controversy by sending a racist e-mail to "the boston globe" is now playing the apology car. justin barrett is trying to explain his e-mail to professor gates a banana-eating jungle monkey. >> aimed at getting gas guzzlers off of the roads. they burned through $1 billion in federal funding in less than a week. what does it mean to you? >> successful. perhaps too successful. >> yeah. >> we begin with the most closely watched cocktail party in washington. the president and the vice president drinking beers with henry gates jr. and james crowley. it was billed as a, quote, teachable moment and if anything was a lesson in civility. no apologies, everyone talked and everyone listened. a far cry from the arrest that sparked the controversy even the president couldn't avoid commenting on. this morning, gates and crowley are promising to meet again. they say it's time to look forward, not back ward.

>> what was accomplished is this was a positive step moving forward as opposed to reliving the events in the last couple of weeks in an effort not to move just the city of cambridge and two individuals, but the whole country moved beyond this and use this as a basis of meaningful discussions in the future. >> ed henry is live in the white house this morning. ed, was this the administration's goal with all of this going on to hand things off so that the president could stop dealing with it and get his attention back on his agenda? >> absolutely. you talk to them in private, some in public saying quite frankly you do want to move on as you say sergeant crowley about the country moving on for this incident politically for this white house. they had to turn the page on it. robert gibbs, the white house spokesman said what is the big goal. what do you hope the morning after to accomplish. he said you guys will no longer ask me what kind of beer the president will have. this took them off of what they

waned to talk about with their agenda. the surprise guest there yesterday. vice president biden was invited by the president at the last moment. you heard sergeant crowley, it seemed positive the brief time the media was left in and sergeant crowley is the only one who spoke on camera afterwards described it as cordial. the critical thing is that sergeant crowley and professor gates now made plans to speak in the next few days and set up another meeting between them. that's critical for this white house, because then the president can step back and let these two key players work out their differences. the president can be not involved anymore and go back to the agenda. >> and it could be said that the argument over the beer brands might be trivial. but, in terms of the president's agenda and how much he has on his plate already, how much does this controversy really distract him from all of that? >> well, it's hard to completely quantify it, obviously. but there's no doubt that white house aides have acknowledged

this is something they spent far too much time talking about at a time when the health care reform bill in particular is at a critical stage on capitol hill. while it's a coincidence, it's signature that this evening at dinner time for a few hours the president is convening his cabinet at blair house across the street from the white house. they're doing the first six months of the administration, what worked, what didn't work, and make sure they're focused on issues like health care, like economy. the two wars in iraq and afghanistan. it's a reteeth tonight and tomorrow at blare house. gives the administration the opportunity to move on, job. >> talk about that coming up in the not too distant future. ed henry for us at the white house. thanks so much. a boston police officer is turns to national television to apologize for a mass e-mail he wrote to describe professor gatgat gates as a, quote, banana-eating jungle monkey. he could lose his job which he

said to "the boston globe." he told larry king last night he is not a racist. >> i would like to take this opportunity to offer fellow police officers and citizens my sincerest apology in response to the editorial in t"the boston glob globe". my choice of words was lacking. i failed to think through the perception others may have based upon what i wrote. i failed to realize the potential through the use of words that others would see as offensive. >> we want to hear what you think about this story or anything else that's on your mind. call our show hotline at 1-877-my-amfix or go to our blog. >> it's interesting. it's not hiding. right out there front and center on "larry king live." >> doing his job. >> and reputation. be interesting to see what people think the strategy

worked. the cash for clunkers program is strapped for cash. the program offers cash inseptemberive for car buyers who turn in old gas guzzlers for more fuel efficient cars and trucks. it's been in effect for a week. it needs a jump start. what does that mean for you? christine romans is minding your business. the program is up and running for a week and a half. >> there are commercials on tv. the people started to trade in cars in june and the dealers are starting to process these. this is your bailout. this is where you can go and take your junker clunker and getting some money for it. take it off of the road and get a fuel efficient car in rush and put it on the road. this is a popular program. what it shows is that people are willing to junk their clunkers and get $3500 or $4500 to get a new car. this is where we stand now. and by the way, not all of these have been processed. it's going so quickly that the

white house and congress have been alarmed you could be purposing through the $1 billion already and it will need more money. there was talk to suspend the program. the white house said they're going to foiind a way to keep i going to get your clunker off of the road. some 30,000 cars have been turned in and some $96 million in disbursements already. that's just through wednesday. that's three, four days. that's how much -- and debbie stabenow in washington who pushed for this said 230,000 cars purchased and they have found it's really bfrneen a boo for the industry at a week time. >> you got your clunker junker? >> you don't ged the trade-in value. keep that in mind. you can turn it in, $3500 to $4500. you get -- if you look at my romans numeral, you can get scrap value. it's not very much.

they have to scrap your old car and turn it in. >> you turned it to a romans numeral. >> the $50 is what the dealer gets. $50 gets it. the dealer loves it too. get $50 for the junk value of your car. but that's more for the car. palin people are liking it. they're getting rid of their cars. >> there you have it. >> there you have it. hopefully the white house in congress can get the act together and get the money for the program. they didn't get $4 billion, they got $1 billion and they burned through it in 24 days. >> thank you. other news this morning -- house democrats are pushing ahead hoping the bill will clear the energy and commerce committee today. democrats defeated a republican effort to get rid of the section of the bill that would create a public health plan. search warrants released in the michael jackson investigation. investigators thought the singer was a drug addict and searches

would uncover evidence of obsessive prescribing to dr. conrad murray. prescription to an addict is a violation of state law. if found guilty, murray's license could be provoked or suspended. direct flights for $6. first class passengers will get their live tv for free. until now, frontier and jet blue have offered television. the competition is fierce and continental's move could push others to follow suit. >> nothing like live tv. >> you have to pay $6 for it. why not bring a dvd -- just saying. no free lunch at the white house at least for bigtime ceos when honeywell and xerox sat down with the president to discuss the economy last night. white house staffers got their credit card numbers and they were billed for the meal.

i love it. i love it. the white house spokesperson said they do that to avoid any aappearance of conflict of interest. >> raise a little revenue. >> try that at home too. invite your friends over for dinner and say can i take your credit card number. >> the tip for the president? the tip for whoever you want? >> that is funny. okay, we're trying to find out if the nation learned anything from that, quote, beer summit yesterday. >> don't call it a beer summit. >> the beer meeting, whatever, happy hour. what is -- mea "gulpa" is how it was described. we have a great panelist coming up. they're going to talk about whether or not they took anything away from it and where we can learn from it and where it goes from here. sounds good >> sounds good. introducing the all new chevy equinox.

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♪ top it up ♪ never top >> welcome back to the most news in the morning. british forces will be out of iraq. a small training contingent of the royal navy was supposed to remain. an agreement fell apart. during the 2003 invasion, britain had 46,000 troops in iraq. no more. one of baseball's biggest names, boston's david ortiz tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2003. ortiz and former teammate manny ramirez were on a list of 104

major leaguers who failed drug tests in 2003. ortiz admits being on the list and says he was surprised he tested positive. ramirez now with the dodgers served a 50-game suspension earlier in the season for the failed drug test. dream come true for seinfeld fans. they will reunite for "curb your enthusiasm." the first time jerry seinfeld, jason alexander, michael richards, and julia louie dreyfuss -- trouble speaking this morning -- julia louis dreyfus will appear together on screen. the stars will appear in five "curb" episodes in the season in a storyline about a possible reuni reunion. the gates controversy started two weeks ago in massachusetts. yesterday, it made it all the way to the rose garden. the professor, the president, and the police officer have had their beers. so what's next now? joining me from syracuse is

boyce watkins, the professor at syracuse university and a resident scholar for aol black voices. and michael frontroy, author of republicans in the black vote is in our washington bureau this morning. gentlemen, the first question i have is what did we learn from this encounter? why don't you start us off this morning? >> i think from my perspective as a political scientist is someone interested in how public officials maneuver and manipulate public images. i think that we learned that the white house may have missed and opportunity. i thought it was a master stroke that they decided to do this in the firsthand. there's only one white house. there's only one oval office, for example. but they made -- they made the setting in somebody's back yard and it could have been anybody's back yard. and i'm thinking in so doing,re of the even. with all of the media around it, i'm not sure the white house could have avoided this, it's a

dog and pony show. >> is it a missed opportunity? dog and pony hoe? >> well, you know, all of politics is pretty much a dog and pony show. we know that. in terms of what we walk away with, this event is an abstract meaning. people are going to have different interpretations. those interpretations are based on the preconceived notions. we can't expect politicians to solve the very deep racial problem in america, particularly in one election cycle during a time when we have all of the other things going on throughout the world. the problem with blacks and whites, it's sort of like obama trying to go and establish peace in the middle east over the weekend. it's not going to happen. so what i've encouraged americans to do is engage in the american racial conversation. that means you go and find somebody who identifies with the other side of the situation and listen to that person -- don't talk, don't try to tell them why you're right and wrong. listen and try to understand. that's how to make real

progress. it happened with the people, not with the politician. >> noted scholar eric dyson was talking to wolf blitzer. he thought it would have been better to be let in on the meeting, to hear the dialogue. can optics be as powerful as substance? >> it would have been a huge mistake to leave the cameras there. the cameras have a way of having a chilling effect on conversations. and i think there's less candor when there are more eyes watching. boyce mentioned, we're all shaped by our personal experiences. and everybody would have had a different view on the words that would have been spoken. and i think that would have been a mistake. overall, this event may end up on the mt. rushmore of racial explosi explosions, if you will, with rodney king and other things. but, until we begin to have these kinds of conversations on a regular basis, sometimes said, sometimes heated, but hopefully with an open mind, we're not

going to get where we need to be. and that's a disappointment. >> the professor's thoughts on the meetings which were described in an article that he wrote for "the root.com," he said, there's reason to hope that many people have emerged with greater sympathy of the daily perils of policing on the one hand and for genuine fears about racial profiling on the other hand. is that a lesson taken out of the meeting? >> it's a lesson for all of us if we choose to go to school and observe that lesson. my dad was a cop for 25 years and it gave me a unique perspective on the ups and downs and goods and bads of the police force. there are bad dirty cops. there's the cop that referred to gates as a banana-eating jungle monkey. he's not alone. and the good cops, black, white, want to do their job who don't want to be a racist because they're trying to protect the american public. and a lot of people jump to

conclusions based on asufrpgs based on what one person said or the other person said. i didn't find the events nearly as interesting as the public reactions to the events. the reactions are more symptomatic of the problem we have in america. we go back to o.j., hurricane katrina, rodney king, those are a deeper problem that have be in our society for a long time. >> stick around. talk about that more after the break. most people try to get rid of algae, and we're trying to grow it. the algae are very beautiful. they come in blue or red, golden, green. algae could be converted into biofuels... that we could someday run our cars on. in using algae to form biofuels, we're not competing with the food supply. and they absorb co2, so they help solve the greenhouse problem, as well. we're making a big commitment to finding out... just how much algae can help to meet... the fuel demands of the world.

♪ i think i'll have myself a beer ♪ >> 21 minutes after the hour. back with boyce watkins and michael fonteroy to talk about the fallout from the so-called beer summit. a lot of reaction to the incidents we see in this country. we see some fallout for this from other people. whalen, the woman who called 911 was accused of being a racist. and this from sergeant leon lastly. the african-american officer at the scene of the arrest. he wrote, quote, one of the

major problems stemming from the events of july 16 that i, now known as the black sergeant, have had my image plastered all over the internet, television, and newspapers. i've become known to some as, quote, uncle tom. i'm forced to ponder the notion that as a result of speaking the truth and coming to the defense of a friend and colleague that happens to be white that i have somehow betrayed my heritage. how is the nation -- everybody going to become a postracial society if people are subjected to these types of criticisms when these types of events happened? >> it's very unfortunate this has happened. this is some of the collateral damage that is a function of our discussi discussion. the only time we as a nation had a conversation about race is when there's a crisis. as a result, tensions are heightened and said that should not be said. in terms of moving forward and what we need to do from our perspective, at least, is to talk about the issues when there

aren't crisis. you can educate people. listen, more often than not with police officers, the most important color isn't black or white, it's often blue, then i think it makes sense to people who understand what's going on. >> the middle east peace process and the mideast crisis is every breakthrough is proceeded by every crisis and not every crisis proceeds a breakthrough. which situation do we have here? >> i think we have a crisis that was to some extent negated by the media. this is between two guys that ended up having national implications. i don't feel it's a good poster child for racial profiling in america. i'll empathize with what the black officer was going through. i got a lot of e-mails to the same effect myself because i refused to take sides until i heard the facts. one of the things people are logically skeptical, the blue

line is big in police departments. my father when he started the force, i heard stories of guys on the ku klux klan who would stand by a black officer before they would stand by a random white person on the street. this officer is the only one that really knows if he's showing alee jalegiance colleag showing allegiance to his race or betraying his race, whatever the case may be. the issue with the deep racial problem is a virus that affects our entire society. you can't do delicate surgery with a big rusty butcher knife. that's what we're trying to do. >> the two have agreed to be in touch by a phone. that is what is going to happen with the two of them. what do you think the next step should be in the national dialogue that comes out of this? >> boyce knows we're three or four weeks away from the beginning of school years all over the country, all levels, k through college.

and i think between now and then, those of us in the classroom, for example, may want to figure out a way to carve out some time if we care enough about this issue to speak to our students and for pastors to speak to their parishioners and parents speak to their kids. and about this issue, why it is much more endemic and deepern than we often address. >> michael fontroy. thanks for being with us this morning. we appreciate it. >> no problem. >> fascinating conversation. i don't know if anybody was ready to hear "i'm sorry," they were thinking someone would say it. even if they didn't truly mean it to be nice and reach out in a more effective way. >> i've been involved in one or two arguments. i'm sorry goes a long way to repairing relations. >> agree to disagree sometimes

leaves lingering tensions. >> exactly. >> coming up, in my segment "just saying," should states' rights trump the fed? it's a trebd across the country. 20 states have introduced resolutions reasserting state's rights because they think the federal government is way too involved in what states do, in things like taxes, health care, education. we want to know what you think about it. explore the issue. it's the chevy open house. and now, with the cash for clunkers program, a great deal gets even better. let us recycle your older vehicle, and you could qualify for an additional $3500 or $4500 cash back... on top of all other offers.. on a new, more fuel efficient chevy. your chevy dealer has more eligible models to choose from - more than ford, toyota, or honda.

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♪ you got to fight for your right to party ♪ fight for your state's rights too. welcome back to the most news in

the morning. president obama has made overhauling the system the top prospect for priority. >> it's stoking anger among some states' rights advocates thinking the government is already way too big. they're pushing back. just saying, should states' rights trump the fed? >> reporter: the concept of state's rights is as old as america but lately it's a red hot issue. >> state's rights, state's rights. >> rick perry makes them very seriously. >> those states rights that are enshrined in the tenth be amendment of the united states constitution. >> if you don't like washington spending your money, tell it to butt out. it's a notion that's catching on. >> alaska will lead -- >> reporter: as sarah palin left office, she found a resolution telling alaska to govern itself.

20 others are considering them, a way to tell uncle sam, one size doesn't fit all. >> just saying, should state's rights trump the fed? >> it's part of our constitution. >> reporter: as in the tenth amendment. it says the power is not delegated to the united states by the constitution, are reserved to the states respectively, or to the people. what are those powers? take a trip to the oklahoma state house and ask republican lawmaker charles key. >> nothing in the constitution that says the federal government has the legal right and authority to tell the people in the various states how to educate their children. >> reporter: that's why george w. bush's no child left behind left him cold, as does president obama's stimulus package and legislation that would give the federal government a much bigger role in health care. the debate is as old as the nation. >> it has been going on since our country was born. >> thomas jefferson argued for strong state's rights. but over the centuries, the federal government's powers have

grown because it has the money. >> in real life, money comes with strings attached. federal money is no exception. >> we don't like oppression then, we don't like oppression now. >> reporter: critics say governor perry found that out when he rejected $55 5 million in stimulus money to cover unemployment benefits because it had strings attached but then he had to ask the federal government for a loan to cover unemployment costs. >> the money does come with strings. now texas will have to pay that money back. if they had taken the stimulus money, they wouldn't have had to do that. that's something to keep in mind. they're passing resolutions in the states, that's not the same as a law. but the states want to reassert their rights and tell the federal government, hey, on some instances, just butt out. that's it in a nutshell, isn't it? >> right. >> a state's motto. right? should states rights trump the

fed? e-mail my blog at cnn.com/amfix and we'll read some of the comments on "american mourning" a little later. half past the hour, checking storie stories. federal money ear marked on tens and thousands of bridges is being used on less urgent projects like repaving roads. a stress analysis found 50% of bridges labeled obsolete are in for repair. it requires years of planning and construction. gas prices creep up. the average price is up .10. may not start that much. >> starts small and builds. >> in the last ten days, the good example. the price of gas increased almost six cents a gallon. we're doing better than we were last year when prices were over $4.

>> every burst dam begins with a little crack. the mayor of hoboken, new jersey is expected to resign at a news conferences. peter camarano is one of 44 people arrested including dozens of public officials and five rabbis. he's charged with accepting $25,000 in bribes from a government witness posing as a real estate development. a more politics now in the wildly popular segment in "wing nut of the week." we call out someone on the right and left who he says has taken political name calling for the extreme. >> he's a columnist. he joins us with a ring of dishonor. >> always a good time to add to the ring of dishonor. we're taking a look at a couple of polarizing pundits on the right and the left. >> this week is easy, isn't it? >> this week, obligatory exceptions that got by there even before the designation.

bill maher, smart comedian. said america was a stupid country this week and then refused to apologize for it. take a listen to what he said. >> people are complaining that you're calling the united states a stupid country and giving you a chance to clarify. >> i don't need to clarify. it is. >> tell me why it's a stupid country. >> because sarah palin could be president? i mean, please, do i need to expand on it anymore? this country gets dumber and dumber by the day. and i don't think i have time on your show to list all of the reasons. >> wow. >> yeah. >> so, a couple of things about that. the great example of how you're entering a polarizer and you end up confirming your own party's worst stereotypes. he's fulfilling, embodying the stereotype of the media elite on the coast trying to divide

rather than unite. he calls flyover part of the country sarah palin calls real america. >> we're so polite here. >> who's the wing nut on the right? >> wingnut on the right is glenn beck. this week you may have heard that the entertainer come political pundit said that president obama was a racist among other things. let's take a look at this change. >> this president, i think, has exposed himself as a guy over and over and over again who has a deep-seeded hatred for white people or the white culture. i don't know what it is. >> he can't say he doesn't like white people. rahm emmanuel is white, david axle rod is white. 70% of the people we see every day is white. robert gibbs is white. >> i'm not saying he doesn't like white people. i'm saying he has a problem. this guy is, i believe, a racist. >> yeah, so -- not saying he

dublt like white people, he's just a racist. you could say a lot of things. >> sounds like the boston cop. >> you can say a lot of things about president obama. >> his mother is white. >> for 1001 reasons, this would fly -- no doubt, glenn beck is taking a lot of heat and refusing to back down. >> what about the fallout from this? i want to quote chuck todd from nbc who wrote, quote, there was a time when outrageous rants like this would cost the ranners their jobs. but not anymore, it's now encouraged. >> it stirs the pot. that's part of the problem. some of the wingnut comments are great for ratings and bad for the country. we're not making a distinction. fox news ended up issuing a heisman move through executive v.p. bill schein saying glenn beck represents a personal opinion, not those of fox news channel.

his statements also evoked a boycott from one group calling on sponsors to be boycotted if they bought back his show. they're half a million strong. we'll see. i don't think it's over yet. >> you know the sad part -- they had the beer summit and they want the country to have this teachable moment. but glenn beck isn't going to want to go through any teachable moment. he's going to believe what he believes and nothing is going to change his mind. >> that's the problem with wing nuts and hyperpartisans, right? those comments give a cover to those who want to create a false equivalency over race. it's good for ratings, some people give it a pass. >> honorary wingnut of the week as well? >> we're crowded this week. honorary wingnut, officer justin barrett in the wake of what will one day be known as "gatesgate" sent off an e-mail, a mass e-mail to reporters in "the

boston globe" in which he referred to professor gates repeatedly, four times, actually, as a jungle-monkey. saying -- here's one of the exkrefre excerpts of the split are a chur. if i had been the officer he verbally assaulted like a banana-eating jungle monkey, i would have sprayed him in the face with the oc. a couple of things wrong about that. last night he went on the contrition circuit. not the brightest moment in his life. hear what he said -- >> i'm not a racist. i did not intend anymore bigotry or harm in my words. i apologize that these words were received as such. i truly apologize to all involved, larry. >> it leaves you speechless. >> doesn't happen very often. >> how can you say you don't intend racial bigotry when you write that phrase four times in the e-mail?

yesterday he was trying the some of my best friends are black defense. his lawyer trying to make this brilliant distinction, my client was not claiming he was a jungle monkey, he was comparing him to the jungle monkey. >> acting like -- >> yeah, i'm sorry. that distinction is not a difference, my friend. >> fine but ridiculous line there. >> good to see you. >> have a good weekend. go to our amfix hotline in the blog. this week's wingnut, cnn.com/a.m. fix. more on michael jackson. when you think there can't be anymore news about michael jackson, there is. we're going to talk to his personal chef about what she saw going on in the house and what doctor doing. 39 minutes past the hour. its new ultra soft design is softer than before. and it has so much absorbency, you can use 7 sheets vs. 28. new charmin ultra soft. america's softest bath tissue.

welcome back to the most news in the morning. michael jackson's personal chef was on "larry king live" last night. what happened the day he died and what she saw going on in the house when dr. conrad murray was there. >> did you notice oxygen tanks? because if it was diprivan, they had to measure blood pressure

and need oxygen tanks. >> mm-hmm. >> did you notice them? >> i saw oxygen tanks there. >> where were they? >> i would see dr. murray carrying the oxygen tanks down in the morning. >> that morning or other mornings? >> i didn't see him that morning. i saw him in the afternoon. other mornings. >> carry them down to -- >> yes. >> now, the investigation is focused on the drugs the singer was taking. randi kaye has that for you. >> reporter: we have the warrants issued for dr. conrad murray's homes and office. the warrant states prescribing, prescribing to an add dick, and manslaughter. the addict in this case, michael jackson. the authors were looking for prescriptions and information on when medications were administers, prescribed, transferred, sold, distributed, and concealed including the sedative, diprivan, which authorities believe killed michael jackson and which we know from a source that dr.

conrad murray gave him within 24 hours of his death. investigators seized five hard drive images, one hard drive, paperwork, records, cell phones and one iphone. a cv with omar around on it. jackson used the name omar arnold to get prescription drugs and get procedures done. we know he used that name and we know a c.d. with that name was taken from dr. murray's clinic in vegas. that's something investigators no doubt will look at. the search warrant shows the authorities that michael jackson had 19 aliases. they were written in prescriptions for all of the names, including his personal chef and his own son. dr. murray is a within and has not been named a suspect. but the search warrant mentioned seven other doctors that may have had correspondence with or

written prescriptions for michael jackson and any of his alias aliases. they're trying to match up michael jackson with any of the names he used as doctors. those mentioned include dr. murray, long-time dermatologist dr. arnold klein and five others we have not reported on. they're looking for correspondence between jackson and cherilyn lee, jackson's former nurse, who told me jackson begged her for diprivan. i spoke to someone with the knowledge of the investigation, he told me they're still vizzing for records. the toxicology report is just not done. randi kay ex-cnn, los angeles. >> and so it goes. thanks, randy. extreme weather taking aim at the northeast. will be space shuttle be able to land in florida? ♪

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♪ 12 minutes to the top of the hour. rob marciano is tracking all of the extreme weather for us this morning. northeast going to get pounded in some areas, rob? >> a lot of areas, john. when we look at the map, the slow-moving front is a slow mover. it continues to push off to the east, that's why we're going to see rain over areas that have seen quite a bit.

flooding is going to be a problem. here you you can see on the radar scope, up in the appalachians moving to the north '. as that happens, the heat of the day builds up ahead of this thing because it's not completely cloudy, we'll get boomers developing and some could have heavy rain for sure. rough weather across parts of texas. that line of thunderstorms has moved in to the deep south. here's what we look like in richardson, texas, outside of dallas, a lot of lightning strikes and this house in richardson, texas was lit up by the lightning. this gentleman works for texas instruments coming back for the first day of work after a long layoff. that's what happened to his house, unfortunately. this is where the action is across the north -- the southeast. florida right now looks to be okay. and it's a big day for florida, as you know. the shuttle landing. "endeavo "endeavour" is going to try to make a landing there at 10:48. a 30% chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon. the parameters around the kennedy space center can't be any sort of precipitation in 30

nautical miles and the ceiling has to be 8,000 feet or higher. we should get that. if it's delayed at all in the afternoon, john, carol, we'll probably have some problems. back to you guys in new york. >> keep track of that, thanks, rob. the new defense spending bill, some say it looks like a christmas ham than a piece of legislation. chris laurence is going to break it down for you. beautiful fighter -- on the books or off of the books? we'll find out.

♪ can't touch this i can't believe they're not dancing in there. welcome back to the most news in the morning. the military spending bill with the price tag of $6 billion plus. and a lot of that money is coming from congressional earmarks. pentagon correspondent chris lawrence has more for you. john, carol, the 18 members of the committee that came up with this bill accounting for 1/3 of all of the earmarks contained in it. >> reporter: $600 billion won't buy you anymore f-22s. the house cut funding for the fighter jet that never fired a

shot in battle. the pentagon didn't want that jet but it's stuck with projects it did not ask for. robert gates did want a new missile defense system or another engine with a joint strike fighter or nearly half a billion dollars for new presidential helicopters. come to think of it, even president obama didn't want those? they're all in the new defense spending bill. >> the department of defense has no history of being frugal. >> reporter: the president for taxpayers for common sense, a nonpartisan watchdog group says the words "pentagon" and "frugal" have never been connected before. >> when they say we don't need this, this is extraordinary. we should listen to that. >> reporter: nearly $3 billion goes to earmarks, projects demanded by individual congressmen mostly for work in their home state. >> if they're so good, why earmark money? compete on your own like everybody else. >> reporter: john murtha sponsored the bill to cut the

f-22 money, but his earmarks provide good jobs for american workers and produce needed equipment, like body armor. >> the biggest complaint i get from troops in the field, i don't know how often you visit the field, i don't know how often you come to the people who do this work. >> reporter: representative murtha was responsible for 23 earmarks, total willing $90 million, the most of any house member. we'll have to see if they all make it through. because president obama has threatened to veto this bill and some of the promgs were included. john, carol? >> chris lawrence for us this morning. thanks so much. a new push to tax what's called cadillac care. the top-of wi-the-line health c packages. 54 minutes after the hour. so what do you think?

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in the morning. they call it cadillac care -- top of the line, gold-plated health care plans that cost nearly four times the national average. now there's a push to tax them to pay for health care reform. but at what cost? breanna kieler live on capitol hill to navigate for us. good morning, brianna. >> good morning, john. this is an idea produced by senator john kerry to break the log jam in the senate over how to pay for health care reform. the idea here is to tax insurance companies instead of american taxpayers. they're the best health insurance plans money can buy. in washington, they have a name -- >> supergold-plated cadillac plans. >> reporter: what makes them so great? >> no deductible, no co-payment, no co-insurance, unlimited choice of drugs, no restrictions on networks. >> reporter: these plans are marketed to the wealthy, costs as much as $40,000, far above

the national average of $12,000. they encourage the overuse of doctor visits and procedures. a chance to tax the insurance companies that gain these pricey plans is gaining bipartisan support in the senate as a way to get health care reform and keep costs down. >> tax an insurance company and that will then put pressure on them to try to make sure that people look for more cost-effective health care packa packages. >> reporter: some lawmakers say a tax on plans with premiums over $25,000 could raise as much as $90 billion to reform health care. the insurance industry which opposes the tax insists it would hit the policies of the middle class americans and not just the risk. paul bronston agrees. >> but you may find a plan that costs $25,000 because the average age of workers is 55. because they use a lot of health care, the cost of the plan is very high. >> reporter: labor union, a

powerful democratic ally also opposed the tax. the largest union for public employees and health care workers says insurance companies will pass the kos on to consumers. >> we think that any plan involving taxation and health care reform should not make health care more expensive. so alternatively, we think taxing income level is a better way to go. another way to do this is to tax capital gains. >> reporter: so as you can imagine, unions support the tax that's on the table for the house of representatives which is a traditional income tax on the wealthy. republicans oppose it. but so do many of the conservative blue dog democrats. they want to see it stripped from the bill. but, john, it's a little early to see if the tax on cadillac plans will gain traction in the house as well as the senate. >> we have a month and a week to figure all of this out. we'll see where it goes. breanna kieler for us. thanks so much. that brings us to the top of the hour. it' friday, the 31st of july. another month of the summer gone by. >> i noe. >> just didn't make me happy.

i'm sorry, i don't want to bring anybody down. but any day of the summer that expires is -- i just don't like it. >> you need another vacation. >> i just -- i need more summer. i'm john roberts. thanksing being with us. of. >> i'm carol costello in for kiran. the cash for clunkers program is running out of money after just one week. a lot of americans are trading in their gas guzzlers for more efficient models. a billion dollars for rebates is just about spent. christine romans on the latest effort to refuel the program. the fallout from the beer summit, sergeant crowley and professor gates having a cold one in a conversation at the white house. where do they go from here? what was the vice president doing here? ed henry joins us live. a blue book is taking big news. the taliban guide book for warriors. it includes guidance for suicide attacks and proper social behavior. what else is inside?

first, the clash for clunkers rebate program may be running on empty. after one week, the $1 billion program has burned through $221 million. it' supposed to run through november first or until the money is gone. but yesterday, reports began swirling on capitol hill that the car's program would be suspended. late last night, the white house said, not true. here's their statement. "we are working tonight to assess the situation facing what is obviously an incredibly popular program. auto dealers and consumers should have confidence that all valid karz transactions that have taken place to date will be honored." michigan lawmakers held a conference call and planned to ask the white house for more cash -- but will they get it? so many clunkers, so little cash. >> and you notice in the white house statement, they said that all deals done to date will be honored. that was last night. what about this weekend? if you have an old ford bronco and you want to get the cash for clunkers, you've been holding on to it, have you missed your

window of opportunity. we don't know. they burned through a lot of this money. a lot of the dealers are saying that they had so much demand for people bringing in the junker clunkers and getting a rebate to use towards the purchase of a new car that frankly they have a lot of cars that they haven't processed through with the government with the transportation department yet. a lot of money has been spent. what it shows us, frankly, that people when enticed with this government rebate, the incentive for the government went out and bought cars. it was perfect for the program. it workled. now it's been so successful, they have to figure out what to do about it. >> in the beginning, remember, some of the auto experts said, oh, this will have minimal impact. some people won't trade in their cars, you can get more of a trade-in value anyway. people are coming up with old cars. what is the biggest number of cars from what model? what is it they're turning in? old trucks, cars. i would with interested in

finding that out. >> you have one sitting in a garage. >> if it's on blocks, they won't take it. >> if your car is on blocks, i'm sorry. >> forget about it. we don't have an answer to the question can we bring your junker in today? oh. >> this has been so successful, they'd be crazy not to figure out how to keep it going and making sure people can put the gas guzzlers off of the road. debbie stabenow said 200,000 cars were purchased because of this deal. that's fuel efficient cars a day on the road than the clunker. >> we got money back from the banks recently. >> plenty of must be. plenty of money that wasn't ours to spend in the first place. oo. >> christine, tanks. president obama, professor gates and sergeant crowley joined for a beer, they were joined by an unannounced guest, joe biden. the president thanked everyone for a thoughtful conversation. but he's downplaying the notion that this was some kind of a sum it. >> i noticed this has been

called the beer summit. it's a -- it's a -- it's a clever term, but this is not a summit, guys, this is three f k fol folks having a drink at the end of the day and hopefully giving people an opportunity to listen to each other. >> three folks that did turn out to be four. senior white house correspondent ed henry tracking reaction for us this morning. is the white house trying to put this one to bed and move on from this? >> certainly the white house is hoping they can move on from this. you mentioned this cocktail hour with vice president biden having bucklers nonalcoholic. the president, bud light, sergeant crowley with blue moon and professor gates decided to get sam adams light making the sam adams guys lobbying for a seat at the table pretty happy. he said in all seriousnd, when he was asked by reporters, how do you know if it's a success. if you guys will stop asking me what kind of beer the president

is having. they wanted this to be a substantive conversation. they were hoping that the president would start a dialogue in the country, but that he will hand it off. it appears from what sergeant crowley said after this meeting that he and professor gates are trying to work out their differences now without the president. >> we planned a meeting. the professor is heading back to the vineyard to visit with his family. he and i are going to have a phone conversation in the coming days to lay the groundwork for that meeting that's been discussed. >> professor gates did not address the cameras but he put out a written statement on "the root.com." he said it's incumbent on sergeant crowley and me to use the opportunity that fate has given us to foster greater sympathy among the american public for the daily perils of the genuine fears of racial profiling on the other hand. right there in the essence, two

points. one, it looks like the two key players are going to try to work out the differences on their own. good step for the white house. and secondly, what professor gates referring to there, about policing and racial profiling. two important subjects in the country. the white house is hoping this started an important conversation. >> see if it did. school starts in a month's time. maybe some teachers will take it upon themselves to look back on this and say what did we learn over the course of the summer. >> that's right. it was a teachable moment. you're right. >> ed henry at the white house this morning. great to see you. thanks. >> good to see you. so, we were wondering, if the president's meeting with the police officer and the professor wasn't a summit as the president insisted, exactly what was it? >> oh, yes, it could be called a number of things. >> it could. in the blog, the late-night comedy shows and members of the press have had a little fun coming up with some of the favorites. bartender in chief, audacity of

hops, ale, to the chief, beer and loathing, and brew-ha-ha. >> mea gulpa. of malt and men. and brewing discontent and touch of glass and obama's beer bust. you have one of your own, head to amfix and give us your two cents. >> i couldn't think of anymore. keeping track of your stimulus dollars too. a lot of the money is not being used to fix america's crumbling bridges. the a.p. found a lot is going to bridges in decent shapes or on cheaper projects repaving roads. $2.2 billion is going to fewer than 1300 of the nation's worst bridges. but engineers say 150,000 bridges nationwide need work badly. the problem officials say most of those aren't, quote, shovel-ready projects. new this morning, the memphis area recovering from a tornado and department store full of shoppers lost part of the roof in the side of the

building. 50 nearby homes were damaged. thousands of people lost power. thankfully, no one was hurt. boston red sox david ortiz reportedly tested positive for performance-enhancing drugs in 2003. the big papi. he and teammate manny ramirez were among the players that tested positive. ortiz surprised and promises to respond to it very, very soon. five months ago, he told a reporter anyone who tests positive for performance-enhancing drugs should be suspended from baseball for an entire year. when the market is open in two hours, the dow will start the session at the highest level of the year. up more than 83 points closing at 9154. it's treated by solid corporate earnings and a drop in the number of americans receiving jobless benefits. >> good news. >> it is. is it the beginning of something big? green shoots growing?

97-year-old john colangelo has a new nickname. his friends are calling him als. he waited 15 years to get that title. >> he got the first hole in one on tuesday. he did it on the 16th hole of the amsterdam municipal golf course in upstate new york. his shot hit a flagstick and dropped straight into the hole. the moment he dreamed of for nearly half his life -- less than stunned. holy cow! looking in the hole, that's what it was. >> i got up there. and john said it's in the hole. i said, you're kidding me? he couldn't believe it. he couldn't believe it. he's speechless. >> there's something more amazing. in '97, co-angelo plays golf almost every day. isn't that amazing? >> that's so awesome. >> what a way to retire. >> i don't think he's going to retire, even after this. he'll probably play more.

>> that would be fantastic. another summit going on at the white house today. more of a retreat than anything. going across the street to blare house to review what happened in the six months of the presidency and target the agenda for the next six months. what priorities does the president need to focus on? joe trippi and susan moll nariry here to talk about that. introducing the all new chevy equinox. with an epa estimated 32 miles per gallon. and up to 600 miles between fill ups. it's the most fuel efficient crossover on the highway. better than honda cr-v, toyota rav4 and even the ford escape hybrid. the all new chevy equinox.

welcome to the now network. right now five co-workers are working from the road using a mifi, a mobile hotspot that provides up to five shared wifi connections. two are downloading the final final revised final presentation. - one just got an e-mail. - what?! - huh? - it's being revised again. @i the co-pilot is on mapquest. - ( rock music playing ) - and tom is streaming meeting psych-up music from meltedmetal.com. that's happening now with the new mifi from sprint, the mobile hotspot that fits in your pocket. sprint. the now network. deaf, hard of hearing and people with speech disabilities access www.sprintrelay.com.

>> las vegas looks gorgeous. clear, 81 degrees. later, sunny, and 106. >> a dry heat, right? >> it has a lot of air conditioned buildings. that's a good thing. the space shuttle astronauts are preparing to land at florida's kennedy. conditions are favorable. there's a slight chance of rain.

we'll bring you the landing live here on cnn and cnn.com. the stars of the hit show seinfeld are going to be back together on television for the first time in 11 years. co-creator larry david said larry, elaine, george, and cramer will appear together in five episodes of "curb your enthusiasm" including the finale. the story line is naturally, a "seinfeld cast reunion". you'll have to pay $6 for it if you're flying coach. free in first class. delta, jet blue, frontier, and virgin america has offered satellite tv on flights. >> a weekend get together. they're having a checkup after six months in office and deciding what's next. so as a memo to the president, the top three problems that he should consider going forward. helping us break it down from both sides of the aisle, susan molinari, republican and congresswoman from the great

state of new york. and joe trippi worked on two campai campaigns, john edwards in 2008, howard dean, 2004. what are the top three friarities for the president looking ahead to the next six months. >> these are not my top three priorities. politically, the top three priorities the president of the united states has to focus in on is signing a health care bill. he's expended a significant amount of personal capital to get this far. he needs to show success. in february, he needs to show the american people now that he's done inheriting problems and dealing with problems of his own administration, he needs to show that we can cut the deficit and reduce spending. that's something that's very important to this country and comes up time and time again in poll after poll. with two wars and home grown terrorists being found on our own soil, he needs to continuously ensure americans he's grown into the role of being commander in chief.

>> if you were to write a memo to the president, the top three priorities, what would top the list? >> jobs, jobs, jobs at the top. this can't be a jobless recovery. he has to focus on that. he's got to stop the spending and target spending that's only related to creating those jobs and third, stay at home, focus domestically on getting the country back on track. again, this is a jobless recovery, a lot of people are talking about, that's going to be a real pain for a lot of workers and pain for the white house if they don't turn that around. >> the top three priorities from both of you. break it down a little bit. susan molinari, is health care a do or die issue for the president? >> i think it's important for the president. the president has taken another one of his important signature issues like climate change and put that on the back burner. the other things, like the stimulus package, like focusing on jobs as joe is suggested has not been the direct conversation for the president and his

administration. so i think he has made this of paramount importance in terms of credibility and cache he brings to the white house. he could do what other presidents failed to do. it's a big challenge. we've seen this week what you need to do to pass health care with a majority of members of congress. and the blue dogs are going to get progressive and the more liberal members of congress and the political base of the democratic party upset. but, it's a tight rope you have to walk. but i think he invested so much political capital right now on this issue that there's no turning back on him. >> this could be his waterloo if he doesn't get it past. do you agree with that? >> i think it will be a big problem if he doesn't get it past. i agree with susan. he made the cornerstone of the administration -- the target thing he wants to get done. but, again, this whole thing is about, you know, a lot of the changes woemt affect america for a long time. some of the changes won't go into effect until 2015.

right now, as we move forward, if we have success on that, then he's got to turn to jobs. that's where it's going to be. >> joe trippi, the biggest mistake the president has made in the last six months. what would you say it would be? >> in a lot of ways trying to do too many things at one time. some of that is not his fault. he came in, there were a lot of problems. trying to tackle each one of them combined one after the other is wearing out his credibility at times and he's got to be careful with that. >> susan, what do you think is the biggest mistake? >> i agree with joe. i think it's too many things. it's time to be the spokesperson, the sales person, if you will, for all of the issues. he's very -- a great communicator. no doubt about it. he's the best sales person for all of these programs. but you have to learn to calibrate when you're going to speak to the american people and the american media know when something is very important to you and it has that much impact. he started to lose a little bit more of that impact by feeling the need to carry the message for everything and everyone in

his administration. >> hang with us. we want to take a quick break and talk about the other things on the other side. most people try to get rid of algae, and we're trying to grow it. the algae are very beautiful. they come in blue or red, golden, green. algae could be converted into biofuels... that we could someday run our cars on. in using algae to form biofuels, we're not competing with the food supply. and they absorb co2, so they help solve the greenhouse problem, as well. we're making a big commitment to finding out... just how much algae can help to meet... the fuel demands of the world. we know why we're here. toto build tomorrow's technology iin amazing ways.@w and reshape the science of aerospace... forever. around the globe, the people of boeing... @w are working together -- for the dreams of generations to come. that's why we're here.

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the white house across the street in a day and a half long retreat for the president and the 22 members of his cabinet talking about the next six months and where to focus the agenda. talk about the president's approval ratings. the poll of polls has found that currently 54% of people approve of the job that the president is doing. down seven points from late june. one of the worst seems to be in the gallup poll. he's down 53%. less popular, we should note, that either george w. bush or his constituencies. who's responsible for that? oh. >> there's a couple of things. superman falls to earth. there's a louder thud than when

human beings do. he was high up there in the campaign and starting the presidency that his reaction is a little bit of an overreaction. president obama found it hard to govern as opposed to campaigning. at the risk of engaging in if they can correct and unemployment starts to go down and jobless claims go down, i think it will go back up again. you and joe are agreeing on a lot. high expectations when he first came in. >> few people had the popularity that president obama did coming in to office. that's going to deplete a little bit. but i do think it's about the economy. did the economy turns around, people are in a sour mood right now.

the banks get a bailout, you get a pink slip. that's not going to fly. his popularity, the approval rating, whether deserved or not, he got in this mess. it's his economy now. he's going to have to turn the jobs. if he can do that, if the economy turns, it will be the most popular president ever. if not, it will be a problem. just a reminder that next week we'll be looking at the second 100 days of the administration and where we go from here. joe trippi, susan molinari. >> i can't believe they were so agreeable. >> amazing. suspect it? i agree with what susan says. >> it's a beautiful thing. >> so unusual in america. >> isn't it, though? because this idea of bipartisanship and sort of transformation of washington seems to be falling by the wayside. >> seems to be? >> folks can speak reasonably to each other and a lot of good points, that's a good thing. coming up next, a strange

book out in -- in afghanistan. the code of conduct stan grant shows us what that book says. you won't believe it. some lunch. you hungry? yeah. me too. (door crashes in) (broadview alarm)

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so we've been asking for people this morning for their name for the beer summit last night? here's a great one -- how about the coalition of the zwilling? that's a good one. >> that's good. >> that's a good one, isn't it? >> i want to hire that guy. >> we did. it's one of the producers for "the situation room." dos and don'ts for taliban warriors. just saying? what, there are? a little blue book is making big news for the rules on suicide attacks on social behavior. u.s. military is calling it hypocritical propaganda.

a copy of the rules to live and fight by. wille's got the story for us this morning from pakistan. >> reporter: the code of conduct has been drafted by taliban leadership and distributed to fighters in the field. of the more than 60 pages, it covers chapters such as prisoners, regional issues, and prohibitive things. it's a strict hierarchy and limits the use of violence. suicide attacks should be high value and important targets because a brave son of islam should not be used for low value and useless targets. this is clearly designed to limit casualties and target coalition troops or government officials. it goes on -- it's strictly prohibited to exchange prisoners for money. killing can only be decided by the imam or his deputy. no one else has the right to do so. the imam in this case is taliban supreme leader mullah omar. he has the final say in the execution of, quote, infidel military prisoners.

there's a long list of things that are prohibited by the taliban. that is, the taliban fighter cannot steal from civilians, cannot take their weapons. the taliban should not smoke. now, this has been drafted at a time when the taliban is bogged down in fighting both in afghanistan and in pakistan. and it is a chance to win the hearts and minds of ordinary people. it is not a new code of conduct. it was issued some years ago, but it has now been updated. it also comes just ahead of the afghanistan election. calling the government in kabul a slain government. the question now, just how closely will this taliban code of conduct be followed? stan grey, cnn, islamabad. a big push this morning in 20 states to tell the federal government to butt out. they say states' rights ought to trump the fed. just saying, do they have a point? we'll talk about that in the special segment in the next hour. what you think about it? is washington spending too much

of your money? do they have the right to put the brakes on the federal government and govern itself? sound off on the blog at cnn.com/amfix. i want to read one or two. a lot of good comments. >> people are saying, federal government should be able to make the rules. i don't care if they send my tax money here in the state. >> this is from tim, asking if state's rights trump fed rights is asking if your children's rights trump the parents. many of the states rejected the sfim lus money or form of assistance are run by republicans and are trying to make a political point at the expense of the government. and pat, i'm not a state, i'm a person. individual freedom is almost always forgotten. from what i've seen, state and local governments are just as likely to abuse personal rights and freedoms as the federal government, if not more so. keep the comments. >> the opposite. >> yeah. >> interesting this morning. check in this morning's top stories. cnn has a copy of the search

warrant that the feds used when they raided the house and clinic of dr. conrad murray, the doctor who was with michael jackson when he died. manslaughter, too many drugs being prescribed and prescribing to an addict. the addict they're referred to, michael jackson. more from randi kaye coming up. british forces are pulling out of the height of the war in 2003, british soldiers were on the ground, 179 have died since the conflict started. the agreement with baghdad to stay has expired. the uk has 9,000 people in afghanistan. now, you can call the material girl, quote, the spiritual girl. madonna now writing for an israeli newspaper about her spiritual awakening. she's bringing her sticky and sweet tour to israel. and she has ties to judaism through her involvement with kabala. >> one week after congress breaks for recess and the grid lock on capitol hill is putting

the brakes on the health care reform. but our next guest says he should learn from the last president writing. if obama has lost his ability to since size, he should turn to president clinton. welcome this morning. >> yes. >> you're writing your article. it's the former president who got it wrong once that spent the most time and lost the most sleep thinking about how he should do it again. so what should president clinton tell president obama? >> what bill clinton should do is not so much talk to obama but talk to the nation and talk to the blue dog democrats. because arkansas who's been a spokesman, really, for the blue dogs in the house, you know, clinton had a great relationship. it's very interesting. i wrote a couple of days ago now. that he should -- he should talk to rossman. of course, i think he did. he's gone the other way.

i'm told there was a little backstage call there from bill. i mean, bill -- i remember seeing him on the campaign trail. no one is better at taking a vastly complicated issue and reexplaining it to people with a little bit of a touch that seems to get to people in a very simple way while outminimizing the complexity of the issue. he's good at this. obama should be deploying him out there explaining to the health care plan. he's good at it. >> the clinton health care reform plan failed. there's negatives attached to it too. >> yes. >> reasons that president obama doesn't want to -- >> there are many reasons. i think he's overlearned the mistakes of the clinton plan. in a way, nobody is better on telling people how to do things who did mess up the first time. bill will be the first to say they didn't get it right then. he spent a lot of time since then. and the obama crowd have overlearned it. they learned that you didn't want an arrogant plan to

congress so it's all going to be turned over to congress first and hash it out and not look arrogant. it's turning to a huge great mess. >> president obama has dumped this plan on congress. everybody has the own plans for how it should be paid for and what it should say. should the president go in and come up with a blueprint and say this is my blueprint, work it out. >> the clarity should have been more cogently stated. there should have been much more backstage discussions, arm twisting, much more private-in-the-corridor talking before it was laid out. i don't feel obama is doing enough of that backstage stuff, that old lbj arm around you retail one-on-one stuff. >> maybe he should offer him a beer. >> maybe he should offer them a beer. exactly right. it seemed to me when he was talking about a teaching moment, the reconciliation, those are the reconciliatioreconciliation. obama is a little too from 10,000 feet. the crowds, the great star quality.

the ability to wow thousands of people. he needs to come down a little bit and get a little dirty and be seen to getting dirty to get the stuff through. >> he's charismatic but the gop talking points are sticking with the american people. >> they are. they're clear and deadly. we saw this last time. they're very good at this. and nancy pelosi got on and said that the insurance companies are the demons and stuff. but that comes off as sort of shrill and doesn't come off as something that people can listen to. >> okay. so, last question before you go -- if this health care reform plan goes down in flames, will this be the rumination of the obama presidency? >> it will be tragic for something that's so important. we're the only place left, really, in the kind of free developed world that doesn't have health care. i come from the uk where i grew up with absolutely free health care and we were still able to go private if we wanted to. but it was a glitch. it wasn't considered, you know,

something to -- to talk about. it was considered part of the -- part of the evolved nation. and you're -- everybody in europe has it. i think it's a must. >> americans would have to relearn a lot of stuff before they do what they feel is a government-run health care program. >> sure. >> tina brown. thank you so much for joining us this morning. >> thank you. so, tour season in new york. been walking around times square lately? can't move, right. >> but they have lawn chairs there now. they do. >> i know they do. at any rate, there are a lot of native new yorkers who don't like tour season because they can't get around. sir richard ross is here to tell people, they should get out of the way! the gold delta skymiles credit card... from american express... it's the official card... largest airline. of the world's and it's the only credit card...

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> . ♪ everybody's working for the weekend ♪ >> shout outside of the headquarters. light rain, 75 degrees later on today. rain and 81. and, some serious weather coming in too. rob marciano tracking that this morning. so, okay, new yorkers have never been known for being especially patient. there might be an excuse. >> a lame excuse. i must be honest about this. not the weather, the tourists drive many new yorkers nuts. richard ross found that out firsthand. what did you find out? >> good morning, everyone. the economy, john, carol, has reduced the amount of tourists from elsewhere in america and

overseas but that has not lowered the tengs on the street where the hosts don't want to give an inch. they're back, tourists. >> new york, i love it. >> we love new york. >> acting nice and behaved. >> everybody has been fantastic. >> but new yorkers are not proclaiming, "i love new york tourists." >> too many people. >> they're everywhere. they don't know which way. >> oh, the sidewalks of new york. they used to be a friendly world where everybody got along. but these days, battle zone. >> i try to stay busy. people looking up in the air. that can be annoying. >> reporter: it didn't take long for me to feel his pain. you just ran me over -- where you from? you hit me with that suitcase? what happen? just -- too crowded on the streets? >> what happened? >> bumped into my feet.

>> french, german, dutch, i should communicate with these people so i can say, move it! move it! >> on the streets it's a little go, go, go. >> sorry. >> upstate new york. >> reporter: but you're walking on my sidewalk and you can't walk. >> i know, it's so crowded. >> new york! >> reporter: aren't the tourists the biggest pain in the neck when you're walking on the streets of new york? >> absolutely not. >> reporter: why not? >> end tourism, it's the end of us. >> it's the big apple. for whatever reason, the people love us. >> reporter: and the city made more room for tourists by shutting down broadway to cars at times square. >> are there too many in new york? >> never enough. >> reporter: new yorker says don't be scared, maneuver. >> i find my holes in the

people. everyone coming towards me is defense and i duck in and out of the crowd. >> reporter: visitors could be given a warning when arriving. >> welcome to new york -- beware of the natives -- no. >> we're sorry that you hurt your foot in new york. but now you're smiling. the new yorkers are not smiling. slow-walking tourists are a pet peeve. and the newspaper poll ranked it number one of the gripes new yorkers have with tourists. no dough about it. >> so mean. you should welcome tourists to your city. >> you should welcome people from out of town. >> no, i like them when i'm in their country. one woman said she gets uplifted and a little depressed when she can't get around. >> closing off broadway relaxed the environment around times square. >> there's much more practice on the spillover avenue.

>> there is that. i had a young woman come up to me yesterday. she was out of town. walking along ninth avenue. she said do you know where there's a gas station? she was walking. she asked me for a gas station. >> what sign were you wearing when she approached you when you were standing on the corner. i've seen you on corners around -- >> you have to earn a little extra coin where you can. but i couldn't figure out this young woman walking around town asking where the gas station was. >> shepted to talk to you. >> she was looking for a littlest room or something. health care reform passes with a public option, how much will it cost you? 7:50 eastern, dr. sanjay gupta is breaking down the numbers. the copy of the search warrant used to search the vegas home and clink of michael jackson's doctor. he could have been a drug addict. and uncle sam wants your help fighting terrorism? how?

8:10, we'll ask janet napolitano. coming up on 43 minutes after the hour.

, boy, it's hot in dallas. later on, 92. south texas needs the rain. the temperatures are good news. a group of 200 churchgoers

gathered in a texas plaza in san ap tone you seeking divine intervention. right on cue -- ♪ how great thou art >> that's the power of prayer. their prayers were answered. rain drops started to fall on their head. unless they brought umbrellas which the very faithful did. i think a couple of rain drops fell. can you answer that question? >> where was that, dallas? >> san antonio. >> the showers got real close. i don't know if they got rainfall. certainly if you bring the umbrella, the optimism. maybe i need to go to texas. the i-95 corridor is going to be in on it and some of this will bring heavy rain at times. flood watch in effect. tristate area of new york, back through parts of mississippi and tennessee.

speaking of tennessee, look what happened yesterday. memphis -- a tornado runs through there. got it clocked at an f-1, a 250 yards, did serious damage and knocked out a bit of power there east of memphis south of i-40. a scary day for though folks. so, what are we looking at today. this line could produce some thunderstorms that could become severe, especially east of the front. it looks like florida will be okay for the shuttle landing. and coming in about 10:48 this morning. looks good weatherwise. they closed the bay doors and at this point, all is go for a landing. john, carroll, back up to you. >> watching that one closely today. rob, thanks so much. >> you got it. the health care bill making its way through congress. pretty complicated. we want to talk about the public option. what will it mean? what will it cost? will it lead to rationing as we decide. dr. sanjay gupta, he's not only a neurosurgeon, he's a health

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in all of the fighting over health care reform, we keep hearing about what's called the public option. what is this kind of health care all about? and how much will it cost the average american family? we're paging dr. sanjay gupta in atlanta. what is this public option all about? >> a lot of people ask me that question. a you know, we're going to have a dialogue with our viewers. let me answer the question directly to one of our viewers who asked about this specifically. p.j. wrote this -- i worked part time to raise my grandchildren and had to buy my own health coverage which is expensive, $213 when i bring home $700.

how will this new program help me? take a look at those numbers. a significant amount of overall income going toward health care premium. public option is the option to get some sort of help, some sort of government of government sub to help defray the cost for people who can't afford it. but i wanted to do is show you these numbers, lots of numbers, we'll have them on your website, as well, but if you're making $14,400 or less, you pay nothing, at least this draft of the house bill. look at the bottom number there, though, $43,320, this is by no means free, the family of four, john, as you know a good model. so really quick, again, a lot of numbers here, i know, but take a look at what those numbers mean, $21,906, that or below, nothing, take a look at the bottom number, $77,175, about 21% will

go to premiums. there's a price tag associated with that and a sliding scale. >> in congress, republicans have been very critical of this public option. and what they keep saying is there's a public option out there cheaper than the private plans, they will eventually undercut the private insurance industry and everybody will be forced into the public plan. is that really true? >> well, that is the exact criticism. if it has an unfair competitive advantage, could it crowd out these other plans? you saw the numbers there, you get an idea of how much it'll still cost for people even if -- based on their income. and there'll be other caveats, as far as who qualifies for this sort of public option. for example, if your health care premium is less than 11% of your overall income, you're not going to qualify. so if you're making $100,000, it's got to be at least $11,000 or more. if you have access to private insurance elsewhere, your spouse, for example, someone else you're dependent upon, you're not going to qualify, as well. the president said, john, as you've reported that he says if

you have private insurance, and you're happy with it, nothing's going to change for you. and when we queried the budget office people, they seem to agree with that to a point. the point is, we don't know how much this is going to cost in the long run, and that's going to determine the answer to these questions, as well. >> weren't there also questions to the rate in which the plan would compensate hospital and doctors. if it compensated at medicaid levels, more people might be forced into the plan. but i think government is going to negotiate pretty much on a par with private plans. >> that's what they're saying right now. also, there's this sort of nuance area of something known comparative effectiveness. for example, if you're getting cholesterol screening every year, what the public plan says, you know what, john roberts, you don't need that every year, our data shows you need it every five years, that's what you'll be able to get as compared to your private insurance. some will say that's good enough. it doesn't make any difference

to get tested more frequently than that. others say i want to get it every year. >> other people would call that rationing. >> some people call it rationing, some say, look, it's based on what we think works and provide the best outcomes, let people live the longest and healthiest life. but it'll be an interesting debate. >> it's a complex issue, thanks for helping to explain it this morning. >> thanks, john. keep your questions coming for dr. gupta, go to cnn.com/amfix, working hard to simplify it all and show you how the changes will effect you. so many clunkers, so little clash. i messed up my good line. so many clunkers, so little cash. the cash for clunkers program, is it going bust? we'll explain. 53 minutes past the hour. imodium multi-symptom relief

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a developing story right now, we have a firsthand account of what was going on inside michael jackson's home the day he died. jackson's personal chef spoke with larry king last night and described what she saw dr. conrad murray doing. >> did you notice oxygen tanks? because if it was diprivan and they have to measure blood pressure, they also need oxygen

tanks if you're giving that drug. did you notice them? >> i saw the oxygen tanks, yes. >> where were they? >> i would see dr. murray carrying the oxygen tanks down in the morning. >> that morning or other mornings? >> no, i didn't see him that morning, i saw him in the afternoon, but other mornings. >> he would carry them down, portable oxygen? >> uh-huh, yes. >> the focus of the investigation has now zeroed in on drugs. randi kaye has more of that for you. >> reporter: we have a copy of the warrant issued to dr. murray's home in las vegas. it's looking for evidence of quote demonstrating crimes of excess, prescribing and prescribing to an addict and manslaughter. the addict in this case, apparently michael jackson, the search warrant also says authorities were looking for prescriptions and information on when medications were prescribed, distributed, and concealed, including diprivan, which authorities believe killed michael jackson and which we know from a source, dr. conrad

murray gave him within 24 hours of his death. now investigators seized five hard drive images, one hard drive, paperwork, records from two cell phones, and an iphone. but the key piece of evidence is a cd with the name omar arnold on it. and i confirmed with a source close to the investigation that jackson used the name omar arnold as an alias to get procedures done without anyone knowing we know he used that name and we know a cd with that name was taken from his office in vegas. a cd they will no doubt look at. authorities believe michael jackson was using 19 other aliases. they were looking for prescriptions written in all of those names, which include the name of his personal chef, and even his own son prince jackson. his attorney saying dr. murray is a witness and has not been named a suspect. but the search warrant also mentions seven other doctors that may have had kor response

with or written prescriptions for michael jackson. they're trying to match up michael jackson with any of the other names with the other doctors. those include dr. murray, his long time dermatologist arnold kline, and five other doctors we have not reported on. they're looking for kor response between jackson and cherilyn lee. she said he begged her for diprivan so she could sleep. i also spoke with a source with knowledge of the autopsy and he says they are still issuing subpoenas for records, still visiting doctors offices, he says the toxicology report is just not done. randi kaye, cnn, los angeles. >> thanks, randi. good morning to you. i'm carol costello filling in for kiran. >> i'm john roberts. here's what's on this morning's agenda. stories we'll be breaking down for you in the next 15 minutes. the running of the bulls on wall

street. the dow opens up at the highest level in nine months. more signs the economy is improving and evidence that the recession may soon be over. christine romans minding your business this morning. cash for clunkers, already out of gas? the government program to help replace gas guzzlers may be a victim of their own success. gerri willis is looking what that could mean for you. is america ready for the threat of another terrorist attack? they're working to improve their communications with each other. janet nepalitano joins us in a few minutes. all left with spirits high and saying they're ready to move forward. we look at just where they go from here. well, when wall street begins its day in about 90 minutes time, the dow will open at 9,154, a new high for the year and best level since last november. sure to be a busy day in the

markets. in 30 minutes, new numbers in the state of the economy when the gdp is released for the second quarter. is the economy getting better? christine romans minding your business. >> a lot is happening this week that's telling us the worst might be behind us and that's what the stock market has been telling us. and you can see that you're starting to get back some of those big colossal losses of the past year. and now the dow, the dow having their best month really this month since, i think 2002. take about look at this one. this is the s&p 500 march -- remember march when it was a 12-year low and we were very worried about what was going to happen next and then a powerful rally from there because a lot of people in the market which is forward-looking, say, look, things are going to get better, a stimulus will start to kick in, jobs lost,)wi÷fzlg(ht

>> the reason why we like to look at this one, it's got everything in there, exports, imports, inventories, labor, housing, everything you can think of is in this number, it's the broadest gauge rear view, but it'll tell us we shrank, but not as much as we did the last quarter the prior two. >> i'm detecting an almost uncharacteristic expression of optimism here. >> yeah. >> i like to be very careful. i can only say what happened behind us, not ahead.

but if you're looking at shrinking gdp, shrinking economic growth, that's an improvement from the last few quarters and we want to look in there and see if the stimulus, the tax benefits and the stimulus was maybe starting to goose things a little bit in slowing down. now, when you see gdp shrink, it means parts of the economy are shutting down, but they're shutting down more slowly than they will be before. >> well, the problem is, those people out of jobs and may not get a new job for quite a while, it doesn't feel like the economy's getting better. >> and we have said a million times and i'll say it again, when the economy recovers and the recession is over, most people are not going to feel a difference. not for a while at least. >> thanks. >> sure. a boston police officer now turning to national television to apologize for a mass e-mail he wrote describing professor henry louis gates as quote, well, you've heard it, i don't want to say it again. officer justin barrett could lose his job over the e-mail, which he also sent to the boston

globe. they were doing damage control last night on "larry king live." >> i am not a racist, i did not intend any racial bigotry or harm in my words. i apologize these words have been received as such. i apologize to all involved. >> justin stepping into this event between professor gates and sergeant crowley and what has occurred was a poor choice, poor choice of words, and not a well thought out sense of what he was doing when he did it. >> well, many of you would say, wow, that's an understatement. we want to hear what you think about this story or anything else that's on your mind. call our show hot line, 877-my-amfix. it was a high profile happy hour at the white house. having professor henry louis gates and james crowley over for a beer. after the drinking and talking was over, the two men at the center of a national debate on race agreed it was worth the trip. cnn's senior political

correspondent candy crowley is looking at the fallout. >> reporter: good morning, john and carol, they came, they sat, and talked, no agreements on what's past, but remarkably similar sentiments on moving forward. on a humid summer night, the vice president, the president, the black professor, and the white policeman who arrested him had a beer together. >> there was no tension? >> no tension. >> reporter: apparently it did go well, the president called it a friendly thoughtful conversation and you'll never guess what. sergeant james crowley said he and professor henry louis gates are planning their next meeting. >> i would like not only to discuss, but also like to listen to professor gates' perspective and he has the credentials to enlighten me a little bit. and i think perhaps the professor has expressed to me has a willingness to listen to my perspective as a police

officer. >> reporter: diddo from professor gates. heads of state have come away from the white house with a lot less, but do not call this a beer summit. >> this is three folks having a drink at the end of the day and hopefully giving people an opportunity to listen to each other. and that's really all it is. >> reporter: not exactly all. it is also the president's attempt to get out from under headlines he helped write. it was a rather routine cop call on a possible break-in at a home in cambridge, it turned into a national shock test on racial profiling and relations between police and minority communities. the story was elevated and propelled by five words at the presidential news conference. >> the cambridge police acted stupidly. >> reporter: it fuelled the fire and knocked the president's

health care message off the front pages. the president had to explain, reexplain, call sergeant crowley to personally explain, and then invited both crowley and gates to the white house. now, the professor and the cop are working out details of their next meeting. >> i think meeting at a bar for beer on a second occasion is going to send out the wrong message, so maybe a kool-aid or iced tea. >> reporter: he's going to put came bridge on the back page. >> i will be surprised if you guys all make this the lead as opposed to a very important meeting that we just had with one of our most important partners in the world. >> reporter: maybe tomorrow. given how ugly the situation had gotten, the meeting had a pretty positive outcome and it may help the president undo some of the damage. a recent poll found that 41% of americans prior to this meeting had disapproved of the way the

president handled the issue and only 29% approved. john and carol? >> candy crowley for us this morning, thanks. another day, another baseball star, this time boston red sox slugger david ortiz reportedly tested positive for performance enhancing drugs back in 2003. the new york times says ortiz' former teammate, manny ramirez was also named. the report says that the two were among 100 players that tested positive. he was surprised to learn that he tested positive. and big news for seinfeld fans, the cast will reunite in the season finale of "curb your enthusiasm" and a possible seinfeld reunion. it's the first time that jerry, george, cramer, and elaine will be on screen since it ended 11 years ago. this is a road shine in portland, oregon, that says caution, zombie strippers.

no word yet on who is behind the hacking, but rest assured, there are no zombie strippers ahead. >> i didn't even know you could do that. apparently you can. >> hackers can do just about anything. >> but change street signs. that's amazing. so janet nepolitano talking about a new strategy for fighting terrorism in this country. we will find out what the secretary's got in mind coming up next.

look at the corner of 5th avenue and 59th street here in new york city where we've got light rain and 74 degrees, later on today, thunderstorms, and a high somewhere between about 78 and 81. so if you're getting up in about

new york city today, take an umbrella with you. welcome back to the most news in the morning. uncle sam asking for your help in a new effort to fight the threat of terrorism in this country. what can you do? and is the government's plan really going to make us safer? we're joined now by the secretary of homeland security, janet napolitano. >> you want to involve the public to a greater degree than ever before, how do you get the public involved in protecting the nation against the threat of terrorism? >> well, one way is being on shows like this one and say, look, we want to make the country safe, keep the country safe, every individual has a role. cities, counties, towns, they all have a role, all of the federal government, of course, is involved, and then even our international partners. so it's a multi-layered strategy. >> if you ride the sup subway here in new york city, you see signs all over the place that say see something, say something, everybody has to

participate. but many might wonder, will this become a case of neighbors reporting on neighbors? spying on neighbors? and how do you prevent, you know, an increase of suspicion, particularly across ethnic and religious lines? >> well, i think you're right to point out that there's a balance to be struck. but what we're asking people to do is when they see something unusual, a package left unattended on a subway platform, we've had incidents even during my short tenure as secretary when an vinindividual seeing a being passed without being screened, but that passenger sounding the alert. those are the kinds of things that individuals can help us with. >> you're also advocating a better sharing of information between agencies. this is something that the bush administration worked on and they said they were quite pleased with the expansion of the sharing of information. but do you think we've got a lot to do in that area? >> yes, i think work was done during the bush administration, but much is left to be done.

and when we talk about information sharing, it's not just sharing a piece of data, it's really sharing analysis. what does that mean? you know, if we see an increase in a certain kind of seizure at a port of entry. what does that mean for nearby cities? what does that mean for gang activity? what does that mean for drugs coming into our neighborhood? what does that mean for the threat level? all of those things, you know, go into information sharing. >> you know, talking about this threat level, there's some scuttlebutt around that you may be think at the very least modifying this threat level system, if not getting rid of it altogether. what are your thoughts on that? >> well, my thought is it needs to be reviewed. it's been around long enough we should take a fresh look. so yes, i have appointed a task force. they've got 60 days to look at the color codes and say, hey, is it working? not working? should we keep it the way it is? should it be changed?

>> where do your thoughts run on that? we go to the airport, and a lot of us, it's threat level of orange, but we're pretty used to that. does it really mean anything anymore? >> well, right now it's different, you know, there are different sectors. the aviation sector has been at orange, other sectors are at yellow, which is lower than orange. but i've been very careful not to express my opinion. i want this task force to feel that it has the authority and it does have the authority to really take a fresh look. >> we talk about threats facing this country from within our borders and outside of our borders. this case of daniel boyd that we heard about earlier this week in north carolina. does that suggest there may be a greater threat within our borders from without? >> i wouldn't rank inside versus outside. i would say there are threats that are both home grown, individuals that have become radicalized on our own soil, and those that come internationally. when i say radicalized, what i

mean is into the world of violent extremism. >> what do you think is driving that? homeland security report that was somewhat controversial earlier this year suggested that the election of the first african-american president might have something to do with that. did you think that had any relevance on this case from north carolina? >> well, i wouldn't associate the report with this case, but i do think it is fair to say that one of the things we are working on at our department is violent extremism from whatever source. domestic or international. and, again, everybody has a role to play here. and a very careful role to be careful, be mindful, report to local authorities when something really unusual is seen. >> secretary napolitano, thank you for being with us this morning, appreciate your time. >> thank you. >> carol? card dealers caught offguard, customers driving their clunkers, sometimes for up to two hours to try to get it in

before the program ends. is the cash for clunkers program soon to be a thing of the past? because, man, it's burning through some money. it's 16 minutes past the hour.

good morning, chicago. right now it's sunny and 62 degrees, but later today, it's going to be a beautiful day, 81 degrees in sunny chicago. it was an offer we couldn't refuse and buyers flooded in to take advantage of the government cash for clunkers. >> now just days after it began, though, how well it worked, the program is strapped for cash. apparently a victim of its own success. what does it all mean for you? our personal finance editor breaking it down for us this morning. good morning, gerri? >> the demand for this program out of sight. everybody wants to get involved. i want to walk you through some of the numbers associated with this program. let's take a look. the government says the national highway traffic safety administration says some $95.9 million deals have already been approved. but when you talk to the national auto dealership association they've already projected that 1.2 billion deals in the pipeline.

so we're already beyond what we thought we would be in this program. as you know, a lot of experts out there said, you know, the program officially ends in november, but we think it could end as early as august, wrong. we end four days, possibly, unless we get more money, after the program started. so, you know, with 23,000 dealerships out there, part of the program, and if you go on the web and look at the websites of the major automakers, there is such a push to get people in this program. it was really working. >> originally supposed to be $4 billion, back to $1 billion. there were a lot of people out there who were told, yes, you are eligible, and some are waiting for repayment. where do they stand? >> that's a great question. a lot of people are asking that. they want to know, hey, i thought i took advantage of this, will i get the money? what you should know is the dealerships may have had you sign a waiver, a waiver that indicated if the program didn't go through that you had to pay the voucher back or you had to return the car. now, if you did get a new car,

look for any documents like, this however there's a lot of talk that congress could extend funding for the program. and as you said, john, originally they were going to have $4 billion in this program, scaled it back to $1, and administration saying we'll continue the program but they have to get the funding. if you're in this situation, go through your paperwork, check it out, and i -- >> that's a lot of panic over this. we heard from one of our colleagues shannon butler in the washington bureau. she said she heard that the cash for clunkers program was out of money, she got in her clunker waited all night long so she could trade in her clunker because she was afraid the program was suddenly end. people were driving two hours to get to the dealership in time for this deal. >> it's amazing. you know, this is so popular, people really want to take advantage of it, and i have to say, there's no guarantee at this moment that those people will be served. but, i think congress will probably prevail here and put more money in the plan.

i think that's the most likely thing to happen at this point. >> it's amazing that the government spends so much of our money on things that don't work. and then we find something that does work and they don't have the money for it. >> that's right. >> because they spent our money on other stuff that doesn't work. >> speaking of money and taxes, just saying. >> here we go. >> we're talking about states rights. at least 20 states have resolutions proposed that the federal government is interfering too much in their lives, you know, as in health care reform and forcing them to pay taxes they don't want to pay. so just saying, some states are fed up with government involvement. should states' rights trump the feds. we'll talk about it more. 23 minutes past the hour. i drove my first car from my parent's home in the north of england to my new job at the refinery in the south. i'll never forget. it used one tank of petrol

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welcome back to the most news in the morning. president obama has made over the health care system his top priority. >> the prospect of paying for a massive new health care plan is stoking anger among some states rights advocates. they think the government's already way too big and they're pushing back. just saying. should states' rights trump the fed? >> reporter: the concept of states' rights is as old as america, but lately become a red hot issue. >> states rights. states rights. >> reporter: rick perry takes them very seriously. >> those states' rights that are enshrined in the 10th amendment. >> reporter: in other words if you don't like washington spending your money, tell it to butt out. >> alaska will lead -- >> reporter: as sarah palin left

office, she signed a resolution asserting alaska's right to govern itself, it has become one of seventh state passing 10th amendment resolutions this year. more than 20 are considering them, a way to tell uncle sam, one size doesn't fit all. >> just saying. >> reporter: should states' rights trump the fed? >> absolutely, it's part of our constitution. >> reporter: it says the powers not delegated to the united states by the constitution are reserved to the states respectively or to the people. what are those powers? take a trip to the oklahoma state house and ask republican lawmaker charles key. >> there's nothing in the constitution that says the federal government has the legal right and authority to tell the people in the various states how to educate their children. >> reporter: that's why president george w. bush's no child left behind mandate left him cold as does president obama's stimulus package, and legislation that would give the federal government a much bigger role in health care. the debate is as old as the nation.

>> it has been going on since our country was born. >> reporter: thomas jefferson argued for strong states rights, but over the centuries, the federal government's powers have grown because it has the money. >> in real life, money comes with strings attached. federal money is no exception. >> we didn't like oppression then, we don't like oppression now. >> reporter: critics say governor perry found that out when he rejected $555 million in federal stimulus money to cover unemployment benefits because it had strings attached. but months later he had to ask for a loan to cover unemployment costs. >> keep in mind these states have passed or these states will have passed or considering resolutions. non-binding, they're not laws. lawmakers say that's okay because it's prompted discussion on a topic on people's minds. >> you would think because states rights advocates are so strong in their opinions that the opinions -- we've been asking for comments.

you would think most people would be in favor of states' rights, but it's running to a large degree the opposite way. >> my favorite comments so far, you know, asking for states rights is asking, you know, the children to be the parents. it's comparable to that. >> somebody else wrote in said we're the united states, not the divided states. >> keep them coming, we're going to read some later on. i want to know what you think, could states' rights trump the fed? coming up now in the half hour. checking our top stories, a british court is sending an admitted computer hacker here to the united states. rejecting his appeal to have his case heard in the uk, gary mckinnen will be extradited and face trial here in the u.s. to hacking into the pentagon and nasa computers. he breached computers at the pentagon starting in march of 2001 and did damage, costing the government $1 million. british forces officially pulling out of iraq today at the height of the war back in 2003, around 46,000 british troops were on the ground.

179 have died since the war started. the uk still has about 9,000 people in afghanistan. and we are learning this morning that a lot of stimulus money is not being used to fix many of america's crumbling bridges. the associated press reports $2.2 billion is going to fewer than 1,300 of the nation's worst bridges, but engineers say over 150,000 bridges really need work. instead, the ap found that most of the money is going to shovel-ready projects like repaving roads. well, they call it cadillac care. top of the line gold-plated health care plans that cost nearly four times the national average. there is a new push afoot to tax them in order to pay for health care reform. but at what cost? our brianna keilar live on capitol hill this morning to navigate that one for us. hey, brianna. >> reporter: hawaii there, joi,. if you're getting an over the top health care plan seen by many as the domain of wall

street ceos and others, you would not pay, the insurance company would pay for it, but the middle class could get stuck with the bill, as well. they're the best health insurance plans money can buy. in washington, they have a name. >> super gold plated cadillac plans. >> reporter: what makes them so great? >> no deductible, no co-payments, no co-insurance, unlimited choice of drugs, no restrictions on network. >> reporter: these plans are often marketed to the wealthy. they cost as much as $40,000, far above the national average of $12,000, and critics say they encourage the over use of doctor visits and procedures. a democratic proposal to tax insurance companies that provide these pricey plans is gaining bipartisan support in the senate as a way to help pay for health care reform and keep costs down. >> tax insurance company, that will then put pressure on them

to try to make sure that people look for more cost-effective health care packages. >> reporter: some lawmakers say a tax on plans with premiums over $25,000 could raise as much as $90 billion to reform health care. the insurance industry, which opposes the tax, insists it would hit the policies of middle class americans and not just the rich. the economists and insurance expert agrees. >> you may also find a plan that costs $25,000 because the average age of the workers is 55, because they use a lot of health care, because the plan is high. >> reporter: labor unions, a powerful democratic ally also opposed the tax. the largest union for republican employees and health care workers says insurance companies will pass the cost on to consumers. >> well, we think that any plan involving taxation in health care reform should not make health care more expensive. alternatively, we think taxing income levels is a better way to go. another way to do this is to tax capital gains.

>> reporter: senator john kerry proposed this tax on the cadillac plans as a way to break up the logjam in the senate over to how to pay for health care reform. and it's getting a look, really, from republicans and democrats. charles grassley of iowa, a key senator in these bipartisan negotiations in the senate is looking at it, and it's no coincidence, john, that top democrats in the house and the senate have been stepping up their rhetoric against insurance companies in recent days. just yesterday, house speaker nancy pelosi calling them immoral villains. >> they're all going to be going to the districts to probably hear an earful from their constituents and we'll see which direction this heads in when they come back in september. great to see you this morning, thanks so much. coming up, what you don't want to know, but should know about who is serving your food. and this other great thing this morning, what happens when you take a couple of 24-year-olds, give them piece of technology and time on their hands. you get this, the latest craze tearing up the internet, the

autotune match-up. watch this. >> good luck, god bless, and the way we go. ♪

it's not exactly time to do the crazy dance. but news just into us shows another bright note about the economy. >> you might get your feet moving a little bit. >> the economy shrank 1% last quarter. it was looking like it was starting to wind down. in the first quarter of the year, the economy shrank 6.4%, in the second quarter it shrank 1%. now this is rearview mirror stuff, but what it does show you is that some of the optimism we've been seeing recently, at least maybe the stability we've been recently seeing in these economic figures are reflected in that second quarter. this is mostly april and may kinds of numbers, rearview mirror, again, but it shows you that the pace of the declines in the economy are slowing and slowing pretty significantly. >> so dare we, dare we hope that maybe we'll see some growth in

the third quarter? >> there will be economists who will say certainly they think that the third quarter they will see a little bit of economic growth if not the third quarter, then definitely the fourth quarter. people are saying this is what it looks like when a recession is in the death throws. but again, how many times have we said when there is a recovery, a green arrow on economic growth, we're still going to feel our wages not moving, still going to have a lot of jobs lost. i don't want to paint an overly optimistic picture, but this is at least showing that those big declines are slowing here in the economy. >> well, i guess the absence, in the absence of good news, a little less bad news. >> that's right. >> we'll take it. some of the most popular videos on cnn.com. up in smoke, tracks down marijuana farms with nigerian law enforcements. dive right in, the sharks probably won't bite you. that's the message the discovery

channel is sending. shark experts say the animals really don't like the taste of humans, for the most part. >> they taste like chicken. also, take a look at the fittest men on earth. the most ripped guys of 2009. topping this year's list, tennis player rafael nadal, and rapper akon. >> i like that list. >> john roberts is number 45. >> is that true? >> no. sorry. >> he's number 67. the waiter, we're going to talk to a waiter with lots of experience. he's written a book and he's going to tell you what really goes on in the kitchen with your food. maybe you won't want to know this. but please come back. it's 39 minutes past the hour. okay...um...eighteen pounds and a smidge. a smidge? y'know, there's really no need to weigh packages under 70 pounds. with priority mail flat rate boxes from the postal service, if it fits, it ships

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okay. it's not a very nice day in atlanta, georgia, today. later today they're going to have thunderstorms and 80 degrees, and that usually means airport delays all along the east coast, in fact, some airports are reporting 45 minute delays right now to call ahead. he started out as an anonymous writer of a blog called waiter rant, venting about what restaurant servers put up with every day. and then the waiter revealed his

true identity in a book that soon became a "new york times" best seller. and now his book "waiter rant" is available in paperback with a new postscript. good morning, steven. >> good morning. >> i can't wait to talk -- okay, so when you look at a customer in a restaurant, can you immediately tell if that customer's going to be a good tipper or a bad tipper? >> i always said i could see the tip threating above their head like a halo? >> what gives it away? >> you need to evaluate their pain in the -- easy going customers tend to be better tippers. you can tell by their facial expressions, how they carry their body. if they look relaxed -- >> you'll give those people better service and maybe the ones that are surly, not so much. >> part of your job is to make people feel at home and hospitable, sometimes you want to put them in a good mood and

some people are crazy and you can't help them. >> i know you say like 80% of customers are nice people. >> that's correct. >> but there's that 20%. tell me some crazy stories. >> well, with some of the things that people do that are really crazy is they will walk into an italian restaurant and order sushi. i'm not making this up. so some people will not order what's on the menu. you'll have people come in with varying degrees of intoxication. but the other thing that people do is they tend to treat the restaurant like it's their living room, like they think it's an extension of their personal space so we have the big thing that drives me crazy is cell phones. >> oh, so people talk while they're ordering? >> it's bad enough when they're on a date they're not talking to each other, but they're text messaging each other. you shouldn't drive and talk on a cell phone, you shouldn't eat and talk on a cell phone. >> do you have the urge to say you're being really rude, please pay attention to me? >> one time i had a tv producer

who was on her blackberry with her husband. i knew her really well, and i snapped it out of her head and told her she'd get it at the end of the meal. and her husband was like, thank you. >> and there's a chapter called "vengeance is mine." if a waiter doesn't like the customer, they'll bring the food back into the kitchen -- >> yeah. >> thank you for filling in the blank for me. >> but does that really happen? >> i think it happens very rarely. i know it does happen. i never did it. and i know it happens because i thought about doing it, you know. but i think there's no fun in making anyone sick. i mean, i go out to eat, if i get something i don't like, it's my hard-earned money, i'll send it back. it's how you send it back. if you send it back saying you're stupid you can't do anything right, then you're asking for trub. >> when you say trouble, what kinds of trouble can you create for the customer that doesn't involve putting weird substances in their food? >> i once had a wall street fellow at my restaurant and he was very rude to me.

and he was entertaining a client. and when the dinner was over and he was paying the bill, i didn't run his credit card, i told him it was declined. and he was, you know, very embarrassed and his client's going, how you going to close the deal if you can't pay for dinner? so he was -- and i put my own tip in and i was like i'm getting 20%. so he learned his lesson. without any spittle. >> i must say, though, you know, if you're going out with a new date and the new date treats the waiter or the server rudely, that's a good sign not to date that person ever again. >> i once had that lady when her date went to the bathroom ask me how much he tipped. >> really? >> really. >> it's a good gauge. >> it is. if you're, you know, if you're generous to people you don't know, the odds are you're going to be generous to people that you do know. >> interesting book, thank you for talking with us this morning. we appreciate it. >> john? it is the latest greatest political spoof. it's gotten at least 6 million hits on youtube. we want to share it with you as

well as the geniuses behind it. you've got to see these clips coming up. five co-workers are working from the road using a mifi, a mobile hotspot that provides up to five shared wifi connections. two are downloading the final final revised final presentation. - one just got an e-mail. - what?! - huh? - it's being revised again. the co-pilot is on mapquest. - ( rock music playing ) - and tom is streaming meeting psych-up music from meltedmetal.com. that's happening now with the new mifi from sprint, the mobile hotspot that fits in your pocket. sprint. the now network. deaf, hard of hearing and people with speech disabilities access www.sprintrelay.com. the mobile hotspot that fits in your pocket. sprint. the now network. in these markets, i'm glad i turned to fidelity for an annuity with guaranteed income for life. that's right, guaranteed income for life. my annuity from fidelity means my retirement income is safe. it's guaranteed, no matter what happens. if guaranteed income for life sounds good to you, do what i did -- let fidelity be your guide. call fidelity at... for details about guaranteed income for life.

welcome back to the most news in the morning, as u.s. troops withdraw from iraq, one man is staying behind. meet our hero of the week. brad blosser. >> this is cnn heroes. >> disabled children, they're really the forgotten ones in this war. they're in the back rooms, often not seen in society. i came to iraq as a civilian contractor. there were a lot of children

that either dragged themselves on the ground or they have to be carried. there was so many kids out there with the need and so many people willing to reach out and touch the lives of these kids. in 30 days we had 31 pediatrics wheelchairs that had hit ground. i bring pediatric wheelchairs to iraqi children in need. people donate on my website, wheelchairs are brought over and i distribute them to the different military units and help fit these children into the wheelchairs. the experience for me in the first distribution was awesome. to see the smile come across their face and look over at the mothers and fathers, they've definitely been changed. >> it's all about humanity, he wanted iraqis to feel there's humanity in america. that makes us happy to see such a thing. >> there's no paycheck.

it's not really safe here, but this is a once in a lifetime opportunity knowing you have done something for someone that no one else has done before. made a difference in the life of families. definitely the sacrifice has been worth it. it is the latest, greatest, political spoof. >> it really is fun. >> we laughed for at least a half hour this morning over it. you have to see it close. we have a little tape. this is john boehner has you've never seen him before. are actually susceptible to irreversible damage. your teeth are no different. everyday acids can cause irreversible loss of enamel. new crest pro-health enamel shield

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let's get the beat on.

♪ it is time to stand up and say we can't choose ♪ ♪ it's one of the two, liberty ♪ mediocrity >> you might be asking yourself, what the heck is that? political satire that takes video tips from congress in the news and runs them through a high-tech recording gadget called the autotune. >> and the mash-up is taking the online world by storm, racking up millions of hits on youtube. the brains behind autotune the news are two brothers, and they join us live. welcome. >> thanks for having us. >> can you believe how popular this has become? >> it's been a trip. we can only imagine it because we're sitting here in front of you right now. we were making music videos about the news and now we're on the news. >> so you're sitting there at home, watching congress, c span,

where did you get the idea of let's run this through an autotune, mash it up into a video clip? >> well, anything sounds better with a baseline and a cow bell. we figured why not apply that to the news. i regret i forgot my cow bell today or i would have brought it. >> are there certain people whose voices lend themselves more than others? >> certainly. bauchman is great. we saw an example of that. also katie couric and biden. >> we've got a clip of katie couric in a minute. >> what is an auto tune and how does it work? >> if you imagine the photography industry, everyone's heard of photo shop, this is a tool used for both retouching and fixing pictures but also can be used to say put things together that never should have been there in the first place. auto tune is a tool in the music or audio industry that's used for corrective methods, if i make a mistake, i don't need to do --

>> or you're not a great singer, you're pitchy as randy jackson would put it. >> imagine that. but it can also be used for extreme effect. not just a corrective method to fix your mistakes, but to take it to some totally different place. and this is a common place sound now on hit radio where there's kind of a robot effect on your -- >> the cher song, that's a good example. cher does it a lot. >> it can take things like nancy pelosi up in the house talking about a recovery bill and make it sound like music. listen to this. ♪ just remember these four words for what this legislation means ♪ ♪ jobs, jobs, jobs, and jobs ♪ don't forget about jobs >> it can also take minority leader john boehner and turn him into a singer, as well. >> he turned into a real star, that's for sure. >> how long does it take you to sift through the clips and say

this goes with this and set the music track with it and put it through the pitch corrector and come up with this? >> it takes about three days because we have to make all of the music first before we shoot the video and we lip sync to that. >> has anyone commented on it? has john boehner said thanks for making me a star? >> we haven't heard from boehner yet, fingers crossed, but we have heard from a few of the people who have reached out to us, most of them are pretty tickled and not embarrassed. >> spill it. >> well, i had a delightful chat just last week with brian oxman who is a family lawyer for michael jackson and the jackson family. and he was featured in the same video in which we saw michelle bauchman and john boehner. he was really a good sport about it. >> in fact, i think we've got a little bit of brian oxman in a bit of a mash-up where we have katie couric who is talking about tylenol taken out of percocet and vicodin. let's watch this clip and see.

♪ and other medications ♪ what about vicodin and percocet ♪ ♪ you know it's unconstitutional, pharmaceutical ♪ ♪ i am warned that one day michael jackson would wake up dead ♪ >> so that's the way that michael oxman was talking about the death of michael jackson and his warnings that one day it was going to happen, and yet he took that all in good humor? >> that's right. he had made predictions about there might be this terrible outcome. we found a number of interviews in which he said that and mashed them up into this chorus. when he called me i was worried he would be offended, but actually we had a lovely chat. >> interesting. >> i've always wondered as a youtube video that's incredibly popular and gets millions of hits, where do you go from there? are you making money off this? probably not.

but where do you go from here? >> very little money out of youtube. but what it has acted as is a youtube calling card that gets us other work related to auto tuning and music. >> when you listen to you guys, you're half decent sing issers, if you got a band together, you see a future performing music? or you think you'll be behind the scenes as producers? >> well, anything's possible in terms of where this could take us, but we have a long history as musicians and played in a band together for years. that's our background and where we came from and this happens to be the latest project that's caught on. >> it certainly is a lot of fun. continued success in the future, evan and michael, amazing stuff. continue the conversation on today's top stories, go to our blog at cnn.com/amfix. >> wow, the show went like lightning today. >> too much fun today. more fun than people should legally be allowed to have. >> maybe not that much fun. but that w