveled right across the river to arlington national cemetery where he places the traditional wreath at the tomb of the unknowns. he also paid a visit to section 60 which is a part of the cemetery reserved primarily for troops killed in iraq and afghanistan. as a matter of fact now, i want to turn our attention to afghanistan where an afghan soldier shot and killed a nato soldier today. nato's international security assistance force says the shooting death in southern afghanistan is still under investigation. two more isaf soldiers died in

eastern afghanistan in a separate attack when an improvised bomb exploded. these attacks come a day after nato apologized for an air strike that killed nine civilians, mostly women and children in the helmand province. in serbia, ratko mladic's lawyer has requested that the former bosnian serb general be reexamined by a team of specialies. mladic's lawyer says the 69-year-old former commander is not healthy enough to face charges of genocide at the international criminal tribunal at the hague. the chief prosecutor denies that mladic is in poor health saying he's been lively and joking since taken into custody. mladic was captured last week after hiding for more than 15 years. he's accused of overseeing the massacre of nearly 8,000 muslim men and boys in 1995. prince william and his new

wife catherine duchess of cambridge are heading state side next month for their first royal tour. details of their 11-day north america trip just came out today. according to people, the royal couple will spend most of their time in canada before flying to los angeles on july 8th where they will promote britain to hollywood. online hackers have pirated the pbs website. hackers posted a false story claiming the rapper tupac shakur who died almost 15 years ago is still alive and living in new zealand, of all places. the group also post what had it said were journalist passwords, log-in information for the pbs series "front line" and other sensitive information about its pbs stations. the hackers claim they hacked pbs' servers after being "less than impressed" with the network's documentary "wikisecrets." pbs acknowledged the hack today

but declined to comment any further. they haven't given up searching for victims in jop hin will, missouri. more than a week after the tornado, we'll bring you up to date and check on whether any mo storms are on the way. down the hill? man: all right. we were actually thinking, maybe... we're going to hike up here, so we'll catch up with you guys. [ indistinct talking and laughter ]

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disaster, dozens of people are still missing. the confirmed death toll is 142 with 43 people still unaccounted for. the city observed a moment of silence last night at 5:41 central time, one week to the minute after the twister hit. earlier yesterday president obama toured the devastation and spoke at a memorial service for the victims. he promised help as the city rebuilds. >> we're not going anywhere. the cameras may leave. the spotlight may shift. but we will be with you every step of the way until joplin is restored and this community is back on its feet. we're not going anywhere! >> severe storms hit the midwest yesterday. 450 flights were canceled at chicago's o'hare international airport. high winds tore off roofs and knocked down trees in michigan. cutting power to thousands of customers. let's bring in meteorologist chad meyers.

it is like a broken record right now. more expected today? >> but finally, the jet stream has moved to the north where it should be now. it shouldn't have been all the way down in joplin last week. it should have been on up in nebraska, south dakota, north dakota. today that's where the severe weather is because that's where finally the jet stream has shifted. did you notice it got warmer here the past couple of weeks? two weeks ago people were going where's summer? it was 68 degrees in atlanta and obviously we lost our hot-lanta. but now the jet stream has moved to the north and temperatures have gone up. record heat from macon, georgia yesterday to here's severe weather for critical fire weather today. there will be severe weather farther to the north. 41-mile-per-hour wind there in amarillo. we had all those fires yesterday. there will be severe weather today. it is going to be in an area bounded by north dakota, south

dakota, parts of nebraska and kansas. maybe even up into the high country here of denver, colorado and cheyenne. but they will be those storms that you can see them for a long way coming. the most severe weather should be out here in the plains where humidity is there. humidity will bump into each other, cold air, warm air will bump right through here and we could even see some tornadoes on the ground. the good news is here, towns in nebraska and also south dakota, kansas are farther apart than let's say tuscaloosa and birmingham. so if we do get a big tornado it may miss all those big towns. >> just don't give me another week like last week. it was pretty nasty. thanks, chad. in two minutes's we're going to bring you one of the most interesting teenagers i think you'll ever meet. a 15-year-old who was running a successful company and using her power to help orphans in haiti. don't go anywhere.

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if you're like a lot of people, can you probably say your folks were always proud of you and your achievements. but when you're in high school, were you the ceo of your own company? my next guest may put all of us to shame. 15-year-old lee anna archer started an all-natural hair caroline when she was just 9

years old. she now pulls in more than $100 a year. she joins us from new york. what you've done is absolutely amazing. tell me a little bit about your company and what you do. >> i own a hair and body care product company and i have a line of about 14 products and i pretty much have been running this company for the past six years. >> so you got started by, what? taking an old recipe from your grandmother and expanding it out? tell me that story. >> well, my great grandmother used to make a hair pomade that she concocted, i guess you could say, in haiti. and it's been passed on from generation to generation and growing up people in my community wanted to use the same products that i was using, so

then i made it available for them. >> got it. now, tell me, for other entrepreneurs that would like to be successful, can you give them any advice? how do you get started and how do you keep it going? >> well, i can honestly say that a great support system is definitely helpful. i have the support of my friends and family and i would -- a lot of people ask me mostly, have i ever --dy need money to start the company and the answer is no. i just provided the community with samples of the product and when they liked it enough, they came to me and provided me with the money to get a business license and to recreate the product. >> now i can imagine if there are a lot of parents out there like myself, one of the things they're wondering is how do i

get my kid to do the kind of thing you've done? can you give me an idea of what parents can do to, number one, help things get started like this by their kids, and also encourage it? >> well, i would say the most important thing a parent can do is to really stick by their kid and support their dreams 100% and the common saying in america is you can do anything when you set your mind to it and parents always tell their children that. i think that they should actually follow through with that slogan and, you know, dreams are wild but they're wild enough to come through. >> follow-through. thaels always important in starting a business. >> now you started a foundation in haiti, an educational foundation. little bit about that. >> i started a foundation in haiti in 2008 when i went to haiti for the first time. i'm currently working with a group of about 150 children and

my main goal is to overall build a school, but right now i'm just focusing on providing them with food, shelter, and an education. >> leeanna archer in new york, good luck and we will be following you as you go along in your career. join christine romans for yt your bottom line" each saturday morning at 9:30 eastern and "your money" with ali velshi saturdays at 1:00 p.m. eastern and sundays at 3:00. resetting national security. president obama picks the final members of his new team. our ed henry will be along in a few minutes with more on the changes and what they're going to mean at the white house.

president obama is putting the final touches on his new national security team announcing his choice for joint chiefs chairman today to replace admiral mike mullen. cnn's senior white house correspondent ed henry joins us at this time every day. ed, tell us a little bit about the president's choice and what sounds like musical chairs over at the white house. >> reporter: you're right. general dempsey, army chief of staff now, is going to be moving up if confirmed to be joint chiefs. this is the president's top military advisor.

admiral winifield. and general odierno. a commanding officer will wok army chief of staff. in june defense secretary robert gates is going to be stepping down. leon panetta moving over from the cia to run the pentagon if he's confirmed by the senate as expected. i think the bottom line comes down to continuity. iraq is largely wound down by afghanistan still has 100,000 u.s. troops there so this president is moving some of the chairs but it is really some familiar faces. he wants to keep as much continuity as possible. the other angle to keep an eye on is general odierno has aston who served overseas in the last couple years, lost his arm. and general dempsey has three children all of whom have served in the military. on this day of all days, rather remarkable. these are not just folks in high

command who don't really know what it is like out in the field. they've had children serving very recently in harm's way, joe. >> that's just about the biggest personal investment you can possibly make. >> you are absolutely right. >> on another note the president was talking about the weather, how hot it is there. little rough right now compared to overseas? >> joe, you've been a grunt like the rest of us out here in the field in washington, swampy weather. now you're in a cushy studio with the air on. >> stop it! >> i'm just kidding. i ran into bo, the dog. he ran into one of the secret service areas out here because they got air conditioning in there. i put that on twitter. bo is a pretty smart dog. he knows that washington gets pretty stifling. >> all that fur. >> if you can get indoors, this time of year in washington or atlanta, do it. bo's no dope. >> so are you a little bit jet lagged after flying all over the place with the president last

week? >> a little bit. and it was a pretty quick trip. it is always exciting to travel with the president. you know that. but it was four countries in about six days so it's not like we ever got to stay in any one place for very much time. so when you just do that, bam, bam with being bap with being when you get back it is a little bit jarring. >> the one story of the whole last week of course was in joplin, missouri and all the tornado damage there. people are wondering about the federal response to this disaster. do we have a feel as to whether the president laid out a clear plan or was it just sort of a very large picture and somebody else is going to fill it in? >> that's a good question. we'll see how that plays out over the next couple days. certainly he was under some pressure because of that european trip that you mentioned. it was a week ago sunday that those tornadoes hit in missouri. bad timing for the president in the sense politically he was about to get on air force one to go over to europe just as all that played out. he's definitely had so the critics in the blog steer saying why didn't he cut the european

trip short, et cetera. as soon as he got back though, he got back late sunday, he was just as jet lagged as the rest of us. sunday early he headed right to the memorial service. based on the reaction from that crowd, if there were any hard feelings for him taking a while to get there they were smoothed over because he got a standing ovation and warm responses. and two, frankly in a situation like this when tragedy strikes, people think about politics a lot further down the chain of command there. they are more concerned about making sure that they recover as quickly as they can. it is a really desperate situation there. >> absolutely. thanks so much, ed henry at the white house. good seeing you. so this is the key to a healthy diet. right? throw away everything you know about the food pyramid. seriously. we'll explain why in just about 60 seconds.

let's catch up on the latest headlines and some stories you may have missed. sarah palin may be on a national bus tour but she's remaining coy about whether she intend to put her name in the hat for presidential bid. the former alaska governor said she's still "kind of contemplating" a run. palin's "one nation" bus tour kick off sunday with a stop at the rolling thunder bike rally on the national mall. she's scheduled to make stops at historic sites in new england in the next few days. in the next hour we'll take a step back and examine media's obsession with palin and her polarizing effect. you won't want to miss that discussion. today, president barack obama led the nation in honoring the servicemen and women who gave their lives for our freedom and security. the president laid a wreath at the arlington national cemetery's tomb of the unknowns saying we owe a debt to our fallen heroes that we can never fully repay.

>> it is a day that has meaning for all americans, including me. it's one of my highest honors. it is my most solemn responsibility as president to serve as commander in chief of one of the finest fighting forces the world has ever known. >> president obama visited arlington's section 60, the burial area primarily for soldiers killed in iraq and afghanistan. in joplin, missouri, the number of people unaccounted for from the tornado has fallen to 43. the number killed remains at 142. president obama visited the town on sunday observing the 13-mile path of destruction left by the tornado a week earlier. workers are still searching through the rubble for more remains. as you hitch up the car for your memorial day road trip, you'll find some relief at the gas pump. the average price for a blgallo

of gas is $3.79. according to aaa, that's a 5% drop from last week and 14-cent drop from a month ago. not bad, right? in medical news today, say good-bye to the food pyramid -- the guide we use to eat for the last two decades. the obama administration is proposing a plate shaped symbol divided into the basic food groups. food plate will be unveiled thursday and is made to give you a fast and easy reminder of what a healthy diet looks like. remembering our fallen heroes. we'll tell you what some veterans an their families are doing to honor america's fighting men and women all year round. coming up next.

america is remembering its war dead with solemn ceremonies today. but there are also ways to honor america's fallen heroes year round. a navy s.e.a.l. an the ceo of a non-profit organization called "the mission continues, ryan manion. he is the sister of a fallen marine and executive director of

the travis manion foundation on the phone with us. first a little background. eric, you served with ryan's brother, travis, in iraq. we were just talking about this on the phone a second ago. tell me when you served with him and sort of the story of his life in war. >> so i was serving with travis manion in iraq in the spring of 2007. and in march of 2007, my unit was hit by a suicide truck bomb in fallujah. that day i went to the rooftop of the building that had been hit, and travis had run all the way across the compound with a couple of marines behind him and he was the first person who came to my aid that day. later when a quick reaction force came in, they told me i had to go to the fallujah surgical hospital. as i was leaving the building, i turned to travis and i said, hey, travis, you got it? he said, yeah, i got your back, sir. i left, i went to the hospital and that was the last thing that

travis ever said to me because just a couple of weeks later, travis gave his life defending his fellow marines in iraq in fallujah. >> looking at a picture there of travis and sister. ryan, you're on the phone with us now. tell us how you and eric started working together. >> well, eric came to our house shortly after travis was killed in iraq and we spent a lot of time with him as a family. my mother and father and husband. and you know, i think we all left that meeting with a sense of doing something more. what can we do to honor travis' sacrifice. eric went off and started the mission continues. we went off and start the travis manion foundation. and from that we started working together. eric with the wounded and disabled veterans, and us with families of our fallen heroes. and pairing them up and letting them go and do service and do

service in these fallen heroes' names. >> eric, expand on that a little bit for me, will you? both your organizations get veterans involved in community projects. how does this work? >> so, joe, the big idea is that the greatest way that we can honor fallen service members is by actually living their values. these are men and women who served and sacrificed for us and the greatest thing that we can do to really honor them is to continue that spirit of service and of sacrifice. so today, for example, i was just at a missouri veteran's home and we had over 40 volunteers come out, active duty service members, civilians, who came out all to do service work together. by doing that we make sure that the memory of our fallen service members lives on. what we do at the mission continues is that we help wounded and disabled veterans to continue their service when they've come home into our communities. and we partner with the travis

manion foundation so that we do that service in honor of fallen service members. we find it means a tremendous amount to the wounded veteran and a tremendous amount to the family of the fallen service member who now sees that the legacy of their son or daughter or husband or wife lives on. >> ryan, so often when we get to themmial day and people think of it as the unofficial start of summer, it is all about barbecue and beer. but we don't talk i think enough about what memorial day means to the families of the fallen. can you sort of describe that for me from your perspective? >> i think from my perspective -- and i can speak for several gold star families, that overriding message of never forgetting rings so true. but i think it's more than that. i think it is more than just looking at a name on the wall. it's going out and learning the stories of these young men and women who have given their lives for our country. because they were incredible

individuals who so many of them share the same traits of character and leadership and i think it is important for us as citizens of this country to go out and to learn their stories and to find out about these american heroes. >> ryan manion and eric greitens, thank you so much for taking a little bit of time to talk to us on memorial day and wish you all of the best. >> thank you. tracking your time off. a lot of americans don't get nearly enough vacation time, but the u.s. is not the worst offender. we'll take a look at who lags way behind in time -- next. a lot of times, things are right underneath our feet,

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responsibility. what's your policy? time for globe trekking now and a huge decision by the german government. they're getting away from nuclear power totally by the year 2022. germany actually shut down several of the oldest reactors in the wake of the disaster at japan's fukushima daiichi nuclear plant. now they decided to leave those closed for good and will accelerate the shutdown of the rest of their 17 reactors. here's the plan. >> translator: after long consultations, the coalition has come to a decision in the matter of energy policy and the energy transition concerning the shutting down of atomic energy. the decision looks like this -- the seven older nuclear power

plants that are subject to the moratorium and the nuclear plant krumel will not go back online. a second group of six nuclear reactors will go offline at the end of 2021 at the latest. the three newest nuclear power plants will go offline in 2022 at the latest. >> that was the german energy minister. they say they will rely on alternative sources of energy like solar and wind power. germany has more than 20,000 wind turbines already in place. the u.s. is actually the world's leading wind power producer. germany is number two. but they are are a few ticks down on the list of nuclear nations. here is the list. there are 443 reactors worldwide. the u.s. has the majority of the nuclear reactors with 104. france is pekd and japan is third. germany ranks ninth. the u.s. has been dubbed the no-vacation nation because of the lack of time off afforded by

employers. on average, american workers get two to three weeks off a year. that compares to many european nations like germany. that mandate at least four weeks of vacation time every year. you think you have it bad? our paula hancocks and kyung lah take a look at a couple of countries that make americans look like slackers. >> reporter: this is the image that the world has of the japanese worker -- serious, buttoned up, and a very hard worker. guess what, everybody? that stereotype is true. according to japan's government, the average japanese worker gets 18 paid holidays a year. but half, 50% of those workers, take only 8 of those 18 days. that's less than half of their paid vacation. the reason why, there is this long standing notion in corporate japan that if you take all of your vacation days you are lazy. are you considered a better employee if you leave those vacation days on the table. little wonder that there is a legal term here in japan called

kuroshi which means death by overwork. i'm paula hancocks in seoul. south koreans are one of the hardest working people in the world. to be considered a workaholic here is almost like a badge of honor. according to recent figures from the oecd, in 2 thoup 9 south koreans worked an average 52-hour work week. that's compared to a 34-hour work week in the united states. so you would assume that vacations would be very precious. but not so. according to government figures last year, almost half of all vacation days were simply not taken. 48% of days off were worked through. now one of the reasons for this could be that it is quite a hierarchical society. it is frowned upon to actually arrive at work after your boss or to leave work before your boss, and even if your work is done, it is considered a good idea to stay and be seen to stay so that you can get ahead.

for more on vacation time around the world and the united states designation as a no-vacation nation, check out cnn.com/travel. it is now 45 minutes after the hour. time to check our top stories. an apparent major blow today to libyan leader moammar gadhafi. cnn has learned that eight army generals have defected and are now in italy. gadhafi's military has been battling opposition forces for weeks. the opposition has said there can't be a peace agreement in place as long as gadhafi is in place. jim tressel has resigned as head coach of the ohio state football program. the university find him $250,000 in march and suspended him after learning he failed to acknowledge that some of his players may have violated ncaa rules. assistant coach luke fickle will serve as interim coach next season. the national weather service

confirms a tornado touched down in southern michigan sunday. strong storms in the state have left thousands without power in to today. battle creek, michigan may have been the hardest hit with downed trees and damaged homes. singer sean kingston is now in intensive care at a miami hospital following a jet ski accident yesterday. kingston's spokesman says he's been stabilized. the singer and a woman passenger were injured as they went under a bridge on the jet ski. after 11 days parked at the international space station, "endeavour" is on its way home. the shuttle departed the space station late last night and is scheduled to land early wednesday morning at the florida space port. this is "endeavour's" 25th and final flight. just one space shuttle flight remains. my next guest may prove that the pen is mightier than the sword but probably not the pen you are thinking are. their invention, a diagnostic

test in the form of a magic marker pen could help save millions of lives every year. talking about the johns hopkins school of medicine. we're going to go to them after a short break. [ male announcer ] this is lara. her morning begins with arthritis pain. that's a coffee and two pills. the afternoon tour begins with more pain and more pills. the evening guests arrive. back to sore knees. back to more pills. the day is done but hang on... her doctor recommended aleve. just 2 pills can keep arthritis pain away all day

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everyday on the show, we do a segment called the "big i" about big news ideas and innovations and solutions to big problems and in today's "big i" we want to talk to a group of johns hopkins graduates who are hoping to save millions of lives every year. they invented this basically a $1 pen that could screen up to 400 pregnant women for postnatal disease. according to the population fund everyday more than 1,000 women die of pregnancy-related complications and thousands more suffer from debilitating situations. here to tell us about it are two of the inventers from baltimore,

maryland. shaurn, will you give us a little bit more idea of how the invention works and how a pen or something that looks like a pen can save lives. >> yes. so, the problem is that current methods to screen for these conditions in pregnant women are too expensive so what we developed is this pen that mary has here, and what we can do is to give this pen to community health workers in developing countries traveling village to village and they can use the pen to mark on a paper which can screen for a condition called preeclamps preeclampsia, and they can make a mark on the piece of paper which will be yellow. and she can then give the piece of paper to a woman who will urinate on it, and if the yellow mark turns blue that indicates she has a protein in the europe which is a major symptom of preeclampsia and she needs to seek higher health at a hospital. right now the pen costs $1 to get and we can get up to 400 tests at it so we are looking at

a cost well under one cent per test. >> what got you with this idea? what inspired you to make in? >> so, it actually started off as a senior design project. i worked with a separate team of undergraduates, and we worked with a nonprofit organization called japigo which is an affiliate of johns hopkins and active in 50 countries worldwide, but we were working on a test to screen for preeclampsia which is where we came up with the idea of protein screening test using a pen. we have been able to work with the group not only with the development of the pen, but to help conduct field studies last fall, and we are continuing to schedule more field studies in the coming months. so, they have been a great, great help. >> mary, tell me how long you had to work on this to get it to this stage, and either of you sort of give us an idea how long it will take tok a ul chly get it on the market. >> so, as shawn was saying that

the protein pen began a couple of years ago, so it is furthest in development, and actually jipago has plans to take it further into test, but we have a plan of a kit of seven tests and each test is in a different stage of development right now, but we started last fall after traveling to three different countries, india, tanzania and nepal through our program at johns hopkins called the center for bioengineering innovation and design and we went to these countries to get a better idea of the factors and criteria that we needed to develop technologies for developing countries so they are adopted and used in the countries. so we started about in the fall, and each of the tests are at different stages whether they are just changing the threshold levels or whether they are more early stage. we expect a couple of them will be going out in the end of this year and next year as well. >> yeah, the protein screening test which is the furthest

developed and if all of the testing this summer goes well, we hope to start mass production at the end of this year or early next year. >> all right. great. thank you so much. sean and mary in baltimore, we appreciate it, and we will be watching to see the progress of your innovation. >> thank you. >> thank you very much. >> for more on these folk goes to our blog at cnn.com/ali. you want to know what inp know vative ideas we will look at tomorrow? tune in and see and as always, the same big i time at the same big i channel. sarah palin back on the road with a campaign style bus tour, but she says s i s it is not w looks like.   

time now for a cnn political update, and mitch daniels talking about the campaign that did not happen. cnn senior political editor mark preston joins me live from washington. hey, mark, what are we hearing from mitch daniels? so, i guess that he has already said he is not getting in and what more does he have to say? >> well, you know, joe, maybe you can put this into would have, could have and may be should have category. yesterday mitch daniels was asked, could you have beaten president obama if you ran for president, and he said he could

have, but went on the say why he decided not to run is because of his family. as far as his daughters go, he said that really, it came down to them, and at time when they are looking to build their own lives and start their own families, this would have been a disruption. you know, in many ways, joe, you have to give daniels some credit for being a good father, rite. deciding that his family really did weigh in on what he was going to do, and as you know, here in washington, that doesn't happen a whole lot. >> absolutely. it is very true and it is very clear that people are going to start digging around in his past, and might have not been a fatal blow to any presidential campaign, but embarrassing and kind of unpleasant to deal with. >> and now -- no doubt. and we might add to that he was married to his wife and got divorced and remarried, so as you are talking about at the luridness of it. >> other little stuff, you know. and as sarah palin works up the

east coast on the bus tour, john mccain has weighed in a little bit, has he not, with interesting comments from him? >> yes, and john mccain can be credited with catapulting sarah palin on the national scene. on fox news yesterday, he says that he thinks that sarah palin could beat president obama if she becomes the republican nominee in 2012, but he says he does not know what she going to do, but what was interesting is that john mccain says he has not seen anyone attacked the way sarah palin has over the years. and interesting words for john mccain and as sarah palin is making her way up the east coast in the bus tour. >> it is interesting, because she is a polarizing figure in a lot of ways and you almost kind of wonder why, why is there such a strong reaction to sarah palin on both sides. mark is going to be back in the next hour to talk more about palin's political future, and we are going to sort of dissect

palin's appeal to the masses, both good and bad, so stay tuned both good and bad, so stay tuned for that. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com as americans mark memorial day, president obama is marking changes in military leadership. as you may have seen live here on cnn, the commander in chief today introduced his picks for the chairman and vice chairman of the chief of staffs, and the chief of staff of the army. the man to the right is martin dempsey who he wants to replace retiring joint chiefs mike marlin. it is just last month that demp si became chief of staff, so he was not considered a favorite for the top job. and all of the nominations require senate confirmation, and the president hopes they happen as swiftly as possible. from the rose garden, the president traveled across the potomac river to the arlington national cemetery where he placed a wreath at the tomb of the unknowns and paid tribute to

the section 60 which is designated for troops killed in iraq and afghanistan. and chris lawrence was there. how was the president received? >> well, very well, joe. i mean, people were, you know, coming up to him, and there was a huge crowd around him as he made his way through what is a hot day, and one in which a lot of the families here have spent the majority of the day. we got here about 6:00 in the morning, and there were families here an hour later, and some of them, i can still see that are still here today. i think that the overall thing that you get from talking to the families is that these graves can be very personal. they are all very personal stories. i mean, if you look in here, you can see how people have decorated these graves leaving things, and things that maybe don't make sense to anyone else but the people involved. this is a bud light can with a

budlight cap, and this one has a little rock that says hope. we talked to one young woman who lost her husband in afghanistan and he had come home on r&r and spent time at home and four days later he deployed back to afghanistan. he was in a vehicle training some of the afghan police there, and hit by a roadside bomb, and all four americans on board were on that vehicle were killed, and in four days later after she heard that her husband was dead, she found out she was pregnant. and she talked to us today about what memorial day means to her and her family. >> i want everyone to realize these are not graves or numbers, but real people, and they had wives and husbands and children and siblings and friends, and that is what today is about, celebrating their life and making sure that everyone knows these are real people that we have lost. so when i get to talk about my husband and i love to laugh and smile when i talk about him and

really share the great guy he was. >> and again, back here live at arlington national cemetery and every story, you hear is a lot like that, because for a lot of the families memorial day especially, this is the memorial to a lot of the men and the whoim foug women who fought and died in afghanistan and because the wars are recent and because there is no national memorial and because arlington is here in the nation's capital, and this has become sort of a memorial for the iraq and afghanistan and the men and women who die there, and joe. >> thank you so much for that, chris lawrence, standing in section 60 in arlington national cemetery which is called the saddest acre in america, and the subject of an hbo documentary and a well known place, and we know why. to politics now and the question of the hour may be the question of the week, sarah palin, she is riding. she is rolling.

she is tweeting. she is tease, but is she running? the former alaskan governor and gop is spending her day on a bus bound for new england and presumably new hampshire and we say presumably, because the website is not saying when she will stop and when until she has been there. she turned up at the national archives in her words highlighting america's foundation and contemplating a run for president for 2012, and yesterday, palin hit the streets with rolling thunder honoring america's p.o.w.s and m.i.a.s, and she is expected in gettysburg, pennsylvania, later today, and my colleague jim acosta is already there. >> former alaskan governor sarah palin gave one of the clearest signals yet she is thinking about running for president because she was followed by reporters at the national archives this morning where she was making one of the stops on the bus tour she is taking on this week. it started yesterday in

washington, d.c., and she rode across the potomac river on the back of a harley-davidson as part of the rolling thunder event which is an event to honor the p.o.w.s and soldiers missing in action. at that event she did not say much about the future intentions, but later on this morning, as she was touring the national archives, a reporter asked her, are you running for president, and here is what she had to say. >> i think that any republican candidate is very, very electable, and americans are ready for true change, change to get the country back on the right track. >> so does that mean you are interested in running? are you going to run? >> well, we are still kind of contemplating that. >> and the staff is keeping the bus tour close to the vest and not revealing to reporters exactly where they are going until the last second before they arrive and we have heard from multiple sources that she is expected to not only take this bus to where we are rights now in gettysburg, pennsylvania, but also later on this week to new hampshire which is a key

presidential primary state, and further stoking speculation that she is very serious about making a possible run for the white house. jim acosta, cnn, gettysburg, pennsylvania. tonight on cnn, john king is aboard the cnn express following sarah palin on her bus tour, and is she inching closer to aple shat r -- to a presidential run? we will talk to john king more about that later tonight. and we will talk about covering the trip. and the trial of casey anthony is taking a breather for the memorial day holiday and they need it after the gut-wrenching testimony by her mom over the weekend. 25-year-old casey is charged with the murder of her 2-year-old daughter caylee. week one of the trial came to a close saturday with emotions running high and the mystery of what happened to caylee is still unfolding. we will go straight to hln's nancy grace who is following the

case very closely and joins me now. nancy, cindy anthony testified at her daughter, casey's trial, and talked about her granddaughter caylee and talk to me about one particular moment which gives us an idea of the mood inside of the courtroom. >> can you see that? >> yes, ma'am. yes, ma'am. >> do you rk niz it? >> yes, ma'am. >> what do you recognize it to be? >> caylee's bed. >> does that photograph fairly and accurately depict caylee's bed? >> yes. and there are a few things that are normally on it, like the sheet is not on the pillowcase and the pillow, but yes, that is caylee's bed. >> there is a stuffed animal on the left side of the photograph. is that one of caylee's bears?

>> yes, that is one of her bears. >> nancy grace, a very emotional moment. give us an idea of why this moment is important for the jurors. >> well, i think the emotion in the courtroom, especially from cindy anthony shows who really loved caylee. cindy anthony and her husband grandfather george anthony largely raised the child. they are the only living victims left in this case along with brother lee anthony who would have been caylee's uncle. and throughout cindy anthony's testimony, tot mom sat there watching her mother cry a few feet away from her and really never cried herself. just shook her head resolutely back and forth and no, no, no. i also think that there was very important for the jury to see and weigh cindy anthony's credibility on the stand, joe. because this is going to come down to a credibility contest.

do you believe tot mom's lawyers and tot mom, or do you believe george and cindy anthony. tot mom had a chance in opening statements to go with a straight accident theory which probably would have benefited her to say, joe, i should have taken better care of caylee and she drowned an instead of reporting it, i covered the whole thing up to look like a murder, because i didn't want to tell my mom. instead, she tells the jury, joe, that her father and brother molested her and that is why she was afraid to tell them the truth, and that her mother is responsible for the drowning because of the pool ladder. >> and when is the last time cindy saw her granddaughter caylee alive? >> oh, that was really sad, joe, when that was described in the courtroom. it was june 16, 2008. and then the next morning, cindy anthony leaves for work and she is a well respected nurse in the area. george was leaving the house looking for a job and already

had a job as i recall, and he was there that morning and no one ever dreamed that would be the last time they saw caylee alive. >> so, casey's ex-boyfriend anthony lazzaro has taken the stand several times during the first week, and he testified again on saturday. what are we learning from him? >> well, joe, it is interesting the way they are doing it, and joe, you are the first one to have brought it up in this manner, usually when you bring on a witness you go from soup to nuts with that witness and it is all over with, and then bring on the next witness, but what they are doing, joe, is that they bring on george anthony and he is allowed to stay in under the judge's ruling, and he is seated and exempt from the rule of sequestration, and when they need him again, they put him back. i am sure he will be back again, and same thing with lazzaro and the reason they are doing it is to keep the chronological order of the case. for instance george testified to what happened in the beginning and sat down, and then as the case progressed, he came back up

to fill in those days, and lazzaro with the same thing, and he came back to describe the text messages he got from tot mom after her initial encounter with police. he was saying, why dd you lie to me? why didn't you tell me that caylee was missing? and i was very tired. i was scared to tell the truth. and at that time, joe, she was afraid to tell the truth that zanny the mannanny had stoleten and now it is that she was afraid to tell because the baby had drowned. who do you believe, joe. >> and thank you, nancy grace, for covering the trial. >> wait, you didn't answer, joe? >> i am waiting for the evidence to come in. >> okay. i hear that. >> and not until we have a ver dick. i will leave it up to the jury. >> okay. i somehow thought you might say that. thank you for having me, joe. i will see you the night at

8:00, friend. >> thanks for come on. good to see you, nancy. >> you can see the special coverage of casey anthony and the trial on hln and including all of the key moments so far and that is all day coverage on our sister network hln. most americans don't realize it, but on any given night tens of thousands of u.s. veterans are homeless. i will talk to a woman who has been there. man: all right. we were actually thinking, maybe... we're going to hike up here, so we'll catch up with you guys. [ indistinct talking and laughter ] whew! i think it's worth it. working with a partner you can trust is always a good decision. massmutual. let our financial professionals help you reach your goals. t adththod it's dif - alcium crhea

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administration as many as 107,000 veterans are homeless on any given night. alisha hopkins is a staff sergeant, and she was at the pentagon on the 9/11 attack and served in iraq and afghanistan, but when she appeared on oprah winfrey, she was living in her car. she shared a video of what it was like to live on the streets. i talked to alisha earlier in the month, and she was with the crowd outside of the white house when the death of osama bin laden was announced. >> i have been through so much since september 11th, and to see all of these people who i have never met before take pictures and slap my hand and everything else brings back that feeling that i felt when we draped that flag over the pentagon that day. it really does. >> alicia watkins joins us live from washington, d.c., and the first thing that everyone wants to know is are you still

homeless? what are the living conditions right now? >> no, i'm not homeless. people have to understand that no one knew that, so once my family found out, every hour, i was in several different homes to go to. i still want my own, but i'm not homeless at all. >> so, you were injured in afghanistan when an ied blew up, and then you came back to the states to try to rebuild your life, and what happened? >> what happened with me is that -- wups i came back to the states and a woundedwarrior, i fell through the cracks and my care was not seen throughout its fruition, and there were things that were happening like, i was not getting paid, and there was no way to stop it. and so that is how i ended up homeless on the streets, because i was active duty at the time,

was told that i was, you know, never was going to use my back or walk or anything else again, and i was in the limbo. there was no paycheck coming. so after seven to eight months of this happening you have utility bills and rent bills and efg el everything else, so that my debt was not spending, but normal basic things that i could no longer handle. >> so what does the united states government need to do for people like you who are returning from war to make them whole and make them, you know, put them on in a track towards a good life? >> number one, they need to talk to people like me. i think that there's a lot of brass in the white house and in washington, but there's not a lot of brass coming to us who have been through this to ask what happened? how can we fix it? and so i think that's the first

step, and the second is just number one, taking our wounded warriors and having a cradle-to-grave until they are functioning into society back again and not leaving them out of their sight. i mean, i know my situation was unique, because i was kind of fell through the hoops. but how many other veterans are out there that are wounded warriors are out there that this is happening to. >> and this is memorial day. >> yeah. >> and the bottom line question for you is what does memorial day mean to you? you were at the pentagon on 9/11, and you served in iraq and got injured in afghanistan, and what does it mean to you? >> yes. for me, this memorial day has been the worst for me. and the reason why i say that is because i remember when i got to a place where at the time i was homeless, my pride was gone,

everything that i worked for was gone. i had surgery coming up. i was a mess. and i thought about ending it all. and it was one phone call from my grandfather that intervened, but i think about all of the graves that are there because of our veterans who killed themselves and committed suicide after coming back are the the war. -- after coming back from the war. i have been krig acrying all ni long and i have been to arlington cemetery earlier, and it grieves me that after we come home after all we have seen, it is easier for us to commit suicide than to live this life, and it grieves me, because i was at that place where i felt nobody cared about me. and if it wasn't for, like i said, one phone call from my grandfather, i would have been one of the statistics that you read that three times as many

people have committed suicide from the war than those that are injured in the war. so i was grieved. i'm very grieved this memorial day. so it is -- >> well, alicia watkins, thank you for coming in, and emotional subject and for loved ones everywhere, pick up that phone and call that veteran that you know. god bless you. thank you for coming in, alicia. >> thank you. thank you. [ artis brown ] america is facing some tough challenges right now. two of the most important are energy security and economic growth. north america actually has one of the largest oil reserves in the world. a large part of that is oil sands. this resource has the ability to create hundreds of thousands of jobs. at our kearl project in canada, we'll be able to produce these oil sands with the same emissions as many other oils and that's a huge breakthrough. that's good for our country's energy security and our economy.

move over pyramid, there's a new symbol to get americans to eat right. cnn seenb your medical correspondent elizabeth cohen is here with the details. elizabeth, what is the usda changing this time? >> all right. first, pay a little respect to the food pyramid, r.i.p., 192 to 2011, and it is out of here, and we now have the dinner plate. that's right. the usda is going to create a dinner plate, and we don't know what it will look like, joe, but we are told, and our sources tell us that it will indicate that half of the plate is supposed to be fruits and vegetables and you are to have smaller portions of protein and grain and a little bit of dairy on the side. the emphasis here being half of the plate filled with fruit and veggies and as you know, joe,

that is not the way americans eat right now. >> well, this is is not the like the color-coded risk system, and what was wrong with the pyramid in the first place? >> well, they first came out with this one, and one of the things they complained about is that the stuff you are not to eat the fats and the sweets was at the top of the pyramid which is counterintuitive that the bad stuff is at the top. so they came out with this one in 2005, sort of the rainbow colored one which is a mass of food at the bottom, and you need a ph.d. to figure it out and six years later, i'm still trying to figure it out. it was perceived confusing and the hope is that something like this is going to be easier to digest, if you will. >> and you think that americans are really going to do this though? >> well, it will take more than an icon to convince americans to fill up half of their plate with fruit and vegetables and the federal government knows that. it is great to put this in people's faces and says half of the plate, fruits and vegetables

and put the icon wherever you can think of, but it is not enough. we need more strategies to get americans to eat like this. >> for sure. thank you, elizabeth cohen, and we will be watching. from severe weather warnings to travel delays weather expert chad myers will join us next with a breakdown of what you need to know especially if you have friends or family traveling today. don't go anywhere. [ male announcer ] this is lara. her morning begins with arthritis pain. that's a coffee and two pills. the afternoon tour begins with more pain and more pills. the evening guests arrive. back to sore knees. back to more pills. the day is done but hang on... her doctor recommended aleve.

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we have chad myers right here to tell us about some unexpected hot weather. >> well, the thing is that people who live there know it, but if you are driving across texas your car better be ready for 106 and 107 and if you didn't think of the radiator fluid and all of that stuff and getting it fixed, you better think of it, because the air conditioner better be running with 107 degrees. critical from dodge city to amarillo as well and potential for severe weather farther to the north, joe, on uninto north dakota and south dakota and into parts of nebraska. but if you are driving up i-95, and raleigh is 98 today and richmond 96 and atlanta 94, so it is hot and muggy hot and sticky, and the jet stream that caused so much severe weather down here and kept us cool for a while, and it is now long gone and way up here, and that is because that is where the severe weather will be and where the contrast between cold and warm is and the contrast causes severe weather. there is snow in aspen,

colorado, right now. >> well, it was not two weeks ago that i remember complaining, when is summer coming, and now it is just in a blink. >> and the weather office here says to watch what you ask for. >> exactly. >> because all of the sudden, it is not leaving now for three more months. >> wow, great. thanks, chad. >> sure. today is memorial day, but country music duo montgomery gentry is supporting the troops everyday. they even entertain soldiers here in the u.s. here is more on how they are impacting your world. >> hey, we are montgomery gentry, and we can make an impact for our troops. >> we love to entertain our heroes and let them know how much we do love them and misthem when they are overseas. this is the greatest country in the world and we can say and be and dream as big as we want to in the big country, and we don't give it up enough for our american heroes. join the movement, impact your

world at cnn.com/impact. ♪ i thought it was over here... ♪ [car horn honks]

our outback always gets us there... ... sometimes it just takes us a little longer to get back. ♪ let's catch up on the latest headlines and some sor toys are th stories that you may have missed. sarah palin is on a national bus tour but remaining coy of whether she plans to put her hat in the potential presidential bid. she says s she is still contemplating a run. her bus tour kicked off with a rally on the national ball with the rolling thunder. she is expected to make stops in new england in the next several days, and in the next few minutes we will step back and look at the media's obsession

with palin and the polarizing effect. you don't want to misthat discussion. in joplin, missouri, the number of people unaccounted for from the tornado has fallen to 43 and the number of people killed remains at 142. president obama getting a first-hand look at the 13-mile path of destruction left by the tornado a week earlier. workers are still searching through the rubble for remains. >> as you hitch up the car for the memorial day road trip home, you will find some relief at the gas pump. the average price for a gallon of gas is $3.79, and according to aaa that is a five cent drop from last week and 14 cent drop from a month ago. a major blow to moammar gadhafi and a sign that his hold on power may be unraveling from within. next in "globe trekking."

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it's a better policy that gets you a better car. call... or visit one of our local offices today, and we'll provide the coverage you need at the right price. liberty mutual auto insurance. responsibility. what's your policy? we are "globe trekking" now, and first stop is libya. fighters for and against moammar gadhafi may have reached a stalemate, but there is lots of comings and goings on the fringes of the war. michael holmes of cnn international joins me now with two big stories. michael, let's talk about the peace initiative. >> yeah, a couple of things are happening in libya today. one interesting one that came about that we heard about is

eight generals have apparently defected. they are now in italy, and we got that from sources. >> how do you lose eight generals? >> you would think that you would notice, right? but they are not the first. he has lost several senior military commanders over the course of of the civil war, but eight is a large number and unprecedented, and it will further weaken the ability to carry out his side of the civil war. >> and this comes about because the military is ordered perhaps to turn its guns on civilians? >> i don't know for sure, but my hunch is they that see the writing is on the wall, and they don't want to be on the losing side of this, and the other thing is in terms of the peace initiative is that the president of south africa has gone up there to have a chat with the libyan government, and he says he is not there to talk about an exit of gadhafi. and one of gadhafi's people was

quoted today of saying that ain't happening. he is not going anywhere. >> and also, now, the u.s. allied government of yemen meanwhile looking more and more like it's gadhafi-like in its own right. >> yes. saleh is hanging on and the president for 33 years, and he is not -- i mean, everybody, everybody in the world is going to say that the guy has to step down, and he not doing it. in fact, it is escalating in many ways, because plenty of demonstrators were killed. and this is the place, taiz, and this is a huge demonstration that went on and 20 anti-government protesters shot in this southern city according to the organizers, and meanwhile in the south of the country, a place where you have government jets bombing protesters there, but those protesters are said to be al qaeda-linked and have taken over government buildings. so what is interesting is that you have two things happening. you have a popular revolution, and you have as well now this tribal power struggle between

saleh and the tribes that are turning against him, and yemen is an exceeding tribal place and there are areas of the country where tribal law rules and the country's law does not count. so you have to appreciate the power of the tribe. so saleh is battling with one other major tribe in particular that he does not want to see take over and it is an islamist group and he feels and others do too that the islamist group takes over and they will have a type of government that they do not want to see take over. >> and also in fifa. >> well, i don't know if you saw this news conference, but the president of fifa which is the world governing body of f oshfu, and the only guy opposing him is

qatari bin hamsad is who is now suspended for apparently buying votes. denies it of course, and that means that vladder would stand alone. and so two power brokers battling each other. and they say, does he think he will buy votes like he bought the 2022 world cup? >> well, we have sound from the fifa guy. >> well, listen to him, because he is pretty defiant. >> i regret what has happened. in the last few days and weeks great damage to the image of fifa, but especially, also, a lot of disappointment. and i'm speaking to the fotball

fans. >> well, he says there is not a crisis and we will sort it out, but fifa is a huge organization and racked by complaints of corruption and calls for overhauls, but it is run pretty much by sepp blater, and a lot of people criticize it, because it is a powerful group. >> thank you so much. great stuff. >> yes, thank you. and the housing market is flooded by foreclosures and what this means for you if you are buying or selling a home. we will talk reality and strategy coming up next. operlyut t adwiwiout food al [ male announcer ] look at this, bridgestone is using natural rubber, researching ways to enhance its quality and performance, and making their factories more environmentally friendly. producing products that save on fuel and emissions, and some that can be reused again.

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are you thinking about buying a home? what about selling? well, before you do anything, here is a little bit of perspective. sales of new homes fell to the lowest level in 47 years last year and despite home buyer tax credits historically low interest rates and home modification programs, the house marketing is weak at best. so, what do you do if you are a potential buyer or seller? allan chernoff has insights in today's "taking the lead." >> reporter: this charming maplewood home in new jersey has

four bedrooms and four bathrooms, but when she put it on the market at $499,000, she found no buyers even though the broker showed the home 16 times. >> there is a lot of kids on this block. >> reporter: what to do? linda is looking to downsize after a divorce. she didn't hesitate and lowered the asking price by $20,000. are you confident it will go at this price? >> no. not really, because of what the market is now. >> reporter: the market in much of the country remains sluggish, and linda, a former re carol's advice to respond to market message that the original price is too high. >> the buyers are the ones who are going to set the price. we can do as much as we can, and when the buyers that when we have 16 showings in two weeks and no offers that says that the

buyers have rejected this price. >> most people have an emotional attachment to the home and the neighborhood, but when it comes to selling, the realtors say you have to take the emotion out of the selling equation. and realtors can assess how to make the house sell at the best price. >> if i want to move on, i have to put it where the market says it should be. i have no choice. >> reporter: another key to selling in the market is to recognize that buyers hope to get a deal by negotiating the seller down, so that the sellers have to allow for wiggle room. >> i have an office. >> reporter: and linda nair says she is willing to negotiate a little bit, but considering all of the money she has spent on renovations. >> i won't give it away just because the economy has turned. >> allan chernoff, maplewood, new jersey.

home sales now account for 30% of all home sales. here is the reality, according to realty trac, the average price of a home in the u.s. is under $200,000. a foreclosed home is selling for $171,000. and there are a lot of them. nearly 1,800,000 homes are in foreclosure which breaks down into 1 in every 593 households which means that you probably know someone who's lost their home or is about to. especially if you live in these states. you can see here that the rate of foreclosure is highest by far in california. florida has the second highest amount of foreclosures followed by arizona, michigan and nevada. look at that. sarah palin back in the spotlight, cranking up the bus tour, but saying it isn't a campaign ploy. she always seems to draw big crowds, but why? we will take a look at her appeal coming up next. ♪ [ folk pop ]

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sarah palin is quiet no more. she had been sitting on the sidelines, and then she kicked off basically a bus tour.

it started in washington, and goes to places like mount vernon and gettysburg, and she has not declared, but this could be an ind kay or the of where she is leaning. this is what she is saying about the tour. >> well, it certainly looks like a campaign bus, and if you are not running for president, why the tour? >> this is not a campaign bus, but it is a bus to express to america how much we appreciate our foundation and to invite more people to be interested in all that is good about america, and to remind ourselves that we don't need to fundamentally transform america, but we need to restore what is good about america, and you can start by doing that right in here. so i am glad that you are here. >> and all of the sudden exposure stirs up extreme feelings on both sides. and pretty much two camps, the haters and the praisers and then those in the media who seem to obsessed, and what is it all about? joining me right now is to talk about palin's appeal is ford o'connell, a republican strategist and also real clear politics.com national reporter

scott conroy, and cnn senior political editor mark preston. scott, let's start with you. what should we read into this? what are you hearing? >> i found that sound bite that you played amusinamusing. i think she said this is nothing more than a sightseeing tour essentially, but we know that is not the case. i actually just reported a few minutes ago that palin intends to take this bus to iowa next month, so i think that we all know what that means. she is looking strongly at looking at president, and by all indications she is leaning heavily towards it. i have learned through sources that i have talked to that the biggest hold-up at this point is making sure that her family is okay with this. if she runs for president it is a campaign we have never seen before, and a lot of bus trips and on the ground grass roots campaigning and she wants to take the family with her at this point. and trying to see if it is feasible, but it looks like todd palin is on board with it and looks like it will happen.

>> so sources are saying that she is taking the bus that she has out there right now to iowa, and that would be news to what degree do you have it nailed down? >> well, of course, i mean, the logistics of this thing are already have been changed so many times burk i , but i am to by two knowledgeable people that the plan is to go to iowa, and the plan is to divide it up into different segments and this week she will go up the coast to new hampshire which is again no coincidence and fly out to make her way to iowa later on i am told. >> and ford, why is palin such a polarizing figure? >> well, i think that she drives the left and the media nuts which is part of the appeal. because while she is polarizing the left and the media, she has a strong appeal in almost iconic appeal for right-leaning americans who feel they don't have a voice in government. a great example is before election day in reno, and look, we knew we had lost to obama,

and pouring rain and people were waiting outside just to get a glimpse of palin. it is the fact that she is something different and shoots from the hip. if she wants a run at the nomination, she has to become a more refined candidate or the campaign could flop right out of the gate. >> and mark preston, you heard what we heard from scott that she will take the bus out to iowa, and if that is true, does it say anything more than we know now? >> well, you know, what is interesting, joe, is the fact that she says that this is not a campaign and scott is saying that she is going to iowa, and you know the trip up to new hampshire is not publicly scripted. she is going to the locations and just allowing the media a few moment's notice before she arrives. if she does decide to run a national campaign, she has to have more structure, and she is running this outside of the beltway campaign, and you need inside of the beltway text to run the campaign. so if she is serious, she has to build up the political staff and start to embrace at least behind

the scenes a little bit of washington or certainly the consultants that know how to run presidential campaigns. >> scott, back to you. you are probably one of the only journalists who have seen this movie they are going to unveil about sarah palin in iowa presumably at some point. tell us about that movie. what is it supposed to be? >> the movie is really an effort to reintroduce her to the country. lost in the sarah palin phenomenon in the last few years is her record as governor of alaska. and she never even talks about it practically. but i think that if she does run in this movie shows that "undefeated" it is called, she will tout her record on oil and gas issues which is strong, and one of the most popular governors in the history by the time she was picked by the mccain campaign and the movie is down into the weeds making her seem like a serious person to a lot of people who don't perceive her to be that way anymore and quite frankly, it is effective, and i don't know how many people will go to see it, but they

might see the perception of her change a little bit. of course, she has a uphill climb and a lot of people to win back over if the she is going to be a serious candidate. >> thank you all for coming in on memorial day. >> thank you, my friend. >> thank you. >> thank you. and we talked to our nation's veterans on this memorial day and what this special day means to them. pete dominic is in new york for fleet week which is coming up next. ordinary windshield wipers off the glass. so, did we build a slower car? or design wipers that could handle anything? what do you think? the cadillac cts-v, the world's fastest production sedan. we don't just make luxury cars, we make cadillacs

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as the nation pays tribute today to the men and women who have given their lives to defend our country, we also wanted to hear from the veterans, themselves. here is pete dominic. >> reporter: it is memorial day and fleet week here in new york city. i'm at the "u.s.s. intrepid" air and space museum and i will ask the veterans and those of us who benefit from their service what does memorial day mean to you? >> honoring the vets. >> i think of my father and how i grew up and the sacrifices of the men and women. >> and what does memorial mean to you? >> indy 500. >> anything else? how about you? naptime for you. >> i think that we made a mistake in this country that we think it is a holiday, but it is to celebrate people who served in the military and not to barbeque. >> reporter: as a veteran, you lost many friends? >> yes, every memorial day i think of my friends who were killed. >> reporter: do you remember them? >> yes, i do. >> the last serving member of

vietnam was in my class at notre dame. >> reporter: i remember the wou know what you think? >> i remember the guys we left behind. i keep them in my hat. >> september 1 11th, i lost my friends at the nypd fire department. >> reporter: so when you see the people with barbeques and mattress sales and indy 500, is that okay? >> it is all part of americana and the reason we went to war and fought. every time someone threatens us from overseas we have a barbeque and go over there and kick their [ bleep ] and have a bigger barbeque. >> reporter: what does this mean to you? it is a solemn day and not a celebration, it is a day when we remember more than a million men and women have given service to the country, and that is what this holiday is about. >> reporter: the origin, when