cnn last week. >> i was just wonder, does he watch "survivor" and that is what we were supposed to be reading between the lines there. >> and a big plug for that reality show. >> no kidding. >> and kyra, he said that he quit smoking as well and heading into the tough campaign season, and the question is, will he start smoking again? >> i can imagine how stressful it is. mark, thanks. i will tell you somebody who is not smoking, t.j. holmes. >> i quit drinking last week, too. >> and the tea totaler here will take it over here. >> i will meet you downstairs at the bar after the show. thank you, kyra. we are joining now you for the top of the hour. let me catch you up to speed for this wednesday, october 26th. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com that was chaos in the streets of oakland overnight.

police firing tear gas to try to discourage occupy oakland. the police say they cracked down after the protesters threw paint and rocks at them. at the same time this was going on, atlanta police moved in on the wall street protesters camped in a downtown park. there were more than 100 arrests last night combined in both oakland and atlanta. and rescuers pulled two more people out of collapsed buildings in eastern turkey today. the number of people killed in sunday's powerful earthquake has climbed now to 461. turkey is asking for tents and prefabricated homes of prefab homes, the ones essentially built elsewhere and bring them in and construct them on site. police say that people are homeless and spending the nights outdoors and freezing temperatures there now. and people are jamming the square in the heart of damascus

today to show support for syrian president bashar al assad, and the rally comes as the arab league ministers visit damascus. they want to mediate talks between mr. assad and the anti-government protesters. 3,000 syrians have been killed after crackdowns by the government and some have been tortured in state-run hospitals. president obama will be in denver in the next hour with an announcement that students will be happy to hear. he will let students cap their monthly payments at 10% of discretionary income starting january. the president will allow borrowers to refinance at lower interest rates. the students say this will help the economy. >> there is going to be a big majority of us who are going to have a hard time looking for work or having work and we are stuck with loans. >> well, i'm nervous to get a job to make the payments every month.

>> if you add up everybody's student loans the total is expected to top $1 trillion for the first time this year. well, a federal law enforcement force says that a former goldman sachs executive surrendered to federal authorities today. he is accused of passing top secrets on to a hedge fund manag manager. his attorney says that the gupta didn't do anything wrong and always acted with honesty. and andy rooney is hospitalized. he signed off as the commentator three weeks ago of "60 minutes" and had a minor surgery, but now his agent says he has developed serious complications. chaz bono has cut his last tango on "dancing with the stars." chaz says he wanted to show

america a different kind of man, and says he accomplished that. >> it is amazing. i got farther than i thought i would be. i had these people who were, you know, ep joyi enjoying what we doing, and owed them something and tried harder to push myself. >> and this friday, we will talk with hln's nancy grace who is still doing her thing on "dancing with the stars" and right now she is going to week seven of the competition. all right. this is your chance to talk back on one of the big stories of the day, and today's question, would jesus occupy wall street? carol costello, we knew this was coming, because people are always asking what would jesus do, and here you go. >> here you go. would jesus occupy wall street, and interesting question especially today in light of what happened in oakland, california. occupy oakland protesters hurled paint at riot police, and the police hurled tear gas, and

jesus here? some argue, yes. and the vatican seems to be backing them up. the city morning "herald" says that the wall street protests are justified. pope benedict has called for overhauling the world financial rules because the gap between the rich and the poor are so wide. and other faces are joining occupy wall street. some jews celebrated yom kippur. >> some of the themes of yom kippur are returning to the best self. i think that the country has gone off of the track and we have forgotten about the poor and the workers. one of the major themes of the young people is to remember the poor and remember the workers and do what we can to make a better world, and this is a beautiful holy expression of god's desire. >> but not all religious people support occupy wall street. jesus did repudiate the desire for personal wealth and did

abdicate for the poor and the powerless, but they say that jesus believed in community and people helping others and not government. would jesus walk alongside these protesters then? the talk back question today, would jesus occupy wall street? go to facebook.com/carolcnn and i will read the comments later this hour. >> carol, we will see you here shortly. thank you so much. and here is what is ahead on "the rundown." police and protesters clashing at occupy demonstrations in california. we will be live in oakland. and a new report finds that government policy has done less over the past 30 years to even out the distribution of income in this country. we will run down the number bes for you. and north dakota's oil boom means a lot of money for a lot of a people, and including, yep, strippers. >> maybe four or five years ago, i was hard to make $200. it was hard.

it was pulling teeth. now, you know, you can pull in $2,000. >> huh. also, today, boxing promoter don king will be talking about the political matches in the presidential race. also, rescue workers digging out survivors in turkey. we will be live at the earthquake zone. stay with us. ♪ bum-bum, bum-bum ♪ [ ice rattles rhythmically ] ♪ [ imitates guitar noise ] the redesigned, 8-passenger pilot. smarter thinking. from honda. whose non-stop day starts with back pain... and a choice. take advil now and maybe up to four in a day. or choose aleve and two pills for a day free of pain. way to go, coach. ♪ riding the dog like it's a small horse is frowned upon in this establishment! luckily though, ya know, i conceal this bad boy underneath my blanket just so i can get on e-trade. check my investment portfolio, research stocks...

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oakland. dan, are both sides here blaming the other side for starting this? >> well, it is a good question. clearly the protesters think that police overreacted in this situation according to the police however, some protesters threw objects at them, and they had no choice but to unleash some serious force. let me show you what it looks like now, t.j., because you can see behind me the barricades and couple of police officers here now, and still some of them in riot gear, but not too many protesters left. this all started after these protesters were at city hall for 15 days, part of this occupy wall street, and living in tent cities, and police decided that they needed to get these people out. they were worried that there would be a safety problem there, and maybe a health problem as well. so they wanted to force everybody out of this tent city, and they succeeded, and then of course you saw what happened later on in the night.

>> give us an update on the arrests and the injuries possibly from last night. >> well, we know that about 100 people arrested, and we are told that a few people suffered minor injuries, nothing serious. you know, the question becomes what happens now. and at this point, we are not so sure. we don't know if the organizers have something up their sleeve, if they want to try to take that city hall location back, and we don't know because it is early here, and we will get a better sense as the day unfolds. >> and lastly, dan, what is exactly the point, because they want the voices to be heard, but what is the end game for these protesters to occupy this particular area, and do what? >> well, look, given the bay area's liberal leanings, it is not surprising that this area would be a major hub for the occupy wall street movement. they had been there as i said for about two weeks, you know,

part of this broader effort that we have seen across the country, and they were, you know, basically entrenched there. they didn't want to leave, and they wanted to be there as long as they felt like they needed to be there, but police, you know, they wanted to put an end to it. people work, there and at the city hall and people go in and out of the offices, so they felt like, you know, enough is enough. they wanted to push everybody back. and the protesters, you know, they felt like they still needed to be there. so, you had this major sort of impasse if you will, and it just kind of everything clashed last night. >> all right. dan simon there for us in oakland. thank you so much, and we will be talking to one of the protesters who was there last night in oakland coming up in a little bit. also, here in atlanta, police arrested at least 53 people, occupy demonstrators, and another early morning raid according to our local affiliate wsb, and after the mayor sent religious leaders to speak with the demonstrators to try to find

a, quote, peaceful solution, and when that did not work the officers swarmed the park, and the arrests were orderly and peaceful and no protesters had to be reportedly dragged away. and now turning to some news na will fuel the occupy protest es, a new report that is out. it plays into the political fight of whether or not there should be more tax breaks for the wealthy. let me bring in our alison kosik down at the new york stock exchange for me, and the report essentially says that the rich keep getting richer. >> oh, yes. and the wealth gap is big, t.j., and it looks like it is getting bigger. i'm referring to a congressional budget office report of how much the incomes have grown from 2007 to 2009. it found that in the top 1% of the population incomes grew 275%, and in the middle class, incomes grew 40%, but then when you look at the poorest americans, incomes grew 18%.

it is what you said, t.j., the core reason why the occupy demonstrators are across the country day after day. t.j.? >> alison, does the report give us reasons for the numbers? >> well, when you think about it, those who are wealthy and rich have higher-paying job, bankers, executives and big time sports and entertainment super stars and high earners in our country, and also the rich end up getting a bigger portion of the income through investments, and those investments are taxed at a lower rate talking about capital gains and dividends, and this is what is fueling the big political debate over overhauling the tax structure here in the u.s. the analysts say that the flat tax and the 9-9-9 plans would favor the rich. t.j.? >> one more thing, what are the markets doing this morning? >> well, the stocks with a nice pop at the open, and the dow

jumped 100 points, but the dow is only up 34 pointings now and the there is a lot of reports coming out of europe today, and there is uncertainty about the details of whether the european officials can get a handle on the european debt issues. we are watching the shares of amazon.com tumbling 25% per share. and that is having the investors running for the exits who own amazon shares. t.j.? >> thank you, alison kosik. president obama is offering help for the college students out there drowning in debt. in denver, next hour, the president will promote two new measures to help college graduates repay the loans. and student loan debt has surpassed credit card debt, and it is the most issue worrying

students now. >> we hope to come to college to pay off our debts and have a better life, but we are drowning before we start. >> if you don't go to school, you can't get good job and make good money, so they have to balance it out and bring down the tuition costs. >> well, it is a a problem, because i don't have the money to go to school. i want to get the education i need to succeed. >> one of president obama's proposals involves a loan repayment program based on the college graduate's income. starting in 2014, loan payments will be based on 10% of the discretionary income down from the current 15%. the president plans to move up the start date for the new lower terms. the other proposal encourages graduates with different federal loans to consolidate them by offering a small break on interest rates. and the president promotes the new measures, and this will be in the remarks at the campus of

the university of colorado, denver campus, and we will have those remarks live. and in south dakota, strippers are saying they are make making more money there than they can in las vegas. yes, you heard that right. more money stripping in north dakota than in las vegas, and as much as $2,000 a night. stick around for that one. also, traditionally, california has been on the cutting edge of being green, but did you it is no longer the most energy efficient state. now there is a new state that is the most energy efficient. i bet you can't guess which one. correct. anywhere? yes. like this price? yes. riously? yes what about this one? i'll beat it. this one? s we will. right, i only have one more question for you...this one? (laughing) yeah. get $100 rebate when you buy four tires.

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all right. 19 minutes past the hour, and we asked you what state replaced california as the most energy efficient state in the u.s. this year. it is massachusetts. this is according to the american council for an energy efficient economy. california dropped to number two followed by new york and oregon. here are a look at some of the stories making news cross country. colorado is dealing with a cold slushy mess after much of the state was hit with a snowstorm overnight. wet snow snapped powerlines and drivers in denver dealing with the icy roads today. sometimes you have the read the signs, and if you are getting married and a dust storm comes through and does this to your wedding, you might want to take that as a sign. and maybe this is not the person that you are supposed to spend the rest of your life with. this is what happened in arizona and a big dust storm kicked up a few minutes after the ceremony started. they went ahead, and the bride

said that at first she was upset, but now they laugh about it. more power to them. and traffic is flowing smoothly again in an interstate in oklahoma. tuesday a different story, because $20 bills were flying all over the place. people were stopping to grab as much cash as they could. emergency workers eventually found the zippered bank bag that the 20s came from, and there was one $20 left. some folks who picked up the money say they will give it back [ laughter ] good luck with that. well, what happens in vegas, do doesn't pay as well as what is happening in williston, north dakota. strippers there say they can make ten times as much as they can in las vegas. the town is part of the oil boom in the region, and the dancers are cashing in. reporter and photographer filed

this report. >> my vegas girls would rather dance here than in vegas, because they make more money here. >> vegas is seasonal. you have to hit when it is a golf tournament or some seminar. here, it is happening every i d.a. it is crazy. anybody who needs a job, come up to williston, north dakota. >> i used to sit in here and work crossword puzzle books and watch movies and tv, and now you don't have time to say hello to your friends who come in. they could stand there, and people would throw money at them. >> i came here when there was no money. there was no boom. paddle fishing in canada, and maybe one or two people here maybe four or five years ago. it was hard to make $200. hard. it was pulling teeth. now, you can pull in $2,000. >> tons of guys get off of the train and come in here and say

they don't have a job and i say, sit here for three hours, and they have a job when they leave. they have more money, and they, the ones who are not sending it back home to their families, they are just, they don't have anything to spend it on here. and there's not a whole lot of recreational things to do in williston, and so all they do is to go to the bar, and i see many guys just spend their whole pay checks, because they have nothing else to do. in general the boom has been good for us. >> other places, they wait for fridays, because it is payday. and here, we don't wait. it is payday everyday. >> yes, the oil boom is changing everyday life in small town north dakota and tomorrow, we will talk to the local newspaper and publisher and talk about some of the problems that the boom has brought with it. >> they are getting media coverage, but could the occupy protesters sway the election? talking to our good friend from

the daily beast, john avalon about what all of the drum beating on wall street means for the white house. stay here. one. two. and, three. [ male announcer ] with the bankamericard cash rewards credit card, earn more cash back for the things you buy most. 1% cash back everywhere, every time. 2% cash back on groceries. 3% back on gas. automatically. no hoops to jump through. it's as easy as one. -two. -three. [ male announcer ] the bankamericard cash rewards card. apply online or at a bank of america near you.

as we are closer to the bottom of the hour, let's look at system of the stories on the rundown that we are working on for you. yeah, coming next, police in oakland fire tear gas at occupy protesters and dozens of people arrested. we have seen their commitment, but what do the protesters really want? and are they the new tea party for the left? and boxing promoter don king is going to join me to talk about the republican presidential race and his support for occupy wall street. and three days of the turkey earthquake, people are still being pulled from the rubble alive. and we are hearing a lot of sound and fury from the occupy protesters, but a lot of people may be asking what they really want and what does it mean for the next election? let me bring in cnn contributor and senior political columnist for newsweek and "daily beast" john avalon, and kind, sir, good to see you and some of the

images from oakland, is this the danger for some politicians, and they are not sure what to think of the protest e ters and the movement, and they are hoping to align themselves with something that can look like this no matter whose side might be at fault for triggering this. >> that is right, t.j. we have the president of the wto protests in the late 90s and some politicians are saying hold on, let's get a clearer sense of what the protest wants to accomplish. i read a steve jobs' quote from the new bio saying that it is not politics versus liberal or conservative, but constructive versus destructive, and the occupy wall street has to decide if they want to be a constructive force to solve the problems or destructive choice in american politics and it is an important choice of how you choose to engage. >> well, we are in month two,

and how are they doing to find that structure and maybe evenb a leadership structure? >> well, look, they have succeeded in capturing attention. that is an important part of the process, but they need to focus on what their actual agenda s and what goals do they want to accomplish and what kind of change do they want to see going forward and it is if the goal is to change the financial system which there is a lot of room for improvement and need for the dramatic change or whether their goal is to protest american society at large, and that is a lot more morpmorphou zs and mor alienating than the '60s model. >> well some people said that you don't have to find the solution to the problem, but highlight it. have they done their job in highlighting it? >> well, they have done a job in terms of bringing more attention to the problem, but ultimately, it is easy to simply criticize, but as the tea party has found, it is easy to rally the people in opposition to something, and it is more difficult to take

responsibilityt for solving a problem, and in a democracy that is a shared responsibility and that is a key test for any movement, and whether they can make the transition from opposition to proposition. >> and what would you recommend if you were a consultant for the occupy movement, and tell them what to do that the tea party was able to do, because the tea party got political clout, and they were able to get people elected and get people kicked out of office in some cases. >> i don't think that occupy wall street is engaging consultants, but i do think that, you know, for the democratic party in particular, they have a real question. obviously, a lot of people like to see populous movements create a sense of urgency behind their wing, and what alien aates or attracts, and if they can help with the financial reforms and dispairty, and just like today, the congress easing college loan pressure affecting 1.6 million people, and that is not a direct

impact of wall street, but it could appeal to some of the constituency. but folks are advised not to get too close if it results in the v violence we saw the other night. >> and let's talk and the column, because you are talking about the wing nuts is something that you leek to t like to talk. with the republican candidates, we have too many distractions right now, and these are serious times and serious problems and we need serious people to correct the problems and now here we go with the birther controversy of the president coming back up again, and talking this week about the campaign ad from herman cain and the guy blowing cigarette smoke into the lenses, and what is going on? >> well, the cigarette smoke is not a problem, but rick perry stepping on the flat tax message and resuscitating this birther problem is what happened when the candidates started to pander to the outreaches of politics

and then the side show takes control of the tent. that is a real problem in the politics right now. so it is up to folks right now to punish the folks who engage in that kind of pandering rather than rewarding it. because there are serious issues and serious times that require serious debate. when rick perry brings up the birther stuff, it is not undisciplined candidate, he believes there is a political gain for that. >> and thank you, john avalon. and now we get to go from john avalon a colorful character in his own right to boxing promoter john king who is joining me right after the break. he is going to tell me where i can get that jacket, and also, be talking about the presidential race and the occupy wall street folks. our conversation is next. stay here, folks. medicare. it doesn't cover everything.

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35 minutes past the hour, and we are getting word in that one of moammar gadhafi's sons is

set to turn himself in coming to us from reuters. you may recognize the name and the face as you see it there, because he was the spokesperson during the nato-led, the coalition participation there in libya, but you see him there, and he often did serve as a spokesperson, but now a word from reuters reporting that he is prepared to turn himself in along with the former intelligence officer as well. so, this comes days after his father, moammar gadhafi was killed there in libya, and also a day after we got word that moammar gadhafi was buried at an undisclosed location, but saif al islam who sperves as a spokesperson is set to turn himself in. we have that coming from reuters and we will give you more as we get it. and now turning to the white house. there is friction between mitt romney and rick perry, and well, don king knows about the

friction and the fights frankly. best known as a boxing promoter and politically active and with me right now from new york, don king. good to see you. now you voted for president obama last time around, and you have also supported republicans in the past, so have you made up your mind? are you set to support and vote for president obama again next year? >> well, first, t.j., let me say how great it is to be on the screen with you and i love the troops and the military, and they are coming home for christmas, and i want to say god bless them for being able to come home safe and sound and represent our country. that is what this is about that you and i can count, because we have the great military to stand up to protect our liberties and safeties and freedoms. so now when you talk about the fighting, i have a fight on november 5th, because i am bringing the boxing back to the people. we had a lot of bad blows in boxing on the last several fights, so now we have guillermo

jones from panama and so i'm getting the president of panama ricky martinelli to come down, and we will have the president come down and talk about jobs, job jobs, jobs, jobs and make that happen. >> and forever the promoter and if anybody had any doubts to promote, you got rid of all of the doubts to promote that event just then, but back to the question. >> yes, i will get to it. >> are you ready to support the president this year like you did last time around? >> i think that the miracle of america is that a black man is in the white house. you must understand that he inherited whatever happened. i was with george walker bush, who i love and he was the man with the plan and dedicated to committed to mean what he says and says what he mean. at this time i'm a replicrat and neither democrat or republican,

and i am for america. in america, we say, "we the people" and we tend to forget that, because we send people to gofrn us and we are governed be i the consent of the governed. and sometimes those people lose their way and forget the problem we have sent them there to resolve. >> are you waiting for the way the republican side shakes out or are you are sticking with president obama? >> well, i'm with america. let me put it the way it is. i liken obama to what is the most succinct word of freedom and the first time a black man in position of strength and honor was at the alamo when jim bu buie gives a letter to say free my slave. and i am free, yes. and so they say that freedom is to be able to make your decisions, and talk about your

family, and how are you going to live? what are you going to do? and where are you going to do it at? that is what they were fighting for in the alamo. and now i want to liken this to obama's ring of power to get the votes and the election, and i will remember iowa and they started a movement that is turning to a miracle to put a black man in the white house, and a man categorized as a d different side of the stereotype of a black man in america. >> and you said that you thought you never would see a black man in the white house, so would you choose the democrat a black man or republican black man, and what do you think about herman cain? >> well, it is not about color. it is good to see the inclusiveness and it is about who has the content of the heart and the character and the conviction for all americans, inclusi inclusively, black, brown, blue,

and every creed and religion and this is the greatest country in the world bar none, and the only country where they try to break in and not break out. it is my country 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, and we are dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal and you must deal with the premise, that we hold the self-evident truth, and live the self-evident life, and we have to change that and bring it back to the founding father's issues, and we will have the life and liberty and pursuit of happy defense. >> all right, my man. >> hey, t.j. >> it is always good to see you. >> don't worry, we will have it on november 5th, doing it all down and we have to help the college kids, and we can't let them drown. that is the future. >> oh, okay. >> i love you. this is a great nation. >> it is good to talk to you.

>> and get those loans from the kids and get this great country of forward progress, and understanding and love -- >> they are going to cut me. >> i know that, t.j. >> thank you, don king. >> only in america, the greatest country in the world, t.j. >> folks, we are at 42 minutes past the hour, and he just kind of set up and promoted what we were going to be talking about next hour there with the college loans, so i will play off of that. the president is going to be makes remarks here in colorado, and trying to help the kids underwater in the college debts, and we will have have that coming up in an hour. as i try to take back control of omy show here. texas governor rick perry says he has regrets of the republican presidential race, and we will check in live with the political desk in washington the find out what perry actually said.

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texas governor rick perry expressing some regret over taking part in the republican debates. our senior political director mark preston live from the political desk. hello, mark. what could he have possibly to regret about the debates? they went so well for him. >> they went so well for him, well, maybe not, t.j. as we are seen in the last few debates, rick perry has not had good performances and he said if he had one regret in the campaign, it would be in participating in the debates. we should point out when he ran for re-election last year, he didn't have to do any debates.

he did well towards the end of the debate, but t.j., he criticized the media saying that we set up the candidates on stage to get into fights which i think that if anybody watched last week's debate here on cnn, he was itching for a fight as was mitt romney itching for a fight with him, and they went at it together. so he has regrets, but you know, he is trying to turn the campaign around right now, and there are a lot more debates ahead, and we will be surely participatin participating. >> and did he call out cnn in particular or media in general? >> no, media in general. >> and you were right about the debate in vegas, because he brought up the things specifically, and he said, anderson, you bring up the questions and i will answer them how i want to, and he said that several times there. and the president is a big sports fan, and he gets questions now and again when something is happening in the sports world and something is happening now with the nba and

the lockout, and he is a big basketball fan, and what is he saying? >> well, last night on the "tonight show" with jay leno, he did weigh in as a fan, and not as president because he could influence it. here is what he had to say. >> we should split a $9 billion pot so that the fans who are allowing us to make all of the money can actually have a good season. >> and there you have a president obama in as you said, t.j., somebody who takes to the hard court himself and plays a couple of times a week, and if you rin vare invited to play wi him, that is a big, big get here in washington. as far as the nba lockout goes, the owners and the player reps are meeting and they have cancelled some games and there is some resolution over the profits and how the division can be made, and perhaps some resolution soon, t.j. >> only in sports a 50-50 split is not seen as fair. >> mark preston, always a

pleasure and for the latest in political news go to cnn.com/politics. more people choose more than one race on the 2010 census which is up from 2009. multiracial children are the fastest growing children in the country. and it presents unique challenges when it comes to health care. soledad o'brien with the story. >> my birthday is at chuck e chee cheese. >> yes. >> she just wants a normal childhood. you look like a perfectly healthy 11-year-old girl. >> yeah. >> do you feel okay? >> yeah, i'm okay. sometimes i get my ups and downs. you have aches and pains everywhere. but, it still hurts. >> she has mds which means that her bone marrow does not produce enough blood cells. it could lead to leukemia if she

does not get a bone marrow transplant. >> how did you feel when they first diagnosed her? >> well, as a dad, it took everything out of me. >> reporter: finding a donor match is always difficult, but it is more difficult for amanni, because she is biracial. >> well, the racial that is it is so difficult is because of the possibilities. tissue type is complex, and if you match that up with one ethnicity and another ethnicity and a number of combinations now explodes into the millions. >> reporter: outreach groups like mixed marrow are trying to lower the odds. >> me, myself, being mixed race, i knew there wasn't any current organization or outreach specifically targeting the mixed race community. we do community events and college events and do the donor drives there. >> if you are of a mixed race background, consider joining. >> all right. i'm in.

you talked me into it. okay. >> perfect. >> that was not that hard. >> perfect. >> reporter: the swab is easy, and waiting for a match is the hardest. >> it feels like you are cut off from the rest of the world and what they get to do and what you can if we evwe don't want a sym case. we want a cure. >> and that's a bone marrow transplant. >> so we need a donor. >> reporting for "in am soledad o'brien, cnn, minneapolis. >> and you can look for the new promised land silicon valley with sole adad o'brien, sunday night, november 13th, 8:00 eastern lighter on cnn. you may have heard our talk-back question of the day -- would jesus occupy wall street? our david allen dickensed said, he may go there to preach. he occupies everything anyway.

just one response there. many more coming up. stay with me. ♪ ♪ a couple years of up all night ♪ ♪ and a few thousand diapers later ♪ ♪ oh, yeah ♪ he loves that little girl [ male announcer ] all her life, she's been coming toward you. now that she's driving, she's going the other way. ♪ there goes my life [ male announcer ] thanks to state farm's steer clear program, teens learn safer driving and parents gain peace of mind. [ cheers and applause ] [ playing out of tune ] [ playing in tune ] [ male announcer ] at mcdonald's®, we support the community by giving to programs that bring out the best in our youth...

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you have been sounding off on our talkback question of the day. carol costello is here with the answer to the question, would jesus occupy wall street. hello again, carol. >> hello, t.j. i enjoyed your interview with don king. >> that wasn't an interviewment

i got talked back to. >> i was right behind don king. i was laughing. anyway, back to our "talkback" question, the question this morning, would jesus occupy wall street? responses are pouring in. christ is certainly against greed and abuse against the working class. he purposely went out of his way to minister it those who struggled. as to acts of violence, christ is against that, too. all protesting needs to be peaceful. this prosecufrom brenda -- isn't the government made out of people? yes, jesus would show p up and support it. not to mention, those republicans who like to criticize and slam down ows. jesus would say, go to work losers! government is already big enough. no more giveaways. i you have two jobs why can't you losers find one. i think jesus would be more gentle than that. this from tad -- i would say jesus could occupy

those who abuse their authority and power. in this case, jesus would raise his voice to ask the rich crooked to stop their selfish action and concern for their community, especially the poor and powerless. please keep the conversation going. go to facebook. >> see you shortly, carol. as we get close to the top of the hour now, we are seeing hope rise in the rubble. two more earthquake survivors found in turkey. we will take you there live. ♪ so don't let odor stop you. gillette odor shield. turns odor into freshness.

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the confirmed death toll from it turkey's massive earthquake is at 461. rescue workers are desperately digging in had hopes of finding more survivors in the rubble. people are still being pulled out alive. here we are now, three days after that quake hit. our diana magnay is near the hardest hit area. diana, let's start on the upside, still rescues taking place, people being pulled out alive. >> reporter: that's true, t.j. there were two remarkable rescues today, a 27-year-old woman and an 18-year-old boy pulled out of the rubble. you know, still good news stories. i spent the day in a village that was pretty much destroyed, 200 buildings there nearly all

of them literally razed to the floor. the whole village just looks like a pile of rubble. and the 2,000 people there having to squeeze into sort of between 50 and 60 tents. they say they're desperately in need of more. and actually this site where we've been the last couple of nights, search and rescue teals have stopped working here because they don't have any more information about people buried in the rubble. but i do have something to tell you also, t.j., about that amazing story of the little 2-week-old baby that was rescued yesterday alongside her mother. they're both in a hospital, both doing well apparently. the little baby is feeding and just to tell you how she survived, in and amongst the rubble are, apparently her mother breast-fed her throughout. when she didn't have any more, she apparently fed her her saliva which kept her kidneys going. >> we will end it it right there on the upnote. we know the death toll but know there's still stories.

still hope, people holding out hope, people will continue to be pulled out alive. diana magnay, thank you so much. coming up on the top of the hour, i'm t.j. holmes. as we cross the top of the hour, let's get you up to speed. oakland police firing tear gas and beanbags at occupy wall street proat the time teprotest. they cleared out about 500 people who were camped at awe plaza at city hall. police say they were forced to act after paint and rocks were thrown at them. >> i heard these loud bangz and apparently it was the tear gas going off. then you feel like you want to throw p up and your eye are stinging and get red. i ran a couple of blocks out of the way. >> also in atlanta, police here removed occupy wall street crowds from a downtown park. the scene was much calmer than the one with we se saw in oakla in about 45 minutes, the

president will announce help for those buried under student loans. borrowers can refinance at lower interest rates and other comments coming from denver about 12:45 eastern time. the president topped off a west coast swing with a visit to "the tonight show." most of the visit was spent filling his warchest. >> have you been watching the gop debates? >> rhyme i'm going to wait unti everyone's voted off the island. >> really? >> once they narrow it it down to one or two, i'll start paying attention. >> the conversation turned serious when leno brought up libya and the death of moammar gadhafi. >> he said he and the united states allies gave him ample opportunity to walk away.

this is the scene in yemen's capital today. thousands of women burned their veils and scarves. a forceful act in a conservative muslim country. women are furious over government attacks on protesters who want president saleh. january 1st, ibm will have the first woman to be the cceo. this promotion puts women at the top of the nation's two largest technology firms. andy rooney is in the hospital today. he had minor surgery a few days ago. now he has developed serious complications. rooney is 92 years old. he signed off as "60 minutes"

comment ator only three weeks ago. boeing's 787 dreamliner finally had its first flight with paying customers. today's hop from tokyo to hong kong featured a vastly improved air flow and humidity system, that and larger windows supposed to make you arrive feeling all fresh. so what really happened last night in oakland? let me bring in rachel jackson. she is one of those protesters who was there last night during that face-off with police. ma'am, thank you for being here with us. you tell me. the police are saying that some of the protestors were throwing bottles and rocks and things at them. did you see that taking place at all? >> i personally did not, and i just really want to take issue with that particular narrative because the first tear gas that was fired and the first projectile and violence used against protestors was at 5:00 in the morning. within five minutes of surrounding the camp against 100

or so campers who were half asleep and essentially doing sort of a traditional civil rights-style sit-in to occupy the camp and to protect the camp, and the police responded with just an overwhelming show of force and just vicious f flsneflness injuring people, hitting people, and not just clearing the camp but destroying the camp. so it was as much -- it was symbolic, too. it it wwas an attack on everyth we're representing here. >> ms. jackson, what were the instructions, then, that you got or that you heard from police, not you just personally but the crowd was getting from police. i understand they were telling people they needed to clear out the area r and then when people wouldn't move, they cleared it out themselves. >> right. some people, you know, had decided to do a civil

disobedience and to, you know, sit in at the camp and to show that, you know, their commitment to the camp and commitment to representing the 99% here. traditionally or formally, the police are always -- they always have crowd control policies and they're obligated to give some sort of dispersal order. but you can look at the past history of the oakland police department including the demonstrations against the b.a.r.t. police officer who k l killed oscar grant and sometimes they give dispersal orders and sometimes they don't. sometimes they trap you and you can't. i have no doubt -- i did hear some dispersal orders, but it's never in the sequence that the police are claiming that it is. >> well, ms. jackson, what is it -- is next, then? you said civil disobedience. so people went down there with the idea of literally going

against the police officers' wishes. so you knew you were violating law and not following the police officers' orders. so that was the intent to some degree. so, i guess, what is the endgame it in oakland? we've seen occupy protests all over the country. i guess, what is the endgame there in oakland? >> right. well, first, it t. t.j., these situations often get boiled down to criminality when, in fact, we may be violating some particular law but we're expressing our first amendment rights and we are standing firm in representing the 99%. and that is not simple criminality in the way it it sounds in the terms of, you're going against the police. we're not going against the police. in fact, many protesters expressed that as public service workers that this movement is in

their favor as well. unfortunately, what people have experienced is that, for a lot of the police, and you saw this last night, unfortunately they may be part of the 99% but their job is to protect the 1%. and they're doing it with a vengeance. in terms of the endgame, we want camp back. we want the camp back. we want the park, oscar grant plaza. we want the camp back. we want people's things that were taken. we want them to be either returned or replaced. and we want the charges to be dropped against any of the protesters. we want an end to marshal law in oakland. and, frankly, if mayor kwan cannot stand with the people and insists on putting her own constituents in the crosshairs of these violent police

officers, if she can't handle it it and she can't stand with the 99%, then she should step down. >> well, ms. jackson, certainly we appreciate you taking the time here and definitely a different story coming from the police. we have been talking about their side of the story as well, but just unfortunate some of the scenes we saw last night. we appreciate you taking the time here with us. we're at 8 minutes past the hour. >> can i stay one more thing? >> if you can for me quickly. >> oh, yes. you know, this was done in the name of public safety but dozens of people were injured, including respiratory injuries, headed trauma, broken bones. this is what happened in the name of protecting public safety. >> again, ms. jackson, thank you. i want to turn to our carol costello who has our "talkback" question today. it's a tough story because you're getting two different sides of the just listening to one person who was there last night, two different sides from police who are saying, hey, they're throwing things at us.

we have to protect ourself. they're violating orders to leave. we're going to get a lot of back-and-forth on that story. but you have the question about occupy. >> yes, i do have today's question. it's really interesting. the question is, would jesus occupy wall street? it's an interesting question, especially in light of your interview, t.j., in light of what happened in oaked land, california. occupy oakland protestors hurled paint at riot police. riot police hurled tear gas. jesus here? some argue yes, and the vatican seems to be backing them p up. a sydney morning herald says a vatican official says the wall street protestors are justified. the pope has called for overhaul of global financial rules. in new york, those of other faiths are joining forces with occupy wall street. on friday a group of muslims prayed in the park, some jews celebrate ed yom kippur.

>> part of yom ka pour is returning to our best self. i think our country has gone off track, forgotten about the poor and the workers. one of of the themes of yom kippur is to remember the people, remember the work erics. i think this is a holy expression of god's desire. >> but not all religious people support occupy wall street. jesus did repudiate the desire for personal wealth, he diddage though kate care for the poor and powerless, but he also believed in community, people helping out others, not government per se. so would jesus walk alongside these protestors? the "talkback" question for you this afternoon -- would jesus occupy wall street? facebook.com/carolcnn. i'll read your responses eagerly within the hour. >> see you here shortly. thanks so of, carol. here's what's ahead on "the rundown." next, student loans creep toward a trillion dollars. we'll talk about two plans the

president is pushing to help manage the debt. having an mri scan can help had save your life, but those machines can be dangerous, even deadly? we'll run down the risks. also, occupy wall street, protesters in atlanta are cleared out of a park. dozens of people arrested. and character witnesses for dr. conrad murray are expected to be called to the stand today in that trial. and, finally, devastating floodwaters push further into bangkok. >> this water is supposed to crest in the next few days, and there is great concern that it will make it all the way into the business district, which will further hurt the economy here.

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so american business can get on with business. ♪ stocks today have been in and out of positive territory. early rally fizzled after some disappointing earnings reports including one from amazon. investors are also watching the european debt crisis. leaders are meeting to discuss a comprehensive plan to deal with the debt situation and banking crisis. you see there the dow is up about 42 points right now. we'll keep a close watch. meanwhile, president obama is offering help for students facing some massive college loan debt. he'll talk about his new proposals in it a speech later

this hour, about 30 minutes from now. we will take you there live. student loans have now surpassed credit card debt in the u.s. we talked with students about just how of their college education is costing them. >> taking about $7,000, $8,000 in loans. >> at least 10,000 maybe. >> 33,000. >> probably about 50,000. >> close to about 70 grand, if i'm lucky. >> i'll be just under 100,000. >> alison kosik is with me now from the new york stock exchange about the president's proposals. 100,000? i don't know where that kid is going to school. i assume he's getting a law school degree or something. >> yeah, you'd think. you know, it is tough out there when you take out that much money in loans. so what the president is doing is he's offering two initiatives to help college graduates out. for one, he's going to give families an incentive to consolidate student loans. what it would do is lower the interest rate that you're paying by a half a point.

but keep in mind a half percent break is only going to be for a limited time. the second thing president obama is looking to do is push up the start date for a program that actually ties your repayment schedule to your income. this program is already in place, but what the president is looking to do is make the terms better. by lowering the monthly payments and after 20 years the loan would it actually be forgiven. so that's sweetened offer was set to go into effect in 2014. president obama is pushing the start date up two years to 2012. but keep in mind this is only for new loans made. so if you currently are under a mountain of student loan debt, president obama's proposals are not going to help you. tflt j.? >> that ace an important note for a lot of people. even though recent graduates. just can't help them. this is for folks getting new you loans. that's good to add. >> exactly. >> also, alison, it it's amazing to hear the numbers of just how much student loan debt is out there. >> oh, yeah. it really is amazing. and there are new numbers out

from the college board that look at how much it costs to go to college. yeah, it's costing big-time. if you add up the average tuition, room and board and fees, that's up 5% this it year and you know what that means? that means families are taking on more debt. look at the average student loan these days, at a four-year college, $24,000. and you try to pay that off if you don't have a job, a lot of people don't. the unemployment rate for college grads? 24 years and under, it's above average at 9.4%. so even if you go through college, it it it's really tough just to get out and find a job, it t.j. and pay back the loenz. >> they tell you us, you got to go to college to get a good job. a lot of kids are not finding that at the end of graduation. alison, thank you. we've been talking about the president here the he will be promoting his new measures and promotes at the university of colorado denver campus scheduled for 12:45 eastern time, less than a half hour from now. we will take you there live. also, new information we

were getting just a short time ago according toe reuters. the forces in libya says gadhafi's son wants to turn himself in. saif gadhafi has been on the run since august. he as been indicted on war kriemz, charges related to libya's attempt to crush the uprising that brought down his father. now cnn in depth with moammar gadhafi dead, american victims of libyan-sponsored terror attacks are hoping for justice. they were to have been compensated for their physical and emotional injuries from the libyan government. but as alena choe reports, the victims are still waiting. >> reporter: these victims came to us with their stories of horror. >> i saw people die in front of me. >> my kids ask about him a lot. >> i look at my hand. i have skin and blood. >> reporter: maria di it as was just 15 when she and her aunt were caught in the cross fire in

the 1972 airport attack in tel-aviv. diaz was hit with a grenade, her aunt just six years older, 21 and newly engaged, was killed. >> i would have given anything for that to happen to me, not to her. >> reporter: after all of these years, this is diaz's first tv interview. >> four minutes, and it it changed my whole life. >> reporter: in the nearly 40 years since, diaz says she still has pain in her legs, has endured eight surgeries, and has not seen a penny of the money the u.s. government promised she would get. money that's supposed to be taken from a $1.5 billion fund set up to compensate victims of libyan-sponsored terrorism. instead, she got this letter from the u.s. treasury department saying she would eventually get a prorated payment, 20% of what she is du.,

how much of the money have you seen? >> at this point, i haven't seen any. >> reporter: the problems, say these victims, is that the government miscalculated and that there's not enough money left in the compensate fund for more than 200 victims. an estimated shortfall of $350 million. but the state department says it's too early to say there will be any shortfall. the state department would not go on camera but told cnn, quote, it it is premature to determine that it there will be a shortage of settlement funds, roughly half the claims are still being processed. some of the money was distributed to some of victims. >> lockerbie and -- which at the time as you probably recall were the attacks that most people knew about. >> reporter: the most high profile. >> the most high profile attacks. there were many people don't recall. >> reporter: like the one in which jonathan was injured at the rome airport in 1985. >> if you were injured, you were entitled to $3 million if you

were killed, $10 million. your family, of course, for wrongful death. >> so you thought, okay, eventually i'll get this money. >> i did. >> reporter: pol lack has received $600,000, but it's 20% of what he's owed. >> that's insulting, to say you'll get a prorated amount now and not guaranteeing that you'll get the whole amount later is insulting. >> reporter: neither pollack nor diaz were one who sued libya for damages but they're entitleded to claims from the same fund. >> we did fight in federal court. >> reporter: alex was a litigant in the historic case that led to the u.s./libyan agreement to compensate victims. he lost his father on uta flight 772 when it exploded over the african desert in september 1989. his family has been paid $2 million of the $10 million that was owed to them. >> i blame the u.s. government.

i mean, clearly they didn't do their homework and they were rushing to make a deal with the devil. the amount of the money is not really the issue. i you think it's really about justice. >> reporter: alina cho, cnn, new york. we're going to turn to some medical news here in a moment. a lot of people out there had an mri before. it it's basically giant magnets. did you know that? and that tremendous pull can cause a few accidents, like a chair sucked up in its grip? now the fda is ready to do something about this. s® tablets. senokot-s®. for occasional constipation associated with certain medications. now you can save big on senokot-s® tablets! go to senokot-s.com. colace® capsules stool softener helps ease straining to make going easier. try colace® capsules for effective, comfortable relief from occasional constipation. now you can save big on colace® capsules!

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than ever before. they can be lifesaving. but when used the wrong way, they can hurt and even kill you? the fda is continuing a workshop on how to prevent accidents? senior medical correspondent elizabeth cohen here to explain. what kind of accidents are we talking about here? >> i know. you never think when you go to an mri that the mri itself could cause problems. usually it zntd. usually it's safe and fine. >> usually but they're having a workshop on it. >> because there have been some problems because the "m" in mri stands for magnetic. you've got this big, very powerful magnet there, and that means you don't want to have metal in the room. and most places are great about this. they make sure. but here is a photo demonstrating what can happen when metal gets near an mri machine. the chair is stuck to the machine. if you are in that machine, imagine -- here is a cart stuck to it because it's metal. if you're inside that mri machine, you can only imagine the damage that it could do. and i'm going to show you a

video now where researchers tried to reenact or try to sort of take a look at what happened to a little boy who was in an mri machine, someone walked in with an oxygen canister to the room, and that's -- yeah. the oxygen canister was attracted to that magnet. it killed the little boy will. so they kind of recreated this with the watermelon. the workshop is about stopping these zentss from happening. >> i assume there's rules in place for this. elizabeth, i'm going to have to go to the president here. i want to -- i'm curious about this so i don't know if we'll get a chance to get you back. >> i hope so. let's go to the president, talking to students at university of colorado at denver, talking about new rules for student loans, supposed to make it easier for kids who are going to be in a lot of debt when they graduate. let's take a listen. >> it's late for denver, huh? i want to start by thanking

mahala had for the wonderful introduction and for her story which i know resonates with a lot of people here. i want to thank your outstanding governors here, john hickenlooper is in the house. there he is. the mayor of denver, michael hancock is in the house. the lieutenant governor joe garcia is in the house. and one of the finest public servants, somebody you were wise enough to elect and then reelect as united states senator, michael bennett, is in the house. you guys do a good job when it comes to elected officials in colorado. i just want you to know. you have a good eye for talent.

now -- i love you back. i do. now, i've been doing a lot of traveling lately, and the reason i've been hitting the road so much is because the folks i'm talking to in cities and small towns and communities all across america, they're -- let's face it, they're making a little more sense than the folks back in washington. you know, here in colorado you've got folks who are spending months, some years, looking for work. you've got families who are making tough sacrifices just to pay the bills. or the mortgage. or college tuition. and americans know we need to do something about it. i know this is especially hard for a lot of young people.

you know, you guys came of age at a time of profound change, globalization and technology have all made the world much more competitive. although this offers unp matmat opportunity, the way the world is now linked up and synced p up, means you can start a business that's global from your laptop. p but it also means that we are going to have to adapt to these changes. and for decades, too many of our institutions, from washington to wall street, failed to adapt. or they adapted in ways that didn't work for ordinary folk, for middle class families, for those aspiring to get into the middle class. we had an economy that was based

more on consuming things and piling up debt than making things and creating value. we had a philosophy that said, if we cut taxes for the very wealthiest and we gut environmental regulations and we don't enforce labor regulations and somehow if we let wall street just write the rules, that it somehow thsomehow that lead to prosperity. and what it did was relead to t biggest financial crisis since the great depression. now, far the last three years, we've worked to stabilize the economy and we've made some progress. an economy that was shrinking is now growing, but too slowly. we've had private sector job growth, but you it's been offset

by layoffs of teachers and firemen in the public sector. we've got a long ways to go. now as you young people are getting ready to head out in the world, i know you're hearing stories from friends and classmates and siblings who are struggling to find work and you're wondering what's in store for your future. and i know that can be scary. so the -- all right. thank you, guisys. we're looking at it right now. no decision's been made. i know your deep concern so we will address it. so here's what i also know.

and i know that's true for folks who are concerned about the environment, folks who are concerned about foreign policy, but also folks who are concerned about the economy. when i look out and all of you, i feel confident because i know that, as long as there are young people like you who still have hope and are still inspired by the possibilities of america, then there are going to be better days for this country. i know that we are going to come through this stronger than befo before. and when i wake up every single morning, what i'm thinking about is, how can we create an america in which you have opportunity, in which anybody can make it if they try no matter what they look like, no matter where they come from, no matter what race,

what creed, what faith. and the very fact, the very fact that you are here investing in your education, the fact that you're going to college, the fact that you're making an investment in your future tells me that you share my faith in america's future. you inspire me. your hopes and your dreams and your opportunities. and so the truth is, the economic problems we face today didn't happen overnight and they won't be solved overnight. the challenges we face on the environment or on getting comprehensive immigration reform done, on all of these issues we are going to keep on pushing, and it's going to take time to restore a sense of security for middle class americans. it it's going to take time to rebuild an economy that works for everybody, not just those at the top.

but there are steps we can take right now to put americans back to work and give our economy a boost. i know it. you know it. the american people know it. you've got leaders like michael bennett and mark udall that are looking out for you. but the problem is there are some in washington -- there are some in washington who don't seem to share the same sense of urgency. you know, last week for the second time this month republicans in the senate blocked a jobs bill for moving forward he. now, this is a jobs bill that would have meant nearly 400,000 teachers and firefighters and first responders back on the job. it was the kind of proposal that

in the past has gotten democratic and republican support. it was paid for by asking those who have done the best in our society, those who have made the most, to just do a little bit more. and it it wwas supported by an overwhelming majority of the american people, but they still said no. and it it doesn't make sense. how can you say no to creating jobs at a time when so many people are looking for work? it doesn't make any sense. so the truth is, the only way we can attack our economic challenges on the scale that's necessary, the only way we can put hundreds of thousands of people, millions of people back to work is if congresses is willing to cooperate with the executive branch and we are able to do some bold action, like passing the jobs bill.

that's what we need. and that's why i'm going to keep forcing these senators to vote on commonsense, paid-for jobs propose alz and i'm going to need you to help send them the message. you don't need to tell michael bennett. he's already on the page. but i'm going to need you guys to be out there calling and tweeting and whatever else you do. but, listen, we're not going to wait. we're not waiting for congress. last month when i addressed a joint sessioning of congress about our jobs crisis, i said, i intend to do everything in my power right now to act on behalf of the american people, with or without congress. we can't wait for congress to do

its job. so where they won't act, i will. and that's why in recent weeks we've been taking a series of executive actions. w we decided we couldn't just wait for congress to fix "no child left behind". we went ahead and decided, let's give the states the flexibility they need to meet higher standards for our kids and improve schools. we said we can't wait for congress to help had small businesses. we're going to say to the government, pay small businesses faster so they can have more money and start hiring more people. we said, we're not going to wait for congress to fix what's going on in our health care system. we eliminated regulations that will save hospitals and patients billions of dollars. and yesterday we announced a new initiative to make it easier for veterans to get jobs, putting their skills to work in

hospitals and community centers. on monday, we announced a new policy that will help families whose home values have fallen to refinance their mortgages and to save up to thousands of dollars a year. all of these steps aren't going to take the place of the needed action that congress has to get going on. they're still going to have to passes this jobs bill. they've got to create jobs. they've got to grow the economy. but these executive actions we're taking can make a difference. and i've told my administration, we're going to look every single day to figure out what we can do without congress. what can we do without them? steps that can save you money and make government more efficient and responsive and help heal this economy. so we're going to be announcing these steps on a regular basis, and that's why i came to denver

today. to do something that will be especially important to all of you here at cu-denver and millions of students and former students all across america. now, i mentioned that we live in a global economy where businesses can set up shop anywhere there's an internet connection. so we live in a time when over the next decade 60% of new jobs will require more than a high school diploma. and other countries are hustling to out-educate us today so they can out-compete us tomorrow. they want the jobs of the future. i want you to have those jobs. i want america to have those jobs. i want america to have the most highly skilled workers doing the most advanced work. i want us to win the future.

so that means we should be doing everything we can to put a college education within reach of every american. that has never been more pos important. but let's face it, it's never been more expensive. there was a new report today, tuition gone up again on average. much faster than inflation. certainly much faster than wages and incomes. over the past three decades, the cost of college has nearly tripled, and that is forcing you, forcing students, to take out more loans and rack up more debt. last year graduates who took out loans left college owing an average of $24,000. student loan debt has now surpassed credit card debt for the first time ever.

now, living with that kind of debt means making some pretty tough choices when you're first starting out. it might mean putting off buying a house. it might mean you can't start a businessed idea that you've got. it may mean that you've got to wait longer to start a family. or certainly it means you're putting off saving for retirement because with you're still paying off your student loans. and when a big chunk of every paycheck goes towards student loans, instead of being spent on other things, that's not just tough for middle class families, it's painful for the economy and harmful to our recovery, because that money is not going to help businesses grow. and let me say this. this is something michelle and i know about firsthand. i've been in your shoes. we did not come from a wealthy family. i know -- you know, i was raised

mostly by a single mom and my grandparents, and michelle, she had sort of a "leave it to beaver" perfect family, but -- she did. they're wonderful. but, you know, her dad was a blue collar worker and her mom stayed at home and when she did go to work she worked as a secretary. so our folks didn't have a lot of money. we didn't even own our own home. we rented most of the time we were growing up. so by the time we both graduated from law school, we had, between us, about $120,000 worth of debt. you know, we combined and got poorer together. so we combined our liabilities,

not our assets. so we were paying more for our student loans than we paid on our mortgage each month. look, obviously we were lucky to have gotten a great education, we were able to land good jobs with a steady income. but it still took us almost ten years to finally pay off all our student debt, and that wasn't easy. especially once we had malia and sasha because now we're supposed to be saving for their college, but we're still paying for ours. so the idea is, how do we make college more affordable, and how do we make sure you are burdened with less debt? now, college -- keep in mind, college isn't just one of the best investments you can make in your future, it's one of the

best investments america can make in our future. so we want you in school. we want you in school. but we shouldn't saddle you with debt when you're starting off. so that's why, since taking office, we've made it a priority to make college more affordable, reduce your student loan debt. last year we fought to eliminate these taxpayer subs diz that we were going to big bank. they were serving as middlemen in the student loan programs. even though the loans were guaranteed by the federal government, we were still paying banks billions of dollars to be pass-throughs for the student loan program. we said, that's not a good idea. that's not a good -- now, of course, there were some in washington who opposed me on this. that's surprising, i know. shocking. so you had some republicans in

congress who fought us tooth and nail to protect the status quo and keep the dollars going to bankers rather than families. one of them said changing it would be an outrage. the real outrage was letting banks keep the subsidies while students were working three jobs just to try to get by. that was the outrage. >> been listening to the president talking to students out at uc-denver. he's outlining a student loan program. giving some of his own personal history there, a program they're going to put in place that will help students in two ways with their student loans. one will allpush up the start d of a program that allows kids to only pay 10% of their income, the discretionary income, toward student loans. that program will start a little earlier than originally thought so it will start up next year. and the other plan was a measure that would allow graduates with different kinds of student loans to consolidate them and actually get a break on their interest rate. so he's laying that out in it

front of college students, student loans expected to hit $1 trillion combined in this country for the first time ever. expected to hit 1 trillion. at this time, there is more student loan debt in the country than credit card debt. so the president trying to do something about that, outlining those plans. you may have noticed at one point there -- we were told by our producer on the ground -- some kids were actually heckling the president and were asking him a question about an environmental issue. he actually addressed them at one point, but we're told that ten students had to be escorted out when they were trying to disrupt things and get the president's attention. they did but still were escorted out. more on the student loan plan you will certainly hear on cnn as we go throughout the day. comparisons now being made through the protests sweeping the country and the revolution sweeping the arab world. look at the similarities and the differences with our correspondent who has been on the front lines of all of the arab uprisings.

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with the occupy wall street protests growing and spreading from cities coast to coast, a lot of people asking the question and starting to notice maybe some similarities between what we're seeing here and the arab spring that we have seen. thousands of people fed p up with corporate greed and corruption taking to the streets. our ben wedeman who has covered each of the arab spring revolutions is in new york for us. ben, just from your perspective and what you've seen in new york and in those arab spring uprisings, do you see similarities? >> reporter: well, there are similarities. there does seem to be a general unhappiness certainly among the people here and also those just passing by i've spoken with, many of them seem to sympathize

with what they're calling for. but in terms of scale there's really no comparison. i mean, this is relatively small geographical area. there are only a few hundred people here. in egypt, thousands were occupying the city. if you went one block from here, you wouldn't realize there was anything going on. so there are similarities. fins fri for instance, they do seem to organize themselveses, they're cleaning up after themselves, there are competes that provide food and security. that's very much like tar ir. but in terms of scale, no comparison. >> what about a comparison of a defined objective? >> reporter: well, in tahrir from the very beginning, the afternoon of the 25th of january, they had one very clear

objective, and that was to bring down the regime of hosni mubarak. there's no -- there was no question about that. here you see a variety of causes being pushed, some of them not necessarily related to wall street at all. for instance, there's one group of people protesting against indian doctors in india. so there really isn't much of a comparison. obviously there is a lot of anger and resentment against wall street, but the message is much more diffuse than what we saw in egypt, tunisia and certainly libya. >> ben wedeman, tks so much. as we get close to the top of the hour, we'll continue with the conversation about the occupy wall street protests in today's "talkback" question. what would jesus do? what jesus occupy wall street? here's one response. leon says -- by all means yes. jesus is not against wealth but

greed. oh, yes. more of your responses next with our carol costello. just one phillips' colon health probiotic cap a day helps defends against occasional constipation, diarrhea, gas and bloating. with three strains of good bacteria to help balance your colon. you had me at "probiotic." [ female announcer ] phillips' colon health. over a million people have discovered how easy it is to use legalzoom for important legal documents. so start your business, protect your family, launch your dreams. at legalzoom.com we put the law on your side.

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hello to carol costello once

again. she's been looking to your responses to today's "talkback" question. just generally, what kind of responses you getting? >> we almost set a record today. the question, would jesus occupy wall street? this from robert -- jesus would not be concerned about political and economic issues as either the christian right or christian left claim he would be. remember it that he said his kingdom was not of this world so, no, he would not be occupying wall street. this from jake -- carol you said jesus was about community helping people, not government helping people. occupy wall street is the community helping people. i think jesus would definitely occupy wall street and you'd probably find him working the kitchen tent. this from jill -- jesus did not favor people being taken care of by the government but that is not what the occupy movement is about. it's about giving government back to the people instead of having lobbyists and corrupt corporations run our country. and this from dennis -- jesus would go to occupy wall street, gather his friends buddha and mohammed, then spread so much peace and love that

everyone would gather for a big group hug and try really hard to get along. love would win. i think that's my favorite response of all. thank you for your comments. keep the conversation going, facebook.com/carolcnn. >> you know, that's my favorite as well. we should try that. we all need to get together and just give each other a big old had hug one of these days. >> then we'd probably go back to fighting. but at least for that moment it would be great. >> i you ccan hope. carol, thank you so much. folks, if you are planning an outdoor wedding, you take chances with weather. in arizona right now, you have a good chance for good weather. not so fast, you forget about the dust storms out there. stick around.

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give you a look at some of the stories making news cross country. colorado dealing with a cold, slushy mess after much of the state was hit by a snowstorm overnight. this wet, heavy snow snapped tree limbs and power lines. drivers are dealing with icy roads today. also, if you're having an outdoor wedding you know you're at the mercy of the weather. well, last month, florence, arizona, they thought the weather would cooperate, wouldn't be so cold. but that wasn't the problem. we had a dust storm kick up just a few minutes after the ceremony started. to a lot of folks, this would be a sign that maybe you shouldn't be getting married. at first, the bride said she was