and welcome, everyone, we're coming to you live from the ruby slipper cafe in downtown new orleans. nice to have you, if you haven't gone to bed yet, you're welcome to come by and hang out with us. we're here for the essence music festival. we're going to have an opportunity to play for you harry lee allen and the new creative collective, they are providing the "starting point" playlist for the entire morning. we'll start with deadly storms moving through the national park. lots to tell you about there and the critical jobs numbers to get to, talking about the saints bounty battle heads to court with the nfl players file ag new lawsuit. all-star lineup, jay thomas, vanessa williams and mitch landrieu joins us.

"starting point" begins right now. ♪ >> there they are, that's carey allen lee and the new creative collective is the new band playing this morning. they'll provide the playlist coming to you live from the ruby slipper cafe in the heart of downtown new orleans. i guess i should mention first the food it's in front of us. lots on the menu, some of the specialties though, you can take a look include this -- this is the main thing, a barbecued shrimp. >> just shrimp and grits. >> she says this is the dish that's their specialty, i'm told. and this is bananas foster french toast and over there is eggs benedict with crab in it,

all very calorieic. >> new orleans health food. >> that's right. >> joining us this morning is representative bill cassidy, a republican from louisiana and only practicing physician in congress, not going to ask him to weigh in on the cal orric content in the food, serious radio talk show host and new orleans native and michelle u banks is with us, nice to have all of you with us this morning. we appreciate it. lots to get to. but first we'll start with the breaking news on deadly storms on the move right now. violent thunderstorms have slammed into eastern tennessee, happened overnight. reportedly so far, two people have been killed, dozens others injured. we want to get you right to rob marciano. what's going on? >> hey, soledad, this cluster of thunderstorms popped up late yesterday and bumped into heat and humidity. i don't have to tell you that if

you live east of the mepississii you're in the heat. there's with the biggest storms hit as far as the most intense winds, smokey mountain national park, a lot of people camping here. this is prime time for camping season. tents and rvs, not a lot of places to hide. the trees coming down injuring dozens of people and two fatalities, rescue workers are still in there trying to get folks considered to be trapped. these storms weakened overnight but they'll be back along the front which will eventually cool down the eastern third of the country but not until later on this weekend. until then, heat and humidity will be the call. record breaking stuff expected again today with a couple of dozen states under heat advisories or warnings. dangerous stuff with heat indexes over 100 degrees and when those storms do develop, they will have an intensity to explode. 83 in chicago, 84 degrees in st. louis, we're off to a running start. it's probably close to that in

new orleans, but maybe not quite that warm. we don't expect severe weather across the big easy, try to stay cool. >> we appreciate that. we're grateful for that today, thanks, rob. let's get right to brooke baldwin. >> got breaking news out of syria, a high ranking commander and close confidant has defected to syria, this is according to a syrian official. tlas is a member of the elite guards and son of defense minister. his deinfection would be the first from the inner circle since the uprising began and could mean the hold on power is beginning to crack. george zimmerman's bond set at $1 million by a judge who fears he may be plotting to leave the country. it means zimmerman has o to come up with $100,000 cash plus 1 million in collateral to get out

of jail. zimmerman is accused of killing trayvon martin. martin's family attorney spoke to erin burnett last night. >> trayvon's parents would rather that the killer of their unarmed son remained in jail until the trial. however, they respect the court's order and the fact that the judge sent a very strong message in his order. >> zimmerman's original bail of $1 $150,000 was revoked after the judge learned zimerman and his wife failed to disclose donations they had gotten from the public. >> jackson has been on a leave of congress since last month. his office has released a statement saying jackson is being treated for physical and emotional ailments, that he has been battling for a long time and will need extended inpatient

treatment. another day of burgers and beer and bus rides on tap for the president. he is waking up in akron, ohio, will wind up in pittsburgh wrapping up the two-day campaign tour of the rust belt. he is expected to push his accomplishments ahead of the june jobs report. and june boone. they raked in $100 million in contributions, a huge increase from the total in may of $77 million. that's a look at the stories we're watching out for here. back to you. >> all right, brooke, thank you very much. this morning we're waiting for the crucial june jobs numbers, going to be released we're expecting in 90 minutes. the outcome could be an indicator about the state of our economic recovery. it will have a great significance for those both president obama and mitt romney's presidential campaigns. the report is expected to show

it has added $95,000, that would be an improvement of 69,000 in may, but if the jobless numbers are stagnant or if the unemployment rate goes up from its current 8.2%, we're expecting mitt romney will say it is evidence that the president isn't getting the job done. we'll go to ken rogoff. first we're going to introduce another member of our panel. roland martin is with us. in terms of politics, every month we do the same game in a way. the jobs numbers come out and we see both campaigns, here's why my guy should be president of the united states and not the other guy. we expect the same thing this time. >> here's what you have, obama folks would say private sector job growth has increased. they will tout that as being an actual recovery, although it is

very slow. for mitt romney, very interesting for republicans, you see job losses largely in the government sector, it's interesting, they'll criticize the jobs but i'm going, wait a minute, i thought you liked smaller government so you want to see the jobs go away. these are going to be the most crucial four months. what happens over the next four months will be the narrative what takes place in november. >> would you agree with that? tgs so difficult right now. >> do you think next four months will be a litmus test of how the election is going to go? or do you think, the district you represent here in louisiana is localized, do you real lie look at the national job numbers? you want to know how your people are faring. >> it is not statistics, it's families, right? and families stressed that the husband or wife is out of work and the finances are stretched. if you do that, clearly over the next three or four months, if families don't feel better about themselves wherever they are, they are going to tend to vote against the status quo and if it

is 96,000 is still under performing. they want to see something where they have the chance not only to earn more money with better benefits but to move to a better job if they so choose. people are hanging on because of an insecurity. i think it will be critical over the next four months, 96,000 jobs, is obviously inadequate. >> that's been an estimate. >> that will be inadequate to grow the economy. >> you talk about it's underperforming, we're operating what i call the new normal. our economy right now, we're no longer driven by credit when 77% is based on consumer spending and people don't have the level of credit before hand, you won't see the level of spending. it's amazing how we want what used to be the case but that no longer exists. >> there are things coming on now that are better. when i first ran four years ago, 56% of the imported oil came from opec, which meant we sent that much to opec nations. now we buy it from north

america, those dollars are kept in north america. that's a good thing. >> is the question about blame. they say who is the person to blame, you say it will be whoever is in the status quo and people say the congress is in the status quo, all of your colleagues in congress have not moved on a jobs bill fully, which they could and that would make a change. do you worry about that criticism, and as you know those congressional approval numbers are not as terrible as they had been in the past but not great. >> the house of representatives passed 30 different jobs bills, one of the reasons we push the keystone excel, 100,000 jobs created indirectly. >> you know some people dispute those numbers and say it's 6,000, not 20,000. i'll concede 20,000 for the moment. >> it will be a huge private sector job creation for people who are currently underemployed. >> also about the president's construction bill, we talked about rebiltding roads and

bridges. you support and all of a sudden say not really. you talk about keystone, those are short term jobs. if you're talking about rebuilding the country, have to rebuild bridges and schools, why won't that bill also get passed? >> any construction job is only for the construction project. rebuilding a school or road similarly, if you do the keystone excel, not only are you building a pipeline but expending the pet trow chemical plans with permanent manufacturers -- >> why don't we do both. >> we absolutely should. we passed a transportation bill that puts the money in inf infrastructure that releases the money to states. we're hitting that. now let's hit the other. we should do both. >> the fiscal cliff coming in january, literally january, things will fall off this cliff. again, i think it goes back to who's to blame for the lack of movement that's bringing us to a cliff. >> there's fiphilosophical

differences, republicans think we should be a low tax state and relatively -- and allow the private sector to generate economic opportunity. the president thinks, no, the reason we're in trouble, we cut a lot of government jobs sean republicans will respond, you can't lift yourselves up from the bootstrap, eventually that can only go as far as greece has gone so far. so there's to philosophical differences and there's going to be some battles. >> you know, it's funny, i don't look at these every day. i looked up this morning, the bureau of labor and statistics reported in june, 422,000 more people working in may and they created 100,000 jobs in june, better than the prior month. why don't we consider the economy recovery -- i know it's slow and you may want 500,000. i go, gee, these are stats i found myself this morning. is it because you have to win in november you can't ever give obama a little pat on the back or economy?

it's a trillion dollar economy. it's going to take a long time to turn the boat around. >> economists say we need to create 226,000 jobs roughly, speaking off the top of my head, a month, to not only take care of the 125,000 entering the job market monthly but those unemployed or underemployed. i don't think we as americans should live with diminished expectations. we should say, wow, if we can create our own domestic energy and lower the cost of energy for energy intensive manufacturing sector on and on, we should not settle for less. >> michele can speak to it, look at the housing prices and lack of access to credit, it goes beyond energy. it goes to other areas as well. >> we'll have two hours to talk about all of this. we've got to take a commercial break -- >> don't tell me until 9:00, would you? if my name comes up on the

list -- >> i'd be happy to, not after the show ends. >> still ahead this morning, we're going to be talking about challenging the power of the commissioner, nfl players suing over punishment. the players association will be our guest coming up. melinda gates talks about her mission to provide birth control to women around the world. she's a practicing catholic and tells dr. sanjay gupta what she would say to the pope if given the chance. you're listening to the new creative collective, they'll provide the playlist all morning long. we're back in just a moment. go out without my covergirl. are you crazy?

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8:30 a.m. eastern. a lot of weight on this report, especially since there are four more jobs reports coming out before election day. apple has been slapped with a lawsuit over the voice assistance service. the la times says a chinese company says siri violated a patent. the new record low for a 30-year fixed rate, 3.62%. this number has been dropping for ten of the past eleven weeks and 15-year rate is 2.89 report. if you're been thinking about buying a home, this might be the time to do it. spidy back in a big way, "the amazing spider-man" made more than $58 million in its first three days, including a $36 million opening night. that is a record for a tuesday. soledad, looks like you're having fun down there at essence

fest. enjoy. >> yes. yes, we are poppy, we appreciate it. the nfl players association is suing the nfl on behalf of three players suspended in connection with the pay for play bounty scandal under the bounty program. certain players were allegedly paid money to hurt their opponents on the field. the lawsuit is the latest development in a fight that original natured with the new orleans saints claiming that the nfl commissioner was biased in making decisions about the suspensions of the accused players that would be will smith, and anthony hardgrove and say that he didn't give them a proper chance to defend themselves. brings us to dominic foxworth, a free agent nfl quarterback. it's nice to have you with us. what exactly are you looking for from this lawsuit? i assume lifting the suspension, certainly? >> absolutely. we want the suspensions vacated and negotiated a deal that would

require roger goodell to be an impartial ar bitter, based on the campaign, echs not doing so, so we find that the -- the penalty should be vacated and other players should be allowed to play. >> you're saying it violates the league's collective bargaining agreement. what do you mean by that specifically? >> as i said, we agreed to have roger goodell as an impartial arbitor, to convict our players of penalties or committing pay to injure program without allowing our players to properly defend themselves and face down evidence they found against him, by him doing so it's made him impartial, so our players not -- are kind of facing a penalty with the decks stacked against them. we've asked that this penalty be vacated and players be given a fair and due process.

>> so you think it was sort of being tried in the press essentially was part of the reason behind your lawsuit? >> absolutely. i think that's the wrong way to go about it. our guys are pillars in their community for most part and these guys have worked hard to build up strong reputations and in this case they had their reputations tarnished by actions of the league and forced to go in front of arbitor who is not fair and unbiased in this situation. >> i know you're aware what the league says said back, there's no basis for asking a federal court to put its judgment in place of the procedure agreed upon in the collective bargaining, basically saying, you do not have a legal leg to stand on here. what's your strategy? >> i don't expect they would agree with us, if this did, we wouldn't have to go to court. in these cases our players have had a season taken away and year of earnings taken away. if they are lucky enough to play ten years compared to a normal

working person who would work maybe 40 years or so, you're taking the equivalent of four years of working life away from those players. it's our obligation to defend our players and i'm going to stand by the players who told me this didn't happen. we've had a conversation with our players and it's unthinkable if a pay for injure kind of program was taking place but our players have said there hasn't. and league has refused to show evidence it has. until then, we're going to fight and defend our players in any way they can, that includes the federal court system. >> dominique foxworth is thepla association. interesting position, there's the 2000 players who have -- and family members suing say, that not enough was done to protect against injury, specifically the brain injuries. one would imagine that puts goodell in an interesting

position. >> goodell had reams of evidence. i love the nfl. the players did not bring one -- did not bring one person forward who disputed any of his evidence. i found -- i can't believe they are doing this lawsuit. it's silly. they ought to just pay the fine, not play for a year and never do it again. but i think he had a ton of evidence. >> jay, don't you -- put it this way. is it only the saints or other teams? >> of course there's other teams. >> in which case do you say we'll penalize a guy for his whole year of earning potential but we'll make him an example -- >> these guys got caught. >> these guys got caught. >> and there were confessions by the way. you're making $10 million a year for $1500, i'm going to hit you harder, to make ends meet. that seems silly that you would need another $1,000 if you're a multimillionaire to hit brett

favre harder. >> we've got to take a break. ahead this morning, we're going to talk about a contraception controversy, melinda gates taking heat from bringing birth control to developing countries. the catholic church is not for it. khari lee and the new decree itive collection coming to you live. [ male announcer ] this is the at&t network. in here, every powerful collaboration is backed by an equally powerful and secure cloud. that cloud is in the network, so it can deliver all the power of the network itself. bringing people together to develop the best ideas --

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we're coming to you live from the ruby slipper cafe. we're talking about melinda gates getting major criticism by catholic bloggers about the new birth control program she's been promoting. the gates foundation provides contraception to 120 million women in developing countries, bloggers claim that that not only violates the sank kitty of sex but -- dr. sanjay gupta spoke. here's where he asked her and what she said. >> you're completely comfortable being a practicing catholic and advocating for this and encouraging funding it? >> to hear a poor woman say to

me, i can't find the means to feed this child and if i have seven children, there's no way i can feed and keep alive seven children. i think somebody needs to give voice to that and i think it's important i do that. >> it's an interesting dilemma, she's in, i think, as a practicing catholic, very strict on birth control issue. as a woman who's saying, my mission is to make practical actual change for women who need it in countries that have such major poverty issues they cannot have more children, you know. >> it seems so logical that you should -- we're not talking abortion, it seems so logical that you should be able to use contraception but i know you as a republican can't just -- can't just say it. and i don't how you really feel but you -- it seems logical, you're a doctor, there's a problem. there are too many people, there's cultural problems.

there's women being forced into all sorts of sexual situations, there's aids and that the catholic, some group of catholics, which i was raised catholic says it, it defies logic. >> republicans can address this. if you're speaking about hiv and have a couple that's married, you obviously want the man to use a condom to protect himself and his partner. i think what is the false thought is that the birth control pill will be a cure pore poverty. i say that because japan and china have a demographic time bomb where they've been so strict on their population control, that the average age of their population is no -- is increasing rapidly and they are not reproducing or replacing their people. >> is it a false analogy to compare an economy like japan like china and compare that to developing nations that really have a massive gap in that issue, but their issue is not

that the population is getting old, they are gdying from lack f food. >> from a developed economy? >> i put it in the developed economy. >> people say by 2050 china will not be able to support itself with many old and few yeng. by the way, i'm not arguing against what she is doing, we have to point out in 20 years vietnam will have more people that russia. russia's future is limited by the inability to replace the population. if i was in russia, you should have pronaturalists policies. -- >> you have folks born into poverty and children then you have a much more difficult time to get out of poverty. in this country right now, the exact same thing. if a woman is having the opportunity to choose birth control and she says, look, i may not want to get pregnant at an earlier age, later age,

that's fine. i have no issue with that. people complain -- i get the catholic deal, let's be honest, it's a whole lot of catholics doing stuff outside the pewys different than what they are sitting in the pews in church. >> catholic women use birth control, 98%, that's a stat. are they going to be excommunicated is the question? >> it is about choice for women. women should have choice. >> not to have seven children. >> women to have the choice we have in united states and developing countries. >> i think what she's doing is an amazing thing. maybe help those countries that i mired in terrible poverty. still ahead on "starting point," critical jobs numbers coming out for june. we're expecting that in less than an hour. we're four months from election day. campaigns in full swing, which means each side will leverage

those numbers to death d we're rds to rock at the essence music festival. we're going to show you what's at the heart of the festival as well. "starting point" coming to you live from the big easy. stay with us. the postal service is critical to our economy,

delivering mail, medicine and packages. yet the house is considering a bill to close thousands of offices, slash service and layoff over 100,000 workers. the postal service is recording financial losses, but not for reasons you might think. the problem ? a burden no other agency or company bears. a 2006 law that drains $5 billion a year from post office revenue while the postal service is forced to overpay billions more into federal accounts. house bill 2309 is not the answer.

welcome, everybody, you're looking at the inside of the ruby slipper cafe in new orleans in central business district, we're a stone's throw from the french quarter where they tell me that one of their best selling dishes what we have here, the shrimp and grits. >> we'll be getting that. i'm telling you. with the coffee right here. >> the french toast is too far away. i'm happy to share. i'm happy to share. >> they hog it on that end. >> yes, we are, we have a lot to get to. brooke baldwin has an update from new york. >> i'm from georgia and love shrimp and grits, good morning to all of you. there will be no relief from the stifling heat today. it's been a fuel week since a freak storm knocked out power to millions of people, seven days

later you have half a million people, no ac, feeding centers open across west virginia providing 25,000 meals to some folks who haven't eaton in days. look at the map. scorching heat will wave on through, continuing today, thousands without power, extreme heat warnings and heat advisories in 25 different states today. highs in the triple digits, even hotter they say today in chicago and indianapolis and baltimore. and even more extreme weather is on the move right now. you have violent thunderstorms just slamming eastern tennessee overnight reportedly killing two people injuring dozens of others, the storm tearing through parts of the great smokey mountains national park near the north carolina border. a park spokesperson says a falling tree killed a woman and another man died when he wrecked his motorcycle during that overnight storm. investigators are finding spot where the most destructive wildfire in colorado history began. still though, they don't know

what caused it. they know where it started. the waldo canyon fire forced evacuation of 35,000 people, killed two people, destroyed close to 400 homes, the wildfire in colorado springs now 90% contained. enrique nieto is the new president of mexico. with nearly 100% of the ballot boxes counted, pena is ahead of his closest challenges. the runner up claims pena nieto engaged in vote buying and expecteded to take legal action there. doesn't look like the navy base in guantanamo will be closing any time soon. $40 million will be spent to upgrade the satellite communications. systems at gitmo call for a line that stretches from the base to the coast of florida.

back to you, soledad. >> all right, brooke, thank you very much. we've been talking about all morning the crucial june jobs report will be released we're expecting it less than an hour from now. outcome will be a reflection of the hekt of the economy and state of our nation's economy. we'll have an impact on president obama and mitt romney's campaigns. it is expected to show 95,000 jobs and that would be an improvement from 69,000 in may. would give evidence that the policies are helping grow the economy. if the jobless numbers increase or unemployment rate goes up from current 8.2%, we're expecting mitt romney to say it shows the president doesn't getting the job done. ken rogoff, also former imf chief economist, one of the world's leading authorities on the financial crisis. we had technical difficulties earlier this morning. i'm glad we were able to sort them out. 95,000 is what the number that

the experts are quoting. how do you feel about that number? what are your predictions for this report? >> well, i think in the best of scenarios it's going to be a pretty lame job number. we're not having strong growth. there's no doubt about it. we need 125,000 to 150,000 just to employ new entrants into the labor force, much less to get some of the ones who are unemployed working again. >> okay, so then let's look at that point in sort of two fronts, one of course is the economist front for potential growth and turning around or continuing the recovery if you will. then politically as well, there's a huge implication. when you look at that chart, we can pop that up. it shows the step tool downward at job growth which is a jobs added kind of a sickly number as you head down the step stool which politically is problematic for president obama certainly. >> no, it surely is. i think the president needs to keep making the case when you

have an epic financial crisis like we did, it can take many, many years, even a decade to get back to where you started to recover. and of course, candidate romney wants to say, well, fine. but i think i can do better. this isn't an unusual trajectory unfortunately. this halting recovery. this jobs number soledad, is one of the best numbers we have on the pulse of the economy, what are ordinary people feeling? what's their family feeling, their wages, their neighbors? it is a big piece of information and we don't quite know. it could be the 95,000, could be much better or worse. there's a lot of uncertainty. >> how much of it is in the president's control? there's a sickly jobs number, who's to blame? >> frankly, i think no matter who had been president, the last four years, we would have seen very sluggish recovery. it's normal after a financial

crisis but there is a question of where things are going from here. what are the job numbers going to look like the next four years? and that's what the debate has to be around. there are of course two very different visions for the economy between candidate romney and president obama between growth and perhaps more fairness. >> so as an economist then where would you say the change should be made to grow the economy? if you were in charge of it, what would you do? >> well, i think we can improve the tax system a lot by taking away a lot of exemptions. there's a need to rebuild the infrastructure in the united states. we need to improve the education system in the united states. there are a lot of things we can do. the u.s. is a fantastic franchise, but this political parl sis we've had between the congress and president that's been going on for a long time has been leaving the economy drifting in the wind. frankly, soledad, if you look at what's going on in europe, which is scary, china is slowing down.

we need to try to strengthen our economy now in order to make us more resilient. the weather could get worse. and i would like to see a break of this gridlock but of course all americans are hoping for that. >> yeah, we certainly are, ken rogoff, nice to have you with us, we appreciate it. we're expecting the actual numbers in 45 minutes or so. still ahead this morning, it's a disease that's now starting to pop up in the southern part of the united states and left untreated it could be fatal. we'll tell you about chagas disease, we're back in just a moment. hey america, even though slisa rinna is wearing the new depend silhouette briefs for charity to prove how great the fit is even under a fantastic dress. the best protection now looks, fits and feels just like underwear. we invite you to get a free sample and try one on too.

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♪ you're looking at khari allen lee and the new creative collective, they are bog to be providing the playlist all morning long from the ruby

slipper cafe. we're here because of essence music festival, celebrates black music and culture. some big names, aretha franklin, chaka khan. she's amazing. mary j. blige of course and influential talkers, people who have never picked up an instrument. congressman maxine walters and dr. steve perry from cnn will be talking as well and roland martin. you have lengthened the festival this year. used to be a three-day festival, now a four-day. why the extra day? >> the extra day is to truly formalize the empowerment for our youth. the first day now is thursday and we start with an entire conversation that's focused on what will secure our youth and we partnered with the mayor of

new orleans mitch landrieu, and then with first lady of new orleans and girl up, as she calls it. such a fun name. empowering girls and connecting families and their youth to services within the community. so that's been a discussion now formally for the first full day and it ended with the first ever new and next youth concert in the superdome last night. you've never seen so many screaming 10-year-olds in your life. but it was fantastic. we're very excited with our first formal youth day. >> what's the goal? you have done the festival for how many years? >> 18. >> you took -- was it one or two years off after hurricane katrina? >> one. we came right back to new orleans. >> when you look around city today, what do you think? >> we think -- i feel just -- not only a sense of resilience

from having worked so closely with the city of new orleans and seeing the devastation of hurricane katrina and then the gulf oil spill and now i feel this sense of possibility and you see such incredible development in growing businesses and health care services and education, new inno vacation, it's happening now in new orleans. and i find that's that quite exciting for the community and it's wonderful. you feel the vibrancy when you're walking down the street and the excitement. and everyone loves to come here from around the country, from new york, california, from illinois, to be a part of what's cultural rich and exciting in terms of just the energy in the city. >> to go to all of the great concerts tonight too. >> and the great concerts. >> we're looking forward to talking more about that this morning. later this morning we're going to talk to vanessa williams and her mom, hosting one of the conversations at essence as well. they'll join us here in the ruby

slipper cafe. has a new book out how they survived beauty pageants, hollywood, scandals and each other. then we'll talk about the 300,000 people battling a disease now coming to this country latin america, spread bn insect known as the kissing bug. but don't let the name fool you. it can be deadly. we'll discuss that straight ahead. "starting point" coming to you live from new orleans is back right after this. [ male announcer ] this... is the at&t network. a living, breathing intelligence teaching data how to do more for business. [ beeping ] in here, data knows what to do. because the network finds it and tailors it across all the right points, automating all the right actions, to bring all the right results. [ whirring and beeping ] it's the at&t network -- doing more with data to help business do more for customers.

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welcome back, everybody. you're looking at the ruby slipper cafe in downtown new orleans. we're in the central business district, which is just a stone's throw from the french quarter, talking about some tropical diseases, some diseases you probably have never heard of before. but more than 300,000 people in the u.s. are currently living with a new disease. this is out of a report from the cdc. it's spread by the insect known as the kissing bug which sounds nice, but it's actually a

parasite that can get in your blood and cause heart problems later in life that can literally kill you. that's one of just about a dozen illnesses that are called ntds, or neglected tropical diseases, currently that affect more than 1 billion people in impoverished areas around the world. the author of a new book is joining us this morning. nice to have you with us. >> thank you for having me on, soledad. >> let's talk about this. chagas comes from latin america and is fairly common. how is it spread in the united states? >> it's a devastating disease in the poorest people of latin america. poverty is the determining factor. people in poor dwellings don't have access to good window screens so the bugs crawl in the house and live in the cracks and crevices of the inadequate housing. it turns out that there is also a burden of disease that is right here in the united states. some estimates say 300,000

cases. others say as many as 1 million cases here in the u.s. >> and the same thing. it's all correlated to poverty? >> very much linked to poverty as the overriding determinant. >> it's from that kissing bug. but it's been transmitted some reports show from mother to child and from person-to-person. so it's not just you get bitten by the bug and you get the disease. >> that's right. what happens is the parasite, the bug, the kissing bug, transmits the parasite that lives in the heart and also in the blood. and now we know there's about 40,000 pregnant women in north america who are infected or at least we believe with chagas disease, and they are passing the infection onto their babies. >> i want to talk to you about some other diseases that i found interesting. >> the names are very unwieldy and difficult to pronounce.

>> and also a lung infection. you said both you found in texas? >> but also in other parts of the united states. the brain infection is the leading cause of epilepsy in texas and other parts of the american south. there's a worm infection that the parasite lives in the lung. it's been linked to asthma and developmental delays. very common among african-american populations living in poverty. >> in large numbers? >> 2.8 million african-americans are infected with that infection. i like to call the diseases the most important infections you've never heard about. >> and then denge fever. you found that in texas and in florida. you think of denge fever in africa. >> that's right. we think of these as very exotic. but they're not really exotic. it's poverty is the overriding determinant. you show me poor people, i'll show you these diseases. denge is a mosquito transmitted affect. it's in florida and texas. and we think it's possibly elsewhere on the gulf coast as well.

>> is there a big effort to try to eradicate the diseases? >> they are really invisible, and they disproportionately affect people of color in the united states. african-americans and hispanics and other minorities. if they were occurring among wealthy people in the suburbs, it would be on television every night. but because these are really forgotten people, they are forgotten diseases. >> doctor, thank you for joining us to talk about them. we appreciate your insight on that. >> thank you for giving this attention, soledad. >> you bet. still ahead on "starting point," for many it's another day of beer and hamburgers. president obama will have to rewrite his economic speech a little later. we're expecting the jobs report to be released. vanessa williams will join us with her mom. they have written a really interesting new book together where they sometimes agree and sometimes disagree with how they see history. and also we are listening

right now to kerry allen lee and the new creative collective. he is playing us out to break because they are our play list this morning. we are coming to you live from new orleans, and we're back in just a moment. mine was earned off vietnam in 1968. over the south pacific in 1943. i got mine in iraq, 2003. usaa auto insurance is often handed down from generation to generation. because it offers a superior level of protection, and because usaa's commitment to serve the military, veterans and their families is without equal. begin your legacy, get an auto insurance quote. usaa. we know what it means to serve.

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deaf d and welcome, everybody. we're coming to you live from new orleans. we're at the ruby slipper cafe in the heart of downtown new orleans, where they have just delivered the food to our table. and it looks absolutely unbelievable. we're going to be discussing the food, because may the mayor has joined us. first of all, i want to get to a very important story about deadly storms that are on the move, cutting through a national park in tennessee. reports say that two people have been killed. there are now power outages across that state. we'll have the latest on what's happening there. also, breaks news on the health of the economy. there's a crucial jobs report we are expecting in 30 minutes. we'll tell you what it means f your bottom line.

we'll talk about the political fallout as the candidates are going face-to-face with their voters. plus, singer and actress and all-around superstar vanessa williams will join us with her hero, her mother. they have a new book out that they have written together. it is july 6, and "starting point" begins right now. ♪ >> welcome, everybody. you're listening to khari allen lee and the new creative collective. they are going to be providing the "starting point" play list for our entire morning coming to you live from the ruby slipper cafe right in the heart of downtown new orleans. our team has changed up a little bit. mayor mitch landrieu is the mayor of this fine city, and he

is joining us. nice to see you, sir. >> welcome to new orleans. >> thank you. i appreciate that. >> can i get you breakfast? >> you have gotten me breakfast. another round. jay thomas is with us as well. award-winning actress, new orleans native, and talk show host. and also michelle, who was filling us in on what's going to be happening at the essence music festival, which is one of the real reasons we are here actually. our friend roland martin will be back in just a moment. he is of course with washington watch. we want to start with breaking news. deadly storms on the move right now. violent thunderstorms have been slamming into eastern tennessee. happened overnight. reportedly two people are dead. dozens of others have been injured. let's get right to rob marciano in our extreme weather center with an update. hey, rob. >> good morning, soledad. this is an area that is highly populated during the summer months. a lot of tourism in the area. great smokey mountain national park. and this storm tore right

through the area across there. rvs, tents, don't do a lot of good when talking about big trees falling down. because this complex of storms rolled through knoxville, tennessee valley, and just to the west of the appalachians and kind of converged over this area right along the park. winds gusting at times 70 miles per hour. that's multiple trees down. dozens injured. two fatalities, and still some folks that are hurt there they are trying to get out. right now it's quiet. sun goes down, and we lose a lot of the heat and energy. later on today, the heat will build back up. and especially along this front is where we expect most of the severe weather. south of that, more heat and humidity. two dozen states under heat advisories and warnings today. dangerous heat and another record-setting day for st. louis, chicago, maybe even pittsburgh. places like that are going to see 100 plus temperatures. 91. that's pretty toasty in new york. 100 again in d.c. we will cool down sunday, monday. until then, a lot of red on the

map. 91 degrees in new orleans. that's cool relatively speaking, although it's kind of humid. soledad, back to you. >> all right, rob. thank you very much. let's talk now about the stakes being incredibly high as we wait for the latest jobs numbers we are expecting in just about 30 minutes from now. economists who were surveyed by cnn money are predicting 95,000 jobs being added to the economy. unemployment rate is expected to hold steady at 8.2%. experts say this jobs report may be the most important of the last three years. it will have a strong influence on those undecided voters. it could actually decide the presidential election. president obama seems pretty aware of this. he is on a bus tour through some key swing states, ohio and pennsylvania. both states are big manufacturing hubs. the president is making his pitch on how he'll battle outsourcing and bring more of those jobs back home. all of that brings us to dan lothian, live in akron, ohio. he has details on exactly what the president is talking about. hey, dan. >> reporter: that's right.

and, you know, we are all the way to our next stop, poland, ohio, the last stop for the president at least officially here in ohio before he heads to pennsylvania. pittsburgh, pennsylvania, later today. this is obviously the second day of the president's bus tour. the focus will continue to be on the economy and those job numbers that are very important if they come out lower than expected. republicans will continue to point at this being a big issue for the president, that after 3 1/2 years, he has yet to be able to turn around the economy. we can expect the president to say how this is a bigger problem that cannot be solved overnight. it will take time. but as he's been doing over the last 24 hours here in ohio, pointing out that he has been making progress because of his economic policies, that things are getting better. not perfect, but getting better. and here in this state that is heavy on manufacturing, and in particular the auto industry, the president has been talking

about what he has been able to do in terms of bailing out the auto industry and how that has brought new investments back to the region and expanding jobs in the auto industry. so we'll continue to hear the president talking about that. the next official stop in poland, ohio, soledad. >> all right, dan lothian. thank you, dan. appreciate the update. we've got the mayor of new orleans, and democrat mitch landry with us. i know in the media we glom onto the jobs report every month. we do the minute-by-minute countdown. do you care about the national job numbers, or is it more important to you sort of what's happening within your city and that's much more important than what we'll see in 30 minutes or so? >> both of them are very important. we have to focus on the area that they are responsible for. >> you're at 7.1%. up a little bit from 6.4% in

april. >> occupyup a little bit. but one of the things happening in new orleans is it's been a great partnership between the federal, state, and local governments, the private sector, and the faith-based organizations as we rebuild from katrina. we've had really positive indications here. the numbers on the national level concern us. not only are we in a national economy, we're in a global economy. and the things that are happening across the pond, as we call it, you know, have consequences for us as well. so we watch it. we worry about it. and we always want to be going in the right direction. one of the things i'm heartened about is the last 27 months, we've had positive growth. it's not what anybody wants it to be, but we are going in the right direction. >> can we talk about health care for a moment? i feel like we haven't covered health care enough since the supreme court -- a little bit of sarcasm. >> nobody is talking about it. >> you know, governor of this state, bobby jindal, has said that he will not expand medicaid, which governors are able to opt out of that as you know under the health care act. that would leave 277,000 people,

just under 278,000 people, who could have been covered not covered. what do you think of that move? >> a lot of times we get stuck in political talk. 800,000 people in the state of louisiana in my opinion don't have access to affordable health care. we have the highest mortality rate from cancer in the country. we have a lot of people that get sick because they don't have the kind of health care that they need. i haven't seen the individuals that say repeal and replace, i haven't seen what it is that they're going to replace for what president obama has suggested, the consequence of which is making people healthier. we have 88 primary health clinics in the city of new orleans if we don't institute that program. so i think the governor is mistaken. on top of that, if he chooses not to do it, the federal government is going to do it for him because that's what the law calls for him to do. so i would encourage him to rethink that position. it's really easy for people to have access and get healthy. >> the anger on my talk show and my friends that are more

conservative than i am, we don't want to be forced to buy it. and so it's narrowed the 3,000 pages down to how dare you force me, i'm an american, and so that's the battle. it's the mandate, and the anger. >> the government forces you to buy car insurance. >> yes. but they say because of the liability of hitting someone else. >> exactly. so what happens in health care is that everybody is not participating in it. and this is the fallacy of the argument. if you wind up showing up in an emergency room, the emergency room has to take care of you, and then you pay for it anyway. it's a hidden tax. >> but the argument on the mandate is really what the supreme court said, yes, in fact. >> to the mayor's point, i cover county government. i covered city hall. i can tell you right now the biggest increase when it comes to the deficits in local government is dealing with the issue of health care. when you're closing community clinics and people are going to emergency rooms. and so what happens is when they have that gap, property taxes go up. so you are still paying for it.

it's all there. what bothers me the most when i hear governor jindal make these kind of announcements, when you look at the poorest states in america, i call them brokest broke, the brokest states, they are typically red states. it's louisiana. it's mississippi. it's alabama. it's georgia. it's arkansas. it's all of these states where you have republican governors, and you're saying, wait a minute. your places have the poorest people. you have the worst health care, and you're fighting something that could help the health of your state. and when people are sick, then they can't work. they can't contribute to the tax base. so it makes no sense. >> you have roughly 24% of the population here is uninsured. how does that come back to your bottom line as mayor? >> well, it's a huge problem. if the federal government is saying to the state, listen, if you engage in this program, what we'll do is pay 90% of the health care, and you say no, i don't want to do that, the consequences, the person is going to go to the emergency room that you fully finance, and you're paying 100% of the dollar. now, if somebody offers me a deal and says, hey, i'll pay for

90% of it because it's important for the country, and you say i don't want to do that, really it equals two things. either a service cut on the ground or a tax increase because all of that stuff rolls down to local governments. or what it equals into is long lines in an emergency room where people are sitting there for 13 hours to get regular care. that's not a good system. now, if there's a better way to do it, we ought to talk about it. but i haven't seen a better way. >> they are totally against this. the states are going to -- poor states like you were talking about are going to have to take up the financing of it after a few years. and they are saying they will never be able to afford what the government program says. >> well, let me say this. one of the things that the other side never does is say we are completely committed to getting everybody in america covered. you never, ever hear them say that. what you hear them say is they have done work, and some people just need to get left on the corner. if we're going to bring everybody along together and we're going to be a people that

are going to be able to produce, everybody that has good health care and is healthy, will be in a much better position to do that. it has huge ramifications to the rest of the country. >> explain this to the public. that's the problem. >> no question it's not been a well articulated program. now to brooke baldwin for an update on our top stories. >> good morning. breaking news out of syria this morning. a high-ranking commander and close confidant of assad has now defected to turkey. this is according to a senior western official. he is a member of syria's elite republican guards and the son of a former defense minister. his defection, keep in mind, would be the first here from assad's inner circle since the syrian uprising began more than a year and a half ago. it could indicate assad's hold on power is beginning to crack. $1 million bond and another $1 million in collateral. the florida judge setting george zimmerman's new bail. but he says he fears the man who

shot and killed trayvon martin may have been plotting to leave the country. zimmerman could go free at any time, but his defense team says it's going to be pretty tough for his family to come up with $100,000 cash. all the while arranging for this court mandated seven-figure collateral. meanwhile, trayvon martin's family are obviously watching these developments, these legal developments, very closely. their attorney spoke just last night to cnn's erin burnett. >> trayvon's parents, and i am speaking on their behalf, would rather that the killer of their unarmed son remain in jail until the trial. they respect the court's order, and the fact that the judge sent a very strong message in his order. >> zimmerman's original bail of $150,000 was revoked last month after the judge found out zimmerman and his wife failed to disclose more than $150,000 in donations from the public. the nfl players association is suing the league for suspending three players in

connection with the new orleans saints bounty scandal. the suit alleges that nfl commissioner roger goodell is, and i'm quoting here, uncurably biassed and violated the league's labor agreement by suspending these three players, will smith, scott pa jeeta, and anthony hargrove. a fourth player is suing the nfl separately. congressman jesse jackson jr.'s condition is worse. worse than first believed. he has been on this leave of absence from congress ever since last month. his office has released a statement saying that jackson is being treated for physical and emotional ailments that he has battled for a long time and will need extended inpatient treatment. and what is the most popular teen magazine, "seven teen" changing its image. they are vowing not to photo shop, not to air brush any photos, pledging only to show real girls and models. this move here is in direct response to a petition by more than 80,000 people that claims

altering photos gives teen girls an unrealistic perception of beauty. so they'll be showing real young ladies instead. good thing. soledad, back to you. >> yeah. i totally support that. i actually don't allow beauty magazines in my house. >> really? >> i have a daughter who is 10 and 11. they don't need -- no one needs to compare themselves to a photo shopped image. you cannot win on that one. >> yeah. real girls. >> you allow "essence" in your house? >> of course, for grown women. but not little girls. >> i was just checking. >> but not for 10-year-old and 11-year-olds, of course. still ahead this morning on "starting point," what is that foam that's in the gulf? there's a mystery substance some fishermen say is making them sick. we'll talk this morning about their questions if it's connected to that massive oil spill back in 2010. we'll play you out with the music of khari allen lee and the new creative collective. we're live in new orleans, and we are back right after this.

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welcome back, everybody. you're watching "starting point." we're live this morning from new orleans. and there is a mysterious new problem that's hitting this already hard-hit gulf region. the area is trying to recover of course from the bp oil spill that happened back in 2010 in the gulf of mexico. wrecked beaches from florida to texas. that led to a long and very difficult cleanup. and i had a chance to cover that in the aftermath as we were covering some of those stories. but take a look at some pictures that were taken just a couple of weeks ago. you can see this strange white material that kind of looks like some kind of foam on the water. it was spotted in the gulf of mexico about 25 miles off the shore of venice, louisiana. fishermen say low-lying planes were spraying what they believe

was a foam that they claim made their skin itch or burn. the foam has been seen off of this man's shores as well. thank you for joining us. >> good morning. >> tell us how you first heard about this. someone reported a plane that was spraying some kind of material. >> one of the planes that spots for the plant spotted them spraying and called it in. we called the coast guard and they said they were spraying for mosquitoes. when we told them you don't spray 20 miles offshore for mosquitoes, they said they'd get back with us. two weeks later, we hadn't heard from them. after we went with the story on tv, we were told they were spraying water as a test if they had to spray disbursants again. >> so that's what you were told officially? >> right >> and the fishermen said it's making them itchy. >> we had three or four

fishermen saying their face was burning, they were coughing. and from the photos we saw, that doesn't look like they were spraying water. there is something they are spraying out of that plane. >> what do you think it is >> i don't know. we have seen reoccurrence of light sheen oil out in areas of the gulf. and it surfaces different times after thunderstorms. so i don't know if that reappeared out there and they were trying to spray it. we just don't feel like we're getting the whole truth. >> so the epa has said that it's doubtful that that's disbursants because in order to do that you have to get an aapproval first from the epa, and according to our affiliates they had not approved it, and it also doesn't create foam. so it wouldn't be a disbursant. >> i don't know. you know, it just seems people are still on edge about the oil spill. you know, to disclose if they are even going to go out there and spray water, we should be notified of anything that's going out out there. none of the parishes, the city,

or the state was notified anything was going on. >> so some of your annoyance is having to hunct down the reason that planes are flying? >> is it bp? >> well, they say it's the marine response team. that's what the coast guard is saying. we haven't gotten official word or spoken with anyone from bp or the oil companies. >> could it be governmental? >> i don't know. the nonprofit marine response team is the one that they said, the coast guard said, was spraying. but we haven't confirmed that yet. >> the last time you and i spoke, i think it was almost two years ago, and we were talking about the bp -- maybe it was a year ago for the anniversary of the oil spill two years ago now. give me a sense, how is the city and how is the parish coming back in the wake of that? >> well, first of all, we're a bit further away from it than billy is. but the city of new orleans seems to be bouncing back really well. it was very, very hard. the people in new orleans are used to bouncing back from really tough stuff. but it's working well.

you can see now in the city we have a large group of people. essence is in town, so we have hundreds of thousands of people coming back and they seem to be recovering fairly well from it. but it was very harsh. and when you think about the food chain that has to be put in place for them to serve oysters in this restaurant, it's a long chain all the way back to the fisheries that are having a more difficult time down in billy's parish. >> we still have areas that are having trouble. we want people to know the seafood is good. it's never been better. but we still have areas in our parish that where the oil was so thick during that spill, it still is recurring, coming up from the bottom, and we are still seeing that oil in certain isolated areas. >> just last week congress passed the restore act where they are going to target a lot of the fines that bp has to pay to restore the coast. so we are moving in the right direction. but it was a kick in the pants. >> you would not expect after this horeyeball -- how many

millions of gallons, we have to expect that it just didn't go away. it's not all hunky-dory. and my fear is that they -- whoever they are, know that it isn't all ok. and they have to make sure that it looks ok. >> in the areas where we see it coming up, it's called nonrecoverable oil now, and i don't know what that means. but although you don't see those horrible pictures of birds covered in oil, it's still a sticky substance on that marsh grass killing the marsh grass. so it's still going to be a problem we'll deal with for years to come. >> nice to have you, billy. >> thank you. >> stick around and have breakfast with us. >> great. >> we have to take a short break. still ahead this morning, kind of a chance to talk to some of the diners here at the ruby slipper cafe in new orleans. we'll talk about some of the big political stories we've been talking about, health care and the economy. you're watching "starting point."

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welcome back, everybody. we're coming to you live from the ruby slipper cafe here in new orleans. and i'm just crashing someone's breakfast table. good morning. give me your name, sir. >> dominick. >> your name? >> joe ann. >> and this is your sister, right? >> linda. >> let's start with you. why don't you tell me a little bit as we talk about politics. what are the issues most important to you? people seem to poll and say economy, economy, economy. would you agree? >> yes, i do. i've been teaching for 46 years.

and over the years, i've seen the students change. >> how do you mean? >> well, it's a gimme society now. and a lot of them don't want to work. they just want the teacher to give them a grade. and of course you can't do that. you have to have standards. so we are hoping that this next election, there will be a real change. and people will start valuing work and doing what they are supposed to do. >> do you think a presidential election can change that? it sounds like you're saying you'd like to see president obama out. >> yes. >> and mitt romney come in. >> yes. well, because he's successful. he knows how to make money. he's not living off of the people. >> this is your husband, correct? >> no. >> that's your husband. ok. i'm going to ask you about your brother-in-law. he says bringing in a new president could change the minds and hearts of students. would you agree with that? >> well, i think at this time, we see more students who are vocationally oriented. and it would be nice if the

federal government would give tax rebates to maybe american companies that would bring manufacturing back. one of the issues that's being discussed on our radio talk shows these days is the united states is purchasing all of our flags from china. what does that say about us? >> and what do you think it says about us? >> i think that we need to bring manufacturing back to this country, and buy american flags from american manufacturers. that gives jobs. it creates jobs. and we need jobs. >> do you guys have political fights and arguments at home? >> sometimes. that is true. sometimes we do argue about issues because we are not strictly one way or the other. so every election has the people who are running for office, and each person has a fair shot in our home. and so sometimes we do discuss issues. but when we go into that voting booth, the curtain is closed,

and -- >> that sounds very civilized. a family that votes together, stays together. well, thank you for letting me crash your breakfast. i certainly appreciate it. we want to mention that we're expecting those job numbers in literally just a minute or so. we'll bring them to you live when they happen. and we're back right after this. stay with us. you're watching "starting point." one is for a clean, wedomestic energy future that puts us in control. our abundant natural gas is already saving us money, producing cleaner electricity, putting us to work here in america and supporting wind and solar. though all energy development comes with some risk, we're committed to safely and responsibly producing natural gas. it's not a dream.

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welcome back, everybody. as promised, we've got those big june jobs report numbers, they have just been released by the labor department. it looks like 80,000 jobs have been created. that's 15,000 lower than some

estimates we talked about this morning. also the unemployment number is unchanged at 8.2%. let's get right to poppy harlow. >> not good numbers at all for the obama administration. we'll hear what the president says a little later today. what came in from the government is that we created 80,000 jobs in the month of june. that is worse than expected. the estimate was 95,000. what we saw specifically was the government sector shed 4,000 jobs, and the private sector as we've been seeing this trend adding 84,000 jobs. the unemployment rate stays as expected. as you said, at 8.2%. here is a real kicker here. here is the problem. we have had anemic jobs growth for the past three months and that continues through june. also some revisions to tell you about. in april, we thought that 77,000 jobs were created. it was actually revised lower to 68,000 jobs. in may, we thought 69,000 jobs were added. it's been revised a little higher to 77,000 jobs. so no real net change there.

but some revisions to tell you about. i also want to tell you, the only real silver lining in this report is that we saw an increase in jobs in one sector, and that is professional and business services. when you talk about the number of americans unemployed, 12.7 million, that stays the same from the previous month. 5.4 million americans, and this is critical, are long-term unemployed. that means they have been out of work for six months or longer. it is harder for them to find work. that didn't get any better at all. let's talk about the politics of all of this. the obama administration says, look, through the most of our administration, we have seen improvement, and that is what we're talking about here. their real problem they saw accelerated improvement into the fall, and since then we have seen a decline. this is the real problem here. you've got four more jobs reports, just four after this, until the election. this is critical. soledad? >> all right. poppy harlow walking us through some of the numbers. thanks, appreciate it. let's get right to our

representative from the state of georgia. nice to have you with us. let's start first to your reaction. 80,000 jobs created last month. >> soledad, that's pretty pitiful. you are talking about 77,000 jobs, the adjusted number from last month going up to 80,000 jobs this month. an increase of 3,000 jobs. this cup is not nearly half full. that is really bad. and where those jobs are created, probably people, professionals, helping people go through bankruptcy. no manufacturing jobs. and much less than what was anticipated. so this is bad news for the president. but more importantly, it's really bad news for the american people. >> earlier this morning, i was talking to ken rogoff, the world famous economist, and he said, listen, at the end of the day, it's not really correct to lay the blame at the foot of the president. here's what he said.

>> i think no matter who had been president the last four years, we would have seen very sluggish recovery. it's normal after a financial crisis. but there is a question of where things are going from here. what are the job numbers going to look like the next four years. and i think that's what the debate has to be around. and of course there are two very different visions for the economy between candidate romney and president obama, between growth and perhaps more fairness. >> he also went on to say that he thinks congress could be doing more, that this stalemate in congress is a big part the problem, which would include you, sir. what do you think? >> well, nice spin on his part. good try. but we all know that it's about the economy. who was it that said that, after all? president bill clinton said, hey, it's the economy, stupid. i think that was back in 1992. and he was absolutely right. the same thing back in the late

'70s with president jimmy carter. you know, the president can put all kind of spin on it. he's got a nice swagger. a toothy smile. shows lots of gum. but what the american people want now is a little bit more gumption, a little less gum. >> mayor landrieu, he says that the president just smiling as some of these numbers coming out. what do you make of congressman gingrey's comments? >> well, i don't like them. i think the comments are unnecessary. i think the president is doing a good job. we have 27 months of consistent growth. and the professor is right. this is an economy that the world has not seen in a very, very long time. we're in a global economy, and it's really critically important that we all pull together. one of the things that the economist said is that congress has done nothing. it's easy to sit back and criticize. if you're not moving forward fry

trying to find common ground, it's difficult. t it takes two to tango. >> look, it's bad. this is what i do. one, two, three. i mean, that wasn't a response. >> well, let me ask congressman gingrey another question. when you look at the georgia unemployment rate, in 2009 it was 10.5%. it's gone down to 8. %. isn't that an indication there has been progress within your state, and who gets the credit for that progress? >> who gets the credit, our ceo, governor nathan deal. we have a governor that knows what he speaks about and knows about economic development, that keeps our taxes low. stimulates job growth in the state of georgia. but this president has done nothing of the such. these gentlemen from new orleans criticizing the congress, they need to be more specific about that.

and criticize the senate led by harry reid and senator mary landrieu and not steve bitter or some of my republican colleagues from the great state of new orleans. we have passed over 30 job creating bills, and they are stacking up on harry reid's desk like cord wood. and that's why congress is not making any progress. speaker boehner is doing a great job. leader reid is doing a horrendous job. >> congressman, let me ask you a question. if unemployment is down in georgia and down in louisiana, why doesn't the president get the credit for that rather than the blame? y'all seem to keep trying to have it both ways. and you blame him for everything and give him credit for nothing. in the city of new orleans, the unemployment rate is well below the national average. and one reason is because president obama, in partnership with the state and the city, have put a package together that's really working down here and working all over the country. and you want to bust him, you

know, when things are bad, and you don't want to give him any credit when things are good. >> i don't think governor jindal would agree with you there at all. >> well, let me ask you about the 5.5 billion dollars in federal contracts and grants and in stimulus money that your state actually got, right? that funded 193,000 jobs. wouldn't that just be a clear sign that stimulus money helped your state a lot? >> he gives with one hand and he takes away with the other. he has expanded medicaid in the state of georgia over the next 10 years by about 750,000 individuals. it will increase costs to the medicaid program of over $5 billion. so what this program has done for georgia has been a net negative, not a net positive. >> a net negative, and yet your unemployment rate has gone down

a significant number -- >> thanks to a great governor who served with me in the house for 18 years. he is a great ceo. >> congressman phil gingrey joining this morning. we appreciate your time. >> glad to be with you. still ahead this morning, actress, singer, and superstar vanessa williams will stop by with her mom. they have written a book together. we want to talk about that book. "starting point" is coming to you live from new orleans. we're back right after this short break.

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hi and welcome back everybody. you're watching "starting point." we're coming to you live from new orleans today. vanessa williams. i don't even have to give you an introduction. she is a multitalented superstar, actor, singer, producer and now an author. back in 1983, you'll remember williams became the first black miss america. and then had to survive a photo scandal. was able to launch her successful music career. had number one hits like "save the best for last." i could sing a little bit of that for you, but i won't. she went on to star in tv shows like "ugly betty" and "desperate housewives." doing broadway all along. she says she couldn't have done it without her mom, helen, and the two of them later today will be talking at the essence music festival about their mother-daughter relationship that has been a little bit rocky at times. also the topic of their new book, "you have no idea." how they survived hollywood, pageants, love, and each other.

nice to have you both. i love this book. it was such a great read. let's start with the how we survived each other part. the book is really blunt. you don't play at all. you're touch on each other, and were tough on each other, and didn't always get along. why don't we start with your mom first. >> ok. >> why did you think writing a book about a famous daughter was such a good idea? >> well, it wasn't my idea. it was her idea, and i said ok. she said you're going to do this, and i said ok. but there were times when she would -- we would talk about things, and then incidents and things that had happened, and i would correct her and say that's not really what happened. this is what really happened. so that was kind of the idea. >> your perspectives are very different. >> exactly. >> and you do go through the book setting up a chapter and you get to weigh in on each others' take. >> she has a strong personality. and it's an opportunity to show my personality growing up and how i was influenced by her strict hand at times. me being defiant at times. and i really want toed to talk

about how i grew up. >> why did you start with the scandal? >> i knew people wanted to jump into the book and jump into that. and i think when people start reading the book, they say i couldn't put it down. that's what i wanted. >> what you talk about when your daughter finally showed you the photos, you saw them and you heard about the scandal coming, and it was dgoing to derail the whole thing, you said you looked into her eyes in the photos and you said it was really disturbing to you. what did you see? >> a lot of people looked at the photos and the sensationalism of the nudeness and everything. but when i looked at them, i looked in her eyes and saw that she was very, very uncomfortable. it was something that was not part of her being. and there was a sadness there. and i looked at the depth of sadness, and sorrow, in her eyes. and that's what i saw. and i understood, you know, where she was coming from. >> you said at points you were

not black enough for the black people. not white enough for the white people. how much of that has defined you, and how much of that has changed even over the last 20 years? >> that happens when you're a trail blazer. when you're the first, you have to knock the door down and you're up for scrutiny. you have to take it. at 20 years old, i look back and i see -- my oldest daughter just turned 25. one 23. my son is 19. when i think what i had to do at 20 years old, and i see how lovely their lives are, and i think wow, i grew up fast. it was the school of hard knocks. but you do your best. >> you remind me a lot of my mom. my mom used to say, i don't play with my kids. i'm a mom who rolls on the floor and tickles the kids. she was much more of the tough, i'm in charge. that's my job as a mom. >> as a parent, i always felt that as a parent i had to be a parent. and especially in the formative years, the growing up.

she had friends that were her friends and her peers. i was the parent. and i'm still the parent. >> by dad did play, though. he was the one that would go bike riding, skiing with us. go fishing with us. you know, help us work around the house with him. mow the lawn. >> the book is amazing. i really, really love it. we'll be talking later this morning. at the festival. how exciting. >> and having some breakfast. >> have an entire plate of french toast, please. we'll take a short break. back in just a moment. stay with us. supports tax breaks overseas. insourcing. industry and favors bring jobs home. it matters. this message.

hey, welcome back, everybody. you're watching "starting point." breaking news to get to. just moments ago, the june jobs report number was released it. shows that the economy added 80,000 jobs last month. that's a lower number than expected. we were estimating somewhere around 95,000 jobs. the unemployment rate holding steady at 8.2%. a sign of weak economic growth. and the report is not exactly the news that the obama administration was hoping for. austin goolsby is an economics professor.

he is joining us this morning. nice to see you, sir. give me your reaction to these numbers. >> very deceiving. well, it's in the realm of expectations. they were pretty week expectations. i think these numbers largely reflect that the economy's growth has slowed down this year compared to last year. and whenever that happens, you're going to see that happen in the jobs numbers. this is actually a little better than i predicted it was going to be. and i think a lot of this events in europe just continue to drag on people's mind and drag on the markets. and you're seeing that play out in the jobs. >> you know, i was talking just a few moments ago to congressman gingrey, and he was saying that even though his state is doing better, the president doesn't get credit for that. the governor does. but the president gets the blame for the jobs number. how far do you think the jobs

number goes? is it the president's fault? the congress' fault? who's to blame here? >> well, i think that none of the credit or blame should go to any of the politicians. they are not the main ones doing the work here. it's the private sector that has either got to rise or fall. if you look on the government side, the government job losses have been pretty extreme over the last two or three years. there have been no contributions from that side. so i think it's a little weird for people to be taking credit or blame. now, that said, we've got to get the growth rate up of the economy. i mean, that's totally clear that if we're only growing 2% or less than 2%, that we are going to have a string of jobs numbers that aren't very impressive. now, there's a lot of variability on any one month's report. but the trend for this year has been in this kind of meh,

middling sort of range, and that's what you would expect when the economy is growing at the kind of rates it's been growing. >> and how likely do you think that is when you are in an election year, when you see a congress that's in a stalemate really with the president, and -- how long should you expect that? >> look, if you're waiting for the salvation to come from washington, look, you can forget it. they are not going to do much it doesn't look like before the election at the earliest. i think the other big thing weighing on us is the threat of financial crisis that's coming from europe. so i will say i'm a little pessimistic in the immediate term that we are going to be able to get the growth rate up. but, look, we've just got to keep plugging away. we ended a bubble. we can't go back to doing those things, overconsuming and building more houses. we've got to shift to more

manufacturing, more exports, more investment, and that does take time. but that's the way we've got to do it. that's the only sustainable thing. >> austan goolsbee, economics professor at the university of chicago. thank you for your time this morning. we appreciate it. >> thank you. we have to take a short break. we're back in just a moment. rld♪ ♪ it goes something like this ♪ everybody here is a friend of mine ♪ ♪ everybody, tell me, have you heard? ♪ [ female announcer ] pop in a whole new kind of clean with new tide pods... a powerful three-in-one detergent that cleans, brightens, and fights stains. just one removes more stains than the 6 next leading pacs combined. pop in. stand out.

you've been listening to khari allen lee and the new creative collective. they have a new album out. they are terrific, and we very, very much appreciate them. we only have time for "end point" to talk about the essence music festival. michelle, take it away for us. >> thank you, soledad. for being here. we're excited about the annual festival. the jobs report, health care, but it's really much more than that. it's about what is happening in our community. and we know that these issues actually hit black communities and black women harder than other communities. so there will be important discussions. roland will be there to join us for those discussions. and we'll be talking about what the vote is about this year. so we're excited about that. and then we're excited about the music as well. >> of course we are always excited about that. >> mr. mayor? >> we love to have essence here in the city.