people before taking his own life. susan candiotti is live at the scene in suburban pittsburgh this morning. president obama taking his message to elkhart, indiana, a town in need of help. it's rocked the rv capital of the year. ed henry is live in elk hart as well to preview the visit. the two american journalists held in north korea are heading home. euna lee and laura ling are counting the seconds until they touch down in burbank, california. you will see their emotional reunion with their family right here on "american morning." it took star power. bill clinton swoop in to pyongyang yesterday and less than 24 hours was back on the plane with a journalist at his side. jill dougherty is live in washington. selma gutierrez is in burbank, california awaiting their aprooirival.

we're also going to talk to christiane amanpour. we're hearing new details from the white house on how this thing came to pass. it took a number of weeks to put it together. it's a fascinating back story to all of this and the details are beginning to come out, starting with the most immediate thing. the senior administration officials are saying that president obama did call the parents of laura ling and euna lee between 8:30 and 9:30 last night. they congratulated them. the good news is that they are in good health. also, in north korea, it turns out wanted bill clinton right from the beginning. and we're told that north korea told these women -- and they were actually able to call their parents while they were there from time to time, they told their parents that north korea was willing to grant them amnesty and release them if an envoy in the person of president clinton would come to pyongyang

and make the case to their release. and another interesting point is that president obama never spoke with former president clinton directly at this issue. and that, of course, is that they're trying to keep these issues separate, the journalist and the overall relationship which is intense. john? >> we see so many things coming out of this meeting. we met for 3 1/2 hours for a meeting they had, a bilateral meeting and dinner as well. we saw the pictures. you can call the status shot for kim jong-il seated side-by-side with president clinton. he being stoic. kim jong-il smiling about the whole thing. he got that status picture. we wonder where all this is going. president clinton said he was on a humanitarian mission. aides involved in the briefing last night suggested that nuclear disarmament is a big talk for president clinton.

that came up in a meeting that only supposed to be about the release of these two people. >> they're being very careful. they're not saying bill clinton negotiated anything. he was there. he talked about the journalist, he wanted them freed. but, he expressed we understand his opinions about denuclearization. the fact that the u.s. and the rest of the world, practically, believes north korea should give up the nuclear program but it's two tracked. they're not going to let those combine in any way. >> we wonder where it goes from here. we'll see in the coming months. jill dougherty live for us this morning. thanks. euna lee and laura ling are flying over the pacific as we speak. they're expected to land in burbank, california in little more than an hour. thelma gutierrez is live at the airport. these families are waiting eagerly to be reunited. what have you heard from them this morning? >> we're still waiting for them to arrive. there are lots of preparations

going on right here at the bob hope airport. now, this section of the airport where we're standing right now is where the private plane lands and take off. lots of high-profile people and executives use this airport. you can zealots of media gathered in front of the gates. we're waiting for the gates to open so that the media can be escorted in to hangar 25. that's the area where we understand that the news conference will take place and where this reunion will happen. again, you had mentioned that former president clinton and vice president gore and the journalist, laura ling and euna lee, are scheduled to land here within the next one to two hours. you just have to imagine what the families are going through. they haven't seen each other in 140 days. march, they were arrested. and then june, they were sentenced to 12 years of hard labor. and here we are, in a couple of hours, the families will be united. doug lee, the father of lisa

ling and laura ling spoke outside of the house saying this is going to be the happiest day of his life. he said it's the worst time he had gone through but he never gave up faith. >> did you know president clinton was going? >> i had a good idea he was going. >> describe your journey today here? >> i'm more excited. more excited and i'm looking forward to seeing her. been waiting for five months now. >> what are you going to tell your daughter when you see her? >> i love you. give her a big hug. now, euna lee's husband, her 4-year-old daughter, hannah are expected to be here along with laura ling's husband of 12 years. ian clayton all will be here all for this very joyous occasion.

you will see it all live right here this morning. kiran, back to you. >> thelma gutierrez for us. thanks so much. coming up, we're going to be speaking to cnn's chief correspondent, christiane amanpour. she was granted access to north korea's nuclear facility. she's going to wait on what the fallout is for the two girls, the prisoners, and how it can affect long-term negotiations between the united states and north korea down the road. at 6:32 eastern, former defense secretary william cohen who served under president clinton. find out why he thinks the former president was tapped to xer euna lee and laura ling's release. a deadly shooting in a gym in suburban pittsburgh. a gunman opened fire, killing three people before taking his own life. ten others were wounded. some of them critically. it happened in bridgeville, pennsylvania, not far from downtown pittsburgh. susan candiotti travelled there

overnight. susan, you're getting new information at this hour. what can you tell us about what happened last evening? >> some of the new information includes this -- the gunman, it turns out, was a member of this club and that he walked in and pulled this off without saying a word. also new, he had a note in the gym bag that he was carrying and he got off as many as 50 rounds according to the police before taking his own life. now, the gym was crowded at 8:15 in the early evening after the dinner hour. when we're getting chilling details about this methodical killer. as he walked into an exercise room according to witnesses, he stood there for about a minute, put the gym bag down, took out two guns, and turned out the lights and started shooting. there was pure pandemonium. >> they were in a pilates class or something like that. they turned the lights out and all of a sudden the shooting started.

she said one of the guys had a black hat on. that's all she knew. >> she shut the lights off in the aerobic room. i looked over and i could see flashes in the dark and i realized someone with using a firearm inside of there. >> i heard a loud banging noise repeatedly like three or four. that's when i kind of knew what was going on -- shooting the place one a firearm. now the "pittsburgh post gazette" quotes two sources as saying one of the victims is an exgirlfriend of the shooter. the police chief wouldn't comment on all that. three people died at the scene, one other died at the hospital. at least ten others were wounded. and the police chief wouldn't say what was in that note that was found in the bag. and he added this of the gunman -- he did what he set out to do and i don't think anyone could have stopped him. john? susan, 50 rounds fired? do we know what kind of weapon

he was using? >> we don't. those are the details we're waiting for. two handguns, one described as maybe a short rifle. but still waiting for those details. >> susan candiotti inside pittsburgh for us. thanks for that. new this morning, mahmoud ahmadinejad beginning his second term in office. he was sworn in overnight. pledging to move the country forward and blasting those who claim he stole the june presidential election. hundreds of protesters gathered in the streets of teheran. riot police fired tear gas at the crowd. if you're a homeowner struggling to avoid foreclosure, you're not alone. a progress report on the administration's $50 billion plan to help you found that 90% of eligible borrowers received modified loans and the bulk of those modifications came from a handful of lenders. >> paula abdul out. the judge confirming the rumors that she will not be back for the show's ninth season. abdul said she'll miss nurturing

new talent and being part of the show she, quote, helped from day one become an international phenomenon. auditions for the new season of "american idol" begin tomorrow. >> she'll miss the paycheck as well. that was pretty good. >> yeah. >> christiane amanpour coming up after the break, the release of euna lee and laura ling, and what all this might bode for the future -- the revelations between the united states and north korea. stay tuned for that.

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we have new developments this morning at 12 1/2 minutes past the hour. american journalists euna lee and laura ling. they're now on their way home

flying somewhere over the pacific as we speak. they're expected to arrive in burbank, california in little more than an hour. former president bill clinton secured the release after meeting with the leader, kim jong-il. what if anything did both sides have to give up. what if anything did either side gain in all of this. joining me on the phone is the chief international correspondent christiane amanpour. he was granted unprecedented access to north korea's nuclear facility last year. thanks for being with us this morning? >> good to be with you. >> the breaking news headline out of all of this are sthe release of two young women who were held there, reporters detained after crossing the border, apparently, between china and north korea. on a larger scale, the diplomacy that perhaps took place here. what are your thoughts on what the former president may have accomplished by going to north kor korea? >> well, of course, all sides maintaining that this was a

purely private and humanitarian mission. clearly what's being gain in the immediate is the release of two u.s. journalists. now, this is very important. but also what's significant is that president clinton put his prestige -- and that of the presidency on the line when he went there. it was clear that he went there with at least the expectation of success -- otherwise it's unlikely that a former president would have made that high-stakes gamble to go over there. what's very interesting is all sides say the president did not take any message from president obama to kim jong-il, but that he did have a long weekend with kim jong-il, perhaps more than three hours including dinner that photos were released and this was at least something north korea wanted to promote. we don't know whether kim jong-il may have sent a message back with president clinton. what's also interesting is president clinton was met when he landed in pyong-yang by the

former official and chief nuclear negotiator of north korea, someone who i had exclusive meetings with when i visited north korea along with a few other journalists back a year ago. and also we had unprecedented access to the nuclear facilities at the time. they had closed them down, stopped operating and reprocessing plutonium and we were able to see the explosion of north korea's nuclear cooling tower. all to say that kim gi-guin and others did tell me that north korea was interested in resolve these outstanding issues with the united states. obviously things have been complicated over the last year by the failing health and presumably power struggle of kim jong-il and the north korean leadership. kiran? >> i want to ask you about that. in the picture, there's been so much speculation about the state of north korea's leader, his health. talk of possibly pancreatic

cancer and a litany of other ailments. in these pictures, what are your thoughts on how he looks and appears standing next to the former president. >> i'm not going to speculate on his health. i'm just going to say it was obvious that he's obviously still there. he's obviously still in a position of leadership. he met with the president clinton and president clinton will have a lot more to say on how he found kim jong-il. if you speak to people who have met him, for instance, the last senior american official to do so was secretary of state madeline albright, president clinton's secretary of state, she told us she found many times she found him to be incredibly engaged, incredibly aware of the dynamics, not only north korea-u.s. relations but north korea and the rest of the world. and he's not closed off in some kind of hermit situation without access to global information. he has access to internet, cnn, satellite, and the like. and she found him incredibly

plugged in. it's going to be important to see whether any message came back. because right now north korea is under u.n. sanctions again because of its testing of the nuclear device and its firing of the missiles between april and may. and it has said publicly that it doesn't want to restart the six party talks. however, president -- or rather kim jong-il, apparently, according to the journalist himself who called home in the summer in july said that they would be granted amnesty if such a high-profile emissary such as president clinton would come to north korea. perhaps there's a message transmitted. perhaps there would be some room back to the six-party talks with the u.s. and the others to those talk. very interested in getting under way again to continue the disarmament of north korea's nuclear program. >> we'll see whether or not this is one step forward in perhaps coming to some sort of international agreement down the

road or whether this was just an isolated incident for the two families. christiane amanpour, cnn chief international correspondent on the phone from france this morning. thanks, christiane. president obama making a return visit to the rv capital of the world. ed henry is there live. for clunkers program, nowh 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 a new, more fuel-efficient chevy. your chevy dealer has more eligible models to choose from. more than ford, toyota, or honda. now get an '09 silverado for under twenty eight-five after all offers. and get it for even less if you qualify for cash for clunkers program. go to chevy.com for details.

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♪ these hard times >> welcome back to the most news in the morning. president obama turns his attention back to the economy today. he travels this morning to elkhart, indiana, otherwise known as the rv capital of the world. employment is down but get this, 17%. that is, however, a big improvement. it's the second visit to elkhart since taking office. he was back there in february. ed henry live there this morning in the barka-lounger with a preview. obviously, you are living the dream here of the rv capital of the world. >> good morning, john. that's right, john. good morning. i think this is the original man cave. i'm here in a la-z-boy. a flat screen tv.

full dining room, a kitchen, a sink. a couple of oven. people are hard hit here. an rv like this with all of the amenities goes from $50,000 to $70,000. people aren't buying that. they don't have the money to go on vacation. there are tiny rays of hope. you open up "the south bend tribune," a story about the president. but beneath it, story of the rv supplier. they're going to hire 350 people in the coming months. folks here in this small city say they think the stimulus is starting to work. the recession has absolutely rocked the rv capital of the world. elkhart, indiana's unemployment rate peaked at 19%, twice the national average, as dealers of recreational vehicles struggled to stay afloat. >> it's been the most difficult thing i've done in my 42 years of life. it was a struggle. it -- nobody saw it coming. >> rob reed says he's using less

electricity each day to pinch pennies at this location after closing his other dealership, forcing him to lay off a dozen employees. >> being a smaller or medium-sized company, they become your friends. we're with them more so than we are our families a lot of times. >> at city hall, democratic mayor dick moore says traffic at local food banks has never been so intense. and donated backpacks are pouring in for kids going back to school. still, the mayor believes elkhart is getting back on its feet, thanks to $14 million in stimulus money. though he cautions, the president can't get too optimistic. >> that's what i would say to him. thank you, mr. president, this program is working here in elkhart, indiana. now, the guy that's standing here in your place that's unempl unemployed, he doesn't boy that alt all. >> reporter: the mayor insists stimulus money spent around the country is trickling down to his city as people are starting to buy rvs again.

>> it isn't an elkhart, indiana stimulus program, a state of indiana stimulus program. it's a stimulus program for the united states of america. you talk about how the money flows. somebody gets money in california and one of our factories shares supplies and parts for that company in california, we benefit from it. >> reporter: back at the rv lot, rod reed agrees sales have picked up. so as his outlook. >> i feel optimistic. if you start to feel it, your customers are going to feel it. we're optimistic. because we don't want the economy or the doll drums of elkhart right now to set the tone for our business. >> reporter: they're optimistic here at the great lakes rv center because they say, look, unemployment is 16%, 17% here. it used to be 19% to 20%. it's gotten better. but obviously, that's still bad. 16%, 17%. much worse than the national average of 9.5%. you have a lot of republicans in washington like john boehner

saying the stimulus is not working quickly enough. it's not the jolt that the president promised. the fact of the matter is they don't think it's done quite enough. the folks on the ground say they're patient. they think the federal government is doing as much as it can. they're starting to see some rays of hope here, john. >> i'm jealous of you today. the -- the rv you're in is bigger than my apartment in new york. >> not bad. >> is that a self-propelled rv or a trailer? >> it's self-propelled. it has a bedroom with a shower and a bathroom up front. and then they've got the whole engine and the driver's seat and it's self-propelled. >> $50,000 to $70,000 for that. that's a good price. >> msrp is $82,000. they've got a deal for you. i could talk to the owner. >> i may just come out there, ed. >> give you -- >> power of attorney. >> take it on the road for "american morning." >> thanks so much. talk to you later on. talking welling heart's mayor this morning. dick moore in the next hour.

7:30 eastern. wow, that's like $200,000. >> they can put you in one of those today, john. you can have them before you interview the mayor. >> i'm used to -- i've seen some of the nascar rvs. $1 million for those ones. but that's a good deal. >> you can park it in your space here in the time-warner center. you would have no commute. >> go see america. >> you could just live there. >> i live here anyway. >> i know, that's what i'm saying. the couch, the rv in the basement. we're going to talk about the hecklers, i don't know if you heard -- >> amazing what's going on. >> people weighing in on health care. and carol costello is joining us to just be saying -- she says that, i doan say it as well as she does -- where's the debate? what's going on in these things?

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senior administration officials say their release involved weeks of preparation. they stress it was purely a humanitarian effort, one official did say he's sure president clinton did share his views on denuclearization with kim jong-il. we're all over this story this morning. the missile strike has reportedly killed two relatives of a top taliban leader in pakistan. pakistani military and intelligence officials say the missile destroyed their home. it's the latest in a series of strikes in recent weeks targeting militants in south waziristan. not since the days of the cold war have you seen russian subs patrolling the waters off of east coast. they're not too concerned and russia has a right to perform naval exercises in international waters. >> the rights of the people! the voice of the people! >> yeah! >> wisconsin congressman

stevencationen getting an earful on a town hall meeting on health care. he is not alone. >> that's right. it's a make or break month for health care reformers. democratic congress trying to sell the plan in some of the districts. being heckled and harassed. the meetings are drawing a crowd. the research poll showed 41% said they're likely to attend a town hall on health care. 29% say they're not likely to attend. there are questions of whether the town hall hostility is an outrage. carol costello joins us for "just saying." some got nasty. >> oh, yeah, it's not nice. lawmakers can't even speak. the crowd drowns them out. but in theory, it sounds like a great idea. town hall meetings are being held across america now that lawmakers are on their august break. voters can ask questions and get

answers. some describe it in some districts, the town hall meetings turn into a kind of a town hell. "just saying," can't we all just get along? in a few cities across the nation, you cannot escape them. >> just say no! >> reporter: sometimes there are dozens, sometimes hundreds. their mission -- you decide. that's democratic congressman lloyd goggin trying to talk to a stitch wept about health care reform. he said it's impossible. >> the crowd was certainly angry. i suppose some might have had a negative reaction to the poster who said lloyd dog get, traitor to texas, devil to all people. but i found it more amusing than i did something to be fearful of. >> reporter: but he did call the crowd a mob and he claims it was orchestrated by the texas republican party. after the state gop, it did admit to having a camera in the crowd thanks to an anonymous tip, but denied organizing what

it called a grassroots event. also telling me, "doggett owes us and them an apology for calling the crowd a mob." just saying, can we talk civilly? >> we don't want them to yell and shout down people. we want them to talk to the congress mep. >> some democrats say max pappas network, freedom works doesn't want that at all. they want them to participate not in a discussion of health care reform, but a shoutdown. >> you get some instances where people are so passionate, they get caught up in the i motion t. instead of a civil discussion, they start yelling or chanltich they get to this way. >> reporter: they list where town hall meetings will be held or operation embarrass your congressman celebrates making

lawmakers look foolish. but you could argue those sites don't leave out republicans. there is one senator shouted down himself at a town hall meeting who says all of this doesn't matter. >> my preference would be to have it more sedate. listen, democracy is robust. it can be rough and tumble and nothing really surprises me anymore. >> i'm sure it doesn't. senator spector has been around for a long time. other lawmakers are adjusting. holding teleconferences instead of town hall meetings and talking one-on-one to constituents at places like senior citizen centers. they say they want an intelligent conversation. they don't want to be shouted down. john, kiran, they want to answer questions that constituents have. >> interesting looking at our own polling that cnn did. it's a passionate issue for people, regardless of which side you draw, you have strong feelings. a third are strongly opposed and

25% are strongly in favor of it. it's a lot of emotions out there. >> you're so unsure of how it's all going to come out. there's three different versions of this huge bill. we don't know how we're going to pay for it. there's a lot to be passionate about. we want to know what you think about the town hall meetings. the hecklers, though, are they helping? are they hurting? can we just talk, or can we come to a compromise where we can sit down and listen together? write me on my blog -- cnn.com/amfix. we want to see what you think about this this morning. carol, thanks so much. coming up a little later, you can grade your leaders on the second 100 days for the obama administration as well. cast your vote at cnn.com/report card and get the results with the best political team on television. national report card tomorrow night. going to return back to the top story now. former president clinton's secret mission to secure the freedom of laura ling and euna lee in pyongyang.

we'll learn more when they touch down a little more than an hour ago. what do we know? north korea wanted clinton to come to pyongyang. why clinton and not another dignitary. william cohen served under president clinton. he was the secretary of defense. he runs it cohen group. mr. secretary, great to see you. thanks for stopping by. >> great to be with you. >> we learned last night in a briefing that sometime in july that euna lee and laura ling were told by north korean officials that, hey, we'll be willing to grant you amnesty if president clinton were to come here and visit for a little while and he could take you home. it would seem that they were trying to get the greatest profile nonofficial politician to come here. what was their goal? >> in 2000, president clinton gave consideration to flying to north korea to meet with kim

jong-il. there was serious question to have the country in the election -- whether it was so close to the election period whether it was seen to be too political and taking advantage of that to try to sway the election one way or the other. that's the first point. the second point was what was president clinton going to be getting out of this? you don't send the highest-ranking person in the country over to north korea and come back empty-handed. the north koreans took the position, come over, we'll work it out. and two of the agencies said tell us what we're about and we're over. president clinton didn't want to make the trip because he didn't want to put his successor in any kind of a limited box of operations as such. him going after the election, making some kind of a deal with kim jong-il would have or could have put president george bush in to some kind of a

straitjacket in terms of what he wanted to do. so to his credit, president clinton decided not to go. >> when you take a look at the photograph that -- the photographs that came out of yesterday's meeting, you see a beaming kim jong-il sitting beside, standing beside -- he's stoic in this picture. there's another picture where kim jong-il had a big smile on his face. he got the status shot he was looking for. in contrast, his father back in 1994 had a visit from former president carter and that's a visit that led to talks on denuclearization. so the father got president carter, the son got president clinton. certainly that picture has got to be worth a lot to him. >> a lot to him domestically. i'm not convinced that any of the countries in the region, china, russia, japan, south korea, and the u.s. will have any change of heart in terms of what the regime represents to the world.

but it does, at least, offer some kind of an opening, potentially the opening to have the north koreans to get back to the bargaining table and negotiate an end to the nuclear program they have. >> the briefing that the white house had last night, they were very careful to say this was only a humanitarian mission. this is not about the issues that are out there. they're clear about what this was about or what it was not about. when asked, the briefer said i expected president clinton did talk to kim jong-il about the denuclearization issue. thinking of what you just said there, could this potentially reset the situation between north korea and the united states? we know the rancor that we've seen in the last few months. could this potent rlly bring them back to the bargaining table in the six-party talks. >> i think it could. i think precisely these types of meetings and resolutions of difficult issues does tend to open the door for a -- for a repeat performance, namely that

president clinton come back, he can take a lot of intelligence with him. make an assessment of the strength of kim jong-il. make an assessment of the body language that's being used, signals being sent that don't necessarily involve verbalization or some written document but comes back with intelligence saying we think that there are some real opportunities here. we see the north koreans make a gesture. they were the ones who wanted to make this deal come about. they wanted president clinton to give them high visibility for their own purposes. and the obama administration wants to make sure they had enough separation between the person they were sending over and the administration so that its critics could not claim that for negotiating the release of these two people we had compromised our very strong position of no negotiating with the north koreans under the circumstances. sanctions are coming. they're going to be intensified unless we see some turnaround on the part of the north koreans.

>> no appearance of a quid pro quo there. >> right. >> mr. secretary, thanks for joining us. we'd love it if you would hang around for us as well and be with us when laura ling and euna lee arrive in burbank the former president. happy to have you around for that. >> i'll stay around. >> see you in a little bit. >> this could happen within 50 minutes or less. >> depending on the tail wind. >> the families are probably just beside themselves with excitement. >> i'm sure they are. >> we'll see that live again here on "american morning." one big city's mass transit goes green. they trade in cars, subways, and buses for bikes. how it's working and where.

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going green in montreal. the city's new public transportation system is trading in taxis and electricity-sucking subways for handlebars and pedal power. cnn's gary tuchman has more on "the edge of discovery." downtown montreal is the hustle and bustle of many modern cities. but there's a new public transportation system here that's taken an old-fashioned approach. it's called biksi, a combination of bike and taxi. the city is gearing up in hopes of becoming a hit. >> it's easy to manage. but it's -- >> users can buy a yearly pass for $78 or get one day access for $5. then they just grab a bike at the conveniently located stations and pedal to their destination. >> the customer goes right across the spectrum. we have had the casual tourists,

business people are doing the trips, the short triples. >> stations run on solar power. it's estimated in less than two months since the system rolled out, riders have taken 300,000 trips saving 40,000 gal llons o gas. they're hoping montreal's strong start will help around the world. >> the city of london, austin. we have given ourselves the objective to set the bar and we have indeed set the bar. >> gary tuchman, cnn. >> something similar in new york once. they had the yellow bicycles that they left all around. they were all stolen. >> oh, no. what are the cars that -- the cars that you can just -- what are you -- >> what are they call? >> flex cars? >> zip cars or something? oh. >> yeah. zip cars. >> tiny little things racing around the cities. leave the keys. >> place like montreal, that would work. place like new york city, forget about it.

we're watching storms on the radar. interesting note, sorry, it's been a very quiet atlantic hurricane. >> it wasn't a dark -- >> watch yourself around here. rob marciano has details for us. 46 minutes after the hour. ♪ ♪ once you've dealt with the things that come between you... don't let erectile dysfunction get in the way. ♪ viva ♪ viagra! viagra...america's most prescribed ed treatment... can help you enjoy a more satisfying sexual experience. to learn more, spend some quality time with viagra.com ask your doctor if your heart is healthy enough for sex.

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♪ you're hot and you're cold you're yes and you're no ♪ >> coming up on 49 minutes after the hour. rob marciano with the weather

center in atlanta tracking extreme weather across the country. flooding in kentucky, is it? >> shortly after "american morning" yesterday, john, kiran, the skies opened up across louisville. still in kentucky. flash flood watches advisories coming out this morning. the video from louisville, they had 6 1/2 inches of rain. waist deep water in many cases. roads submersed, interstates submerged. they had to get 30 to 35 thoroughbreds out of there. they're drying out a little bit. but it all came down in a real big hurry. the radar right now looking at rainfall across parts of kentucky, but it looks like the worst is over. most of the action is down to the south. memphis, a line of thunderstorms. this has sparked a couple of tornado warnings now driving south toward greenville. i want to point out the hurricane season well under way, at least in the pacific. got a couple of things going on. enrique and felicia. that's this one right here.

that has gained strength. it may suck enrique in to felicia and become one. heading to hawaii. see what happens. typically the storms will weaken. regardless, we'll be interested to see these two storms interact. >> nothing out in the atlantic, huh? >> a little something out there. over by africa. >> little something-something but not sure yet? >> el neeb yino? >> could it be? you and the hubby talk about that all the time. >> it's been nice and quiet. >> that's good. >> fingers crossed. >> not much to talk about. kidding. tons to talk about all the time. >> that's what marriage is all about. in burbank, california, two families and friends of family are so excited. within hours, we could see the

two journalists in north korea land there within the hour. following it live for you, euna lee and laura ling and bill clinton on the way back to the successful mission to bring them home.

>> welcome back to the most news in the morning. an unflattering and disturbing image of president obama morphs the president's face into that of the joker character from the dark knight nooig. not everyone is laughing about

it. >> in the words of the jocker. >> why so serious. >> you would look serious, too, if you were the president of the united states being portrayed as the joker. >> oh my goodness. >> on conservative websites, this image is the layest thing. hope was changed to joke. the image is making its way on to tee shirts, into posters, aknied by the word sociallism. >> it is becoming cool to make fun of obama. >> maybe not quite so much in new york city. >> seems childish. >> whether you like the guy or not, you still don't do that. >> shame doesn't seem to be inhibiting critics.

>> the white house had no comment. what do the joker and sociallism have to do with one another anyway. >> i think that undercuts the point. >> the critics counter, the president and the joker give away joker. >> money, money, money, who do you trust. >> and an obama jocker action figure. $50 a piece. >> i think i do have a problem with the white face. >> back when president bush was in office, he got the joker problem, and then hillary clinton. >> it is disgraceful. you shouldn't bring attention to it. have a nice day. >> it is time to give the joker

joke a rest. cnn new york. >> you heard it from that woman. we have chilling new details in the case of north carolina men planning a violent jihad overseas. it is 56 minutes now after the hour. this is my verizon small business specialist, tom. now, i know the catering business but when i walked in here i wasn't sure what i needed. i'm not sure what i need. tom showed me how to use mifi to get my whole team working online, on location. i was like, "woah". woah ! only verizon wireless has small business specialists in every store to help you do business better. you're like my secret ingredient. come in today and connect up to five devices on one 3g connection. now only $99.99

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>> and he had guns and an fbi play book. here is gene. >> reporter: guns, money, documents, secret recordings. all part of an alleged case. one suspect is still being sought but seven others will appear in court again today. the men are charged with conspireing to wage jihad overseas. they seemed unconcerned, even smiling. an fbi agent testified that guns and assault weapons were turned up. more than 27,000 rounds of

ammunition. a lookout pir ch in the yard. a book the government describes as its play book for responding to terror attacks and $13,000 in cash. boyd went for it gun which he had a permit to carry. in court, five secretly recorded audio tapes were played. a man described as daniel boyd discussk jihad. thousands of friends gathered to hear the details. >> we are trying to make sure there is due process. >> but boyd's wife has made her opinion clear. >> we do own guns in our home as

our constitutional right allows us and i don't think there is a crime in that. as far as the other allegations, i find them false and i know that my husband and son are dis some length the overseas travel of the suspects allegedly to wage jihad. the government argued because they could try to leave the country again the seven should be held without bail. the judge is expected to rule today. john and karen, back to you. >> the top of the hour now. thanks for being with us on an a, packed wednesday. it's the fifth of august. >> it's a busy morning this morning ch we're awaiting any moment now the arrival in burbank, california of euna lee and lauraling. they're on their way home as we speak. the two journalisted freed from north korea with the help of the president clinton late last night. you'll see the emotional

reunions with their families. this morning police are trying to find out why a gunman walked into an exercise class and unloaded two guns, killing three three people before he report zli shot and killed himself. boston officer referred to harvard professor henry gates as a banana eating jungle monkey in an e-mail is now saying claiming his civil rights were violated. justin barret's lawyer telling cnn he was denied his right to free speech and denied the right to a hearing over the job claiming the mayor fired him on tv. >> we begin with the breaking news of two americans now free from a north korean prison. journalist laura ling and jeuna lee are on a plane home with former president bill clinton. as you can imagine, family and friends are ecstatic. >> of course, i'm elated. this is one of the happyiest

days of my life. i'm going to go see my little girl. i knew something positive was going to happen. and it happened. i'm so glad. i'm so thankful for all the people, for their prayers and thoughts. i'm thankful to the state department. i'm very thankful to the government for doing all they can to gain the release. >> we're covering the story from all sides. we have it surrounded. jill is live in washington. first let's go to thelma gutierrez. she's live in burbank where the plane will be landing any minute now. there's a lot of happy people there today. >> reporter: absolutely. one of the smoex peoppokespeopl through a few minutes ago. she said the plane is expected to land 5:30 local time, 8:0 eastern. a lot of concerns to work out.

this thing has been so fluid and quickly. this is the reason that is such a concern right now. you have lots of media, local, national, international media that are out here right now, standing at the gate. they're waiting to be escorted in to hanger 25. you can see right over there. this is where the reunion is expected to take place. this is a section of the airport where vips find if stars and executives come out of the area. one major complication when you have a former president and a vice president who are landing is security. so we have seen the secret service come in and out of here, fbi as well. big concern. you have lots of trucks, lots of people, lots of equipment waiting to get in, and so the bomb squad has come in. they had to go and sweep the area. that's what we've been seeing a lot of.

now laur ling's family members. he spoke to reporters outside the home in sacramento last night saying it was going to be the happyiest day of his life. then he boarded a plane headed to burbank. when he landed here he met reporters again and talked to them. >> how are you doing today? >> i feel great. >> tell us your first thoughts when you found out the girls were coming home. >> well, you know, to tell you the truth i forgot. i was excited. >> explain what this whole ordeal has been like for your family. >> it brought us closer together. that's about it. >> any message to president clinton for what he did today? >> thank you very much to the president. >> what do you think about his trip there and what he did for your daughter? >> well, anything that helps i'm grateful. >> what is your message for kim

jong il. >> i wish he come around, open that door a little more. >> were you concerned she might be stuck there for 12 years? >> no, i didn't think they would be there that long. >> you held out a lot of hope? >> yeah, i have a lot of faith in our state department. >> how did you find out? how did you get the news? >> oh, today? >> yeah. >> i was watching cnn this morning. it was breaking news that this happened. >> doug ling says he would hug his daughter and tell her he loves her. a very emotional reunion expected to take place within the next hour. >> expecting to see the juch down at 5:30 pacific, 8:30 eastern. >> that's what we're told out here. that's a big pr firm here in los angeles. their spokesperson just walked by. she says i think it's going to

be 5:30. we'll see. >> depending -- regardless of what it is, we're set and ready to go. thelma gutierrez, thanks so much for that. >> we know there was a lot going on behind the scenes. before former president left for pyongyang. this morning former president bill clinton's wife secretary of state hillary clinton says she's happy and leaved the women are heading home. she will say more once the pair is on the the ground. while bill clinton wasn't officially representing the obama administration, there's no denying that politics are in play. jill is live to talk about how this went down. >> good morning, karen. there's a fascinating back story of details now coming out. there was a briefing by some senior administration officials, unnamed. they gave details. let's go through them. this goes back, they say, to even before the vision. goes back to july.

in mid-july north korea said it was willing to grant amnesty to the journalists if an envoy like bill clinton would come to pyongyang. the women were able to call their parents. then july 24th the national security adviser spoke about the officer. at the end of july, president clinton agreed to go, but he made it clear it's a humanitarian effort. not negotiating. not connected to the nuclear issue. then finally, again, while in north korea, what happened? clinton spent more than three hours directly with leader kim jong il, an hour and 15 minutes, we're sold. and then a dinner. that was a rare close-up view of the north korean leader.

then president obama never spoke directly with president clinton about this. why is that important? they are trying to really str t strictly separate the issue of the journalists and the overall tense relationship on the nuclear issues. >> interesting as you said before. he's of course the spouse of the current secretary of state. and she's had some opinions certainly on north korea's nuclear ambitions as well. we're going to be talking about all this with governor bill richardson coming up. very interesting. we'll check in with you later. more on a developing who horror story outside of pittsburgh. a man pulls gun out of a gym bag and opens fire. he killed three people before he shot and killed himself. people were flying off treads and taking cover. the number of bullets he allegedly fired is just staggering. the rampage happened in bridgeville, pennsylvania. a suburb of pittsburgh.

several severely wounded people in hospitals across the area. susan candiotti is there as well outside the club where it happened. what's the latest information we have on the shooter and the condition of the folks and how this all went down? >> reporter: yeah. all of that still coming together, of course. pure pand moemonium. now we have the identity of the alleged shooter. he's a 48-year-old man living in a nearby town. he had at least two guns. one of them at least was registered to him. withins and police say that he got off as many as 50 shots before taking his own life. one of those shots, according to the pittsburgh gazette wounded someone identified as the gunman's ex-girlfriend. the police chief had no comment on that. this happened at 8:15 last

night. 40, 50, 60 people inside at the time. he walked inside, had a gym bag with him. walked into an aerobics class, put the bag down, took one or two weapons out, state your named out the lights and started shooting. >> they were in a pilates class or something like that. they turned the lights out. all the sudden the shooting started. >> he shut the lights off. by the time i realized it was going on, i looked over and could see flashes in the dark. that's when i realized that someone was actually using a firearm inside of there. >> it was intense. at first you didn't get a chance to think about it because it happened so fast. then we saw people running around and people were shot and bleeding. it was a lot to take in. #. >> reporter: and, in fact, there was a note in his bag. but police won't say exactly what it said.

for now. what's also impressive is how many people tried to help those who were wounded while others ran out the door. everyone tried to pull together. john? >> also pretty amazing there weren't more people killed or hurt given the number of shots he pulled off. susan candiotti for us. new details now. 8:30 eastern is when we expect the plane to land carrying the two jury ro two journalists held for month. . 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 a new, more fuel-efficient chevy. your chevy dealer has more eligible models to choose from. more than ford, toyota, or honda. now get an '09 silverado for under twenty eight-five after all offers. and get it for even less if you

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welcome back. 13 and a half minutes past the hour. airport very close to downtown l.a. and hollywood. primarily used as an executive airport. that's where president clinton will flying in in the not too distant future. maybe a little less than 90 minutes from now.

5:30 pacific time. 8:30 pacific time with euna lee and laura ling, who have been held since march in north korea, and were granted amnesty after president clinton went there and talked with kim jong il. they're on their way, in the air, that's the assembled media. we're expected laura ling will be talking along with euna lee, family members as well. laura's well known sister lisa ling will be there. expect to hear from her. it's going to be an incredible family reunion today. bring you live coverage. >> in north korea former president clinton sat down face to face as the country's dictator, kim jong il. the discussions over the nuclear program were not on the agenda, but the high profile meeting has a lot of people talking this morning. will it possibly lead to a

breaking of the ice between washington and pyongyang or a very high photo op? bill richardson is joining us live from santa fe this morning. thanks for being with us, governor. >> thank you. thanks for having me. >> you had a chance to speak to lisa ling, the sister of laura ling after the news came out her sister would be free. what was her reaction? what did she tell you? she was enormously relieved. we've been working together for some time on this. the whole family suffered. the two women have been very -- in a very state of anxiety, wanting to come home. thinking they may be going to a labor camp, limited phone calls back home. i think the whole family deserve a lot of credit for the diplomatic way they handled it, the way they organized the american community in a peaceful

way, supporting the two american journalisted. it was interesting we heard from jill talking to senior officials at the white house, off the record, about these calls that came, that they were told by north korean officials that perhaps a visit by former president clinton may lead to something and they called their parents and told them that. do you have any other details of how this was negotiated? >> those are accurate. i don't speak for the administration. i was semiinvolved. whenever they want something the north koreans send a signal, release american prisoners. they want a high level envoy. in this case, kim jong il, the ailing lead r, wanted the

highest possible envoy. he wanted president clinton to come while he was president. he almost came a few days before he left office. but he didn't. so he gets a former president to shore up his domestic base, and that's what happened. >> does it have any effect on sanctions, on nuclear negotiations, own the future of the world communities with north korea? >> well, it's a step forward in that tensions are diffused within the international community. north korea and america had a brief spat of decent relations over the two journalists. but on the whole, i am sure no negotiations took place, but possibly president clinton and jim jong il, at least talked about the two countries getting together face-to-face bilateral discussions on our differences. no discussions per se there. but since we haven't been

talking, since relationship is frozen, since we've just had acrimonious tirades against each other, it's a good step forward. >> it's interesting. there are critics, including john bolton who said that clinton's visit undermined the public stances taken by his own wife. he also went onto said comparatively close to negotiating with terror. what do you think? >> well, that's the policy that some in the previous administration, like ambassador bolden proposed. it got us a north korea that is negative, that is sullen, that is built more nuclear weapons, that is shooting underground missiles. >> well, yeah, there was an

agreed frame work where north korea temporarily reduced their nuclear arsenal. at least the two countries were talking. it fell apart as some negotiations do. but my point here is that not talking to them has resulted in north korea becoming more hostile. talking to them. it's an opening here. it's not full scale negotiations, but at least temperatures cool down. at least kim jong il is spending a message that he wants s ts t to the united states. north korea is unpredictable and difficult. they release a humanitarian gesture, the two women, the united states gets some kind oflessening of tensions to bring the journalists back. it's basically a win-win for both sides.

hopefully maybe we'll talk again, which is in the interest of american security, the international community. we have troops, we have 27,000 american troops on the dmc in south korea. >> does this bypass the party? they always wanted bilateral discussions with the united states, but there are many other players in the region that want it to be within a bigger frame work, a sixth party negotiation. >> yur right. north korea does not want to participate. the whole purpose of the six party talk is to contain north korea. some new methodology has to be developed. possibly bilateral discussions, u.s. and north korea, and then sixth party talks within the frame work of a six party talk context. talking to china and russia.

what has happened before the six-party talks have just not worked. north korea is isn't showing up. we have to find a new way to talk. it's in everybody's international interest. north korea and their nuclear program. improve their human rights record. there's so in objectives we need with the country. >> maybe this is an opening in the direction. it's a joyous day for the families of these two young women held there for so long. governor, we appreciate your take this morning. thanks. remember the dustup, usualing racially charged language to describe the harvard professor. wait until you hear what he's saying and doing now. you woeptd believe it.

just when you thought the white house took race of the table in the arrest of professor gates, a new poll shows a dramatic split in the way people viewed what the police did. the question, did the cambridge police "act stupidly" as president obama said they did when gates was arrested. 29% of whites said yes. 59% of blacks said yes. that's quite a split. the controversy continues with boston police officer suspended for his e-mail calling professor

gates a "jungle monkey" is now suing the police, the commissioner and the city. he says among other things they embarrassed him and injured his name. here's joe johns. >> reporter: first he fired off a racially offensive e-mail to the "boston globe." when it got him suspended he fire ad lawsuit against the city of boston, claiming his civil rights were violated. the officer's e-mail complained about the arrest of gates. the e-mail got him suspended from the police department. should the e-mail be enough to cost him his badge. you be the judge. >> he wrote, if i was the officer he verbally assaulted like a banana eating jungle monkey i would have sprayed him in the face with pepper spray. he called it jungle monkey gibberi gibberish. he said gates transcended back

to a bumbling jungle monkey and told the writer her column should have been called conduct on becoming a jungle monkey. back to one's roots. he asserted he's not a racist and went on tv to apologize. i did not intend racial bigotry or harm in my words. >> reporter: but the higher ups erupted. the mayor quoted as saying he's gone g-o-n-e. >> his e-mail was racist and inflammatory. the racist opinions and feelings have no place in this department and will not be tolerated. >> reporter: his lawsuit claims he was effectively terminated without due process or equal protection of the law among other things. that his contract rights were violated and accused the city of intentional infliction of distress. cnn legal analyst and former civil rights lawyer lisa blume doesn't see merit to the suit.

>> his comments in writing are so extreme and beyond the pail that his continued presence on the police force would be a disruption and distraction. he has to this go. he is entitle to a a hearing. that's one thing he asks for in the lawsuit. he's probably entitled to the hear. but at that hearing he's going to lose. >> reporter: some say his words speak for themselves. joe johns, cnn, washington. here's what officer barrett and his attorneys said to erica hill on "anderson cooper 360." >> you alleged it caused pain and suffering, mental anguish, post-traumatic stress, sleeplessness, indignities and restrictions of personal freedom. didn't you bring this on yourself with the e-mail you sent on july 22nd? >> erika, i don't think so.

i composed the e-mail. i did not mean it offensive. i apologize. i served the country. i served the city of boston. if i'm charged with a crime, i want the chance to answer. i want the chance for a fair hearing. >> my compliant offered a response that was expressing his opinion as a private citizen. is he held to a higher standard? absolutely. but the problem becomes it. being held to a higher standard shouldn't eradicate his rights under the first amendment to free speech. that's part of the lawsuit. >> so he contends that he didn't call him that phrase. he just said he was acting like that. and just to quote the urban dictionary here to give you perspective the urban dictionary

says it's a racist person by a white person mostly used against blacks. the cost of health care is shooting awe up, but are the severely overweight to blame? we take a look 27 minutes after the hour.

checking this morning's top stories. euna lee and laura ling should be hugging friends back home. we're waiting for the jet to land in burbank, california, where we're told that should happen in the next hour. clinton left with the two american journalists late last night. >> later on the president ahmadinejad sworn in for a second term and protesters clash with riot police outside the parliament building as he took the oath of office.

the country still bitterly divided over the presidential election. ahmadinejad last shot still questioning the june 12th vote. saying he's vowing to pull the country together. a woman driving the wrong way down a highway in the new york city area responsible for killing seven people. listen to this. she was not only extremely drunk at the time, she was also high on marijuana. police say diane schuler had at least ten drinks before the crash. investigators found a broken bottle of vodka in her van. she did die in the wreck along with four children inside the mini van. well, simon cowell is going to have to pick on someone else. paula abdul is leaving. with sadness in my heart i've decided not to return to "idol."

most of all i'll be being a part of the show. the white house is pushing president obama's plans to fix the economy. the president is going back to a place that was devastated by the recession. elk elkhart, indiana. unemployment up ten points since last year. do people there have any hope that a recovery is on the way? mr. mayor, good to talk with you this morning. the reason you're at an rv lot because elkhart, indiana, is the rv capitol of america. unemployment was up around 18%, a little more than 18% for a while earlier this year. it's down a little bit to about 16.8%. is this any kind of effect of the stimulus that the president had passed earlier this year? what's the situation there in elkhart? >> i certainly think so. i remember the comment that doing nothing is not an option. i do believe something has

begun. i think we're experiencing the effects of what has been done at this time. here in elkhart we're seeing some spending has increased. the economic indicators are up. and the city actually we went to beyond 20% in unemployment. meaning out of every five of us was out of a job. we bettered the that some by a couple of a percent now. >> how much money -- >> something is happening here. >> how much money did you get from the stimulus? what kind of projects were launched? >> $14 million committed to ety of elkhart. our runway was completely repaved. we're ready to cut a ribbon on that tomorrow. we'll begin our overflow remediation program with another 4.2 million.

altogether we have neighborhood stabilization money. we have money for the police department. totalling as i said before nearly $14 million. >> okay. >> and in elkhart county it amounts to 38 million total. >> so you'll be meeting with the president this morning before his meeting. what do you plan to tell him? >> first of all i'm going to say thank you. something is working. all the news that we're getting is improving news. we know he's not coming here to give us bad news. we know he's got something to say that is going to be interesting, good for us, and productive for us, so the first thing i would say to him is thank you. it's been my privilege to speak to the president before on three different occasions. i'm looking the forward to talking with him again. i told him before sometime i'm going to have him come back here, he and i are going to sit down and talk about our success stories. i think we're beginning to get to a place where we're going to be able to do that. we're not at the the end of the tunnel, but we're starting to see the light.

>> there's a lot of folks who would like to talk about success stories. mr. mayor, the president is going to be there to announce federal funds for advances in battery technology. any way your town can take advantage of that money? >> certainly. we're searching out and seeking industry hybrid technology. more electric motor technology, more green stuff all the time. batteries have become a very important part of all that. without the way of building batteries today a lot of things operating today would not be possible. so more battery improvement is absolutely necessary and going to be a great benefit to this area. >> as we said a few minutes ago, elkhart is famous as the rv capitol of the world. i saw an rv lot in georgia not too long ago, just overflowing with inventory. people are cutting back and looking the for more fuel efficient vehicles. is the rv industry viable

anymore? >> the person that wanted that rv 15 months ago when gasoline prices went up and banking availability became less and less, they have not lost the desire for the vehicle. this industry will come back very strongly. i think what's going to happen is beyond people's perception, it's going to come back quicker than we thought. already some of the rv manufacturers are hiring people back. we're putting people back to work, putting spending power back in the pockets to buy something. they'll buy the units again and then something else can produce one. something else can produce the parts and pieces to produce one. something else can attempt to supply the wrong materials. you put one person back to work, but you really put five people back to work. >> last time we talked to you was back in february. glad things are slightly better.

your unemployment is staggering high. mayor, good to talk with you this morning. thanks. >> thank you, we're very optimistic. >> we'll be there rooting for you. how do you think the president's team is doing with the economy? how about the health care reform? cast your vote at cnn.com/reportcard. tomorrow night at 8:00 p.m. eastern only on cnn. right now it's minutes past the hour. this month it's really make or break for health care reform in the country. this morning we're learning just how much the obesity epidemic is actually costing america in terms of dollars. we are literally paying pound for pound. a big study that came out talks about health care costs and how people's weight contributes. >> it has a big effect. if you're obese you're spending

less than $1,500 more a year than a normal american. it's a big debate. treatment or prevention. with all the talks of health care reform a trillion dollars to insure every american. we wonder could the cost be lowered if we as a nation spent a little time and energy on prevention. take obesity, medical spending on obesity related conditions has skyrocketed to $147 billion a year. nearly 10% of all medical spending in the united states. that's just the beginning. >> at 47, marilyn is the pictures of physical fitness. that's not always been the case. just two years ago marilyn looked like this. 267 pounds, a size 24. >> i thought i was fabulous, but i was obese. >> also unhealthy. high cholesterol. difficult walking, and a family history of ddiabetes, heart dis

and lung disease. on track for failing health and soaring medical costs. >> this has ballooned out of control. >> according to a new study, obese americans spend 42% more on health care than normal weight americans. obesity related medical spending has skyrocketed to $147 billion. near 1/10 of the total cost of u.s. health care. in the past decade americans have gained more than a billion pounds, taking a toll in the form of heart disease, high blood pressure, strokes, even some forms of cancer and type ii diabetes. >> this is the first time we're starting to see children exhibit adult style disease. type ii diabetes used to be called adult onset diabetes. >> reporter: though a fat power movement is growing in shows like "more to love." >> it's time to show america that plus sized women could do it, too. >> the national association for the advancement of fat acceptance believes obese

americans are being targeted unfairly. >> it's not really necessary to build the arguments on the backs of fat people. there's no research that shows in weight loss results in health benefits because there's not a big enough group of people who have permanently lost weight. >> reporter: many in the medical community say obesity-related health problems are costing us money. >> the reality is that in the u.s. we do very little to try to promote prevention. >> like a fat back on carbonated beverages and fast food. even tvs and computers which may encourage sedentary lives and healthier food options at school. marilyn has lost 117 pounds and is now a size 4. she not only feels like she saved money on health care, she may have saved her life. >> she does look great, doesn't

she? the old addage is true. remember, experts say the cost of obesity goes far beyond health care. 20% of american young men are too fast to enlist. hospitals are buying special wheelchairs and bigger operating tables. involving doors have to be widened and extra bulk on commercial flights is costing airlines a quarter billion dollars a year in jet fuel. then this. doctors say people who are obese get sick more often. people who are sick miss more work. that hurts productivity. it affects almost every facet of life. many a billion of impoverrished citizens get too few. those just above the poverty line consume too many calories. they're gaining weight most rapidly around the world. a lot of people say, listen, maybe this is about income and not about weight. those with a low-income levels don't have access to healthy food or it's too expensive.

others say if it's cheap they consume too many of the bad stuff. it's a big debate out there. interesting to watch. >> thank you so much. >> social networking and the military. are the two things incompatible? chris lawrence takes a look coming right up.

good morning to folks on capitol hill. only the senate continues to be in session. trying to hammer their way through health care legislation and what's going to happen with the cash for clunkers bill. sunny and 77. later today a chance of storms and a high of 90 degrees. we're back with the most news in the morning. tweets and status updates could end up being offlim limits frome military. they're tack taking a risk after the marine banned logging onto facebook and twitter on their networks. krirs lawrence, i take it you're not tweeting with them today.

>> not on their computers. we're going to have food it on the pirnl computers. that it's caveat. they can still get on their laptops at home and still get on myspace and facebook. what they cannot do is get on the marine corps computers. all the sites are now off limits for at least one year. at which point they'll sit back an reevaluate. the interesting thing is when you look at what the order says, these internet sites are a proven haven for malicious content. targeting by adversaries. so very harsh language in the order basically telling the marines these lights are no longer allowed on the computer the u.s. military is going full board with the social networking. joint chief of staff has 4,000

followers on his twitter account. the u.s. army recently bordered all of the americaen to have facebook. some of my friends are u.s. forces afghanistan where the u.s. military sends out daily kind of screw up dates on missions. on one hand they're very much adopting the social networking sites to use them. on the other hand, trying to balance that with security concerns. >> so, again, if it's an official source, as you say, it's fine to have that on twitter or facebook. but individual service members can't use that themselves? >> exactly. the marines set up a waiver system where if you have a critical need to use twitter or facebook you can. otherwise you cannot. it's basically allowed them to control more of what's going on. >> chris lawrence from the pentagon. thanks so much for that. >> more questions about health

care reform, what the proposed changes mean to you. sanjay gupta, our health doctor is answering questions about that. he has a lot of dental. he's going to tackle that issue. it's 48 minutes after the hour. %

breaking news to tell you about this morning. we're seeing family members arriving at the burbank airport this morning anticipating the arrival of euna lee and lisa ling. we believe that those are members of euna lee's family. looks like her husband michael driving that car and her 4-year-old daughter hannah in the back seat there. as far as we know, they are the first family members to arrive. a contingent of police officers there as well. a lot of security this morning because we're dealing with former president bill clinton who's arriving back on the plane, we understand former vice president gore will be there as well. >> they worked for his current tv network. he was really instrumental in a lot of the behind-the-scenes dealings. >> we interviewed him a number of months ago on this. he said he was working as hard as he could behind the scenes to

make this all happen. what's interesting in all of this, we learned last night through a white house briefing that negotiations through the swedish embassy which was acting as an intermediary between the united states and north korean government, euna lee and laura ling were allowed to make phone calls, not frequently but occasionally phone calls back home. in july they told their family members we're being told by north korean authorities they'll let us go if former president clinton is the one who comes to get us. that's how it came together. >> it's very interesting. i'm sure anybody would step up to the plate and do that. but for former president clinton there is a lot at stake, his wife is secretary of state. the obama administration of course wanted to make sure that this was considered a private visit, a private plane, not something that was state sponsored. very, very interesting. we'll probably be getting more details when the families can speak and when we can hear from the journalists themselves. >> we expect them to land in 40 minutes. stay with us. meantime, all week our chief

medical correspondent dr. sanjay gupta has been taking your questions about health care reform. you've sent them to our blog, calling in to our a.m.fix hotline. mike writes -- it won't be considered under the health care exchange to have a tooth fixed. what do we know about dental care and how it could become a part of this? >> this is one of the most common questions we've received with regard to health care reform. turns out for good reason. for every person without health care insurance, there's two that don't have dental insurance. over 100 million people without any sort of dental insurance. to your question specifically, would dental insurance be covered under this new public option, this new government-sponsored option to help people get health care. the answer is yes and no. it really has to do with the difference between kids and

adults when it comes to health care insurance. what they're saying is that for children under the age of 21, 21 and under, it will cover oral health care. but for adults, they're not going to be able to get health care insurance. they may be able to buy into it specifically. that would cost more money and would only be able to use commissioner-approved providers. that's an important point that people are probably going to focus on over the next several weeks. we don't know how much that will cost specifically to upgrade, to get that premium care if you're under this public option. couple things worth pointing out as well. first, medicare does not provide dental coverage right now. medicaid does on a state-by-state basis. when we drill down on this, we found something interest -- only 37% of children, about one-third of children, actually use those dental care benefits. the number one cited reason as to why more don't is because they can't find a dentist who accepts that type of insurance. that will be another part of this equation as well, you can provide the coverage but you have to make sure dentists out there accept the coverage.

>> that's one challenge. it is also interesting, some states and perhaps local cities are also making it a requirements, your children have to have proof they had a dental checkup to go to kindergarten. that's a very interesting way to try to get people to get dental care. explain why. it's not just cosmetically, but why it is so important to your overall health. >> if you talk about people who have gum disease, if you have chronic inflammation in your gums, it is like living with a low-grade infection every single day. you develop this inflammation in your body which is linked to lots of chronic diseases. inflammation seems to be a sort of precursor of lots of problems, including heart disease, including diabetes, some types of cancers. it is also very treatable with regular dental checkups and regular dental care. as too few people are getting access to this or able to access even if they had insurance. >> some great information for people wondering. again we encourage you to keep

your questions coming, sanjay has a lot of great advice and information. dr. gupta, great for -- great to have you on the show. by the way, we've been telling people to e-mail us to cnn.com/a.m. fix but they can also check you out, twitter.com at sanjay gupta cnn as well. >> laura ling and euna lee about to return to the united states probably about 35 minutes away from the latest schedule. there's a look inside the hangar where they'll arrive, along with president clinton very soon. the expected arrival times about 8:30 eastern, 5:30 pacific time. getting ready for a happy homecoming, expect to hear from laura ling and euna lee when they arrive, as well as family members. we saw euna's husband driving and her 4-year-old daughter. >> her daughter's probably had many sleepless nights as she waited these months to see her mother. reports of the family saying she cried every day really missing

her mom. it's certainly been a tough challenge for everybody involved but today they're going to be reunited. we hope to have you for you live in 30 minutes. 55 minutes past the hour.

8:00 here in new york, meaning two minutes before 5:00 a.m. on the west coast. that's where in burbank, california we're keeping our eye on a hangar there where euna lee

and lawyer are ling, the two journalists held in north korea. any moment we expect them to arrive. we'll break that story down for you today. here's what's on this morning's agenda, stories we'll have for you in the next 15 minutes. american journalists laura ling and euna lee are free and on a plane right now with former president bill clinton expected to land in a half-hour's time. our correspondents and a top team of analysts are all standing by to break the story down for you this morning. also, what drove a man to open fire inside of a crowded gym in suburban pittsburgh. police say that he strolled into an exercise class, started shooting, killing three people before killing his own life. there are new details this morning. susan candiotti is following all that at the scene. president obama's taking his economic message on the road today to elkhart, indiana, a town in desperate need of more economic stimulus. the recession has rocked the so-called rv capital of the world. ed henry traveling ahead of the president is going to join us live. a big story this morning as we said, american journalists euna lee and laura ling expected

back on u.s. soil within the next 30 minutes. live look again at the airport in burbank, california, inside a hangar. you see all of the photographers and reporters lined up there. family and friends also. they're counting the seconds until they can finally hug these two women after months of uncertainty. laura's father and her husband spoke to reporters yesterday as they arrived in burbank for this morning's homecoming. >> they've brought them closer together. that's about it. >> any message to president clinton for what he did today? >> thank you. thank you very much to the president. >> what do you think about his trip there and what he did for your daughter? >> well, anything that helped, i'm grateful. >> what is your message for kim jong-il? >> well, i wish he'll come around, open that door a little bit more. >> were you concerned she might be stuck there for 12 years? >> no, i didn't think they would be there that long. >> you held out a lot of hope.

>> yeah, because i have a lot of hope, a lot of faith in our state department. >> for him, obviously for president obama as well, and for vice president al gore as well. >> how anxious are you to see your wife? >> i can't wait. it's about 140 days and so we are obviously overjoyed that she'll be back here. >> cnn's thelma gutierrez is live at the burbank airport as well where a plane will land in about 30 minutes from now. we saw some family members making their way in there in cars. what's the scene like right there, thelma? >> reporter: kiran, i am standing inside this private hangar. i have never been in a private hangar like this before. you can see how enormous this place is. this is where all the v.i.p.s land and take off. it was quite a process to get inside. now you have a former president

who will be accompanying laura ling and euna lee, so you have secret service here, you have the fbi, the bomb squad making sweeps, and then lots of local police as well. so it was quite a process just to get in. but what will happen in a few minutes is that the doors out here on that hangar will open up. the jet will pull in and then there will be the stairs. they'll pull right up to the jet. the v.i.p.s will get out of that jet, and then they will head right over to the microphone that has been set up right behind us and this is where they're going to hold the press conference. now if you take a look right over here, we just pan right over, you see the white chairs. these chairs are set aside for family members and some of the friends. i can tell you, there's definitely much more media here than there will be family members and friends. but that is exactly where they're going to be sitting. i can tell you that we really

have front row seats. all of this is going to be happening just a few feet away. really tight squeeze in here. lots of media. you can just pan right over and see, we're all just a couple of feet away from each other, trying to stay out of each other's way. a very interesting place to be and much more so in a few minutes. when that plane lands, kiran. >> all right, of course we'll see it live here. just about 28 minutes hopefully. thelma gutierrez for us, thanks so much. they've been there for so long, coming home so eager to see their parents but they have to give a little statement as well because so many people were praying and hoping and wishing for their safe arrival. people want to hear from them. >> i guess you could say, fitting for fur baburbank, holl airport. the doors open, plane pulls in, president walks out. couldn't choreograph that any better. former president clinton wasn't in pyongyang as an official representative of the united states. there's definitely a lot of politic at play here. earlier on "american morning" we

spoke with new mexico's governor bill richardson who's been to north korea many times. he sat down with north korea's twice to negotiate the release of americans. he told us what kim jong-il is likely hoping to gain and what this could mean on the international stage. >> north koreans, whenever they want something, send a signal, release american prisoners. they've done it with me and others. they want a high-level envoy, and in this case kim jong-il, the ailing leader, wanted the highest possible envoy. he had tried to get president clinton to come while clinton was president. president clinton almost came a few days before he left office, but he didn't. and so what kim jong-il gets is a former president to shore up his domestic base and that's what happened. it's a step forward and tensions are diffused within the international community because north korea and america had this brief spate of decent relations over the two journalists. but on the whole, i am sure no

negotiations took place. but possibly president clinton and kim jong-il at least talked about the two countries getting together, face-to-face, bilateral discussions on our differences. no discussions, per se, there. but since we haven't been talking since relationship is frozen, since we've just had acrimonious tirades among each other, it's a good step forward. >> helping us now break down exactly how laura ling and euna lee were released, let's bring in our foreign affairs correspondent jill dougherty. jill, there is a briefing from the white house officials last night, kind of walked us through the whole process. what did they say? >> john, i think some of the most interesting stuff, the details that show that this goes back quite a while, back to the beginning of july where they outlined that those -- in north korea, the north koreans were speaking to the journalists who were being held and those journalists, in turn, were able

from time to time to talk to their parents. so in those early days, they raised the issue that, look, we could release you if we got an envoy like bill clinton. they said, if he comes, essentially we would release you. so the women, in turn, called their parents, parents called vice president gore who was in charge. he started the company that they work for. then it was relaid to the white house, national security advisor, et cetera, they checked it out, make sure it was really legitimate, raised it with bill clinton, and then bill clinton said yes but there were conditions. john, i think you know a lot of those conditions. conditions were it had to be strictly a humanitarian effort. no negotiating, no nuclear negotiations, et cetera. he would have to be sure that it was going to be successful and also that the north koreans would guarantee that they agreed it would be strictly humanitarian, not connected to that nuclear issue. there was some other interesting

things. what happened in north korea when former president bill clinton was there. they say he spent three hours and 15 minutes total with kim jong-il, the leader of north korea. they had dinner together for two hours and an hour and a half conversation. some very interesting details, john. >> so where does all of this go? this is a question a lot of people are asking. there have been some articles out there this morning saying this might reset the relationship between the united states and north korea. maybe entice them back to the table for these six-party talks. what do you think? >> i don't think that that is quite as possible as some people might make it out to be. these things are separate. they have released the journalists. it does not mean that they are doing what the united states or the international community wants them to do, which is go back to the six-party talks. essentially, they've said, six-party talks are dead. they want a relationship with the united states. but the u.s. is very reluctant

to give them that type of one-on-one. they want six-party talks and they want denuclearization. the north has said so far they're not doing it. where do you go from there? >> jill dougherty, thanks so much. coming up in ten minutes, we'll talk to gordon flake, he's traveled to north korea seven times, the executive director of the mansfield foundation, an organization that encouraging better understanding between asia and the united states. now to the breaking news out of pennsylvania. a deadly shooting taking place at a gym. it was in suburban pittsburgh. police say a gunman opened fire killing three people before taking his own life. at least ten others were wounded. some critically. it happened in bridgeville. that's not far from downtown pittsburgh. cnn's susan candiotti traveled there overnight. you arrived on the scene and are getting new information at this hour. what are you learning? >> reporter: we're learning even more information about the alleged shooter who has been identified to us by a law

enforcement source as george sodini, age 48 years old. as you recall as we reported earlier, a note was found in his gym bag. now the police will not say anything about it, but according to one of my sources, i don't have a direct quote but i am told that in it, he discusses his hatred for women. now this appears to go hand-in-hand with a blog that we have been studying written by the alleged gunman in this case in which he discusses plans for carrying out what he did this day, plans that seem to go back to december 2008. again, in january of this year, and then an entry from monday of this week. i'm going to read a bit of a quote here. it says, "i took off monday, today and tomorrow to practice my routine and to make sure it is well polished. i need to work out every detail there because there is only one shot." then he goes on to say at the very end of this very long blog,

that he says, "any of my practice papers left on my coffee table or notes in my gym bag can be published freely." he finally says, "i will not be embarrassed because, well, i will be dead." that's an end quote. again, to recap what happened here, it was about 8:15 last evening at the l.a. fitness center behind me. very crowded with people when witnesses and police say a man walked in to the arobics class, put down the gym bag, turned down the lights and started shooting. >> they were in a pilates class or something like that and they turned the lights out and all of a sudden shooting started. so she said she saw one of the guys had a black hat on. that's all she knew. >> he shut the lights off in the aerobic room. i could see flashes in the dark.

that's when i realized that someone was actually using a firearm inside of there. >> i took my headphones off because i had my headphones on. then i heard a loud banging noise repeatedly, like three or four. that's when i kind of knew what was going on, that someone was shooting the place up with a firearm. >> reporter: one of the many questions that are out there of course, how long had this blog been around. was it posted recently or had it been out there for quite some time. who is this man? and why did he have these feelings, apparently against women? i can tell you this according to the police chief -- he said of the note, he did what he wanted to do. i don't think anyone could have stopped him. kiran, back to you. >> susan canned ndiotti for us f pittsburgh, thanks. >> that blog is just really, really disturbing. i read some of it. it's terrible. you wonder was that out there? was it missed? you always ask yourself these questions after these things happen.

to a happier note now, in just a few minutes' time, probably 20 minutes from now, euna lee and laura ling should be touching down along with president clinton. what does this mean for the future of relations between the united states and north korea? does it mean anything? 11 minutes after the hour. wouldn't it be great if it were easy to spot the good guys ? you know, the guys who do a super job. introducing the superguarantee. go to superpages.com to find a business with the superguarantee.

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news in the morning. live picture there of the burbank airport, the hangar where president clinton's plane is expected to arrive little more than 15 minutes from now. american journalists euna lee and laura lung on their way home just about back. the two women are in the air as we speak, probably beginning their approach now to california. former president clinton secured their release after meeting with north korea's leader kim jong-il.

joining me to talk about the risk and rewards of the president's surprise mission, gordon flake, the executive director of the mansfield foundation, an organization that encourages better understanding between asia and the united states. so kim jong-il, as we understand from white house briefers, asked specifically for former president clinton to come and pick up the two women. what does kim jong-il get out of this besides a high-profile photo-op? >> i think there is a chance that north koreans, kim jong-il, might be looking to reset the relationship with the united states. at least we can hope they will take advantage of this to kind of back away from the more absolutist positions they've been taking in recent months. they really painted themselves into a corner. if they so desire, i think they could use this as a face-saving way to kind of step down from some of the recent tension. >> you've been there a number of times. what does resetting the relationship between north korea and the united states really mean? because north korea doesn't want any part of these six-party talks anymore. >> well, as you know, the white

house the last couple days has made a very strong point of distinguishing this as a purely humanitarian mission, one that is private in nature. i think the reason for that is that at this point the obama administration is pursuing a coordinated policy of putting pressure on north korea in response to their missile test and in response to the nuclear test. and in that environment, north korea right now, you're right, has expressed no interest whatsoever in coming back to the talks and coming back to the negotiations with the united states. hopefully a high-profile face saving visit like this will provide them an opportunity to again back away from their more reactive and hard-line statements. >> what would that bring in terms of any kind of hope for progress? >> well, again, i would think first and foremost we should remain focused on the humanitarian success here and on the sake of the families, the two journalists that were released. >> no question they're happy but a lot of people are looking to say what's the bigger picture

here and were they pawns in a greater game here, why were they being held in the first place, and if they weren't being used as some sort of leverage, why would kim jong-il ask for president clinton to come over. >> well, i think both the united states and north korea had a shared interest in resolving the situation surrounding these journalists. north korea having convicted them to 12 years labor really couldn't send them to the camp, was looking for a way to get them out. essentially what they got out of this was the most high-profile possible visitor that could come to north korea in the former president clinton. and then giving them, again, the international respect that they crave. and so i am skeptical that this will lead to some type of a break-through or opening in the six-party talks or that north korea will somehow back away from its stated position on that front. but it certainly does give them an opportunity, should they be recognizing now that there is ever increasing pressure from the international community, and they are looking for a way out of that. >> the white house was very careful as you pointed out, to say that this was a humanitarian

mission, that this was not about the other issues that face north korea and the united states. but that same briefer also said that, because it is an issue of importance to former president clinton, he expect that the issue of denuclearization did come up in the three hours and almost 30 minutes that the two men spent together. do you think president clinton would have any luck in convincing kim jong-il of the apparent error of his ways? >> i fully anticipate that president clinton would have been very strongly critical of recent north korean actions, the test of the long-range missile, a second test of a nuclear weapon. i am skeptical again that statements from anybody on this earth is going to be successful in getting north korea to back away from their current position. it is going to really take the carefully coordinated policies and actions not only of the united states, but of its allies in the region, south korea and japan and other partners like china and russia as well. >> l. gordon flake, really

appreciate it this morning. thank you. it is 18 minutes past the hour right now. little bit later today, president obama's going to be taking his economic message to indiana, rv country. what do the folks in elkhart think? they've been suffering through this downturn. do they see light at the end of the tunnel? we'll be there live.

news in the morning. president obama turns his attention to the economy today. he travels this morning, hits the road, as might say, to elkhart, indiana, the rv capital of the world. >> this is a town that's really been hit hard by the recession. we've talk to the mayor a number of times. jobless rate is still nearly

17%, just devastating for this community. this is the prekd's second visit to elkhart since he took office. ed henry is live for us there. you're in an rv. that could easily be "rv one." the president could leave elkhart today with his very own. >> absolutely. he should take it back to washington. it is pretty comfy. i have some lazy boys here, a flat-screen tv, there's a couch, a dining room, a full kitchen. but you're right, people are hurting here because a lot of folks around the country can't even afford a vacation right now, let alone an rv that costs tens of thousands of dollars with all the amenities. but there are little rays of hope. in the south bend tribune this morning, story about the president coming to town. then talk about the rv supplier announcing they're going to hire more than 350 people. that's why folks say the stimulus is actually starting to work. the recession has absolutely rocked the rv capital of the world.

elkhart, indiana's unemployment rate peaked at 19%, twice the national average, as dealers of recreational vehicles struggle to stay afloat. >> it's been the most difficult thing i've done in my 42 years of life. it was a struggle and nobody saw it coming. >> reporter: rob reid says he's using electricity each day to pinch pennies at this location after closing his other dealership, forcing him to lay off a dozen employees. >> being a smaller or medium sized company, they become your friends. because we're with them even more so than we are our families a lot of times. >> reporter: at city hall, democratic mayor dick moore says traffic at local food banks has never been so intense. and donated backpacks are pouring in for kids going back to school. still, the mayor believes elkhart is getting back on its feet thanks to $14 million in stimulus money. though he cautions, the the president can't get too

optimistic. >> that's what i would say to him -- thank you, mr. president. this program is working here in elkhart, indiana. now, the problem with that is the guy that's standing here in your place that's unemployed, he doesn't buy that at all. >> reporter: the mayor insists stimulus money spent around the country is trickling down to his city, as people are starting to buy rvs again. >> it isn't an elkhart, indiana stimulus program. it isn't a state of indiana stimulus program. it is a stimulus program for the united states of america. so when you talk about how the money flows, somebody gets money in california, and one of our factories here supplies some parts to that company in california, we benefit from it. >> reporter: back at the rv lot, rob reid agrees sales have picked up, and so has his outlook. >> i always feel optimistic. if you start to feel it, your customers will start to feel it. we're optimistic no matter what happens because we don't want the economy or the doldrums of elkhart right now to set the tone for our business.

>> reporter: now one reason they're optimistic is the unemployment rate has dipped back down to just over 16%. nevertheless, that's still far above the national average of 9.5%. that's why you still have a lot of republicans back in washington saying, look, the stimulus may have helped on the margins but it really hasn't provided the economic jolt that the white house promised. i feel bad, i want to clear up something i said earlier this morning. i think i pretty much sold john on picking up this rv. i said it was $50,000 to $70,000. that is true. but i also said it was self-propelled. now that it is light now, i can tell you it is not self-propelled. you have to hitch it to a pickup truck. john, this is still a good deal! >> ooh! details, details! >> reporter: the rv you look at today may be an rv that somebody looked at yesterday. if you want to buy it, you got to buy it today, john. stimulate the economy. >> now he needs an f-150 to haul the thing around. all right, ed. he's getting his checkbook out

now. >> ed, thanks so much. minor little detail. did i say it was a self-propelled? >> technically if you put it downhill it is self-propelled. you just can't get anywhere after that. we're going to take a quick break. we're talking health care reform when we come back. what does the president need to do to win over the hearts and minds? tony blankly and donna brazile join us live. and a live look at the hangar where president clinton's plane is expected to arrive, supposed to be at 8:30 eastern, 5:30 pacific. no indication where the aircraft is at this point. but this is the place to be for live coverage of the happy return of laura ling and euna lee. 25 minutes after the hour.

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it's now 28 minutes past the hour. we check our top stories. any moment now we're going to be seeing american journalists euna lee and laura ling right there at this hangar at burbank airport. their families are waiting for them there in california after former president clinton secured their release in north korea. here's what laura's father told reporters yesterday as he arrived in burbank. >> i'm all excited. i'm all excited and i'm looking forward to see her. we waited for five months now. >> what are you going to tell your daughter when you see her? >> i love you. i'll give her a big hug. >> i can't wait. it's been 140 days, and so, you know, we're obviously overjoyed that she's going to be back home. >> we also had a chance to hear there from laura ling's husband

aian. laura is expected to speak to reporters herself once they land. we'll bring it to you the second it happens. iranian president mahmoud ahmadinejad officially beginning his second term in office, sworn in overnight pledging to move the country forward and blasting those who dispute the results of the june presidential election. hundreds of protestors gathered in the streets of tehran. riot police reportedly fired tear gas to control the crowds. the boston police officer who referred to harvard professor henry gates with a racial slur in an e-mail is now suing, claiming his civil rights were violated, justin barrett suing the mayor, the police commissioner as well as the city and police department saying that they damaged his reputation and they made him ill. hear how he defended himself now on anderson cooper. >> you allege the mayor, commissioner's actions caused "pain and suffering, mental anguish, emotional distress,

post traumatic stress, sleeplessness, indignities and embarrassment, degradation, injury to reputation and restrictions on personal freedom." justin though, in many ways didn't you actually bring this on yourself with that e-mail that you sent on july 22nd? >> erica, i don't think so. i composed the e-mail. i did not mean it to be offensive. i apologized. i've served my country. i volunteered to go to iraq. i served my city of boston. if i'm charged with a crime, i want the chance to answer. i want the chance for a fair hearing. that's why i got my attorney. >> my client authored a response that was expressing his opinion as a private citizen. is he held to a higher standard? absolutely. but the problem becomes, being held to a higher standard shouldn't eradicate his right under the first amendment for free speech. that's part and parcel of the lawsuit. >> representatives of both the mayor and police commissioner

haven't commented on this lawsuit yet. paula abdul -- out. "american idol" judge confirming the rumors announcing on her twitter page that she will not be back for the show's ninth season. abdul says she'll miss nurturing new talent and being part of a show she helped from day one become an international phenomenon. democratic lawmakers have their marching orders for the august break to go back to sell health care reform back home. in some cases it is proving to be easier said than done. some members of congress getting a hostile reception from constituents at town hall events on health care. take a look at what congressman steve cagan out of wisconsin encountered this week. this has happened in many different places as we've seen this morning. health care hecklers are putting democrats on the defensive. joining us from washington,

donna brazile, a zdemocratic strategist and cnn contributor. donna, how damaging are these confrontational town halls we've seen taking place and in some cases catching fire on youtube? >> tony, sorry. she called me first. first of all, this is a very important debate in dialogue that the american people need to participate in. not only in health care one-sixth of our economy, we know if we do nothing it will become one-third of our economy over the next ten years. the democratic lawmakers, republican lawmakers, would like to go out there, talk to their constituents to get their input to talk about how this reform will not only preserve what they have, if they have health insurance, how it will hopefully lower their premiums and stop the rising cost of health care. this is an important time to have a discussion, not to

disrupt these proceedings but to have a dialogue or discussion. we can agree to disagree but we should not disrupt these town hall meetings. >> it's interesting, the white house press secretary, also a dnc spokesman, saying these are actually manufactured confrontations by the gop, dnc spokesman described it as "angry mobs. rabid right wing extremists." do you agree with that or think these are the voices of concerned citizens? >> look, it is not up to me or the dnc. each democratic congressman and democratic senator will judge their electorate this august and will decide, if they think this is just a few loud people who have been organized, it wouldn't affect their performance in voting in september and october. if, on the other hand, the democratic congressman smell a little danger if they go against the sentiments expressed, then the president and the democratic leadership in the fall will have more trouble. we don't know what it is going to be. my hunch is -- i know there's one group that's already got 1

million signatures to oppose obama care. that obviously is more than a handful of people. as donna and i have been, we've been organizing on different sides of the aisle. i go back to the '60s and she -- i guess the '70s maybe -- >> '80s. >> i'm sorry, my dear. '80s. and you know, you can get a certain number of people out, but to get thousands of different venues with that kind of energy level, i think there's got to be some authenticity there. but it will be up to every democrat -- this is a game on the democratic side. the democrats have enough votes to pass everything if they unite. if the president can keep them united he can pass it. >> donna, it is interesting. we did a cnn/opinion research poll. half the people say they support this and also those who are opposed to it are more likely to head out to a town hall, they said, when asked about it. but does the white house risk alienating people that do have concerns, genuine concerns, about what universal health care or health care reform may mean for them by perhaps lumping

everybody together and saying, hey, this is orchestrated by the gop? >> well, first of all, i don't think the white house is out there saying it's being orchestrated by the republican party. what the white house is doing is pushing back on all of the misinformation that has been put out by some of the private organizations. maybe they're allies with republicans, but kiran, i want to just take this one step higher. this is really about the future of our economy. how do we ensure that we stop the growth of health care premiums? many people who can afford health insurance today know that they're paying more and getting less. they're also concerned that with some of the insurance companies, you know, kicking you out of the system. so this is an issue that should galvanize all the american people and we should be angry at the fact that we're paying basically everything that we can to stay healthy, but at the same time we're in the getting the results from our health insurance companies. i think this is an opportunity to have a dialogue, not to disrupt these proceedings.

>> tony, how is the political capital being spent on this by the white house? they've been aggressively pushing back against what they're calling disinformation out there. there was an interesting link to the drudge report, i guess it had the president from 2003 making some comments about health care and they immediately posted a rebuttal that came out within days. is this an effective approach coming out of the white house? >> we'll see. it was a rebuttal. it wasn't a reputation. all they said that drudge cherry-picked. then he put up the whole tape and it doesn't look like he cherry-picked. one of the problems congressmen on both sides of the aisle have now, with the internet they don't often have the information advantage over the public they used to have because people are sitting down, particularly people who go to town hall meetings, sit down on the internet and read stuff. the congressman have to be better informed an their voters and don't mistake facts. one thing donna said which i think is very important, one of the problems the president has, he promised -- i think what?

made an appealing vision that he was going to be able to bring the cost of health care down over time. now the cbo has said that the proposals coming out of the democratic committee do not do it, they do not bend the cost curve down, they bend the cost curve further up. so his own vision is inconsistent with the legislation that his allies are in the process of trying to legislate. >> done that, i want to ask you about this. even if there is some disagreement over the numbers, and over how some of this was determined, but if a congress person is facing election that's only a few months or year down the road versus trying to convince some of these constituents that maybe decades from now they're going to be better off, do politics win there? >> well, first of all, 14,000 people are losing their health insurance each and every day. we know if we do nothing health care premiums will rise by at least $1,800 a year. over the last 16 years, we've had an opportunity to try to reform the system. nothing has happened. during that period of time,

small businesses have been -- have dropped employees from their health insurance because they can't afford the skyrocketing costs. i think what the president laid out was a set of principles that said that he's going to basically reduce costs, provide choice, quality affordable health care for every american. we know that 4 out of 5 congressional committees have come up with their own plan. at the end of the day i think the president will look at all of these plans and he will keep to those principles that he promised the american people. >> we'll have to leave it there. thanks for joining us this morning, donna brazile and tony blankley. we want to ask our viewers, how do you think the president is doing on health care reform? cast your vote, cnn.com/report card. we'll get the results with the best political team on television tomorrow night at 8:00 p.m. about ten minutes now until the arrival of president bill clinton along with euna lee and

laura ling. they're at that hangar at the bob hope airport in burbank, california. we're staying with this. don't go anywhere because they'll be here very soon. 39 minutes after the hour.

full moon over los angeles this morning. welcoming back euna lee and laura ling after being detained in north korea since the 17th of march. president clinton's plane is about to land at the burbank airport. we got a shot inside the hangar at the press kating fe in waiti. family members will be there. the door on the end apparently will be wide open in a few minutes, the plane will pull inside the hangar, stairs will come out and dignitaries will get off and they'll meet the folks here. we expect to hear from a lot of them as well. stay tuned for that. that's coming your way in a few minutes' time. we have our affiliates with helicopters in the air monitoring traffic coming in to burbank. we should be able to bring you a shot of the plane landing this morning. vice president al gore will also be among the people waiting for them. ling and lee were working for

gore's current tv network when they were arrested by north korean officials. should and dramatic homecoming. we'll bring you every second of it. president clinton's mission to secure their freedom lasts less than 24 hours, it came after 140 painful days of waiting for the families of these two journalists. >> though this is being called a humanitarian trip, there are are fascinating politics in play. tom foreman takes us inside the anatomy of a rescue. >> reporter: officially, it was all unofficial. but when a former president and spouse of the current secretary of state comes calling, the official overtones are unmistakable. that is why kim jong-il was smiling. according to jack prichard, a former special u.s. envoy to the region -- >> as you know for the last year, kim jong-il has been plagued by health problems. there's been speculations he's not going to survive very long. >> a visit like this makes him looks strong. >> he looks healthy and happy in that picture.

it puts to rest a lot of speculation, both internally and externally about his health and his command of authority in north korea. >> reporter: so how was the deal done? first, through sweden. the united states has no formal relations with north korea, but sweden does. the swedish ambassador and pyongyang has been there since 2005 and he saw the captives repeatedly, keeping back door communications flowing there, and at the united nations in new york. by all accounts the state department worked tirelessly through those channels. the white house has not disclosed details. >> this obviously is a very sensitive topic. >> reporter: but foreign affairs analysts believe the private talks drove public positions. the second key. for example, secretary clinton initially suggested the charges against the pair were baseless. >> and secretary clinton indicated this is somewhat of a

sham trial and she disparaged the north korean's legal system. the north koreans were furious over that. >> reporter: then suddenly last month, a much more conciliatory tone. >> the two journalists and their families have expressed great remorse for this incident. and i think everyone is very sorry that it happened. >> reporter: the third key -- when the obama administration responded to north korea's latest missile test by pressing for sharper international sanctions, prichard says kim jong-il needed to turn down the heat. >> this is a very in a very face-saving way for them to recalibrate their relationship with the united states. >> reporter: and the final key -- bill clinton himself. kim jong-il had wanted then-president clinton to visit north korea back in 2000. it did not happen but analysts say he never gave up on the idea, and in the end, that's what sealed the deal. a visit from about the biggest unofficial official america

could send. >> all right. tom foreman for thus morning. >> we're seeing the plane right there on our screen. we should take this picture full as we've -- >> we believe that's the plane. right? >> hopefully. we see a plane coming in courtesy of ktla. a kcal shot as well. everyone is waiting for the two journalists, laura ling and euna lee, to arrive. their families have been waiting. it's been just a heart breaking situation since march when they were taken from the china border on north korea, claiming they violated their borders, took them prisoner and sentenced to 12 years of hard labor. this quick turn of events that took place, something we're learning now was in the works for a while. cnn's thelma gutierrez is live at airport. thelma, do you know whether this is the actual plane that's coming in for a landing there to that airport in burbank?

>> reporter: john, kiran, the only indication that i have had that it is very close, the pio came up a few minutes ago and said she was expecting that plane to land. they did last-minute mike checks and said this is going to be it. so lots of preparations for this moment. i can tell you though that vice president al gore is here. also all the ling and lee family members are here. they will be sitting right out on these without chairs that you see right behind me. they will be led out to this area when that plane lands. we're told that they're in a back office right now in this very massive hangar. this hangar is about the size of a football field. it's a private hangar where a lot of the v.i.p.s fly in and out of here at the bob hope airport. what will happen next, we're told, is that those doors will open, that jet will come in, and then the stairs will come out,

pull up to the doors, and customs agents, border and customs agents will board that plane -- >> thelma, one thing real quick -- sorry to cut you off, we did get confirmation from kcal what our viewers are seeing on the screen sin deed the plane coming in. any moment it will be much closer to you and they'll come out of that plane in that hangar. so go on with more on what we can expect there. >> reporter: my vantage point is from the inside of this hangar but i can tell you that we did see border and customs agents arrive a short time ago. we're told that they will actually board that plane. they will process laura ling, euna lee, and then they will be led out. one of the organizers here told us that they're actually going to have the reunion in front of all the cameras right here when they arrive. they will all go up to that

microphone, that's right out in the middle of the floor, and they will hold a news conference. so it will be very interesting to see if they're allowed to have a private meeting. after all, they have not seen their loved ones for 140 days. it will be interesting to see if they're allowed to have a private meeting or if that reunion is going to happen right in front of our cameras. >> thelma, we're watching this aircraft. it is the 737 i believe that carried president clinton over to pyongyang coming in for landing. let's bring in william cohen, former secretary of defense in the clinton administration. mr. secretary, where are your thoughts running right now as we watch this plane come in for its landing? >> i think it is obviously a very happy occasion that president clinton was able to bring back these two jung women and to do so in a manner that may set in motion a better relationship with the north koreans. that was not his purpose in going there, but to get them back. but i think any time have you a former president certainly of

his popularity, there's bound to be some discussions that would bode well for the future. >> mr. secretary, when euna lee and laura ling were first detained by the north koreans, we were wondering, are they pawns in a bigger game, is there a reason why the north koreans detained them beyond this supposed border infraction. do you think indeed that that was the north koreans' intention, and in letting them go, how might that all play into that scenario? >> i think that they obviously calculate everything that they do. by holding them hostage for this period of time, then seeing an opportune time to take advantage of that, understanding that the international community was cracking down much harder, the chinese were sending a much stronger signal, they were running the prospect of having their ships check -- or be turned away from ports around the world. so i think the policy of the obama administration saying we're going to deal much tougher with the north koreans may have

paid some real benefits here so that president clinton could then move in. they see this as an opportunity to build some goodwill. maybe that's enough to break the ice and say, they've saved face now, the united states is happy that these two young women are back home, and now maybe there is a chance to sit down at those six-party talks and make some progress. >> secretary cohen, stay with us here. we're showing our viewers the touch down of the plane there. we see it heading to that private hangar where the two journalists are going to step off the plane. that's where the reuniting will take place right there in the public, right there on national and international television. i can't imagine what's going through will head right now as they know they're safe and they're back home. must be a surreal moment as they're on the plane as well with the former president president who will step off with them as well. >> you can imagine how happy they were. we understand from a white house briefing that took place last night, they kind of walked us through the tick-tock. there had been negotiations

between the white house and north koreans through the swedish embassy in pyongyang. swedes were acting as a go-between, which allowed euna lee and laura ling to make some phone calls back home to the folks, and then in july during one of those phone calls, the two journalists passed along information that north korean officials had come to them to say, we will be willing to grant you amnesty if -- and the words were spoken specifically -- former president clinton comes to pyongyang to bring you back. they were obviously looking for a very, very high-level envoy to come and, mr. secretary, when you look at the photograph that we saw yesterday, kim jong-il sitting down beside president clinton, don't know how much that is worth in the international arena, but how much is that worth domestically for him? >> i think domestically, it's a major boon or benefit to him. the real issue for having president clinton there, they wanted president clinton there back in 2000.

president clinton was almost determined to go, but we couldn't be sure what was going to come out of that and he, i think wisely, refused to go because, number one, it was seen as many too political but number two, placed president bush, had his successor, in a position that perhaps would be unfair. so president clinton decided at the last moment not to make that trip. think their wanting him there has been one of their goals for some time. i think the fact that he has such high visibility and such high rating of popularity around the world is also important to them. >> we still remember, of course, shall we call it the difference of opinion between general colin powell, the new secretary of state, and vice president dick cheney and president bush when general powell said, in terms of north korea policy, we plan to pick up and continue where the clinton administration left off. and within minutes of saying that, he was sort of slapped back by the vice president and the president saying, no, we're rethinking north korea policy,

we're going to come up with our own policy. so i guess it would be a natural if kim jong-il had an opportunity that he would invite president clinton back, want to get him in the room with him. >> again, if you're just joining us, what we're watching right now is this plane carrying euna lee and laura ling coming in to burbank airport. it is going to enter a hangar there where a crush of media are waiting to capture the moment, as well as the families who have had an agonizing several months. this was since march that they were taken. our thelma gutierrez is live inside that hangar as well. we're seeing the plane slowly make its way in there. tell us what it is like on the inside right now, thelma. >> reporter: it is getting loud. we can hear that plane approaching any time now. those doors will open and that plane is going to come through. we are told that next, border and customs agents will board that plane and they'll process

laura ling and euna lee and then they will be allowed to re-unite with their family members. we're also told that all the family members are here. the lings, also the lees, and vice president al gore. they're all being kept in a back room. we were wondering if they would be allowed to have a private meeting. after all, they hadn't seen each other for about 140 days. a long time. very eager to see each other. but we are told that it is indeed going to happen right here in front of all the cameras. >> looks like the process outside is they have a tug there, they'll probably hook the aircraft up to a tug and pull it inside the hangar there. as we're saying, this is burbank airport, it is the airport the rich and famous from hollywood use. it is almost looking like a hollywood ending here. they're putting the staircase down. maybe they'll actually get out here. >> thelma, you said something about perhaps customs officials boarding. i don't know if they perhaps

changed -- >> maybe the customs officials are boarding outside, then they'll bring it inside the hangar. >> we're still waiting to figure out that. looks like people are actually getting ready to make their way on to the plane before we see anybody step up. one of the things that has been really heart wrenching, thelma, throughout this is knowing the 4-year-old daughter of euna, little hannah, who's been missing her mother so much. is that going to be taking place as well? she's going to be re-united with her little girl right in front of all the cameras as well? >> well, that's a very good question, exactly how it is going to happen. but the organizers who are putting this event on have told us that they're going to see each other for the first time right over here. you have to wonder though how scary it would be for a little 4-year-old who hasn't seen her mother for all that time to come before this crush of cameras. i can't tell you how overwhelming that would be for a child. you take a look right here, we're all standing about two feet apart from each other.

there will be more press in this room than there are family and friends. so it is going to be interesting to see how that is going to play out, kiran. >> we're also expecting, thelma, we're going to hear from laura ling and euna lee, as well as some of the family members. we know laura ling's parents, mary and doug are there, lisa, her sister who we all know well here at cnn because she's been with us several times, is there as well. aian clayton, her husband, and the 4-year-old daughter hannah is there as well. we don't know if this is official procedure, if the customs folks will go on the plane here and clear the aircraft. then it will be brought inside or if they'll actually get off, disembark that aircraft outside of the hangar, then walk in. >> you can imagine there will be some security procedures by the fact that there is a former president, former president clinton is on that plane as well. >> there is a large security

contingent just out of view, a number of motorcycle police officers as well. there is a small motorcade as well that's there just on stand-by to take the president away should he need to. not sure where he's going after this but you know, it's like hard to hit a moving target. bill clinton certainly is a moving target. is there speaking of the clintons, this is also interesting. secretary of state hillary clinton was speaking this morning about this situation. she was asked about it earlier on one of the networks. she says she isn'tness airline counting on a break-through in the relations with north korea because of this freeing of the two american journalists her husband helped broker. she talked about being very relieved about it. we are seeing people exiting the plane right now. >> don't know if those are military folks or secret service but of course, president clinton, being a former president, travels with the secret service contingent. it is expected he would have taken his own security force over there with him. i'm sure they would have maintained a fairly low profile while they were in north korea. mr. secretary, if we could bring you in just for a second.

if you're still with us. you said you were somewhat optimistic this whole thing, just looking at the larger political realm of this, might somehow be influential in restarting the six-party talks. we talked to other folks this morning who didn't think that it would because north korea has stated that it has no interest in rejoining those talks. >> it has stated that. but a lot will depend on what president clinton and his team bring back to talk with president obama and other officials. there may have been signals sent, again some overt, some subtle, that would indicate that there is some flexibility on the part of the north koreans to come back. we don't know all of the facts just yet. we don't know what the role of the chinese has been. we don't know exactly what the south korean signals are being sent to the north, so it could be a much more complicated picture in terms of all the moving pieces. but nonetheless, i think we should at least look at this as an opportunity. it may turn out that the north koreans are simply not interested in doing business sitting down with the united st t