like new york city. u.p.s. introducing my choice, starting october 3rd. you can now get a phone call, e-mail or text with a four-hour window of when your package will arrive. for five bucks you can reroute your package to another address or u.p.s. store follow for 0 bucks a year you have access to an online calendar which gives you more specific delivery times and for another 5 bucks you can get a two-hour window of guaranteed delivery so you don't have to wait around for that package. >> i love that! i love that. >> it sounds really cool. hopefully it works out. >> sometimes u.p.s. leaves packages outside of my door and people steal them. >> oh, really? >> this pays off for the secon or third delivery attempt it costs them more in manpower and gasoline. >> that's a terrific idea. thanks, carter evans. that's it for "a.m. wakeup

call." "american morning" continues right now. >> i'm ali velshi. the obama administration trying to defend its decision to award stimulus money to solyndra. a solar power company that went bankrupt. taxpayers are on the hook for more than half a billion dollars. >> i'm christine romans. u.s. officials concerned about terrorist groups setting up long-term residence in post-gadhafi libya. >> should our lawmakers cut back? we will talk to one senator that says yes on this "american mornin morning". >> good morning. good morning. it is thursday, september 15. welcome "american morning." good to be back with you guy. >> nice to have you back. >> havena lot of good news. you will love it. up first, taxpayer, you are on the hook this morning more more than a half a billion dollars.

here is why. solyndra, a solar panel company in california, declared bankruptcy after receiving $535 million in federal stimulus money from your tax $. the white house trying to defend its decision to award this loan only providing more political fodder for republicans. >> solyndra alone was touted to create 3,000 jobs. the president outed that. it will be a great success story. of course we have seen the failure there. a lot of us are questioning this kind of double down stimulus approach where they are going to come back and do more of this kind of same failed policy of just spending money we don't have. >> will you go. stimulus. this is why we shouldn't do it again. a lot of questions being raised about how this loan went down. republicans using it to say the president shouldn't be allowed to spend any more money. >> the white house is pushing back on criticism and mounting questions even though in that hearing there were e-mails that

suggested there was a rush to get this deal done in order to meet a timeline. one e-mail from a white house staffer read in part, quote, i would prefer that this announcement be postponed. this is the first loan guarantee and we should have full review with all hands-on deck to make sure we get it right. another e-mail from the department of energy staffer saying in part, woet, the model runs out of cash in september 2011. in an off-camera briefing yesterday with reporters, white house spokesman jay carney said the only thing that these e-mails show is that there was a decision about a scheduling matter. he offered another defense in another briefing more than a week ago suggesting that in business, not everything works. >> there are no guarantees in the business world about success and failure. that's just the way business works. everyone recognizes that. that's why, you know, there are over 40 companies, as i understand it, 40 guarantees involved in this program that they are looking at.

there's no individual -- can you not measure the success based on one company or the other. >> carney said yesterday there's no evidence that the administration did anything wrong. he pointed out the program through which this loan guarantee came through was set out by the former administration but bottom line sheer that this money came from program stimulus dollars and now there are a lot of questions about how that money was accident according to "the wall street journal," the former administration declined to go ahead with loan guarantees for this company because they just didn't have enough information or didn't have enough confidence about it. it is interesting a bunch of venture capitalists in politico saying sometimes you win some and sometimes you lose some. that's the way capitalism goes. the clearly this has become a political story as much as an economic story. residents are fleeing the gadhafi loyalist strong hold ahead of a showdown with rebel fighters. the rebel leadership gave people 48 hours notice to leave the city before a deadline tonight.

u.s. officials are concerned the fall of ousted libyan leader moammar gadhafi could lead to a rise in terrorism. cnn's barbara starr is following that side of the story and is live at the pentagon. >> good morning to you. during gadhafi's regime everything was kept under tight control. now u.s. intelligence officials say they are concerned that terrorist groups may be taking hold in the confusion if you will that is libya. what they are telling us is that it is not like there's thousands of terrorists. it is in the like al qaeda has set up shop. but they do believe that dozens of potential fighters have moved in and they are concerned that terrorists, including al qaeda, are getting ready to set up a long-term presence in libya, that they are taking advantage of this current situation when maybe nobody is watching the borders too carefully and that they are moving in setting up networks and setting up their influence and, of course, one of the concerns is that weapons

control inside libya is minimal if at all. we know that there's thousands of surface-to-air missiles believed to be there. hundreds of thousands of small arms. who is getting their hands on all that stuff? that's the concern. >> libya, always international concern about libya's official ties to terrorism and what the government had to do with it. what about terrorists possibly working inside what we are calling rebel government, national transitional council? >> right. u.s. intelligence officials say they have some concerns about that. they -- again, they don't see official links. they don't see, you know, here is the terrorist member of the tnc. they do believe that there are people within that organization with those types of sympathies and something to watch very carefully. tough to get a handle on it at all at least right now. >> barbara, thanks very much. barbara starr at the pentagon. potential good sign for the american hikers jailed in iran on spying charges. a lawyer for the two men says

all necessary paperwork has been filed for them to be released on bail. but he does not expect judges there to act on it before saturday. yesterday the iranian judiciary says it was only consideringing a request to set bail. contradicting the iranian president's earlier statement that the men could be freed in a couple of days. a rogue traitor may have caused ubs $2 billion. according to the bank unauthorized trading could result in ubs reporting a loss for the third quarter of this year. it could potentially be among the largest cost to bank in rogue trading. the incident is still under investigation. no customer money was affected. cnn is learning thatting a 31-year-old man was arrested in london on suspicion of fraud by position of -- abuse of position. that's what the charges -- late last night. officials will not confirm if this case is linked to ubs although everyone is saying that they are pretty sure this is the guy they are looking for. striking teachers in tacoma, washington, are ordered back to work. the judge suspended the strike

and ordered schools to reopen for 28,000 students. the teachers walked off the job monday after negotiations broke down. the judge also ordered new hearings on the legality of the strike and on the stalled contract talks. dakota myers, medal of honor from president obama today. the former marine from kentucky cited for charging through heavy gunfire five separate times to rescue other soldiers during an ambush in afghanistan in 2009. he is credited with saving 36 people. meyer and the president have already met actually. the white house release thing photo of the two men talking over a couple of beers last night on a patio outside of the oval office. should become like the beer garden of the white house. he is 23 years old. he was a 21-year-old young man in afghanistan serving his country. amazing what these guys are doing. >> so tough and down the other. he wanted to have a beer with the president. what i really want is i want to have a beer with the president. >> when you are that much of a

hero you get to call that in. good for the two of them. it didn't look like the most comfortable place for a beer. >> the white house photographer. not like your normal -- >> sitting back. >> maybe they got up later and pounded a few. who knows. >> ahedrick perry, he's not having a few beers. he is dining with the donald pulling away in the polls. >> fine wine. >> is the texas governor getting overconfident? jim across that will have that excellent report. >> did you see this? the latest on street strange light in the sky. we are getting a lot of reports of this spotted over parts of the west coast last night. check that out. we will tell you what it is when we come back. tom brady has advice for fans when it comes out of "animal house." the comment that has the new england patriots in damage control mode.

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josh fattal . we have this bit of breaking news to share with you. a cruise liner carrying more than 200 people caught fire off norway's western coast. at least three people have been taken to the hospital. we are told the fire was in the ship's engine room. we will continue to follow the story and bring thank you latest information as we get it. turning to politics now. presidential hopeful rick perry and donald trump having a little pow wow in the big apple. he spent an hour with the donald before hopping into a limo for dinner at the highly acclaimed restaurant jean george. no chicken fried steak on the menu there. >> no. >> quite a month for rick perry. quickly established himself as the early front runner in the race for the republican

presidential nomination. unless he stumbles all the other candidates is k do is watch rick roll. here is jim across that. >> great governor of texas, rick perry. >> reporter: what primaries? rick perry is already running in virginia. a state that's much more crucial to the general election than it is to the republican nomination. >> i know it is time for a change in this country. what i'm talking about change, i'm not talking about the rhetoric of change. i'm talking about a record of change. i have that record. >> reporter: he gave two speech necessary virginia, one to christian conservative students at liberty university and another to republicans in richmond. both events perry barely mentioned his competition. >> it seems as if you are already looking past the primaries into the general election.aren't you being a tad overconfident? >> i understand who the opposition is in this election. there are seven other individuals on that stage who

are quite capable. >> reporter: michele bachmann. the attack blew up in bachmann's face after she mistakenly claimed that the vaccine can cause major health problems. >> she told me her little daughter took that vaccine, that injection, and she suffered from mental retardation thereafter. it can have very dangerous side effects. >> reporter: the american academy of immediatate ricks slammed batch man's comments saying there is absolutely no scientific validity to the statement. >> do you think that was irresponsible of her? >> i think that was a statement there was no zprutruth. i hate cancer. this is what this has been about for me. >> reporter: the appeal is a winner with young christian conservatives in this state. >> walked away with the candidate. >> possible i walked away with a candidate. >> reporter: perry also wants to

walk away with some endorsements like that of virginia's popular governor. >> i think governors because of their decisiveness and know how to balance the budgets and being fiscally responsible. >> reporter: how about a perry/mcdonald ticket? too soon? >> that is thinking too far ahead. >> reporter: bachmann campaign released sharply worded statement accusing governor perry of abusing his power of the executive order and imposing mandatory vaccines on 12-year-old girls. the statement is a sign this fight is far from finished. jim across that, cnn, richmond, virginia. republicans will offer up their ideas for getting economy back on track. house speaker john boehner will deliver the gop plan called liberating america's economy. meantime, president obama continues to pressure congress to pass his jobs bill after stops this week in three key battleground states. the president, you know, he was still pitching last night at a congressional hispanic caucus event in washington. he accused republicans who

opposed the bill of playing politics and of not listening to the voice of the people. >> if we are being honest we know the real problem is not the members of congress in this room. it is the members of congress who put party before country because they believe the only way to resolve our differences is to wait 14 months until the next election. i have news for them. the american people don't have the luxury of waiting 14 months. >> according to the white house the president's jobs bill will include tax breaks that will help 25 million hispanic workers. now is your chance to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. the question for you this morning. what would it say to you if congress took a pay cut? don't laugh. stop it. a nonpartisan group called the taxpayers protection alliance sent this letter to lawmakers urging them to cut their extravagant salaries of $174,000 a year by 10%.

they say it would save taxpayers $100 million over ten years. before you say fat chance, democratic congressman brown has introduced legislation calling on lawmakers to wait until the age of 66 before receiving a pension. right now lawmakers can retire as early as age 50 with a full pension depending on years of service. you are still laughing, aren't you? i know why. because we have heard it all before. last february as americans faced the possibility of a government shutdown, senator barbara boxer had a dandy idea. >> if the government is forced to shut down, members of congress and the president should be treated the same way as all other federal employees. we should not be paid. >> well, the government didn't shut down so i guess congress got a pass on that one. but seriously, if law mmakers tk a pay cut or raised their retirement age, dare i say it,

would that be patriotic, responsible, moral? we would like to hear it from you. our question this morning, what would it say to you if congress took a pay cut? facebook.com/americanmorning. i will read your comments later this hour. >> $100 million over ten years. that's like -- when you talk about money they are trying to save. that would be easy. just do it. >> in fairness, although many of our lawmakers millionaires, some are not. they have to keep homes in two different states. >> we have to be careful not to eliminate the possibility of those people who are not independently wealthy but maybe really smart? maybe want to compromise, don't run for office. >> true. >> keep all of these things in mind. pli we want to hear what you think about this. patriots in damage control after tom brady made a huge error of having an honest moment. telling fans to get sauced. check it out. >> yes. they are drinking early.

nice and rowdy. 4:15 game. lot of time to get lubed up. come out here and cheer for their home team. >> he's so cute. >> patriots media relations came out and said he didn't mean drinking alcohol early. he meant water. >> come on. >> stay hydrate. >> lubed up on gatorade. >> that's what i say all the time. >> what a stupid p.r. statement. >> let me give you water, i need to get lubed up that was an honest moment. >> regional. i guess you guy just don't say it up here. >> rob marciano -- >> rob, don't you say that all the time? >> absolute. >> i it is good to be responsible. come on, everybody knows fans have tailgate parties and they drink before games. that's just a fact of life. >> it is. nothing gets a crowd more rowdy than funneling water. no doubt about that. hey, guys. i don't know if -- has anything to do with somewhat none pc controversial statements of tom brady but the ground is shake

thing morning. we had earthquakes in cuba or just outside of cuba, new zealand. just off the coves new zealand. also japan. 6.0 between jamaica and cuba. they definitely felt it. probably maybe some, you know, pictures falling off the wall, slight damage in southern cuba. they felt it in jamaica. 3.5 quake just like minutes ago across southern california. right in l.a. yeah. tom brady, maybe -- may want to zip it because i don't want to see a 7.0 or 8.0 magnitude quake. temperatures in the fall category. 30s, 40s, 20s in some parts of the upper midwest. here's that front. very october-like front pushing off to the east. we have rain ahead and thunderstorms as well. little bit wet across the northeast. the cool air and some of that moisture is going to make its way down into texas. 104 was the high in waco. houston, again, 46 days of 100-degree plus temperatures.

dallas hit 107 days. cooler weather is finally making its way there. maybe a little bit of rainfall here as well. further out to the south and west. these pictures in the night sky from arizona across southern nevada and in through southern california. look at that fireball streaking across the night sky last night. thousands of people saw it and reported it in. they had no idea what it was. got nervous, i might say. scientists are saying likely was just a meteor or meteorite. hopefully splashed into the ocean or somewhere where it was safe to do so. there you go. meteors, earthquakes, tom brady talking about getting sauced. >> oh, my gosh. apocalypse. thanks, rob. still to come on "american morning," life in a tent city. victims of the recession forced to do with a lot less. see what their lives are like and what their hopes are for the future. >> nasa unveiling what will be the fastest rocket ever built. a look inside the space agency's new program when "american morning" continues.

see what their lives are like

and what their hopes are for the

25 minutes after the hour. welcome back. ubs says it discovered an unauthorized trade that's cost the bank $2 billion. it is a loss so big it could push the bank's balance sheet into the red. in the third quarter. a third day of gains for u.s. stocks yesterday. dow gained about 1.3%. nasdaq was up more. 1.6%. s&p 500, best indicator for stocks in purchase 401(k) gained about 1.4% for the day. pushing markets higher this morning, german chancellor angel a merkel and sarkozy are vowing support for the greece bailout. they held a conference call late yesterday. the three insist greece will

remain in the euro zone. this morning european stocks are up. right now stock futures for the dow, nasdaq, s&p 500 are all trading higher ahead of the opening bell. investors here are keeping their eyes on the initial jobless claims report that comes out in about two hours from now. this weekly report is especially noteworthy as the president tries sell his jobs plan across the country this week. we will get you those numbers as soon as they come out. the united autoworkers union extended labor talks between gm and chrysler overnight. the uaw says it could not reach an agreement with the two automakers by the deadline so the talks will continue today. "american morning" is back right after the break. ah looks like somebody's a winner. ha, not me! cause shipping is a hassle. different states, different rates. not with priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service, if it fits it ships anywhere in the country for a low flat rate.

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30 minutes past the hour. time for the morning's top stories. the white house trying to defend its decision to award a $535 million stimulus loan to the solyndra corporation.

the california solar panel company is now bankrupt. taxpayers on the hook for all that money. the fbi and energy department are investigating. breaking story off the coast of norway. fire aboard a cruise liner carrying more than 200 people. at least two crew members have been taken to the hospital. all passengers and crew members back on dry land. we are told the fire was in the ship's engine room. an official from amman is flying to iran to try to negotiate for the freedom of two american hikers convicted of spying and sentenced to eight years in prison. yesterday the iranian judiciary said it was only considering a request to set bail which contradicts the iranian president's earlier statement the men could be freed in a couple of days. in the meantime a lawyer for the two hikers says he's filed all the paperwork for them to be released on bail but does not expect the judges to act it before the weekend. more than 46 million people in the u.s. now live in poverty. that's the highest number in 52 years. those are just statistics. this morning we want to show you

real people behind those numbers. families who had to drop out of society just to survive. our allan chernoff is live in lakewood, new jersey, with an interesting angle on this story. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. right behind me you can see one of the main streets of lakewood. people heading off to work. let's just take a few steps here into the woods. and it is an entirely different world. because what we have right behind me are dozens and dozens of homeless people who have set up tents, set up huts, and they are basically out here trying to make it on their own. >> my punching bag, a stress reliever. >> reporter: he lost his last job a year ago is among dozens of jobless and homeless americans who have resorted to this. trying to make a home here in the woods. >> you think of -- it can happen

to anyone at any time. >> reporter: he stays in shape in the gym he built as he hopes for a pickup in the economy to help him get back to work. >> it is horrible. so depressing. >> reporter: marilyn is a textile designer who worked in new york just two years ago. she and her husband michael, former public radio producer, have been living here for 16 months. victims of the jobs recession. >> it is very hard for a company to decide to use a 61-year-old trainee. i'm too young for social security. so, yeah, it is going to be a rough -- rocky flight. it has been a rocky flight. >> reporter: five years ago reverend steve established what he calls tent city where he lives in this converted school bus. he has seen the population nearly double to 70 in the past year. >> it is a community here. we have all their needs met here. >> reporter: residents here come up with some makeshift solutions to some of life's necessities. this portable generator is

hooked up to a pump that's actually driving up groundwater to the shower here and to the washing machine. what you see here is a hot water heater working off of a propane tank. tent city residents recycle. the town ship picks up garbage once a week. but that's as much help as local government provides. lakewood township is suing reverend steve and his tent city residents to get them off of public lands. >> the government has a responsibility to be sympathetic to the plight of the poor and homeless. and to push them out is cruel. >> reporter: the township referred cnn's inquiry to its attorney who did not return our calls and e-mails. as the legal battle drags on, and the economy stagnates, the homeless who have created a home here maintain their hope of returning to society. >> the community is just waking up this morning. behind me you may hear some of the roosters here who will wake

people up every single morning around here. you see behind me some of the tents. these, in fact, are remains of huts that had been up. the town demanded they be taken down. you see the remains over here. but the folks here are quite worried as the winter is going to approach. they say they can't survive just in their tents. they will need some huts to at least keep them a little bit warmer. yes, christine, people do survive here through the winter. it was a tough one, as you know, last winter. >> it just underscores the fact there aren't enough jobs. there just aren't enough jobs to put people into n and train people for at this point and so what kind of opportunity can you offer when the big fight, i guess, is with the city or the township about being able to say. thank you so much. new this morning. it is out with the shuttle and in with the new program at nasa. sls is short for space launch system.

s in a awn veiling its plans to build the most powerful rocket ever. first flight scheduled for the end of 2017. the sls designed to take astronauts to unprecedented distances in space. perhaps even mars. it will cost $18 billion over the next six years. coming up next on "american morning," many americans have seen their pay and benefits cut. what about congress? should they be forced to make the same sacrifice snst we are going to talk to one senator who says yes. >> the jacqueline kennedy tapes released to the public. how the former first lady felt about martin luther king and cuban missile crisis in her own words. that's ahead on this "american morning." 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.

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welcome back. story we will be talking a about a lot this morning. should members of congress be forced to make the same financial sacrifices so many of you have had to make during this recession? joining me now is democratic senator brown.

he calls on law makers to wait until the age of 66 before receiving a pension. right now lawmakers can retire as early as age 50 with a full pension depending on how long they served. taxpayer pass protection alliance, nonpartisan group is asking congress to take a 10% pay cut. in a letter the president of the group said while many other cuts are also needed to have the necessary impact on the national debt, cuts to congressional salaries and benefits will demonstrate to americans their elected officials in washington, d.c., are also making sacrifices in this period of economic uncertainty. senator brown, first of all, thank you for joining thus morning. we appreciate it. you received that letter from this nonpartisan group. you read it and you thought what? >> well, i think that there are a whole host of things. the reason i introduced my bill a few months ago or a couple of months ago on this shared sacrifice in terms of retirement age, is i hear lots of members of congress, especially

particularly conservative members of congress, say we should raise the retirement age for social security. yet a member of congress gets elected at 35 and retires at 5 can draw a pretty good pension at the age of 55 when social beneficiary benefits have to wait until 66. my thought was members of congress should not be able to get their pension no matter how many years of service they had, they should get no pension until any earlier than a social security beneficiary should get theirs. years ago i made a promise to my campaign i would not accept congressional health care. i don't talk about this much. until we pass health care for everybody else in the country. i pay may own health insurance for years. because of that. i am not going around bragging about it but i think it is important members of congress align as much as possible their lives with the people who we represent so we understand things better and we still make more money than most people, of course. at least we ought to share some of the sacrifice better than we

do. >> your bill to raise retirement age for lawmakers to the age of 66, has it gone anywhere? >> it has not. i think what it did was say to some of my conservative colleagues in washington, some of the politicians that don't -- must not know very many waitresses and factory workers and construction workers and women or men who clean hotel rooms and can't work until their 70, when i hear these conservative politicians saying raise the retirement age to 70 for social security, i introduced that bill because i wanted to send this message to wait a second. that's, you know, we -- when you dress like this and do what we do you can work to an older age. but when you clean hotel rooms and work in a diner, your feet all the time, retail, construction work, manufacturing, your body typically can't work until 68 or 70. i say it is a moral issue. >> let's go back to the pay cut issue. this nonpartisan group says take a 10% pay cut. even if if lawmakers said i will take a temporary pay cut just to

show -- to give voters a sign that we really do care but honestly, i don't think many americans think that any lawmaker will say okay, let's do it. i mean, people don't believe it. is there any chance at all law makers would take a pay cut? >> i think some might. i think that -- i would guess probably a bill like that won't pass. there are a number of us that when -- every so often there's been an automatic cost of living adjustment for members of congress and in many, many members of congress have said no, i'm not going to take it and give to it charity. i know it is easy to say. >> but they still take it even though it is -- it is not nice of them to give it to charity the packs pairs still have to pay it. >> i understand that. >> i don't know, you know, we hear these things. >> you asked me. i don't think that members of congress will vote to pass that. i don't think that probably that

will happen here any more than my idea to raise the retirement age for members of congress will pass. i think that's not the biggest problem we have. to me it was a statement. less about my colleagues on the retirement age and more about how i don't want to see us raise the retirement age for social security beneficiaries. so many work with their bodies and their bodies don't hold out until they are 70. some of the jobs that are very, very physical. >> we are asking a question this morning of our viewers. what would it say to you if lawmakers agreed to take a pay cut. in your mind, if lawmakers did decide to even take a temporary pay cut, what would that say to the american people? >> i think that it would be a good thing to say to the american people. i would frankly rather that the congress instead of talking about ourselves and in this context or any other would actually work on a jobs issue and actually work to create jobs. the president was in my home state in columbus a couple of days ago. we are facing choice hears. we can either con to give tax

breaks to the richest people in the country or we can actually invest in construction and modernization and infrastructure and bring jobs. to me that's way more important than any of the other things about the process of this institution. far too many people here are protecting the oil industry and wall street hedge fund managers. those are way more important issues than any of the other things. >> senator brown, thank you so much for joining us this morning. we appreciate it. the morning's top stories straight ahead. including the latest trend in s.a.t. scores across the country. >> twin 8-month-old boys were literally joined at the hip are recovering after successful separation surgery. impressive resume. thank you. you know what,ell me, what makes peterpeter ? i can my own homemade jam, apricot. and really love my bank's ise your ratcd. i'm sorry, did you say you'd love a pay raise asap uh, tuly, i said i love my bank's raise your rate cd.

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six minutes after the hour. here is what you need to know to start your day. three crew members are being treated after their cruise ship caught fire off the coast of norway. it is believed the fire started in ten gin room. most of the crew and passengers are safely back on shore in the town of elson this morning. president sarkozy and david cameron are in libya this morning and meeting with leaders of libya's national transitional counsel and i will expected to hold a news conference at any moment. you are looking at the podiums. their first visit to tripoli since the fall of moammar gadhafi's regime. the white house defending its decision to award a $535 million stimulus loan to the solyndra corporation.

solar panel company is now bankrupt with taxpayers on the hook for all of that money. natalee holloway's father is asking a alabama court to declare her dead six years after her disappearance. authorities say an 8 on-year-old woman that died at a georgia mcdonald's last week was killed by a buildup of carbon dioxide. investigators found the bleed line on a tap used on -- on a fang used to cash nature soft drink wasn't properly disconnected. the nation's fwrad waiting seniors posted lower scores on their s.a.t.s according to the college board. the average combined score was 1,500. that's six points below last year. perfect score in the s.a.t.s these days is 2400. doctors at a hospital in memphis, tennessee, successfully separated 8-month-old conjoined twins. they are in intensive care recovering now. that's the news you need to start your day. "american morning" back right after this.

welcome back to "american morning." historians are having a field day with the released jacqueline kennedy tapes. >> you can see why. fascinating stuff. interview with the former first lady recorded four months after the assassination of her husband, john f. kennedy, has been kept under wraps for nearly 50 years until now. >> these tapes contain personal information. personal comments that we never heard before. tell us about it. >> in her own voice. that's what's amaze being it. that's really what is so fascinating hearing the sound of her voice. how she expresses herself. she is so refined, contrition.

very, very engaging. you can't help but listen. there is a certain candor, frankness. this is a woman that had an opinion about people and at least in private and presence of someone she considered a friend, interve interviewer. she said lyndon johnson had an enormous ego and his wife, lady bird johnson, was in her words, quote, like a training hunted dog. by the irish, they have a persecution thing about them. witch-hunt senator joseph mccarthy, see says, he smelled of drink and his eyes looked awful. here is what she had to say about civil rights leader martin luther king jr. >> what an incredible speaker he was during that freedom watch. he acknowledged how had made that call during the campaign. he told me the tape fbi had of martin luther king when he was here for the freedom march.

how he was calling up all these girls and arranging for a party, men and women, orgy in the hotel and everything. at first he said oh, you know -- jack, that's so terrible. that man is -- >> now, jacqueline kennedy was that 24 years old when she got married. 31 when she became first lady. she had the responsibility of hosting presidents and prime ministers and kings. jfk's affairs are legendary. listening to her speak and reading through the transcripts this is a woman that clearly loved her husband and wanted to be a good wife and mother. she became excited when she made him proud. here she is talking about the greatest crisis her house ban's presidency, cuban missile crisis. >> i remember saying i know if anything happened we would all be evacuated to camp david or something. i don't know if he said anything about that to me.

but i said please don't send me away to camp david. me and the children. please don't send me anywhere. if anything happens we will all stay here with you. i said, even if there's not room in the bomb shelter at the white house, please, jack, i just want to be on the lawn if it happens. you just want to be with you. i want to die with you. and the children do, too. >> there are just so many interesting personal moments. the gifts her husband gave her. she calls him sweet. the phone calls from the campaign trail. how he would take his 45-minute power naps. he's changing into pajamas. even his you will haver in built and wisdom and compassion. she says she feared the presidency might ruin her marriage but, in fact, she says it was the happiest time of her life. she evolves from a wife finding her way. suffering through complicated pregnant stees to a great partner and ally. she was just 34 when he passed

away. she gave these interviews about four months later. she also talks about the things she learned from her husband. you know, there's one thing she is talking about politics and how complicated it is. she says he would tell her never get in anything so deep that you lost -- lost all chance of conciliation. she was learning from him and just -- you know, you get a sense there was a connection. whatever fights they had in their marriage, marriage is complicated. there was a real connection and a real warmth there. >> caroline kennedy, you know, she -- played a big part in this book and 'twas one that agreed to release the tapes. some of the things jacqueline kennedy says are -- embarrassing. >> you know, they are embarrassing, little bit controversial. also jacqueline kennedy was talking at a time you didn't have to always be on guard about being so politically correct. there was a frankness and here she is a young woman. would she had said these as she got older? no. probably not. there she was, really giving a

great responsibility. it is fascinating to hear because it is what we would say. she did it for the history books. she knew new day -- these are the tapes of her giving her recollections of life in the white house. >> think about how frank she was and how honest she was about it. kind of interesting. >> carolyn kennedy said in the end sheen didn't want to edit them. she wanted to have them in her mother's own words. >> a great choice. >> i think so, too. >> what a brave choice. fascinating. thank you. we asked to you talk back on one of big stories of the day. what would you say to congress if it took a pay cut? ahead responses. it is about time. no one in congress should be making more than the average median income of those in their district. this should only apply to their government pay not side stuff like speaking engagement since those are not paid for with our tax $. this from jeff. instead of a pay cut can we lay them off like the rest of the workers in america? then outsource congress to china?

they onus already so why not let them run the country, too, while they are at it. i would say it is a step in the right direction. if they were paid for services rendered, maybe they would actually do something other than argue. they were hired by the people to do a job. instead most just want to make sure the other side doesn't get anything done. if i did my job like that i would be fired in a hot minute. keep those comments coming. controversy over the solar company that goes dark. ahead, president obama, obama on the road, selling his new jobs plan. there are concerns about the first stimulus. did taxpayers get burned by a half billion dollar loan to a solar company? it is a very unfortunate note owe-op at a solar company giving them taxpayer money and go bankrupt because of chinese competition. life insurance companies

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everyone will find out soon enough i think that something's happening. ♪ ♪ the white house under fire this morning for awarding a federal stimulus loan to a solar panel company that is now bankrupt. leaving taxpayers on the hook for more than half a billion dollars. the case of the missing housewife takes an even stranger turn hours after mrs. is a la hi's hups band claims she was

kidnapped the white house party crasher turns up -- oh, you will never guess with who. >> wow. that i want to hear. urban etiquette. trying to get new yorkers to improve their manners. >> told you once, i told you 100 times, pull up your wants nobody wants to see your underwear. >> good morning. thursday, september 15. welcome to "american morning." >> up first this morning -- soshy abosos sorry about that. let's talk about the mission to libya. david cameron and french president sarkozy are in tripoli this morning. meeting with the country's interim leaders. it is their first visit since moammar gadhafi was driven from power. in the meantime u.s. officials are concerned that the post gadhafi libya could become a breeding ground for terrorists. cnn's barbara starr is following that angle of the story and is live at the pentagon this morning. how concerned are they? >> good morning.

you know, even as these ties grow with the new libyan government, u.s. intelligence officials say that they are concerned that terrorists might be moving into libya and setting up shop. what they are talking about, they tell us, is not, you know, hundreds of al qaeda fighters moving in. but during this period of uncertainty in libya they do see evidence that perhaps dozens of extremists have basically moved into libya and set up a bit of an organization and looking to establish their own networks, their own controls, and while the rest of the world sing still trying to get used to the new libya and very fledgi governmen trying to get organized. this is a concern because libya is a country where there are perhaps hundreds of surface-to-air missiles, thousands of small arms, a lot of weapons out of anybody's control. so terrorists moving in becomes an increasing concern now. >> are there also concerns that these terrorists could be working inside the national transitional council?

>> yes. they tell us that they don't think it is anything official but that people with those types of sympathies certainly may be affiliating themselves with the new government and look, this is just one part of north africa now, if will you. just yesterday, the top u.s. military commander for relation was africa said he was concerned that al qaeda was setting up an alliance of convenience, if you will, in nigeria, somalia, and in -- across north africa. so north africa becomes a growing area of new concern now about al qaeda's setting up shop. carol? >> yes. and just to note for our viewers, happening right now, in libya, the british prime minister and french president are speaking along with the national transitional council that the new leaders of libya, if you will, will monitor this and we will pass along what they say. thank you very much, barbara starr. story we have been talking about this morning, federal stimulus loan to a solar company

has republicans demanding an explanation. taxpayers are ticked off, too, because you are all on the hook for more than a half a billion dollars. it is a company called sol drain. toll a panel manufacturer in california that just declared bankruptcy after receiving $535 million in federal stimulus money from your tax dollars. the white house tried to defend it providing more fodder for republicans. >> solyndra alone was touted to create 3,000 jobs. the president outed that. it will be a great success story. of course, we have seen the failure there. a lot of us are questioning this kind of double down stimulus approach where they will come back and do more of this kind of same failed policy of just spending money betwewe don't ha >> what's the administration's response to this? >> they are pushing back on the criticism and mounting questions about the deal. remember this is a program that the administration had been pushing for quite some time.

remember, the groundbreaking are the vice president was there. the president visited the company, touting it as part of the green energy future. there are those e-mails that suggest there was questions about this deal being rushed in order to meet a timeline. there was one e-mail from a white house staffer saying, quote, i would prefer that this announcement be postponed. this is the first loan guarantee and we should have full review with all hands on deck to make sure we get it right. another e-mail from a department of energy staffer saying in part, quote, the model runs out of cash in september 2011. in an off-camera briefing with reporters yesterday white house spokesman jay carney says the e-mails show there was an urgency to make a decision about a scheduling matter. me offered another defense as well in a briefing more than a week ago where he said in business, not everything works. >> there are no guarantees in the business world about success and failure. that's just the way business works.

everyone recognizes that. that's why there's -- over 40 companies, as i understand it, 40 guarantees involved in this program that merit looking at. there's no individual -- can you not measure the success based on one company or the other. >> carney said that there's no evidence to suggest the administration did anything wrong. he pointed out to reporters that the program through which this loan guarantee passed through was set up by the former administration but the bottom line here is that we are talking about federal stimulus dollars and there are a lot of questions this morning about how that money was spent. >> the questions con to arise as to whether this was a business problem or a problem of his connections. the bush administration did look into this and didn't approve it initially. thanks, dan. >> story of china competition, competition from china. where we go to support an industry, the chinese have much more cash behind them.

>> slud hould we not support fledgling industries? >> after you fail you turn around and do it more intelligently the next time. >> problem is we made failure into something that's very dangerous. we can't afford it as much. >> how about this time -- >> it takes a long time to develop green technology. it is not like we have a lot of places in which to implement it. so that industry is going to have a few failures and a few successes. >> except so many other countries are ahead of us on it that at some point do we ever catch up? for the first time some people are saying for the first time we are noted the leader in a new industry or new innovation. that's been a place -- uncomfortable place to be. >> story that concentrates a number of different issues as to whether we should be doing this or not. >> new this morning, dakota meyer set to receive the medal of honor from president obama.d gunfire five times to rescue

other servicemen during an ambush in afghanistan in 2009. he is credited with saving 36 lives. meyer and president already met. the white house release thing photo two of the men talking over a couple of beers last night on the patio outside the oval office. congratulations, young man. we thank you. >> definitely so. official reportedly trying to negotiate the release of the two american hikers jailed in iran. there have been conflicting reports from the iranian government about whether or not josh fattal and shane bauer may be allowed to go free. though a lawyer for the two hikers tells cnn he has filed all of the necessary paperwork for them to be released. a gop meeting of the minds in new york city campaign front-runner rick perry having dinner with donald trump. perry spokesman says the two talked mainly about jobs. donald back in june decided not to enter the republican presidential race. he says he has not ruled out a third party run. he says if they don't come up with the right candidate may get back into the race. >> looked like they than went to a burger joint.

>> that's jean george. the scare on a united airlines flight minutes before takeoff at dulles international airport. passengers had to hustle out of the emergency slide after they spotted smoke coming from an engine. one passenger tweeted -- i am shaking. people were screaming. still not clear whether the engine did catch fire but supreme court justice ruth bader ginsburg, who is 78 and battled cancer, she was one of the 179 passengers forced to slide down the chute. a court spokesperson says she's okay this morning. >> she is pretty tough. >> justices tend to be very calm and tough. i wonder if an environment -- she was weighing the pros and cons. >> i don't think she was doing that. >> she is a very tough woman. very impressive. a father accused of throwing his 7-year-old son overboard during a boat cruise along the california coast has now been charged with child abuse. police say sloan was drinking before he tossed the boy ten

feet over the side of the boat. he claims the boy did it on his own just to show off. they were just rough housing before it happened. someone on a nearby boat, though, ended up rescuing the boy. rest easy, "real housewives of d.c." star mikail salahi, made famous in 2009, she was not kidnapped. turns out she has run to journey's guitarist kneel ispl open arms. sheriff's deputies have spoken to her and is said to be in good frame and did not want her husband to know where she was. >> couldn't someone have written that whole thing in journey lyrics? that would have been fun. >> i i bet it will turn into a celebrity show. the walk she does, an estate dinner. i think it is funny she keeps going, she stops him, he follows her. she knew how to walk the

photographer line. nine minutes after the hour. rob marciano knows how to walk the photographer's line. do your best i'm too sexy pose, rob. >> yeah. we are working that one right now. good morning. listen, you main want to be wearing some fashion ably fall-like clothing over the next couple of days. temperatures -- 72 now in new york. 68 degrees in d.c. behind this front, obviously this is rain associated with the front. temperatures in the 30s and 40s and in detroit and milwaukee, indianapolis. further than the north and west. temperatures in the 20s this morning. definitely chill in the air. feel like october before too long. yeah, sweater, scarf. whatever makes you feel stylish. also the across texas bogey to be cool now. rain across northern texas. we will take that as well. won't be seeing temperatures like this hopefully until spring. 104 in waco. 102 in shreveport. 100 degrees in houston. done that 46 times this year. dallas has done it 70 times.

just yesterday, atlanta hit 90 degrees, record 90 times as well. this front, there i go. sliding off to the east. big cooldown behind it. you will see some travel delays because of this. generally speaking the big story will be temperatures that will be in the freezing category. freeze warnings are posted for the upper midwest. record low temperatures in the 20s. international falls which is the ice box of the country. nonetheless still early for this time of year. temperatures 62 degrees in chicago. 61 degrees in minneapolis. and 75 in new york. 85 degrees in atlanta. cools down just -- spreads towards the south and east. frosting on the mountains of the rockies. certainly fall changes in the air there. aspens will be turning golden yellow soon enough. we have several earthquakes. 6.0 earthquakes in cuba and in new zealand and japan and 3.25 in los angeles this morning. lots of stuff happening. ground kind of moving under your feet.

nothing to worry about here in the u.s. >> good to see you, my friend. we will talk to you later. >> still to come, 46 million people in poverty last year. what can be done to lift people out of poverty and fix the jobs problem? give the middle class opportunity again. we are going to talk to steven moore of the "wall street journal." >> jackie kennedy uncensored. an interview with the former first lady released to the public for the first time. sit raising a lot of eyebrows. meet the replacement for the shuttle. fastest rocket ever built unveiled by nasa. you are watching "american morning." we will tell you about it onner to side. ♪

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welcome back to "american morning." maybe your family members,

friends, neighbors, co-workers, former co-workers, according to the census bureau, 46 million people lived in poverty last year. the middle class is slipping in earnings power and in opportunity. today we have the president out pitching his jobs plan. what is it going to take to get people working again? joining me now to talk about this and more steven moore. nice to see you again. >> hi, christine. great to be with you. >> what's the fix here? because we look at numbers like these poverty and income statistics everyone is talking about this week. you get -- you get people who support the president's policy saying this is why you have to have this jobs bill. people who disagree with the president saying no, no, no, no, we have big structural problems. these are just band-aids. >> yeah. christine, when i looked at that report, everybody has been talking about the poverty rate which was pretty grim. you know, the bigger problem i think is you look at that new report. it is that over the -- past decade, the middle class has lost income. it really has been a lost decade

for middle class families. what in a means is that middle class workers are not getting pay raises keeping up with inflation. it has been a long time since they had a real pay raise. the question is what do we do about it? i'm stwha skeptical of the president's jobs plan. we have a lot of borrowing out there already. the federal government has already slated to borrow $1.2 trillion this year. there was a surprise dropped on monday when the president -- remember, you and i talked about this over the weekend. that the tax cuts were small businesses but then it was announced there would be a big tax increase to pay for it. i'm not sure i understand a tax cut for small businesses. in 2013 they get walloped with a big tax increase. >> you and your friends at the wall street editorial resistant to opposition of president trying to raise taxes or do anything in terms of raising receive new on that front. i want to talk bun employment benefits because part of the president's plan would be to extend unemployment benefits again but encourage what they call the white house calls

innovation. new ways to get people working while they are on unemployment benefits this. they try start a company while on unemployment benefits. working for free for another company while they are on unemployment benefits. you don't likes the extent of unemployment benefits here. >> i do think that that would be an improvement. what just described. at least, you know, providing training or other types of incentives for people to get jobs while they are unemployed. the problem with unemployment insurance, i think, data is pretty clear on this over the last 10, 15 years. congress found that the longer you extend unemployment insurance for workers, the more people stay unemployed. they don't start looking for work until the unemployment benefits run out. >> any jobs? i mean -- >> of course. >> look at all these people that voted for obama and sitting on their couches eating cheetos and getting unemployment benefits. there's no incentive to work. there aren't any jobs. >> that's true. it is true that the president's stimulus plan didn't create any jobs. no doubt about that. >> not as many as they want. >> whatever purpose, i mean, think about it in these terms.

you have people that are working. lot of people out there working. as you know, a lot of people working two, three jobs, 60 hours a week. why should they have to pay more tax tows pay for people who aren't going out and getting jobs? look, i think there are -- it is a very tough labor market out there now. people have to be looking and i v to do the extra work to get those jobs. this is a tough -- tough period. i mean, i'm very sympathetic to people that don't have jobs. but two years, do you really think we should be giving people benefits for two years for not working? one of the reasons, by the way, we have seen a record number of people without jobs for six months, 45% of people without jobs have been out of a job for six months, partly because we provide those unemployment benefits. >> we can argue and agree and disagree and argue more about it. i want to ask you about solyndra, solar company that got stimulus money. this has been -- now held up as a big example of why stimulus didn't work. it is just one example. we didn't -- didn't we know when

we were with befriendsing these companies some would make and it some wouldn't? >> i heard your previous discussion about this. i was wincing. i thought the one thing you and i agreed on, we shouldn't have corporate welfare in washington. why -- you know, my friend ali and i talk about this a lot. why should the government be picking winners and losers? this is why we have venture capital industry. the president talks a lot about getting rid of the oil and gas subsidies. i'm all for that. oil and gas getting subsidies, let's get rid of them. why don't we get rid of all the subsidies? get rid of the corporate welfare. let the market pick the winners and losers. government has never been very good at picking corporate winners ask losers. it is just a way of providing benefits to business and by the way, i hate to say this, christine, but i do think there is a connection here between the contributions those executives -- and the fact that this company looks like it was pushed line to get this $500 million which taxpayers are not

going to get a penny of return on. >> we know there are multiple investigations going on and we will get to the bottom what happened with it. we know even though you are saying a number of corporate welfare, countries we are competing with around the world, they are spending as much money as they can to get ahead of us. >> what about the natural gas receiv revolution? you read my column last week. states in pennsylvania, west virginia. we are getting unbelievable amounts of energy from that and not a penny of subsidies. >> another great conversation. >> i will see you soon. that was spirited. i enjoyed that. now is your chance to talk about on one of the big stories of the day. the question for you this morning, what would it say to you if congress took a pay cut? don't laugh. stop it. a nonpartisan group sent this letter to lawmakers urging them to cut their extravagant

salaries of $174,000 a year by 10%. they say it would save taxpayers $100 million over ten years. before you say fat chance, democratic congressman brown introduced legislation for law makers to wait until age 66 before receiving a pension. law makekers retire as early as age 50 with a full pension depending on years of service. i know, you are still laughing because -- you heard it before. right? last february as americans faced the possibility of a government shutdown, senator barbara boxer had a dandy idea. >> if the government is forced to shut down, members of congress and the president should be treated the same way as all other federal employees. we should not be paid. >> the government didn't shut down so i guess congress got a pass on that. but seriously, if lawmakers did take a pay cut or raise their

retirement age, dare i say it, would that be patriotic? responsible? moral? we would like to hear from you. what would it say to you if congress took a pay cut? facebook.com/americanmorning. i will read your comments later this hour. still to come this morning, jackie kennedy unscensored. wait until you hear what she had to say about martin luther king jr. ce sure doesn't. i'm tired of shopping around. [ sigh ] too bad you're not buying car insurance. like that's easy. oh, it is. progressive direct showed me their rates and the rates of their competitors. i saved hundreds when switching. we could use hundreds. yeah. wake up and smell the savings. out there with a better way. now, that's progressive.

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it is 30 minutes past the hour. good morning to you. welcome back. the white house trying to defend its decision to award a $535 million stimulus loan to the solyndra corporation. the california solar panel company is now bankrupt with taxpayers on the hook for all of that money. the fbi and the energy department now investigating. official is flying to iran to tie for the freedom of two american hikers convicted of spying and sentenced to eight years in prison. the judiciary said it was only considering a request to set bail.

contradicting the iranian president's earlier statement that the men could be freed in a couple of days. a lawyer for the two hikers says that he's filed all the paperwork to be released but does not expect the judges to act it before this weekend. british prime minister david cameron and french president sarkozy in libya this morning to meet with leaders of the national transition council. cameron says the nato mission must continue to all civilians are protected and libya's allies will help bring fugitive leader moammar gadhafi to justice. have you heard the jacqueline kennedy tapes? historians are having a field day. >> that's right. form are first lady in her own words, own voice, answering questions on tape four months after the assassination of her husbands, john f. kennedy. the interview has been kept under wraps for nearly 50 years until now. >> they are just so fascinating. >> once you start listening it is very hard to stop. it is so interesting because she had such strong opinions and impressions. she knew she was being recorded for history. in some ways maybe she did hold

back. what's refreshing is the candor. this wispy, gentle voice expressing what she felt after her husband won the presidency she describes richard nixon's wife looking exhausted like a cadaver, terribly bitter. she describes one of the cabinet members as a man, quote, terribly afraid to make a decision. she weias taken bake by martin luther king jr.'s private life. >> what i said what an incredible speaker he was during drg the freedom watch and acknowledged how he made the call during the campaign, he told me the tape the fbi had of martin luther king when he was here for the freedom march. how he was calling up all these girls and arranging for a party, men and women. sort of an orgy in the hotel and

everything. at first he said oh, well, you know. but jack, that's so terrible. i mean, that man, you know, a phony man. >> the people she liked she called sweet. you sense how people became entranced by this very fine and embegan young woman who was just in her early 30s. jfk's affairs are legendary. listening to her speak it is clear she loves her husband and describes her excitement by the gifts and how we would call her from the campaign trail when she was pregnant with care line and john john. >> i was always a liability to him until we got to the white house. and he never asked me to change or say anything bit. everyone thought i was a snob from newport who had bouffant hair and french clothes and hated politics. only because i was often having these babies i wasn't able to campaign and be around as much as i could have.

oh, jack. i wish, you know -- i'm so sorry that i'm just such a -- i knew it wasn't true. he didn't want me to change. he knew i loved him and everything i could. i campaigned with him and did it very hard. >> you can hear various am beanent noise like a plane in the background. you hear john john at times coming in and talking to his mom or the -- ice clinking glasses. she undertook a complete restoration of the white house. returning it to this jewel of american history. she says while she feared that the presidency might ruin her marriage she said was the happiest time of her life. you listen to her evolving. and learning from her husband. there is one -- something i love. she was carrying a grudge awn round. somebody that had been angry at john kennedy. and so he -- she says jack was so sweet. he sort of rubbed my back and

said if you start to say or think you hate someone, then the next day you will act as if you hate him. so he was saying don't do this. it is not worthy. he was really very political and learned from all of that. >> her daughter, caroline, who approved all of the tapes being published 50 years after the presidency. she said she could hear her mother's voice and knew what she was thinking by the way she was saying things. and it was actually kind of a communion between the two of them listening to these tapes again. >> when you hear that voice and saying oh, she was a real prune, there's no real anger or hatred, rancor. that tone we hear a lot these days that's absent in her voice. >> it wasn't very nice. >> it is not nice but not nasty. lacking nastiness. that's what i found -- >> it is her way of speaking that intrigues me. does anyone talk like that anymore? i mean, it is like they talked in the movies. >> it is finishing school.

like the finishing school upper crest. >> absolutely. it was a time when women were not overly prominent in politics. they didn't have that strong voice. does than mean she was not a strong woman. she was a very strong woman. she had to undergo a lot. it is fascinating to listen to this time in history. as a wife, as somebody that close to the president. >> wow. >> you don't like the whole prude thing. you don't think it is a nice way of calling something one a prude. >> no. i'm just being honest also new this morning -- thank you, deb. that was fascinating. the new england patriots in damage control mode after quarterback tom brady told fans to start drinking early and get lubed up for the home opener sunday. after tom brady said that, the patriots media relations came out in full force and says tom brady didn't really mean to start drinking alcohol. he men to say water so thans could stay hydrated during the

game. >> it is hot out there. >> because that's what tailgating is all about. sarah the creatureful back home where she belongs. she is an endangered logger head found last month. >> this is an extra. >> she nearly died. veterinarians were able to save her. yesterday she was released back into the water. locals are offering $16,000 reward to anyone that has information that leads to the arrest of the very mean prune who speared her. >> that's crazy. 150 pounds, that turtle. some new weird and whack write records have been set. take a lack at this. her name is chanel tapper. >> i can't look at that. >> that's some tongue. she just set the guinness world record for the longest tongue. >> please don't that. she will do it again. >> come on. come on. okay. t that's not -- check out this

record. i'm going to move on from this tongue thing. the super circus test set the record for the most dogs skipping jump rope. >> that's ridiculous. oh, my goodness me. that's interesting. >> it is only 7:38. >> still ahead, one man's mission to improve the rude prude and be obnoxious behavior of fellow new yorkers telling them pull your pants up, among other things. >> no one wants to see your underwe underwear. >> it has to do with how smart generation y is. [ male announcer ] people don't make a list of websites

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i tell you what i can spend. i do my best to make it work. i'm back on the road safely. and i saved you money on brakes. that's personal pricing. romans numeral. number in the news, 1,500. >> gold. >> has to do with how smart generation y is.

average s.a.t. score for the class of 2011. guess what. it is going down. that's six points lower than last year. down 18 points from 2006. in case you are wondering, a perfect score is 2400. >> one day i will say gold aal get it right. does that buck the trend? going down six points? have we been stable? >> no. we have been sloeg slowly going down. >> you could argue that the s.a.t. does not predict intelligence or how smart your kid is. it is just a test they take and learn how to take the test and memorize stuff. >> i have been using that defense for years. the i.q. test is all messed up, too. >> so is the scale. >> testing in general is not a good reflection of my abilities. talking about school, school year begins in los angeles, many of the students returning classrooms powered by the sun. >> yes. powered by the sun. schools are counting on big

investments in solar power to help ease the impact of severe budget cuts. yes, solar power. cnn's casey wyan has the story. >> reporter: the los angeles unified school district plans to install solar power at 59 facilities by the end of next year to reduce its more than $100 million annual energy bill. >> we will be able to save $114 million over the next 20 years. that what that means to me is less dollars going to facilities and more dollars going to kids. >> reporter: garcia says her district lost $2 billion in state fund cutbacks over the past two years. laid off 10,000 employees. but it does have voter approved bond money available for capital improvement projects. it is using some of that to invest in solar power. banking on energy costs reductions to free up general fund money for things like teacher's salaries. >> kids aren't coming to bore

members to tell us you know how much energy we waste? kids are coming to board members to say why don't we have solar panels on automatic the campus. >> next month the solar panels will be providing electricity at this los angeles middle school. schools are benefiting from a sharp drop in the price of solar panels. thanks in part to increased competition from chinese manufacture manufacturers. that's good for school budgets but a big challenge for the u.s. solar industry. three u.s. solar manufacturers filed for bankruptcy last month. some u.s. companies are thriving. is isn't power is installing more than 90 power solar systems this year. state and federal incentives help finance the school's projects. >> one of the ways they are capitalizing on that is borrowing money at very low interest rates and investing in solar with that borrowed money. then in turn they are getting savings from solar project which is pay back that investment and

then some. >> reporter: 10 thousand solar panels are going in at five schools in the san ramon valley unified school district. it expects to save $1 million to $2 million the first year. a small fraction of the district's budget, the savings that will grow over the life of the project. >> saved our community money and saved our school district money and a time in which we desperately need it. and it also helps us to reduce the carbon footprint. in our mind this is a no-brainer. something a little different on the sidewalks of new york. street signs alerting people to rude behavior and then urging them to mind their manners. they say things like pull up your pants and no one wants to see your underwear. other signs read -- clean up after your horse. pay attention -- i guess that means for the horses and carriages along central park. >> as opposed to normal new yorkers that ride around on horse. >> okay, whatever. pay attention while walking. that's another sign. the signs are not official. they are the work of a graphic artist who dubbed himself the

metropolitan etiquette authority. >> i don't know where he is putting them that that's just allowed, you can stick signs up. is it part of an art installation? >> he will get fined. >> still to come, texas governor rick perry could be your next president. so we want to know a little bit more about him. i will talk to -- "time" magazine had an exclusive int interview with the candidate.

an update on the engine fire off the cruise ship off the coast of norway. we learned two crew members died. six crew members are still being treated for injuries. you are looking at a new video of that ship. we are told all 207 passengers safe and back on shore. a lawyer for the two american hikers jailed in iran says he's filed all the necessary paperwork for them to be released on bail. the lawyer does not expect the judges to act on it before saturday. nasa announcing plans to build the most powerful rocket ever with its first flight scheduled for the end of 2017. it is called sls. it is designed to take astronauts to unprecedented distances in space. perhaps even as far as mars. the cost is $18 billion over the next six years. cooler weather even some sleet and snow helping firefighters in minnesota battle

wildfire that's consumed some 160 square miles near the canadian border. plumes of smoke from the massive fire drifted into wisconsin and michigan and illinois. teachers in tacoma, washington, expected to return to their classrooms today after walking off the job monday. a state court judge has ordered them to end the strike that school administrators claim is illegal.

all right, we're going in depth now on the rise of governor rick perry. he had a texas-size bullseye on his back. the attacks only confirming he is the frontrunner right now for

the nomination. many americans, including those who will vote in the general election are only finding out who he is. joinish us now, david who wrote the cover story on this week's issue of "time." david, good to see you. thank you for being with us. >> morning, ali. >> david, you know, when you look at rick perry, all sorts of people have an imprecisission o him, one way or the other. he has views that span the political spectrum. it's not just the texas swagger. what did you learn when writing this? >> well, the thing that struck me about rick perry is that he's a different breed of cat than we're used to seeing in presidential politics because he has never been sort of passed through the institutions of the american establishment. he never went to an ivy league college or a military academy. he's a graduate of texas a&m

which is outside which prides itself on being outside. he grew up on a cotton farm really in the middle of no where in west central texas. so, he, he comes at american society and the issues of modern america from a very different perspective. he's very skeptical of centralized power and, you know, but at the same time, as you say, he's been governor of texas longer than anyone in history and that's an insider's job. this contrast of inside and outside. >> it is interesting. you say a cotton farm and before anyone begins to wonder what that means. it was not irrigated. the only time he remembers his mother crying was when they bought the first thing they ever bought, a coach. first family member to attend college. he implemented some things in

texas that real conservatives and social conservatives wouldn't agree with. the idea of letting people who are, you know, who are children of illegal immigrants pay in-state tuition. the gardasil controversy. how is he going to square this in the run up to nomination where he has to convince social conservatives and tea party members to support him? >> well, this is the great question for the republican party in this election. they have so much unfocused, sort of unformed energy on the right in the tea party. but this is a movement that has never participated in nominating a presidential candidate before. they weren't around even in 2008. so, the issue for them is going to be, are they going to try to find the perfect candidate from their perspective or are they going to join in the selection of a candidate who potentially can win? we saw on at the last debate, you know, just as you pointed

out, a ganging up on rick perry over every sort of nonorthodox right wing position he's ever taken. and what you realistically know is if you govern a diverse state like texas, you're going to have to take positions that are not always right out of the tea party bible. >> let me ask you about this, when he was atakd by michele bachmann for taking a donation from merck and thiz response was, it was a $500,000 contribution that i received from them and you're saying that i can be bought for $5,000. turns out it just wasn't a $5,000 donation, was it? >> no, it was about six times that. close to $30,000 over the decade. there's a tremendous amount of money sloshes around texas politics. campaign finance there is

incredibly unregulated. and rick perry, you know, this is the insider version of him. rick perry is a master at raising large amounts of money and the texas government is full of people who have supported m him, who are his friends, as they say in politics. we're going to see a lot of this. this will not be the only story of campaign donors who have gone on to get contracts or to get, you know, board positions, commissioner positions in texas. >> no executive positions in texas that he hasn't touched. six of the nine top judges there. david, great cover story, great article, david editor at large at "time" it's a cover story this week. >> thank you, sir. we asked you to talk back on one of the stories of the day. the question we asked you this morning, what would it say to you if congress took a pay cut? this from kevin, certainly not.

do we cut the pay for police officers when there's more crime. no, we do the opposite. we should create incentives to attract better and brighter candidates. i'm sure there are more qualified, capable individuals who never give a thought to running precisely because they can make a much better living in the private sector. it's time congress, democrats and republicans make a personal sacrifice by reducing their salaries voluntarily. that would be a pauositive step. karen said, i think congress should cut their salaries to minimum wage with no benefits, overtime, sick leave, paid vacations, et cetera. after all, isn't that -- shared sacrifices means congress, president, vice president, et cetera, too. don't think that's going to happen, karen, but keep the conversation going.

facebook.com/americanmorning. >> best one i got, they should have to live on the unemployment check and beg for it every six months. >> i don't think that is going to do a lot to recruit the best minds to congress. there's something to be said for that exercise. people understand as we get into debates to extend unemployment, just try living on it for a little while. >> ask the symbolic gesture. ahead next hour, common is here. talk about his new memoir. it's written so beautifully. growing up on the south side of chicago, attending reverend jeremiah's church. you are watching "american morning." it's 57 minutes after the hour.

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exclusive to the military. and commitment is not limited to one's military oath. the same set of values that drive our nation's military are the ones we used to build usaa bank. from free checking to credit cards to loans, our commitment to the military, veterans, and their families is without equal. ♪ visit us online to learn what makes our bank so different. usaa. we know what it means to serve.

a rogue trader racks up an estimated $2 billion in losses at swiss banking giant ubs. i'm christine romans. this morn, there's word of an arrest.

taxpayers burned. i'm carol costello. the white house on the defensive for pushing through a stimulus loan to a solar company that just went belly up, leaving you on the hook for more than $500 million. i'm ali velshi. common is here to rap about his new memoir, racism and getting pulled into the white house controversy, on this "american morning." i have been doing this every morning and i just stepped on christine's foot. that's a first. out of practice. >> i forgive you. >> she didn't even scream. i'm impressed. >> i got my whole weight on her foot. first off this morning, a rogue trader being blamed this morning for a massive fraud at banking giant ubs. >> when we are saying massive, we're talking massive. we're talking about $2 billion, which would make it one of the largest losses in unauthorized trading ever. >> we're now learning someone is under arrest in london, an arrest late last night for fraud

and abuse of position. that's where atika schubert is following details. >> we have no other words on the arrest other than it happened at 3:30 in the morning and the person has been arrested on suspicion of fraud by abuse of office. that's all we know at this point. we're waiting to know if there are any more details from ubs. they put out the statement that they believe the estimated loss from these unauthorized trades is about $2 billion. now, that's a lot. not enough to break the bank, literally. it is enough to cause a third quarter loss for the swiss bank. >> atika, no connection being made by the police to this ubs issue. is anybody making that connection? is ubs saying that this is the name of the person we're looking for? >> ubs hasn't given any more

details. what we know is that arrest happened early in the morning and a few hours later ubs made that announce lt. we have yet to hear from ubs officially on the name of the trader, who that trader might be or how these losses were effectively caused. >> christine and i were talking about this earlier, if we characterize them as rogue trades, that's different from unauthorized. it could be unauthorized and a mistake or something like that. they're talking about $2 billion in losses. >> well, that's just it. we don't know exactly how it happened at this point. we're still waiting for ubs. they say they're investigating. but, obviously, a big dent in their confidence. remember, they were really just starting to recover after they get bailed out by the swiss government. >> thank you, atika. we've seen the big cases before, a little bad trade and trying to cover it up. sometimes we've seen cases where it's been a mistake that someone has tried to cover up and it just snowballs.

>> we are in such a different world now. atika talked about confidence. you're hoping these major banks have systems in place where rogue trades don't happen. >> you say confidence has three b confidence, security and d discretion. >> a couple of those are not working so well this morning. breaking news out of norway this morning. new video of a cruiseliner that caught fire earlier this morning. two crew members have died and six others are still in the hospital, but all 207 passengers are safely back on shore in the town of alison. the fire started in the ship's engine room. new developments out of libya this morning, too. david cameron and nicolas sarkozy pledging their support for the new rebel leadership. the nato mission must continue until all libyan civilians are protected and that libya's allies will help the national transitional council bring moammar gadhafi to justice.

in the meantime, rebel fighters and gadhafi loyalists have been battling out in one of the regime's last strongholds. rebel leaders set a deadline of tonight for people to leave that city in anticipation of a new assault. a potential good sign for those american hikers convicted of spying and sentenced to eight years in prison, an official from iman has flown there to try to negotiate the hikers' freedom. in the meantime, a lawyer for those two hikers say he's filed all the paperwork for them to be released on bail, but he doesn't expect judges to act on it before the weekend. the issue is the iranian president, mahmoud ahmadinejad, said they will be released in a cup douple days but still negotiating for their release. you, the american taxpayer, is on the hook for $500 million. a solar panel company in california that just declared bankruptcy after receiving $535

million in federal stimulus money from the white house. all of it coming from your tax dollars. >> dan lothian is live at the white house this morning. how is the administration responding to this, dan? >> they're still defending this deal. you might recall, this is a company that this white house has been supporting for quite some time during the groundbr k groundbreaking. vice president was there with other dignitaries and president obama visited that company anda highlighted it as part of the green energy future, but there are those e-mails that suggest that there was this rush to get this deal done in order to meet a timeline. one e-mail from a white house staffer saying, "i would prefer that this announcement be postponed. this is the first loan gurn and we should have full review with all hands on deck to make sure we get it right." another e-mail from the department of energy staffer saying in part, "the model runs out of cash in september 2011."

an off-camera briefing with reporters yesterday jay carney said the e-mail suggests that there was an urgency, but only to make a decision about a scheduling matter. he gave another defense in a briefing a little more than a week ago saying in business not everything works. >> there are no guarantees in the business world about success and failure. that is just the way business works and everyone recognizes that. that's why, you know, over 40 companies, as i understand it. 40 guarantees involved in this program that they're looking at. no individual, you know, you cannot measure the success based on one company or the other. >> now, carney said that there's no evidence that the administration did anything wrong. that the president remains committed to this loan guarantee program and, also, to green energy technology. he also pointed out that the process by which this loan came through was set up by the former administration, but, again, we should emphasize that this was

done with stimulus dollars and, today, a lot of questions about how that money was spent. >> yeah, dan, it was set up by the former administration, but the former administration said, i'm not so sure about this company and the obama adm administration went full guns. >> that's right. you have to understand that this green energy technology is something that the president has been pushing for for quite some time. a lot of concerns of not wanting to give up any ground to the chinese, who can provide this kind of technology at a lower cost. so, you know, what the e-mails are suggesting is that they really wanted to get this out there as sort of, you know, one of the companies that can create thousands of jobs. those jobs were there, but now they've all gone away. >> dan lothian reporting live from the white house, thanks to you. something else happening at the white house, dakota mier gets the medal of honor from president obama. former marine from kentucky charted from heavy gunfire to

rescue other men in afghanistan in 2009. he is credited with saving 36 lives. this is one brave guy. the president and mier have already met, by the way. the two men talking over a couple beers on a patio outside the oval office. he said he'd love to have a beer with the president. >> and the president opened up the beer patio and sparkly night in washington. >> he was 21 years old in 2009. just amazing, amazing. >> he gets to have a beer with the president, if he asks for it. a scare on a united airlines flight. passengers had spotted smoke. one passenger tweeted, i'm shaking, people were screaming. still not clear whether the engine did catch fire. supreme court justice ruth ginsbering was one of 179 passengers who had to slide down

the chute. the court spokesperson says she's okay. >> she's tough. still amazing video from the detroit tigers game. the catcher getting hit in the face with a baseball and it causes sparks to fly. i mean, literally. isn't that something. oh, we're going to show it to you, again, after a break. and grammy award winning rapper common is in the house. we're talking racism and the controversy surrounding his appearance at the white house earlier this year and president obama and the support in the black community for the president. 12 minutes after the hour. [ oswald ] there's a lot of discussion going on about the development of natural gas, whether it can be done safely and responsibly. at exxonmobil we know the answer is yes. when we design any well, the groundwater's protected by multiple layers of steel and cement. most wells are over a mile and a half deep so there's a tremendous amount of protective rock between the fracking operation and the groundwater.

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all right. no one is sure exactly what lit up the sky in the southwest last night. >> i had a number of tweets.

people are entirely sure. >> what was it? >> a ufo. according to the twitter, it was a ufo. >> take a look. dozens of people in california, nevada and arizona calling 911 to report a ufo. a streak of light described by some as a fireball shooting west to east. experts believe it may have been a meteor or a falling satellite. >> who knows, some extra terrestrial beings could be on board. >> i would be curious to see what rob marciano thinks. do you think it is a ufo? >> a ufo is an unidentified flying object. last night i saw not the greatest movie in the world where these aliens come in and they land in the pacific ocean and they rise up and they attack the united states. >> they attack the united states. >> i'm not kidding. but, you know --

>> what movie was that? >> i think it's "battle of los angeles." >> enjoy those now because once you have kids, you're never watching a movie again. >> a lot of aliens and a lot of exploding cars and the like, we have some, well, none of that, actually. but we have cooler air that is moving in across the eastern u.s. look at the difference in temperatures between new york and d.c., both right around 70 or 67. temps behind the front in the 40s. 30s, even some 20s reported. some of this cool air is starting to drop down towards texas. even some rain across northwest texas. we will take that, right, especially with the fires happening across much of the south and central part of the state. record highs again yesterday. we won't be seeing these for quite some time. 104 in waco, shreveport 102. houston 100. the 46th day they've seen. atlanta saw the 90th day of

reaching 90 or better. that ties a records. records for heat now we're starting to see some record cold temperatures across the upper midwest. temps into the 20s and here's some rainfall as we pointed out. thunderstorms ahead of this front, as well. new york metros. boston will see some delays because of that. same thing with d.c. if you're traveling via air today. atlanta and denver will see some less delays. 83 expected in dallas. certainly take that. 64 in kansas city and a chilly 61 degrees in minneapolis and all that cool air off to the east. fall just around the corner. couple days away, a couple weeks away and starting to feel like it. >> almost leaf peeping weather. >> leaf peeping, unidentified flying objects. across the board. >> i always hated that term. >> who uses that? i go on a drive, an autumn drive every year and it's one of the nicest things ever and you just ruined it for me by calling leaf peeping. >> it sounds perverted.

>> it sounds gross. i need a bath after that. the new england patriots are in damage control mode this morning after quarterback tom brady made a huge error telling fans to get soft. check this out. >> yes, they're drinking early. nice and rowdy. 4:15 games, that was a lot of time to get lubed up and come out here and cheer for their home team. >> after that, patriots' media relations said he didn't mean alcohol, he met water to stay hydrated. >> can't the guy be excited about his game. >> tom brady said fans drink before the game, we have to say something. >> what tom brady meant to say -- >> yeah. >> brilliant. >> ridiculous. it wasn't quite a scene from the natural but sparks flew in chicago a couple nights ago. here's tigers' catcher avia.

the stadium played "rng my bell." >> he's amazing. i'm telling you, he's amazing. he gets hit so often for whatever reason in the face mask. he's one tough guy because don't have a back-up catcher because victor martinez is a little hurt. >> that is crazy. that was a big hit. i know the mask is designed to protect you. but just that force hitting something around your head, even if it's defused. >> he is having quite a year, too. you go, alex. now is your chance to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. what would it say to you if congress took a pay cut? stop laughing, i know you're laughing. the taxpayer protection alliance sent this letter to lawmakers urging them to cut their extrav

gl gnt salaries by 10%. before you say fat chance, democratic senator sharon brown has introduced legislation calling on lawmakers to wait until the age of 66 before receiving a pension. right now lawmakers can retire as early as age 50 with a full pension, depending on your years of service. i know, you're still laughing because we heard it all before. last february as americans faced the possibility of a government shutdown senator barbara boxer had a dandy idea. >> if the government is forced to shut down, members of congress and the president should be treated the same way as all other federal employees. we should not be paid. >> well, the government didn't shut down, so, i guess congress got a pass on that one. but, seriously, if lawmakers did take a pay cut or raised their retirement age, dare i say it? would it be patriotic, moral,

responsible? we'd love to hear from you. what would it say to you if congress took a paycut? facebook.com/americanmorning. i'll read your comments later this hour. coming up next, how do we get americans out of work back to work. a look at the job trends of the future on "american morning" right after this. it's 21 minutes after the hour. (rambling phone conversation)

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welcome back. minding your business this morning. right now u.s. stock futures for the dow, nasdaq and s&p are trading higher ahead of the opening bell. watching europe in the debt crisis and optimistic greece will get support from france and germany on this. >> we have a new pickle developing, this is that ubs thing. ubs saying it lost up to $2 billion on unauthorized trades and then there's this arrest that's been made in london for 31-year-old man on fraud. nobody saying they're connected, but some people are thinking

they are. keeping an eye on that. investors are watching the initial jobless claims report that comes out in just a few minutes. this report comes out every week, but especially noteworthy right now because the president is off across the country trying to sell his job's plan. we'll give you the numbers on the initial jobless claims as soon as they're available. can't wait. an american dream, a steady job, a home, providing for your children, secure retire lt. but today's unemployment rate and the struggling economy is threatening it all. >> we want to figure out how to get america back to work. for all the people out of work, how are we going to fix it? we're joined by steve case who started aol back in 1995 and chairman of the american partnership, welcome to the program. >> good morning, good to be here. >> we're looking to the government and some counsel here. you have too many people out of work, companies sitting on 2 trillion in cash. what does it make to get companies to start to hire in

this country? >> all the net job creation has been entrepreneurial companies. not the small businesses on main street, those are both important parts of the company. making sure people in washington come together to make sure there's a road map going forward that really unleashes the next wave of entrepreneurs because that's how you create the big job numbers and also how you get the economy moving and make sure we're competitive in what is, obviously, a more competitive world. >> as far as getting big companies to spend money to hire workers, what can you do to convince companies to do that? we know they're uncertain about the economy and perhaps that's why they're not hiring new people. the head of the teamster's unit put it this way. maybe we should question their patriotism. it is unpatriotic for companies not to hire. >> that's a little strong. some of the rhetoric gets a little tense. we don't have an economic crisis

and a jobs crisis. we live in the washington, d.c., area and i've been watching this unfold for the last 20 years and this is a time for people to come together and focus on entrepreneurship. the best thing we can do is create confidence and certainty coming out of washington and everybody know what the rules are. that is the main thing keeping big companies from investing. as i said in the beginning, the key is getting smaller, high-growth companies going. if you look at history of america, is the history of entrepreneurs. histories were built by entrepreneurs. let's get back to focusing on entrepreneurs play and driving innovation and driving job creation. >> as you know, entrepreneurship involves failure and you have to accept that and you have to accept that is what it is. there are some questions as to whether the executive husband an all too close relationship with the obama administration and

that's a valid question. putting that aside, the idea the administration used stimulus dollar to loan a company that was in a field that we would like to get better at some money, that, is that entrepreneurship or bad judgement or in the words of waet wall street journal" steven moore, is that the -- >> i don't know the details. i haven't really tracked it. but i think, as you say, entrepreneurship is risky. a lot of companies have started bail. entrepreneurship is the place to take the lead. one of the things that was in the president's proposal last week making it easier for young companies to go public. 90% of the job creation happens after the company goes public. we saw that with aol. eight years later we had 10,000 employees. making it easier for companies to use the private market and access that capital whether to get a start up going or a speed up ramped up is really critical.

that's what we've seen with some of the companies i've been involved in. really driving that goeth through talent and capital is critical. >> it is the government's role to give $500 million to a company to get it started. is that the government's role? >> i think the government's role is to put the framework in place, the policy framework and make sure the right incentives are in place. there are times when the government feels it needs to step in to kind of prime the pump, but in the long run, the private sector needs to do its job and we make sure the government has the right incentives and certainly in terms of what the rules of the road are and then i think you'll see more capital flowing in to job creation. but let's not lose sight of the critical role entrepreneurs play. it's not really about the fortune 500, even though that's the attention. we're backing the next generation of great entrepreneurs. >> whether we're talking and creating and training them because we have numbers that show the s.a.t. scores are falling generation wide. >> particularly on science and

technology and immigration another issue. we need to take a fresh look at that and make sure we're magnet for the next talent. those people are in the companies that create the jobs. >> we have to go right to the very beginning because we're not doing a good enough job at it. james carville has one word of advice for president barack obama, panic. we'll explain what he means and what he thinks the president should do next. it's 30 minutes after the hour. uh, forgot jack's cereal. [ jack ] what's for breakfast? um... try the number one! [ jack ] yeah, this is pretty good. [ male announcer ] half a day's worth of fiber. fiber one. [ male announcer ] you've reached the age where you don't back down from a challenge. this is the age of knowing how to make things happen. so, why would you let something like erectile dysfunction

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welcome back. top stories. a rogue trader may have cost swiss banking giant ubs $2 billion. according to the bank, the unauthorized trading, as they're calling it, could result in ubs reporting a loss for the third quarter of this year. the incident is still under an investigation. a 30-year-old man in london was arrested on fraud on abuse of

position. two crew members have died after an engine fire on a norwegian cruise ship. six other crew members are still in the hospital. we're told all the passengers are safe and they're back on dry land. an official from omaha is in iran trying to negotiate the freedom for those two american hikers convicted of spying and sentenced to eight years in prison. there have been conflicting reports from the iranian government about whether or not josh fattal and shane bauer might be allowed to go free, but a lawyer for the two hikers said he filed all the paperwork for them to be released and something should happen by saturday. the white house this morning is trying to defend its decision for a stimulus loan to company called the sylindra corporation. taxpayers on the hook for all that money. the fbi and the department of energy are investigating. public schools in tacoma, washington, will be open today but it's not clear striking teachers will honor a judge's back to work order. teachers are public employees and they don't have the right to

strike. the latest s.a.t. scores are in and they're not good. scores for this year's graduatingear seniors fell. more than 1.5 million students took the s.a.t. just 43% scored high enough to indicate they were ready to succeed in college. >> that's, that's just scary. scary. when we're supposed to outinnovate the rest of the world and we can't educate our kids. nothing more political right now than how to create jobs and how to invest in america. witness the debate in the opinion pages this morning over failed solar companies solyndra. it's an unfortunate photo-op for the president who touted the company as a stimulus success and a company that received loan guarantees and then recently filed bankruptcy. "wall street journal" says in today's editorial no big deal

from white house deputy budget director jeffrey zients. we are optimistic the portfolio as a whole will perform. a group of venture capitalists said one example of what is needed to move forward. to remain in the game, we must take an all-approach to energy. americans will lose if we abdicate our commitment in the face of short-term financial losses. this from james carville on cnn.com's opinion page. carville says, simply, what should the white house do? panic. he says fire, indict and fight. why are we still looking at the same political and economic advisers that got us into this mess? it's not working. furthermore, it's not going to work with the same team, the

same strategy and the same strategy. i know economic analysts are smart, some work 17 hours a day. it's time to show them the exit. i will also tweet links to all of these really good opinion pieces this morning. >> we just got the weekly jobless numbers. the number of people who filed for unemployment claims for the first time last week. the number coming in at 428,000. that's disturbingly high. the highest that weekly number has been in two months. we are always looking for a number under 300,000. we don't get that a whole lot these days. >> under 400,000. >> i'm sorry, under 400,000. to see it go up to 428,000. i don't know if that helps or hurts the president's argument about getting the jobs plan passed. >> these people have been out of work for six months or longer. with this number ali is talking about, people who just lost their job very recently.

there are layoffs happening and you want to see the number go below 400. >> that's alarming. that will probably start to affect our futures in a little bit. but, we have a distraction from all of this. >> and a good one. coming up next, rapper, author and actor common is right here. there he is. he's coming on in. we'll talk to him after the break. 36 minutes after the hour. ♪ sent her back to college for her sophomore year ♪ ♪ co-signed her credit card -- "buy books, not beer!" ♪ but the second that she shut the door ♪

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♪ it is 39 minutes past the hour. welcome back to "american morning." he is a grammy award winning rapper, author and actor. he made huge headlines when he was inviolated to the white house. >> his new memoir "one day it will all make sense." comson here to talk about it this morning. one day it will all make sense.

>> what are you saying it about? >> for me it's like one day life and love and different things will all make sense. but i don't think we'll ever know everything. so, some things will never make sense but some day some of the things will. >> what do you want to say to people? after they read this book and put it down, what do you want them to think? >> i want them to be inspired. i want them to feel like, i experienced things in my life and they can relate to some of the things i experienced and say, hey, man, my dream i can achieve. my heartbreak i can get through. you know, i may not have had a mom and dad that were there like common's mom may have been, but i still have love and support and i want to go out and do well in life. >> that's a tall order in these tough economic times to have a dream and to think that you can actually achieve it. >> i mean, but it starts with the belief in knowing that you can and putting that effort towards it. and a lot of it, too, is part of

the journey that you go through to achieve that dream is what really builds who we are. >> i wonder if a guy like you ever needed to write a book because you express yourself so well in your music and your freestyling. in fact, you expressed yourself in one of your songs that attracted some attention when you were invited to the white house because some people took some of your poetry to suggest that you thought it was okay to attack police. violence against police. tell us about this. >> well, first, i would like to say i never would endorse violence. that's not who i am. and, you know, i think with hip-hop and with art, we should have a voice. what i spoke up for was the injustice that was happening with some, it was a person that was killed in cincinnati at that time, that year, he was shot over 40 times, i believe. i spoke about it. and i think, you know, it's important that we, especially i feel like hip-hop artists should take the responsibility to speak about things going on in the world and in the community to

raise people's awareness. that's simply what i did. >> you were actually expressing with anti-violence. it wasn't violence against the authority. >> right, exactly. >> suddenly you were a political story. >> i was kind of flattered for a second, but, obviously, once i started seeing that they were bashing my name y was li, i was man, if these people knew who i was, they wouldn't say this about me. >> you are a big supporter of the president and you were to the white house more than one time. how do you think about how the president has been doing his job and his poll numbers aren't good. people want him to fix everything and fix it now and they're disappointed he hasn't been able to. >> we, obviously, have come from tough times and i think the president's mind and his agenda is in the right place. i feel that it's going to be difficult to know the obstacle that he's coming across. people want it now, now, but i

think he's doing the work. i really feel that the president is even bigger than politics in the way that he's brought a lot of people together. when i go abroad and i go throughout the world, it's like people feel inspired just by him being in the position he's in. so, i think sometimes we even have to just appreciate that and then allow him to do the work that he's going to do. in politics and take some time. >> do you think he's criticized more than other presidents have been? >> at times, yeah, i do believe he is criticized more. >> where does that come from? why? >> obviously, a lot of it comes from the opposition. you know, people that don't want to see him succeed. so, a lot of those people just eventually come out and say, hey, you know, we -- this guy is not doing his job right. this guy does this and does that. i mean, so -- >> you wrote in your book about the president being perhaps not american and some of the people who said that, who tried to make him look like the other. >> yeah.

>> well, like i said, it's people that would not like to see barack obama succeed. you have to understand when you're dealing with the world and politics that that will happen. but i believe that, you know, he's a good human being and he's just trying to do the right thing. i'm in full support of him. >> common, one day it will all make sense. i'll keep saying that book title all day. i'll say it to everybody i meet. if anyone says anything to me today, i'll say, one day it will all make sense. morning headlines next, including the most dangerous celebrity to search for on the web. 45 minutes after the hour. [ bi] [ bird squawks ] ♪ [ bird screeching ] ♪ [ elevator bell dings ] [ sighs ] how mad is she? she kicked me out. but i took the best stuff. i'll get the wrench. ♪

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47 mjts after the hour. here are your morning headlines. the labor department just announced 428,000 unemployment claims were filed last week. the highest level in two months. the number of claims rose from the previous week after

economists forecast it to drop and that is not a good sign for the economy. markets open in about 45 minutes. right now u.s. stock future for the dow, nasdaq and s&p 500 are all trading higher ahead of the opening bell. wall street watching closely. swiss banking giant ubs says unauthorized trading has racked up $2 billion in losses, which means the bank reports a loss this quarter. police in london arrested one person, although they're not say figure the arrest was linked to this claim at ubs. heidi klum the most dangerous celebrity on the web that is according to mcafee. people run the highest risk of downloading a virus, instead. that's the news you need to know to start your day. "american morning" back right after the break.

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good morning, new york. cloudy and 75 degrees right now. but, watch out later. we're expecting thunderstorms. going to be 49 degrees tonight and 37 maybe overnight. >> pack your coat. >> rob was saying it's that cold front that he always blames canada for coming down that will take temperatures 20 degrees lower than normal. i'm thinking -- >> too hot, too cold. i want the goldie locks weather. welcome back to "american morning." name the hottest stars in hollywood and rachel zoe and i called her zoe earlier this week and i was bombarded. >> soon, she may not need to depend on other people's

designer threads. >> christine, you have other qualities. >> thank you, that's not one of them. >> at least christine knew it wasn't zoey, i wouldn't know there was an error there. >> okay, good morning. and you're right. the biggest stars ann hathaway, they're all started by rachel zoe. she dresses them for the red carpet and, guess what, she's a celebrity, too, on reality television. she's embarking on another new project and she calls it the scariest thing she'll ever do. on tv, she's watched by millions on the rachel zoe project. >> i'm six months pregnant and i'm at the busiest point in my career right now. >> reporter: on the red carpet, it's her stylish touch that is front and center. rachel zoe makes a mint dressing a-list stars in designer clothing. now, those celebs are starting to wear designs by zoe herself. you've been dressing celebrities for so long.

when jennifer lopez -- >> like i still get chills. because i know where you're going right now and i can't even talk about it. >> reporter: jennifer lopez in a white rachel zoe tuxedo dress. that's right, zoe's first collection for stores on the racks this fall. big leap to go from stylist to designer. >> it is. i have very high expectations of myself. >> reporter: you call it the scariest thing you've ever done. >> 100% the scariest thing i've ever done. this isn't something where i'm dressing someone and it's the oscars. this is a very constant, constant process. >> reporter: she's in bloomingdale's, nordstroms, sacks fifth avenue and every neiman marcus in america. something that company has never done for a first-time designer. and the clothes priced between $200 and $600 are already selling out. >> because she works with all of

the collections. because she's in a fitting room all day long with her clients. she gets it. >> everything has a hint of glitz. >> reporter: vintage inspired. something zoe is known for. you were inspired in part by the charlie girl. >> yes, love charlie girl. >> reporter: yes, that's charlie girl, the '70s is this 40-year-old's favorite decade. her heroes, legendary designers, halstead. >> the tailoring, the fit is so tremendo tremendous. >> you always say, if it doesn't fit, don't buy it. >> no. don't. i stand behind that. >> reporter: it's this unguarded love, passion for fashion that gets fans so excited. now, the stylist to the stars is also a brand and rachel zoe

isn't sdatopping at clothes. >> home beauty. more television. i mean, just everything. maybe. we'll see. we'll see. >> reporter: what is certain is that zoe is a mother first. her latest venture, a family business. her husband's the president, her new son, skyler, the heir apparent, that's if he's interested. zoe says styling is her first love. >> i think i'll be dressing jennifer garner when i'm 75. i think i will. she will have a premier and i'll be like, okay, i'm coming. i'll go see my grandchildren first. >> zoe's love of styling started as a child way back when she was just 8 years old. she apparently noticed that one of her male classmates was wearing soccer uniforms every day and she didn't approve of

that. she knocked on his door and laid out outfits monday through friday and she says he actually wore them. she wasn't paid for that job, but a stylist was born. >> i'm sure that was a blank slate taking a guy who wears soccer uniforms and get him to wear regular street clothes. >> convincing a boy to do that, that's a tough personality. >> you know, the interesting thing. we talk about the charlie girl, she loves the charlie girl back in the '70s. one decade she really does not like. the '80s. i look back at my pictures from the '80s and she says it is terrible. i looked back at those photos and ask my parents, why didn't you tell me not to wear this? they said, i tried. >> i wore a tuxedo to a prom that had piping. >> did the shirt have ruffles? >> if you were going to be in the '80s, don't pretend you didn't like it, don't pretend you didn't like neil diamond or abba or the village people.

>> you're still wearing the tuxedo is the difference. >> really good stuff. >> don't miss alina's big special this weekend. 2:30 p.m., "fashion backstage pass." [ 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.

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we asked you to talk back, we asked you to talk back this morning. this was the question. what would it say to you if congress would take a paycut? this from kate. first of all, it won't happen but i think it would be a good

idea if these people were not paid so well and given such generous benefits. how can they understand the needs of the people they're serving if they're able to live so much better than the rest of us. this from craig, i think it would be a great idea they'd take a pay cut, they wouldn't do it because it's patriotic or the right thing to do, they would do it because it would make them look good and increase their chances for re-election. this from gary, for the record, $174,000 per year is not an extravagant salary in the united states today. when you consider the level of responsibility of members of congress. with this said, a voluntary paycut would be a great symbolic gesture, saving $100 million over ten years is trivial compared to the size of our deficit. maybe we should be focusing on the larger causes of the deficit. big response to this morning, over 300 comments. people feel passionately about it. >> there are people who think, not the right thing to do. >> not