"american morning" continues now. defiant until the very end. the state of gentleman jaeks cutes troy davis for the murder of an off-duty police officer. the questions remain after his last breath. i'm carol could toll. iranian president ahmadinejad preparing to address the u.n. assembly after his country freed two american jailed hikers. leaving some wondering if he will extend the olive branch. good morning, everyone. it is thursday, september 22. ali is off today. welcome to "american morning." >> good morning to you. >> the reason why carol didn't want to go to the nasdaq the breaking news is world markets are plunging overnight. financials taking the biggest beating after the fed said the u.s. economy is facing significant downside risks and

announced another stimulus measure inform boost the economy. we will get the reaction around the world. hong kong's hang seng index is off 5%. that's a big move for one day for a stock index. japan's nikkei is down 2%. in europe, more of the same. french, jer planing markets all plunging by more than 4%. have you gold down. you have oil down. you have selling basically acro across the board. downside risk, this is an economy in the u.s. and worldwide that's not out of the woods and markets are responding accordingly. >> we will talk more later about this. >> sure. cries of injustice and closure for one family after 20 years. the state of georgia executing by lethal injection death-row inmate troy davis late last night. davis was convicted of shooting and killing off-duty savannah police officer mark mcphail, a father of two children. several witnesses that helped put him away changed their stories even while strapped to the gurney insisted he did not have a gun.

a crowd of hundreds of peaceful supporters held a vigil last night. hundreds of thousands of people around the world were convinced the state was killing an innocent man. but no court was ever convinced. the supreme court refused a last-minute stay as davis' final minutes ticked away. his attorney witnessed the execution. >> i had the unfortunate opportunity tonight to witness a tragedy, to witness georgia execute an innocent man. troy davis died tonight at approximately 11:00, 11:08 p.m. with him died his quest for justice in the truth. >> but the victim's mother believes what so many others doubt -- that troy davis is guilty. >> has justice been served? >> in my mind, yes. in minute mind, it has.

it took a long time to get some but it really does in my mind. >> davis drew support from around the world from pope benedict to former president jimmy carter. president obama, he has remained silent on this case. for the first time in more than two years two american hikers convicted of spies in iran, they are tasting freedom this morning. josh fattal and shane bauer went into the arms of relatives after arriving in oman. we witnessed this emotional reunion. good morning. >> reporter: good morning. the long 26-month ordeal finally came to an end. we were on the tarmac last week as the plane arrived carrying josh fatta and shane bauer. josh and shane came running down the stairs, leaping into the arms of their family members and

loved ones. tears of joy streaming down the faces of everybody we could see. a very, very emotional moment. one thing that made it even more poignant was the reunion not just with the families but the reunion with shourd. sarah and shane actually got engaged while in prison. that reunion, a very emotional one. they were hugging and kissing on the tarmac. shane actually gave a rose to shourd. a little later there was a very brief press conference in which josh and shane spoke to the press. here is more of what they had to say. >> we are so happy we are free and so relieved we are free. >> two years in prison is too long. we sincerely hope for the freedom of other political prisoners and other unjustly imprisoned people in america and iran. >> reporter: a very, very emotional night. as the family said in a

statement released earlier yesterday evening, it was the best day of their lives. >> do we know this morning what josh and shane and their families are doing today? >> reporter: officials tell us they believe they are getting medical tests. josh and shane are speaking to the media this morning. we are told by some people here they are basically taking a day to catch up with their families and probably getting medical tests done. deciding exactly what they want to do. last year when sarah shourd was released one of the first things she did she was taken on a tour of the main mosque here. she told the press last year when josh and shane are released she would like to take them hear. we are not hearing from family when they will depart oman. they will be here at least 24 hours. >> it is interesting he said political prisoners in america, too. that kind of surprised me his

first comment was about political prisoners in america. >> reporter: it was interesting. it really struck a chord. it seemed to echo some of the statements we were hearing earlier in the week. you know, there was a statement last night by the omani foreign ministry thanking the iranians for answering this call for a humanitarian release of the two hikers. in that statement they also said that it would be good if the u.s. would make similar considerations. last week the iranians, different iranian officials were speaking about this, they were saying, yes, it is clear the iranian judiciary was contemplating releasing josh and shane. but it would be good for the u.s. to try to possibly release iranian political prisoners that were in american jails. u.s. hasn't comment order that. this seems to be a refrain right now. this implication that political prisoners shouldn't just be released from iran but also the u.s. and it was very interesting that that statement was made last nature at the press

conference. >> thank you so much. >> that is interesting. in just about six hours the iranian president ahmadinejad will take the stage and address the world at the united nations general assembly. there is a lot on the line. iranian leader's tone will be very telling because his grip on power is shaky these days. many observers believe he needs to ease tensions with the united states. let's go first to the political prisoner in the united states thing. what do you suppose that means? >> i was than aware there were a lot of iranians in the mountains picked up -- >> but iranians in jail in different capacities over the years iranians asked for a quid pro quo release. we have to see until the american hikers are back on u.s. soil to see just what these statements really mean. whether it is political niceties to thank oman and reflect on their experiences in iran, until they come back, probably they will be on the set and you can ask them. but as for the hikers' situation

it also played out this drama at the united nations, you can't mistake the timing. president obama, president ahmadinejad, different areas of the u.n. while president obama was speaking, president ahmadinejad came in through the u.n. entrance. here he is leaving at the end of the day. they were back and forth. same doors, never really meeting. that's certainly planned, u.s. was never going to let that happen. as for the hikers' release, the u.s. leader who normally doesn't comment upon exiting the united nations on his big day there, praises their freedom. >> wonderful news about the hikers. we are thrilled. could not feel better for their families. a wonderful day for them. and for us. >> president obama saying wonderful day for the families and for the u.s. and he was very happy that they are free. the timing, though, very interesting. a lot of trouble back home for president ahmadinejad between the religious sect and a lot of

people did want him to get an image boost here in the united states. the timing, though, can't be misguided there, that they were freed just as he's here at the u.n. as for other aspects of ahmadinejad's speech, well the nuclear issue does not go away. it seeps like it has been running five, six years. president obama said a lot more has to be done to pressure iran to stop its growing nuclear program. >> iranian government cannot demonstrate that its program is peaceful. it has not met its obligations and it rejects offers that would provide it with peaceful nuclear power. if they continue down a path that's outside international law, they must be met greater pressure isolation. >> there have been four rounds of u.n. security council sanctions against iran and it hasn't done that much. it seems it is hard to know, the international energy holding a meet thing week on nuclear i shall news vienna and over the last few months, the years same story. can't verify, just what's going on there and can -- dual use.

iran says strictly peaceful. nuclear program. >> yes. what about this notion of softening his tone? ahmadinejad softening his tone towards the united states. >> i don't know. we will have to see today. i mean, as you mentioned earlier on the program, that the iranian leader has said that 9/11 was in effect a hoax. whether the holocaust was alive and people walked out, many countries, it has been planned, let's see. i think we will see today if there is a change after vehement rhetoric after the last few years in geneva where there was larger walkout. it was like a bad broadway show. you should have seen. >> it thank you so much. libya's national transitional council laying out plans for a new government. officials say that they first need to control the borders and pro-gadhafi strong holds. three cities remained the control of gadhafi loyalists. si rte and sabha and bani walid. it could take three months of april that they plan to ain't

point a new prime minister. a fleet of u.s. fighter cleared to tie again. f-22 rafters were grounded in may over concerns that fighter pilots were not getting proper oxygen. officials say the return to flight plan includes dalin respectses of the rafters life support system. >> we are still facing the possibility this morning of a government shutdown by the end of the month. the house voting down a temporary spending bill to keep the government operating into november. it is a big setback for republicans. it calls for spending cuts to offset addition am funds for disaster relief efforts. 48 republicans broke ranks and voted against the measure. looks like 1900 teachers in taco tacoma, washington, will be going back to work. teachers and district reached a tentative agreement last night. deal coming after the state's governor sat in on talks for most of a seven-hour bargaining session. strike shut down school for over a week. teachers ignored a court order to go back to class. ahead, japan's new disaster. powerful storm bringing heavy

rains to the tsunami-ravaged coastline. nearly a dozen people have died. our talk back question this morning -- should patriotism be a political tool? is one republican candidate already trying to swift vote president obama? we will show you his new ad and you decide. a woman demanding an apology from the tsa after they deemed her afro suspicious. it is 12 minutes after the hour. [ woman ] jogging stroller, you've been stuck in the garage, while i took refuge from the pollen that made me sneeze. but with 24-hour zyrtec®, i get prescription strength relief from my worst allergy symptoms. so lily and i are back on the road again. with zyrtec®, i can love the air®.

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good. you like trees. well, i like climbing them, but i've never been one. good point. ( captain ) this is your captain speaking. annie gets to be the princess. oh... but she has to kiss a boy. and he's dressed up like a big green frog ! ewww. ( announcer ) fly without putting your life on pause. be yourself nonstop. american airlines. former typhoon roke weakened. the storm blamed for at least ten deaths, four people are still missing. there has been torrential rain and widespread flooding in an area still reeling from that devastating earthquake and tsunami earlier this year.

cnn's paula hancock is live in tokyo. good morning, paula. >> reporter: the death toll has been slowly creeping high they are thursday. the pope is now that in the past couple of hours there has been no one else found so maybe that's it. maybe the worst is over, fears of devastating typhoon which killed more than a hundred people and many missing. those fears have not been realize p. certain there flood sing widespread. there are many mud slides. the one area of japan that desperately did not need to be hit by typhoon was the northeastern part. the exact same area that was devastated by the tsunami sus six months ago. that area was hit once again. some of the evacuees who had lost their home in the tsunami were in temporary housing when the heavy rain was dumped there. and they actually have their

temporary housing if flooded. they are homeless once again. it is incredible the amount mother nature is throwing at the people in this particular area. here in tokyo, it is more transport. hundreds of flights were canceled, many trains as well. thousands of people took many hours on wednesday night to try to get home. >> earlier the typhoon could cause more damage at the fukushima nuclear plant. the workers are still working to contain the damage from what happened back in march. was there any damage there? do we know yet? >> reporter: yes. we spoke to the operator. there has been no major damage which is a big relief obviously to tepco and many japanese people. many people i have spoken to seriously were concerned this was going to set back the recovery of this particular nuclear power plant. now we did hear from tepco, though, that the water levels did rise slightly. obviously because there was so much rain that fell in that

area. remember, that's radioactive water that's in the building by the reactors but no major calamity, we are being told. >> thank you, paula. rob marciano is in the extreme weather center with all that. hi, rob. >> good morning. yeah, they saw about eight, some n some cases ten inches of rainfall around the sendai area. the next storm beginning next week. transform flood something very, very different. tropical storm ophelia trying to transform itself into a hurricane. strengthening 65-mile-an-hour winds here. almost there. even though it has some heavy winds to fight against. westerly moving at 14 miles per hour. heading towards leeward islands. a thousand miles from that location. we still think it will probably not become a hurricane or if it does, not be very long. it has a lot of odds against it. likely won't make it to the

united states at this point. one of the reasons we get to the cold front protected the east coast. we have one right now that's going to be a slow mover and that willing bring on and off rain showers across the east coast. we are seeing some across atlantic now. through parts of south carolina and across northeast as well. some rainfall there. where flood watches have been posted for parts of jersey. this radar will begin to fill in over the next couple of days and loo through the weekend. >> all right. keep the umbrella hand. >> i bummer. >> noted. >> duly noted. thanks, rob. now is your chance to talk about the big stories of the day. the question for you this morning, should patriotism be a political tool? i ask you this because of governor rick perry's brand-new web ad. it is compelling. >> no more manufactured price. >> we are headed in the right direction. i love these folks that say

that. >> zero jobs. >> no jobs create. >> zero. >> people are demoralized what happen. >> zero. >> zero. >> you get that part of it, right? president obama is hoping change is destroying america. at about one minute into the ad, the ad is all about patriotism. right when perry says we don't need a president who apologizes for america. the ad emphatically states rick perry is an american. >> the last great hope of mankind. it is time to get america working again. you don't need a president who apologizes for america. >> it is a tactic that's been proved quite effective. remember the infamous swift boat ads by a pro-bush group questioning john kerry's heroism? >> crimes commit order day-to-day basis. >> how could we be loyal to him

now? >> dishonors his country and more importantly the people he served with. he sold them out. >> president bush eventually denounced the ads. patriotism worked for democrats, too, during the 2008 campaign. vice presidential candidate joe biden said wealthy americans should pay more taxes because it is time to be patriotic. doesn't that sound familiar? the talk back question today -- should patriotism be a political tool? facebook.com/americanmorning. i will read your comments later this hour. >> can't wait to read those. ahead on "american morning," houston, not we have a problem? chunks of space junk from a decommissioned satellite are about to crash land back on earth? should we be worried? we will tell what you nasa is saying. ins... unless you want it to. new splenda® essentials™ no calorie sweetener with b vitamins, the first and only one to help support a healthy metabolism. three smart new ways to sweeten.

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welcome back. "minding your business." stocks and commodities, oil and gold, these markets worldwide are plunging. the fed said the u.s. economy is facing, quote, significant downside risks when it announced another stimulus measure yesterday to boost the economy. yesterday moody's downgraded three banks and this morning u.s. stock futures are trading sharply lower. ahead of the opening bell. greece is still in the spotlight. the government announced more budget cuts to secure aid promised by the european union. a nationwide strike, more protests expected there today. another potential market mover, labor department's initial jobless claims report. that comes out in about two hours. we will get those numbers to you as soon as they are available. it is the latest weekly read on how many people are collecting unemployment benefits. in another breaux to the

financial sector moody's downgraded bank of america, also wells fargo and citigroup and two of those stocks managed to close slightly higher yesterday. what's next at facebook? we will find out today. mark zuckerberg will be the keynote speaker at the f-8 developer conference in san francisco. new features and a peek at plans for the company are usually announced at this event. "american morning" will be right back after this break. [ male announcer ] when it comes to saving energy,

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30 minutes past the hour. good morning to you. world markets freefalling overnight after the pessimistic forecast for the u.s. economy. in asia hong kong's hang seng fell nearly 5%. markets in london, france and germany fell nearly 4%. >> the state of georgia executing by lethal injection death-row inmate troy davis late last night after the supreme court refused a last-second stay. davis was convicted of murdering

an off-duty police officer over 20 years ago. witnesses to the execution, some of them say that he -- witnesses to text kugs say he insisted he was innocent until the very end. president ahmadinejad takes the stage this afternoon to address the u.n. general assembly. one day after his country freed two jailed american hikers. president obama's been threatening to isolate and punish iran for operating outside international law with its nuclear program. >> size after city bus weighing in at 6 tons and headed for a crash landing here on earth. nasa expects more than two dozen pieces of a defunct satellite to survive re-entry into the earth's atmosphere sometime tomorrow. exactly when and where is still up for debate. cnn's john zarrella sing liis l miami. rob told me i need an umbrella. do i need a hard hat, too? >> yeah, the umbrella will not do any good, that's for sure. what nasa is saying that they

probably won't know exactly where it is going to hit and exactly when it is going to come down until it happens. but this morning, they have been able to narrow a little bit the window and they are saying that it will be tomorrow afternoon and it will not, not be over north america. the clock is ticking. sometime after mid tonight tonight ifs in a's calculations are right, an old dead satellite will re-enter the earth's at months pier and burn up. most of it but not all of it. about half a ton will make it zblu there are pieces made of stainless steel and titanium that have very high temperatures. those piece will survive. we have a list of 26 pieces that range from a few tenths of pounds to a few hundred pounds in size. >> reporter: you heard him right. some of the chunks of junk could be hundreds of pounds. but there's no need for to you

run out and buy hard hat. nasa's scientists in haas ton say there 'very little risk that any debris from the six-ton u.r.'s upper atmosphere research satellite, will hit you. >> could be hundreds of miles off in where it is coming down. >> reporter: jonathan mcdowell believes that the space agency is probably right. because much of the earth is water. >> this is not like the old skylab scare of the '07s when had you a 70-ton space crash to the sky. this thing is six or seven tons. so i agree with the folks in houston that it is -- really nothing to be terribly concerned about. >> reporter: parts of skylab did hit western australia in 1979. so where will this one come down? well, no one knows. even minutes before re-entering the atmosphere nasa won't be able to pinpoint the exact location. the satellite is traveling so fast that it covers thousands of

miles of space in just minutes. right now the impact swath covers portions of six continents. >> part of the problem is the spacecraft is tumbling and unpredictable ways and it is very difficult to very precisely pinpoint where it is coming down. even right before the re-entry. if the thing happens to come down in the city that would be bad. the chuances of it causing extensive injury is high. >> reporter: once it hurts the atmosphere 50 miles up it will take only a few minutes before the surviving pieces hit the earth. if it happens to come down in an area where it is nighttime when it is coming down, the experts say it will be a spectacular meteor show because you are going to have all those pieces burning up as they re-enter the atmosphere and as i have mentioned in the piece about 26 pieces that won't burn up. christine, carol? >> but not in north america.

i'm disappointed. >> reporter: i'm not. an airline passenger is demanding an apology after she says agents chased her down after the security checkpoint and demanded a pat-down. >> why? tell us why. >> they patted her really big afro. a dallas hairdresser that specializes in the natural look. she says screeners came running after her asking to check her hair for explosives and then started feeling around her afro. this was in public on a train platform at the hartsfield jackson airport in atlanta. >> i saw these people running, hey lady, stop, stop. you, you, you with the big hair. she started digging around in my hair several times just touching it and digging and i said find the explosives. do you see any? >> this was after she went through the metal detector.

she -- she said she left the security checkpoint before they were -- tsa agents said that we weren't finished. you left before we were finished even though she had gone through the metal detector. and she had turned down a more private screening. that's why they were running after her. ahead on "american morning," the timing hard to ignore after more than two years, iran release two jailed american hikers just as its president is set to appear before the united nations. and the world. we will tell you about that. 35 minutes after the hour. met an old man at the top asked him if he had a secret and the old man stopped and thought and said: free 'cause that's how it ought to be my brother credit 'cause you'll need a loan for one thing or another score 'cause they break it down to one simple number that you can use dot to take a break because the name is kinda long com in honor of the internet that it's on

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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. welcome back. after a long international nightmare is over. americans josh fattal and shane bauer reunited with families after more than two years in prison in iran. they were released yesterday just in time for iranian president ahmadinejad's speech to the u.n. general assembly today. our next guest was part of a delegation that traveled to iran, appealing for the hikers'

release. executive director of the council on american islamic relations joins us from washington. welcome to the program. >> thank you. good morning. >> tell me about your trip and your meetings in iran. clearly the hikers was top of the agenda. >> definitely. we have been working with the iranian officials behind the scenes for the past three years to convince the release of the two hikers, josh and shane bauer. and last week, we were invited to meet with the iranian officials, including clergy to make a case for the release on humanitarian ground we are happy to see finally they made the release and should be on their way home soon. >> in your discussion was them and behind-the-scenes diplomacy with them, you say that you could tell that there were strains or politics between the president's office and judiciary. it seems as if that's something we saw play out over the past

week or so when the iranian president told nbc that the hikers would be released in a couple of days and took much longer than that. >> yes. we felt it. it was obvious that there was tension between judiciary and office of the presidency. we tried to visit the two hikers while we were there. of course, hoping that they would come back with us. but released by the president's office. but the judiciary as an independent branch and wanted to feel their authority and probably that manifested itself. as you said, the president announced the release but the judiciary objected and stalled for a few days when one of the judges was on vacation and just came back two days ago. >> why do you think ahmadinejad wanted this release? is this part of a pr strategy? is this part of iranian theatrics? sit timed? many say it is timed to this u.n. general assembly.

what does ahmadinejad gain? >> well, i'm sure it helps his image and helps iran's image to release two people who have no -- added to the strained relation between the united states and iran and sometimes both governments, they need a third party, their own people, to do religious diplomacy to help ease the tension. but the timing definitely is coming to the united nations but for us p. today, yesterday, or two months ago it was needed to release them on humanitarian grounds. definitely the timing has a political effect and utilizing it. no doubt. >> relations between u.s. in this country are anything but warm. you have a delegation that included a cardinal and episcopal bishop out of washington. you met with ahmadinejad several ayatollahs. what's the religious connection? how can that perhaps bridge this

gap between the two countries in your view? >> the establishment is in iran. it has an influence. also the fact that the iranian government invited myself and cardinal mccarrick was important because our counterparts also had influence in the countries. i believe that the visit was important because we strengthened ties and met with ayatollahs and contrary to the stereotype about them, they have very good understanding on the -- reality. we talk about shared values of compassion and mercy and forgiveness. on those grounds we asked and made a case for the release of the two hikers. and at the same time, we met with families, iranian families that have citizens that live in the united states. we heard about those stories. we promised when we come back, we will raise their issues with relevant american officials to see if they are -- can

reciprocate, look at those cases with the same compassion. we asked the government to look at the case of josh and shane. >> all right. thank you so much for joining us. executive director of the counsel on american islamic relations. a check of the morning's top stories next. including the big-time rock band studded band that's breaking up. >> say it ain't so. >> cnn goes in depth examining the new face of poverty in america. mothers going without food so their children can eat. witnesses to hunger in five minutes. [ hayden ] what if there was a makeup that didn't just hide your breakouts... but actually made them go away. neutrogena skin clearing makeup has our proven blemish fighting formula so it clears your breakouts. now that's beautiful. neutrogena®. now that's beautiful.

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457b minutes past the hour. here is what you need to know to start your day. world markets freefalling overnight after the fed's pessimistic forecast for the u.s. economy. in asia, hong kong's hang seng index fell nearly 5%. markets in london, france and germany all falling by more than 4%. state of georgia executing by lethal injection death-row inmate troy davis. it happened late last night after the u.s. supreme court refused a last-minute stay. davis was convicted of murdering an off-duty officer more than 20 years ago. davis was not the only inmate put to death last night. in texas, white supremacist gang member lawrence russell brewer was executed for the dragging death of a black man back in 1998. one of the most notorious hate crimes in recent u.s. history. eahmadinejad preparing to address the u.n. general

assembly today with his grip on power weakening, some wonder if he will be seeking to ease tension was the united states. typhoon roke weakened. the typhoon caused at least ten deaths in gentleman ban. fukushima daiichi nuclear power plant managed to weather the storm without major incident. teamners tacoma, washington, reaching a tentative deal with the district last night that could put 1900 teachers back in the classrooms. it is the end of the world as we know it but they feel fine. r.e.m. announcing they are breaking up after 30 years together. the band says they are walking away as great friends. that's news you need to start your day. "american morning" back after a break.

welcome back to "american morning." special in-depth look at the new face of poverty in america. >> it is pretty depressing, too. focus this morning group of low-income mothers in pennsylvania who find themselves witnesses to hunger. this is just sad. >> yes. it really is. i think -- one of the most difficult things is that -- uncertainty. hardest thing not knowing if you are going to have enough food, wondering if the items you bought at the beginning of the week are going to stretch through the end of the week. hunger persistent hunger certain sly like a low-grade fever that won't go away. >> god is good. god is great. thank you for our food. amen. >> reporter: if you want to know what hunger looks like -- >> you want some more of my grits? >> reporter: look at it through the eyes of this mother and her young family. do you know which time of the month the food will go on clearance? >> i know by the time of day it

goes on clearance. fresh vegetables down here. >> reporter: she buys on sales, in bulk, coupons, and always with purpose. >> i keep a lot of oatmeal because sometime it is things get tough, you can always eat oatmeal for dinner or lunch or something like that. >> reporter: gaines who works two jobs is on the nearly 49 million americans struggling to put enough food on the table. >> do you know how that feels as a parent to tell your kids that there's not enough to eat? >> reporter: what's the hungriest you have ever been in your life? how do you describe that? >> horrible. degrading. miserable. stressful. disrespected. >> reporter: the scientific term for hunger is food and security. since the u.s. department of agriculture began keeping track in the mid 1990s, it has reached an all-time high. when someone is food insecure, you are getting the worry and anxiety not being able to afford enough food.

you may have enough food for the day but you are worried about tomorrow or you are worried about next week. >> reporter: m ra iana created the project witness to hunger. gain cess one of more than 40 women who photographed their struggles hoping to expose hunger and poverty. there's also jean culver, single mother of two young boys from pennsylvania. are your boys aware that you may not be eating because you -- >> they are not aware of that but they do get the fact that mommy doesn't have enough money to get them what they want. >> reporter: she snapped this photo at the end of the month. >> that was all i had. so many things that needed to be done with that change. and i -- it is just overbearing. i couldn't -- it is hard to handle. it is really hard to handle. >> reporter: this picture of a dilapidated kitchen was taken by 24-year-old barbara, a mother of

two. >> i sent in the picture because i wanted to prove regardless of what you see on the outside, you never really know what's going on behind closed doors. >> reporter: even families receiving the maximum amount of food stamps will need about $206 more a month to buy the minimum amount of food as defined by the usda. they never thought she would have to choose between paying bills or buying food. >> for a long time i felt like food was a privilege. i had -- i have been to the point where it is like oh, my god, i ate today. that's great. and no one should feel like that. >> one of the goals of these women is to help lawmakers better understand the challenges not only in hunger but also poverty. i asked her the impact of impact of the recession on her family because so many have been added to the food stamp roams because of the recession. she said for all intents and purposes her mom lived through a recession and living through a recession and her kids will, too. that's really what she is trying to change. >> cycle of poverty. two things happening.

a cycle of poverty, people again and again who lived in poverty and then their children live in poverty and this is something even in a roaring economy we haven't been able to fix in this country. then there is a -- new face of poverty which is people who are working a job with middle schools, high school education, maybe associate's degree, maybe even another degree and now they find themselves on food stamps. that's the new face of the great recession. >> all of the people you interviewed have jobs. they were working. >> they did. >> two jobs. >> she had two jobs. the other lady had a job. they want to work. >> some people may look at mrs. gaines and says she doesn't look like she is going hungry. >> what's interesting is also when you don't have a lot of food, what -- when you don't have a lot of money for food, what ends up happening you feed children things -- and you yourself are fed things that are not necessarily good for you. one doctor that we spoke to actually said she's had patients come in and the mother is giving the kids french fries and soda because while it is terrible nutritionwise, it is what fill

their bellies. >> cheapest food is the worst for. >> did you and fills their bellies. that's the whole thing. they are just trying to keep their kids from going hungry. >> working two jobs, it is hard to sit down and figure out how to do -- you are working and trying to feed -- i can see how hard that would be. >> yeah. yes. it is tricky and challenging. and they are hoping things will change. but -- these are some of the programs that now are at risk. for those that really need and it rely on it, and the more you work, the less money you get for food stamps. >> 46 million people are getting food stamps now. think of what percentage that is. never has our government paid to feed so many people in the richest economy of the world. time now to get your responses. the question this morning, should patriotism be used as a political tool? this from drew. yes, patriot in america for our constitution and for what america is built upon. those that seek to destroy from within are not. patriotism is a successful

campaign tool because most americans are ignorant or apathetic when it come to actually knowing politicians. american patriotism is belief in our constitution. when politicians start to use patriotism as a campaign tool, i start to look at their voting record. everyone comes up short in that analysis. except for ron paul. this from albert. yes, that reminds me of the samuel johnson quote. patriotism is the last vestige of a scoundrel. good thing perry letting us know he is an american patriot otherwise i think his heart is with, let's say, kenya. please. continue the conversation. facebook.com americanmorning. i will read more in the next our of "american morning." >. put every world leader in new york and you get late night funnies. >> you know who i ran out into on broadway? the guy, ahmadinejad. remember, he came to new york city last year and went nuts. then he -- but he is here. i saw him on broadway.

there he is. >> the american hikers that were being held in iran were freed today. captivity for two years. the first thing they said to reporters what's ashton kutcher doing on "two and a half men"? >> yesterday president obama put his hand up and accidentally blocked a u.n. members face during a group photo. look at this. this is a real photo. why is he doing that? why is he doing that? if you think that's bad, check out what biden was doing. look at that. not paying attention. >> somehow i can actually see joe biden doing that. that was real of president obama, though, and it looks fake. it is a real picture. he was waving to someone. just ahead in the next hour of "american morning," senate hearing on muffin-gate.

looking into the doj's expensive taste that included $16 muffins, $5 swedish meatballs and $5 a meatball. senator grassley is on a t committee and will join us live. so, how was school today ? i have to be a tree in the school play. good. you like trees. well, i like climbing them, but i've never been one. good point. ( captain ) this is your captain speaking. annie gets to be the princess. oh... but she has to kiss a boy. and he's dressed up like a big green frog !

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that sounds awful but relief that it is over. >> a mother's relief. the man who killed her police officer son executed by lethal injection after the supreme court refuses to intervene. plus this. >> we are so happy we are free and so relieved we are free. >> free at last. heading home. would american hikers held prisoner in iran rush into the arms of their loved ones. >> showdown, palestinian president backing down on his bid for independent state. you paid for it. $16 muffins, $10 brownies. done get to enjoy them but they are on your tab as taxpayers on this "american morning." good morning, everyone. it is thursday, september 22.

welcome to "american morning." >> good morning to you. after a day of last-minimum efforts to spare his life the state of georgia executed convicted cop killer troy davis late last night. his execution delayed for more than three hours while the u.s. supreme court considered pleas to save him. davis was convicted back in 1991 of a shooting death of savannah police officer mark mac phail. while davis maintained his innocence to the end right before he died he said he was innocent. macpha macphail's mother says justice has been serve. >> it sounds awful but i am relieved it is over. i have to digest all the things that happened. very, very hard to me. i just have to kind of work on that, mind, be alone and realize what everything happened and how it ended now. >> martin savage joins us from

atlanta from the cnn center. martin, sad story all the way around. >> good morning, carom. yes. it was night of many emotions. davis had been scheduled to zi in georgia at 7:00 p.m. eastern time last evening. for his supporters gathered outside the state prison in jackson and others around the world, hope rose when his execution was delayed after his attorneys made last-minute appeal to the u.s. supreme court and appeared the high court began actually considering the case. the minutes first ticked by and eventually the hours p dragged on and those who had maintained davis was innocent of the 1989 crime of murdering a savannah police officer began to see perhaps a chance that the supreme court would stop davis' death. it was not to be. as the court of nine justices eventually denied the appeal and davis' sentence was carried out four hours later. he was pronounced dead at 11:08 p.m. according to witnesses davis maintained he was innocent right up to the moment he died. >> he asked his family, his family and friends to keep

praying, to keep working, and keep the faith. and then had said to the prison staff, the ones he said were going to take my life, he said to them, may god have mercy on your souls and his last words were to them -- may god bless your souls. he put his head back down and the procedure began. 15 minutes later it was over. >> the mother of the murdered police officer had said afterwards she was relieved that justice was served. davis' supporters that gathered outside the u.s. supreme court saw differently. saying his conviction was based on the statements of witnesses, many of whom over the years since his trial, had recanted their testimony. davis had been scheduled to die three times before. most recently in october of 2008. then the u.s. supreme court halted the execution just two hours before it was scheduled to take place. that was not the case last night. >> martin savidge reporting live from atlanta. many thanks to you.

let's bring in paul to joinous this. your thoughts on this. you know, it happened several hours after it was supposed to. supreme court, very end, appearing to go over it one last time. in the end, this was an execution that went forward. >> well, you know, i think this was an extraordinarily well covered case that had hume ain't throughout the world. and it really focused american interests on the death penalty in a way we haven't seen in so many years. i think one of the reasons for that is that a lot of people were very worried we were putting an innocent man to death in this case. that more than anything else focuses attention on the death penalty and whether it is appropriate. all i can say is this. i don't know personally but i will say we have an elaborate procedure in place in the united states that exists no place else in the world. this case probably was looked at by my count yesterday by maybe 28 different sets of courts at

different points in time. each looking at a different part of the case. the supreme court ordered an innocence hearing where a federal judge went back and reviewed all of the evidence and he said claims that davis was innocent consisted of smoke and mirrors. all i can say is a lot of very bright judges looked at the case and in the end thought he was guilty. on the other hand, there is some serious claim being made that key witnesses had recanted. >> in tend u.s. supreme court said those accusations weren't good enough. troy davis' lawyers also spoke out after the execution took place. they had some pretty strong words for what happened. let's listen. >> this night the state of georgia legally lynched a brave, a good, and indeed an innocent man. >> our sadness, sadness of his friends and his family tempered by the hope troy's death will lead to a fundamental legal

reforms so we will never again witness with regret the execution of an innocent man like we did tonight. >> okay. you heard him. he hopes that this will lead to reforms. how likely is that? >> well, really the only reform that you will ever see with respect to the death penalty is either we use it and impose it fairly or we eliminate it. i think the real problem with the death penalty in america, it takes too long to administer it. this case has been in court for 22 years. that's how long ago the murder in this case took place. the death penalty really is -- >> there are questions about the case, paul. why does it take too long? i understand it is expensive. it is expensive to keep the appeals process going. but if there are real doubts a man who might be put to death is innocent, who cares if it takes 20 years? >> well, i think the point, though, is those doubts should be resolved early in the process. i try cases, lawyers that try cases know that you want to try a case close to when it happened

because that's when memories are fresh. you bring in a witness in 15 years later who says well the man was wearing a yellow shirt, not a white shirt. i think, that's some of the evidence in this race, how reliable that evidence? the evidence is reliable when the crime is fresh. let's get a system that determines guilt and we get through all of the appeals with the -- within two, three years post crime and then impose the sentence or eliminate the death penalty. if you are going to use it, use it swiftly and fairly. if you are not going to do it that way we shouldn't be using a death penalty in america. >> we will see if there's any real change coming and what you said. many thanks to you. it is not american soil but next best thing. americans josh fattal and shane bauer running into the arms of their families at the airport in oman. the emotional reunion coming just after their release yesterday from an iranian president where two men had been held for more than two years. >> we are so happy we are free and so relieved we are free.

our deepest gratitude goes towards his majesty, oman for obtaining our release. we are sincerely grateful that the government of oman released us to our families. >> two years in prison is too long. we sincerely hope for the freedom of other political prisoners and other unjustly imprisoned people in america and iran. >> what's next for them? sounds like the two of them had been thinking about what they were going to say and they were trying to recite their first words to the cameras. >> reporter: christine, it did seem that way. and -- just to talk a little bit about what shane bauer said, talking about, you know, hoping for the release of unjustly imprisoned people in america and iran. it was interesting because this seemed to echo some of the comments we heard from both iranian officials and omani

officials. iranian officials were saying they believed the hikers would be released and they were calling on the u.s. to consider granting clemency to political prisoners at iranian prisoners that had been unjustly imprisoned in the u.s. last night, the omani government released a statement in which they said that they hoped that america would why possibly releasing prisoners and they would take into consideration humanitarian gesture on the part of the iranians. this was a very emotional moment. we saw josh and shane running off the plane, leaping into the arms of their family members. very long and coming reunion between sarah showered and shane bauer. they got engaged when both detained in prison. you saw shane bauer giving a flower to sarah shourd as they were embracing and kissing. very, very emotional moment. as far as what's next for josh and shane, american officials aren't commenting today. we know that they were handed over to american embassy officials last night along with their families. we heard from other officials

here that possibly they are getting medical checkups done today. then spending time with their families and omani officials told us they believe their families will be here at least 24 hours. we are waiting to find out officially how long they will be here and when they will leave and begin their journey back to the zbluchlt thank you so much. world markets are falling sharply. financials taking a big beating after the fed said the u.s. economy is facing significant downside risks. this is when it announced another stimulus measure yesterday to boost the economy. take a look at the market reaction. hong kong's hang seng index fell off nearly 5%. japan's nikkei down 2%. europe, more of the same. french, german, london markets down by 4%. oil down sharply. you have gold down as well. big worldwide sell-off under way. >> headed towards a dark walk down wall street. >> yeah. probably 200 points down for the dow. that's what it is looking like now. >> president ahmadinejad still plans to submit a request for statehood to the u.n. security

council tomorrow. the united states and allies negotiating behind the scenes to head off a diplomatic disaster. president obama addressing the general assembly yesterday and insisting there is only one legitimate path to palestinian statehood. >> one year ago, i stood at the podium and called for an independent palestine. i believed then and i believe now that the palestinian people deserve a state of their own. but what i also said is that a genuine peace can only be realized between israelis and the palestinians themselves. >> negotiators from the united states, european union, and france have been trying to persuade abbas to start peace talks with israel and stop demand for statehood. president obama met with eye bass for ne -- abbas for nearly an hour.

facing a government shutdown at the end of the month. voting down a temporary spending bill to keep the government operating into november. it is a big setback for republicans. their measure called for spending cuts to offset additional funds for disaster relief efforts. 48 republicans joined democrats to reject the bill. >> feels like fall, doesn't it? time to check the weather. let's head to atlanta. good morning, rob. >> we have a fall front sliding slowly to the east. it will help protect us as far as tropical systems keeping developing in the atlantic. ophelia. not six years ago when it hit north carolina but this one is in the middle of the atlantic ocean. you know, it has strong winds and fight against but almost a hurricane here. 65-mile-an-hour winds moving to the west at 14. into some strong head winds but closely leeward islands through the next few days. a thousand miles from there now. notice national hurricane center doesn't have become hurricane just because it has strong winds to go against. it also has a start to recurve a little bit.

fronts we have during the fall and during the mid and late part of september. help protect from us the storms get started this far out in the atlantic. this is real difficult to get us -- to the east coast. here is your east coast weather. very slowly. 35r9 of an upper level system that will sit and spin and be cut off from the main flow. what you see here is pretty much what you are going to see for the next few days. unsettled weather across eastern third of the country and at times include rainfall over some saturated ground. philadelphia through northwest jersey, you are going to flood watch through saturday because the ground is so wet from the last month of tropical systems that we don't need much more rain and won't take a lot more. we are not seeing a ton. just scattered light showers today across the northeast. radar will begin to fill in tomorrow. some pieces of energy from the south and the west will begin to roll in. showers and thunderstorms actually this morning across parts of the southeast. philadelphia p. ground stop right now. d.c., 30-minute delays. ten-minute delays from

charlotte. 74 degrees in dallas. that's not a cold front, i don't know what is. they will take it after the 100-plus day that's had. >> they are probably going outside and going -- thank you. >> party time. >> that's right. thank you, rob. >> still to come this morning, justice department sending mo momor more -- spending more than $120 million on conferences. we will ask the ranking member chuck grassley how it happened. what we can do about this waste. we have been talking about this since ronald reagan was president. why is the government still wasting your money? >> the toilet seats and how expensive they were. with the palestinians ready to seek statehood from tongues, lot of people are wondering if america still has the standing to stop them. we are going to ask israel's deputy minister of foreign affairs when "american morning" continues. ♪

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17 minutes past the hour. there's a showdown looming at the united nations. palestinian president abbas preparing statehood status. here to talk about that stand-off and how to solve it is daniel ilad, deputy minister for foreign affairs. thank you for coming in this morning and we appreciate. >> it thank you. >> abbas will apply for statehood but not going to push for a vote from the security council because frankly, he doesn't have the right number of votes to push it through. how do you feel about that? >> disappointed. it is very unfortunate the palestinians instead of coming to the table and negotiating with us just like they did in south sudan. a perfect example of how things should be done. you iron out the differences on the ground between the parties and then you take it to the u.n. for endorsement. can you not put the whole

process top down because then it is -- just a mess. not just for our conflict with the palestinians but also for p other conflicts throughout the world. we still hope the palestinians will come to the table and there's nothing better that i would like than to join the palestinians together. israel and palestinians together, come to the u.n. for endorsement of the peace treaty and for welcoming palestine to the u.n. but we have to do it after we finish all the agreement. >> the palestinians, you understand, are frustrated because israel has not put forth a plan for this. critics say, you know, why isn't israel putting forth its own plan? why not, as the president obama said yesterday, doesn't israel put itself in the palestinian's shoes and vice versa? >> till tell you. because we have put out so many plans that were rejected by the palestinians. we went not only halfway towards their direction, between went

9%. it was -- former prime minister who gave them almost 9% of all their wishes. before that there was barack. you know. we evacuatied in gaza in 2005. >> but you are building there today. >> not in gaza, no. >> west bank. >> where we build is only in areas that everybody agrees would be in any future solution part of israel. that's also something very important. settlement is like a mantra. settlement is only one of many. basically four, five. we had the territory issue, borders, security arrangements. recognition of israel. they have not recognized us yet as a jewish state. not giving us the benefit for termination as we do to them. issue of defensive of borders and refugees. settlement is one of them. they are interconnected and let's put everything -- you cannot just cherry pick.

say well, let's -- this doesn't go this way. give and take on all issues today. >> two sides are far apart. safe to say still. >> let's talk about president obama and what he said about israel. there have been allegations from republicans in the united states that the president has sort of thrown its ream under the bus. but the president spoke at the united nations yesterday. let's listen to what he said. >> america's commitment to israel's security sun shaken. our friendship with israel is deep and enduring. so we believe that any lasting peace must acknowledge the very real security concerns that israel faces every day. >> some people say that president obama caved because of political pressure he is feeling in the united states and israel put him in this box where he can't get out and he must say these things from your perspective, what do you think? >> first of all, i would say the

united states and israel are natural allies. you know, based on long tradition, the bond is bond of values, traditions, of interests. we are facing the same threats. we work together holder to shoulder to -- >> isn't obama throwing israel under the bus? >> no way, no way. this is something which is very important. very heated political season here. israel is not part of the campaign. i think what we have been blessed to be a bipartisan issue. when it comes to israel, i don't see difference between republicans and democrats. we see only americans. i know -- >> really? >> yes. really. i know here from the american perspective and you are going to a heated campaign season, we have the same way in israel. but truly, for us, you know, bipartisan support for its reallege and appreciate it. i believe it is a natural support because these are the real interests. national security interests of

the united states to have israel strong and on the trenches, defense, values and interests, counterterrorism and proliferation of nuclear weapons and, of course, also if i may, people talk about israel, american lines, defense relations strategic intelligence, which is fine. but economic relations is so important. you know israel is the largest trading partner of the united states in -- buy more american products and services. this also is something which keeps our countryings together very well. >> thank you so much for joining us this morning. i appreciate it. you will be at the united nations later this afternoon to listen to the procedures, i'm sure. thank you so much. christine? >> okay, carol. still to come this morning, $16 muffins. out of control spending at the justice department. how did it happen? we are going to ask senator chuck grassley. after 17 years as the richest person in america can bill gates make it 18 in a row? how much money does he have?

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minding your business this morning. right now stocks are falling sharply. so is gold and oil. fed said the u.s. economy is facing significant downside risks when it announced another stimulus measure to boost the me. right now u.s. stock futures trading sharply lower ahead of the opening bell. dow futures look like maybe 200-point decline if this holds. ing the trader caught at ubs has been recommend anded in custody in london until october 20. the accused rogue trader, i should say. british court added a charge of fraud and abuse.

he's being accused of unauthorized trading amounting to $2 billion in losses for the suisse bank. in an hour we will have the latest read on how many people are collecting jobless benefits the labor department's initial jobless claims report will tell us how many people filed for new benefits last week. we will get you those numbers. what's next as facebook? today we will find out. mark zuckerberg will speak at the company as annual f-8 conference in san francisco this afternoon. subscribers are bracing for even more changes to the site. don't you love it when facebook changes? this after recent tweaks were met with resistance. ford is releasing the annual list of the richest americans. here are the top three. microsoft founder bill gates holds that top spot for the 18th year in a row. he has $59 billion. warren buffett is second. $39 billion. and oracle's ceo larry ellison has the number three spot with $33 billion in wealth. for the latest news about your

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31 minutes past the hour. good morning. top stories now. state of georgia executing by lethal injection death-row inmate troy davis. happened late last night after the u.s. supreme court refused a last-second stay. davis was convicted of murdering an off-dewittive officer more than 20 years ago. witnesses to the execution say troy davis insisted he was innocent until the end. palestinian president abbas plans to sit a request for statehood to the u.n. security council tomorrow. even though the united states promises to veto it. president obama addressing the general assembly yesterday insisting the only path the palestinian statehood is through direct talks with israel. it is no longer a typhoon but roke left a deadly mark on japan. at least ten people were killed across the country. four others are missing. there were concerns torrential rains would do more damage to the fukushima nuclear power plant. the plant managed to weather the

storm. just a day after two american hikers were released from the iranian prison, iran's president will deliver a speech to the u.n. general assembly. what about that timing? new yo welcome to the program. >> thank you. >> tell me what was his mood? this was the first -- only print interview he's doing here during the u.n. event. what was his mood like? >> by nature he is a provoke -- comfortable handing out person am hand grenades. he was trying to be conciliatory. the release of the hikers was imminent and a calculated move to improve his standing. he also talked about an offer to ease the nuclear stand-off between his country and sanctions. i think that was one of the purposes. >> what did he offer? he said he would -- if the u.s. would allow him to purchase -- >> yeah. what he said is if the u.s. or

west would provide -- enriched uranium, 20% level, iran would stop all enrichment. and this is -- worth pursuing. this is something that was proposed to iran and that iran had actually rejected a couple of years ago. ahmadinejad seemed to embrace and it supreme leader rejected it. they had also signaled recently it was off the table. if it is now back on the table, there are a lot of reasons to be skeptical, how do we verify. but it is worth pursuing. it is interesting they are making that -- offering the olive branch. >> how much do -- of what he says do we believe? how much is image and bravado for this audience and how much of it is serious diplomacy? >> we don't know. there are two questions. one is he really speaking for the iranian government? because there is a gulf between him and the supreme leader and, you know, he may be speaking but not representing the others. he was a little defensive when i raised that possibility. >> really? >> yeah. he got prickly here.

>> he said the hikers would be released within two days and there was a delay within judiciary which shows a rift possibly within the country. >> yeah. you get a feeling that people in the judiciary kind of wanted to show him up, show he's not the real boss. there's the same -- this would happen with a nuclear deal. you know, they -- also trying to get out of sanctions and so they may be offering something, stalling technique. i don't see any real harm in testing their resolve and seeing how real it is. >> his take on the arab spring, i'm interested in the u.s. specifically about protests in syria and how president assad should handle them. this is what he said. quote, fairness, people and respect is the right of all people. with clashes and confrontations problems will not be solved. they will be multiplied. sounds like the guy does not want protests, clashes and revolt in his own country. >> obvious question which i then asked him, if dialogue is right for syria and -- clashes and confrontation, how come you resorted to clashes and confrontations in your own country.

>> what did he say? >> completely different. he -- i -- told him that 100 to 200 people had been killed in iran and he denied that figure. i asked him about the famous photo of a young woman, pro-democracy protester who was shot in the chest and bled to death on the streets there. for just a fraction of a moment he just looked a little bit sad. i thought he might apologize but then went off into his own kind of reality show and said oh, she had been murdered by his opponent. >> that's not what so many people within his country say. she has become a face of what happened in that country and just does -- denies it. he denies a lot of things. >> yeah. there's no doubt as far as i'm concerned that she was killed by their government. in that respect, number of respects, living in a very different world than the one i inhas been. >> it a lot of things have changed in the past six, seven, eight, nine months. i mean, the -- sands shifted beneath his feet. there's no question about that.

>> that's right. you know, a lot of americans were initially concerned that iran would be beneficiary. i don't think that's right. i think that iran is increasingly perceived as, you know, one more repressive regime in the region and they may well lose their closest ally which is the president in syria. i think they are on the defensive to some degree. >> nick kristof, the only print interview with ahmadinejad who will no doubt make headlines again today. >> good to be here. now is your chance to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. the question this morning, should patriotism be a political tool. i ask you this because of texas governor rick perry's new web ad. it is compelling. >> no more manufacture pd prices, no more games. we are headed in the right direction. i love the folks that say it is democra democracy. that's fine. >> zero jobs. >> not a single job. >> no jobs created.

>> zero. >> people are demoralized. what has happened? >> zero new jobs. >> so you get it. president obama's hoping change thing is destroying america but -- about minute into the ad it becomes all about patriotism. right when perry says we don't need a president that apologizes for america. the ad emphatically states rick perry is an american. >> the last great hope of mankind. it is time to get america working again. you don't need a president to apologize for america. >> it is a tactic that's been proved quite effective. remember the infamous swift boat ads by pro-bush group questioning vietnam veteran john kerry's heroism? >> crimes committed on a day-to-day basis. >> he betrayed news the best. how can we be loyal to him now? >> ravaged countryside.

>> this country, more importantly the people he served with. he sold them out. >> president bush eventually denounced the ads but damage was done. kerry lost the election. patriotism worked for democrats, too, during the 2008 campaign vice presidential candidate joe biden said wealthy americans should pay more taxes because it is time to be patriotic. that sounds familiar. talk back question today, should patriotism be a political tool? i will read your comments later this hour. still to come this morning, you paid for it. $16 muffins, $10 brownies. you didn't get to enjoy them but they are on your tab as taxpayers. how did this happen? what in the world are we going to do about it? a new study suggests lack of owe making a 3 fatty acids could increase the risk of suicide. dr. sanjay gupta will break it down for us. 38 minutes past the hour. (rambling phone conversation)

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about 42 minutes past the hour. good morning to you. three years ago, department of

justice spent $121 million on conferences. at some of those events guests enjoyed $16 muffins. i'm talking apiece. $8 cups of coffee. cans of soda costing nearly $6 apiece. >> i'm laughing because i'm crying. it is outrageous spending and will be the subject after senate judiciary committee meeting today. senator chuck grassley of iowa is the ranking member of that committee and joins us live from capitol hill. you know, i have to tell you, i hold in mine hand a transcript of a presidential radio address senator talking about waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement. this is dated 1984. i think you were my senator from iowa even back then. it is president reagan. he is calling it an unchecked cancer of a monster we need to get under control. 30 years later, can you believe we are spending $16 for a muffin? >> you consider that washington is an island surrounded by reality and it is easier to spend other people's money than your own money and you realize

that families in iowa would not pay $16 for a muffin and it is done in washington. it is a right. it is ridiculous but it is one of those things that's happened and what it calls for is to put more restrictions by congress on how the executive branch can spend money. now, can we cover everything in an appropriation bill? probably not because you expect a lot of common sense out of bureaucrats spending the money. evidently the message is getting through because i believe that the president overnight put out some sort of a message that somebody high up in agency was supposed to approve conferences now so that ridiculous things like $16 muffins doesn't happen again. >> you are right, it has -- high levels have to approve this stuff now. >> senator, as christine said,

we have been dealing with this problem since at least 1984. yes, maybe there's new rules coming down the pike. but i mean, what can you say to the american people to make them believe those new rules will be put into place and they will be followed? >> yeah. well, listen, i said that you ought to have more restrictions on appropriation bills and it is my responsibility to help put some of those there but will it get done? i don't know if you put those restrictions in, there's still a great deal of leeway so that you -- appoint to the common sense of people making these decisions. and i don't know that there is any way that i can guarantee you and i wish i could guarantee you that mistakes won't be made like this in the future. it is one of these things that in this period of austerity now where we having a select committee on debt reduction, joint committee, and bipartisan committee made up. it is one of the first things that they ought to look at when

you got this deficit. >> waste, fraud abuse, everyone says they want to do it but it never gets squeezed out which makes the american people, i would say, rightly cynical that you can raise taxes to raise -- raise revenue or cut spending only to raise receive new. you know, i mean, people just look at government and don't believe that our elected officials can fix it bus we are still spending $16 on a muff in >> elected officials have the power and can put a lot of restrictions on exactly how that money ought to be spent. it is still going to be spent by the executive branch of government and congress is making decisions in september for the next 12 months so fiscal year and it is going to take some common sense of unelected people within the bureaucracy to make sure that the money is spent according to law. >> senator -- >> you can -- go ahead. >> senator, should someone be

fired? >> unless people are fired, and heads roll, you never get changes made. i made that statement so many times. for a lot of things -- lot more serious than $16 muffins but the answer is unless heads roll, there isn't going to be any changes made. >> what's the culture in washington that allows this kind of stuff happen? what's the culture that allows -- there's just so much money that's flowing so freely and it is borrowed and not -- belongs to us. we borrow it from china and from ourselves. what's the culture that makes that appropriate? >> there is a culture of elite -- elitism and one of the -- reports coming from the inspector general said why do you spend this kind of money for conferences? that's not just the muffin. the whole conference. and they said well, because of the political appointees and the senior executives just because they are quote, unquote, somebody of high level, you

know. then they expect it. well, it is that sort of elitism and the culture in washington that we ought to encourage elitism that's wrong. in other words, we ought to bring some of the common sense, grassroots of america to washington and democracy and representative government where i work for the people of iowa. they don't work for me. or bureaucrats work for the people. taxpayers. the packs pairs don't work for them. it is that sort of attitude that has to be changed if things are going to be changed in washington. >> if fire sing the only thing that will change that sort of culture, who wields the ax? >> well, congress can't fire people. it has to be the president. that's where the buck stops. delegates it to other people. and somebody in the senior core

of executive got -- has to decide we are not going to spends $16 for muffins and anybody that does is going to be fired. >> senator chuck grassley, thank you for joining thus morning. it was pleasure. >> that was a two-year period, 2008 to 2009. i will have to dig back and see, you know, under which administration's -- i suspect, though, carol, this is a kind of thing that's a culture of, you know, how washington works. no matter who is running the white house. >> still to come this morning, is there a link between omega 3 deficiency and suicide? we will talk to dr. gupta but a new study that there is. >> $13,830. multiply that by 8 if you are kate. deal... thanks... so i'm glad it's with fidelity. they offer me one-on-one guidance to help me choose my investments. not just with my savings plan here at work. they help me with all of my financial goals. looking good, irene.

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hundreds of thousands of jobs. at our kearl project in canada, we'll be able to produce these oil sands with the same emissions as many other oils and that's a huge breakthrough. that's good for our country's energy security and our economy. 7:50 eastern time. good morning. here's what you need to know to start your day. troy davis execution happened late last night after the u.s. supreme court refused a last-minute stay. davis was convibted of murdering an off-duty officer more than 20 years ago. the united states stepping up pressure on pakistan to crack down on the haqqani terror network. sources telling cnn the cia has increased drone attacks inside pakistan against them. a french court firing two

women for wearing burqas. they're the first to be sentenced under france's new an anti-burqa law. the court could have ordered them to take citizenship courses, but it did not. newly released video inside an arkansas courthouse that shows a man, police say, opening fire after demanding to see a judge. the gunman was shot and killed. mitt romney still way ahead of rick perry and everyone else in the first primary state of new hampshire. in a new suffolk university survey, the massachusetts governor is at 41%, 27 points ahead of his closest rival. you're now caught up on the day's headlines. "american morning" back in 60 seconds.

time now to reveal romans' numeral. i teased it with you before the break. $13,830. not the price of a used car. that's the cost of raising a kid for just one year. >> one year! >> according to the department of agriculture, that's what a parent spent on one single child in 2010. the good news that's food, lodging, doesn't include college or saving for college, unfortunately. the good news is, the more kids you have, the overhead on each goes down. >> that's the answer, unless they all go to college. "am house call" we all know that omega 3 fatty acids are good for us. but a powerful psychiatric benefit. >> the levels of omega 3s and found active duty men with low levels were more than 60% more

likely to commit suicide. so bizarre. >> dr. sanjay gupta has been following the story. what is it about omega 3s that have this effect? >> it is interesting. one of these things, like you said, not having enough of it is more of a problem. not necessarily that you need to get more and more, most people in the united states simply don't have adequate omega 3 fatty acid levels in their blood and that's what they're studying here trying to figure out if we should bring up the levels a bit in the entire population. a lot of people in the military focused on this. we were investigating this for some time. noting that there are 155 suicide among active duty personnel last year. 114 so far this year. this is compared to around 52 back in 2001. so, the numbers are going up and a lot of people trying to figure out why exactly. omega 3 fatty acids. let me tell you really quickly. two types of omega fatty acids.

one of the researchers in the study, someone who looks at all of our various foods and tries to figure out what foods specifically to get, this is dr. hiblin and he takes foods, blends them down and tries to find the exact amounts of the good. the omega 3 fatty acids and what people should be getting and what he found is part of the study. people who didn't have enough, had 50% less dopamine, and 50% less serotonin in their blood and in their brains. these are things that are associated with good mood. less omega 3, less good mood enhancers in the brain. that's what he's finding. >> the military experience, the military/suicides, i mean, trying to transfer that into the general population is difficult because post-traumatic stress and all the things happening there. what does it mean for everyone, i guess. >> there are some parallels even though the experience is different. certainly in terms of diet and

suicide rates are higher, but not significantly so compared to the general population. the message seems to be overall exactly how much omega 3 fatty acids should we get in our diets? it's not necessarily more is better, but there is probably an amount that is the right amount, that's what people are trying to hone in on. the point that you made earlier is a good point. leaving, you know, the idea of mental illness aside, all the other potentially good benefits of these omega 3 fatty acid with regard to heart disease and stroke and these are things that are shown. what the scientists want to do now is really replicate what they see here and say is simply getting people to normal levels of omega 3 fatty acids, could that help reduce depression and help reduce some of these awful tragedies, including suicide? >> fascinating. ahead next hour, they needed to build a trivia terminator to beat him on jeopardy. who is ken jennings? >> why did he sleep with a

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using his last words to say, it wasn't me. the state of georgia executes troy davis for the murder of an off-duty police officer. critics say any doubt was too much to take a life. police in new york preparing for a massive protest outside the u.n. i'm christine romans. as iranian president mahmoud ahmadinejad prepares to address the general assembly on this "american morning." and good morning to you. it is thursday, just one more day until friday. it's september 22nd. ali has the day off. first, a big selloff to get through. stocks falling sharply overnight. stock futures are trading lower indicating maybe 200 points

lower for the dow, if this holds. an hour and a half to go. financials taking the biggest beating and the u.s. economy is facing "significant downside risks." this is what it said when it announced together stimulus measure to boost the economy late yesterday. in asia, fell nearly 5%. markets in france, germany, all falling by more than 4%. gold and oil are also down big this morning. our other big story this morning. the state of georgia executing death row inmate troy davis under a cloud of doubt. he was convicted of shooting and killing mark macphail, a father of two. >> witnesses who watched him get his lethal injection said he lifted up his head while he was strapped to the gurney to tell the victim's family, he didn't do it and he didn't have a gun. martin savidge has more for us from atlanta. to the very end proclaiming his innocence. >> this was a case that went on

for two decades and captured the attention of world leaders, celebrities and at least a million people who supported troy davis and focused an issue on the death penalty that we have not seen in this country in a long time. what stood out in the minds of some, but not all, a growing question of doubt as to whether troy davis was the man who fired the shots that killed mark macphail in atlanta, georgia. since his conviction 20 year uz go, those who wanted clemency said seven of his nine accusers recanted. this case was properly tried and went through the number of legal reviews it should have and more and gone before the u.s. supreme court three times and back there last night. davis had been scheduled to be executed at 7:00 eastern but that time came and went as the high court was considering the case. that drama dragged on for four hours but the high court

eventually denied the appeal, the last-ditch effort from stopping his sentence from being carried out. he was pronounced dead at 11:08 by lethal injection. the slain police officer's mother said she had been speaking to her dead son while she waited. >> i have been talking to him all evening. i tell you that. i said, please, honey, let it be over soon. and i talked to my husband, too, because i know they're both sitting up there together. please, let us have some peace. and i can hear them say, mom, don't worry about it. everything will be fine. >> one of davis' attorneys who watched him die at the state prison in jackson afterwards referred to the death penalty as bigoted because most of the people on death row are black. >> i witnessed something that was horrible, a tragedy. this night the state of georgia

legally lynched a brave, a good and, indeed, an innocent man. >> outside the supreme court, a number of davis supporters had gathered after his execution. the crowd shouted no justice, no peace. meanwhile, outside the prison in jackson where he was executed, more than 100 officers stood guard over a largely quiet gathering which featured candles, occasional prayers and songs. it was a night of many, many emotions. carol? >> martin savidge reporting live from atlanta, thanks. the first stop on their long road home. americans josh fattal and shane bauer arriving in omen after being freed from an iranian prison. they spent more than two years behind bars in iran accused of trespassing and spying. >> we're so happy we are free and so relieved to we are free. >> two years in prison is too

long. and we sincerely hope for the freedom of other political prisoners and other injustly inprisoned people. >> he got to celebrate freedom with his fiance, sarah shourd. she was the third hiker but she was released last year because of health issues. still no word when they will all return to the united states. two things are predictable at the united nations. four hours from now, mahmoud ahmadinejad will address the u.n. general assembly and thousands of iranians will be outside protesting. what is not predictable is what he exactly plans to say. richard roth is with us this morning. what should we expect? >> don't ask me. he is very unpredictable. over the last few years at the u.n., a lot of soaring rhetoric and a lot of dialogues and mentions of god and religion and it is really hard to break through. but he has made a lot of remarks

over the years that have offended others and people have walked out in the united nations chamber. last year several countries when he makes a 9/11 hokes link and he denounces the homosexualty else where. he will maybe mention the freedom of two american hikers, perhaps, but also defend iran and say likely that the security council is oppressing his country. four rounds of sanctions and nothing proven and nothing revealed by iran. >> i am supposed to ask you this question. what is ahmadinejad doing at night? >> he met with u.s. college students and a free flowing exchange. we had someone from cnn there, no cameras allowed and they discussed the nuclear situation and his political situation. whether he would run in two years, again. some questions that he may not receive back home that often. so, these college students, of course, were happy to be in the

presence of someone like that. i don't know how familiar they are with the other issues. he also, as you have talked on your program, earlier gave an interview with "new york times" the killing of the woman in the street there, that killing was a staged scene and she was killed later. he's still in a different kind of world from what many believe is reality. >> there's a photo that is getting a little bit of buzz this morning. a not photo shopped picture of the president. >> president of the united states. >> the u.n. general assembly. always the class picture taken and in one photo the u.s. president was waving to someone and he blocks the president of mongolia. >> an international incident did not ensue. >> the photographers are taking so many stills, so you're going to get this. i'm sure in your life you had an embarrassing photo. i don't think it was an example of the u.s. world domination there, which many people accuse

happens at the u.n. but i'm sure diplomatic niceties were exchanged. >> he was waving to someone. >> he was waving at an onlooker or someone. mongolia had a very colorful outfit when that president spoke to the general assembly. which makes a cute picture for your home photo gallery. >> i'll check your scrapbook later on. >> i'm still using an old still camera that i have to go develop at a photo mat. i don't have any still pictures from the last 20 years. >> you have to catch up, richard. the palestinian president mahmoud abbas addresses the united nations tomorrow when he will formally request statehood for his people. president obama promising to veto that request insisting the only path to palestinian statehood is with direct talks to israel. >> i am convinced that there is no short cut to the end of a conflict that has endured for decades. peace is hard work. peace will not come through statements and resolutions at

the united nations. if it were that easy, it would have been accomplished by now. ultimately, the israelis and the palestinians who must live side by side. >> joining us now to talk more about the statehood issue and the statehood show down, i should say. an executive committee member with the palestinian liberation organization. welcome. >> thank you, carol, good morning to you. >> good morning. i guess the plan is now for mahmoud abbas to submit this application for statehood, but not push it for a vote because there isn't enough support within the security council. is that going to satisfy the palestinian people? is it going to accomplish anything? >> not really. what we're doing is submitting our application for full membership to the security council. not statehood. we have the determination and we declared the state in 1988. our relations are upgraded with many countries and with the u.n.

we have over 127 countries that recognize us. what we're skg for is admission into the u.n. as a full member. now, we do not want any delays or procrastinations in the deliberations on our membership. we know the u.s. has been working overtime and has spent so much energy and effort trying to pressure different countries and persuade them not to vote in our favor. i wish they had spent that much energy in peace making. but, anyway, we still hope that we will have a majority. the countries that understand the need for justice to be seen and for the u.n. to respect its chartered and regulation, particularly the right to self-determination. during this -- >> i would just like to interrupt -- >> this occupation to come to an end. >> the president has said in the past, he is for palestinian statehood. his remarks yesterday were a

disappointment to mahmohmoud ab. he was holding his head in his hands. what do you think was going through his mind? >> well, i did talk to him after we were on the same delegation and we were consulting regularly. it seems to me that it's one thing to pay lip service to statehood and another to give israel time and space to act unilaterally and illegally to steal the land and build settlements and build the wall and to place us under siege and erect hundreds of checkpoints and say, okay. where is the state? we have been negotiating for 20 years and israel has almost swallowed up 40% of our state. how could it be viable? president abbas is feeling that we need the palestinian relative and we need the whole picture. it's not a question of just election nearing and it's not just the question of saying what it does or is above the law or has a sentence of entitlement

and the palestinians feel that they've been excluded from legal and human consideration and understand that we are included, even in the speech on suffering. even on the speech on the two states. >> if i may interrupt, let me ask you this question. the french president suggested yesterday. the french president suggested this move to nonmember observe status as the first step to statehood and then new negotiations with a one-year deadline for some kind of resolution. so why not consider the french president's suggestion? >> we found it extremely interesting, yes. we did meet with president sarkozy and we said we would view it positively and give it positive consideration. but this is something the palestinian leadership has to discuss and resolve. the thing is, already all the perimeters, the agenda, everything is in place. all we need is for israel to

comply with settlement acsietiv and binding timeline and then you can negotiate quickly because we don't need to reinvent the wheel. we were very close to an agreement and i think the french are coming up with all kind of agreements including timeline and concrete steps which will we consider. hopefully the international committee can bring israel to compliance. we cannot change the rules of the game every time there is a new israeli government and keep up the semblance of talks without relationship to reality. 20 years of talks have brought us to the edge of the abyss. we are really on the edge of losing the two-state solution. we need talks that have substance and can change the dynamic and can produce results very quickly before it's too late. it's our bid for peace. our bid not just to change the dynamic, but rescue the chances

of peace from this unilateral illegal act. >> thank you so much for joining us this morning. we appreciate it. we had the israeli defense deputy minister on this morning. he said israel is open to negotiations with the palestinians, but, there are no plans to actually sit down, you know, at a table and look across the aisle at each other and actually talk. >> there we go. there we are. all right, still ahead, tropical storm ophelia. these areas in store for some seriously heavy rain, again. rob will track it all for us. who are the top ten cnn heroes of 2011? anderson cooper reveals them when we come back. i want healthy skin for life. [ female announcer ] improve the health of your skin with aveeno daily moisturizing lotion. the natural oatmeal formula improves skin's health in one day, with significant improvement in 2 weeks. i found a moisturizer for life.

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♪ good morning, atlanta. cloudy, 69. thunderstorms, 78 later on today. going to rain all over the place today, isn't it? they were alternative before alternative was cool. now, after 30 years, r.e.m. says they're calling it quits. the band says they're walking away as great friends. they have since released 15 studio albums. >> to quote brian bell, college is now really over. >> our fantastic producer. rob marciano is at the weather center. >> one of the many that played, they built it back better than ever. it's not the end of the world, but they'll be missed in their current form. . all right, we have rainfall across atlanta to athens this morning. most lly scattered and all this

with slow-moving front that will hit the brakes real good and stall out. rainfall across the northeast, as well. this is the pattern here for the next couple days, really right through the weekend. forecast for the next 48 hours bring anywhere from one to two inches of rainfall from philadelphia through scranton and areas that are already saturated. flood watches have been posted through this area through saturday and with the ongoing pattern through the weekend, we may see more watches posted as we go across the northeast. so, here's your front. really an upper level system that will stall things out and continue to pump up moisture across the east coast and back across the upper midwest, cool and relatively dry. this front will help interact with ophelia, a little bit. help nudge it out to sea. that's the good news with fall. we get these fall fronts that help protect the u.s. coastline from these tropical systems. ophelia, actually, against all odds, is almost a hurricane. we don't think it will get much stronger than that. if it does become the national

hurricane center brings it to just tropical storm force for us and keeps it there and eventually this will be nudged out to sea. guys, back to you. >> thank you, rob. now is your chance to talk back on one of the big stories of the day. the question for you this morning, should patriotism be a political tool? i ask you this because of rick perry's new web ad. it's compelling. >> no more manufactured crises, no more games. we are headed in the right direction. i love these folks who say, give it to me. >> zero jobs. >> no jobs created. >> zip, zero. >> people are demoralized. >> what happened? >> change has come to america. >> so, you get it. president obama is hopi changy thing is destroying america. but one minute into this ad it's all about patriotism right when

rick perry says we don't need a president who apologizes for america. the ad states that rick perry is an american. >> the united states of america really is the last great hope of mankind. it's time to get america working, again. we don't need a president to apologize for america. >> it's a tactic that's proved quite effective. remember the infamous swift boat ad ads questioning john kerry's heroism? >> crimes committed on a day-to-day basis. >> he betrayed us in the past. how can we be loyal to him now. >> ravaged the countryside of south vietnam. >> he just sold them out. >> president bush eventually denounced the ad, but the damage was done. kerry lost the election. patriotism has worked for democrats, too. during the 2008 campaign vice president candidate joe biden

said wealthy americans should pay more taxes because it's time to be patriotic. now, that sounds familiar. the talk back question this morning, should patriotism be a political tool? facebook.com/americanmorning. i'll read your responses later this hour. >> i'm always so amazed at what they can do with sound and pictures and how dramatic they can make just a few minutes, a few seconds of television sound. >> remember the tim pawlenty ad? the same people who made that one produced this one. really compelling to watch. we introduced you to an extraordinary person every week. and now we're revealing the top ten cnn heroes of 2011. >> all year introducing you to everyday people who are changing the world. today we announce the top ten cnn heros for 2011. the honorees are in alphabetical

order amy stokes. la teens lacking role models. bruno serato is serving a solution so kids don't go to bed hungry. derreck kayogo. diane latiker opened her door to let gang members in. eddie canales helps football players sidelined by spinal cord injuries. elena duron mirranda helps kids out of the dump and into school. putrees millet started coaching children from slums. robin lim helps women have safe deliveries. sal dimiceli keeps the working poor afloat. a centerhood of healing for

american war heroes. which one inspires you the most? go to cnn.com to vote for cnn hero of the year. >> can't wait for that. up next, a check of the morning markets. big losses overseas and dow futures down about 24 poin0 poi right now. 24 minutes past the hour. ♪ ♪ ♪ when the things that you need ♪ ♪ come at just the right speed, that's logistics. ♪ ♪ medicine that can't wait legal briefs there by eight, ♪ ♪ that's logistics. ♪ ♪ freight for you, box for me box that keeps you healthy, ♪ ♪ that's logistics. ♪ ♪ saving time, cutting stress, when you use ups ♪ ♪ that's logistics. ♪

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but i'm also human. and i believe in stacking the deck. welcome back. 27 minutes past the hour. minding your business this morning. right now stocks are falling sharply around the world, so is gold and oil. the fed said the u.s. economy is facing significant downside risks. those were the fed's words. when it announced another stimulus measure yesterday.

in a few minutes, we'll have the latest read on how many people are collecting jobless benefits. the jobless report will tell us how many people filed for new benefits last week. we'll get those numbers to you as soon as they're available. new developments in the case against the rogue trader at ubs. british courts ordered him to stay in a british prison until october 20th and added a new charge of fraud and abuse of position. he is accused of unauthorized trading amounting to more than 2 billion in losses for that swiss bank. forbes and the annual list of richest americans bill gates tops the list for the 18th year in a row. his fortune, $59 billion. warren buffett is number two at $39 billion and larry ellison, the oracle founder. oracle ceo is the number three spot there. this year every member of the top 20 gained well with the exception of buffett down $6 billion. the largest dollar loss of them all. the year's biggest dollar

gainer is mark zuckerberg number 14 on the list. worth almost $18 billion. he made $11 billion last year alone. what is next at facebook, by the way? zuckerberg will speak at the f8 conference. subscribers bracing for even more changes to the site. this after some recent tweaks met some resistance, like changes to the site's news feed feature. up next, what is the hungriest you've ever been? for many americans, a daily misery with grocery store shelves seemingly stock, why are so many americans going hungry? "american morning" back right after this break. [ beeping ]

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33 minutes past the hour. this just in to cnn. the stars and stripes rising, again, over libya. just this hour the american flag was raised over the u.s. embassy, the brand-new u.s. embassy in tripoli which oepened for the first time. the american ambassador had returned to tripoli yesterday. there you hear the "star spangled banner" playing as the flag is raised over that u.s. embassy. mahmoud ahmadinejad takes the stage this afternoon to address the u.n. general assembly in new york. police preparing for thousands of iranian american protesters to demonstrate outside. president obama has been threatening to isolate and punish iran for operating outside international law with this nuclear program. america's josh fattal and

shane bauer enjoying their first full day of freedom after two years in an iranian prison. they were reunited with loved ones in oman, which put up the $1 million to secure their release. a new face of poverty in america. our focus this morning, a group of low-income mothers in pennsylvania who find themselves witnesses to hunger. deb feyerick is here. the desperations these women deal with every day is hard to comprehend. >> if you never experienced hunger, it's very easy to dismiss hunger. that's one reason why they're taking all these pictures. it's really the uncertainty for these women not knowing if they're going to have enough food until the end of the week. wondering if you bought the right kind of items, the kind of items that will fill up your kids. it's like a low-grade fever that you just can't shake. >> god is good, god is great and we thank you for our food. >> if you want to look at what

hunger looks like, look at it through the eyes of teana and her family. >> i know the time of day it goes on clearance. i have some fresh vegetables down here. >> reporter: she buys on sale, in bulk and with coupons and always with purpose. >> i keep a lot of oatmeal because if things get tough, you can always eat oatmeal for dinner or lunch or something like that. >> reporter: gaines is among the 49 million americans struggling to put enough food on the table. >> do you know how that feels as a parent to tell your kids that there's not enough to eat. >> reporter: what is the hungriest you've ever been in your life and how do you describe that? >> horrible. degrading. miserable. stressful. disrespected. >> reporter: the scientific term for hunger is food insecurity. and since the u.s. department of agric agriculture began keeping track in the mid-1990s, it has now

reached an all-time high. >> when someone is food insecure, you're getting the worry and anxiety of not being able to afford enough food. you may have enough food for the day, but you're worried about tomorrow or next week. >> reporter: mariana created the project, witness to hunger. gaines is one of more than 40 women who photograph their struggles, hoping to expose hunger and poverty. there's also jean, a single mother of two young boys from pennsylvania. are your boys aware that you might not be eating because you want to make sure they're fed? >> they're not aware of that. but they get the fact that mommy doesn't have enough money to get them what they want. >> reporter: she snaps this photo at the end of the month. >> that was all i had and so many things that needed to be done with that change. and it's just overbearing. i couldn't, it's hard to handle. it's really hard to handle.

>> reporter: this picture of a dilapidated kitchen was taken by 24-year-old barbara, a mother of two. >> i took the picture because i wanted to prove that regardless of what you see on the outside, you never really know what's going on behind closed doors. >> reporter: even families receiving the maximum amount of food stamps will need about $206 more a month to buy the minimum amount of food as defined by the usda. she never thought she'd have to choose between paying bills or buying food. >> for a long time i felt like food was a privilege. i've been to the point where it's like, oh, my gosh, i ate today. that's great. no one should feel like that. >> you know, one of our producers is taking a food stamp challenge, basically trying to live for a week off $30. she says she has never been so hungry in her whole life. she simply thinks, okay, what am i going to eat? how am i going to make this

last? it is a sense when you don't have enough, then what you do have becomes very precious. and that's what she's experiencing. that's what these women have gone through. this is what others who are on food stamps for the first time trying to figure out. okay, how do i make ends meet? even the fact these women have jobs, except for one who is on disability who injured herself, she's having an operation. even these women who have jobs, they say, the problem is, once you have a job, your payment, your food stamp payments go down. you're not saving any money by having a job. now, you're still making ends meet, but in a different way. it's an interesting dynamic. >> supposed to be supplemental nutrition. it's not supposed to be your only form of food. the government, this is the biggest economy in the world, right? they're using it to supplement what you already have. so, you know, just living on food stamps, there are people who do it, but that's an extreme poverty situation. >> more and more people are learning what it is like to be

in that situation and since the recession, the number of people has doubled. it's very serious. >> thanks, deb. just into cnn, some bad news but not unexpected for the labor market. the labor department announcing 423,000 unemployment claims were filed last week. people for the first time heading to the unemployment office and it's worse than the economy expected. not a good sign for the economy and, as i was telling you, carol, my sort of reporting anecdotal reporting from recruiters is something happened in the last 45 days that hiring activity has really stalled and there are more layoffs happening, again. >> i have a few ideas as to why that might be. it's the same old thing, though, it's like, i mean, the government, the congress still hasn't worked out its differences, right? >> uncertainty about the outlook for the u.s. both economically and politically, people are just holding the line right now. can you imagine a life that

seems so -- it is a fun story and we need to lift our spirits. i'll ask you this question. can you imagine a life without a map? do you get hypnotized by maps during road trips? my husband does, he loves maps. so does someone else. he would be our favorite jeopardy champ ken jennings. he'll join us live. we'll geek out with him. it's 40 minutes past the hour. ♪ [ dog barks ] [ birds chirping ] ♪ [ mechanical breathing ] [ engine turns over ] ♪ [ male announcer ] the all-new volkswagen passat. a new force in the midsize category. ♪

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and the answer is -- ken jennings. all-time "jeopardy!" champion. sharpest knife in the drawer. he has written a book "what else brainiac." charts jennings' love for maps and geography. something that began at an early age. ken jennings joins us now. welcome. >> thanks for having me. >> you actually slept, when you were a child, you slept with a map. >> i saved up for months to get a world atlas and i slept with

it at my head instead of a teddy bear. >> is it because you fell asleep reading it? >> an atlas, you can pore over for hours. >> what about it fascinates you? what is it that grips you about these things? >> liking to know where we are and where everything else is. especially for a kid, that's authority. that's like knowledge of the world. imagine one person who is lost and one person who's not. >> this is why i hate gps. gps, i need to know where i am. i need to know that this interstate lies above this set of county roads. i need to know that and i can only see that on the map. >> i feel gps is making us dumber. people will drive into rivers and railroad tracks. >> in defense of those who love gps, i believe some people are born without an internal compass. even when i look at a map, although it's fascinating. i will admit i can't then, in my

brain, translate that to the outside world. i kind of need help from that gps, sadly. >> my wife is like that. typically our navigation plan is if we don't have the gps on and i ask her which way i think she would turn and then i'll turn the other way. there's evidence in the book that people can get better. even if you don't think you have a good sense of direction. >> how? >> my wife and i went to d.c. and we spent an hour looking at maps of the national mall and doing little practices and when we got there, she could totally do it. >> my husband does it and i become so angry at him. i can't explain the anger. seriously, geography is not a strong suit for many americans that many kids have. i'll read these percentages here. the majority of americans are not, according to the 2006 national geographic survey of young adults, 33% can't locate loo l.a., 48% can't locate mississippi and 63% can't locate

iraq. why are we, as a nation, so geographically illiterate? >> a couple things. we stopped teaching geography in our school 30 years ago and we replaced it with social studies. you can get a master's degree without taking a geography class. we don't let our kids explore a lot. they don't get to explore territories and get a sense of where they are because we naturally want to keep an eye on them. >> some of that is just mesmerization. a kid can get a patent and be a great innovator and not know which one is louisiana. i get the point, basic skills we should teach kids and we're simply not. >> think about the 66% of kids not knowing where iraq is. we are expecting these kids to be informed voters and two-thirds of them don't know where iraq is. >> that's really important to know. >> good to affect other stuff. >> as far as its place in the world and where it's located. give us a few tips to make kids

more enthusiastic about geograp geography. >> my kids it's an uphill battle, but the thing is, maps are so cool. often if they see maps it is a pretty easy sell. 15th century maps where you can see the boats and the sea serpents and california is still drawn as an island. i think that's sort of romantic and cool for kids. letting them draw their own maps. my son draws maps of all his lego bases and solar systems and stuff. >> let them operate the gps while you're driving. >> my kids call the gps by its name. they call it daniel. is daniel coming? things like google earth. you can see real-time -- >> maps sexy, sexy -- >> it's ken jennings, what can i say? >> ken jennings author of "map head." he won 74 games and more than $2.5 million on "jeopardy!." he knows what he speaks.

>> thank you for having me. 48 minutes after the hour. 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.

that looks pretty, good morning, new york. kind of foggy right now and 70 degrees. of course, it's going to rain later. enjoy it while you can. we're expecting a high of 74 degrees. >> as you listen to your dave matthews. defunked research satellite and 200 pieces of junk will survive reentry but it won't be free falling over north america, at least. john zarrella in miami. where and when this morning, john? >> nasa says the when is some time tomorrow afternoon u.s. time but even if you take north america out of the equation, that still leaves five other continents that parts of this satellite may still fall, but nasa says the likelihood is very remote. the clock is ticking. some time after midnight tonight, if nasa's calculations are right, an old, dead satellite will reenter the earth's atmosphere and burn up. most of it, but not all of it. about half a ton will make it

through. >> there are some pieces that are made of stainless steel and titanium and beryllium that have very high melting temperatures and those pieces will survive. zee a list of about 26 pieces and range from a few tens of pounds to few hundred pounds in size. >> you heard them right. some of the chunks of junk could be hundreds of pounds. but there's no need for you to run out and buy a hard hat. nasa scientists in houston say there's very little risk any of the debris from the 6 ton upper atmosphere research satellite will hit you. >> you can be hundreds of miles off in where it's coming down. >> reporter: harvard university astrophysicist jonathan believes the space agency is probably right. because much of the earth is water. >> this is not like the old sky lab scare of the '70s when you had a 70 ton space station crashing out of the sky. this thing is only 6 or 7 funto.

i agree with the folks in houston, it is nuthing to be terribly concerned about. >> reporter: parts of sky lab did hit parts of houston in 1979. where will this one come down? no one knows. even minutes before reentering the atmosphere, nasa won't be able to pinpoint the exact location. the satellite is traveling so fast, it covers thousands of miles of space in just minutes. impact swath covers six continents. >> the space craft is tumbling in inpredictable ways and it is very difficult to precisely pinpoint where it is coming down, even right before the reentry. >> if the thing happens to come down in a city, that would be bad. the chances of it causing expensive damage or actually injuring someone are much higher. >> reporter: one thing is certain. once it hits the atmosphere 50 miles up, it will take only a few minutes before the surviving

pieces hit the earth. now, nasa says there's a 1 in 3,200 chance a piece will hit someone on the earth, but to hit you, it would be one in trillions. but i'm still not taking any chances. and we did talk about that hard hat. >> there you go. >> i got it. i'm ready. >> did you go out and buy that? >> i'm not saying. >> john travels with a hard hat. never know what's going to happen when he's in town. >> it's for hurricane coverage. >> thanks, john. coming up next, we asked you to talk back and you certainly did. should patriotism be a political tool? we'll read your responses. six minutes until the top of the hour.

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we asked you to talk back. the question this morning, should patriotism be used as a political tool. this from brenda, yes. for most americans it's very important that their president who represents them throughout the world has a strong love for his country and puts our needs above all else. this from rob, i don't think patriotism will reduce our deficit or balance our budget. i don't believe that patriotism will reduce my taxes or create millions of job or stop outsourcing. no, patriotism should not be used as a political tool since it really doesn't help the problem we face. fran, sure, why not? as long as we the people, are willing to be swayed by style rather than substance. why shouldn't a politician pander to that? >> it's so interesting how, especially politics bills, you know, patriotism in politics bills as you get closer to the election. you mentioned the new rick perry ad, the web ad that shows so

much of the imagery and the sounds and patriotism sells. it does. >> remember during the 2008, that was the flap over the flag pins. like the obama wasn't wearing a flag pin, which meant he was not patriotic and everybody else was wearing a flag pin. >> all imagery. becomes all imagery and that's kind of a sad thing, too. >> on the other hand, the love of your country is important to many americans and they want to see that reflected in their candidates. >> i assume that's the common denominator. any time you're running for office, you love your country, but maybe i'm just a pollyanna. >> you're naive. "cnn newsroom" with kyra phillips starts next. stock markets around the world tanking and washington gridlocked, yet again. kate baldwin will tell us about the threat of a new government shutdown looming on the horizon. but, first, christine romans sets the stage for another ugly day on wall street. christine?