fantastic weekend. stay out of the pool, kids. black kids turned out of the swim club. a simple case of overcrowding or a deeper case of outright racism? we'll find out. and no food, no water, lots of desperation. a group of immigrants reportedly held captive in this trailer, now gone. is time running out? but, first, aig paying out millions in bonus money! wait, wait, wait, sit down, stay calm. don't blow your top. there's no new reason for outrage here. i'm ali velshi, i'm filling in today for kyra phillips. okay. the bonuses from aig might be a little too much hype over this. let's put it all into perspective with my good friend and co-host, christine romans, joining me from new york. we saw this happening, the reports of the new payments, everybody was getting all mad again. why are we not getting mad about this? >> because this is the same thing we were mad about in march. we were mad about hundreds of millions of dollars of bonuses going to the people in the financial products division of aig, the very unit that had

brought the company down, brought it to its knees and brought it to the door of american taxpayers who have had to pump $180 billion into this company. there are more payments scheduled for that unit under the 2008 employee contracts. and now they've been kicked over to the treasury department, and the pay czar there, and they're trying to work it out together, how, whether, if, when, under what circumstances is that going to be likely, and it might not be until sometime next year. they're starting to review this. >> if you get mad today, you'll have a few more opportunities to get mad. it is the same bonuses, just the installments in which they get paid. >> that's right. >> what is going between aig and the treasury because it's been determined that the bonuses, as distasteful as they were, as wrong as they seemed to so many people were legal. >> so far the treasury department has made no move on this, other than the fact that they are -- have been asked to review it by aig. there's another smaller bonus pool, though, that people are watching. this is the imminent thing here. it is the $2.4 million bonus

pool to about 43 executives of the -- corporate executives of the overall company, and these are performances bonuses, retention bonuses, again, from 2008 that the pay czar from the treasury department has been asked to review. a much smaller amount. it comes out to about $60,000 per executive. and this is a question that i think a lot of people are asking. if the american taxpayer has $180 billion invested in aig, do you want aig to have executives who are rewarded for performance, or you do not want them to get any kind of bonus or performance compensation at all? >> executives that you have nothing to do with getting outramegous amounts of money are offensive, but if you have pay the taxpayer back, you might start to look at it differently, as if you are somehow hiring these people yourself. >> that's right, ali. we are continuing to see this story unfold. because there's been a lot of money contractually agreed to to the people who work at aig. and you're going to continue to -- how are you going to pay that out? there's still a lot of money that has not been paid out and

the public does not want it to be paid out. >> yeah, that's -- this is the story we'll have to continue to follow. one of the thing the government's going to have to look into in the future when they take over a company or bail them out, should they have the authority, called resolution authority, to be able to cancel all the contracts and get rid of anyone they don't want. we don't -- you and i work together, a show on saturdays and sundays, 1:00 p.m., saturday, 3:00 p.m. sunday, we're not expecting any big bonuses, christine, but one of the big bonuses about our jobs is once in a while we get these fun assignments. >> i know. and if you watch our program this weekend, your money" you'll get to see ali on a bike wearing glasses with a really cool guy with the best mustache i've seen in a long time. >> it's paul tuttle sr. from "american chopper" and we took a ride and she showed us his big empire. he's got orange county choppers and he has a big 30,000-square-footwear house and they mike bikes. and i hope nobody is against the

bonus. >> you take that. >> bye-bye. christine roamens in new york. iou, no thanks. two major banks say they don't have much faith in california's ability to pay their bills. they are going to stop paying ious that the state issued to people and isabouts who were owed money by the state last week. more than 60 credit unions, however, say they'll keep accepting the ious. california has issued 91,000 of those ious and they value at more than $354 million. who gets them? well, taxpayers who were getting tax refunds, let's say, social service agencies, state contractors, people who do business with the state and local and municipal governments. california is trying to deal with its $26 billion budget gap. now, a state that has a budget gap doesn't have a lot of choices, they either increase revenue or decrease expending. the federal government, as you know, can print money. the states cannot do that.

california if not part of the united states would be the world's eighth largest economy. now, if it can happen there, could it happen in your state? we're going to talk about that. and it's not your mom and dad's gm anymore. the automaker emerges from bankruptcy with a lot less debt. fewer brands. fewer dealers, fewer plants, fewer workers and a new majority owner, the u.s. government. what does it mean for you and me? does it mean anything. we'll look under the hood of a leaner, meaner general motors as we push forward. the anger and the accusations are growing over a story that cnn first brought you yesterday. a private philadelphia-area swim club turns away dozens of african-american and hispanic youngsters. is it a simple case of overcrowding? or is it something more sinister lurking under the surface? well, the state of pennsylvania wants to know. susan candiotti has the story. >> reporter: swimming once a week at the spairks huntington valley club near philadelphia. it sounded ideal for 65 kids

described as black and hispanic at creative steps day care summer camp. >> i was excited. the parents and children were excited. >> reporter: but when the youngsters showed up at the pool june 29th, after the day camp signed and paid a $1,900 contract, this happened -- >> the children came running down the hill saying, miss wright, miss wright, those people up there are saying what are those black kids doing in the pool. >> reporter: 12-year-old marcus allen is her son, says he was sitting outside the pool, and heard white adults say this -- >> it was like, oh, wow, these black kids here. then they was saying, oh, i'm afraid they might do something to my children, i don't know if they might steal -- try to steal some of my stuff or might like try to harm my children. i was, like, amazed they were saying things like this, because we're just like you. we're just like your kids. >> not enough room? >> reporter: mrs. wright said the swim club's director told her he was embarrassed and held an emergency board meeting and called her back the next day and say they could not come back. >> he said, the membership says

let the chips fall where they may. >> reporter: you know, marcus, i see tears coming down your face. why does this make you cry? >> because this is kind of, like, sad that, um, like, people still thinking like this. when i felt like this is over. >> this is 2009. children should not be subjected to this. >> reporter: the swim club's director is quoted by local media as saying the day camp kids changed the, quote, atmosphere and complexion of the club. a club member reacted. >> i'll be asking for the president of the club's resignation today, because i think the comment that he made, although taken out of context, was probably one of the stupidest comments i ever heard. >> reporter: he claims the club was simply overcrowded, not racist. he said two other unidentified day camps, both nonminority, also got the boot. >> okay, let's catch up on

what's going on, susan candiotti's right there. susan, you've got an update going on right now? >> reporter: yes. as a matter of fact, a little while ago dr. dusler and his wife stepped outside for the first time since this controversy really heated up. and spoke with us at length on camera. now he's speaking with some local reporters. i'm going to see whether i can interrupt for a moment so we can hear part of what he said. >> -- that it transformed our private club into a summer camp and this is not what we were able to accommodate. >> reporter: i apologize for interrupting, but we're on live right now on cnn, would you be kind enough to summarize for us, mr. dusler, what it is, if you could turn ever so slightly here, i'd appreciate it. earlier that you regret. >> the -- the atmosphere of the pool, you know, when you -- we have a small membership. we have a small club, even though we have a lot of land. you can sit and watch your kids from all over. and when, you know, there may be 10, 15 kids in the pool, all of

a sudden there's 60, 80 kids in the shallow end of the pool. that change x what we call the atmosphere, maybe complexity would have been a better word. we're not politicians or reporters, so when you stick all these cameras and microphones in our face, we get nervous. i'm very nervous. and afraid to say the wrong word because it's going to get blown out of proportion. we're going to be on, you know, cnn and the nightly news, come on. >> doctor, what did you mean by change the complexion and atmosphere? >> reporter: you know, ali, we have spoken to him at length leading up to this and he has said that he deeply regrets any hurt that he caused anyone. he says he apologizes to the little boy that you saw crying in that issue. he said this is a youngster that actually came out with his school at a private function just a few weeks before all of this happened. the position of the club is that they had contracted with two other day care centers in addition to this one, and that it became clear, after each of them came once, that according to the other members of the pool, they simply did not feel

comfortable, that it made the pool too overcrowded in their view, and that that's why -- that is why, they said, they made their decision to disinvite everyone and to cancel their contracts. they say in the end they had the -- they had all the best intentions in mind. and now they feel as though they are being crucified because of what they tried to do. they regret any comments that may have been made that were racially tinged, that's what they regret. and say they're sorry about, they said they can't control what everyone says, but in the end they realize that the pennsylvania human relations commission is now investigating this, and they said they'll be happy to explain their position to them as well. >> do we know anything about the two other day cares who also had their contracts canceled? because there's still the implication that this one, the boy who you spoke to, came from this one, that was largely or exclusively black and hispanic, were the other two mixed ethnicities as well or not? >> reporter: we are in the process of speaking with them. however, mr. dusler has said

that, in fact, they are racially mixed, at least one of the two is. he did not give us details or the name of the second one. so, we can't tell you that. >> what's your sense? i certainly don't want to put you on the spot in terms of passing an opinion. but you've been on this story since yesterday. what's your sense? is this a big misunderstanding, or was there something that was spurred because -- because a bunch of black and hispanic kids showed up at a mostly white pool? >> reporter: well, you know, ali, that is to be decided here. it is the position of these people, the dusles and the swim club, that it was a big misunderstanding that some people may have said things that they should not have said. however, now, it has reached a crucial point. they have made an apology. whether things can be worked out is quite another matter. whether there are too many hurt feelings at this juncture to make it go away, again, has yet to be seen. >> all right, remarkable story, one way or another, in 2009. susan, thanks very much. if nibl's going to get to the bottom of it, you will, with

your correspondents. thank you very much. our national correspondent, susan candiotti, staying in philadelphia until we figure out exactly what happened. why those kids were kicked out of the pool. let's see what's happening with the horror movie out of chicagoland. cemetery workers allegedly digging up and ditching the dead. three grave diggers and an office manager from burr oaks cemetery in alslip illinois, were charged. yesterday one body was put in the wrong grave. another was about to be put in the right grave, but the plot was occupied. the cooke county sheriff says more than 2,000 worried families have come forward since yesterday. listen to him -- >> it's obvious now, it's apparent. people have gone to grave sites where the headstone is gone. people have gone to the grave site where a different person is there now. people have gone to grave sites where it's clear something has been removed and moved. those stories continue. those are just since yesterday. we've had about 30 of those. >> burr oak is the resting place

of emmett till, a civil rights worker. he was a teen -- he was a civil rights hero. he was a teenager who was lynched and that helped spark the civil rights movement. he was reburied with a new casket. his grave is apparently okay. but his original casket was dumped in a shed and authorities found a family of opossums living inside it. we think they were kept in this trailer that you're going to look at. now there's no sign of them. a group of immigrant hostages held at gunpoint. a desperate search growing more desperate by the minute.

these guys are building movie sets. the hollywood of the midwest says your roo to movie studio millions.

g-8 summit done, meeting with the pope, check. next stop, africa. president obama says the meeting in italy with the top eighth industrialized nation in the world was highly productive. and they deal with the global economic and the environment and

the international security. he met with the pope in rome and the two discussed middle east post and aid to developing nations. they also reportedly discussed abortion rights. the pope met the first family and he gave them a special blessing. as i was saying a second ago, the next stop on the tour is ghana. the nation of ghana in west africa. cnn is in the city of accra, where the president will arrive a little bit later, and i got to ask you, why ghana? >> reporter: well, that's what many on this continent are asking, ali, why has president obama chosen to come to ghana? now, president obama has said himself that he wants to uplift successful models of good governments. of course, the kenyans feel snubbed because president obama's father is from there, the nigerians have also said because they are the most p populist country, and because we

are the powerhouse of africa, we should get a visit. president obama is trying to get a point across here. let's listen to what he said seven g-8 summit about his choice of ghana. >> part of the reason we're traveling to ghana because you've got there a functioning democracy, a president that's serious about reducing corruption, and you've seen significant economic growth. so, i don't want to overly jennize, but i do want to make the broader point that a government that is stable, that is not engaging in tribal conflicts, that can give people confidence and security, that their work will be rewarded, that is investing in its people and their skills and talents, those countries can succeed. >> reporter: well, ali, president obama has also made the link between good governance and prosperity, and here in

ghana, between 1990 and about 2005, the country has managed to nearly half poverty. it's seen by the world bank as one of the few countries in the continent that uses aid properly that trickles down to the man on the street. of course, economic development is the peaceful transfer of power that we've seen over the years on this continent make it a beacon of hope and really good example of good governance and democracy on the continent, ali. >> all right. you'll be following it when the president arrives there and during his trip, thank you very much for being with us. judge sonia sotomayor will take center stage on capitol hill. the senate judiciary committee opens confirmation hearings on monday for president obama's supreme court nominee. in a new cnn/opinion research poll, 47% say the senate should confirm sotomayor. 40% say they shouldn't. the poll also asked this question -- if sotomayor is qualified, are

senators justified in voting against her based on her stand on issues? look at this, 47% of respondents say, yes, they are. 49% say they're not. quite a split. if confirmed as expected, sotomayor would be the first hispanic on sit on the high court. we told you about a new assembly line in michigan. it's not what you'd expect, but in a state that has been so hard hit by the collapse of the auto industry, well, there's something new that's going on there. poppy harlow is having a look at new opportunities that are coming to michigan. >> reporter: don't be surprised to see george clooney or robert de niro next time you're in michigan. sews hollywood a-listers have joined others like clint eastwood to make major motion pictures in the embattled state as it works to reinvent itself. >> we are focused entirely on

diversified our economy, the creative economy, whether it's filmmaking. >> if you stay with us because if i have to come back here again, it's going to be ugly. >> reporter: clintestwood's new picture takes place a few miles from detroit. so, what's the incentive to film here? a 42% tax break for studios that hire local workers rather than bring in their own crews. sounds great, but here's the problem. even though michigan has a skilled labor force, most don't have any experience working on film sets. >> okay. >> reporter: enter mort meisner and the center for film studies. started in march, it gives michigan workers a chance to hone their skills to meet the needs of movie execs. >> i don't think hollywood woke up this morning and said, hey, let's go to michigan! they're coming to michigan because the tax incentives are here. >> reporter: a full course isn't cheap. it costs five grand. but 75% of the workers in the program are getting a free ride,

thanks to funding from michigan's no worker left behind program. at this class, construction workers that are used to building homes are learning how to build sets. >> i think it was -- >> it seems like the movies are coming here. there's a demand for carpenters, so i want to be -- we're actually right at the front of it right now. so, i want to be right there. >> the real mission, pure and simple, is to leave a legacy of jobs. >> all right, that's what's going on in michigan. all right, let's talk about michael jackson for a second. he found peace for a while. now it seems that neverland might still be an option for michael jackson's burial.

it's looking like there may be another delay for the space

shuttle "endeavour's" next mission. nasa says there's only a 40% chance of acceptable weather. conditions are expected to improve sunday and monday. the mission's already been put off twice because of hydrogen gas leaks. the seven "endeavour" astronauts are to install the last part of japan's massive space station lab. well, we're talking about weather. >> all kinds of things have to happen right for that thing to go off. you have to have clear skies over florida in case there's the emergency landing procedure. >> right. >> and if you look, this is the morning. that's rain. this is the afternoon. that's rain. they don't like to take off in the rain anyway because they don't want those ceramic tiles wet. at least a 60% chance of seeing rain showers there, ali. i don't think it looks that good. hot across the rest of the count country. 104 in dallas and 103 in phoenix. we're into the monsoon season in the valley. monsoon means wind shift. that's all that mon sesoon mean.

we'll see the potential for the monsoon to shift, all of a sudden 111 in phoenix will feel ugly. not that it doesn't right now. but it's dry. as they say dry heat. wichita falls 109 degrees, all the breaking records, over austin and mcallen. and we had the stories yesterday asking people to conserve electricity in houston yesterday because really they didn't know whether it was enough electricity for everybody. they said, please don't set your air conditioners down below 80 degrees, because at least it's running at 80. if we run out of power, they're not going to run at all. showers across chicago, back toward davenport and also into st. louis. although right now, ali, i can't believe this on a friday. we don't have one airport delay so far. >> wow! >> everybody getting where they need to be. >> not bad. >> it's not the fourth of july and it's not christmas and it's not thanksgiving so -- >> i hope the folks in texas are coping with the business of not putting your air conditioner below 80. because i think your point is right, the temptation is to keep it nice and cool because if the

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all right. turning to developing story in texas. police are on a desperate hunt for a group of immigrants reportedly being held hostage for ransom and being deprived of food and water. two arrests have been made so far. our ed lavandera is working this one from our dallas bureau. ed, what have you got? >> pretty fascinating. actually police found out about this because one of the immigrants in this group managed to escape, snuck out through the bottom of the trailer, was able to reach authorities. he had told authorities that there were some 25 immigrants that were being held against their will by three captors who were in the process of smuggling them into this country. all of this taking place near austin, texas, in a small town southeast of austin called dale. far from -- 250 miles away from the border, and that's what makes this case so unique. this is not the kind of place where you're used to seeing these types of authorities unfold. but authorities say they believe that once they got there, they were only able to find six of

the immigrants. they believe that one of the captors in and the remaining immigrants may -- got away before the authorities had gotten there. but they say that this is not something they're used to seeing there. >> we've never had a situation like this before in bastrop county. we're very actively looking for them. and, i mean, based on the information we have, i mean, we're obviously concerned about -- about these folks' well-being. >> so, two men are -- were arrested in this case. the immigrants that have been interviewed say that they were held for several days without food and water. that some of the women in the group were sexually assaulted as well. this is very similar, to what we have seen transpire over the last year or so in phoenix, arizona, which -- has been reported several times has become known as the kidnapping capital of the united states, because of these very similar type situations. but this is unique in the sense that happening so far away from the border, in a place where you're not really accustomed to

seeing this type of thing and people that follow these type of kidnappings and hostage situations say this is exactly kind of the m.o. behind all of this. it usually transpires in places where you're not used to seeing anything like this. ali? >> all right, ed, you'll stay on the story. it's remarkable. let's go from dallas to our iran desk. we have new information coming in. yesterday was the tenth anniversary of a student uprising and we saw more activity out of tehran as we led into last night. it appears now we do have new details from the protests. what have you got? >> lots of new pictures and video coming in from the morning. we'll show you the best one. the first one we'll show you gives you a glimpse of what appears to be a change of strategy on the part of the basij, the voluntary militia that wears street clothes. they've come criticism for wearing street clothes. eyewitnesss say they are wearing brand new uniforms. these are people that have street clothes on, they appear

to be basij and now they're wearing camouflage vests, what you are seeing is a strategy that they're using. they are outnumbered by the pro testers. so they do surprise attacks. all of a sudden they charge what appears to be a gathering on the sidewalk. let's see if we can run it one more time, talia. this is what we saw when we were on the ground over there. all of a sudden, surprise attacks to intimidate people. what happens after that, they usually disperse to other areas, and we some to aza over here, we see another intersection where people have gathered, burning dumpsters. at times eyewitnesss told us that people were caught by security forces. we're going to show you what could be for some some graphic video. so we forewarn people, this may be disturbing to come. this is what happens when a protester is caught by security force. there we go. this is someone i spoke to this morning. he said he went to the help of some women who were being beaten up by security forces, and this was the aftermath. he said about a half a dozen

people caught him, and they started beating him with batons and they wouldn't let him go. again, that's what happened when he went to the rescue of some women. and he told us a lot of women were out there in these protests. >> it's something we've seen right from the beginning of the protests a month ago after the election. we saw a lot of women. >> man, have been fearless. as a matter of fact, they've been on the forefront -- >> i don't know if it was here, i was looking at the cover of the "wall street journal," a picture of a woman who is half covered, with -- >> with a victory sign. >> yeah. >> even when i was there, when they had the type of surges, the women stayed put. they didn't ran away. it was the men who ran away. >> remarkable. >> who knows when we'll see another protest. but there you see some pictures of some women. if we see protests again, you can be sure they'll be out there. people are pointing to when -- >> here we have the picture of "the wall street journal" -- >> let me show you, this is a

newspaper devoted to business usually, the front cover of the woman with the victory sign, covered up, but you can see the passion in her eyes. >> these are the type people who knew they were going to be confronted by members of the basij and security people and courageous people risking a lot to try to go out there to convince the government we're not going anywhere. they say the next time people could come out to the streets is when president ahmadinejad will be sworn in, late july, possibly august. look for more women to be out there. >> all right, you and your team continue to stay on this, the iran desk at cnn. you may not be seeing news reports on it, but they are constantly monitoring this information, clearing it, vetting it is, finding out, corroborating it and we'll bring it to you. thanks, reza, appreciate that. michael jackson's death, we've heard a lot about the dangers of prescription drugs. we'll tell you more about prescription drugs and their dangers and the age group affected most by them. g

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he was reportedly taking pills of pills at one point, xanax in particular. in an interview in 2004, two jackson security guards said he popped more than ten xanax a night, down from 30 to 40 of them. the guards told cops jackson would ask them to get prescriptions for the anti-anxiety drugs in their names. it is been more than two weeks since michael jackson collapsed and died and the singer still hasn't been laid to rest. the questions of where he'll be buried hasn't been put to rest either. but as our ted rowlands reports, neverland does remain in the running. >> reporter: according to the state, an attorney for the jackson family has inquired about burying michael jackson at neverland ranch, something jermaine jackson told cnn's larry king last week, he'd like to see happen. >> i would love to see him here. >> larry: do you have a place for him here? >> were, thereyes, there's a sp right near the train station over there. >> reporter: to bury someone on private land in california,

there are two steps. first, you need what is called a certificate of authority from the state's cemetery and funeral bureau. it's no big deal, just fill out this two-page application and shell out $400. the other thing you need is approval from the county, which in this case is santa barbara. at this point nobody from the jackson family has contacted the county, if someone does, they say it's possible they'll give the okay. >> we have had no formal application either from the jackson family or from the property owner, and at that point in time we would review the application and make a determination. >> reporter: what's unclear is if everyone in the family wants neverland to be jackson's final resting place. joe jackson seemed to shoot it down when asked about it in the days after jackson's death. >> that's not true. that's not true. >> reporter: the bottom line here is that people burying individuals on private land just simply doesn't happen very often. the last time it happened in california was when ronald reagan was buried at simi valley, that's a different

county than santa barbara county. those folks in santa barbara say they've never seen it happen, so if they do get an application, they say they'll review it. they're not against it, you about at this point they don't really have a template on how to move forward, so it could take some time. ted rowlands's, los angeles. gary, indiana, has been lobbying the jacksons to bury michael jackson in their hometown. they are holding a tribute, and one of the tributes will be a performance of "thriller." michael jackson's dad will be there. prescription drug abuse is a serious problem that affects people in all walks of life. joining us now, cnn's senior medical correspondent, elizabeth cohen. how bad, how serious is this problem? >> it is serious. i think sometimes we hear about michael jackson's drug problems and our eyes pop out and you say, oh, my goodness. it's more common than we think. last year the centers for disease control reported that more people were dying of

overdoses of prescription drugs than heroin or cocaine. >> wow. >> that's really a wow. take a look at these numbers. it's wow in a bad way. 20,000 deaths per year from overdoses of prescription drugs and most of those -- i'm sorry, the most common is in that age group ages 35 to 44. in fact, overdose deaths -- overdose deaths from drugs like vicod vicodin, oxycontin and demerol, went up 142% from 1999 to 2004. during that same period of time, overdose deaths from heroin went down 9%. >> is it mostly the painkillers or the anxiety drugs or the sleeping pills? >> it's opiates, like painkillers. >> when you heard of michael jackson taking 30 or 40 xanax. they are prescribed at a certain level. what causes people to take more and more and more of these things? >> you need more and more because your body sort of becomes used to it, so you need more sort of to get the fix

you're looking for. what's interesting in the report we heard before, he got them, well, allegedly, by asking security guards to get them in his name, and these are some of the techniques that people use. sometimes people have other people get them. sometimes people have -- they go dr. shopping. when you look at kids, this is interesting, when you look at teenagers, 34% of teenagers get prescription drugs and abuse them by going into their own home, their medicine cabinet, stealing stuff from their parents. 31% of them get them from friends or classmates. only 9% get them from drug dealers which is really pretty interesting. >> you know, i know in new york if you get a prescription for something that's considered a restricted drug, it's got to be on paper. you can't fax it in. you can't phone it in. you can't get repeats on it. are there programs in place to restrict people's access to these kind of drugs that they can overdose on? >> there are some programs, but some people say there should be more. you go to dr. smith to get vicodin it's all too easy to go

to dr. jones to get more vicodin and all of it needs to be more centralized. you mentioned having prescriptions on paper and not faxed in. you can go on to the internet and some of the sites will say, fax us something, and anybody can make up anything. >> sure, wow. something right when michael jackson died there was a pathology on who said it's sad that these things have to happen, but sometimes it's when somebody is prominent that's when we start to bring attention to a common problem. thanks so much. it takes a lot of nerve to run with the bulls, and this year something we haven't seen happen in more than a decade.

winning the war in afghanistan could mean taking the war out of afghanistan. what am i talking about? our michael ware just got back from the afghan/pakistani border, getting rare access and plenty of insight. he joins us now from baghdad, where he's based. you say the u.s. cannot win the war in afghanistan alone.

what are you talking about? >> reporter: well, militarily the war cannot be won with bombs and bullets alone. obviously it's going to require much more -- much more than that. you're not just going to kill the taliban away. and that's eminently recognized by all u.s. commanders and is inherent within the new american counterinsurgency document -- doctrine. much more important than that, ali, you're not going to win the war in afghanistan in afghanistan. you have to win it in pakistan. because it's in pakistan that the afghan/taliban have sanctuary, in those mountain valleys from where i've just returned, that the afghan taliban can live and train and from where they launch their military strikes against the nearby u.s. forces just over the mountain border. now, to get to them, where they're living, u.s. forces cannot operate on pakistani soil.

and for now, the pakistani military establishment sees a benefit in tolerating their presence. so, you need the you need the p military to get on board. president bush waited for this almost for his entire administration but there a new development, a potential break through. the pakistan army official spokesman went on camera with me and acknowledged for the first time ever publicly that, yes, the pakistan military is talking to omar, the leader of the taliban and the other top commanders. more importantly, he said, we can deliver them to the negotiating table and in return they want concessions on india's involvement in afghanistan, because ali, what so many people back home don't realize is that for america, the war in iraq is -- sorry. the war in afghanistan is for

america about the taliban in al qaeda. for many in the region, it is really about pakistan and india competing for influence. >> when you talk to the pakistanis, it is very interesting how they take a very different view. they have a view that they will manage the taliban. they will manage that border, that forest area that you have discussed. when india comes up as part of the discussion, they tense up a great deal. as far as they are concerned, that is the enemy and that is the problem? >> reporter: absolutely. that's what america needs to understand. i think the american national discussion or debate about the afghan war needs to shift and focus on it. the afghan war is much more about india than anyone realizes. the taliban are the ones fighting the war. it is pakistan virtually doing nothing, who is facilitating that. pakistan does that, because it sees in kabul, the capital of

afghanistan, an afghan government that is very closely tied to india. the pakistani -- if you want to have any hope of bringing your troops home soon. >> very important point you will continue to make. thanks so much, michael ware in baghdad. here are three vowels that you are going to have trouble buying in california, i.o.u. call it the wheel of misfortune. we have more proof of how messed up the golden state is. their problems could be coming near a state near you. plus, the head of the naacp talking about the last 100 years, the next 100 years and why its mission is far from over. he can figure out your social security number.

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here is a question for you. are you using your social security number as a password or for anything at all? stop right now. you are not going to believe how easy it is for joe, the password cracker, to figure out your social. next thing you know, he has your whole identity. here is cnn's brian todd.

>> reporter: a 36-year-old professor from italy opens up a new battle front against identity theft by proposing the predict ability of how we get assigned our social securitys. he says all he needs to get started in finding your social security number is your date of birth and the state where you were born. information that millions of americans freely give out by registering to vote or putting it on their facebook or myspace pages. >> reporter: i was born in virginia. leave out the date here. how would you come upon the first couple of digits, first three or four or five digits? >> so we would know from public information that you were likely the first three digits, 223 and 321. >> that's right. those are the area numbers.

the last six numbers are given in chronological order. to find them, he and his team of researchers used statistical techniques and mined publicly available data from the social security administrations death master file to show patterns. he says it is much easier to narrow down numbers for people born after 1988, when most americans started getting assigned social security numbers at birth. >> if you consider the entire nine digits, we can predict with fewer than 1,000 attempts 8.5% of all numbers issued after 1988. >> reporter: it is even easier to track people born in less-populated states. >> the bottom line is that social security numbers are very bad passwords. they were not designed to be used the way we are using them now. >> so the social security administration is cautioning people to stop using them as passwords at the bank and other

places. officials didn't respond to our request for an on-camera interview. in a statement, the suggestion that mr. aquisti has cracked a down for predicting an ssn is a dramatic exaggeration. they will start randomly assigning social security numbers next year. >> that's food for thought. i.o.u., no thank you. california, the world's biggest economy if it was a country of its own, perhaps one of the most cash strapped started issuing iou's last week. there is a problem. two major banks, wells fargo and bank of america have decided to stop accepting them. that gives fewer people places to cash their ious. although, more than 650 credit unions say they are still accepting them. california has issued 91,200 ious worth more than $354

million. who is getting them? taxpayers who are owed refunds, social security. small businesses that do business with the state. california is trying to deal with a $26 billion budget gap, $26 billion more in spending than revenue. if it could happen there, could it bleed over into your state? if you hold one of those i.o.u.s what do you do about it? kara finnstrom is in los angeles with more. >> reporter: some of california's largest banks are putting more pressure on the state's lawmakers to come up with a solution. the banks not feeling they can or should cover for the state as they fight over what to do. now, here is how serious the problem is. california state controller who has been issuing these ious since july 2nd says a continued state mate over budget solutions would push their cash deficit to $3.7 billion in august and by september, to $6.5 billion much the deficit keeps rising and partisans squabbling over how to

handle it keeps escalating. here is what the governor had to say earlier this week. >> i have asked over and over and over the legislators upstairs to just focus on the budget. here they are, they are debating over the definition of honey. a week ago, they debated over cow tails and before that, they debated over should we have a blue berry commission. i think this is ridiculous. they should do nothing else but address the budget. >> solving this budget won't be easy though the legislature did raise taxes earlier this year and cut many government programs. voters not in the mood for more of the same. it is not clear whether a hard line stance by banks will force action. in the meantime, california's credit unions, as you mentioned, ali, do appear ready to help. at least 60 state credit unions have agreed to redeem the ious at face value.

credit unions not hit as hard as banks. they see it as a business opportunity. another option for folks with ious, maybe some check cashing companies though they are more likely to redeem them at a discount. >> thanks very much for doing that, kara. some of the big boys, the big banks are no longer taking i.o.u.s, it doesn't mean you are going to get shortchanged or does it. just ask sacramento business writer who says, people might be able to turn to a secondary market to cash their i.o.u.s. that's little consolation to people like al mcgory. let's start with you, dale. you are thinking this isn't such a bad thing. it is the state of california, they are ultimately good for the money and people shouldn't worry about it. tell me why? >> well, the state has never defaulted and as low as its credit rating is, there is no expectation that it will default

again. i think for most recipients of these ious. >> it's all about cash flow for us. we have already gone into debt. our creditors are looking to get paid right now, not by october 2nd. >> tell me how this works, al. you do business with the government. you are a provider of services to the government. they owe you money. they have given you what. they mail you something. it looks like a check. what is it? >> right now, it looks like a check. you don't get to do anything with it until october 2nd. right now, we were fortunate enough that i was able to deposit the ones we did receive yesterday into a fargo bank. they said, as of today, they are no longer accepting those as a negotiable instrument. we have to look for other places

to make that happen. >> dale, what does that mean? if al is trying to do that and fewer places are taking that, is there any danger that people with the ious aren't going to be able to get it? >> there is a danger. the major banks say they will work with their customers rand try to arrange lines of kred dit but it's going to be on a case by case basis. they are not making any promises. if you are a holder of an iou and you need cash now, you may have to go to the secondary market. >> tell me where that is? credit unions are doing it but a lot of these check-cashing places are. then, you are paying a fee for that. >> exactly. credit unions are extending beyond today. about 60 of the credit unions are going to take them. many do not take business accounts, only good for individuals. the secondary market exists --

it doesn't exist yet. you have people posting ads on craigslist and ebay offering to buy these notes for less than face value. there is a firm in new york that says it will make a market in these ious. >> al, are you worried this is going to stop? >> well, yeah. it's a matter of cash flow timing for us. if we start getting all of our accounts receivables lined up being ious and i have no place to negotiate that instrument or i have to negotiate it at a significant discount, that's going to really have an impact on me. >> we, all, and the rest of the country, are going to be watching your state very closely. california is not the only state in that position. several other states could be on the brink of a virtual government shutdown. they include arizona, indiana, mississippi, and pennsylvania. the great majority of states have had to face or still face short falls in their budgets for

the upcoming years. there are varying degrees of urgency in these other states. is is something to watch if your state has to pay you money in the form of an iou. remember when aig caused a public uproar over paying millions of dollars in bonuses to members of part of the company that might have been responsible for triggering the financial crisis? well, the bailed out insurance company o's millions of more. don't get angry all over again. they are set to pay out a new installment of previous installments. the latest installment, $2.4 million to 43 top executives. aig is seeking the government's consent to make the scheduled bonus payments. the bigger issue, how or when will aig pay $235 million in bonuses still owed to 400 people in its crippled financial products division. it's a leaner gm and

definitely a meaner one. they emerge with fewer brands, fewer dealers and fewer plants and a new majority owner. what does it all mean? we'll find out this hour? what do you do when you are the president and you have some time between the end of the g-8 summit and the trip to africa. you spend some quality time in rome. president obama met up with pone benedict the 16. he also met the first family and gave them a special blessing. the next stop, ghana. mr. obama considers that country a good role model for other developing nations in africa. here is what he said about it. >> part of the reason we are traveling to ghana is because you have their aids functioning democracy, a president who is serious about reducing corruption and you have seen significant economic growth. so i don't want to overly

generalize but i do want to make the broader point that a government that is stable. i want to encourage a government that is investing in its people, in their skills and talents. those countries can succeed. >> way to go, ghana, what about kenya, the country i was born in and the president has family ties to it? if he is in the neighborhood, why wouldn't he go there? kenya is feeling kind of snubbed. here is cnn's david mckenzie. >> reporter: a trip to foreign soil has always been a way for u.s. presidents to reward america's allies. a visit by president obama, one of america's most popular leaders is a very big thing for

some. mr. obama has chosen ghana saying the country should be rewarded for stable democracy. the visit has generated excitement in ghana but it is disappointing for another african nation, kenya. they are the center of obama-mania. his father is from the country. his grandmother lives in the west. he has family members all around, including his half brother right here in nairobi. kenya was the center for major parties for the president. many hoped he would come here. some kenyan analysts meant that president obama's decision was meant as a mess sanlg to their leaders. >> anybody would say that this is a judgment. he may not be happy to be identified with kenya, because of the situation that is prevailing, whereby, we seem to be yo-yoing. they are not getting anywhere. >> reporter: the prevailing

situation is that of endless political bickering. they recently conducted disputed elections that led to violence. despite calls from big u.s. and others for reform, this proudest african nation seems stalled. ordinary kenyans are in two minds about mr. obama's decision. >> i think he should have come to kenya first, his homeland and his origin. >> he didn't come. he had his own reasons. >> i think it is better to go to our country, the african country that has the same character like him. the leader should have the same character like him. >> he has some roots in kenya. that doesn't mean he is going to do anything for kenya. >> whatever the obama administration's reasons for not coming to kenya first. kenyans are unlikely to bear a grudge against their favorite son. should the u.s. president hit these shores, the party will surely just start up again. >> he is right, we ken yans are

a forgiving bunch. don't miss ac 360 on monday night with president obama obama, a historic trip. the nation's most prominent civil rights group gets ready for its 100th annual convention. we will talk about key issues facing african-americans in a live issue with the naacp's president. mr. evans? this is janice from onstar. i have received an automatic signal you've been in a front-end crash. do you need help? yeah. i'll contact emergency services and stay with you. you okay? yeah. onstar. standard for one year on 14 chevy models.

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have a heart to heart with your doctor... about your risk. and about lipitor. catch him at sunday on 1:00 p.m. a sailor murdered at his guard post has been laid to week in houston. he was attacked last week at camp pendleton, shot multiple times and the gunman set a fire to destroy evidence. the navy has a person of interest, another sailor in custody. the victim's family thinks this was a hate crime, that provost was targeted because he was gay. the navy says there is no evidence of that. gay rights groups demanding a thorough investigation, however. near chicago, finding more graves dug up at that historic

african-american cemetery. they found emmett till's original casket at a garage at the cemetery. his death helped spark the civil rights movement. people are coming in droves to check on the remains of their loved ones, the sheriff says. >> with the over 2000 families that we have had so far, we have had at least 30 or so cases already that have newly come to us where another crime scene is obvious now, it's apparent. people have gone to grave sites where the head stones are gone. people have gone to the grave site where a different person is there now. people have gone to grave sites where it is clear that something has been removed. >> four people, an office worker and three grave diggers are accused of digging up the graves and disposing of the corpses so the plots could be resold. a private philadelphia area swim club turns away dozens of

african-americans and hispanic children. was it because the pool was overcrowded or was it outright racism rise together surface? today, we are hearing from the president of that swim club. snast, he started talking to reporters just as our susan candiotti was on with us live last hour. susan, you turned around and put your mike right in his face. what did he have to say. >> reporter: actually, ali, he even spoke with us at length for another 15 minutes before he began speaking with the other reporters. this is the first time he has broken his silence since this controversy broke if the main. he said he wanted to make an effort to explain exactly what happened. in his words, quote, i'm deeply sorry for the unfortunate situation. i, and we, never intended to offend anyone. those were his words. then, he went on to explain that, yes, there was an agreement. he did accept $1,900, ruffle, from the daycare center to use the pool once a week for about an hour and a half but he said, in the end, the pool simply

couldn't handle it. here is what he said, in part. >> this thing has been blown out of proportion. in fact, because of the summer pools that were closed in philadelphia, we invited these clubs to use our facilities but we severely underestimated the number of children and our capacity to handle these groups. we were not prepared for it. that's the only reason it was a safety issue. that's the only reason that the children, we thought it was not safe for them to be here. we spoke with the board. we had a number of camps, actually that were interested in the club that we did invite to our facilities. we have never done this before. this is the first time. we invited them. we reached out to them. and it's terribly, terribly unfortunate that our facility was not capable of handling the large number of kids, most of whom could not swim. they were packed into a very small section of the pool, the shallow section of our pool and it's really unfortunate. we aapologize.

>> mrs. duesler also added that since these stories have started, they have had to take their phones off the hook and they have been receiving threatening messages themselves. she says, she was going to defend her husband, from top to bottom. >> worthwhile, while he continued to say he invited the club. they took $1,900 from this particular club. it wasn't an invitation to come and swim for free. you spoke to a little boy who overheard people making comments about having black children around and somebody was uncomfortable with that. >> reporter: yes. i asked him about that. by the way, we did hear about safety issues before they were referencend a written statement that was put out by the club yesterday. in direct response to the little boy and to racial comments that were allegedly made, mr. duesler

says he personally did not hear any of those comments. he says he doesn't know of any other club members that did. however, he acknowledged that he doesn't say that they weren't made. he said, i apologize if they were. he and his wife both said, we didn't raise our children that way but if people make comments like that, they do make comments like that and unfortunately, we can't control it. >> unfortunately, susan, if they had been a little more forthcoming earlier, it wouldn't be on cnn sending you to do the investigation you have had to do. they were avoiding our questions. they did throw a cnn crew off and tell them they couldn't answer questions. he didn't give a statement until today. it is important to remember they were not all that forthcoming about it initially. susan, thanks for tipping to cover this story. there is still more to learn on this one. the naacp is condemning the swim club's decision. they say, they deplore the recent incident of racial

discrimination at the valley swim club in philadelphia in which a group of black day camp children were told to leave a pool because they changed the complex yun and atmosphere of the facility. he joins me now. mr. g mr. jealous, thank you for being with me. i want to tell our viewers that we do not know yet. we do not have evidence yet that this was racism. we have some people telling us they heard comments that sounded racist being made. the club officially saying that's not why it was done. it was overcrowding. they canceled an agreement with two other daycares as well and those were white children. we don't have evidence it was racism. what does it sound like to you? >> well, the quote, that word. >> complexion? >> that was used by them. that was the important part. they said it would change the complexion of our pool. it is almost that the kids

showed up at the pool. as a parent, it is hard to stand by to hear about kids being mistreated and humiliated and hearing people say things like, we don't want those black kids at this pool and then to hear the pool, it self, come out and say we asked them to leave because it would change the complexion of our pool. this is 2001. a black man can get on air force one but our kids still have to worry about going to the pool. we still haven't been able to make a determination. could it be that this president just chose bad words. >> well, you know, i think -- i think that that question should be given. you have the 100th anniversary.

>> obama will have the first black governor of new york, patterson, shaka can and patty la bell, a great convention. >> we have black governors, we have a black president. we have an attorney general. what do you say when people tell you that we might be living in a post-racial world? >> we can't get post-racial until we are post racism? it is possible for a person to get through some of the big barriers in our society but entire groups can't get through. unfortunately, in this country, it is still harder for a black man with no criminal record to

find a job than a white man who has one. that's what we are dealing with each day. >> let's talk about jobs. that is probably one of the most serious issues right now. we have a growing unemployment rate, almost 10% in the country. for african-americans, it is significantly higher than that. it is 50% higher for african-americans. for african-american men, it is higher than that yet. if you have to do things for the african-american community, one is going to be figuring out how the unemployment rate can be brought back into line with that of the national population. >> that's right. at this moment, when we are putting hundreds of billions of dollars into this economy, it's not enough to just bail out main street. we also have to fix back street. these are taxpayers dollars. we need to take care of some of the structural problems that keep some taxpayers from being able to access the great land of wealth that this country can be in ways that their neighbors really don't have to worry

about. >> mr. jealous, good to talk to you. thank you very much for joining with us. benjamin todd jealous is the president and ceo of naacp. our cnn hero is in a heavyweight fight battling in her brother's memory. mily. people notice my love for animals. my smile. my passion for teaching. my cool car. people notice i'm a good friend and a good listener. people notice that i'm a good boss. people notice my love of nature. people notice i can fix anything. (announcer) thanks to miracle-ear what people don't notice about you is your hearing aid because, look closely, our hearing aids are nearly invisible. our exclusive line of open fit products are so lightweight, so small and so natural sounding even you won't know you're wearing one. you know, most people don't know how good or bad their hearing is... they just know when they're missing things or hearing words incorrectly.

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we're learning that bob dole has been in the hospital since last week. the former senator and presidential candidate is being treated at washington's walter reed army medical center for what's being described as a serious leg infection. a statement from his office says the 85-year-old is recovering after surgery and hopes to be out of surgery by his birthday on july 22nd.

he was initially hospitalized for a rapid heart beat. doctors determined his heart was okay but found open sores on both of his legs. we have brutal heat in much of the southwest. by storms in the upper midwest. chad myers watching it all for us right here in the cnn weather center. >> when do you get to go home? >> today is my last day in atlanta. you tell me how the airlines are looking today. >> so far, fantastic, ali. wichita falls, yesterday, 109 degrees. abilene, 106. that's the heat in the southwest. it is going up to 111 today in phoenix, arizona. so it is going to be certainly a hot one. kansas city as well all the way up to 90. this is where the humidity is as well, back out toward the southwest. vegas, 103. still, that's dry heat so to speak as you walk outside. it isn't quite as bad as it could be. there will be severe weather through the plains all the way from minnesota back into denver. could see some afternoon thunderstorms pop up around

denver way. so far, airports, ali, this is for you. airports doing well, dwi, 15 minutes. >> i'm going from atlanta to phillie. >> and then connecting. >> no, staying in phillie for the weekend. >> i thought i was going to get you a new travel agent. >> chad, my friend, thank you so much. >> great working with you. >> always my pleasure. americans have gotten fatter over the past year. a study by two advocacy groups shows that two-thirds of americans are overweight or obese. perhaps most alarming, childhood obesity rates in the u.s. have more than tripled since 1980. eight of the ten states with the highest rates of overweight children are in the south. this week's cnn hero is attacking this epidemic in one of those states, right here in georgia.

>> i my life is not that great. it was not easy to carry around this weight. i wanted to get healthy and fit. >> where do we go wrong as a country when p.e. in schools is no longer a priority or children's health is no longer a priority? something had to be done. i decided to do it. my name is pamela green jackson. my organization is the fiscphys fitness program. my brother died at 43 at 427 pounds. he didn't have to die. i promised myself i would do whatever i could to make sure that another child didn't suffer like he did. so what we have done is converted vacant classrooms and turned them into health clubs. this is a free program. we have personal trainers we have dieticians that work with them. we allow each individual child

to set their own goals. >> miss pam is my hero. she is always helping me to do things that i never thought i could do. >> we instill these habits in them early. then therks then, they will grow up and become healthier adults. that's what it is all about and saving the lives of children. >> you can find out more about pamela's work and nominate a hero of your own on our website, cnn.com/heroes. july is the last month to get your nominations in. if you know a hero, don't wait to tell us about them. go to cnn.com/heroes right now. she'll be on the hot seat come monday, supreme court nominee, sonya sotomayor gets ready for her confirmation hearing. we will find out what she is

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e. >> we are following news out of illinois with the grave site developments. the "associated press" reporting that senator roland burris of illinois is not going to seek re-election when his term comes to an end. that's what we are hearing from the "associated press" right now. cnn is working to get more information on this, that roland burris deciding not to run for re-election when his term expires. we are also hearing that roland burris may be having a press conference at 3:00 p.m. eastern. if that is the case, we will bring that to you here on cnn.

as i get more information, i'll bring that to you. roland burris of illinois, quite possibly, a press conference at 3:00 p.m. he is not planning to run for re-election. for judge sotomayor, the practice sessions end and the real thing begins three days from now. for weeks, president obama's supreme court nominee has been prepping for her senate court confirmation hearings. what can she and what can you expect? joining us from washington, cnn political director, paul steinhauser. >> brand new polls. this was a national survey right off the bat we asked, do you think the senate should confirm sotomayor? take a look at these numbers from our survey. overall, 47% says yesterday. 40% said no. we did a break down by party. obviously, democrats, almost seven out of ten say she should be confirmed by the senate. independents, ali, they are split. republicans, only one in four are in favor of her being

confirmed. 65% of republicans say she should not be confirmed. our polling director said that number is higher than the number of republicans who felt that ruth bader ginsburg should not be confirmed in the '90s. >> our polling broke it down a couple other ways too. there was a question about her qualification versus her stand on issues. >> let's go to that one. that's very interesting. americans are pretty split here. if the senators feel that sonya sotomayor is qualified, the americans are split on whether senators should vote against her because of her stand on the issues. that hasn't changed. remember, back in the old days, the common fault was if a nominee was qualified, the issue shouldn't get in the way. obviously, this town has become a lot more partisan, ali. >> we are going to be watching to see how the interesting thing is how public opinion can have an impact on what the senators do next week. am i right? >> public opinion can have an impact on that. it all starts on monday. there are 19 senators, 12

democrats, 7 republicans. i think republicans will have tough questions for her on her stans on affirmative action and gun rights. let's talk about jobs, one of the biggest concerns in the economy right now as we consider a turnaround to this economy is jobs. where are jobs available if you are looking for one or you are worried about yours? what can you do to prepare yourself for a turnaround in this economy? stephanie elam joins us now from new york with more on that. hi, stephanie. >> if you take a look at the bureau of labor statistics dat it, it shows that education and health services are stars in this session. in may, there were 537,000 openings in that field. 468,000 were hired. that sounds like a lot, i know. it's a big number but the bureau says that's the lowest number of hires in this category since september of 2004. though education is still a standout overall, teachers are being let go as the recession

drags on. that's because states and districts are being hurt by a loss of revenue. they are cutting where they can. meanwhile, professional and business sources came in second with 5250,000 opens. thou, there were 795,000 separations in the month. so that's a net loss. just to explain, separations, that's a term that really refers to people that have been laid off, fired and those that quit their jobs. same story that you will find in trade, transportation and utilities. >> here is the issue, stephanie. when one is considering what to do at the end of this recession or as things turn around, there are some things that are gone and they are gone for other reasons, like manufacturing jobs where as right now, there might be teachers being laid off or nurses being laid off in some parts offer the country. long term, these look like growth areas. >> long-term, this is one of the better sectors out there. if you listen to what teachers are saying, those that are laid off, they will tell you, when i went into this profession, i was saying, this is my dream job and i would get in it and be there and be safe. now, you are hearing it is not

the case. a lot of school districts trying to find different ways to make cuts. at the end of the day, they are trying to do it without losing jobs. >> i hate to make that comparison. 15 years ago, that's what auto workers would have said. i have got a job and i can keep it forever. >> one would hope that there would be a little bit more security with educators. but it is not ever guaranteed, for sure. >> listen, we have had a lot of mixed. we both follow this closely. the jobs picture has been mixed in the last few weeks. >> yes, that is true. yesterday's reports, our jobless claims falling to the lowest level down 52,000 to 50,000. a lot of pain out there. you have a record 6.9 million people who are still out of a job since the start of the recession. we are talking about 6.5 million people losing their jobs. huge numbers but, you know, what

he really interesting. if you take a look at the unemployment number, right now, it's at a whopping 9.5%. in ways, that number is kind of misleading because it doesn't talk about the people who are underemployed who have fallen off. >> they are not looking for a job at all. so the bureau of labor statistics says that number could be as high as 16.5%. really, rough time out there. >> stephanie, good to see you. general motors has less debt, less of everything, including a workforce. the automaker has emerged from bankruptcy. where is it heading now? i'm peter jacobsen, and i've lost 31 pounds on nutrisystem. dan marino influenced me and he really pushed me to get on nutrisystem. yeah, i'll take credit for peter jacobsen. introducing the all-new nutrisystem for men, flexible new programs

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general motors is officially reborn today. the troubled automaker is leaner. can gm really reinvent itself? poppy harlow just spoke with the ceo, fritz henderson. what do you know? >> reporter: the bankruptcy process, they may be a new company out of bankruptcy. this is really the beginning of the work for this company, a daunting task ahead for fritz henderson. what is going to matter to you folks is that this company is going to be a lot smaller, a lot more efficient and they are

going to produce the cars that you want to buy more so than you do right now. what we are going to see, ali, is a number of dealerships closed, 16 factories, 20,000 more people at gm will lose their job. what this really gets to the crux of it. how does the company change? bankruptcy is a financial thing, it is complicated. it gives you a clean slate and wipes away most of their debt. however, what they also get is a new chance to emerge as a company with a new culture. banks rubankruptcy doesn't chan your culture. does the culture that led you into this bankruptcy is really going to change? here is how we answer that, ali. >> i have always been a believer that culture is how you act and perform and where you spend your time. where we are going to be spending our time as a leadership team from me on down is great cars, customers being singly focused and making sure we have a culture which is faster, leaner, and has

accountability embedded in it. it is all about winning. that's where as the president of the company i am going to be spending my time. >> poppy, gm got it wrong a lot of the time. i worry about what fritz henderson said about the culture of winning. this is a company that was all about being number one for many, many years. is that going to be the gm that we see going forward? >> reporter: it's interesting. i asked him, how important, you are no longer number one in the world. toyota took that title from you last year. how important is it that you hold off ford and toyota in the u.s. and you remain the number one selling automaker? he said it is not about that number one spot. it is about profitabilities and getting people excited about your brand, coming in and buying the cars. they have sold well son some of the new cars. some won't listen to them. take a listen to what he said about why it doesn't matter to be the number one spot anymore. >> we do sell close to one in every five vehicles in the u.s.

market. we are very grateful for that. second, we have a chance with the products we have to go back out to the four out of five that were considering our products in the future to try to get them to reconsider our products. i do thing that we can can be very strong in the u.s. market. i measure performance. i measure success in terms of are we profitable, do we create value? i think certainly we anticipate we are number one. we have been for some time. actually, just fixating on being number one is not the key. >> they have some great cars out there. the corvette is beautiful, the escalade. bob lutz did a great job of making cadillac an important name. their silver ra doe truck is fantastic. the malibu won car of the year. it competes against cars out there that are like it. do you get the impression that

they have the culture to lead them to success again like ford has been able to change its culture and way of thinking. >> right. alan maalley has been able to do that in ford. i was with fritz henderson. he loves the buick crossovers. he said i don't need 100%. give me 80% of what i need to know, i will make a decision and move forward. they are proving they are cutting back the top executives by 35%, ali. they are doing what the government is doing with regulatory bodies. they are doing what we are seeing across a lot of sectors. they are cutting away the fat and really focusing and they want to move fast. we will see if they can do it. >> poppy, great to talk to you. go to money.com and check out what poppy has done. poppy, stick around and watch this one. you have a great team there at

money.com but you might need some team building. we have found one of the most unusual team building ideas out there. potentially, one of the most unpleasant. it's called naked friday. need i say more? stick around.

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good choice. only meineke lets you choose the brake service that's right for you. and save 50% on pads and shoes. meineke. 2:52 p.m. naked time is a great idea if you work at a modeling agency. a british company trying to boost morale decided that nudity was the way to go. enter, naked friday. when employees did business in the buff. the whole clothing optional thing was optional. surprisingly, pretty much everybody dropped true. we don't actually have any pictures. i don't do a lot of naked stuff. so it's all foreign to me. any pictures, with he don't have pictures. it's probably better that way. team sanchez likes to do things differently, unlike the rest of us, work out in a big "newsroom."

your team could be having naked time all they want if you wanted. >> i suppose. look at this, my son is calling me in the middle of a darn thing. issues at home. anyway, listen, first of all, i'm somewhat perplexed that you gave that whole story and said naked 52 times and never once showed a picture. >> i didn't show a picture of anything or anybody naked. >> it is like, where is he going with this? >> i can try and spice it up for you now if you would like. >> shut up. it's friday and you are being a little nutty. oh, you are going to do that. >> you know what you just did? you just threw your microphone away. >> i'm new to this. >> ali velshi, ladies and gentlemen. let me tell you a couple things we are going to be doing. speaking of things that sometimes can be a little crazy, chicago politics.

let's do that. roland burris is about to speak, about to hold a news conference. we think what he is going to say is, ali, that he is not going to be able to run again. there may be a couple of reasons for that. some of which we have kind of drilled down on. nonetheless, when roland burris speaks and holds a live news conference, one never knows what's going to happen. so we are going to go to that live and let you see it for yourself to see what this chicago politics extravaganza is all about. moving out west, this scandalous situation with senator john ensign. there are new details that now involve his parents, another senator, this one from oklahoma, and the possibility that there could be some criminality in this. we are talking to a guy who

works for the las vegas sun. he recently did an interview, which you will see on my show, with the husband of john ensign's mistress. there you have it. >> that continues to be a fascinating story. i will give our viewers a little more on that story to whet your appetite. $96,000 for your son's mistress. that's what the parents of nevada senator john ensign paid. they say it was just a gift but the woman's husband, well, she thinks there is more to it. it's. peripheral artery disease? hmmm. more than doubles your risk for a heart attack or stroke. so i hear. better ask your doctor about plavix. plavix can help protect you from a heart attack or stroke. plavix helps keep blood platelets from sticking together and forming clots, the cause of most heart attacks and strokes. my cousin the m.d. call your doctor about plavix. (male announcer) if you have a stomach ulcer or other condition that causes bleeding, you should not use plavix. when taking plavix alone or with some other medicines including aspirin, the risk of bleeding may increase so tell your doctor

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allegations of a cover up against senator john ensign.

he admitted to an affair with a staffer. her husband is saying she was paid off. >> was it more than $25,000? >> absolutely. >> a lot more? >> yes. >> ensign denies any wrongdoing. he acknowledges his parents sent nearly $100,000 to dug hampton, his wife, cindy, and their two children. those payments were made out of concern for long-time friends during a difficult time. new calls for south carolina governor, mark sanford to resign. a few dozen people gathered at the state house taking part in a so-called resign or impeach citizen's rally. it came two weeks after sanford returned to work after disappearing for six days. he revealed he was on a rondeview with his mistress in argentina. they say the governor should resign for abandoning the state without passing authority to the