the difference here is an election year. dana bash is live for us on capitol hill and why now? why this debate now? >> there are lots of reasons. first and foremost that some democrats i talked to admit this is a change in focus. and a change that, understandably they want to put forward because the big economic issue we were talking about late last week was how the jobs report was so dismal and how the economy is just in a terrible place for the president. so he absolutely used the bully pulpit to talk about the issues they believe according to internal polling and public polling as well really benefits them the idea that middle class americans should get a tax extension and those who are wealthier should not. and that is with the way that they want to frame the debate when it comes to the economy. >> you mention when it comes to this the polls are on his side. we pointed out today he has the public on his side. why might republicans think this is a winning issue for them?

>> brooke, because they feel that history is on their side and that any time the discussions about tax cuts or more specifically tax hikes, any time they can paint democrats as wanting to raise taxes it's bad for democrats. and i just want to show you a quote from one of the top republicans to give you an illustration of how they're framing it on the republican side. this is from the number two republican jon kyl who said president obama's push to raise taxes on those earning more than $250,000 including 940,000 business owners, could not come at a worse time. friday's disappointing job numbers and the continuing crawl of economic recovery indicate job creators are still struggling yet the president would have these business owners pay more in taxes to pay more for government spending. they're trying to put meat on the bones and give specifics on who they're talking about, almost a million business owners, not just some hypothetical discussion but real people they say will be hurt if the taxes for the highest

earners go away. >> thank you. i want to bring in the chief business correspondent with "u.s. news and world report." rick, we saw something today. i want your comment. everyone look at this graphic here, the tax burden borne by people who make more than the magic number of $250,000 a year. at the right side of the graphic you see the line ticks up a tiny bit. that is the president out there proposing that the top federal tax rate increase from 35% to 39.6%. just a little bit there. what the graphic shows is that historically speaking that's not all that high, rick, correct? >> that's correct. in fact, taxes on the top earners are far lower than they have been historically and taxes for most earners are lower than they have been historically. and this is basically the result of the bush tax cuts which went into effect in 2001 and 2003 and

part of the rub here, brooke, is we've all gotten pretty used to this. i don't think too many americans are saying, gee. i need to put money aside for when tax rates are going to go back up. >> a good point. >> we've had ten years when americans wealthy and middle class both have basically become conditioned to these lower tax rates. this is going to be extremely difficult when we have to -- we'll have to raise taxes which most economists will tell you is inevitable sooner or later. >> we've seen the tax cuts extended already for two years. now the president is proposing to extend them again. this isn't free, is it? >> no, it's not. the extensions of these tax cuts have basically been adding to the national debt for the last few years. we are very lucky because we are able to borrow in order to finance lower taxes today. everybody who's paying attention to this problem knows this money is going to have to be paid back in some way and that's why they're calling this the fiscal cliff. it is a huge burden once we actually decide how we're going to have to pay back all this

money. what we hope happens is there is some sort of coherent plan to start small, impose the paybacks gradually, and get to it over time. that is going to take a combination of tax increases and spending cuts. there is no way around the fact it will take both. what is going to happen for the rest of this election and certainly into 2013 is a growing and huge fight about exactly what those cuts in taxes are going to be. >> rick, you talk to almost anyone and they know this thing isn't going to get worked out by the end the year. what happens to you and me and people watching? what happens to our taxes and when does this thing finally get decided? >> welcome to the bizarre u.s. political economy. here's the situation. we know that if congress does nothing everybody's taxes will go up by a lot. we also assume that will not happen but we're not going to know exact details until the very last second. it's also possible, brooke, that taxes do technically go up because if they don't come to a deal and then once the new congress comes in they pass something that is basically retroactive. this is why business leaders are tearing their hair out right

now. it's just unbelievable for people who run businesses that they don't know what their taxes are going to be next year. they also don't know what the government's policies are going to be about spending. they don't know if we'll have another fiasco about extending the government's borrowing limit in early 2013 which is going to have to happen. i think the result is we're going to see basically an economy in a state of paralysis until the end of the year. at least until the election because business leaders simply are not going to do anything. they're not going to hire, not going to make any major investment decisions until they know what is going to happen. >> closer and closer to the edge of the fiscal cliff, rick, frightening. thank you. >> we'll walk right up to it though. >> we are. president obama and mitt romney may be neck and neck in a lot of polls but when it comes to cash romney is king for now. check this out. the republican along with his party's national committee raised, look at these figures, more than $106 million last month. on the other side of the screen you see the $71 million mark. that is what president obama has raised in an e-mail to supporters the obama campaign sent a thank you for the best month of this election but in

the very next paragraph warned the republicans are way ahead. got a lot more for you in the next hour. watch. a husband facing charges after his wife kills herself. one lawyer says, i've never seen a case like this. and bashar al assad says the u.s. is behind the violence in syria. and the u.s. fires back with the usual response. get ready. the prices at the grocery store may be about to go up because farmers across america are in peril. [ male announcer ] now you can swipe... scroll...

tap... pinch... and zoom... in your car. introducing the all-new cadillac xts with cue. ♪ don't worry. we haven't forgotten, you still like things to push. [ engine revs ] the all-new cadillac xts has arrived, and it's bringing the future forward.

♪ atmix of energies.ve the world needs a broader that's why we're supplying natural gas to generate cleaner electricity... that has around 50% fewer co2 emissions than coal. and it's also why, with our partner in brazil, shell is producing ethanol - a biofuel made from renewable sugarcane. >>a minute, mom! let's broaden the world's energy mix. let's go.

more news unfolding. rapid fire. roll it. in texas there as federal trial under way today over this new voter i.d. law. the law says texans have to show photo identification in order to cast a ballot, but the u.s. attorney general's office blocked the law, saying it could make it tougher for minorities, for the disabled to vote. the texas ag points out at least four other states require photo i.d. for people to cast their ballots. lance armstrong is suing to try to block the doping charges against him. the u.s. anti-doping agency accuses the seven-time tour de france champ of using performance enhancing drugs. armstrong's lawsuit says the agency's proceedings are rigged and they go on to accuse the agency of looking to snare a big fish to justify its existence. the anti-doping agency says armstrong's lawsuit doesn't have a leg to stand on. at a florida courthouse this morning people started throwing

punches causing an all out brawl. >> hey! hey! >> wow. look at this. this is unbelievable. according to our affiliate wftv this fight broke out between a murder victim's family and the suspect's family after a hearing was canceled. police broke up the scuffle and two people were arrested. today is the day of mourning in the mountains of southern russia. more than 170 people reportedly died over the weekend as floods swept through the area. survivors are identifying the dead today and a criminal investigation is under way into whether local officials did enough to warn people of the incoming wall of water. here is a question. was palestinian authority president yasser arafat poisoned? his wife seems to think so. it was revealed last week that

high levels of this radioactive substance was found in some of his clothes and now the green light has been given by the current palestinian leader to exhume arafat's body and try to find out for sure. ah yes, the running of the bulls in pamplona, spain. they are off, but one american is in the hospital today. you see these groups run alongside these bulls. a 39-year-old man was gored in the leg trying to out run one of the animals. in total here 15 runners have been hospitalized since the traditional running of the bulls began saturday. is america partially to blame for the explosions, the shootings and deaths in syria? who is making that claim? what syria's president said to peace leaders today.

kofi annan has now arrived in iran as part of his strategy to end the oodshed in syria. he met earlier today with syrian president assad. afterward he said assad has agreed to what he is calling an approach to ending the violence. no details as to what that might entail. absolutely no letup in the violence meantime. activists say 30 people have died today alone across syria as the government continues its crackdown. i talked about syria with the senior fellow in arab politics for the washington institute in policy and i asked why u.s. officials continue to insist assad's days are numbered but nothing seems to change. >> we had an opportunity to be straight forward about this in geneva. we didn't do that. the answer to the question is a

lot more people have to die according to washington's position in syria before there is any firmer stance. i think in the end assad will go. i think it is going to be much longer than we thought. the problem about this is yes a lot of syrians will die. that is horrific. syria has one of the largest stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons in the middle east. as the state devolves fan that material gets loose that is a threat to our national security. if we continue the current approach with the assad regime devolving over time we are headed into a situation where those kinds of materials could get loose and that's a danger. >> thank you. andrew also told me the main problem with the west's strategy toward syria is there have been no consequences behind just tough rhetoric for assad's violence policies. sharks lurking dangerously close. more sightings off cape cod over the weekend. why swimmers are diving right in and not running right out. plus could your grocery prices be going up soon?

some farmers across america are in hell they say. we'll explain. great shot. how did the nba become the hottest league on the planet? by building on the cisco intelligent network they're able to serve up live video, and instant replays, creating fans from berlin to beijing. what can we help you build? nice shot kid. the nba around the world built by the only company that could. cisco.

a sweltering heat wave is putting it on your electric bill. let's begin with you with the new york stock exchange there. i know, everybody knows the weeks of record breaking heat, you know, withering the u.s. corn crop as well. another spin on this awful heat story. i know it's a huge deal. corn is in everything. >> corn is in everything.

you really have no idea. the stuff that i found out is crazy. okay. for instance frozen pizza. it prevents the tomato sauce from seeping into the crust so it keeps it crispy. marshmallows. that's not such a big surprise. it keeps them, the shelf life longer. gummi bears. not much of a surprise there. wall paper paste? crayons? >> what? >> yes. i'm serious. the sticky adhesive thing on wall paper is corn. yeah. okay. it extends the life of fruit and vegetables because they use it in a citric acid spray. so it makes them pretty longer. corn gluten is obviously given to help obese pets lose weight. >> really? who would have ever thought? >> i know. crazy stuff. >> you did serious corn homework today. with the results, my friend. i'm guessing this heat is killing the corn crops, which is bad news. >> exactly. it is bad news. that's not funny. it's the worst crop condition since 1988. the u.s. by the way is the world's largest corn exporter.

last year's crop earned almost $77 billion. the ripple effect is huge. corn is a key ingredient in live stock feed so it can drive up prices on beef, pork, chicken. if you take for example mcdonald's, right? obviously they buy a lot of beef. they spent 800 million pounds they bought last year. so it's a very important thing for all of the live stock throughout the united states. beverage makers have to start paying more for corn syrup so soda costs could rise as well in the near future. >> i had no idea. i knew corn was in a lot but it's in everything it seems. >> everything. >> we need the heat to go away so these folks aren't hurting as much when it comes to prices. thank you. next sandy beaches to lurking predators beneath the waves. cape cod. i love new england. love the beaches up there. but when you see sharks i'm going to go the other way. >> need a bigger boat. >> remember that? for "jaws?"

♪ >> in. keep going. you can do this all day. >> frightening. it happened last summer though. >> it happens every year. these sharks come back and feed on the seals. it's a normal progression of where their food source is. when you see pictures like this you don't want to be in the water though some people do want to be in the water. i've seen pictures with a guy in a kayak staring behind him at the fin out of the water. well, this just happens this year, a little bit earlier. it's been happening the past couple days because the water has warmed up a little bit. the water is about as warm as it should be by the middle part of august. so all of a sudden you have temperatures here where the water -- that's martha's vineyard, cape cod, about 60 degrees out there. that is not warm if swimming in a pool but it's warm for these sharks and warm for the seals and they migrate to where the warm water is. about 3 to 6 degrees warmer than usual doesn't surprise you considering the 3 to 10 degrees we've been above normal on temperatures.

the water is probably just as warm too. if it's been warm everywhere the water warms up with the sunshine just like our land does. >> i was reading a boston herald article talking about the cape kods, had the moratorium going and with everyone knowing there were the great whites so many people, actually more people, like business is booming because of the sharks. want to see the sharks in the water from afar. >> there's a lot of jokes online. a lot going on. how do i stay safe? the funniest one i saw was don't wear a seal suit. >> very funny. >> they are saying truthfully stay away from the seals. they haven't said don't get in the water yet. it is stay away from the seals. thank you. that's your reporter roulette on this monday. the picture of the president next to a huge, blood splatter. you are about to hear from the man who says the blood of a 16-year-old american boy is on the president's read, a stunning read in "esquire" magazine. ♪

[ slap! ] [ slap! slap! slap! ] [ male announcer ] your favorite foods fighting you? fight back fast with tums. calcium rich tums goes to work in seconds. nothing works faster. ♪ tum tum tum tum tums

you probably don't know him but you likely know who his father was. abdul al awlaki was 16 years old the night his life ended in southeastern yemen. he was sitting around a fire under the moon with friends when a u.s. drone wiped him out.

like his father, he was a u.s. citizen, but unlike his father, the infamous anwar awlaki, he was no terrorist. he was one of the accidental victims of president barack obama's drone program, which is detailed in this new "esquire" magazine article entitled "the lethal presidency of barack obama." tom juneau wrote this article and joins us now. it's quite an article, tom. i truly appreciate you being on. you address so much of this article -- the way you write it you write like you're writing directly to the president. can you just sum up your message to him for me? >> my message to him would be that we understand that you know you have to do what you have to do to keep this country safe but you have to keep everything entirely in secret especially when you kill an american citizen.

>> you quote his chief counterterrorism adviser as saying this. we discuss, we debate, we disagree on drone strikes. but how can they have time -- you bring this precise question up in your article. how do they have time to sign off on each person when you say your number is thousands of people killed with these drone strikes? >> really that's the question of the story. they speak sometimes off the record about the killing of anwar al awlaki and how much deliberation went into that and that that deliberation sort of counted as due process to this american citizen who was, you know, accused of plotting terror. but the killing of anwar al awlaki's son must have followed very little of those things. it seems to have been a mistake, an accident. but it sort of contradicts this narrative that they put out that every killing is done with great care and great precision.

in fact, john brennan, the counterterrorism adviser, said a year and a half ago that there were no mistakes made. that the process had gotten to such a point that there were no accidental drone strikes. >> and to the point of your piece and how you sort of weave these two narratives together speaking directly to the president in the story of this 16-year-old american boy who is ultimately killed in yemen, you mentioned the leaks and the administration certainly has bragged about that but they've been mute as you point out when it comes to these mistakes, this young man's name, probably a name the president has never uttered you say in your piece. >> yeah. he has definitely not uttered the name. neither has the cia. neither has really anybody. i've talked to quite a few sources. and at the end of my research i tried to get some sort of comment from somebody. on this particular strike and zip. nothing. even though once again this is

an american citizen. >> want more on this 16-year-old boy in a moment but the next question, one of many, is what happens then to other countries or other leaders and they get ahold of this drone technology? >> we call the story the lethal presidency of barack obama. we're saying he has inherited and has expand thed power and will hand it on not only to his successor as president either in november or four years from now but it will be handed on to other countries. part of what they are saying is we are going to sort of try to pass on this model for other people using this this technology. >> does that worry? >> it totally worries me. one of the things they've been saying all along is that they

are -- this procedure, this process is moral because they are moral men involved in it. and our constitution is sort of built to sort of guard against that very presumption. >> let me just jump in. look at the alternative. what would we do, invade sovereign countries, round up the terror suspects for prosecutions that would likely never happen? when you look at the alternative might that be worse? >> well yeah. i think that war as an alternative is worse. probably letting these people go as an alternative is worse. but at the very least, we shouldn't -- the administration should not be able to keep the killing of an american citizen especially one not even accused of any crimes secret. so i mean you can start there. i know that other people have also suggested that there be a judicial process, a special court to sort of at least add some sort of counterweight to a process that right now takes place entirely within the executive branch and in secret.

>> you talk about the evolution of the definition of the collateral damage and with that i just want to end with sort of how you end your piece with this 16-year-old boy. we talked about abdul al awlaki. you have this e-mail from his aunt. this is part i wanted to quote. some may say abdulrahman was collateral damage. he was not in a cave. he was simply a kid enjoying his time in the country side. the ones that were in the wrong place and time were the american drones, nothing else. do you believe president obama through his control of the drone program murdered this boy? >> i think that he killed him with a program that has expanded the use of killing in a reckless manner. >> your piece is in "esquire" magazine. i appreciate it. thank you. >> thank you, brooke. bye. he says his wife asked him

to leave the house and he did. he also says when he came home she was dead. what he's telling police and why he is behind bars this afternoon. but first, each week cnn's dr. sanjay gupta profiles innovators from all walks of life, all fields of endeavor. his program is called "the next list" and this sunday he talks with jose gomez marques who is turning toys into medical tools. >> i'm going to create the equivalent of what lego is today for toys, i want to have not just -- the movement of democratized innovation in health care. i want to do that for medical technologies. my name is jose gomes marques and i use toys to make affordable medical devices. ♪

♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] what's the point of an epa estimated 42 miles per gallon if the miles aren't interesting? the lexus ct hybrid. this is the pursuit of perfection. the lexus ct hybrid. an accident doesn't have to slow you down. with better car replacement available only with liberty mutual auto insurance, if your car's totaled,

we give you the money for a car one model year newer. to learn more, visit us today. responsibility. what's your policy?

it is a strange case renewing the debate around assisted suicide. a texas woman killed herself and detectives say her husband knew.

detectives say mark kelly left his wife alone at their apartment last week and when he returned the next day he found her dead on the floor and suicide notes around the apartment. cnn's legal analyst joins me from new york. first, do we even know why this wife took her own life? >> we don't. it's unclear at this point. some are saying she certainly suffered from depression and was very depressed about their financial situation. apparently she wasn't working, had lost her job, and that he had lost his primary job and was working at different fast food restaurants. so those are some of the drivers that are being tossed around, but it is still unclear as to why she took her life and also as to whether he knew the reasoning behind it. >> so he is being charged. what is he being charged with? how rare is this that, i don't know, a significant other is prosecuted or charged for assisted suicide?

>> well, he has been charged with assisting in her suicide, and that is illegal in texas. his exposure is about two years in prison because this is a felony in texas. i've got to tell you, brooke, it is illegal in most states to assist in suicide. but what's fascinating and very different about this particular case is when you hear about assisted suicides you certainly hear about a more over the act. you hear about someone really taking proactive steps and really assisting perhaps feeding medication to someone or pulling the trigger, helping pull the trigger. this case seems to be very different. they're accusing him of assisting her suicide in that he purchased what's commonly referred to as a suicide bag which is sort of tubing and helium. and so he purchased everything and may have set it up but then he left and went to a hotel room and so she would have done this

by herself in that sense. in all the cases that i've seen assisted suicides prosecuted i've never seen this sort of fact pattern. one has to ask why would prosecutors go forward with a case like this? >> yeah. they were pointing that out in the "houston chronicle" article i was reading. that sliver of the story makes it so unique. you mentioned assisted suicide laws. certainly they differ from state to state and in most states it's illegal. >> that's right. in most states it is illegal. and so we've heard about these assisted suicide cases and i think dr. kevorkian brought this to the forefront but, again, it is usually a very over the act that takes place. i have not seen this kind of fact pattern, so it is unusual and i think many people will be following this because assisted suicide is something that does take place and what's also interesting in this case is this use of helium to assist in suicide or to take one's life.

we've seen an uptick in that as well. >> sunny hostin, thank you. >> thanks. a mystery illness is killing kids in cambodia. the doctors say they think they finally have a lead here. turns out a common childhood illness named enterovirus 71 may be to blame. 64 children have died some within hours of showing up at the hospital. a good number of them tested positive for this particular virus which is a common cause of foot-and-mouth disease. dr. sanjay gupta is in cambodia. what have you learned? >> brooke, there are some answers now as to what might be causing this and specifically in the form of something known ascent row virus 71. what they did was tested samples in these children. there were 66 children total. they were able to get 24 samples and of those 15 were positive for enterovirus 71. as you can tell by looking at the numbers it is not a complete answer. there's also something else. it has to do with just how

deadly this particular illness is. these children often within 24 hours of being admitted to the hospital are dying. they often start off with mild fever but then quickly progress. they will develop inflammation of the brain, really catastrophic brain swelling, and then from there something happens to the lungs. the doctors told me they've never seen before. the lungs almost are completely destroyed within a very short time and that's ultimately what leads to death. the problem is, brooke, it is very hard to reconcile enterovirus 71 alone as a cause for all that i have just described. right now investigators are continuing to look zeroing in on perhaps other path generaogens other toxicity from a medication or something else causing the problems in these children. that is where the investigation is heading right now. as more details come to us we'll certainly bring them to you. >> thank you so much for us in cambodia. a man in texas still worries about his father's condition

even though his father passed away sometime ago because beneath his father's burial site, fraking, and the sun wants the drilling stopped. he is about to tell me all about it live. and some difficult ones. but, through it all, we've persevered, supporting some of the biggest ideas in modern history. so why should our anniversary matter to you? because for 200 years, we've been helping ideas move from ambition to achievement. and the next great idea could be yours. ♪ ...more talk on social security... ...but washington isn't talking to the american people. [ female announcer ] when it comes to the future of medicare and social security, you've earned the right to know. ♪ ...so what does it mean for you and your family? [ female announcer ] you've earned the facts. ♪ washington may not like straight talk, but i do. [ female announcer ] and you've earned a say.

get the facts and make your voice heard on medicare and social security at earnedasay.org.

flo flooe. less than two weeks after announcing their split tom cruise and katie holmes have signed a divorce settlement they say is in the best interests of their young daughter. holmes filed for divorce on june

28 seeking sole custody of 6-year-old suri. that was quick. >> brooke, boy did this happen at lightning speed. we saw the papparazzi photos over the weekend of katie putting in those hours with her attorney in new york around the clock but did we realize they would come to some sort of agreement today? absolutely not. a lot of people are shocked. i want to get to a couple statements from katie holmes' attorney. not a lot of details regarding the settlement. you know an iron clad agreement was perhaps worked out, confidentiality agreement signed, no details regarding the custody agreement. but katie holmes' attorney released a statement saying the case has been settled and the agreement has been signed. we are thrilled for katie and her family and are excited to watch as she embarks on the next chapter of her life. cruise's attorney also put out a statement, a short one, saying that the tom cruise katie holmes case bhans settled with a signed agreement and tom is really

pleased we got there and so am i. this offered a little bit more telling details in terms of the couple, another statement, brooke, that was released through tom cruise and katie holmes' publicist saying we're committed to working together as parents to accomplishing what is in our daughter suri's best interests. we want to keep mat e.r.a.s fekting our family private and express our respect for each other's commitment to each of our respective beliefs and support each other's roles as parents. there you have it. nothing spelled out, brooke, in terms of the time, the custody time with suri, how much time tom will have. how much time katie will have. when she filed for divorce on june 28th it was absolutely clear that she was looking for sole custody at times, wanted final say as it relates to education and religion and she perhaps got a lot of what she was asking for here. >> suri's best interests. hopefully that is the priority. thank you very much.

we've talked a lot about fracking but how about fracking under the dead? this is happening in texas. the process of drilling deep, deep underground to extract natural gas is going on below some cemeteries in ft. worth. fracking, the nickname for hydraulic fracturing is blamed for lots of problems from flammable water to earthquakes. no one can deny the jobs and money this can bring into different communities. now some loved ones of those buried in these cemeteries above or near the fracking want the drilling stopped. that includes don young. his father is buried at the handily cemetery in ft. worth. he is also a founder of a local antifracking group and he blames the process on this. this is a photo from his group's website labeled as drilling waste. so, don young, welcome. i know you're on vacation. thanks for taking a moment here at cnn for us. i've read that you say fracking under cemeteries is immoral.

how do you feel about this? does it disgust you? are you angered? are you saddened? >> well, i think it's equally immoral to the living as the dead, actually. of course, my father's not around. he's been buried for many years. but it does bother me to think of him being disturbed that way or his body being disturbed. but more importantly, i think, and the bigger question here is what's going on to the living than the dead. >> with your father, though, and the thought of, you know, perhaps this -- the noise, the drilling, i don't know how it might affect caskets let's say -- what kind of conversation have you had with this particular cemetery? >> with the cemetery itself? >> yes, sir. >> no conversations at all with them. it's a rural cemetery. actually no one is in charge of it. >> okay. we reached out to the texas cemetery association. let me tell you what they told us in part. it believes that if a temporary drilling activity is allowed on property owned by the cemetery

such as activity should be limited to areas where burials do not exist and conducted with the utmost deference for the hallowness of the ground and utmost respect for those interred in the cemetery and for their families. i also read, don, that this fracking happens way deep below the surface, 7,000, 8,000 feet under the grave, so do you know of any instances where the graves were disturbed? is that your worry? >> well, to some extent. i'm sure there is some going on but i'm sure it's important to know the fracking is very close to the cemetery and the air is filled with a chemical being emitted from these facilities. so that impacts your visit to a cemetery for example. it's just not the same. it doesn't seem to show the kind of respect that a cemetery should have. >> i understand. it's something you have to experience when you go say visit your father and visit his grave site is that right? >> absolutely.

>> the cemetery owners from what i understand earn some money with the fracking and part of that actually goes to make the grounds at the cemeteries beautiful, keeping maybe your father's grave site maybe not based upon some of the photos we saw but it should be upkept. it's not illegal. and i know i just have to point this out you've been a critic of fracking. is your frustration perhaps more about your father and his final resting place or is it just sort of the proliferation of the controversial process? >> no. it's the bigger picture here. again, the living people in ft. worth. the town has been devastated by drilling. just a few years ago there were absolutely no gas wells in the city of ft. worth. less than eight years ago. we now have over 1500 pushing 2,000 and in the barnett shelf which surrounds the city we're pushing almost 20,000 gas wells in a place where there were almost none eight years ago. so the bigger problem is the city has been industrialized and that includes the cemeteries,

shopping malls, our homes, churches, the rivers, the green space. it's all been impacted by these 20,000 gas wells. it's not a pretty picture. >> i'm sure this is something we don't even want to begin to consider but i'll ask you. if this i'm going to ask you, if this bothers you so much, would you consider relocating your father? >> absolutely, i would. not only my father, but my self and my family as well. >> don young, don, thank you. we appreciate you coming on. texting is like blinking. are you getting a connection addiction? find out how our computers are rewiring our brains? next. ♪ ♪ ♪ ♪

i bought the car because of its efficiency. i bought the car because i could eliminate gas from my budget. i don't spend money on gasoline. it's been 4,000 miles since my last trip to the gas station. it's pretty great. i get a bunch of kids waving at me... giving me the thumbs up. it's always a gratifying experience. it makes me feel good about my car. i absolutely love my chevy volt. ♪ i absolutely love my chevy volt. our current dividend tax rate will expire this year, sending taxes through the roof and hindering economic recovery. the consequences? millions of americans will see their taxes on dividend income spike, slowing investment in u.s. companies and jeopardizing development in energy projects that create american jobs. ask congress to stop a dividend tax hike --

for all of us. [ female announcer ] letting her home be turned into a training facility? ♪ this olympian's mom has been doing it for years. she's got bounty. in this lab demo, one sheet of new bounty leaves this surface cleaner than two sheets of the leading ordinary brand. bounty has trap and lock technology to soak up big spills and lock them in. let the spills begin. p&g. proud sponsor of the olympic games.

we are mere minutes from the top of the hour with wolf blitzer. there he is in washington with "the situation room" coming up. i can't hear you. i can see you. go for it. i'm going to fix my ear piece. >> fix your ear piece. i'll tell viewers what to expect. lots of news coming up in "the situation room." we have a special interview, by the way, in the 6:00 p.m. eastern hour. the former governor of mississippi, haley barbour. he was once chairman of the republican national committee. they got a joint project, if you will, going on in mississippi. we'll talk about that. also politics, presidential politics. the president's latest tax proposals that he released today as well. haley barbour coming up. also, a special interview with the son of the former florida governor jeb bush,

george t. bush is here in "the situation room" today. he's trying to generate support for younger americans for republicans and for mitt romney. we'll talk to him about what's coming on. our strategy session. all of our reporters. lots of important news coming up at the top of the hour right in "the situation room." can you hear me? >> i can hear you now, wolf blitzer. thank you so much. i appreciate it. see you in a couple minutes. >> and now to this i need to finish a tweet. wait. i need to return an e-mail. it's beginning to feel like this clip from portlandia. >> dvr. face book update. >> wait. wait. you know what's happening, right? you're spiraling. you're out of control. there's too many things going on. help me breathe. >> be honest. does that feel familiar? that constant pressure to stay connected. so check this out.

the new issue of "newsweek" front and center cover story. i crazy. is the web driving us mad? tony wrote the article. he joins me now. tony, you quote a neuroscientist who says the computer -- this is the part that jumped out at me -- the computer is like electronic cocaine. tony, what is so addictive about the internet and what does it literally do to our brains? >> well, the internet is a place you can go and constantly find rewards. every time your phone rings it's opportunity. social, sexual, professional. so you answer the bell and the brain gives you a squirt of dopamine. the same that your bring gives you if you do cocaine. this is changing our brain. another researcher compared it to climate change. the mental environment is changing as much as our

atmosphere is changing. and you can see this in brain scans with more white matter in the brain. essentially our brains are rewiring themselves for speed. for the on slot. >> it really is changing our brains. we like the rewards of people liking our pictures. little pings on twitter. i'm constantly tweeting through my show. i want to read a quote from your article. the current incarnation of the internet may be making us not just dumber or lonelier, but more depressed and anxious, prone to obsessive-compulsive and attention deficit disorders. what about the internet is a natural extension of us? something that eliminates boundaries and breaks new ground. how about that? >> it certainly is those things. a lot of people wonder, is this just another technology? 50 years for now, won't it be seen as normal? i don't think so. i think this is fundamentally

different. it's not something we can escape. you can't click it off. if you have a job, if you have friends, you're online, and it's in your pocket 24 hours a day. you're checking it. and that intensity is what is troubling some researchers and what is leading to this compulsive engagement. something like two out of three iphone owners have phantom vibration syndrome. they think the phone is going off in their pocket when it's not. >> what? as you've been talking to me, i'm going to out you, my floor director is checking his phone. obviously we're not entertaining enough for him. but the point is, i wake up first thing in the morning. i pull my laptop up in bed. i do. i check my e-mail before i go to bid. i'm connected for work. when i going on vacation, it takes me a couple of days to wean myself off of not kbg connected constantly. how do we know if we have a problem? >> and you still are connected, right? how do you know? when you go online, you should

be goal oriented. if you find hours disappearing and you look up and don't know what you did with them, you may have a problem. if you can't stop, you might have a problem. it's one of those -- you look in the mirror or you read this article and it resonates with you, you may have a problem. it's a good question. researchers are trying to figure out whether or not this is something that can be diagnosed through a simple test. it used to be if you were online more than a certain number of hours a week, more than 38, i think, was an early number, then you may have an issue. we go over 30 hours by tuesday. we have to look at it qualitatively. >> this is very real. >> if it changes your life for a negative, then you have a problem. >> you point out that next year they're going to have an entry for internet addiction. >> there's never been a category of problem, human machine problems, so people relating to

machines in problematic ways. and it's now going to be in the appendix. it's not in the ddm proper, but it's in the on deck circle. it's on its way there. overseas it's considered a national health crisis. 30% of teenagers in china by some estimates have a problematic relationship with the web. and that's really the generation to watch. it's not people in their 30s, 40s, 50s. it's people who are 17, 18 who can't get off line. school kids today on a school day are online for 7 hours on average. that's crazy. >> people are on the internet more than they sleep. more than they sleep. tony, it's frightening. it's the cover of "newsweek." we appreciate you coming on. in two seconds i'm going to check my e-mail again. just saying. in a florida courthouse this morning, people started throwing punches, causing this all out brawl. take a look at this. >> get your hands off! hey! [ shouting ]